Sales Process - Ensure You Have a Sales Process For Successful Selling

When working with sales people in my sales cinsulting business I am often amazed at the amount of time they spend focusing on the people that are actively interested in their product or service right now.

Now don't get me wrong, these are by far the hottest prospects and deserve attention. The problem is it is likely they will be speaking to lots of other suppliers. What you need is a system that works on all of your potential prospects not just your A graders. An example below is how you could handle a telephone call to 4 different levels of prospect - A -C.

Potential Category A - An immediate need = "Well, John, based on what you have said you will get a huge amount of benefit from meeting with us. At our meeting we can demonstrate the 5 key areas where 90% of these type of projects fail and how you can avoid that. . How does next Tuesday at three sound?

Potential Category B - An expressed need but in the future i.e 6 months. = You have to decide if you want to go and visit them immediately or keep in contact. Either way develop a strategy for that. One way which works very well is to ask the potential client themselves "John, "What would You like to do next?". If I prospective client asks to see you and you have qualified there is a level of interest then there should be a good reason why you shouldn't go. Or you should have a back up plan in place like attending a seminar, going on an email newsletter list or getting permission to send information. What very often happens is the client might say that they are looking to place the order in a few months. If you leave it there with the traditional

"Great, I will call you in November" you risk a number of things:

Appearing to be too focused on the sale and not the other person. "Thank's for the chat and I will call you when it's time for the order" style mentality.
Their timescales change and they can't find you when they need you. By the time You ring back the order has gone elsewherer
Their timescales stay the same but a competitor has visited and sold them on a part of a solution that you can't do - but they can!

Potential Category C - No requirement = What will you do with these? Send information, email newsletter. Keeping in contact is vital as you never know when their circumstances may change.

Have a go at developing your sales system to maximise every sales opportunity you come across.