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CREATING AN EFFECTIVE SALES PROCESS
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A sales process is a series of steps that enables a sales force to close more sales and generate more repeat business.
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| In order to sell, the sales professional must understand their customer’s thought process in buying: |
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| How the Customer Thinks: Buying Process Steps |
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| All customers go through five basic steps in the Customer Buying Process, regardless of the product or service under consideration. |
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- Step 1: Identify needs. Businesses look for ways to improve revenues and market share, to lower costs, and to improve operating efficiencies. Consumers look for ways to improve their standard of living or their overall satisfaction.
- Step 2: Determine requirements. The customer identifies all the aspects of the problem or opportunity he/she is trying to solve and to specify the requirements for a solution.
- Step 3: Evaluate options. The customer solicits proposals and seeks proof that the potential vendors can meet the stated requirements.
- Step 4: Negotiate. The customer begins negotiations to acquire the product or service. Price is one consideration. Other considerations include the cost of change and the risk that the solution will not meet their needs.
- Step 5: Implement and evaluation success. The product or service is implemented and the customer begins the process of judging whether it truly meets the stated needs.
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| How the Sales Professional Thinks: Sales Process Steps |
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The sales process helps you, the sales professional, succeed by:
- Demonstrating value to the customers.
- Creating a strong desire in the customer to buy your company’s products and services.
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| As the sales professional, you will undergo a five-step sales process methodology. Each step includes several key activities with predictable, measurable outcomes. |
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| Step 1: Prospecting. You will be generating qualified leads, finding new opportunities among the existing customer base, and differentiating your company from your competitor. Depending on the type of business, prospecting can take many forms, including networking, seminars, marketing, trade shows, and cold calls. The purpose of this step is to identify a qualified decision maker, or an ally in the organization who can help you reach the decision maker. |
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| Step 2: Qualifying. You are assessing the revenue potential and costs associated with a customer opportunity to determine if your products/services and the customer are a right fit. You need to be adept at probing to understand the customer’s true needs. Then you need to articulate a “buying vision” to the customer – capabilities that illustrate how your company’s products or services can uniquely meet their needs. The goal of this step is to convince the decision maker to move ahead with an in-depth evaluation of your solution. |
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| Microsoft Outlook with Prophet gives you increased insight into your business, whether you are a sales professional or a small business owner. A sales professional can quickly assess a customer opportunity by attaching pricing information to the opportunity and assigning a probability of closing the sale. The business owner can take a broader perspective and run one of the sixty customizable reports in Prophet Reports to view the entire sales pipeline sorted by customer, product, or stage. |
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| Step 3: Proposal. When you reach this stage, you have to demonstrate to the decision maker that your company can deliver on the promise. You can create a mutually agreed upon Product/Service Evaluation Plan that highlights key steps to prove your capabilities and to ensure a win for both the customer and the salesperson. The Evaluation Plan is an important, formal lever that many salespeople overlook: once a customer agrees to the Evaluation Plan, the salesperson is in control of the sales process. In other words, the customer can only afford to go through the steps of an Evaluation Plan with vendor because of the time, cost, and resources to perform each step. The goal of the Proposal stage is that your product/service’s value has been demonstrated – via successful completion of the Evaluation Plan – and the customer requests you submit a proposal. |
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| At this stage, the customer narrows his/her options. It is essential for you to respond quickly and professionally. Many potential sales slip away when a commitment falls through the cracks or an e-mail goes unanswered. Microsoft Outlook with Prophet consolidates all of your customer interactions – e-mails, tasks, appointments, notes, and even documents – in one place so you will always have access to a comprehensive, up-to-date status report with that customer. |
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| Step 4: Decision. You are close to closing the deal. But there is still a possibility the deal will not close. Perhaps one of your salespeople gave too much away in the final negotiations, making the deal unprofitable. Or conversely, perhaps he/she did not offer the critical low cost giveaway that would have sealed the deal. |
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| The desired outcome, naturally, is a successfully negotiated deal – perhaps formalized in a signed contract – that symbolizes a win-win arrangement for your company and the customer. |
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| Step 5: Repeat Business. A signed contract is really just the first chapter of the story. The Repeat Business step signifies the sales process is indeed a process. To ensure your company continues to serve your customer, you need to focus on satisfying your customer. The product or service must be delivered and implemented as promised. At the appropriate time, you will begin the Prospecting step again, probing the customer to see if there is an ongoing need that can be serviced with a simple reorder or, if needs have changed, the opportunity to upsell or cross-sell a new product or service. You want to earn repeat business and a customer referral. |
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| Staying connected with your customers is easier with Microsoft Outlook and Prophet. You can: |
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- Use your current Outlook contact list to connect various individuals and companies to a single opportunity through the Sales Opportunity Manager.
- Use Outlook and Prophet to set tasks and reminders for specific Opportunities.
- Use the Prophet Contact Manager to find all emails, attachments, tasks and appointments for specific people or companies.
- Use Sales Opportunity Manager to quickly view all active or inactive sales opportunities, what stage they are in and what the next steps are.
- Use Prophet Reporter to summarize the data in various ways to give you the view and formats you need.
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