The document outlines the 7 stages of the sales process: 1. Prospecting - identifying target customers and collecting their details 2. Preparation - researching customers and setting goals for meetings 3. Rapport - building trust and getting customers to talk about themselves by listening and asking questions 4. Qualification - asking questions to determine customer needs and challenges 5. Presentation - providing an overview of products or services to address customer needs 6. Closing - asking for the sale using different closing techniques 7. Handling objections - clarifying concerns, not getting defensive, and providing positive responses

1. Business Skills For
The 21st Century
© LenFoster.Com 2014 All rights reserved
len@lenfoster.co.uk

2. The 7 Stages of The Sales Process

3. Prospecting
Stage 1

4. Fishing in the right pond
Who’s your target market? – who’s going to buy your stuff?
Who’s your ideal customer in that market? – customer demographic, avatar
Where can you find them? – networking, trade shows, Linkedin
Collect their details – list building
Keep in touch – CRM system, newsletter, auto responder messages
Turning leads into appointments – what’s your process, what’s your conversion rate?

5. Preparation
Stage 2

6. You can’t be too well prepared
Who are you going to see?
What do you know about them – position in company, length of service, hobbies,
interests?
What’s your goal for the meeting – speak to a decision maker, establish interest,
make a sale?
How will you present yourself – first impressions count, dress smart or casual, never
flashy?

7. Rapport
Stage 3

8. Building Rapport
Smile :0) – rapport doesn’t happen with grumpy people
Show a GENUINE interest in them – ask questions, hobbies, interests
Encourage them to talk about themselves and listen (Listen = Silent – same letters)
Use their name where possible
Talk about their interests not yours
Make them feel important “Sincerely”

9. Qualification
Stage 4

10. The better you qualify prospects the more sales you’ll make
Ask questions don’t make statements
Prepare questions beforehand
Ask big questions – so what's your biggest challenge at the moment, what are your
goals for…..?
Evoke emotion – how proud will you feel when…. people make decisions on emotion
not logic
Ask what failing to achieve what they want will feel like – create negative emotion
Show how your product or service prevents them from failing – is the solution they
need

11. Presentation
Stage 5

12. The sales presentation
Should be one way traffic – you talking and them listening
Have a start, middle and end to your presentation
1 Start – cover why you’re there and set an agenda for the presentation
2 Middle – give brief history, establish credibility, product overview or specific product
for them
3 End – simply summarise what you’ve said and close
Process is – 1 tell them what your going to tell them, 2 tell them, 3 tell them what
you’ve told them

13. Closing
Stage 6

14. Asking for the business
If you don’t ask, you don’t get
If you don’t ask the answers always no
Six ways to close
Assumptive close – assumes you have the business so you skip the asking stage
Conditional close – if I can do XXX for you, will you do XXX for me (Purchase)
Alternative close – give a choice of answers but both get the sale e.g. red one or
blue one
Summary – summarising gets lots of small yeses, makes it easier to get the big yes
Sandwich – where the price is sandwiched in between two lots of product or service

15. Objections
Stage 6

16. An objection is anything the prospect says or does that prevents closing
Learn to accept objections as a challenge rather than a huge obstacle
If you’re afraid of objections you’ll mess up your response and probably lose the sale
Prospects that buy have 58% more objections
1 Clarify the objection – e.g. why do they think XXXX is too expensive
2 Don’t go defensive – agree that XXXX may appear expensive at first then show why it isn’t
3 Find out if their concern with e.g. price is their only one - know what your up against
4 Hear their objection as a positive - they wouldn’t be talking if there wasn’t some interest
5 Answer positively – tell them what you can do e.g. for their budget of XXX not what you can’t do