Recognizing Sale as a process

My professor used to say "If the process is in place, results will fall in place for sure". Quite often we the sales community overlook the importance of process and focus too much on what's the end result. If you are one of those who really want to excel in sales and improve the pipeline then you must step back for a moment and think what is it that can be improved at every stage of the process.

Every sales is different, every company is different and so will be the corresponding pain points. If you belong to a start up or let's say you have a niche' product/ service then for a sales process the typical use case would look like this :

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Engagement
4. Purchase

A sales person should plan everyday so that all his activities fall in one of the below categories. You can't just surpass one and step on to next. For this you also need to hone your skills to progress your prospects from one stage to another.

Awareness

Building awareness has two components :

• Awareness of who you are : You want people to recognize you and remember you. This is something which you will live with forever. Who you are as a person ? What qualities you have? The best way to express that is to tap in to Social Media. Don't think that you will spend sometime on LinkedIn and you will get some leads or closures. Not that's not going to happen. Use it as a tool to know people and let people know you. Show your expertise, share your views, start a discussion, contribute to a community by creating some valuable content. That's when people will know you and it will be easy for you to break the ice.
• Being aware about what you sell : A lot is done by the marketing team of the company you are working for. But never assume that what you company is doing is enough for you. People are busy and they are always on to something else until they face some challenges. You job must be keep people educated about the challenges which may or may not happen. And in case it happen you are the one to whom they should come for solutions.

But can you control this. YES, you can. Make a plan of how you will be spreading the awareness. Make a plan to enhance your skills.

Consideration

I get thrilled when someone reach out to me out of the blue moon with a requirement without me putting any effort at that point of time. It happened recently to me that one of partner from Mumbai replied to the email I sent to him in 2016 about SAP HANA. We had a casual conversation and after that we never spoke. Once people are aware of you and what you sell and if you are talking to the right person, he will come back to you. That's your consideration.

But can you control this. NO. You can't.

Engagement and Purchase

All that we need to succeed in Sales is a good pipeline of qualified leads. Once you have it you don't win or lose alone. There is a whole team which helps you out. Just focus on the dialog to happen and getting in front of someone who is qualified to buy what you are selling.

You don't have control on every aspects of Sales, but you can certainly your sales process to a large extent. Don't let anything deter your focus from building a solid pipeline which starts with you reaching out to as many people as possible.