Managing sales processes

Knowing a good prospect from a bad one can make all the difference in the sales cycle. Paras Rastogi explains how well thought out sales processes can help companies manage the sales cycle better

With increased competition and diminishing budgets, communicating with the customer and converting sales is becoming increasingly difficult. Competing strictly on price, quality and features is the road most companies travel. But in the world of overcapacity and sensory overload, there will always be some companies that can do things a little better than others, which is exactly what managing the sales process is all about. Selling has become a one-shot opportunity, so there is a real need for companies to find effective sales process enhancement and knowledge tools that will have a significant impact on sales conversion rates and knowledge management.

Most organisations are redefining their sales processes and sales strategies to get maximum market share. Typically, in the IT business, the sales cycles for different categories of products are different and so are sales processes. It’s become imperative that the sales process is managed and defined in such a manner that most sales-related opportunities are closed in short span of time. Every organisation has a sales process—either defined or intuitive. The objective of the uniform sale process is to have all salespeople follow a similar process, so that the status of every sale can be effectively communicated in the forecast.

The way organisations sell their products and services can have an impact on the way it is being perceived by customers. Smart businesses set out processes and targets to ensure a high quality of service to their customers. Sales processes should do more than providing product information to the customer and also meet the needs of the customer. Try to place yourself in the shoes of your customers or prospective customers and align your sale processes accordingly. The art of selling is not as straightforward as one may think. Success in sales is usually defined through the ‘CID approach.’

• Conviction: Develop a conviction within the sales force that the product they are selling or marketing is best among the products available in the market.
• Interest: Build their interest towards the products and company policies for the customer. They must know their competition and what makes their company unique.
• Desire: Develop a desire to excel in their field so that they can sell the product with conviction and interest.

Sales organisations worldwide optimise their sales processes—the way they market, sell to, and service customers. The most important thing to do is to ensure the successful implementation of your sales development initiative. Analyse your current sales process and then redefine the process and structure with changing customer expectations and market dynamics. Reviewing sales has almost become a quarterly exercise for the organisation, as compared to earlier when the sales process was reviewed only once a year.

Research and experience tells us that not only are sales cycles increasing in length but also more and more people are getting involved in the customer’s decision process. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your current sales process so that you have a clear view of what changes have to be incorporated in the sales cycle to get a feedback mechanism in-built. If we build an uni-directional sales process then regular checks on the same cannot be implemented. A sales process with no in-built checks or feedback mechanism will not sustain for long.

The sales process should be built by defining the sales action steps as well as the buyer’s decision-making actions. The starting point of the sales cycle is the identification of the prospect base and the end is about converting that prospect in to a loyal customer. Once the prospect is identified then find out some information about them by checking to see if they have a Web page and trying to understand their business to some extent. Once you understand what the prospect does, try and formulate a solution that you can provide to that prospect and find out what value or benefit the prospect will gain by using your product/solution—perhaps your product has some new feature that can translate into big savings or can increase productivity.

This process of associating the product or solution with customer needs is a critical part of the sales process and it cannot be defined as a process but can only be termed as a creative approach towards selling. Most of the time sales personnel start making cold calls without understanding their customers’ business and needs.

If you’re in a consulting or service-oriented business you know that it’s going to require a relationship building process, whereas in a product sales environment you have to offer only product information and product features. In the IT sales scenario the selling process revolves around the three major activities of qualifying the prospect, demo- workshop and closure. They occur in that order, but the process isn’t strictly linear.

Actually, the sales process is a kind of spiral, each step feeding back and influencing the others as the process moves forward towards the closure of the deal. The typical time to close a sales opportunity after the favourable technical decision is taken is around two to three months, but a good sales process can reduce this time frame drastically. Building a sales process around qualifying the enquiry will not only save expensive resources that hang on to bad deals in places they should have walked away from at an early stage in the sales cycle.

In the sales scenario one should always keep reviewing how best people, processes, and technology can be leveraged. If your sales process is defined with the optimum use of people and technology than you have a successful sale process implemented within the organisation. Behind the success of each of the major companies are the strategic ideas and sales processes that have challenged the status quo. That’s the reason why most of these companies who are leaders today were once dismissed as mavericks and wildcards. Take time to think about the approach that would work best in the sales environment your reps will be facing and then implement the sales process accordingly.

The author is working with an IT major as strategic account manager. He can be contacted at rastogiparas@yahoo.com