In this article, we won’t be using alluring words like Performance, Efficiency or Sales Multiplication. Instead, we’ll get down to the nitty-gritty of a sales process and guide you through its implementation and optimization.
This article is aimed at sales managers, sales directors and cross-functional staff responsible for optimizing sales activities.
The aim of this article is to help you set up or optimize a sustainable process for your company. By sustainable, we mean a process that facilitates the work of salespeople, collaboration between teams, and the development and management of sales activities.
For more advanced readers, I recommend you go straight to part 2.
The 7 main pre-sales and sales activities in the company
Examples of a company’s commercial activities. Of course, every company has its own unique combination of some or all of these activities.
Making appointments with prospects
Depending on the organization’s context, there are different ways of attracting prospects: via marketing tools (site, publication, SEO…), via direct requests, via sales research and contact by e-mail, by chat on social networks, by telephone, by physical meeting at an event.
Prospect pre-qualification
It’s important to get to know a prospect at least a little before meeting him or her for the first time. Doing a little research on the prospect’s business and gathering information about his or her company will help create a better dynamic during the first meeting with the prospect.
Appointment qualification
Several objectives are important to validate during an appointment to be sure that an offer can correspond to the prospect:
- Understanding the need and the problem
- Understanding the existing situation
- Evaluate available budget, timeframe, decision-makers
Some prospects may be disqualified by the sales representative
Production of a proposal/quotation
The sales teams, in collaboration with other departments such as design and production, draw up an initial offer with a costing. These elements may be consolidated in the form of a presentation or an estimate. This production process may require several iterations and versions. In some cases, it includes the preparation of a demonstration.
Interactive presentation to prospects
This is the time to present the offer and the amount. If necessary, a demonstration will be given. The prospect can then ask questions and raise objections. As these questions are generally redundant from one prospect to another, it’s important to be prepared beforehand. The aim is to give the prospect confidence by being transparent, and even to propose alternative solutions to certain requirements.
Negotiation and conclusion
Negotiation is the time to make sure the prospect has fully understood the offer. Everything is negotiable: from the budget to the percentage down payment, from the characteristics of the offer to the payment terms. The aim is to reach a win-win agreement. Normally, if the qualification and presentation phases have been carried out correctly, then the negotiation is almost transparent, because the company will have taken into account all the prospect’s parameters.
Contractualization and billing
Not every sale requires a contract. A quotation or sales proposal, if sufficiently complete, may suffice in some cases. As for invoicing, depending on the case, this can be done directly by sales staff, by managers, by the finance department… the important thing is to ensure that information is properly passed on to customers.
A business process depends on a company’s know-how, not the other way around!
To put it plainly, if a company thinks it doesn’t yet have any processes in place, it’s WRONG! Every activity is made up of processes, even if no-one realizes it. In fact, the work and interactions a company carries out on a daily basis already represent a process! It’s just that they’re not yet “formalized”.
The first step in “setting up a sales process”, or should I say “formalizing a sales process”, is to study and model how the company operates.
Every company has its own sales know-how. This know-how is the identity that has made it what it is. The sales process must strictly support this know-how, and not the other way around.
What is a sales process?
A sales process is a series of consecutive and sometimes simultaneous steps designed to cover one or more of the business activities described above.
A process begins with an input event (e.g. receipt of a request from a prospect) and ends with an output event (e.g. closing the sale, issuing an invoice, transition to production).
Thanks to a sales process, a manager or director must be able to measure various operating indicators:
- Sales performance indicators: number of prospects/leads, number of proposals and quotes in progress/submitted, number of opportunities won, lost or abandoned…
- Financial performance indicators: sales generated, number of leads per resource, processing times, number of meetings per lead, acquisition cost (with or without marketing)…
- Other performance indicators: prospect satisfaction, problem escalation, quality of needs gathering, quality of qualification and exchanges with prospects, identification of acquisition channels, etc.
A sales process may or may not be computerized. To increase efficiency or gather information, a sales manager or director can use software. In addition to their core functions, these programs track the progress of the process from stage to stage, automate certain steps, streamline interactions, interconnect existing software…
Find out more in our article on process automation
How do you set up or optimize a sales process? The 4 steps
These steps apply regardless of a company’s level of maturity with regard to process control (whether it wishes to implement or optimize processes).
Step 1 – Know-how is fundamental to any sales process, so we start by analyzing what already exists through a process audit
As mentioned above, every company has its own sales know-how. This know-how represents its identity. A sales process must strictly support this know-how, and not the other way around.
A collective exercise with sales teams and other stakeholders to analyze the existing sales process
It’s essential to work closely with the people involved in the process. If the number of people involved is large, it may be necessary to consult a representative group of this population.
In addition to sales teams, it may be important toinvolve other players. For example, engineering (if they are involved in costing), accounting (if they are involved in invoicing), partners (if they respond to requests with the company), and why not prospects or customers to analyze their feelings.
In fact, it’s crucial to talk to the right people to get a clearer understanding of how things work. For example, it may be more beneficial to talk to a line manager than to your supervisor.
Last but not least, adopting a benevolent, listening and pedagogical attitude will be beneficial to the success of the project, especially if it entails major organizational changes.
Describing your job isn’t always intuitive
What’s more, some people may find it difficult to describe their job (you’d be surprised how many people this represents, regardless of their level in the hierarchy). A person may have been doing a sequence of tasks for years and still be unable to present his or her work without any shortcomings). So don’t hesitate to ask questions and rephrase the sequence of tasks.
If you have the opportunity, we strongly recommend that you carry out observations in the field (using the DILO – Day In a Life Of – method, for example). This approach will enable you to observe activities being carried out directly, and collect data as close to the action as possible. It will also enable you to win the sympathy of the people involved.
Find out more in our article on how to conduct a process audit.
Map existing sales processes
On the one hand, the implementation or optimization of a sales process is a collective undertaking. On the other hand, the process is intended to be of operational use. Drawing/mapping is the best way to achieve these objectives.
Using the right mapping tools
When creating a process map, a company can opt for different methods:
- Pen and paper for easy information gathering in the field.
- Office tools such as spreadsheets and PowerPoint for simplified sharing and collaboration.
- Design software like Canva or Figma to break out of the 16:9 slide box and access “Process” functionalities.
- or specialized mapping software for a high level of rigor and compliance, such as Camunda or Viflow.
Each solution has its own specific advantages, to suit different needs and contexts.
Example of a sales process map
A picture is worth a thousand words. Below is an example of sales process mapping.
Mapping should be seen as a roadmap of a process, allowing us to identify :
- Events (start, end, intermediate) symbolized by red circles.
- Actors represented by colored dots.
- Activities (tasks, processes) represented by rectangles.
- Decisions and conditions (called gateways) in diamond shapes.
- Sequence flows and message flows linking the various elements.
In parallel with this map, on another document or on another dedicated map, you can track each process:
- Tools and software used
- Actions taken verbally, on paper, on software ….
- Its duration
- Duration of each action
- Its recurrence
- Stock levels at each stage
- Employee satisfaction with each action
- Problems and shortcomings at every level
If you’d like to find out more about process modeling, we invite you to read this article.
For readers who wanted to set up their first business process, well done! If you’ve followed the steps above, you’re almost there!
For these readers, there’s one last step before finalizing your sales process.
Of course, your cartography will be a great starting point for optimizing your operations. However, if you can make this tool come alive and be used by other employees in their day-to-day work, then you’ve fulfilled your mission 200%.
One of the most accessible tools for achieving this mission is the process sheet. We have written an article on this subject: Process sheet: Guide, steps and concrete examples for success
For other readers – Step 2 – List and prioritize business process improvement opportunities
Following an analysis of the existing situation, a company can easily identify a certain number of improvements:
- Shorter lead times,
- Improved collaboration,
- Solutions to frustrations,
- Eliminate non-value-added tasks
- Task automation
- Setting up scripts and formalizing objections
- Presentation quality
- Qualification quality
- etc.
However, sales management can’t solve everything at once! It’s important to prioritize each improvement.
To prioritize the various needs, you can use an evaluation matrix. For example, you can use the model below.
Example of an evaluation matrix for a purchase order entry task.
Step 3 – Finding solutions
Don’t hesitate to ask for help in these matters.
Particularly in identifying solutions, tools and drawing up specifications
Take a look at
our guide to writing
a specification
Step 4 – Create a process sheet for your sales process
The process sheet is a crucial tool for guaranteeing the long-term viability of an activity and ensuring simplified improvement whenever necessary. It brings together key information such as process mapping and performance indicators.
The process sheet will also facilitate the implementation of new projects, audits, controls and reviews.
However, there’s a fine line between “having a useful process sheet for your company” and “having an unused, obsolete sheet lost in the depths of your storage space”.
To explore this topic further, we have written another resource to help you produce a simple process sheet (with a sample process sheet).
Now you know everything there is to know about optimizing a sales process. Now it’s your turn! See you soon for more content!
Also interested in reading other articles on processes?
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