As a professional sales person, you know that there is a sales process that must be followed to be successful. It is often helpful to look at the progression of the sales process. You can look at the development of the process to see your exact method of sales. When you break the sales process down into specific steps, you can often improve your sales by focusing on areas that you feel you may be weak.

Prospecting

The first part of the sales process is looking for promising leads that can bring you sales. This can include cold calling and leads generated by referrals. Prospecting is not limited to the phone. This can be done via email or in person.

Appointment Setting

Once you have made the initial contact with the prospective client the next part of the sales process is to set an appointment with the client. It is always preferable to have an in-person appointment. If this is not possible, a phone appointment is acceptable, but you should try to turn it into seeing the person.

Qualifying

The goal of qualifying the prospective client during the sales process is to make sure that the client has a need for your product or service, is interested in buying your product or service, and, most importantly is in a position to buy. Part of the qualifying process is to make sure you are talking to the person who can actually make the decision to purchase your product or service.

Presenting

The presentation is undoubtedly the most important part of the sales process. It is important that you be prepared. This includes knowing your product and service inside and out. It also includes knowing the needs of the customer inside and out. You need to make sure your presentation is professional, interesting and relevant to the needs of the prospective client. Try to make your presentation interactive and fun. Make use of different media to keep it interesting. Don’t read your information, but have it memorized and present in a natural manner. Handouts should be relevant, fresh and simple.

Answering Questions and Concerns

As perfect as your presentation may be, the client is bound to have some questions. This may be one of the more difficult parts of the sales process. Many sales are lost when a sales person is not able to satisfactorily answer objections posed by the prospective client. If you are not prepared, you may very likely not get the sale. If you are prepared, it makes your product or service look good, it makes your company look good, and it makes you look professional.

Closing

In this part of the sales process, you have completed your presentation and answered all questions and concerns. Now you ask for the sale. Many sales people skip this part of the sales process thinking that the presentation is the same as the ask. You must directly ask the client to buy your product or service. You don’t go through the whole process and expect the client to stand up and yell “I’ll take it!” You need offer them the opportunity to buy.

Referrals

After the success of the sale, you feel good and, very often, the customer feels good too. This is the perfect time to ask for referrals. The client may know of other companies or individuals who would be interested in your product or service. Once you have the referrals, the sales process starts again with a new client.

It is important to have a sales process to follow. The sales process will help you to stay on track, keep focused and will allow you to break down each step you take that leads to the sale. Breaking the process down will allow you to make changes and adjustments in any of the stages where you might be able to improve.