What is Sales Process? Definition of Sales Process, Sales Process Meaning and Concept

The sales process is the set of stages that a seller of a company follows to finalize an effective sale transaction.

Without a doubt, to make a sale certain general steps must be followed. Which could vary according to the type of product that is marketed, the market segment to which it is directed and the internal procedures that each company handles.

However, the time to achieve effective sales can be very different according to the type of product that is being sold. When products are easy to use and inexpensive, the sales transaction may take very little time to complete. But when the products are very complicated in operation and high in price, the selling action could last a long time. It could take months or years for it to finally turn into an effective sale.

Stages of the sales process

The most important stages followed in the sales process are:

1. Prospecting

In reality, the sales process begins when the salesperson prospects for new clients for the company. Prospecting consists of identifying people or companies that could buy the products offered by the company. That is, the seller looks for potential customers for the company and lists them as possible candidates.

2. Search for information

After conducting customer prospecting, the salesperson will need to seek information on the candidates they have identified. This information will help to refine the list of new clients, in this way those candidates who do not meet sufficient criteria can be eliminated.

In this way, the chosen candidates are those in which the seller recognizes that they have an unmet need that the company can cover. In addition, they have enough purchasing power to buy and are accessible to the seller.

3. Initial contact

Then, with enough information collected about potential customers, the seller will be able to have the first approach with them. This first contact will serve specifically so that the seller can introduce himself.

Based on the response obtained, the seller may offer to carry out a study of your needs and make a proposal to provide you with a possible solution.

4. Customer analysis and solution proposal

Immediately, when the seller obtains the required permission from the client, he can approach the company and carry out an analysis of his needs. In this process you can be accompanied by a group of experts from the company.

With all this, we proceed to prepare the solution proposal, the purpose is to be able to give the client a way to improve their results through the use of the products sold by the company. The problems and opportunities encountered are presented, establishing the cost-benefit ratio of the proposed proposal.

5. Presentation of the proposal

Thus, once the proposal is prepared, it is presented to the client. The seller must be clear about the advantages and disadvantages that the company will obtain with said proposal.

Above all, the seller must be very honest in this presentation of the proposed solution. So that the client clearly sees the benefits and inconveniences that it can cause and determines if it suits him or not.

6. Clarification, negotiation and modification

Of course, at this stage we proceed to clarify any doubts that may arise. It will also be possible to negotiate some points in which the client does not agree, for this reason this phase is known as the handling of objections.

Consequently, modifications can be achieved in the original proposal, to finally agree on the negotiation.

7. Closing sales

Finally, when both parties agree and the negotiation process is finished. The seller can formally close the sales transaction.

Similarly, this step ends with the signing of the contract, where all the conditions agreed to carry out the sale transaction are formally stipulated. The signing of the contract is not the end of the sales process, but the beginning of a relationship between the company and its new client.

8. Tracking

In fact, this phase supposes that the seller must investigate and follow up with his client to determine his level of satisfaction when using his products. For this reason, you must pay attention to the agreed delivery dates. In addition to verifying that the product, whether it is the purchased good or service, works as offered in the proposal. This in order to exceed customer expectations.

Finally, we can say that the sales process follows a series of steps that allow a seller to make effective sales. However, the sales process may be slightly different depending on the type of product being sold, the type of market being targeted, and the requirements of each company.