No matter what your business operation, every business has a process to be followed in order to consistently deliver your product or services. In a similar way, the sales cycle also follows steps which are essential for every sales team in order to succeed in sales.
Here are some key features of the sales cycle:
1. Initially, sales prospecting begins through finding potential customers, having a list of leads and information that is required to reach the customers. Identifying the best leads and preparing a list of pipelines for those who show interest in your products/services is essential.
2. Once sales prospecting is done, the next step is to start contacting the leads. It is not that easy to get connected with the right leads. It depends upon the business that they hold and the other demands on their time. Some will be reached best through calls, and some can be reached through emails, LinkedIn, and social media. And this would be the first introduction of our company where you get to share your values with the contacts.
3. At this step you start qualifying your leads, which means you determine which leads are ready and willing to consider a purchase. You get to know about your lead and their company. At this stage, you need to know if your are contacting the decision-maker, the type of industry you are dealing with, how large is the operation, how your company can serve them, know if they can highly use your product or service, their budget and know the customers’ interests. With the help of these items, you can determine if you have a qualified lead.
4. You have identified the potential customer, contacted them and have introduced you and your company and know your customer in detail. Once all this is done, it is crucial to know how you present yourself at first and then your offer. Keep in mind that you are responsible for educating your customer by giving them full information about what your company does and how you can serve them. This helps to build trust in you for your customers. With greater trust, your customer will have confidence in you and have the interest to buy your product.
5. After the above steps are completed, it’s time to answer your customer's queries; try to convince the customer by telling the truth. Because your intention is not only to push the product to customers but create trust and to build customer relationship, you need to be honest and not over-sell. Now it's time to close the deal. Make sure that you provide them with complete instruction of paperwork and the agreements to be signed. After signing the contract, make sure that you give an opportunity for your customers to ask any follow-up questions. If you have successfully completed all of these steps, you can end by asking for referrals.
Conclusion:
A good sales team will have a structured process to be followed, which also need to be revised according to the market situations and needs of the customers. Following these steps will help the sales team and bring a huge change in your business sales.