Best Sales Process / Steps for Mid Market & Enterprise Deals (2021)
The SaaS B2B sales process is one that dictates whether deals are won and lost. Each deal will be wildly different from business interests and needs to the various stakeholders involved. However, a strong sales process keeps the seller organized and guides them to winning the deal. The following example is of a sales process where the service being sold is SEO and website design.
Steps:
- Discovery call (First Time Appointment)
- The first time appointment call is huge in terms of setting the table for what the process will look like and building rapport with the prospect. Think of it like the first date.
- 24 hours before the meeting send over agenda. This serves two purposes. 1. A touch point with the prospect that will also make sure they remember they have the meeting and decrease chances of them no showing. 2. Shows the prospect that you are going above and beyond and no detail is left out, separating you from the competition.
- Before the meeting the seller should check the company’s website for any background information they can gather (i.e current vendor, mission statements etc..). The seller should also view the company’s LinkedIn page for any mutual connections as well as key stakeholders at the company. Sales Navigator is the most accurate place for up to date records of who is currently working at the company.
- During the actual discovery call it is imperative to get a framework of their business and eco system of different vendors. On top of that the following questions should be top of mind to get answered, Economic Buyer
- Decision Criteria
- Decision Process
- Identifying Pain
- Champion
- Competitive Intelligence/Advantage
- There are two main goals that should be achieved:
- 1. Current state of business
- 2. Future goals
Pro tip: end that meeting with a a summary of what their pain points are and give them a teaser as to what’s going to happen on the next call so they are left on a cliff hanger.
- Later that evening make sure to send a thank you email summarizing the key findings from the meeting (you have 24 hours to send this email)
2. Needs Analysis (For mid market and upmarket deals - ~$20k+ in Annual Revenue):
- The needs analysis is the time to dive deeper in the processes with key stakeholders on the call to understand the business at a deeper level and uncover all needs and pain points. Hit on those 2nd or 3rd level questions peeling back the onion to the real issues that will cause a prospect to actually buy. This information should then be used to tailor a demo and help close the deal. The more information the better.
- Send Over agenda for Needs Analysis 24 hours prior to the meeting
- During the needs Analysis the following should be hit:
- Agenda
- Run through intros
- What's most important to talk about today? What are you looking to get out of system?
- Recap current pain points and highlight info gathered from prior calls
- Questions to be asked:
- “So I assume the goal of this site, beyond the design, is to attract new customers - do I have that right?”
- “Where do you typically get your customers from now?” Pause
- How do new customers, who have never heard of you before, typically find you?”
- “Okay. No problem. Now, do you think that people are searching online for SERVICE 1 or SERVICE 2 in your area?”
- Do you know if those people are able to find you now?”
- Later that evening make sure to send a thank you email summarizing the key findings from the meeting (you have 24 hours to send this email
3. Demo
- Send Over agenda for Needs Analysis 24 hours prior to the meeting
- On the demo, run through the:
- Agenda
- Intros if there are new people on the call
- Make sure that the demo is tailored to their needs and business after the information gathered during the sales process.
- Stay active during the demo if you are not running the demo yourself by asking questions
- i.e if they had mentioned their current website does not attract new business when demoing the how the SEO model work to attract new clients you should ask, “ do you see how this will bring on more business than what is currently be done?”
- Answer questions and handle all objections. Objections are good because you have the time to handle these now as opposed to it hurting you further down the road when another vendor was chosen and the prospect assumed your company couldn’t service their needs.
4. Proposal
- At this point you should have those key questions answered around timeline, who will be signing the documents etc..
- Open this meeting with how the product will solve for their aforementioned pain points. Keep the proposal high level and feel out the audience when walking through the pricing for the different modules. Make sure to not speak to much as the prospect will typically reveal some key information on how pricing compares to their current vendor and or competitors.
- Confirm the timeline and how the pricing looks compared to current and competitive vendors. Typically there will be objections to pricing and concessions that may have to be given. Handle those and keep an eye on the go live date they had mentioned.
Steps in between the steps:
- Sending articles that are pertinent to what you found out in discovery (i.e. turnover article, google prospect for ideas, etc.)
- Talk up enhancements – review with prospect our tech strategy for upcoming releases. Talk facts. Invite Paycor person to be involved.
- Based on our analysis – invite to summits, coffee break seminars;. Speak to our Focus Groups. Speak to our User Groups. Use in conjunction with a drop.
- Debrief meetings – what is next? Summarize where we have been and where we are going. Involve C level. Heart to heart conversation to understand any objections. Great way to develop Champions. Gives us a good understanding of where we stand.
- Reference selling – speaks highly of us about our product, process, service, etc. Connecting the dots based on industry, competitor, geography, etc. Be proactive and have the client call the prospect instead of providing the list to the prospect.
- Have C level at your company call prospect C level.
- Stay top of mind – constant touches. Drop off goodies, lunch, etc. but drop and go instead of hanging out. Refresher demonstrations to prospect. Review LinkedIn connections. ‘Off the Record’ appointment – to get more inside information. Radar email – ‘Am I still on your radar’?
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