What’s a sales process?
A sales process is a set of repeatable steps
that a sales person takes to take a
prospective buyer from the early stage of
awareness to a closed sale.
Simply put, it is a potential customer’s
journey from realizing they have a need for a
product to making an actual purchase.
And since the sales process is a journey for a
prospect, it is a roadmap for a sales person.
sales process consists of 5-7 steps
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Following type of sales people include in
personal selling:
Order Takers
Seek repeat sales, make certain that customers have sufficient
product quantities where and when they need it. Do not require
extensive sales effort. Arrange displays, restocks them, answer phone
calls. Low compensation, little training required. High turnover of
personnel.
Inside Order Takers receive orders by mail/phone, sales person in a
retail store.
Field Order Takers travel to customers.
Order Getters
Sell to new customers and increase sales to present customers,
sometimes called creative selling.
Generate customer leads, provide information, persuading customers
and closing sales. Required for high priced, complex and/or new
products. High pressure, requires expensive, time consuming training
Trade Salespeople
May perform order taking function as well.
Spend much time helping customers,
especially retail stores, to promote the
product. Restock the shelves, set up displays.
Team Selling
Team selling is “selling using multiple people
who each bring something unique to the sales
process, especially when specialized
knowledge is needed to satisfy different
interests in customers' buying centers.
Elements of the Personal Selling Process
Salespersons use exactly the same sales
method, but it is generally a seven step
process:
Prospecting and Evaluating
Making the Presentation
Closing
Following Up
Functions Performed by salespeople to
manage their customer
Sales Custo
Call mer
Order
Follow Purcha
Up se
Order
Order
Deliver
y
Specific Characteristics which makes sales
manager effective:
1. Coaching
2. Critical Thinker
3. Hiring
4. Be a team player
5. Treat all your salespeople equally
6. Give positive feedback
Sales Process and how to Prospect New
Account
1. Get a decent list of prospects.
2. Create a qualifying script.
3. Set reasonable prospecting goals.
4. Get into a positive mental state.
5. Make the calls.
Sales channel use in Coca Cola:
Trade Shows: We conduct our trade shows in the following ways:
Business Theater: We set up our business theater where our well
trained sales rep
gives the potential customers the presentations regarding our product.
Brief Overview: A brief overview of the company is given to the
attendees along with all the exciting things that they would find inside
our booth. They are also giving a brief introduction regarding our
product.
Booth Activities: Fun activities are offered at the booth where people
can play different games and are offered prizes.
Team Selling: We practice team selling in our organization. It is
implemented in the following ways
Distribution:
Direct Distribution (Company 2 Company)
Indirect Distribution (Company to Distributor)
Suggestions:
Just as we always encourage our sales people to follow up with potential
clients, be sure to follow up with your sales team on discussions brought
up in coaching, training, or sales meetings. Ask them whether the
information was useful, how they are able to apply it, what issues they are
still encountering. When you follow up on key discussions, your sales
people will be more likely to actively apply the material to their daily
activities.
Managers often emphasize to their employees the necessity for constant
development and training. Don’t forget that the same applies to you.
Consider taking a professional sales management or sales coaching course
to help you manage your sales team toward more productive and profitable
possibilities.
Goals do not have to be just about hitting numbers; you should also set
developmental goals with your sales people. Tangible goals around habit
and attitude improvements as well as knowledge and skills acquisition
goals will produce well-rounded professionals who will better be able to
achieve their sales targets.
Be a resource for your team. Share your own success stories, best practices,
and advice on your areas of expertise, and direct them to appropriate external
resources when needed. Show your team that they can come to you with
challenges and questions.
Do you know your sales team and how they learn best? Take some time to
identify the personality types and learning styles of the people within your team
in order to help you deliver your sales meetings, coaching, and training sessions
in the most effective way.
Don’t allow negative morale to pervade your company culture. When signs of
negative morale become apparent, find out what is at the root of your
employees’ concerns, and then have an informative and open conversation with
them about their concerns.
With your sales team at the heart of your business, it’s important to keep them
in constant development in terms of industry, product, and sales knowledge.
Early in the year, work out a training and development plan with each sale
professional, and stick to it, no matter how busy things get. Ensuring that your
sales team is equipped with the latest knowledge will translate into more
opportunities for new business and innovation.
Conclusion
A defined sales process can help you do the right things right and know for sure
what works and what doesn’t. Equipped with this knowledge you can avoid making
the same mistakes.
The long-term advantages of adopting a well-tuned sales process are plenty.
Your sales team can:
create and maintain long-lasting customer relationships,
ensure higher customer lifetime value,
reduce customer retention costs,
get more referrals,
increase sales revenue.
For a sales manager, following a standardized sales process creates a possibility to
concentrate on the things that matter most: planning, distributing leads,
prioritizing tasks, managing your team’s time and work load better, as well as
making more accurate sales forecasts.
To make sure your team sticks to the process, you need a CRM. A CRM system will
automate every sales stage and prompt what actions to take, when to follow up,
send information and when to start preparing your sales pitch.
CRM allows you to easily program all sales stages, document all communication
and move a prospect from one stage to another at the right time. Less work, more
sales. What more could you ask for?