12 Questions about Your Sales Process
Ask companies today if they follow an established formal sales process. Their answers? Very few can say yes!
Statistics show that 91% of the more than 500,000 salespeople assessed by the Objective Management Group (OMG is a leading sales development company) did not have or follow a structured sales process. Do you have one?
A sales process is defined as a customized, formal process including the sequence of steps, to-do’s, milestones, and goals that must be achieved during your sales cycle. And your sales cycle is one of four cycles in your business that impacts cash flow (the other cycles: make or buy products to sell, product delivery, billing, and collections).
Your sales cycle can be improved and therefore cash flow increased with one or all of these strategies:
- Shorten the cycle
- Eliminate mistakes
- Change your business model
So here are some questions created by Dave Kurlan, founder of OMG, for you to answer about your sales force and your sales process. Use them to assess which strategies above you can use in your company.
- Is there a sales process?
- Has it been customized to your company and market?
- Has it been formalized and structured?
- Has it been optimized?
- Is it legacy program?
- Does everyone follow it?
- Does everyone speak the language of your process?
- Is it referenced as a context for coaching sessions?
- Can your salespeople identify where they are by simply naming a step?
- Is it integrated into your CRM software?
- Is it integrated with your pipeline?
- Is the pipeline routinely reviewed and restaged according to the criteria for each step of the process?
If you can’t answer yes to all of those questions, you aren’t yet in a position to shorten your sales cycle and accelerate your revenue growth yet. _____________________________________________________________________________
Sourced from posting by Dave Kurlan on Tue, Jun 14, 2011. Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Ask companies today if they follow an established formal sales process. Their answers? Very few can say yes!
Statistics show that 91% of the more than 500,000 salespeople assessed by the Objective Management Group (OMG is a leading sales development company) did not have or follow a structured sales process. Do you have one?
A sales process is defined as a customized, formal process including the sequence of steps, to-do’s, milestones, and goals that must be achieved during your sales cycle. And your sales cycle is one of four cycles in your business that impacts cash flow (the other cycles: make or buy products to sell, product delivery, billing, and collections).
Your sales cycle can be improved and therefore cash flow increased with one or all of these strategies:
- Shorten the cycle
- Eliminate mistakes
- Change your business model
So here are some questions created by Dave Kurlan, founder of OMG, for you to answer about your sales force and your sales process. Use them to assess which strategies above you can use in your company.
- Is there a sales process?
- Has it been customized to your company and market?
- Has it been formalized and structured?
- Has it been optimized?
- Is it legacy program?
- Does everyone follow it?
- Does everyone speak the language of your process?
- Is it referenced as a context for coaching sessions?
- Can your salespeople identify where they are by simply naming a step?
- Is it integrated into your CRM software?
- Is it integrated with your pipeline?
- Is the pipeline routinely reviewed and restaged according to the criteria for each step of the process?
If you can’t answer yes to all of those questions, you aren’t yet in a position to shorten your sales cycle and accelerate your revenue growth yet. _____________________________________________________________________________
Sourced from posting by Dave Kurlan on Tue, Jun 14, 2011. Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC, and author of “The 3×5 Coach: A Practical Guide to Coaching Your Team for Greater Results and Happier People”, which is available in Paperback or a Kindle version at https://tinyurl.com/y8ecykfy
At 55 Questions, we work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition. We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication, and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com
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