The 7-step sales process

What are the seven steps of the sales process according to most sales masters? The
following steps provide a good outline for what you should be doing to nd potential
customers, close the sale, and retain your clients for repeat business and referrals in
the future.

1. Prospecting

The rst step in the sales process is prospecting. In this stage, you nd potential
customers and determine whether they have a need for your product or service—and
whether they can afford what you offer. Evaluating whether the customers need your
product or service and can afford it is known as qualifying.

Keep in mind that, in modern sales, it's not enough to nd one prospect at a company:
There are an average of 6.8 customer stakeholders involved in a typical purchase, so
you'll want to practice multi-threading, or connecting with multiple decision-makers on
the purchasing side. Account maps are an effective way of identifying these buyers.

2. Preparation

The next step is preparing for initial contact with a potential customer, researching the
market and collecting all relevant information regarding your product or service. Develop
your sales presentation and tailor it to your potential client’s particular needs.
Preparation is key to setting you up for success. The better you understand your
prospect and their needs, the better you can address their objections and set yourself
apart from the competition.

3. Approach

Next, make rst contact with your client. This is called the approach. Sometimes this is a
face-to-face meeting, sometimes it’s over the phone. There are three common approach
methods.

• Premium approach: Presenting your potential client with a gift at the beginning of
your interaction
• Question approach: Asking a question to get the prospect interested
• Product approach: Giving the prospect a sample or a free trial to review and
evaluate your service
Dive deeper into the various sales approaches you can use to start a relationship off on
the right foot.
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Learn more
4. Presentation

In the presentation phase, you actively demonstrate how your product or service meets
the needs of your potential customer. The word presentation implies using PowerPoint
and giving a salesy spiel, but it doesn’t always have to be that way—you should actively
listen to your customer’s needs and then act and respond accordingly.

5. Handling objections

Perhaps the most underrated step of the sales process is handling objections. This is
where you listen to your prospect’s concerns and address them. It’s also where many
unsuccessful salespeople drop out of the process—44% of salespeople abandoning
pursuit after one rejection, 22% after two rejections, 14% after three, and 12% after four,
even though 80% of sales require at least ve follow-ups to convert. Successfully
handling objections and alleviating concerns separates good salespeople from bad and
great from good.

6. Closing

In the closing stage, you get the decision from the client to move forward. Depending on
your business, you might try one of these three closing techniques.

• Alternative choice close: Assuming the sale and offering the prospect a choice,
where both options close the sale—for example, “Will you be paying the whole fee
up front or in installments?” or “Will that be cash or charge?”
• Extra inducement close: Offering something extra to get the prospect to close,
such as a free month of service or a discount
• Standing room only close: Creating urgency by expressing that time is of the
essence—for example, “The price will be going up after this month” or “We only
have six spots left”
7. Follow-up

Once you have closed the sale, your job is not done. The follow-up stage keeps you in
contact with customers you have closed, not only for potential repeat business but for
referrals as well. And since retaining current customers is six to seven times less costly
than acquiring new ones, maintaining relationships is key.
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Sales reps: Think about your last win, from rst touch to closed deal. How many
interactions, discussions, steps, and logistical pieces needed to come together for you
to close the loop and win the business? Maybe it started with a cold outreach that
turned into an informative discovery call. At some point, you had to deal with pricing
discussions, negotiations with procurement teams, NDAs and other legal requirements,
and of course, all of the documentation that needed to be signed.  

Through that whole process, you may have questioned the right time to follow up or
offer a discount to secure the deal. The sales follow-up process and schedule can be
tricky to navigate. Every deal is different, and the right follow-up schedule likely depends
on a combination of timing, battle-tested practices, and the customer themselves.
Whatever your process, there are plenty of checkboxes along the way.

Now, look at these steps from a project management perspective. Building an authentic,
helpful connection with your prospect remains key. But seeing a full picture of exactly
where you need to be at the end of the process will help you not only stay on top of
each interaction but lead both you and your prospective buyer to the best possible
outcome.

Let’s dive into how to take hold of the follow-up process—and close better, more
strategic deals for your business.

From cold call to closed deal

Be the right kind of caller

Simply put, very few prospects respond to a call or an email on the rst outreach
attempt. Good sales leaders know this and nd a balance between persistence and
annoyance in order to make contact with high-value prospects.

And the data shows that persistence pays off. In fact, research from Velocify shows that
calling a new prospect three times is 68% more effective than calling once, and calling
six times is 94% better calling once (at which point, the conversion rate starts to fall
dramatically).

Keep them warm

Once you’ve established a connection, it’s important to keep the lead warm—even if
they happen to go dark—with a strategic lead nurturing plan. Providing every prospect
with the content they need to learn more about your product or service on their own time
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will help your company stay top of mind and prime prospects for an educated purchase
decision. The more information they have up front, the less work you have to do to sell.

Check their pulse

Once the conversation picks back up, whether it’s on the same call or a follow-up phone
call or meeting, be ready to listen. Ask if they have any concerns or see any red ags.
The information you gather at this stage of the process will be hugely valuable as you
move to close the deal and deliver great insight to inform conversations with future
prospects.

Create a schedule

It’s said that timing is everything—and that’s especially true in sales. It’s important to
space out your follow-up communications to maximize impact and results. There is
plenty of research out there around the best time of day to call or send emails. However,
the ideal time will depend on the individual deal and the personalities involved. Use your
best judgment, and determine a schedule that will work best for the deal at hand.

Once you settle on a follow-up schedule, it’s important to document it. In a detailed
diagram or chart, outline when each call and email follow-up should happen.

During a Sales Hacker webinar, Ryan Guptill, Enterprise Sales Manager at

SurveyMonkey, explained how his sales team has used Lucidchart to coordinate
account-based strategies:

“We’ve actually developed in Lucidchart a whole account plan that hordes the
information from Salesforce from everyone we’ve worked with… so we can easily share
the information back and forth.”

From negotiation to signing: How to project manage your next deal  

Let’s say you’ve made it past the early introductions and you’re having real, substantive
conversations about the value your product can bring to the table. The customer is
excited—they see the vision and recognize it as a true solution. That’s a huge win.

However, a lot can happen between getting buy-in and getting that nal signature.
Follow these tips to get you to the nish line.

The negotiation stage: Show your value, then show patience

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 When you’ve got a quota to meet, it can be tempting to do whatever it takes to close the
deal. However, it’s important to remember that you’re a salesperson, not an order taker.
You’re selling value, not a commodity. And it’s your job to assess your prospect’s needs,
address their objections, and deliver solutions to meet their speci c needs.

So, whether you’re selling into an SMB business or an enterprise organization, resist
offering a discount right out of the gate. Make the connection, show the value—then
pause. Give your prospect time to process the information you’ve told them. This gives
you, the sales rep, time to process the situation, too.

• Don’t discount out of the gate.

• Don’t be an order taker. You’re selling value, not french fries.
• Whenever possible, connect in person.
• Make verbal agreements over the phone.
• Document the process on paper.
• Be prepared to walk away.
• Show your ROI.
Check out our on-demand webinar.
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The acronym stage: Lock down NDAs, MSAs, and SLAs

Many deals get held up—or die—at this stage. When it comes to locking down
documentation, it depends largely on the nature of the deal and alignment with the
organization’s objectives and requirements.

Don’t be afraid to ask the prospect about their buying and procurement process and any
internal politics or internal dynamics to be aware of. If they’re excited about the deal,
they’ll help you navigate any roadblocks. Ask it simply: What’s your process? Identify
who signs on the dotted line. Identify every contact who will need to be a part of that
process. Determining all of the checkpoints that you need to hit will help you sail toward
a signature well before your go-live date.

Pro tip: Understand the process, not just who signs on the dotted line.

The nal stage: Close the loop

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Once you understand your prospect’s buying process, it’s time to create a schedule to
get the deal across the nish line. Make sure each step and each required signature is
assigned to a speci c person. Share those assignees and schedule with your prospect
to keep the deal on track.

From there, create a Gantt chart or a diagram that outlines everything that needs to be
done by the owner before the go-live date. Share this document with everyone involved
in the process—this will help you keep tasks on track, people accountable, and ensure
the deal doesn’t lose steam right before the nish line.

• Work backward from the go-live date.

• Lean on internal resources.
• Send daily updates.
For recommendations on every stage of your sales cycle, from lead generation to the
follow-up, make sure to check out our templates from Winning by Design.

Sales Playbook - Winning by Design (Click on image to modify online)

Map out your follow-up process with Lucidchart

As a sales leader, it’s your goal to build incredible partnerships that drive amazing
outcomes for your prospects and customers and bring revenue in for your organization
so you can continue to build amazing products.
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However, it takes a team to close a big deal. And it requires solid processes to keep
those teams on track. Lucidchart provides diagrams and charts to help you build out an
effective and collaborative sales follow-up process to keep deals moving. Lucidchart
also allows you to import Salesforce data into your diagrams and timelines so everyone
on the team is aware of the follow-up/closing schedule.