Understanding Your Sales Cycle- Part 1 By Tiffanie Z. Lyon
January 21, 2009
Your Sales Process or Sales Cycle is what takes you from the introduction of an opportunity to a closed sale. Some sales cycles are short– like a retail transaction such as buying milk in a grocery store, to a longer sales cycles like buying a car or investing in professional services. The sales cycle/process tends to be longer when:
- it’s a high-ticket item; a lot of money involved
- multiple decision makers have to weigh in (i.e committees)
- significant consequences or ramifications if the wrong decision is made; risky
Step 1: Identify the steps of your sale:
It doesn’t have to be 7 steps, but it should be about 5-7. Example: New Opportunity, Approach, Planned to Meet, Analysis Complete, Proposal Submitted, Contract Signed, Follow Up and CRM. Use phrases that make sense to you. Remember: Some sales will combine steps and some may skip steps, but you’ll always have the first and last steps (the intro & close).
EXAMPLE:
New Opportunity– you get that business card of a lead, you see a business on the street you’d like to work with, somebody gives you a referral
Approach– a dialog is started, either in person, via email or telephone
Planned to Meet– you’ve schedule a phone appointment or in-person meeting to “qualify” and understand their needs
Analysis Complete– you’ve met and did a complete needs analysis to see if you can even help them (needs, decision-maker, timing and budget)
Proposal Submitted– you’ve now submitted pricing, quote, terms, arrangement, investment based on their needs, budget and timing
Contract Signed– paperwork is signed, handshake, letter of intent, closed deal
Follow up/Customer Relationship Management– product delivered, services rendered, follow up and cross-selling opportunities
Step 2: Describe what should happen in each step and also what needs to be confirmed before moving to the next.
Step 3: Timeframes: for each step, identify how long (on average) your prospect stays at that step.
Step 4: Allocations: You must always have prospects pretty evenly distributed throughout the sales funnel/process. Keep the sales funnel filled!
Ok, so that’s the 4-step process of identifying and defining your sales process. Do you know what your particular sales process looks like? Are you committed to documenting it? Will you take action?
Now, once you understand your sales process, it’s important to control that process (not “control the prospect”) to ensure prospects move through it quickly….. STAY TUNED… Next post—
“Part 2: 3 Tips To Speed Up Your Sales Cycle.”
Happy Selling!
–Tiffanie Z. Lyon, www.lyonsalesinstitute.com
Comments
Got something to say?
