The document discusses the importance of a sales funnel in predicting revenue and managing sales processes effectively. It outlines the stages of a sales funnel, from leads to prospects to customers, and describes the criteria for each stage, as well as the probabilities of closing deals at each step. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for a structured approach to sales funnel management to enhance decision-making and sales forecasting.

2. The Sales Funnel
Introduction
A predictable sales funnel is something that every company looks for to
help them make effective business decisions. Unfortunately, predicting
revenue is one thing that proves to be extremely difficult to pin down and
hard to achieve if you are not using a standardize set of best practices and
staying on top of what is feeding into and flowing through the sales funnel.
As a sales representative, having an accurate picture of your sales funnel
helps you run your business more effectively and smoothly.
Some sales people are very good at managing their sales funnel while
others are not accurate at all. This is why a good sales funnel management
process is important. Without a process that works well, sales projections
become subjective and unpredictable. And unfortunately, that subjectivity is
usually amplified as it passes through each layer of our organization

3. What is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is a visual representation of a sales pipeline. Many sales
organizations use the image of a funnel to represent the sales process. It’s
a useful model because it’s very visual.
Your sales funnel allows you to look at the overall health of all the leads
feeding into your funnel, the deals moving through your pipeline, and the
new accounts that flow out. A single glance will tell you exactly where you
stand and where you need to focus your sales activities.
The visualization categorizes the stages of a sales pipeline. The sales
funnel shows at the top the leads (suspects) entering the funnel, becoming
prospects and closing as customers. The funnel is a useful tool for
organizing specific sales opportunities by their probability of resulting in a
sale.
Sales funnel management helps you estimate the probability that enough
opportunities are moving towards closure to keep revenue flowing for a
period of time. A robust sales funnel is a good leading indicator of medium
to long-term health of your team’s sales efforts and helps you predict your
sales forecast.
The sales funnel describes the actual conversion of prospects into new
customers. It is called as such because it includes the conversion ratio at
each stage of the sales cycle, which has a funneling effect. By using the
sales funnel, and by quantifying the number of prospects at each stage of
the process, you can predict the number of prospects who will, in time,
become customers.

4. Should Sales be a guessing game?

5.  It reduces failure
 Reduces risk
 provides safety

6. The Three Sales Funnel
Categories
They flow in, through and out of
the funnel.
Suspects (Leads)
Prospects
Customers

7. SUSPECTS (Leads): A lead is defined as a person or company that
you suspect has interest and authority to purchase a service. This
person or company may or may not have heard of Beyond Vision.
Leads hover above the top of the funnel. If you are targeting the lead
you must initiate some type of action such as contacting a decision-
maker, making a first appointment, or sending an introductory letter
and then, following up. Your objective is to convert the lead to a
prospect and continue moving them forward through the pipeline.

8. The Prospect
ProspectPipeline
The prospect is a person or
company who is talking with a
representative and providing
information related to their
needs and shows interest in
learning about the offered
services.

9. CUSTOMERS: A customer is defined as a prospect becoming a
Beyond Vision customer. Another way of looking at this is a pursuit
leaving the revenue funnel as revenue for Beyond Vision.
The funnel model is an extremely effective method of visualizing the
conversions of these category types. Remember…a lot of leads turn
into a smaller number of prospects, which eventually turn into a
smaller number of customers

10. Sales Stages Overview
Each sales stage within the sales funnel has
distinct criteria to help you know where you are at
within the sales cycle.

11. LEAD: The Lead sales stage is the identification of a person or company
that you suspect has interest and authority to purchase a service. This step
is the entry point of the pipeline. Outside sales channels prospect leads
with the objective of reaching the decision-maker and setting up a first
appointment. Inside sales channels prospect leads with the objective of
reaching the decision-maker and closing the opportunity in a short time
frame. Leads can be assigned to a sales representative or the sales
representative may discover the lead while in the field, through networking,
or other lead sources. Before converting a Lead, a sales representative
must determine if the customer is interested in learning about our services.
In the Lead sales stage, ask yourself, “Can I sell this account now?”
As you begin to pursue a lead, qualify it by obtaining the following
information:
 Decision-maker
 Current supplier(s)
 Current provider for services or products
 Contractual obligations

12. QUALIFIED: In this sales stage, a person or company has expressed
interest in our service and provided us information related to their specific
need(s). The “lead” is now a “prospect.” Either the customer contacted
Beyond Vision or they agreed to meet with you to discuss the possibility of
using us as their supplier. During this sales stage, the sales representative
asks the customer a series of questions to understand their service
requirements and needs, decision-making process, and any current
contractual obligations. In return, the customer is providing the sales
representative with the information.
If a sales representative is able gather all the information required in the
Qualified and Discovery sales stages in a single visit or telephone call, they
are ready to move forward to the Proposal stage. Before doing so, they
must also gain the customer’s commitment to review a proposal.
The probability of closing the deal is estimated at 30%.

13. DISCOVERY: During this stage, the sales representative is continuing to
gather information related to the customer’s needs. They would use this
sales stage if they were unable to uncover the customer’s needs in a single
visit (or telephone call) and have scheduled additional follow-up visits (i.e.
site surveys, meetings with additional decision-makers). In addition, given
the complexity of the customer’s needs, the sales representative may be
collaborating with the customer to develop a value proposition.
Finally, as the sales representative develops the value proposition, they
may be confirming the feasibility of possible solutions internally before they
create the written proposal. Before moving on to the Proposal stage, the
sales representative must have a complete understanding of the
customer’s needs and a scheduled meeting to review the proposal.
The probability of closing the deal is estimated at 40%.

14. PROPOSAL: During the Proposal stage, the sales representative has a full
understanding of the customer’s need(s) and their specific requirements; they
are developing the proposal, which includes an optimal service solution and
pricing. The decision-maker has committed to reviewing a formal proposal with
pricing. The sales representative may be negotiating the final terms and
conditions of the agreement in order to finalize the details in preparation of the
signed Service agreement (customer’s contract).
The probability of closing the deal is estimated at 70%.

15. VERBAL: During the Verbal stage, the customer has provided a verbal
commitment but the sales representative has not obtained a signed
Service Agreement (customer’s contract). They have a scheduled next
step (i.e. a follow-up meeting or sent a Service Agreement for signature) to
obtain that signed Service Agreement (customer’s contract).
The probability of closing the deal is estimated at 90%.

16. CLOSED WON: The sales representative has won the business and if
required, has obtained a signed Service Agreement. The customer has
agreed to all terms and conditions and they are attending to all set-up and
delivery activities to ensure a seamless transition.
CLOSED LOST: The customer has decided not to award the business.
Before the sales representative updates the sales stage, they should follow
up with the customer to solicit feedback regarding their final decision and
request to stay-in-touch. If the business was awarded to a competitor, they
should gather information about the competitor, the contract expiration date,
and the competitor’s value proposition. While the sales representative lost
the business, they will want to pursue them again in the future. To ensure
this is done, they should create a follow up activity in Salesforce.com as a
reminder to initiate the sales process. When they begin to pursue the
customer again, the opportunity begins at the start of the pipeline.

17. Identification of a prospect that
might have a need that you can fill
You’ve talked to the prospect and
they do have a need that we can
provide a solution
You meet with the prospect to define
their exact needs and get all the data
to create a proposal
You create a proposal based on the
qualifications you have been given
from the prospect
The prospect says I’m going to give
you the business
You receive a purchase order or
contract from the prospect and they
now can be called a customer
The sales cycle

18. Sales
Stage
Stage
Value
Lead 0%
Qualified 30%
Discovery 40%
Proposal 70%
Verbal 90%
Won 100%
Funnel Stages

19. Sales
Stage
Stage
Value
Lead 0%
Qualified 30%
Discovery 40%
Proposal 70%
Verbal 90%
Won 100%
These % will change as you
learn your success ratios
within each stage. The %’s
presented are the average .

20. Activity: Day in the Life of a
Sales Representative
On the next slide is a quiz representing a 30-
day calendar containing a set of prospecting
activities performed by a sales
representative as they target a new business
pursuit. Given the calendar activities,
identify the appropriate sales stage. Decide
if a sales representative should enter the
activity as a Task or an Event in
Salesforce.com.