5 Steps for a Professional Services Sales Process

For professionals, prospecting varies for every potential client. And because selling services is more personal than selling products, many professionals handle each opportunity differently. 

However, professionals selling their time, knowledge, and expertise aren’t excluded from the benefits of having a defined sales process to qualify, advance and close opportunities. When win-rates are low, sales cycles are long and targets are missed,  and this is usually the result of:

• Inconsistent processes
• Misalignment between seller and buyer criteria
• Lack of proper tracking tools
• Shortcuts in the sales process

To improve sales execution, you need sale stages that are strategically defined, consistent with verifiable outcomes, and aligned with a tracking tool.

So - here are five ways to define an effective sale process:

1. Use The Socratic Method to Sell Ideas

The Socratic method is defined as a “form of inquiry between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to illuminate ideas.” But what does philosophy have to do with sales?

“70% of people make purchasing decisions to solve problems. 30% make decisions to gain something.”

Source: Impact Communications

The Socratic method is a way of approaching sales interactions with potential clients. It involves asking a series of open-ended questions that reveal client needs. Then, responding with the benefits of your services as a solution to those needs. Buyers want to hear how they will benefit from the service and the Socratic method is a strategic way to uncover their needs. Here are a few questions that facilitate the reveal:

• “How much time do you spend doing X?”
• “How much funds do you dedicate to the staff that does X?”
• “What are your expectations and concerns?”

For many businesses, this method applies to the qualifying stage of the sales process. Once qualified by a series of defined criteria, sales can be flagged and moved to the next stage.

2. Reach Goals with Military Strategy

In the early 80s, business strategists realized that there was a knowledge base stretching back thousands of years that hadn’t been analyzed in terms of business before. This knowledge base was known as the military strategy, and they turned to it for inspiration. Since then, hundreds of theories have been put forward on the parallels between military and sales strategy.

In Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” he explains that “having a strategy is first and foremost in successful sales. To be able to strategize, you need to analyze, organize, plan and prepare. Knowledge preparation is everything in successful sales.”

After defining the type of opportunity via the qualification process, you can define a series of approaches. These approaches can be based on industry, needs, the level of interest, the size of a company, and urgency. 

3. Group Sale Opportunities

To help prepare for each prospect, you can segment opportunities into different sales types. For example, clients may have different purchasing patterns depending on the industry. By categorizing or grouping opportunities, you can improve organization, reporting, filtering through the database and preparing for sales calls.

The best way to do this is with a sales tracking tool with custom segmenting. Ideally, this tool would automate the process, with triggers and notifications that occur when you move from stage to stage. These automated processes allow your team to stay on track and ensure that you’re executing in the best way possible, every time.

4. Always Be Tracking

Sales tracking is critical to a measured, planned, and repeatable strategy. The best salespeople are the ones who do what they say they will, with the discipline to follow-up. However, many opportunities can fall through the cracks without proper sales tracking. With the right tool, you can:

• Automatically be prompted to log all important customer calls and meetings, so you never forget
• Assign and manage daily tasks to stay on top of opportunities
• Automatically track emails & communications between clients and staff

5. Differentiate Yourself

Most important in selling professional services is building trust. You are not only selling a service but yourself.

In order to develop trust, follow this five-step process:

• Engage the client in an open discussion about their needs
• Listen to what is important and real to the client - get the data, affirm the importance of that data to the client and demonstrate you recognize it
• Frame the true root issue via problem statements and hypotheses
• Envision an alternative reality, including win-win descriptions of outcomes and results - clarify benefits and be tangible and future states
• Commit to actionable next steps that imply significant commitment and movement

See how Accelo can help track and manage your sales process by starting a free trial today - just click here.