You're Invited: Learning About Our Sales Process

Having a good sales process is the most significant part of having a successful business. Having a defined outline of what steps you need to take and what tools you use for each step not only makes your goals achievable, but you will also have a clear vision and path to those goals. If you were asked to plan a dinner party, you wouldn’t just throw something together. You’d make a list of what you need, buy the ingredients, read recipes, and make sure your guests would have a good time. Think of your sales process as a dinner party that you have to plan from start to finish. In this blog, we’ll dive into what steps are in the sales process, and in the coming weeks, we’ll have information on each step by itself. This series will be here to help you generate more qualified leads and close more deals.

The first step to any sales process is prospecting (planning your menu and guest list). If you’re in the B2B space, there are many different ways to do this. You can “pound the pavement” and go door to door; you can attend networking events, you can reach out on platforms like LinkedIn, you can hire a lead gen company (Hey! We do that!), and more. When you are prospecting, you want to make sure you know who you want to contact. Do your research before sending out messages. You can also prospect by asking current clients for referrals or attending industry events. Quality is definitely better than quantity when it comes to prospecting.

Once you’ve done your research, you get to talk to your prospects (inviting your guests). Having a great pitch and presentation is great, but that’s not where we’re at yet. You want to have a conversation with your qualified prospects. Ask open-ended questions, find out more about their projects, their true pain points, and don’t be too sales-y. The goal here is to establish rapport and trust with your prospect. Make it about them and not about you. There will be opportunities to talk about your service and yourself, but don’t jump right out of the gate with your sales pitch.

Your patience paid off, and now it’s time to pitch and have a meeting (let’s start cooking!). Since you’ve been talking to your lead, you know a lot about them. Knowing what their struggles are, what projects they have coming up, and what their personality is like — will help you set the tone for the meeting. You can also come in with a good outline on how you can help them because you have a good idea of the troubles they’re facing. If you use our RFC model, then you know their needs, budget, and timeline too. You’re setting the table for the close. Make sure you have everything you need to show your prospect why they should sign a contract with you.

The meeting was a success! Now you’re getting the contract signed (time for the party!). When the contract is signed and you start working with your lead-turned client, make sure you communicate well with them. Don’t be afraid to talk about the good and the bad parts of the project. No one likes to talk about what doesn’t go right, but being open and honest with them is vital to a continued relationship. Although your goal is to sell, you want to nurture and continue to work with them in the future. Every business wants returning clients.

So, let’s do a quick review:

1. Plan your menu and guest list- Research quality leads you want to reach out to.
2. Invite your guests to your party- Send messages, emails, or call to start conversations with your prospects.
3. Start cooking- Send proposals, contracts and have meetings with leads.
4. Throw a party- Get contracts signed!

Wait...We never went to the store to buy our ingredients; when do we do that? Great question! The tools you use for your sales process, i.e., Salesflow, Airtable, CRMs, Calendly, content (Boundless does that too!), and social media, are your “ingredients” to a successful sales process. So although gathering your ingredients isn’t one of the steps, it’s definitely part of the process. Having your tools and procedures in place is a sure-fire way to make sure you’re set up to close more deals. Stay tuned for our following blogs, where we’ll break down every step and give you tips and tricks on best practices for each one.