Sales process management, dive into the sales bottom lines
One of the problems that business owners create to themselves is lacking of planning. They try to sell but there are many holes inside their process from being consistent, building the script, handling with objections, and even returning to customers. Every dysfunction in each phase would lead to a failure in closing the deal.
In this article, you would learn the sales process steps. Starting from planning the sales conversation and preparing for each sale separately. Continuing with selling to customers, dealing with their concerns, and returning to follow-ups.
Those are the topics going to be spoken:
1. When do you start your sales process management.
2. Building the correct introduction to strengthen the sales process management.
3. The main part of the sales process when selling.
4. Money time in the sales process management.
5. Tools to overcome objections.
6. How to follow up in the sales process management.
7. Raising the sales process to its' peak.
In order to understand the sales process better. I would start by explaining some basic terms in sales
Important terms in the sales process management
You probably think that you know what is sales. You imagine in your mind, a slippery person who would do anything to close the deal. Maybe in the past, it was justified in many cases. Nowadays, it is not the case. Most salespeople understand that they need to answer a customers' need to close the deal. They actually help the customer to solve a problem.
Sales mean help! That's right, help!!! It comes from the “sale” in Greek meaning to help someone.
When you sell, change your mindset. You help your customers gain more time, committing an action he couldn't do without you or even reaching what he eager to achieve.
The mindset in sales process management
The second important term is a perspective or mindset to sell. It means a kind of thinking that you imagine the credit card, the transaction, appoint a sales meeting. It depends on the purpose of the sales conversation.
Script
When preparing to sell, you have to build a script. Meaning a written sales play concealed in your memory, paper, or document. It is what you say to your customers to convince them to do an action you aim to.
Products' benefits vs features
When selling you have to separate between products' features and benefits. When speaking about features you tell the customers what your product is doing and what it is being consisted of. When speaking about benefits, you speak about what the customers would gain when using your product. In other words, what would be the results of using your product.
Objections in the sales process management
When selling you have to separate between products' features and benefits. When speaking about features you tell the customers what your product is doing and what it is being consisted of. When speaking about benefits, you speak about what the customers would gain when using your product. In other words, what would be the results of using your product.
Follow-ups
The second important term is a perspective or mindset to sell. It means a kind of thinking that you imagine the credit card, the transaction, appoint a sales meeting. It depends on the purpose of the sales conversation.
From UCLA psychology professor Emeritus Albert Mehrabian's research
When do you start your sales process management
From a first glance, the obvious answer is when you pick up the phone or meet a client but it is wrong.
The correct answer is when you decide to sell. Think about that, you wake up in the morning and the last action you want to take is selling. Would you sell on that day? Probably not!
On the other hand, when you tell yourself to bring them on! I'm willing to face any sales challenge, you would sell more!
So the first action to take when preparing to sell is actually not an action at all but a mindset. 50% of your sales is actually the belief that you can sell and that the customer would want to buy the product.
Research the market
The next step is knowing your customers. Here it is extremely important to have a strong integration with marketing. You need to research the market to understand exactly who is your target audience, what is their average profile, what are their needs, what are the values you try to promote to them, and why they should buy from you regardless of your competitors. The script would be built through those insights.
Build a sales script
When you know the answers to those questions, you can make time to build your sales script. You need to emphasize what the customers want to hear. You would focus on the main values the customers need, for solving their problems.
In the script, there would be an opening, the main part, and the ending. Next section I would explain how to start editing your script.
Building the correct introduction to strengthen the sales process management
You already understand that your approach toward sales is: I must sell and the customers would want my product.
Now, you need to promote the other 50% of sales. Do the action of sales.
When the customer meets you for the first time or hears your voice. It is important to have a strong opening. Remember that “there is no second impression to the first impression”!
First sentence
In the first sentence, your introduction must contain 3 parts:
1. You have to know that you speak with the right person.
2. You have to introduce yourself: Who are you and from which company are you.
3. You have to explain to the customer what is the purpose of the conversation. In other words what the customer would gain from listening to you in the next couple of minutes.
Second and third sentence
If you introduce yourself using those three steps, you probably would gain a few more seconds to say your second sentence. Still, it doesn't mean that the customer is willing to cooperate.
So the next sentence would be on what is unique about your product and company. Here you should add the crowded effect such as: We have many customers, we have X years of experience in that field and etc.
The third sentence would be a trail to move to the next phase of asking questions. You should indicate to the customer what you are about to do. Ask permission to ask him a few questions but don't wait for the reply just start to ask questions.
The main part of the sales process when selling
If you have passed the first phase of introducing yourself. Now you are in the main body of the script. At that time you would want to get to know better your customer. The customer would want to know what do you suggest to solve his problem.
Reveal the customer needs in the sales process
First, you have to ask the customers questions to reveal his needs. You would ask between 3-5 questions. No more than that. The number of questions you should ask depend on the industry, customer patience, and the situation.
Always, start with a general question. As you move along ask more personal questions to receive more specific details.
You would start with a Characterization question to characterize the customer's needs. You can ask what are you looking for, what is important to you, how much do you need and more.
The next question would be to address the customer's problem. You can ask what is the problem you are facing, what you would consider a solution and you get the picture.
The last question would be the solution. The purpose of the question is to connect the phase of asking questions to present the product. If you would receive the value of the product, you would want that, right?
Remember that you can ask 1-2 Characterization questions, 1-2 problem questions, and 1 solution question. Write down what the customer is saying. It would help in the next phase of presenting the product.
Performing in the sales process
In this phase, the customer will want to know what do you have to offer. Here you will explain about the product: why the customer should buy from you.
You need to keep 4 principles to raise the chance the customer will want to buy:
1. Speak about every feature the product has. The deletion of details might cause a misunderstanding of your product.
2. Emphasis benefits the customer wants to hear. This is why it is extremely important to ask questions. To each feature you speak of, you need to string a value the customer would gain. You would speak about the right benefits that would solve the customer's problem, raised in the asking questions phase. Also, remember you need to broadcast on the same level of marketing. You can't praise a benefit that is contradicting to the marketing message.
3. It's not what but how! You must speak with passion every time you present the product. The customer needs to feel that it is the best solution for him. Remember that the customer buys you before buying your product.
4. Listen!!! Even when it is expected that you would speak more than the customer. Still, if you speak between one minute to two minutes without a response of your customer. There are high chances that the customer has lost you! In the script always have at least two places to pause. Each time ask the customer a question. It can be: do you have questions, do you understand the benefit of using that feature and so on.
Remember that this is the longest phase of your sales process itself. You need to be focused and really believe in what you say.
Money time in the sales process management
After you explain the customer on your product, when trying to seal the deal, you reach the closing phase.
This phase begins when you start speaking on pricing, agreement signing or schedule a meeting.
You need to remember 3 steps to close more customers:
1.Finish each sentence with an exclamation mark. This is the phase you need to be at the highest level of self-confidence.
2. Give the customer a higher price before telling him about the real discount price.
3. Go directly to seal the deal. Don't hesitate to ask the customer a closing question such as: Do you want to deliver the product in the morning, noon, or afternoon, to which email do you want to receive the email receipt. Write 5-10 closing questions to draw when needed.
What you have learned is in the Utopian world. Meaning the customer lets you speak and brings out his credit card. However, most of the time the customer would raise objections. He would try to resist the deal. In the next section, I would explain what you can do to overcome his concerns.
Tools to overcome objections
It is a belief that a salesperson has to call 5 times on average for the closing!
When you sell, you would discover that customers intend not to trust you, don't understand the values you offer, or afraid to make a decision. This is the reason you need to rule on objection handling.
The most common mistake of business owners that they go directly to in front of the customers' concerns. You need to have one step before starting.
Start handling with objections
You want the customers to listen to you. To do that, soften the customer. Show him that you walk hand by hand with him. There are 3 main ways to do that:
1. Use empathy- Start with I can understand what you are saying and then continue with solving the customer's concern. The customer wants to consult. You claim: I can understand that you need to talk with your partner to make a decision, however...
2. Mirroring- return after what the customer says in your own words. To a customer who says that the product is too expensive or he has no budget, you can answer: I know that this is an expense you didn't plan, however..
3. Turn a problem to a solution- Start the answer to the customer's concern with: This is the reason... The customer raised that he needs to think about it. You answer this is the reason that you can take a trial package to try our product for a month for only (price).
After you have softened the customer reaction. Now the real sales work begins!
3 power solutions to objections
I would give 3 more tools to overcome objections. Use them as separated or a combination to solve more customers' concerns:
1. Proportion- You simply tell the customer that his concern is irrelevant for the product or it has a little significance. The customer says that it is not a good time to start using the product. You can say: this is exactly the reason that you can use the product wherever and for how long you want.
2. Crowded effect- You tell the customer that there are many other customers who use the product, indicates researches or point on numbers. The customer thinks of buying your competitor's product. Your answer: I had many customers who thought like you before, now they are my best customers.
3. Guided imaginary- You describe the customer a better realty using your product. The customer is not sure about the value of the product. Your answer: think that you use the product and you gain 1, 2, 3 results how great is it?
Until now, we speak on how to build a script. How to start, continue with asking and explaining about the product. We ended with sealing the deal.
In addition, I indicted on objection handling. I gave 3 tools to soften the customer and 3 others to overcome the objection. Use them wisely!
However, there are 2 missing parts in the sales process we haven't spoken about: follow-ups and improving the sales process. In the next two sections, we would summarize on follow-ups and improving the sales process.
How to follow up in the sales process management
In most cases, depending on the industry, you would have to know how to follow-up with your customer. Meaning to know how to return to a customer who hasn't closed the deal in the first, second, third, and more contact trials.
Here you must build a process of actions you would take to contact the follow-ups. You must answer two questions about how am I going to contact the customer and what should I say. In other words, what the customer would gain from me when I contact him again.
The answer to this first question can be: the second contact would be on Whatsapp. The third would be on the email, the forth again on the phone, and so on.
The answer to the second question can be the second contact you can offer a limited discount. The third would be a value which the customer hasn't thought about or you want to sharpen. The forth can be a customer recommendation.
Remember that in most cases you would have to return to follow-ups between 8-15 times to close the deal!
Give up only if the offer is not worth the effort or the customer too many times avoiding you.
How to follow up in the sales process management
In most cases, depending on the industry, you would have to know how to follow-up with your customer. Meaning to know how to return to a customer who hasn't closed the deal in the first, second, third, and more contact trials.
Here you must build a process of actions you would take to contact the follow-ups. You must answer two questions about how am I going to contact the customer and what should I say. In other words, what the customer would gain from me when I contact him again.
The answer to this first question can be: the second contact would be on Whatsapp. The third would be on the email, the forth again on the phone, and so on.
The answer to the second question can be the second contact you can offer a limited discount. The third would be a value which the customer hasn't thought about or you want to sharpen. The forth can be a customer recommendation.
Remember that in most cases you would have to return to follow-ups between 8-15 times to close the deal!
Give up only if the offer is not worth the effort or the customer too many times avoiding you.
Integration between sales to marketing
You need to have an excellent connection between sales and marketing to overcome together on a common objection. Sales have to inform marketing on the common objections being raised. Marketing has to publish many posts addressing the customers' concerns.
Also, when marketing managing paid campaigns they need to speak on the concerns the customers usually raise. That would help to warm the customers for the selling later on.
Look at the numbers
Another important action to take is by looking at the statistics. In each industry, the closing percentage would be different. However, at some point, it would be gathered to an average. Sales have to follow the numbers and supervise it don't drop. If it does, they have to check if the quality of the leads has been reduced and inform marketing. In most cases that won't be the reason, it would be because you return to the leads more than one day. Another common reason is your energy has dropped. Remember that!
When marketing you also would have to be with hand on the pulse. If you witness a reduction in the number of leads you receive, you should try another message, image, different target audience, different platforms, and so on. Remember that hot leads bring more sales!
Change the script to have a better sales process management
The last step you should be aware of is the reaction of your customers. Don't have a stoned script. You probably would have to change the script between few times to dozens of times.
Change it if you don't feel comfortable with something you say, you feel that the customer doesn't understand your product or there are objections which recurrent over and over. Use the script to overcome common objections!
