Is it important to have a structured Sales Process?
I am a great believer in providing teams with the tools they need to do their job in an efficient and effective way. In enterprise sales a clear process which is fit for purpose, supports the successful conversion of leads to new clients with higher client retention rates.
Benefits of a sales process:
A sales process helps the business to streamline sales activities in a consistent and structured way. It empowers productivity in sales teams and drives accountability. A sales process helps sales teams to successfully perform by investing resources and time on selling activities that are aligned with the business objectives leading to higher win rates and sustainable revenue growth.
Key elements for a sales process include the following:
Prospecting:
Identify prospective market sectors across multiple channels. It is important to know your markets and to understand how you can develop solutions or products to meet their needs. Markets have changed over the past number of months and will continue to evolve; your prospecting should take this into consideration.
Qualification:
Define the criteria in establishing an Ideal Customer Profile, this may take into consideration the market sector, region, client size, business opportunity. This will provide clarity on what qualifies as a future business opportunity.
Solution development:
Understand prospect needs and developing a value driven solution, aligned with the client requirements. Every client will have specific challenges in their business which they expect will be resolved, this is pivotal in the consideration and development of the solution.
Closing:
When closing a deal preparation is key, ensure there is clarity of all assumptions when conducting the contract negotiations. When handling sales objections understand the reasons and be prepared with possible solutions to the objections.
Account Management:
When the contract is won it is important to engage proactively in account management. Building strong relationships between the two organisations, will provide the chance to resolve any issues as they occur and build mutual trust. It also presents opportunities for cross selling and referrals. To determine the customers overall satisfaction the Net Promotor Score (NPS) is a KPI that measures the willingness of customers to recommend the company’s products or services to others. It gauges the customer’s loyalty to the brand.
In conclusion
In the absence of a sales process, there is no structured approach to attracting and qualifying new leads which results in an inefficient use of resources and an unsustainable growth plan.