Most of us know the fundamentals of a basic sales funnel. You start out with a hot lead from varying areas. This ends up as an opportunity for business. You send out a proposal for services. And, hopefully, in turn you have yourself a new customer! A sales funnel starts at the very beginning of the new business stage when you initially capture the attention and interest of your prospects via your website, social media efforts, a well stated voice mail or phone call, newsletter, or maybe even a referral. Yet, no matter which way the sales funnel begins, once it begins, making sure you stay on target is key to making sure the end result is more prospects becoming clients.

One way to ensure that the process stays on track is to maintain regular communication with your current clients, referral sources, and potential clients, while making sure they have a clear understanding of not only what you can do to help them, but also that you really do want to help them and not just sell to them. Sometimes this process is pretty quick, requiring only one or two conversations to “close the deal.” Other times those seven to thirteen calls it usually takes to get a prospect to trust you enough to talk about the issues you are looking to solve are necessary; in these cases a fair amount of nurturing needs to take place over time.

In general, there is a direct correlation between the length of the sales cycle and the overall cost of a deal. This is one of the reasons why I never understood the process used for purchasing a timeshare. The larger the cost, usually the longer it takes to make a sale.

So, how do you know that you are working your way down the sales funnel? Sure, you can pick up almost any sales book and find a description of a sales funnel in there, all just a little bit different. For me, I have six simple guidelines:

1. First, evaluate what it is you are going to sell. What is it? Who needs it? Why would they want it?
2. Think about the decision process of your potential customer or client. If you are selling a pack of gum, the decision process will be relatively quick and simple. If you are selling a high end business to business service, a high tech piece of software, or a large piece of industrial equipment, there will likely be several meetings and maybe a few plant tours involved.
3. You can’t get a yes if you are not talking to the people who can give you a yes, so identify and develop relationships with all decision makers and influencers. Again, pair this with the complexity of the sale. You don’t expect the person at the store selling you a pack a gum to see if they are one of the four out of five dentists who have partially influenced your decision to purchase a particular brand.
4. You cannot sell something to someone if I do not know what they need. This is a key point that a lot of people miss. They try to sell what they have rather than understand the prospect’s need.
5. Prospects will not buy if they do not have the money. So, before asking for the sale or even presenting a solution, get an understanding of their budget and make sure it is in line with the solution you plan to present. I heard someone say once, “I want it fast, I want it good, and I want it inexpensive,” to which we replied, “We can most likely help you…PICK ANY TWO.”
6. The most overlooked part of the process is time. If you present a solution, can they implement it now? Does testing need to occur prior? Is there another contract that needs to run its course before implementing your solution? When this part was skipped, deals fall through.

Hopefully this advice was helpful, and, if you need additional assistance working through this process, Randolph Sterling, Inc. is well versed in all levels of it, from qualifying prospects for the top of the sales funnel, to setting meetings for your experts with the decision maker at target company, to helping you close the deal!