Why It’s Important to Have a Separate Sales Process and Marketing Process in your Business
Originally posted on Sales Process Automation’s Blog
I often get asked, why is it important to have processes in place?
The simple answer… It frees up mental energy when you know exactly what you’re going to do next. It also helps your business be more efficient. That directly translates into more revenue.
It makes a huge difference in knowing what to do in every situation. Knowing what to do is just as important as taking action.
Quite often we take action just for the sake of taking action and it leads to unproductive busywork. Or, we don’t take action at all because we are in analysis paralysis.
Having processes in every area of your business is going to increase your productivity and when it comes time to scale, it becomes a must. Imagine having a team of people working for you, with all of them doing things their own way! It just doesn’t work.
Why is it important to have a Marketing Process?
When it comes to marketing, having a process in place for producing content is crucial.
Having a plan for what content and when that content will be published is a sure recipe for success.
When you put out content on a regular basis it shows your clients and the search engines that you are committed to adding value to the marketplace.
Google and YouTube love consistency when it comes to putting out new content and will reward you. If you are consistently adding new blog posts, articles and videos they will give priority to your content and increase the number of views.
Why is it important to have a Sales Process?
Having a sales process in place is just as important as having a Marketing Process.
[bctt tweet=”Sales and marketing are like a two-man relay race where marketing runs the first leg and sales runs the second.”]
Marketing’s job is to generate leads, and as soon as the prospect raised their hand showing interest in your products and/or services that lead is passed on to sales. It’s a sales job now to turn that prospect into a paying client.
A sales process is a series of repeatable steps, divided into well-defined stages. That process serves as a guide to keep you or your sales team on track so that you never miss a sale. Below is a simple 7-step Sales Process template that you can use to create your own sales process.
Organizations that have a clear sales process integrated into the way they sell will have more success in….
- Targeting the right prospects – Making sure that you know exactly who your ideal client is and where to find those ideal clients is key. If you have not identified who and where you will likely waste lots of money and time.
- Contacting the leads as soon as they come in – If you are not immediately contacting new leads as soon as they come in, you are missing a huge opportunity for new business.
- Qualifying leads – Not every lead you generate is going to be the right fit. You should have a process to pre-qualify leads as soon as they come in. If not, you will waste valuable resources with leads that will not turn into paying clients.
- Presentation – This, of course, is the most important part of the entire process. This is where you will meet with your prospect and present your solution. In this stage, you need to establish rapport, find out what your prospect’s challenges are, get clear on what their goals are and offer a solution that is going to serve them with excellence.
Here is where you will ask for the sale and handle any objections the prospect might have and move them to yes!
- Short term follow-up – If a prospect is not yet ready to move forward there might be valid reasons that are beyond your control. This should be part of your plan, as most sales rarely close on the first call. Having a 30-day follow up plan is crucial. This follow-up should be consistent and frequent. We suggest to our clients a series of 6 emails and 2 follow up calls within those 30 days. The emails should be about providing value to the prospect and not trying to sell them into your product or service. This is going to build trust and help move the sale along.
- Long Term Follow up – If the client is not ready to buy in 30 days, by no means does it mean that this sale is dead. It just means that they are not ready for your solution. It is key at this stage to make sure that you stay top of mind. Putting them back into a marketing campaign that nurtures the relationship is a good idea. This way you stay top of mind and ensure that when the customer is ready to pull the trigger.
- Closing – Believe it or not, this stage is sometimes not given the proper attention and the client is often left wondering if he/she made the right decision. It is crucial that you have a well planned and automated onboarding process. Get clear on what you need in order to start working with your new client and that the client is clear on what they need to do.
Those with no process, or who do not make their process integral to their sales operation measurably underperform in these areas.
The key principles for any sales process to create success in your organization are that there needs to be a logical flow, each step should be easy to identify and manage and it needs to be closely monitored. If parts of the process are not working, it should be changed to allow for market conditions.
If you already have a sales process, when was it last reviewed or revised? Whatever your situation, ask what is stopping you from doing something about the sales process?
Processes In Your Organization are a Must
Think of it as a “must-have” and not a “nice to have”. Profitable companies will have a process in place for both sales and marketing. If you don’t have processes in place, you are guaranteed to fail!
Steven Logreira is an American expat living in Canada with his wife Tatiana and his two dogs Black Bean and Pete. He considers himself a tech geek with a flair for sales. He loves to use technology to make life easier for himself and his clients.
He is the founder of Sales Process Automation Systems. Clients hire him to consult on creating a sales process with his clients and then implements a simple back-office system to automate that process so that his clients save time and close more sales.
