A well-defined sales process helps you successfully convert prospects into customers using a set of actionable steps. Through a sales process, not only can you successfully measure metrics such as the prospects converted to customers and the deals won, you can also clearly define the steps your sales team needs to take in order to move a deal to the next stage and accurately estimate future sales.


Analyze your current sales process

A reliable sales process is built on a derived idea from answering these questions:

  • Who is your ideal buyer?
  • What is the first touchpoint?
  • How do prospects find your business?
  • What is the average buying process?
  • What are the top-performing touch points? (Top-performing indicates higher customer interaction via one medium. Example, a prospect is 2X likely to respond positively to an email reminder as opposed to a call) 
  • How many times should a sales rep follow-up with a prospect?
  • What is the average time for deal closure?
  • What are the common objections faced by inside sales reps?
  • How is a deal won?
  • What are the common reasons for losing a deal?


The Sales Process

  1. Prospecting

    In this stage, you reach out to prospects that match your buyer persona.

    • Buyers are those individuals in the Corporate world that are directly associated to enterprise.

    These individuals are presently working for the enterprise and are involved in suggestion, and purchase of an enterprise video content management system (VCMS).

    These people include:

    • Director Corporate Communication
    • Media producers
    • Creative Department
    • Information Technology
    • Human Resource/Trainers


    Thus any person who can directly encourage sales within the enterprise is a direct buyer.

    Example: Dan Stremlau at Exelon


    Day 1: Cold Email

    Day 3: Highly personalized cold-email

    Day 5: Follow-up via email

    Day 7: Cold call

    Day 10: Follow-up via email



  2. Qualification

    Remember BANT! • Budget = What is the prospect’s budget?
    • Authority = Does the prospect have decision-making authority?
    • Need = What is the prospect’s business need?
    • Timeframe = Do they have a timeframe to implement the solution?

    Follow this workflow:

    • Prospect understands the product and the need for it.
    • Identify customer challenges and how the product can solve it.
    • Identify the decision makers.
    • Understand the roadmap for the company, if they have the budget and time for the product implementation.

  3. Demo/Presentation

    This is the make or break stage where you present the personalized solution for the prospect’s problem. Be it in an onsite presentation or a virtual one, you should not only be well-prepared for the demo but also: 

    • Explain the product features.
    • Answer questions regarding feature implementation and usage.
    • Offer a trial account for the prospect to use.
    • Follow-up on technical queries and objections through emails and call.
    • Communicate any customizations needed for the product.
  4. Objection Handling

    Your inside sales team cannot avoid objections, but they can learn to handle one. Objections are usually due to the following reasons:

    • Price
    • Quality of Service
    • Trust/Relationship
    • Stalling/Delaying

    Therefore, it is our duty to be prepared during an objection and the best way to do that is to follow a process like the one below:

    • Listen to the objection without interrupting.
    • Understand why the objection is being raised.
    • Answer the objection.
    • Make sure you follow up with the prospect.
  5. Negotiation

    There will be rounds of negotiations around features and pricing.

    • Agree on pricing.
    • Prepare necessary legal and corporate documents.
    • Set dates for implementation.
  6. Deal Won

    Your prospect has come down the buying journey to become a customer.

    This is the time to send out the business proposal for signatures.

    • Establish an implementation period.

    If the prospect is moving away from an existing solution.

    • Set a plan for the company to migrate to VIDIZMO.
  7. Nurturing

    This is the stage for follow-up actions. Stay in touch with the customer to know how the product is working out for them and understanding issues.

    During this stage, you should make sure to:

    • Follow-up on customers to understand the value they have seen in the product.
    • Find out if they have any issues.
    • Ask for referrals and testimonials.

By the way, nurturing can also help revive closed lost deals. Stay in touch, send updates about product features and pricing changes, and keep prospects in the loop.


References