How to Optimize the 5-Step Sales Process to Close More Deals

The sales process is what guides your sales team from the initial contact to closing the deal.

The average sales win rate is 21% which means if your business averages this or less, you need to optimize your sales process for better results.

So how exactly do you improve this? In this post, we’ll share the five steps in the sales process and practical tips on how you can refine each step for higher sales.

What is a Sales Process?

The sales process as the name implies is a process of five steps that sales teams use to convert leads into actual customers.

The steps act as a roadmap for your sales team because they cover how to interact with leads, understand their needs and what to do to convince them to commit to a product or service.

Your sales process is very important because, with it, your team can increase their efficiency in acquiring leads, better predict who would be a high-quality lead, focus their strengths on key areas of the sales cycle and ultimately improve their conversion/win rates. 

What are the 5 Steps of the Sales Process?

Every business is different. However, the steps in the sales process are usually the same. The five steps of the sales process are;

• Prospecting and Qualification
• Lead Nurturing 
• The Sales Pitch
• Follow-Up
• The Closing

Since each step is important, you should ensure you optimize each one to see tangible results. 

1. Prospecting: Find Your Ideal Customers

This step focuses on finding prospects who will purchase your product or pay for your service. Oftentimes, they are similar to your most committed customers.

For example, if your best customers happen to be middle managers in software companies, then your ideal customers should be managers in this sector. 

Once you create an ideal customer profile, you can then reach out to people who fit that profile. Oftentimes, they might come to you themselves. Like via an event like webinars or a product demo booking. 

Since it is the first interaction with a prospective client, ensure you collect enough information to deduce whether or not they are the right fit. It will also help you see if your actual customers change over time. 

Tips to Find Quality Leads for Your Sale

• Ditch CRMs with no sales intelligence tools - Your CRM should go beyond storing contacts and offering automation. You need a CRM with sales intelligence tools like contact verification, AI assistants and other features that make sure you’ll get replies
  
  
• Capture the right details early on - In your data capture, ask questions that’ll show what they might be looking for, so you know if you can offer it without hopping on a call first
  
  
• Review your product positioning - If you’re not attracting the right leads, you should review your sales copy and materials. Since 96% of customers do their research before reaching out to the sales team your marketing assets might be misleading
  
  
• Evaluate your prospecting channels - While you should explore a mix of prospecting channels, narrow your efforts to those that have been the most beneficial
  
  
• Stop focusing on the quantity - Remember it's not how many you put at the top of your funnel, it's the quality of leads that come in that matters

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• Work smart by leverage lead database: Take advantage of lead databases integrated directly into your outreach tool to find verified leads faster without the hassle of switching between multiple tools.
  
  

2. Lead Nurturing: Build Trust with Your Leads

If a lead fits your ideal customer profile, it doesn’t mean they automatically choose you. 96% of your customers need to prepare before making a purchase. This includes considering other providers and services. So you need to educate them with valuable content and resources to position your brand as the right fit for their problems or needs.

Lead nurturing involves building trust by showing your leads how your business will suit their exact needs which can span over multiple touch points. So you need to work on creating a relationship once they’ve shown interest in your business and guide them towards a favorable response during your sales pitch.

Tips to Build Trust with Your Leads

• Build credibility by building your personal brand first - People buy from people they trust. So, build trust by sharing helpful content and engaging with prospects on socials. 

You can do this easily by using TweetHunter to engage on Twitter while you use Taplio to find LinkedIn leads, engage at scale, and send them directly to your outreach campaign in lemlist.

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• This is not your sales pitch - It is not the time to bombard them with messages on why they should choose your business. Just offer helpful resources you think they will need and it will position your business as a thought leader on the subject.
  
  
• Dig deep and link to actual problems - Don’t just send a resource they don’t need. It’s not going to be effective. Instead, link to the needs they specifically need. That way you can send a message like “I understand you’re facing challenges with XX. Here’s an informative blog post on how to overcome this issue.”

• It’s not a one-size-shoe approach - Not all leads will enjoy your blog post. Some want to watch a YouTube video, some leads want it interactive so they can ask questions and others may only interact with audio. So use multiple channels when reaching out but also to distribute content.
  
  
• Use a CRM that shows data that matters -  You need to monitor the right metrics so you know exactly what to optimize. For example, are your emails even getting in their inbox? 

3. The Sales Pitch: Convince Your Qualified Leads

After building trust for a while, the sales pitch is where you bring all the cards out. It is where you prepare a presentation showing the value proposition you’re offering, and convincing them to make the purchase. Your sales pitch is highly focused, targeted, concise and very optimized for their needs. 

Since this varies based on your business, it may be a quote, an email with the final pricing or even a phone call. So if a lead has been concerned about whether they can get it cheaper elsewhere, your sales pitch can be in this line;

“Imagine saving 20% on operational costs with our product. We have helped similar companies in your industry achieve xx. Let’s do the same for you. Would you like to see a free demo so you can learn more about how it works?”

Tips to Convince Your Qualified Leads

• They don’t care about your features - Don’t talk about how it's 100% more storage, faster compression or stuff like that. It’ll bore them. They want to know how it affects them directly. So focus on the benefits and how it’ll improve their lives or businesses.
  
  
• Use previous clients to your advantage - Your leads want to see results. So show what you’ve done for other businesses that have trusted you. Dig up case studies, testimonials and reviews that’ll further convince them.
  
  
• Attention span is getting poorer - One of the most reliable ways to hold attention is through storytelling. So paint a picture with your sales pitch and review it by showing people outside the sales office and see how they engage with it.

• Spark conversations during your pitch - Don’t just let them soak in your pitch. Nudge them to ask questions so you can erase their doubts before they lose interest. It’ll also let you reinforce why you’ll be the right fit.

4. Follow-Up: Don’t Let Your Leads Go

After your pitch, your leads will want some time to consider especially if you’re targeting a B2B business. So don’t just send them a quote and wait. Unfortunately, 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up call and 48% of sales teams never even make a single follow-up attempt. 

So be proactive and follow up constantly. It might lead to some back and forth, especially about pricing. So this stage is about fine-tuning your sales pitch so that you remain at the top of their mind until they make a purchase.

Tips to Improve Your Sales Follow-Up

• Be ready to adjust - Use tools like lemlist’s advanced conditions to optimize your outreach sequences based on the interactions leads have with your follow-up campaigns

• Show some persistence - Don’t give your prospects a chance to pitch their tent elsewhere. Unless you agree on a time during the sales pitch, aim to send a follow-up 24 hours later. It’ll show that you really mean business. 

• Don’t just repeat your sales pitch - They remember what you said before. Provide value through resources, assurance or even a follow-up meeting based on any concerns they raised during the pitch. Make the action clear so they know what exactly to do next.

• Be persistent, not pushy - While some leads might convert, some may never and that’s okay. So while you send follow-up messages and calls, don’t bombard them with more pitches if they aren't responding. Instead, offer them an opportunity to opt out of further communication.

5. The Closing: Turn Leads into Customers

This is the final stage of the sales process where you secure a commitment from your prospect. It is when they finally sign a contract or a sales agreement. While it might seem so simple, there’s a high chance the lead will still not close. So you must constantly remind them why they wanted to purchase your product or sign up for your service.

Tips for Closing Leads

• Know when to use the right closing technique - Depending on the sales interaction, you can assume they are ready to buy immediately, choose to highlight that it's a limited offer to speed it up, offer them alternatives to choose from, or even offer them a smaller commitment like a free trial. 

• Be flexible - Not every prospect needs the same solution. So offer different payment plans, customisation options or even pricing to better accommodate their specific needs and budget. Also, give them some time to process the information and consider their options when you offer them more than one.

Wrapping Up

The sales process is a straightforward one. However, in addition to your efforts, you need a cohesive CRM to help you automate tasks, ensuring your follow-up messages are very personalized and capable of yielding the desired results. Sign up for free on lemlist here and close deals even faster.