The 5 Step Sales Process Open to Close

If you are like most business operators within a small to medium organisation, it is very unlikely that you have a concrete sales process designed to set your sales professionals for success. The way it generally works is you hire a decent sales professional which presents well and, may or may not have industry contacts, you provide them with a list of the clients they will be taking care of, you give them the company vehicle keys, phone, laptop and off they go. Can anyone relate to this?

The sales function of your business is crucial to the success of the company and the expectation is for this sales professional to bring your company more sales and profit which you will start measuring a few months down the track. This is of course true only if they're experienced and get cracking straight away with a solid sales process that will deliver the desired results. Unfortunately, most sales professional don't work to a system or process. They actually "wing it" and figure it out as they go - mainly focusing on opportunities that are price driven and undercutting the opposition in order to drive revenue. But what does this do to your profit margins? Why do organisations leave the most important function of the business to chance?

I was fortunate enough to start my sales career for a large multinational organisation where they did not leave this crucial part of the business sales function to chance. Each professional was provided adequate training on the sales process before they were let out into the marketplace as true professionals. Now, is this the only way of doing things? Absolutely not. I have taken what they have taught me, added my personality and spin to it, adjusted this to my clients needs and decision making process, as well as the current business climate, and, developed a winning 5 step sales process which I am just about to share with you.

So, what is the job of the sales professional?

Step 1 - Identify Opportunities

It all starts with finding someone that needs and will greatly benefit from your product or service. I say 'needs' and 'greatly benefit' from your product or service because this is extremely important. Many sales professionals under pressure to deliver sales, will try to sell their product or service to anyone they can influence to buy - regardless of whether that product or service is the best possible solution for the clients needs. This may look good on the sales report for a short period of time, however, sooner or latter, the client will realise the truth and you will trigger in them the most negative buyers emotion which I call "buyers remorse". And there's no coming back from that! Have you ever been influenced by a sales person to buy something at a store and then after a few days you have that uncomfortable feeling of being conned? It's a horrible feeling right? Will you ever buy from that guy or gal again? I don't think so.

Step 2 - Build Like and Trust

People buy from people they know, like and trust. But what happens if your prospect doesn't know you yet? Well, it is your job to build rapport with this person/decision maker and his/her collogues and get to the point where you both genuinely know each other, like each other, trust each other to do business together. This, however, doesn't give you permission to sell them something they don't need. And on the flip side, if you feel that this prospect is not the right fit to work with you and your company, be brave to respectively walk away from the opportunity and save yourself the hassles down the track. To compress time and build rapport quickly, there's many techniques which I will write about in future blogs. However, a couple of things you can try instantly is maintaining eye contact with your prospect, mirroring body posture (without being weird) as well as pacing and leading voice tonality and speed of talking. Talking too much and showing off is not a way to build rapport. It's a way to irritate people and that's the last thing we want to achieve.

Step 3 - Ask To Provide a Formal Offer/Quote

When you are certain that you have a great product or service that your prospect needs and they will greatly benefit from it and when you are confident that you both know, like and trust each other and you are prepared to do business together - ask you prospect for an obligation free opportunity to provide a formal offering or quotation for the product/service you have in mind. Nine times out of ten, your request will be granted and you will get the opportunity you have asked for. If the answer is negative, not all is lost. It means you have to do some more work on step 2 or perhaps look into step 1. Important to understand that for most people to say yes to something, you will need at least 6-7 interactions (face to face, Zoom, Phone etc). Do not give up on the first or second attempt.

Step 4 - Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up

The money is in the follow up. After you have provided your formal offering, ask your prospect for 5-10 minutes of their time in order to go through the details of your offering. This is a conversation you will need to have either face to face or over the phone as they are the most influential means of communication. During this meeting, you will have an opportunity to get a good sense of where you client stands with your offering. Is your product or service what they actually need? Do they trust you and your company enough to give you the first order? Are you miles away in pricing from you opposition? This is the time to find out everything you need to know in order to proceed to the next step. And as a side note, if they say you are 10% off on your pricing, that's normal. It means you are in the game. Just get all your ducks in a row and keep working on the relationship and the like and trust. This is also a time to get other people from your business involved and expand on the relationship to more levels. Get the tech guys involved, get your marketing people involved, your boss....whatever it takes. The more your prospect knows about your company and the people that work with you, the more the confidence goes up. Don't be a lone wolf.

Step 5 - Close, Ask for The Order

You will be surprised, however, most sales professionals will do well with steps 1 to 4 and then they will never ask for the order - they wait for it to fall in their lap. And guess what, in most situations it doesn't. So, what do we do here. Before you ask for the order, I suggest a quick assessment on the work you have done so far in the process. Is the product or service I am providing the perfect solution to the prospects needs and will they greatly benefit by purchasing from me? Does the prospect know, like and trust me as the sales professional? Does the prospect know, like and trust the company I represent? If you answer is Yes to all of these questions, it's time to ask for the order. If, however, your self assessment delivers you a negative answer to any of these questions, you need to go back to Step 2. You rapport is not in check and you need to work on it for a bit longer.

And always remember, most sales professionals are nice people but it's the few that are the closers and winners that make the difference to an organisation and they're the most rewarded.

Hope you found value in this piece and feel free to send me a message if any questions or comments.

[email protected]

Louie Mitrevski

24th March 2021