Explore the 7 stages Salesforce sales teams recommend — from prospect to close and beyond.

navigating THE SALES PROCESS

YOUR JOURNEY STARTS HERE

STAGE 1Contacting LeadsBefore you start your sales journey, prepare to walk a mile in your prospect’s shoes.

STAGE 2Qualifying LeadsQualify leads with a customer-centric

approach—listen and learn along the trail.

STAGE 3Providing ValuePack the right gear for the sales pitch, starting with vision, data, and value.

STAGE 4Handling ObjectionsMove prospects along the trail by using objections as opportunities to learn more about their needs.

STAGE 5Structuring the DealBe patient, hold to your bottom line, and talk about value before numbers. Only draw up a contract when you’re ready.

STAGE 6Finalising the ProposalAddress last-minute hesitations before the final stretch. If there are objections, rely on relationships you’ve already built.

STAGE 7Closing and Keeping CommitmentsReach the summit with your pact intact— utilise the right teams and technology to keep your new customers happy and on track.

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Once you’ve gathered leads, you’re ready to start contacting them, right?

Not quite! That would be like sending your expedition into the wilderness without a map.

Ensure that you and your leads are on a journey together that is about more than just a sale.

your key tips 1 | Engage Sales Prospects

2 | Control Costs with a Targeted Approach

3 | Educate Your Customers

4 | Network and Build Partnerships

5 | Build on Your Foundation With Referrals

We’ll go into more detail on these tips in the next few pages.

Stage 1

5 TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION

Contacting Leads

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1 | ENGAGE SALES PROSPECTS

Prepare the trail for your potential customers by:

Interviewing Your Existing Customers

What are their pain points? What do they value most about your products? What can talking to them tell you about your potential customers?

Building a Welcoming Presence

Think about how your brand can address customer pain points and offer them something of value. Make your digital presence user-friendly and customer-focused.

Interacting with Customers and Prospects

Don’t just offer a one-way message: ask for feedback, offer individualised advice, and provide a forum for customers to interact with you and with each other. Sales AI can come in handy here!

2 | CONTROL COSTS WITH A TARGETED APPROACH

The path to turning sales leads into customers can be a winding one, especially for small businesses. Pack light and get to know your company’s target audience beyond just their age range, gender, and location.

Questions you should be able to answer about your target audience:

| How do they spend their money?

| What are they passionate about?

| What is their idea of fun?

| What are their values?

| Where do they spend time online?

| How do they prefer to be contacted?

Whether you contact them by email or through social media, don’t just focus on promoting your company. Offer them relevant, engaging content. Your well-formed brand and community will take it from there.

PACK YOUR RUCKSACK

CAREFULLY.

Content-based marketing costs

62% less than outbound marketing, while generating three times more leads.1

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3 | EDUCATE YOUR CUSTOMERS

Educating your customers builds trust

Don’t run up the mountain without building the trust of your party. They could wander off the trail and end up bumping into other brands that take better care of them!

Lead them up the trail together by educating them: give them the latest industry news and information, and help them make the most of your products and services.This way, you’re offering prospects something valuable they can use, while establishing yourself as an authority in your field.

Utilise your company experts. Let them give advice and instructions that are not purely geared toward selling through webinars, tutorials, blog posts and events.

4 | NETWORK AND BUILD PARTNERSHIPS

Don’t be a solo hiker

Network and build partnerships with other brands. There are lots of businesses leading customers along the same trail, so try coordinating your efforts.

Engaging in partnerships exposes you to new customer groups and offers existing customers added value.

Are you a camping equipment supplier? You could partner with a discount travel company to offer discounts on package hiking tours. This gives travel-lovers exposure to what your camping equipment can offer them, and gives your current customers something you know they want: better travel deals.

5 | BUILD ON YOUR FOUNDATION

Ask your current hikers to bring someone on the next trip— utilise referrals

Customers are four times more likely to buy if they are referred by a friend.2 You’re already forming valuable, mutually-beneficial relationships with your customers based on trust and expertise in your field.

Ask your customers to widen the circle. If you make improving customers’ lives your goal, rather than just the sale, customers are much more likely to speak highly of you and bring their friends along with them.

YOU’RE NOT ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS, AND YOU CAN ONLY

LEAD SO MANY HIKERS AT A TIME.

DON’T RUN UP THE MOUNTAIN

WITHOUT THE REST OF YOUR PARTY.

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Your leads are following you up the path to success, but only some of them will stay with you to the summit and become customers.

Engage in deep discovery to learn about their needs, motivations and reservations.

A team effort is key to successfully flipping those prospects into customers.

Your key tips 1 | THINK LIKE YOUR CUSTOMERS - Turn your pitch

structure on its head by asking more questions and putting yourself in their shoes.

2 | PLAY TO YOUR SALES STRENGTHS - Use a team selling strategy— think about how each sales team member’s strengths can contribute to your prospect’s success.

3 | CREATE A SUPER TEAM - Go beyond the pitch and consider the skills outside your team that your prospect could need: customer service, marketing, or even partnerships.

Stage 2

3 WAYS TO TURN PROSPECTS INTO CONTACTS

qualifying leads

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THINK LIKE YOUR CUSTOMERS

You’re leading your hiking group further up the mountain, educating them along the way. But are you also learning more about them, or just listening to yourself talk?

To really understand what your customers are after, and whether that’s your company, you need to reverse the typical sales pitch structure. Don’t just explain what your company can do for them. Have real conversations, rather than just giving presentations and pitches. Put yourself in their shoes.

Collaborate with your leads: ask them questions, evaluate their responses, stay up to date on the latest news about their companies. Listening to your customers more than you talk allows you to offer them solutions to their needs, rather than just products.

TEAM SELLING

Why put one hiking leader in charge of all of your hikers, when you have a whole sales team who can collaborate to create the best hiking trip possible?

Assign roles based on each team member’s strengths, and carefully plan the timing of these roles in the process.

Not only will your customers receive expert care throughout the customer journey with your company, a team selling approach also allows you collect in-depth knowledge about your leads. Learn about the obstacles they face to figure out if your company is right for them, and whether they think so, too.

High-performing sales reps are up to

10 times more likely to use collaborative language such as we and us.3

THE FIRST QUESTION WE ASK WITH EACH

OPPORTUNITY IS, ‘WHAT IS THE CLIENT

OUTCOME?

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CREATE A SUPER TEAM OF HIKING LEADERS

Once you’ve made contact with a lead and are allocating roles for the rest of the sales process, it’s important not to lose sight of your customer-focused approach.

Again, turn around the typical pitch concept. Think about what you can offer customers vs. what solutions they seek. Start with their idea of the perfect view at the mountaintop and work from there. Team members can come from outside your sales department, including engineering, customer service, marketing, or logistics.

These team members do more than push hikers to reach the summit - they learn about every traveler along the way and help decide the next steps. Whether they’re focused on account management, technology, or deal structure and delivery, all your team members are in a position to collect and organise information about your leads throughout the sales process.

SOME ROLES TO THINK ABOUT ARE:

Account Executive or Overall Hiking Group Leader

You need someone to introduce the company to the hikers and set the tone for the whole trip before you actually hit the trail. He or she will then maintain that interaction throughout the trip. Choose one team member for the initial CRM and customer-focused interactions throughout the sales process.

Sales Engineer or Camping Skills Instructor

Along the way, another team member can explain and demonstrate the complex technical aspects of climbing to the summit and answer questions. Team members with technical know-how can be brought in to demonstrate complex products and demonstrate your company’s expertise.

Customer Success Manager or Navigator

Another team member focuses on where to set up your last basecamp and what happens when you reach the summit. Let one or two sales team members take care of structuring the deal and planning how to deliver agreed-upon solutions once the deal is made.

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You’ve arrived at base camp: the pitch. Before you start to unpack your pitch, make sure you have these 4 essentials in your back pocket:

1 | Focus on their needs and problems they want to solve.

2 | Speak their language—by now, you should be fluent!

3 | Build on the education you’ve already provided along the path.

4 | Give them a glimpse of the view from the top by showing, not telling.

Stage 3

4 TOP TIPS FOR SHOWING CUSTOMERS A FUTURE TOGETHER

providing value

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1 | FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

You’ve spent all of Stages 1 & 2 of the sales process learning the needs, wishes, and concerns of your target audience.

Don’t just pitch your product and wait for them to catch on to your message – describe a bright, shared future, in which your company offers them solutions to their problems.

Remember, you initially created the product you’re selling to solve a problem. This your “why,” as Jacob Layani of Forbes reminds us, drawing from Simon Sinek’s famous TED talk. Align your “why” with that of your customer, remind them you’re both out to solve this problem, and emphasize how you can do it together.4

2 | SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE

If you really want potential customers to visualise a future with your company, frame your solutions to their problems in terms most relevant to them.

Along the hike, you’ve been paying close attention, and gathering data – hopefully using Sales, CRM, or even AI software for even more detailed data recording and analysis.

Pay close attention and frame your pitch in the terms your leads use to express their pain points and goals, while staying true to the specific value your company can successfully offer.

3 | EDUCATE YOUR LEADS

Offering useful information at the pitch stage has the following advantages:

– Continues the dialogue between you and your leads, strengthening your future customer relationship.

– Gives leads an opportunity to express their needs further and describe their obstacles to working with you. You can use this information about that target audience to continue the pitch and to tailor your future sales messages.

– Boosts your company’s image as a helpful authority and thought leader. Showcasing the value your trustworthy expertise offers should be central to the pitch.

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4 | SHOW, DON’T TELL

You’ve focused on your hikers’ needs, you’ve kept up a two-way conversation with them, educating them and offering them value.

But, if they’re smart, getting them to follow you all the way to the top of the mountain will require solid, compelling proof that you can deliver what you’re offering.

Here are a few ways to do just that:

1 | Give leads testimonials or case studies from customers in their industry or one that had similar problems to solve

2 | Provide helpful data about your products; and concrete facts about how they compare to similar products on the market

3 | Share the vision of your company and where it intends to be in the future. Show how they can share that vision, too.

4 | Give them a clear call to action or CTA that sends them onward and upward.

Armed with helpful educational advice, a clear sense of your future together, and solid data to back up your claims, your leads are now ready to head to the summit together with you and become customers.

DON’T JUST TELL PROSPECTS THAT

THEY’LL SEE A NICE VIEW WHEN THEY REACH THE

SUMMIT. GIVE THEM A GLIMPSE BY

PAINTING A DETAILED PICTURE OF WHAT

THEIR BUSINESS COULD LOOK LIKE.

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The stage before you get a “yes” can be the most tricky. It’s been a long journey to the top, you’re not as energetic as when you started, and all of those things you were excited about at the beginning are starting to fade.

Handling objections from leads after the pitch can be daunting if you don’t have a grip on how they work and a plan for dealing with them.

Stage 4

HOW TO TURN OBJECTIONS INTO OPPORTUNITIES

HANDLING OBJECTIONS

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COMMON OBJECTIONS

Here are some of the most common objections, translated into opportunities:

Objection Opportunity

“I don’t have the budget.” “I am not 100% convinced the product is worth the expense. Convince me.”

“The product isn’t right for us.” “I don’t understand how your product helps solve my problem. Help me understand.”

“I need to talk to my manager.” “I need your help preparing a case to my manager.”

“We’re too busy to consider this now.” “I need this process to be simpler or for your offer to be more attractive.”

“We’re already using with one of your competitors.” “We have a need for a product like yours, but we aren’t convinced yours is better than what we already have.”

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HANDLING LAST-MINUTE OBJECTIONS

If someone doesn’t want to join you on your final ascent, don’t panic. An objection is not a door slamming in your face – it’s an opportunity.

Here’s how to find out the real cause of the objection and handle it in a way that encourages them to move forward:

Listen Knowing your customer’s point of view is always crucial to moving forward with a successful relationship. Don’t switch to defensive mode when you hear an objection. Open your ears instead.

Encourage Further Dialogue The more your leads tell you about their objection, the more likely you are to find the underlying pain point. Ask follow up questions for clarification. Let your lead know that you’re interested in their concerns and want to make sure you understand them.

Stay True to Yourself Resist the temptation to accommodate your lead’s needs by dropping prices right away. It’s not good for you - or your potential customer - to strike a deal that undervalues your company or to paper over customers’ concerns.

Objections are not punishments – they’re information. They represent another opportunity for you to offer your leads value and solutions to their problems. You don’t want anyone to climb a mountain if they aren’t ready for it.

OBJECTIONS OFFER INFORMATION ABOUT

THE POTENTIAL CUSTOMER’S

POSITION. THEY MAY RESULT FROM A LACK OF INFORMATION, A PERCEPTION ISSUE, A HIDDEN AGENDA, VALID CONCERNS, OR AMBIGUITY OF

INTERESTS.

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FOLLOWING UP

It’s time to follow up. Here’s how to handle it:

Determine Cost vs. Value Don’t get stuck trading numbers with your lead. Move the conversation back to the question of value. If your customer is thinking of the value your company offers them, and your bright future together, they are less likely to fixate on price.

Stay on Track Don’t lose focus. Offer a response to your customer’s objection that addresses those specific concerns. Don’t repeat yourself or offer unrelated information about your company. You don’t want to wear the customer out or lose their attention.

Give Them the Facts Offer more than promises to customer objections. Back up your follow-up pitchwith concrete proof: testimonials, product information, performance data, sales figures and ratings, etc.

Ask for a Response Did your response to the objection satisfy the customer? Make sure to ask this question –this way, you’ll be able to continue the dialogue if the answer is no.

Encouraging leads to make “incremental commitments” to your company from the first encounter is a much better approach than putting on pressure at this late stage.5

The good news is: by nurturing your customer relationships from the very beginning of the sales process, you’ve been doing this all along. Handling objections is just a continuation of the conversation you’ve been having with potential customers since you first encountered them as leads. If you can negotiate a way upward that addresses customer concerns, it’s time to climb.

Top sales performers counter client objections with questions over

23% more often than average performers.6

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It’s time to agree on a price and draft a deal. You have a “yes”, but you need to sort out the final terms of the contract before you reach the summit.

Structuring a deal that makes everyone involved happy means keeping your future customer in mind while still holding your ground.

We’ve packed together a few tips about how to offer value and benefit your company at the same time.

what’s in the pack: 1 | FOCUS THE DISCUSSION ON VALUE - Know what

you have to offer & how the customer will benefit.

2 | KNOW YOUR LIMITS - Prepare to give up a little ground, but know your bottom line.

3 | LISTEN TO THEIR NEEDS - Show that you still have their interests at heart.

4 | PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER - It typically takes about three rounds for everyone to agree.

5 | TRADE, DON’T GIVE AWAY - If they want you to give, ensure you get something in return

6 | WRITE WHEN READY - Ensure everyone is ready to move forward before putting anything in writing.

Stage 5

HOW TO NEGOTIATE A PRICE BASED ON THE VALUE DELIVERED

STRUCTURING THE DEAL

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PRELUDE TO A NEGOTIATION

You’ve spent all of Stages 1 & 2 of the sales process learning the needs, wishes, and concerns of your target audience.

Pricing and other terms should not be on the table before you and your customer have a solid idea of the exact value they will receive when using your products and services.

If you head for the summit without a clear sense of everyone’s role and confidence in their satisfaction, you’re in for a shaky climb.

True cooperation means meeting in the middle.

The summit is in sight! Agreement in hand, you’re starting to climb the last stretch of the mountain alongside your customer. It ’s an exciting time when all parties involved are almost ready to sign the deal and embark on a new business relationship. Embrace it.

Principles Before Numbers Numbers are important, but they shouldn’t precede the principles of the deal. If you get tangled up in haggling over price, try to move the negotiation back to a discussion of value - what you have to offer and how the customer will benefit.

Know Your Limits You can expect to give a little bit of ground during a deal negotiation, but you should know your bottom line before going in. This way, you can avoid compromising beyond your means, even if under strong pressure. Know your limits and you won’t have regrets.

Listen, Listen, Listen As with all stages of the sales process, price negotiations should also start and end with you listening to your customer. They will tell you what they need and how they can be won over if you only listen carefully and keep the conversation going.

Have Patience It takes at least three attempts to sort out the terms for most deals. You’re unlikely to figure it all out in your first meeting after your customer tells you that they’re ready to buy. Don’t let haste rule your decision-making.

Trade, Don’t Give Away If your customer demands a reduced price, get something in return - a longer contract term, promotion on their website, etc. Don’t let yourself be bargained down without any concession in return.

Put it in Writing When You’re Ready Once you’ve worked out the details of the deal, it’s time to draw up a final contract, otherwise known as a master service agreement or MSA.

Never move on to the contract stage until you’ve established that everyone involved is happy. Then, and only then, put it all in black and white.

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Anticipation is in the air. You’re approaching the summit, ready to close the deal. You’ve met in the middle, drawn up a contract, and now all you need to is a signature.

As exciting as it may be, don’t lose sight of the goals and trust you’ve developed with your customer by getting too fixated on rushing to the summit.

There may be a few blockers still ahead!

Your key tactics Last-minute changes to the contract can be a big sales hazard. Here are some ready-made tactics from our sales leaders on how to make it through unscathed: 1 | Rely on your data

2 | Know who you’re talking to

3 | Hold your ground

4 | Walk away if you come to an impasse

Stage 6

5 TACTICS TO AVOIDING CONTRACT BLOCKADES

FINALISING THE PROPOSAL

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NEGOTIATING CHANGES TO THE CONTRACT

Last-minute requests to change the contract can be frustrating, but before you react, think back on all of the work you’ve done to get to this point.

Your strategy has been customer-centered and focused on providing value to your leads and now almost-customers. That shouldn’t change now.

If a question or objection to the contract is raised late in the game, stay confident. Follow these tips to navigate the situation:

Rely On Your Data By this stage in the sales cycle, you should know all there is to know about your prospect. You know this customer has the “Budget, Authority, Needs, and Timeline” (BANT) needed to move ahead with your deal.

If questions of price come up, steer the conversation back to value, just as you did when drawing up the deal. Be ready to calmly prove why you’re better than the competition and worth the money, using real data about your company and products.

Know Who You’re Talking To If you get passed off to another authority figure or department, such as procurement, and they raise an objection late in the game, rely on the relationships you’ve been building all along.

Stay friendly and collaborative. Steer the negotiation back to the development of the deal to this point and the reasoning that came

before it.

Hold Your Ground Have a last-minute concession ready just in case for situations like these, but don’t throw away all the work you’ve done to get to this point. You’re almost there!

If your customer asks for something drastic at the last second, it’s a bad idea to impulsively give in. It sends the message that you don’t stand firmly behind your agreed-upon deal.

Avoid panicking and, for example, dropping your price at the very end of the negotiations.

Walk Away If You Come To An Impasse No one wants to lose out on a deal they’ve worked so hard to develop. But if the customer won’t budge and you can’t find common ground, it’s better to walk away respectfully.

N

s

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PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER

A wise salesperson once said, “When you’re feeling anxious, just plan, plan, plan.” It can be a challenge to have patience late in the negotiation process, especially when unexpected questions arise and you’re waiting for responses from the customer. But when in doubt, just focus on being as prepared as you can be for any concerns or problems.

If you’ve got your data in hand, stay firm with your bottom line, enjoy a solid relationship with the prospect, and keep a cool head. You’re ready to climb the last few feet and check out the view on the mountaintop with your new customer.

WHEN YOU’RE FEELING ANXIOUS,

JUST PLAN, PLAN, PLAN.

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Congratulations!

You made it to the sales summit: the close.

Take a deep breath, enjoy the view, thank your team and celebrate your victory. But don’t forget your companions who followed you on this journey: your new customers.

Here are a few checks to make sure your new customers are happy with the view and are adjusting to the new altitude of their business: 1 | KEEP YOUR PROMISES - You painted a lovely

picture. Is the view just as good or better?

2 | GIVE THEM A TRAIL GUIDE - Make sure the teammates who are continuing down the path with them know the way.

3 | UTILISE YOUR TECHNOLOGY TO ENSURE CONTINUED HAPPINESS - CRMs are a handy tool to keep in your pack for these purposes.

4 | STAY IN TOUCH, ESPECIALLY WHILE THEY’RE ACCLIMATING - Make sure they’re happy and getting the attention they need.

Stage 7

THE CLOSE AND EVERYTHING AFTER

Closing and Keeping Commitments

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DON’T JUST CLOSE, KEEP YOUR PROMISES

Your next steps with your new customer should be building the future you’ve planned together.

A mistake sales teams often make is to close the deal only to drop the ball. Don’t assume your customer is happy and confident that you’ll fulfill their expectations.

Demonstrate this concretely from the get-go: schedule a follow-up meeting with the goal of reconfirming the path ahead.

Then, do as you promise!

Set Your Customer Up For Success

Maintain success throughout your customer’s journey with your company with these tips:

1 | Remember team selling? Assign a member of your team- likely a customer success specialist – to nurture this new customer relationship. They can take things to the next level with up selling, cross-selling and other forms of engagement with your new customer. Get your customer to the right expert on your team to help, should issues arise.

2 | Use technology to manage and nurture customer relationships with cloud-based CRM software. You may have used this early on during the acquisition process, but it can be a powerful tool for customer service as well. Using automation and digital communication, you can respond quickly to customers, and schedule proactive check-ins to be sure they are happy.

3 | It’s very common for new customers to submit service requests soon after closing the deal. Respond to these and other communication with speed and professionalism. Act on customer requests, partner with them for success, and keep the conversation going.

YOU’VE CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN WITH YOUR CUSTOMER - THIS IS NO SMALL

THING!

THE WORLD IS OUT THERE FOR YOU TO

EXPLORE TOGETHER.

HAPPY HIKING!

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TIPS FROMTHE SUMMITThis insight on the sales process comes straight from Salesforce’s trail-blazing sales teams and thought leaders. We have created game-changing sales, marketing, and CRM solutions with an emphasis on innovation and a customer-centric approach.

Our aim is to provide trailblazers the map and technology they need to build successful customer relationships and reach the summit with their new customers. See you on the trail!

citations

*1 Why is Content Marketing Today’s Marketing?, Content Marketing Institute

*2 Personal Recommendations and Consumer Opinions Posted Online are the Most Trusted Forms of Advertising Globally, The Nielsen Company

*3 How Top-Performing Sales Reps use Language to close More Deals, Chorus

*4 How To Create The Perfect Sales Pitch, Forbes

*5 To Increase Sales, Get Customers to Commit a Little at a Time, Harvard Business Review

*6 The 12 Best Objection Handling Techniques for Sales You’ll Ever Read, Gong

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