From time to time every salesperson should conduct an audit of their sales processes and techniques, even if they are currently successful and seemingly see no need for improvement. Times are constantly changing and so too are client expectations. How can you make your sales process more efficient? In today’s article we provide a simple three step guide.
Map the current state and identify weaknesses
As Harvard Business Review states, the first step should always be an audit of your existing processes. Review the client’s sales cycle from the very beginning to the very end. Examine your current procedures both from your perspective as the salesperson and from the perspective of the client. Does the process falter at any point? Is there unnecessary loss of time or client interest? Do the figures show at which stages clients most often reject the offer? Identify weaknesses in your process and then seek to improve them.
Simplify and automate repetitive tasks
Routine and repetitive tasks often consume an inordinate amount of salespeople’s time. Activities such as entering communication history into a CRM system, rewriting notes from meetings with clients, or searching for information about the company to which you want to offer your solution are all time consuming tasks. These can now at least partially be automated. Investigate what automation tools or artificial intelligence based options the current market offers. Evaluate whether any of these solutions could make your work easier and save you time.
Regularly review, test, and optimize processes
It does not end with one audit. As stated at the beginning of this article, improvement, testing, and optimization of your sales processes should be ongoing and long term. This applies even in times of sales success. It is possible that you may be falling behind without realizing it, and you might only notice when it is too late and you have lost valuable time trying to catch up with the competition.
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