How to manage Sales?
A lot of people complain that business is either a feast or a famine. They are either selling lots or nothing. Yes you can blame external factors, if you want: blame the seasons, the competition or the government. When I’m invited to look at businesses with that problem I invariably find that there is no Sales Funnel in use.
Let’s be clear here, a “sales funnel in use” is not the same as “having a sales funnel”. By “Sales Funnel” I mean a system that tracks prospects from first contact onwards through the sales cycle. It does not have to cost millions or involve complex software. What it must have is be easy to use and comprehend as well as be appropriate to that business. There are lots of cowboys out there who will sell you over specified rubbish when a pen and ledger will do just as well.
If you don’t have a sales funnel you can decide on the building blocks over the weekend. First break down your sales flow into components. First contact, free samples, site visit, rfp/rfq, Tender, negotiations, contract signing these are all elements that may be involved. Grab a pen and sketch out your idea sales flow. Then add your most common deviations and you have probably covered 90%+ of your sales. Now jot down all the prospects that you have closed over the past period, from memory try to run these guys through your new sales model. Did they move smoothly? Are some sections too long and need to be broken down? Are some sections too short and could be merged? Hint: Normally 5 or 6 phases in a sales flow is about right. Add a few durations, how long does each phase last.
Now as yourself the really obvious question, how do you know when a prospect moves from one phase to the next? It could be they say “could you customise one for me?” or money could change hands you will know. At this stage you can label the end point of each phase with a fairly clear statement that marks it successful conclusion.
Now you take all your existing prospects and position them across these different sales phases. Because this is your first time doing this lots of your prospects will be long timers who are stuck for whatever reason. Don’t worry about those right now. Just sit back and feel proud, you have a solid list of prospects that you can market too. Plus having look at this for a few hours you should now know the prospects are getting stuck in the sales cycle. (ask about your sales barrier demolition workshop)
Congratulations you have now developed a sales funnel (or model) and lots of consultants will charge you 6 figure sums for doing this work alone!!!!
Now that you have this list of prospects at different phases you can see where the peaks and troughs are. One you can see them coming you are in a position to do something about them, and that is called Sales Management.
If you need to figure out how to get prospects into your sales funnel or how to move them along, please give me a call. I’m very happy to discuss how we could help you further.
Best wishes
Mike Spratt
www.rapidbusinessgrowth.ie
Phone: +353 1 491 3328
Tags: Business Development, Marketing