Sales is an important aspect in a business. It is what drives your business to success. 

But sales is not just a plain black-and-white scenario, where one could just aim for it without a clear process and hope for the best.

Every business needs a structured sales process to achieve success on a structured pattern.

But what is a sales process? 

Sales process refers to a series of repeatable steps a sales team takes to move a prospect from an early-stage lead to a closed customer. 

Sales process can be likened to a map that guides a business on their journey to turn potential leads into customers. 

Without it, your business’ effort would be useless.

Having a well-defined sales process helps reps close deals consistently by giving them a framework to follow.

If your business is having a hard time closing more sales in general, you’ll want to read the 5-steps guide below in closing sales more effortlessly.

Initial Contact

This stage of the sales process is the foundation of generating sales.

People give sales to a business, so a business needs people to sell to.

It is essentially where a business’ sales representative or sales rep introduces themselves to those people who are called prospects, that could become a customer later on.

Discovery

This is the stage where the ‘business-to-customer conversation’ takes place.

It’s where your business makes its first impression. 

The proper way to do this every time is that you should always focus on giving solutions to a customer’s problem rather than offering products or services that will likely give your business a salesy impression.

Solution

After the business has analyzed the prospect's needs, the goal in this stage is for you to determine whether your business would fit to offer a solution that can help the prospects solve their problems.

Closing Deal

In any circumstances that any concerns rise, this is the stage where a business should address the concerns of prospects that are preventing them closing the sale.

After assessing any objections, you are now ready to offer your product or service to customers.

Follow Up, Repeat Business & Referrals

Basically, this is where the concept of customer support enters. 

You should follow up with new customers to inquire about their satisfaction, promote upselling opportunities, and ask for referrals if applicable.