Key takeaways from this whitepaper

What is the structure of an ideal sales process.

How pipeline for enterprise level sales should look like.

Why sales process management is vital for your organization.1.

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ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS IN THE ENTERPRISE LEVEL SELLING

What sales process means for your organization

A common definition of sales process is pretty obvious and not a novelty. It is a set of steps and activities from receiving a lead to deal closure. The majority of companies in business today have sales process in place. Nevertheless, there is a huge gap between having one and acting upon it. Not that many companies use their own sales process as an internal sales methodology. Even less monitor and measure it on the regular basis or provide feedback to sales reps and have it automated in CRM.

Re-defining the term helps companies to evaluate and ensure success of sales process instillation. It has to become an internal sales blueprint that contains a set of well-thought actions from lead qualification to deal closure which are fully integrated into

company's ecosystem and drive sales behavior that create value by providing a big impact on sales results. When implemented correctly, the sales process is accepted by sales reps and managers as the tool that improves their productivity and performance.

Once defined goes a commitment to act on the efficient, scalable sales process which entails much more than following steps and sequences, and includes a complete transformation to a customer-centric, value-based sales model.

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A true sales process is an internal methodology that contains steps from lead qualification to lead closure.

Pipeline for the enterprise level sales

While outlining an effective and methodically followed sales process, driven by the specific business needs and workflow pain points, as well as strategic corporate objectives related to business development, the first step should be a careful process mapping of the stages of the sales pipeline. This mapping helps companies to identify the source of bottlenecks and waste and helps to determine how inefficient processes can be improved to add more value.

1. Qualification

2. Needs Analysis

3. Presentation

4. Proposal development

5. Proposal submission

6. Negotiations

7. Contracting

8. Closing

Refined view on the eight stages of the sales pipeline.

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Before going into further investigations on how the pipeline for the enterprise-level sales should look like, let's define core for the sales process. It definitely should be based on the pipeline stages and actions, which take place inside every sequence. There are a lot of buzz around seller vs buyer pipeline and approaches, but we consider sales as a proactive act, believing that an ideal sales process should be based on the sales pipeline. Despite the fact that the sales pipeline is not a new topic it is still quite difficult to find appropriate model that could be applicable for the enterprise level sales.

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After the processes and stages are fully understood, we can explore every step of the funnel defining benefits of the model.

Each stage in the process has its own objective and set of activities combined in the sub-process.

Ultimate sales process has to connect with the lead generation pipeline, account management and service delivery stages ideally powered with automation software.

Steps definition

Sales process has to be connected to a customer journey through the funnel.

CRM system would help to determine probability of close, measuring the progress of a prospect through stages of the sales pipeline; allow sales managers to monitor “the feeling” of how deal might progress through the set of emoticons. As well as provide tips and raise flags to ensure that no step or information been missed throughout the entire customer journey – from lead generation to repeat sales.

Now let's have a closer look at each stage.

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When a qualified lead rates high on both attractiveness and engagement, it becomes a sales qualified lead.

Typically, four main questions need to be answered on the lead generation BANT (Budget, Needs, Timing, Authority) qualification step:

3. Presentation4. Proposal development

5. Proposal submission

6. Negotiations

Does a client has an identified need for your product or services?

Does a client has a sufficient budget?

Are the decision makers engaged in selection or at least identified?

Is the timeframe for the purchase identified?

If there are answers to all of the questions, (BANT qualified) – it's time to tap the client and create opportunity in CRM. Some companies are assigning a sales rep even only three of the questions are answered (BANT-1). This approach could be used on the initial stages of business development, or applied for very large deals. If a lead was not qualified as opportunity it should be passed back on the funnel and the lead nurturing process should be applied.

Key actions during this step are arrangement of an initial meeting, opportunity creation in CRM, owner assignment and determination of the exact date and time for the first meeting.

1. Qualification

On this stage, it's very important to assign an owner to the lead while focusing on the key indicator of qualification which is an arranged meeting.

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Proposing the solution is a mirror of the Needs Analysis – all received information should be used for customization of the further presentation and proposal, and become basis for the sales play, or tactical moves in the sales process.

The information gleaned from a needs analysis includes initial research on potential decision makers through company website, industry portals, professional social networks and other sources, checking whether sales rep or his/her colleagues have contacts inside the organization or know somebody from that company. All that data should be entered or linked into CRM.

2. Needs Analysis

Next step is a discovery call or meeting that provides sales rep with an understanding of client's business model, requirements, expectations etc.

The main purpose of the stage is to collect all initial information on a client, realize client's business model, requirements, needs and pain points.

We recommend to use formalized questionnaires which touch different areas of client's business and needs.

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From process standpoint company should ensure that all sales reps use relevant and not outdated templates or content. As practice confirms, the re-inventing of a wheel in a form of creating separate presentation for every client does not prove to be effective. At the same time, the presentation should contain all necessary information to address identified requirements.

Actions here divided into three main categories: preparation, presentation and debriefing. Process approach and automation should help sales reps to tap the right template and use all existing knowledge and relevant experience inside an organization to move closer to winning the deal.

3. Presentation

In that perspective the data collected for the presentation and debriefing including competitive analysis and the observation of the history of the deal, helps to develop the most effective sales play.

Finally, the result of the presentation should be debriefed and saved as the SWOT analysis, with the information on key participants of and their attitude clearly identified. The use of emoticons to express sales reps feelings about the meeting extend better apprehension of how to proceed in the following stages.

The goal for this step is to prepare the killing presentation or product demonstration based.

On this stage, it's very important for the sales reps to double check whether all key influencers will attend a meeting or at least acknowledged the invite and there is no schedule conflicts with other vital activities in their agendas.

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It's fair to state that a lot of companies get stuck on this stage having to go through a lot of silos and approvals. However, this doesn't mean that approvals should be ignored. Moreover, the lack of appropriate reviews can potentially lead a lot of damage to organization.

The solution lays in the streamlined and automated process that orchestrates all stages of proposal development including calculation, content preparation and approvals.

Engagement and collaboration is very important on this stage so traditional process should be empowered by enterprise social network (ESN) or even gamification.

4. Proposal Development

A poorly executed proposal can diminish months of excellent sales effort. It is also imperative to remember that sales proposal is a critical customer communication and as such may contain series of feedbacks/checks and confirmations.

As a work in progress type of document the proposal can be amended if necessary with information reflecting the most recent discoveries from the previous stages.

Based on the proposed terms and conditions outlined in the documents, a sales play might undergo further adjustments.

5. Proposal Submission

The main purpose of this stage is to coordinate all activities around proposal preparation in order to submit it on time, addressing all identified needs, requirements and expectations.

In order to succeed on this stage it's important to ensure that the document was submitted or presented on time.

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The negotiation can be an art, a science or a play. Or all of them in the single interaction. Sales negotiations might take place over a series of meetings, conversations and phone calls, or can begin and end within minutes. It's crucial to provide an ability to counter promptly, speed up and manage all communications during this step.

This should be very dynamic part of a process with close supervision. The ability to set up a right tempo of activities and contact in order to speed up the path and be able to react immediately on all additional request and other feedback is crucial. If the negotiations dragging on for too long, this indicates that an error occurred, and the lead has to bounce back to the needs analysis.

A good advice here would be to create a detailed plan for follow-ups and additional contacts, which adds versatility to the process.

6. Negotiations

Automating this process saves time and adds value to each step of the contract's lifecycle. The right process should help to manage all interactions inside the company and plan of activities with a client in order to sign the contract quickly and not to get stuck. Full-featured contracting management system should afford the complete visibility and control over any given contract from its inception to its renewal.

7. Contracting

The key challenge here is to ensure that sales rep tapped the right negotiation strategy.

For each step in the contract management process, the right approach prevent clogs and speed up sales cycles.

During negotiation it is also useful to add content for sharing, which might be an additional presentation or other piece of content.

Organizing the contracting stage allows to focus on closing sales, while spending less effort on jumping the hurdles in the process.

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The most important action on this stage is to evaluate the results. Winning is celebrated through success story sifted through the information on why the company was selected, what sales play was successful and so for. Next step is to ensure transition to service delivery/account manager. When a sales rep loses a deal, its invariable to know why. A sales team can learn from the mistakes accurately recorded in the CRM. It should be mandatory for every rep to record a lost reason for every lost opportunity. This feedback is vital for other departments such as marketing or product development to quickly fix possible issues or review marketing messages.

8. Closing

Finally, opportunities could be either rerouted or rejected. In case of the rejection the analysis of the things that went wrong helps to keep the record straight and make better grounds for the future successes. The rerouted coding marks a path to bouncing back to the lead generation process and the next BANT check. Either/or – the process has to be clear, solid and workable as we drift down to the conclusions.

When the sales comes to its closure, the opportunity either becomes a win, a lost, a rerouted opportunity or a rejected deal.

On this stage, it's imperative to evaluate the performance identifying ups and downs of the sales play in sets of recorded entries.

Having distilled all eight stages of enterprise-level sales pipeline, let's admit a number of recommendations to keep your process live and apply continuous improvement approach.

A few rules of thumbs to ensure proper enactment of the sales process:

Conclusion

Delivering a process-centric approach to sales process is what breaks down the traditional functional boundaries of failing to act upon the process. Treating it as a sales methodology helps to set a comprehensive, end-to-end process that is driven by industry requirements and targeted to specific models of business. Such approach provides the highest value to the organization, which in turn gives an ability to deliver superior customer experience to the customers. Process approach can help companies to sell more dynamically, collaborate more efficiently and get better results.

Regularly inspect processes and look for potential failure points, such as deal handoff or special pricing approval. Set up appropriate metrics to measure process efficiency.

Identify best practices inside the organization and distribute them among the entire organization.

Process should be part of the training courses. Managers and supervisors need to be coached on how to provide feedback to stuff based on the processes, which should be reviewed at least once a year.

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1. Qualification

2. Needs Analysis

3. Presentation

4. Proposal development

5. Proposal submission

6. Negotiations

7. Contracting

8. Closing