Steps Involved In A Sales Process

A sales process is nothing but a systematic approach towards learning and performing the sales. The reason behind building such a sales strategy is to study the risk factors linked with the seller and the buyer. It is to standardize the process of selling to an extent that even the newly appointed sales agents can learn what actually a sales process is.

So lets discuss the six steps involved in a sales process with their description below.

Generating Sales Lead: Sales lead is the identity of an entity or person, who is interested in the purchase of the product or service. It is the first stage in a sales process. Such leads can be generated from direct marketing, advertising, trade shows, Internet marketing or also from cold calling. Every sales-lead needs to be evaluated to get qualified as a sales-prospect. Such evaluations are based on the lead's availability in terms of funding, product applicability and the time frame for purchase.

Qualify the Prospect: In the sales process, the sales professional has to determine whether the prospect will become a qualified prospect, or not. This could be determined through a set of variables which include authorization of transact business, business needs, money or an economic buyer.

Identify the need: The next step in the sales process is to identify the need. In this stage, the sales professional enquires about the customers need for the product. If the respondent (prospective customer) has not used the product as yet, he would give them information about the company's product and would inform them on how it could be beneficial to their needs.

Placing the Proposal: In the process of sales, once the agent is confident enough that he has satisfied the customer's need for the product; he should come up with the proposal. A proposal is based up on what the agent has learned about the customer's needs and thus deciding what product solution best fits. Of course an agent learns this aspect with time as he comes across large numbers of customers. An agent's rapport with the customer can yield positive results.

Closing the Deal: The final major step is to close the deal. It is one of the most important steps in the sales process. It may happen that a deal that had looked positive in the beginning, might turn negative at closing time. Thus it is crucial that the agent holds the interest of the customer till his final commitment. This step is one of the most important to learn to increase the sales of your organization.

Completing the deal: Completing the deal is simply the process in which the money is exchanged in return of the product or service. Deal transactions hold a primary position as the hub of commerce.

Though delivering a product or service is not technically a part of sales process, but it is also a highly important step. If the agent does not deliver, then there is no sale of the product.