In this video, we discuss how to simplify and improve the sales process steps you move your prospects and leads through.
TLDR
- We improve sales by using a simple 3-step sales process.
- Step 1 is the initial contact, which is the first time you interact with the prospect.
- Step 2 is the conversation, and this is typically the appointment, meeting, or call.
- Step 3 is the explanation, which is where you will explain how you can help by delivering a presentation or demonstration.
3-Step Sales Process
The first thing to do to improve and simplify the sales process is to break it down into three simple and repeatable steps. We use these three steps:
- Initial Contact
- Conversation
- Explanation
Initial Contact
The first step in the sales process is the Initial Contact. This is the first time you are interacting with the prospect, and it can take the form of a cold call, a cold email, or meeting the prospect in person while networking.
Most salespeople will talk primarily about their stuff (their product and company) in their cold calls, cold emails, and while networking. But with this sales process, we recommend making the Initial Contact more about the prospect than about you. You can do that by asking questions to make the interaction more about the prospect and gather valuable information.
The traditional sales approach will also lean more toward trying to sell the product when first interacting with the prospect. With this sales process, we focus more on selling the next step in the process, which is simply talking more and having a conversation.
Conversation
The second step in the sales process is the Conversation, which is simply talking more and having a longer conversation. This typically takes the form of an appointment, meeting, or could be a call on another day.
A very common approach salespeople will make in meetings and appointments by talking a lot about their company and product. With this sales process, we recommend you make half of the meeting or conversation about the prospect and half about you, your product, and your company.
A nice way to do this is to make the first half about the prospect by asking a lot of good questions. Then in the second half, you can introduce your product or service and tailor what you say to what you learned about the prospect.
Explanation
The third step in the sales process is what we call Explanation. This is where you explain how you can help, which might involve some type of presentation or demonstration. But for simpler or commoditized products, the explanation sales process step might be more of a presentation of pricing and options, with a proposal or quotation shared.
The Explanation will typically be a separate meeting on another day. But for simpler products, this sales process step could certainly happen at the end of the Conversation step. For example, you might learn about the prospect and decide to share some slides, a quick product demonstration, or hand them a brochure or product datasheet.
Closing the Prospect
Your ability to close the prospect greatly impacts your ability to manage sales processes. But the key here is to become more aware of what you are closing the prospect on.
We can fall into the trap of only closing the prospect when it is time to close the sale. Or always trying to close the prospect for the sale at every stage of the sales cycle.
The reality is that you should be trying to close the prospect at every stage of the sales process, but the focus should be to close the prospect on moving to the next stage of the sales process.
