Seldom are random tactics used by companies in terms of sales. Most stick to an already well-established guide to some degree. Every organisation uses the same fundamental stages of the sales cycles to produce effective methods to close deals.
It’s true that different companies may vary in the way that they define their sales cycles due to factors like what industry they’re in, their target demographics etc. As a result, the steps they base their sales methods on can be slightly different. However, at the most basic level, there are generally 7 stages of a sales cycle.
Continue reading to find out what these stages are and tips on how to implement them into your own methods for selling to clients and customers.
Prospect
Sales prospecting, or lead generation, is by what means an organisation would search for suspects and prospects.
In order to sell anything, you have to have a customer or at the very least a target demographic to sell to. Identifying these potential prospects is always the first stage in all sales cycles.
An understanding of the service or product you are selling is a must. Then it is vital to have an ideal customer profile (ICP) and that you stick to it. An ICP contains information about the potential clients you’re targeting and how you’d aim to approach them. The personal backgrounds and pain points of these clients are commonly what you’d find in an ICP and will usually aid in looking for attributes past just interests, associations, or demographics.
Qualify
Qualifying a lead is when a sales rep does additional research to determine whether the potential client meets the basic qualifications for a product or service. Are they the right fit for your business? And vice versa, is your business equipped to meet their needs?
This stage will save you time and resources since you should only be pitching to qualified leads. However, the majority of qualifying usually happens during the first sales meeting or appointment which moves us onto the next stage.
Contact
After you’ve found your prospects and determined if they qualify, your next step is going to want to be making contact. Introduce yourself, share the value of what you have to offer,
Present
So far, you’ve identified a potential new customer, initiated contact, and qualified the lead. Now it’s time to present what you have to offer. This template should then be further tailored to suit each prospect’s unique needs.
Address objections
Now not all presentations will go without a hitch so it’s time to address any objections your prospect may have. Figure out what’s preventing them from making the purchase. Address their concerns honestly and enthusiastically.
If you want to find out more about addressing sales objections, feel free to check out this blog post of ours: https://excelifysolutions.blogspot.com/2021/12/how-to-address-sales-objections.html
Close the sale
Finally, it’s time to get down to it and ask for the close. The moment of truth has arrived. Do you have a deal or not? Closing a sale is much easier said than done and there are many ways to go about it, but it all depends on how all previous stages played out.. If they still have objections, then you may have to address those too..
Follow up and request referrals
The sales cycle doesn’t end with the sale. Many companies include another step after closing the sale: referral requests. For this step, sales reps ask their new customers to refer them to additional prospects. Your new customer is (hopefully) excited about their purchase and in a position to recommend other clients.
This doesn’t have to happen immediately after closing a deal. You can feel free to ask for referrals after your professional relationship with your new client has had a chance to grow and develop. Hopefully, this will mean you save time and energy, ready to start the cycle all over again.
Each and every sales process is going to be unique as different situations and factors will make both small and larger differences and as a result, you may have to adapt your method and adjust how long you spend on each stage of the sales cycle. However, generally, every cycle resembles the stages described above so learning all 7 of them, alongside refining your sales techniques will help you increase sales and grow as a business.
If you’d like to learn more about this and/or would like to discuss how Excelify Solutions can help you with all of your lead generation needs, then consider visiting the Excelify Solutions website at https://www.excelifysolutions.com/ or send us an email at Contact@ExcelifySolutions.com.