{"id":1327,"date":"2019-06-21T08:57:25","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T08:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/?p=1327"},"modified":"2019-06-20T00:25:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T00:25:30","slug":"building-a-sales-process-that-lasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/building-a-sales-process-that-lasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Building A Sales Process That Lasts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2015\/01\/companies-with-a-formal-sales-process-generate-more-revenue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Harvard Business survey<\/a> there was \u201can 18% difference in revenue growth between companies that defined a formal sales process and companies that didn\u2019t.\u201d Many B2B companies don\u2019t take the time to lay the foundation for building a sales process that lasts.<\/p>\n<p>With this kind of potential <a href=\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/develop-key-accounts-to-increase-revenue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revenue growth<\/a>, how can you afford not to?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What Is A Defined Sales Process?<\/h2>\n<p>The typical sales process is <strong>defined in the stages of<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prospecting<\/li>\n<li>Qualification<\/li>\n<li>Consideration<\/li>\n<li>Decision<\/li>\n<li>Close<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, it\u2019s rather important to define your own. If you don\u2019t want generic sales performance, then don\u2019t use a generic sales process.<\/p>\n<p>Having a defined sales process means having clearly defined standardized stages and milestones that are understood by everyone from your sales leaders to front line sales reps. <strong>Your company is unique, so each team member can get on board<\/strong> with your unique process. The process guides the sales team about where a particular deal is in the process and how they should be managing deals in each stage, for your specific organization.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>How Do I Begin to Build a Lasting Sales Process?<\/h2>\n<p>For your sales process to be effective, it should align with how your customers move through their buying process.<\/p>\n<p>To create a great sales process, <strong>start from the perspective of the customer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answering these questions<\/strong> will give you a benchmark from which you can make decisions when laying the foundation:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who is my customer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are their pain points?<\/li>\n<li>What are the gains for which they would pay?<\/li>\n<li>Does my value proposition solve their pain points?<\/li>\n<li>Does my product offer features that will add value to their businesses?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Next, look at your customer\u2019s unique buying process. In their simplest form, most buying processes look like this:<\/p>\n<p><strong>The buyer:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Defines a need<\/li>\n<li>Does an information search<\/li>\n<li>Evaluates choices<\/li>\n<li>Makes the purchase<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After identifying the steps your buyer takes in their own process, determine in detail what they do at each stage. <strong>Get feedback from your sales team, and even clients. Know your <a href=\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/are-you-selling-to-your-target-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">target customer\u2019s<\/a> buying attitudes and define the main decision points<\/strong>. This will give you the insight you need to bring your strengths to the table at just the right moment.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you have a thorough understanding of your customer and their process, it\u2019s time to work on creating your sales process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Four Steps to Create an Extraordinary Sales Process<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Define sales stages that are specific to your company.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Define objectives for each stage<\/strong> based on targeted outcomes, goals and objectives<\/li>\n<li>Choose appropriate actions for each step that will promote the customer to the next stage in the buying process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Choose the tools salespeople would need<\/strong> to achieve their goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This standardized process can be repeated by your whole team in an efficient manner. Evaluate the process regularly and tweak as needed. <strong>Hold meetings with sales teams for feedback<\/strong> to continually improve your process.<\/p>\n<p>Although a B2B sales process takes a while to master and will require modifications along the way, it will deliver results for your business indefinitely.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Need someone to look at your sales process<\/strong> from a new perspective? Or maybe help you get started on creating one? Give us a call or <a href=\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/contact-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">set up a free consultation here<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/devops-business-process-improvement-3148393\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Image Attribution<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to a Harvard Business survey there was \u201can 18% difference in revenue growth between companies that defined a formal sales process and companies that didn\u2019t.\u201d Many B2B companies don\u2019t take the time to lay the foundation for building a sales process that lasts. With this kind&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,137],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1332,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions\/1332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/360consultingdfw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}