Building a successful sales process feature image

Sales Process

Learn how to build a robust and effective sales process. Drive revenue and enhance customer satisfaction.

Table of contents 

What is a sales process?

A sales process is a template your sales organization must follow to close new deals. It details consistent and repeatable sales activities that help your sales reps guide a prospect through every stage of the sales journey. 

Think of a sales process as a well-documented master plan for sales. A good sales process provides the necessary structure and guidance to your sales playbook. 

Without an effective sales process, you risk sacrificing a positive customer experience. A structured sales process offers a framework for prioritizing leads and resource allocation. Scaling your sales operation becomes a big challenge, too—it’s like trying to reach a destination without a map. 

The benefits of building a sales process

The benefits of having a structured sales process are undeniable. By investing in building a sales process, you gain:

  • A consistent and standardized sales approach
  • Increased efficiency of your sales team 
  • Faster onboarding and improved training for new team members
  • More accurate sales forecasting
  • Better understanding of the customer
  • Adaptability and flexibility to different products, industries, and sales scenarios
  • Systematic customer relationship management
  • Streamlined data collection at each stage of the sales process
  • Increased credibility with customers 
  • Organized and controlled sales team scaling

As you navigate through the rest of this article, we’ll delve deeper into key strategies for building an effective sales process. 

The sales process step-by-step

This section will walk you through the 7-step sales process and provide tips for success. While there is no one-size-fits-all sales process, there are seven stages they all have in common. Please reference this guide as a framework to tailor to your specific business needs. 

A target with arrows missing it

1. Prospect

The first stage in any sales process is to capture leads so that you can develop a database of potential customers. The goal of this stage is to find ways to connect with prospects. To do this, you must understand your prospects, their needs, and their challenges. Prospecting requires extensive research. A prospect's industry background, role, market trends, etc. are all useful information. 

Sales prospecting is also the stage where you explore the organization(s) these prospects belong to. Map out their decision-makers and relevant prospecting techniques (cold emails, calls, social selling, etc.). Having a strong foundation of background knowledge will also help you tailor your pitch if you determine them qualified.

Pro tip

A personalized outreach approach will grab people’s attention over bland, generic messaging. Consider leveraging targeted marketing to provide a helping hand. Analytics tools harness user demographics to better tailor your marketing campaigns. 

2. Connect and qualify leads

Having established a connection with a prospect, the next stage is crucial. It involves confirming whether your solution suits their needs. There are several sales methodologies (MEDDIC, BANT, etc.) that you can use. These methodologies can help evaluate prospects and find out whether they match your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). You can also use them as frameworks to conduct discovery calls. 

The qualification stage aims to identify high-quality prospects. This stage ensures you only move qualified leads further down your sales pipeline.

Pro tip

Don’t underestimate the return on investment (ROI) of artificial intelligence (AI) for qualifying leads. Automating a few parts of the lead qualification process can save your sales team valuable time.

Predictive lead scoring uses algorithms to identify leads with the highest conversion potential. 

3. Research the company

Like a job interview, a sales pitch is ineffective if you go into it unprepared. Understand your prospect’s company culture and goals to help you address their specific challenges. With the information you gather, you can personalize your sales approach. 

Not only will you be ready to answer any questions that come your way, but your prospect will also appreciate your dedication. Thorough research and preparation are important steps for building client relationships in sales.

Pro tip

Be the first to know about your industry's latest news by setting up Google alerts for key prospects. Make sure nothing flies under your radar—stay up-to-date on any changes within their organization. Keep an accessible dossier of research information so you can quickly reference it. 

4. Give an effective pitch

So, you’ve identified high-quality prospects and established a connection with them. Now what? This next stage is to ensure you have a foot in the door by conducting a demonstration. It should highlight your solution’s capabilities and how they solve the prospect’s needs. 

Going through previous sales demos with past customers can help your sales managers do 3 things:

  1. Identify the best sales pitches
  2. Develop a sales script
  3. Offer consistent sales coaching to your reps so that they deliver an effective demo.

Your research on the prospect and their organization also comes in handy at this stage.

Pro tip

Did you know that 65% of the population are visual learners? Engaging and interactive presentations are much more likely to grab (and keep) viewers’ attention. It’s also easier to understand complex information and data points when they’re broken up into well-designed infographics.

5. Handle objections

Even when a prospect sees clear value in your solution, they might present some objections or need further convincing. These discussions could be over product use, data privacy, compliance, pricing, and other concerns. 

Studying past sales calls helps you identify previous objections. Use this information to develop scripts and coach your reps on how to navigate them. You may also have to equip your salespeople with potential compromises to further negotiations. These incentives could include discounts, extra features, customized support, and more.

Pro tip

Develop objection-handling playbooks so you’re never caught off-guard. Categorize objections and provide targeted responses. This will help you handle prospect objections with timeliness and professionalism. 

Take into account feedback from your sales team in the field to update your objection-handling strategy. Practice putting these strategies into action with regular role-playing exercises. 

6. Close the deal

In B2B sales, closing is a stage that involves final negotiations. Closing can look like:

  • Final discussions with the decision makers
  • Finalizing the pricing
  • Signing contracts
  • Defining and agreeing upon the legal terms, and more.

The goal is to ensure that the closing process doesn’t prolong too much or get stalled. Try fostering a sense of urgency (e.g., limited-time promotions or exclusive deals for prospects who commit within a specific time frame).

Pro tip

All salespeople know that closing deals requires finesse. Develop a well-defined closing plan outlining the closing milestones. This plan guides salespeople and the prospect through this final negotiation step. 

Staying well-versed on a closing plan will help this step run smoothly so prospects feel more comfortable with the deal. 

7. Nurture and continue to sell

While closing deals is the goal of any sales organization, the sales process doesn’t end there. The final stage is nurturing to ensure you build and maintain a long-term customer relationship. 

High churn rates are frustrating, but they aren't unsolvable. Engaging with existing customers and ensuring they’re satisfied helps you reduce churn. Continuing to check in with customers boosts loyalty and can even get you referrals. This stage emphasizes opportunities to upsell or cross-sell, increasing revenue even further.

Pro tip

Easy-to-use customer loyalty programs will reward existing customers. Relevant and enticing incentives will encourage them to keep doing business with you. Follow-up contact demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction. 

To wrap things up, a flexible sales process that considers customer feedback is the backbone of a successful revenue strategy. Each of these steps is integral for building lasting relationships with clients. We hope you’re getting a better grasp of how and why organizations with a well-defined sales process can prepare their sales reps for success. 

How to improve your current sales process 

So, you already have a sales process, but you’ve been having challenges. You may notice missed opportunities or spot inefficiencies that are affecting your revenue. A sales process can’t solve all your problems if you lack the tools and strategies to make it the best it can be. In this section, we’ll review ways to improve your current sales process.

Steps with good, better, and best on each step in ascending order

Define clear objectives 

Trying to improve your sales process without knowing what to improve is taking a shot in the dark. Defining sales goals and objectives helps align your efforts with overall business goals. RevOps tools often come equipped with real-time goal setting and tracking features

A general rule of thumb for goal setting is to make goals SMART. SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, customer engagement on your social media platforms is low. This is resulting in decreased trust and affecting your brand credibility. When setting a SMART goal to address this issue, don’t be vague and say, “Increase customer engagement.” This can be confusing, demoralizing, and ineffective. Instead, be specific. Try: “Increase customer engagement by 15% through social media interactions within the next quarter.”

It’s also a good idea to reward your sales team when they meet their goals. By defining SMART goals for your sales team, you can encourage them to improve their performance while increasing morale—a win-win! 

Understand your customer’s journey

Lacking insight into customer behavior makes it hard to tailor your sales and marketing approaches. To better understand your customer, consider mapping out the entire customer journey. A customer journey map flows like this: awareness → consideration → sale → service → loyalty expansion.

Real-time analytics help track customer interactions as they happen. You can use this information to respond to customer needs and preferences. 

Identify moments of delight and customer pain points across different platforms. This will help you enhance the customer experience every step of the way. 

Implement sales training and development 

Don’t leave your sales team hanging. Make sure they’re armed with the skills and knowledge needed to be adaptable and quick on their feet. Invest in technology that offers online training modules, workshops, and simulations. Host regular role-playing exercises and practice pitches. 

Create comprehensive sales guides and documentation. Make your team experts at handling customer objections, navigating negotiations, and closing deals. A well-trained team is better at their jobs and more confident in the organization and leadership.

A study by Zippia revealed some significant findings. 90% of employees reported that a gamified learning experience makes them more productive. Gamifying the sales training process can boost employee motivation to complete modules. Examples of gamified sales training include:

  • Quizzes
  • Badges
  • Certifications
  • Modular learning
  • Progress bars 

Use technology and tools

Many software and tools are competing for your attention, but which one should you choose? It all depends on the goals you’ve defined for your business-specific needs. 

Automation reduces repetitive, manual tasks so your sales team can focus on relationship-building. Let's say you want to increase the accuracy of sales forecasts to avoid wasting resources. In this case, a tool can analyze historical data. It can also analyze the current pipeline and deal dynamics for you. This will help address accuracy issues.

Establish a lead qualification process

The lead qualification step of the sales process is crucial. In Hubspot's State of Marketing 2023 report, they found something noteworthy. Only 5% of sales reps were able to identify high-quality leads from marketing efforts. This low percentage indicates challenges in identifying and prioritizing qualified leads generated from marketing. Lead qualification processes help focus your team’s time and efforts. These processes target leads with the highest potential for conversion.

RevOps tools automate the lead scoring process with predictive analytics and data integration. By taking a targeted approach backed by powerful analytics, you can increase your chances of closing. This is especially true with qualified leads.

Encourage collaboration between sales and marketing

Centralize data from and encourage communication between departments (marketing, sales, customer service, etc.). This helps ensure you have up-to-date customer data. It also enables a unified approach toward customer engagement.

Encourage inter-departmental communication to help establish a culture of collaboration at your organization. You can do this by:

  • Organizing regular cross-functional meetings
  • Sharing insights
  • Working together to develop campaigns that resonate with your target audience

Let's say your customer service team has noticed an uptick in complaints. These complaints are about a specific issue with your product. Sharing this information with sales and marketing can prepare everyone to handle concerns. 

Gather and analyze data

Regularly analyze market trends, sales data, and customer feedback to beat the competition. Use your findings to uncover patterns, customer preferences, and areas for improvement. Choosing tools that seamlessly integrate into your CRM system is essential. It will save you time and hassle.

Creating a sales process for your organization

We’ve defined the sales process and gone over strategies for improving it. Now, let’s create a customized sales process for your business.

A flow chart outlining the steps of creating a sales process

Map out the customer journey and define your target audience

An effective sales process builds off of a customer buying journey. That's why, before creating the sales process, you must understand your customer. Start by developing an ICP (Ideal Customer Persona). This, in turn, requires you to maintain a database of customers with rich context. For instance—their needs, roles and responsibilities, company information, etc. 

Let's look at an example. If you’re a SaaS company, an ICP could include details such as:

  • The customer’s industry
  • Challenges they face in that industry
  • Their technology preferences, etc.

Once you have all the information and a database, you can move on to the next step. 

Identify clear sales goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)

Map your business and sales goals and the necessary sales process stages. Try setting up a sales pipeline. Map your pipeline stages and qualification criteria for each stage.

Define sales activities for each stage of the sales process. Identify sales methodologies or techniques for each stage. Don't forget necessary sales training and coaching.

Identify metrics and KPIs to measure the success of each stage of the sales process. This is key to understanding the effectiveness of each stage. It helps identify potential bottlenecks and ways to optimize the process.

We discussed ways to define SMART goals in a previous section. As opposed to goals, KPIs measure a business's or individual's performance. KPIs are directly aligned to help achieve broader objectives. To help you understand the difference, here is a side-by-side comparison: 

SMART goal = Achieve a 20% increase in the average deal size to $10,000 per transaction within the next six months. Do this through strategic upselling and pricing enhancements.

KPI = “Increase the average deal size to $10,000 per transaction."

Design a customized sales funnel 

A sales funnel illustrates a prospect's stages before making a sale. It's also known as a purchase or revenue funnel. Sales funnels focus on guiding prospects to conversion and follow a linear model. The funnel narrows as prospects move from awareness to sale. The shape of the funnel represents the decreasing number of potential customers. 

A sales funnel is an essential part of understanding the customer journey. It provides a structured framework for the customer journey map. This is done by emphasizing lead scoring and qualification criteria. 

A good example of a sales funnel considers customer interactions and touchpoints. Customize each stage to match the specific characteristics of your industry. This includes tailoring your sales funnel to your product offerings and target audience. 

Incorporate feedback loops

Test solutions that your sales team will need to perform the various sales activities. Examples of solutions can include:

  • CRMs
  • Revenue platforms
  • Conversation intelligence
  • Conferencing tools, etc.

Pick tools that automate many activities. This includes call transcription, summary creation, follow-up emails, and tracking metrics. Engage with your sales teams to understand whether the sales process works for them. Incorporate feedback or suggestions wherever possible.

Ways to engage your sales team and collect feedback include (but are not limited to): 

  • Feedback meetings
  • Team collaboration platforms
  • Surveys and polls

Monitor and adapt to market dynamics and up-to-date technologies

Market monitoring tools help you stay on top of industry trends and the competition. You can also use them to track changes in customer preferences and behavior. With companies seeing AI easing sales teams' workloads, it’s safe to say that AI is an important market to keep track of in the coming years. 

Encourage your sales team to adopt an agile mindset. This will help them put in place feedback and be more adaptable to a rapidly changing industry.

The sales process flowchart

What is a sales process flowchart?

A sales process flowchart is a visual representation of the sales process. It visually depicts each step in your sales process and helps reps understand how close they are to meeting their sales quota. It’s usually a part of the sales onboarding kit.

A sales process flowchart is more than a static diagram. It’s a dynamic tool that is flexible and adaptable to different sales scenarios. A sales process flowchart aims to make following the various sales activities easier for your sales team. 

What we said before about visual learners also applies to training new sales reps. Consider including a sales process flowchart in your onboarding kit. This will provide new employees with a visual aid they can reference when learning the ropes. 

A customer sales process flow chart

Sales process vs. sales methodology

The sales process defines the “what” of selling, whereas the sales methodology defines the “how." 

As a result, a sales rep learns the steps to close a deal and nurture new clients by studying the sales process. By exploring the sales methodology, the sales rep understands how to execute specific actions. This occurs within the sales process. Specific actions could be engaging with new prospects, qualifying them, and negotiating.

Sales processes are unique to organizations and cater to long-term business growth. Yet, sales methodologies can be the same or similar. They are a collection of philosophies, principles, and field-tested strategies from sales experts. 

In this section, we’ll go over popular sales methodologies such as SPIN selling, Challenger sales, MEDDIC, and more. These methodologies solve specific problems or challenges within a sales process.

A funnel graphic depicting the sales process, and a circular chart depicting sales method philosophy

1. SPIN selling

SPIN selling focuses on Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff questions. The goal of these questions is to understand customer needs. This strategic approach will help sales reps tailor a specific solution to pain points uncovered by the questions. Here is more detail on what each type of SPIN question entails:

  • Situation questions: Gather basic information about the customer's current state and context.
  • Problem questions: Identify challenges or issues the customer wants to solve.
  • Implication questions: Explore the impact and consequences of the identified problems.
  • Need-Payoff questions: Present the value proposition, linking the solution to the customer's needs.

2. Challenger sales model

This sales method involves challenging a prospect’s thinking and preconceptions. Challenger selling focuses on providing insights and educating customers. The goal is to guide prospects toward a redefined perspective. It also aims to encourage proactive engagement with the sales process.

There are a few different ways sales reps can influence the prospect with this method:

  • Teaching for differentiation: The salesperson becomes a teacher, offering valuable insights.
  • Tailoring for resonance: Tailor the sales message based on the customer's needs.
  • Taking control: Lead the customer through the sales process, guiding their decision-making.

3. Solution selling

Solution selling puts the customer at the center of this sales methodology. As its name suggests, this sales method provides tailored solutions to customer pain points. Here are the basic steps for how to conduct Solution selling: 

  • Needs analysis: Analyze customer needs and challenges by asking the right questions.
  • Customized solutions: Tailor offerings to address specific customer pain points. 
  • Building relationships: Focus on long-term relationships by solving problems. Be an expert in the product to build trust and credibility.

4. Consultative selling

Instead of a sales-focused approach, consultative selling adopts a consultative approach. Salespeople act as consultants, collaborating with clients to offer expert advice and solutions. 

Consultative sellers start by getting an in-depth understanding of customer needs. They use this information to provide knowledgeable insights and guidance. Consultative sellers work with the customer throughout the process.

5. MEDDIC

MEDDIC = Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, and Champion. This framework provides a systematic approach to qualifying opportunities in complex B2B sales. Here is the definition of each aspect of MEDDIC: 

  • Metrics: Understand the key metrics and goals of the customer.
  • Economic buyer: Identify the person with the authority and budget for the sale.
  • Decision criteria: Define the criteria that will guide the decision-making process.
  • Decision process: Understand the steps and stages of the customer's decision-making.
  • Identify pain: Identify and address the customer's pain points.
  • Champion: Develop a champion within the customer organization.

6. Inbound selling

Inbound selling aligns with the principles of inbound marketing. Inbound sales are when a prospect reaches out to you first with questions about your product. This methodology focuses on attracting leads by building relationships and providing valuable content.

  • Content attraction: Attract leads through informative and valuable content.
  • Building trust: Establish trust by providing relevant and helpful information.
  • Customer-centric approach: Align sales efforts with the customer's needs and preferences.

Examples of the sales process 

Xerox’s 8-step solution selling process:

Xerox diversified its product offerings by providing more solutions for managing documents. They first recognized consumers’ needs for centralized print services and created a solution. This pivot into print services and document management showed their commitment to customization. By expanding their services, they made themselves indispensable and invaluable to customers. Xerox’s step-by-step solution selling process could look something like this: 

1. Customer needs analysis

Xerox begins the process by analyzing the customer’s unique needs and requirements. This involves understanding document management, workflow challenges, or specific goals the prospect has. 

2. Proposal development 

Based on the research and information gathered, Xerox creates a tailored proposal. This proposal outlines how it meets the prospect’s needs. The proposal would consist of a comprehensive plan for improving document-related processes. 

3. Integrated solutions presentation

Xerox presents its findings and solutions to the prospect. This presentation will highlight how their products work. It will also showcase how services work in tandem to solve the prospect’s problems.

4. Customization and flexibility

Xerox emphasizes customization and flexibility. They show how they can adapt to each customer’s unique needs. Taking a collaborative approach helps Xerox tailor solutions to organization-specific requirements. 

5. Cost-benefit analysis

This step shows the financial advantages and ROI of Xerox solutions. 

6. Pilot implementation

Before going all in with full-scale implementation, Xerox will recommend a pilot program. This step allows the customer to test the solutions in a controlled environment. 

7. Collaboration and training

Xerox provides support and training during the implementation phase. This ensures a smooth adoption and empowers the customer to make the most out of the solutions.

8. Performance monitoring and optimization

The process doesn’t end after implementation. Xerox will continue to track the performance of its solutions. This entails gathering feedback, making necessary adjustments, and analyzing the system. 

HubSpot’s winning inbound selling strategy:

In 2023, inbound leads cost 61% less than outbound leads. HubSpot has established itself as an industry leader in inbound marketing and selling. They take a 3-pronged approach to applying the inbound methodology:

  1. Attract: Captivate your audience with compelling content and conversations that provide value. This will position you as a trusted advisor they can rely on. Examples of valuable content include:
    • Blog posts
    • Social media content
    • Product guides
    • User testimonials, and more. 
  2. Engage: Present insights and solutions tailored to their pain points and objectives. This will increase the likelihood of them choosing your product or service. Remember—you’re in it for the long game. Let customers know they’re a priority to encourage them to build a long-term relationship with you. 
  3. Delight: Empower your customers by offering help and support. Guide them toward success with your product and enhance their experience. Strategically-timed surveys and chatbots can be useful to support, help, and collect feedback. 

Ringover’s 7-step MEDDIC sales process:

Ringover is a cloud-based telephony solution that leverages MEDDIC to enhance its sales process. In this example, MEDDIC provides Ringover full control over its long sales cycle. MEDDIC also helps Ringover identify and process sales opportunities and access actionable data. Let’s break down Ringover’s steps to close deals using MEDDIC:

1. Metrics or indicators

Ringover identifies KPIs that drive prospects' motivations (e.g., call volume, efficiency goals, communication needs, etc.). This will help them further address prospects' needs in the sales process.

2. Economic buyer

In the telephony industry, the economic buyer is the decision maker. Ringover focuses on identifying and engaging with people who can make financial decisions. This person would be in upper management or a C-suite position. 

3. Decision criteria

Ringover tailors its sales pitch to align with the prospect’s specific decision criteria (e.g., cost, ease of use, ROI, etc.). 

4. Decision process

Ringover maps out the steps and milestones a prospect must go through before choosing their telephony solution. Like the previous steps, this includes researching:

  • The prospect’s internal processes
  • Timelines
  • Key stakeholders in the decision-making journey. 

5. Identify pain points

Ringover aims to position itself as a tailored remedy. This involves understanding the communication challenges and inefficiencies faced by prospects. Ringover could use concrete examples and figures to demonstrate how it addresses specific problems. 

6. Champion 

A champion is an internal ally who acts as a Ringover ambassador. Ringover ensures the contact has significant sway and authority with decision-makers. This champion must also face the same communication challenges. The goal is to better advocate for the adoption of Ringover’s solutions.

7. Paper process

In some cases, MEDDIC has evolved to become “MEDDPIC,” with the “P” representing “paper process." The paper process signifies the importance of administrative components in the decision-making process. At this stage, Ringover conducts research on prospects' administrative processes. This ensures smooth operations, compliance with legal requirements, and a demonstration of professionalism.

Common sales process mistakes 

Like people, sales processes are not infallible. Even the most carefully crafted strategies can falter if approached with inflexibility. In this section, we'll discuss common sales process mistakes. We'll also offer strategies to overcome them.

A target with arrows missing it

Ignoring customer needs

One fundamental error in the sales process is neglecting to focus on and empathize with customer needs. Salespeople, at times, get so caught up in being product experts that they lose sight of the customer. 

Focusing only on your product or service may make you “robotic” and “detached” from a prospect. You also won’t be able to offer relevant solutions if you don't understand the customer’s problem. Ignoring customer needs is a surefire way to lose trust and damage potential relationships. 

Inadequate lead qualification 

As we’ve mentioned before, the success of a sales process relies on effective (and efficient) lead qualification. Without a standardized lead qualification process, you risk wasting time and resources. This applies to prospects who may not fit your product or service.

Addressing this issue requires clear criteria for lead qualification to be established. This involves defining the characteristics of an ideal customer to create an ICP. Additionally, understanding their pain points is crucial. Qualified leads that meet these criteria will have a higher conversion potential. Reviewing and refining your lead qualification criteria is essential. This helps you stay on top of changing consumer behavior.

Skipping follow-up and inconsistent communication

Have you ever gone on a date and then got ghosted? You’re less likely to reach out to that person again or vouch for them. Like dating, effective communication is the lifeblood of a successful sales process. Skipping follow-ups and being inconsistent with communication will weaken your relationship with prospects. 

Sales professionals need a robust follow-up strategy. This ensures no prospect slips through the sales funnel unnoticed. It's all a balancing act. You don't want to follow up too aggressively or spam prospects. Doing so may make them feel harassed and unwilling to respond.

Respond to inquiries promptly—check in regularly, but don't overdo it. Personalize your communication. Personalization is especially important, so your messaging doesn’t seem robotic and staged. 

CRM tools can help automate the follow-up process, but don’t forget to incorporate that personalized touch. 

Lack of data analysis

Failing to use data to improve your sales process can be fatal. Without thorough data analysis, sales teams may miss valuable insights. These insights relate to customer preferences and behavioral trends.

Data analysis helps identify patterns in these aspects so you can adapt your strategies to the information available. It’s the best way to stay agile and responsive to evolving markets and industries. 

Failure to adapt to market trends or customer feedback

Without thorough data analysis, sales teams may miss valuable insights. These insights pertain to customer preferences and behavioral trends. We’ve already discussed ways in which you can gather and analyze customer feedback. This feedback is a goldmine for refining sales strategies and improving your product offerings.

Being close-minded and unwilling to listen to your customers will only set you back. Keeping your ear to the ground will help you stay relevant and proactively adjust your sales process. 

Overemphasis on closing

There’s no denying that closing is a crucial part of the sales process. There’s even a well-known acronym amongst sales folks: ABC (Always-Be-Closing). Overemphasizing closing can often come at the expense of relationship-building, however. 

Pressuring prospects for a quick close is not advisable. Rushing them through the sales process may put too much focus on the transactional aspect of the sale. Instead, sales professionals should prioritize building trust and understanding customer needs. 

A relationship built on empathy and trust is more likely to convert. The prospect will be more likely to return and recommend you or your product to others.

What’s next?

The sales process is crucial to directing your sales team and helping them close deals. However, the sales process is only effective if you can track it. Identifying at-risk deals and moments where your reps are struggling is crucial. Offering support in those instances enhances the effectiveness of the sales process. That’s where data plays a pivotal role.

Clari’s revenue platform can help you bring all past, present, and future sales data together in one place. Book a demo today to see how Clari continuously empowers your sales team and helps you meet your sales goals. 

See Clari in action

Background image with lines and shapes for mobile device screens
Photograph of a revenue leader checking a Clari report on a mobile phone
Experience the Clari difference

Use Clari's Revenue Platform to make accurate sales forecasts, win more deals aka quota, and protect your customer base.