Ringover explains how to create the best sales method for your sales team to ensure you close those deals! Creating the perfect method for a successful sale is hard. There are hundreds, if not thousands of methodologies and techniques out there that all claim to guarantee success if you follow them. But often they are long and complicated. So we’ve created this easy-to-follow recipe that you can adapt to your sales team with all the sales stages you need, allowing you to create your own perfect sales method.
What are sale stages and why are they important?
Firstly, what are the stages? Creating awareness- where people first become aware of your solution, service, or product. They might also become aware of the problems that they need to solve and the possible ways to deal with them. Discovery- you have your potential prospects attention, it’s time to interact with them and nurture your relationship. They know what they need to solve their problem, but have not yet decided on which company/product/service. Evaluation-in which prospects or prospect companies examine competitors’ solutions as they inch toward a final buying decision.Intent- Prospects are now interested in buying your product but have not made the purchase. Purchase-in which goods or services are purchased.Loyalty- where a customer repurchases a product or service.So, why are the stages important? Think of it like making a sandwich. You need all the ingredients and they all need to be put together in the right order for it to hold tight and work. Otherwise, it’s just random pieces scattered across a plate making a mess.This is exactly what the sales process is like. You need all the sales stages in place and used in the correct order to make sure your deal is made.This method follows the sale from the viewpoint of the prospect and allows the sales rep to visualise what steps are done at every stage. This will help simplify and streamline each complex stage a sales rep will encounter before closing a deal.The stages, or “sandwich building process” in this case, offers you a visual representation of the sales process. It's the set of stages a prospect hits along the way as they progress from lead to customer, with your sales team leading the way.This is where Ringover comes into play. It allows your sales team to have the best communication possible with their leads as it combines unlimited calling, call centre tools, group messaging and video conferencing into, one easy-to-use application which makes these stages flow smoothly from one to another.
The sandwich building process
Creating awareness - bottom bread stage
To begin with, you need a good solid base. The bottom bread stage is where everything is built upon. If there’s no bottom bread, there’s no sandwich. If there’s no awareness of your business, there’s no sales. Hence, the first stage of your sales sandwich is “awareness”. This is where people first become aware of your product or service. They may hear about you from your advertising, social media or even word of mouth.An example of the awareness stage would be a prospect learning about your company for the first time. Perhaps they clicked on one of your ads, read your blog, found your website via a Google search, or heard a colleague talking about your product or service. Whatever way they found you, the most important part is that they are aware of your existence.
Discovery - the main filling stage
The main filling of your sandwich is what makes you want it. At the discovery stage, your leads are attracted to your service/product and want to know and understand more.The qualifying leads, initial meeting and defining prospect needs are the main filling of your sales. Your leads are curious about your company and products/services and want to learn more. In this stage, you are sharing valuable educational content related to your prospect’s problems or needs. This is where you get your leads hooked and interested by appealing to them and telling them why they need your product or service.
Evaluation - garnish stage
Garnishes are used to top off your sandwich and make sure it has everything you want in it, sweet, salty, crunchy ect. This is very similar to the evaluation stage.What’s meant by this, is that your prospects are taking a closer look at what you have to offer and making sure you have everything they want in that product/service. They will also be looking at other options to see how you compare to them. At this point, you have probably sent them an initial quote or proposal and are answering any detailed questions they have.
Intent - sauce stage
The sauce makes or breaks a sandwich. Don’t like it, the whole thing is ruined. Too much or too little can make or break it. However, when used just right it brings the whole process together. Similarly, the intent stage is where negotiations occur and is the make or break part of your sales method. In the Intent stage, your lead has made the decision to purchase from you, but the deal hasn’t closed yet. They have told you that they plan to buy, but want to make sure your quote or proposal includes everything they need from you, at a price that they are happy with. Here you are negotiating terms or finalising your proposal. Objections around price and other key terms are likely to surface here.
Purchase - top layer stage
To top it all off, and make your sandwich complete, you need to add your top bit of bread. This holds it all together and completes it all. It quite literally closes your sandwich. Which is what you need to do after every sale, close that deal! At the purchase stage, the deal is closed and your lead is now your new customer. This is the “honeymoon phase” and is the best opportunity to ask for referrals.
Loyalty- The “you’ll make it again” stage
If it’s a tasty sandwich, you’ll make it again. Much like, if it’s a good product or service you provide as customers will stay loyal and keep on coming back to you. Plus, seeing as how you have made a good impression on your new customer, you have an opportunity to see if your product/service can meet any other needs and make additional sales. If your product/service is a one-time purchase though then no need to worry! Instead, you can create a strategy to continue building strong relationships with your new customer so they keep in the forefront of their mind and buy from you in the future.
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