Spring Cleaning Your Sales Process

Why Your Sales Process Needs a Reset

It’s that time of year where we’re getting out of the winter doldrums. We’re not quite in summer yet, so we’re in that season a lot of people enjoy, spring.

Baseball players are down in spring training getting their skills enhanced. We’re in the middle of March Madness for basketball. And as you look around your house, you might start to notice a few things that need to be freshened up. Maybe it’s a small update, or maybe it’s a total overhaul.

We naturally think about improving our environment this time of year. But what about your sales process?

Does your sales process need some spring cleaning?

We have a lot of people come to us and say, “Can you help our team close more business?” But what we often find is this. The problem isn’t at the closing. The problem is in the opening because salespeople aren’t doing the things they need to do to fully qualify.

Where Your Sales Process Is Breaking Down

As you think about clearing out clutter at home, think about the clutter in your sales conversations.

Are you talking about things that have zero impact on the person you’re speaking with? Because the person you’re talking to doesn’t want to hear how great and wonderful your products and services are. They want to know, “I have this issue which is keeping me from growing my business. Can you help me?”

Are we having conversations about their business and what needs to improve, or are we getting pulled into things that are irrelevant?

We also see a lot of deals get stuck in the pipeline for one simple reason. Salespeople try to shortcut the sales process. They skip steps, rush through conversations, and fail to build a strong foundation early.

Folks, the process is the process. When you try to work around it, deals stall.

How to Improve Your Sales Process Moving Forward

So as you think about spring cleaning, think about what you need to be better at in your sales process.

You need to be better on the phone when making those initial calls. You need to be better at opening the conversation and closing for next steps. And you have to determine whether the prospect is truly dealing with a problem or if it’s simply a circumstance that’s frustrating them.

If you’re doing things the same way you did last year, you’re going to get the same results this year.

Socrates said an unexamined life is not worth living. From a sales perspective, an unexamined sales process is not worth having.

So what are you willing to change? What are you willing to update? What are you willing to overhaul?

There are resources that can help. A great sales coach can help you identify what’s getting in your way. And working with Anthony Cole Training Group can help you walk through your sales process and improve the way your team sells.

As you head into the spring and prepare for the months ahead, take the time to clean up your sales process so it can start working for you, not against you.

Author:

Jack Kasel
Sales Development Expert
Anthony Cole Training Group

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Q1: My team keeps asking for help closing more deals — but is closing really where the problem is?

Probably not. What’s often found is that the problem isn’t at the closing — it’s in the opening, because salespeople aren’t doing the things they need to do to fully qualify. anthonycoletraining If deals aren’t closing, it’s worth looking upstream at the quality of early conversations rather than focusing on closing tactics. Fixing the foundation is what ultimately frees up the close.

Q2: Why do so many deals get stuck in the pipeline and stall out?

A lot of deals get stuck in the pipeline for one simple reason: salespeople try to shortcut the sales process. They skip steps, rush through conversations, and fail to build a strong foundation early. The process is the process — when you try to work around it, deals stall. anthonycoletraining Another contributing factor is filling sales conversations with topics that don’t connect to the prospect’s real challenges. Prospects don’t want to hear how great your products and services are — they want to know if you can help them solve the issue that’s keeping them from growing their business. anthonycoletraining

Q3: How do I know if my sales process actually needs an overhaul, or just some minor adjustments?

The article recommends honest self-examination as the starting point. If you’re doing things the same way you did last year, you’re going to get the same results this year. anthonycoletraining The areas to evaluate include how your team performs on initial phone calls, how well they open conversations and close for next steps, and whether they can distinguish between a prospect facing a genuine problem versus one simply dealing with a frustrating circumstance. Whether the fix is a small update or a total overhaul, a great sales coach can help identify what’s getting in the way and improve how your team sells.