Building a successful sales process lays the foundation for a well-run company. Without a successful sales process, companies can find themselves in a state of confusion and unable to hire and retain the kinds of sales reps that consistently perform well and add to your company’s value.

With a well-thought-out sales process in place, however, not only will your sales reps be motivated and well-trained, but everyone in your company will understand where they fit in to the big scheme of things. Order will rule at your company, and customers will methodically and easily work their way through your customer engagement funnel from the time you find them through prospecting until after they’ve become customers and you are dealing with upselling and customer service. 

The following three steps will help you to build a successful sales process.

Take the Time to Understand Your Target Market

Before you can begin with the logistics of your new sales process, you need to understand your target market. Who exactly would be interested in your products and services, and what are their main concerns and problems? Are there several different groups who would be interested in your products? For instance, textbook manufacturers may find that they have several different markets to target: public schools, private schools, and homeschoolers. Once your target markets are identified, what do you need to know about the people you want to sell to?

• Would these people or companies pay for our products or services?
• Have people in this target market already bought from us?
• What are their day-to-day concerns?
• What are their biggest challenges?

Map Out Your Customers’ Path Through Your Sales Process

How do customers come to you and what is their path through your sales process? Do your customers come to you after having seen one of your print advertisements? Who is the first person they talk to? Do your customers first make a connection with your company through social media? Through business conferences? Via telephone? 

Create a map to give you a visual image of your customers’ paths through your sales process to help you understand their experience better. This map will also help you to see if you have extra steps or extra people in the way of your sales process that slow down your sales cycle or give your customers a chance to lose interest in what you have to offer.

Qualify and Nurture Leads

With your map showing your customers’ paths through your sales process, you’re in a good position to identify the points in the path where customers need more attention. For instance, if you have a sign-up for an email newsletter on your website and a potential customer signs up to receive your newsletter, you’ve been given explicit permission to market to them. This is a crucial time for addressing this particular person’s needs. They’re looking for something, and they’re looking to you. Capitalize on this opportunity and be as helpful as possible.

At different points in your sales process, you should have ways to qualify customers. In other words, you need to be able to determine whether or not someone is serious about making a purchase or whether they’re just doing research. This is easier to do during sales calls than it is with visitors to your website. In either case, work with your team to make decisions about how to qualify and nurture leads at key points in your sales process.

By taking time to understand your target market, mapping out your customers’ path through your sales process, and qualifying and nurturing leads, you can develop a successful sales process that will navigate your company to greater success in sales.