5 Vital Steps of a Sales Process – Infographic

The sales process is so important. It is a vital series of steps followed by salespeople to track an opportunity all the way from lead to a close. You wouldn’t start playing a sport without knowing the rules or the different steps it takes to win. On the same token, it’s not wise to try and sell without executing each step of the sales process. Following these vital steps will help you get your close, turn customers into returning customers, get key referrals, and make more money!

In this infographic, it can be seen that using the Pipeliner Selling System as a guide, any sales process runs through 5 basic common steps.

1. Focus: At the beginning of the sales process, play the role of focused investigator. You want to understand the prospect and what their needs are so you can understand how to properly sell to them later in the sales process.
2. Engage: Engage your prospect! After you’ve done investigating the person or company you are trying to sell to, you can actually reach out and engage the potential customer for a sale.
3. Convince: At this point in the sales cycle, it is the salesperson’s job to convince the customer that they are the right company to buy from. This is the stage that the sale is ultimately made it.
4. Close: This is where a new sub-process begins. For the salespeople, this is when they often tend to disengage. However, now that the client is officially a customer, it’s more important than ever to deliver your promises. At this stage, if executed properly, it can be a catalyst for a new sales process with the same clients, just for different products or services.
5. Cooperate: After the close, hopefully, your customer will move into being an advocate! If your customer liked the services or item you provided, as well as your service as a salesperson, you are more likely to have them be a referral source so that the sales process and continue with referred clients.

To learn more about the sales process, check out the article Transparency in Your Sales Process, and the expert sales interview Accelerators in the Sales Process.