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A sale is not something that happens in one go.. it takes time. It takes time because you have to move along the same steps that your customers go through to purchase. Just as they have a buying process, you need to have a selling process - a step-by-step approach.

You need to understand the buying process that your customers go through, then adapt your own sales process to fit it. A single approach that goes from cold to sold in one hit is unrealistic.

Selling takes time. Time for the customer to trust you, time for them to understand your offering, to seek opinions and feedback, to arrange finance. all kinds of things. The job of your sales process is to understand the steps they go through and then try to make it easy and quick for them to say "yes".

Your sales process will differ depending on what you are selling and who you are selling to. One single process does not fit all. Compare selling a large business to business IT infrastructure, which takes years and involves lots of formal tendering stages, to selling a new winter jacket to a 35 year old man.

Sales processes can also vary in different cultures, so if you are exporting or serving customers from other countries or nationalities, their expectations may be different to what you expect.

The importance of a sales process

A sales process is simply a step-by-step written recipe that you follow when interacting with a prospect. You have probably already noticed that often you go through similar steps with a prospect, even if you don't consider at this stage that you have a formal sales process.

It's not enough however just to have an idea in your head of the steps you go through and to follow the same steps or similar steps if you really want to ramp up your sales. You need to actually define, create and write down a formal sales process. There are several reasons for this:

· A process helps you to approach selling with a scientific mindset. Rather than just 'hope' that something works, you identify the strategies that work and those that don't. Then you can accurately test and measure the process to clearly identify the impact of any changes or omissions. If you just leave it up to what's in your head, you can end up making ad-hoc or unconscious changes to how you interact with a prospect and have little control over improving your results by changing the process in a conscious manner. It tends to be hit and miss in every sales encounter as to whether it will work or not.

· A documented process allows you to train other people in your business. Many people struggle with sales. By creating, testing and measuring a sales process, you create something that others can use. This is a lot easier for them than having to invent a process themselves or even worse, selling without a process!

· You can relax and be confident that you actually have a process, which you can follow step by step. You can focus on the process itself, rather than your internal fear of rejection or even desperation! This in turn leads to more relaxed prospects as you are in a better frame of mind, making the relationship with the prospect easier and more natural, and generally leading to better sales results.