There’s one thing that I love about a job in Corporate sales — IT’S NEVER BORING!
A lot of people choose to work in sales because they think it will give them more freedom and less structure and they also think that just talking to a prospect/customer can actually make a sale.
And they are not wrong!
Working into sales gives you a sense of independence in framing your own daily duties and at the same time makes you flexible enough to improvise to get that one “IT’S A DEAL!” from your prospects.
So my question here is, are you or your sales team is making satisfactory sales you desired of? Are you able to generate the revenue you had promised your manager or your team at the beginning of this year or the month? Are you able to build a long-term relationship with your existing customers or customers you are currently working with?
If you were able to answer these questions with a “yes”, you might not need this guide to the sales life cycle.
But if you think you or your sales team could’ve done better or can do better, this ultimate guide will master the stages of your sales life cycle. It will not only change your perspective towards “How sales are done?” but will also challenge you to improve what you’ve been doing wrong all these while in your sales cycle.
What is a sales cycle?
According to Wikipedia, “It is the process a company undergoes when selling a product to a customer. This is what Wikipedia has to say.”
But I would rather call it a collection of steps that salesperson takes to turn a prospect into a customer. That includes everything from finding the right prospect to closing that lead into a sale, but these days B2B has gone beyond just getting a sale. Now, it’s not all about getting that one sale or adding one customer to the list to our existing ones, it is also about maintaining that successful customer relationship with the ones you got on-board or the existing ones.
A typical sales process consists of 6 steps [as mentioned in the flowchart above] that is, prospecting the right audiences. Initiating a conversation with the prospect at the right time, in the right way. Identifying their needs. Preparing a presentation to showcase your offerings. Manage the objections or preparing yourself for a rebuttal and closing that one sale.
However, as I mentioned above, a B2B sales person’s job isn’t over by just closing a sale. The sales cycle shown in the flowchart might not include actions after closing a deal as it is pretty generic and differs from company to company, but after a deal is closed one should try to ask for referrals and make sure services are delivered as mentioned in the deliverables.
1. Prospecting a Lead:
This is usually taken care of by some companies by providing them a list of targeted leads. Or some of them turn out to do exactly like I do, finding leads from scratch with the help of Sales Navigator, by access from LinkedIn Premium. We at Adrixus believe that leads can never be resourceful if monotonous or random. Based on our criteria we try to list down our huge number of leads to just a few prospects that actually fit our identification list and Voila! You can now head toward the next step.
2. Initiate a contact/ Set an appointment:
It is time that you make that first cold call and let them know what you really do. It is not necessary that you always cold call them, you can always initiate your conversation on LinkedIn, meet them in person over a cup of coffee or email them. You can let them know your services/features to them and can always get to know through their body language if it is really a no or yes.
3. Identify Needs:
In this stage, you need to make your prospects confirm that your services/products or whatever that you are selling is indeed beneficial to them and can consider buying your services in further future. This can only happen once you’ll read their body language and the way they respond to your proposal.
4. Presentation:
A presentation is the core of every sales cycle. It is said that one invests most of its time in preparing that one presentation. While presenting your company’s offering keep in mind that you are not selling your product/services, you are actually solving your client’s problems with your product/services. You have to kill this stage of the sales cycle. Prepare. Present. Starstruck.
5. Manage Objections:
It might happen that your client might throw you some rebuttals. But you have to stay prepared for all the possible mess-ups, objections, questions, and such scenarios. This can be the most crucial stage, reason being, you should be able to handle their worries and queries, if you fail, you might not be able to proceed to the next step, the last step of this sales cycle.
6. Closing the sale:
When you’ve made the presentation, answered and solved your prospect’s concerns. You have almost convinced them to buy what you offered. It is time for you to ask for the sale. Pull them a little more, so that they can reach and climb the cliff you are standing on. You can’t expect them to take out their wallets right away but it can be done without being obnoxious and pushy. You have to take their opinion and ask them if they think your services can really be the solution to their problem.
Though the sales cycle is usually done and dusted after closing the deal or the customer, we always tend to neglect the most important part of this cycle, that is, asking for referrals. Only ask for referrals if they are closed happily and are satisfied with your solutions. Asking for it at the wrong time can really affect the reputation of your company.
Will all your prospects buy? No. But that doesn’t mean the sale is lost. You don’t want to become a pest, but sometimes a “no” today, could be a “yes” in a month. For that reason, you have to have a habit of staying in touch with even the “hard to crack” prospects and make an effort to get them to say “yes” to you. Follow up.
Achieving success in sales doesn’t have to be complicated. Understanding these steps will help you guide you throughout the sales process.
