Sales Strategy Tool Use-it Cases ToolTips Having an effective sales process even at the earliest stage is the best insurance that a company can have. There are a variety of sales processes, but most follow the general phases described as follows: o Prospecting: How will you find customers or get leads? How will you identify sales opportunities? Remember this first phase just opens the door to potential sales. You may close far less than 10% Many sales professionals call this “priming the pump”. o Qualifying: How do you know that the customer is interested in buying? Tire kickers can be time consuming and costly so you need a way to know what your chances are to complete the sale. o Proposal: Will they buy? Some sales strategies refer to this phase as the ask. How will you put this all important question to your customer so that you make “yes” the most likely answer? The only thing worse that a badly “asked for” sale is the “unasked for” sale. o Decision: How does your customer say “yes”? How do you make it as easy as possible for him or her? How do you quickly know and address (negotiate) any objections that your customer may have so that you can close the deal? o Repeat Business: Once you have closed the sale, how do you increase the chances that you will get repeat business or an upsale? How do you smoothly hand the customer over to other members of your team to complete the service if that is necessary? The next step is indeed the all telling test question! Do you know the steps your customers go through to get to that all important sale? Understanding your customer ‘s buying process from how he finds out about your product to how he pays for it is crucial! Your next task is to think through the activities you will be able perform during each one of these phases and who and how they will be accomplished. Next, think about how you will know that each phase is successful. If the activities or steps that you’ve defined do not lead to that goal, you need to rethink those steps The final effort is significant, but it turns your sales strategy into a repeatable process and presents a professional impression of your business to your customers. What tools or job aids do you need to complete the activities in each phase? What collateral do your sales reps need? If you are fortunate to have an experienced salesperson on your team, what do they use and how can you replicate those tools for your other sales reps? For Strategic PlanningFor Communication When you want to think through how you will attract customers and sales.When you want to quickly communicate your sales process. When you need to identify where the gaps in your business model are.Personalize this model to use in your investor pitch Case Study: TowerCare Technologies TowerCare Technologies provides centralized, consolidated, and highly adaptive process applications for long-term health care and nonprofit organizations. Their applications, are built upon a proprietary work-flow and people-centric architecture, enable customers to achieve productivity improvements of over 40%, increases revenues, decrease expenses and meet new security and privacy goals. 1

Sales Strategy Tool Sales Strategy & Process CUSTOMER BUYING PROCESS Implement and evaluate success NegotiateEvaluate options Identify business needs Determine requirements JOB AIDS ProspectingQualifyingProposalDecisionRepeat Business Probe and assess needs with decision-maker Create a buying vision that maps product/service to business needs Asses potential, including revenue forecast and internal dependencies Initial sponsor identified Buying vision and access to decision- maker OUTCOMES/GOALS SOLUTION SELLING SALES PROCESS STEPS SALES PROCESS ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES Generate new prospects (via referrals, networking, trade associations, conferences) Look at existing customer base for opportunities Identify decision-maker within target company Create an evaluation plan to demonstrate to decision-maker your ability to meet their business needs Ask for the business Issue the proposal Negotiate terms and conditions Close the sale Complete the work (deliver the product/service) Follow-up with the customer Value demonstrated and proposal submitted Signed contract Satisfied customer (repeat business, reference) Business Development Prompter Customer Reference Story Selling Points Presentation Competitive Points List Product/Service Benefit Statement Follow-Up to Product/Service Sales Call (formal) Follow-Up to Product/Service Sales Call (informal) Product/Service Evaluation Plan Rebuttals to Negotiation Roadblocks Give-Get List for Negotiation Tradeoffs Negotiation Tracker Product/Service Satisfaction Tracker Sale Follow-Up Letter Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5 2

Sales Strategy Tool Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5 ProspectingQualifyingProposalDecisionRepeat Business Customer Buying Process Sales Activities & Milestones Outcome & Goals Job Aids 3