the fun of a formal sales process

You can easily be good. It requires only a small amount of effort beyond the norm.

To be one of the greats, to go to the next level requires the consistent ability to follow through and finish – another small difference but one with the potential for tremendous results.

The best way to be sure you and your team are following through and finishing every sales opportunity is to have a deliberate and formal process to which you hold yourself and/ or your team accountable – a fairly obvious improvement strategy that's so often set aside with the belief that it's intuitive and doesn't need to be documented.

It does.

Sales is not a game. Nothing about it should be left to chance. An effective process that ensures progress toward the goal of bringing in new customers and retaining current customers is what you and your team should strive for. Your process should be methodical, predictable, and hold you and/ or your team accountable.

Fun is closing more business. Fun is exceeding expectations.

Be sure your initial sales process efforts are not wasted by a lack of follow-through. Invest the time outside the money hours to create the deliberate and predictable process that will help you and your team stay on track in every sales opportunity.

just sell®

email just this thought to someone

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sales process checkpoints (a sample)

1. identify, approach & engage the prospect
• initial approach call
• initial approach email (immediately following call)
• initial follow-up call (two days later if no contact made)
• initial follow-up email (immediately following call)
• secondary follow-up call (two days later if no contact made)
• third follow-up call (three days later if no contact made)
• third follow-up email (immediately following call)
2. learn about the prospect
• discover primary, secondary and hidden needs/ objectives
• identify decision makers
• identify timelines for possible purchase/ implementation
• identify budget
• gauge buying urgency
3. analyze needs
• evaluate & qualify opportunity
• create options/ solutions
4. present solutions to needs
• propose/ discuss options/ solutions
• gauge buying urgency and qualify
5. negotiate
• address value issues
• create buying urgency
• find win/ win
6. close
• agree to purchase
• confirm timeline to implementation/ delivery/ payment
7. service & follow-up
• hand off to account management team