1. What are the steps in your Sales Process? There should be at least 10.
2. How many personal "touches" are there in the Sales Process prior to the sale? There should be at least 3.
3. Is your Sales Process flow-charted? Have you visually mapped out each and every step? E.g.
- Identify suspect
- Market to suspect
- Call in from (out to) prospect (touch 1) (script 1 or 1A)
- Book appointment with prospect (script 2)
- Send out marketing collateral (includes questionnaire)
- Inform sales consultant of appointment
- Questionnaire returned
- Thank you call (touch 2) (script 3)
- Sales consultant pre visit call (touch 3) (script 4)
- Consultant visit (touch 4) (script 5)
- Follow up call/card/gift
4. Is each stage scripted? By scripted I don't mean you have to read line by line the exact script, but you do want to have a set of scripted questions that you walk the prospect through and get them to answer. This gives you a predictable outcome from each script.
5. Who speaks to the prospects? You shouldn't be able to call the office of anyone of some importance and speak directly with them. Therefore, you should screen prospects by having them talk with the secretary or lower level manager first. Make your prospect earn the right to speak with you. Take the position of power.
6. What information is gathered? Do you collect all the vital information you need to market to your prospect in the future?
7. What commitment do you require of prospects prior to the sales meeting? You should be making your prospects jump through hoops before meeting with them. A questionnaire for them to fill in is a great way of getting buy-in and commitment from them. This way, all of the time wasters and flake prospects getting qualified out, and you don't have to spend time with them. Your time is the most valuable asset you have as a business owner, use it wisely and only spend time with prospects who are ready to buy from you.
8. How are prospects positioned to know they will be asked to make a decision? If you're selling high dollar value products and services then you need to make sure your prospects are properly positioned to make a buying decision before meeting with you. This involves educating them on the benefits of your product/service before letting them know of price. You want to make the benefits so incredibly appealing, that your product/service can't be judged solely on price. Make sure your prospects have all the necessary information available to them 72 hours before you meet with them. 72 hours is the time the majority of people need prior to making a significant decision that may impact their future.
9. What marketing collateral do you send prior to the sales meeting? Does your prospect have a good knowledge of you and your credentials, or do you have to turn up at the sales meeting and sell yourself all over again?
10. Does your marketing collateral answer the 4 key questions?
a. Who are you? i.e. Personal profile for each sales person
b. Who is your company? i.e. Company profile
c. Can I trust you? i.e. Testimonials from satisfied customers, the more the merrier. Video testimonials are your most powerful sales weapon!
d. How can you help me? i.e. Outline of the product/service and the direct benefits your prospect will receive from it.
11. Do sales people establish rapport with prospects prior to the sales meeting? Remember, people buy from people. Your prospect must like you before they will buy from you.
12. How do you ensure all decision makers will be present at the sales meeting? The last thing you want is to meet with the Marketing Manager, and for them not be able to make a final decision on whether they will use your product or services. Because if you only meet with the Marketing Manager, and then they have to go away and give their boss an overview of what you're selling, they are not going to be half as effective at selling the idea to their boss, compared to you.
13. Can your salespeople recite their positioning statement from memory? Just like anything you strive to be excellent at in life, you need to practice. Practicing your sales presentation will make perfect.
14. Do you have a visual sales presentation? Are you catering to the different ways people receive information. Think VAK learning styles. Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. Not everyone learns the same. Visual people receive information by seeing and reading. Auditory people receive information by speaking and listening. Kinesthetic people receive information by touching and doing. Everyone has a different mixture of how they receive information, make sure you're catering to this.
15. Do your sales people know how to profit justify? One of the most powerful tools in any salespersons toolkit, being able to justify your prospects decision to purchase from you in terms of the profit they will make is extremely important. Because sales are based on 80% emotion, and 20% logic. Make sure you have the logic to back up their decision.
16. Do your sales people know how to handle your common objections? E.g.
- We had a similar situation with...
- What we did was... (shoot silver bullet)
- And the result was...
- Would that be a good result for you?
17. How many temperature checks does your sales process have? E.g.
- How does that sound?
- Can you see how that might work in your situation?
- How does that feel?
- So, if we were to do similar in your situation, would that be a good result/outcome?
18. How many conversion rates are there in your process?
E.g. - Lead generated, questionnaire returned, meeting booked, meeting completed, sale made, second sale made etc...
19. How do you test and measure the success of each step? Test and measure the conversion rate of each step so you can optimise the number of sales you're making. This is probably the quickest way you can double the size of your business, by making sure you don't have a bucket with holes in it that leads are fallling through.
20. Do you innovate scientifically and only adopt processes that work? Don't re-invent the wheel. Seek out people and businesses that have been successful in what you do, and adapt what has worked for them into your business.
21. What individual KPIs do you have for each individual sales person? How do they know if they are performing like a star, or well below par? Give them something to measure themselves against so they can actively track their progress.
22. Which conversion rate is weakest for each sales person?
23. How do you train your sales people in their area of weakness? Get your strongest sales person in each area to train the other sales people so they too can perform at greater levels. Do your sales people have a learning programme that they follow. Get them listening to people like Brian Tracy, Jeffery Gitomer, Zig Ziglar, Dan Kennedy, Allan Pease, and you'll notice a significant increase in their performance.
