subject: Entrepreneurs Need A Sales Process That Works [print this page] As an entrepreneur you need to build a sales process for your organization. Like every other part of your operation you have to have a process that works to bring in new leads and convert them into new clients. Having a structured sales method maximizes efficiency, but many entrepreneurs miss or ignore this step. A sales process gives you steps and structure reducing the number of lost sales and giving you the structure for future growth.
There can be many reasons for not putting together a solid sales process. Many business owners feel they are too small to have written operational plans and processes. Or consider it to be busy work, or they don't feel they have the time. But the reality is that a sales process will save time in the long run and increase the number of clients that you have. The process gives your sales team a structure to follow and process that has been proven over time to work. It makes their job easier and more predictable in the long run. But, whatever your rationale is for not putting together a process now is the time to correct the error and increase sales.
The first step is to evaluate your customers. Think from the customer's perspective, not from a place of "how do I make the sale" but instead: "what does the customer need to do, need to believe, need to want in order to buy?" By shifting your focus to the customer you shift your sales process too. Take a deeper look at your customer:
1.What questions does your customer need to answer in order to buy? What are the problems that they need to solve with your solution?
2.For each prospective customer or customer type you need to know what their buying process is. Who makes the decisions for the purchase and who needs to be involved in the buying process? Do you have the right people in the room?
3.Where is our client in their buying processes? Is your client a day or two away from signing a contract, or are they still "kicking the tires"?
4.What is the next reasonable step they must take? If you can figure out where they are and what it's going to take to make them buy, then we can find the next logical step for them to take.
5.What can we do to get them to take that step? Once we know what our customer needs to do next, then we can figure out what we need to do next in our selling process.
Each step of your sales process should help your client through their buying process. Your process should be answering their questions, solving their problems and be in line with their buying process. Your actions should be designed to empower your client to move through their purchasing steps, otherwise you are spinning your wheels and wasting your energy in a process that will not result in a sale.
When you have meetings with company executives of your prospect you need to be clear about how that meeting fits into the sales process and know exactly what it is that you want your client to do as a result of this meeting. Do not go into any meeting without a plan. Don't go in "winging it" and hoping that it will result in the right outcome. This is where your sales process and knowledge come into play. Know what you want the meeting to accomplish. What is your goal with the company executives?
Accept your plan, and continue to the next step in the sales/buying process?
Move to a second meeting with other team members to provide additional information and better understanding of the benefits to the client.
Commit to or schedule a time to meet again with you for your recommendations for meeting their needs?
When you have a solid plan of action then you make wise use of your time and that of your prospect. You are not on a hopeful fishing expedition but rather serving your prospect with knowledge, valuable information and real solutions to their problems.
The reality is that the most work happens before the meeting not in the meeting. Spend your time in preparation for the sales meeting. While this may be a lot of work up front it pays off in the long run and saves you time and money. If you fail to know your customer's buying process and where they are in that process, then you don't know what actions to take during the meeting that will empower them to continue moving the process forward. Failure to do this results in overall failure and rather than making a successful sale you have unfortunately just had a nice visit.
