You have likely tried at least once to implement a clearly defined, visible customer experience journey template, but have fallen flat – or working ‘on’ the business has been overshadowed by the need to get your hands dirty and deliver.
This leads to businesses feeling like there is no light at the end of the customer experience tunnel.
The perfect customer experience does exist.
Reaching this goal starts with evaluating each stage of your funnel – and no, this isn’t just about implementing a CRM.
This is about ensuring that while your pipeline is constantly fueled with a stream of customers, that your sales team are coordinated with the marketing team with a streamlined process of leads to sales.
Once you have this process sorted, you can start attributing – but first things first.
Stop putting out fires, map your sales process
To enable your sales teams to close more deals, visualizing the sales funnel helps to create better alignment with the company’s vision and also to help different teams communicate more efficiently.
Perhaps not surprisingly, we cover this in our SalesPlay On-Ramp™ program. We help partner in the program map out their sales process in 5-7 stages, also known as your Proven Pathway.
5-7 stages creates visibility, accountability and helps you keep customers for life
As previously mentioned, there are usually around 5-7 stages in the funnel. This involves everything from attracting new leads, to converting them into a paying customer.
Without know exactly how your business operates (yet 😉), common sales funnel steps might include:
- Prospecting: Lead generation is usually done through marketing efforts, bringing in fresh leads through online and offline channels.
- Initial contact: Qualifying prospects is essential; asking questions relating to budget, turnaround time and capability.
- Sales pitch or product demo: Now that your sales team is acquainted with the customer, at this point in the sales process it’s time for you to communicate your offerings to the prospect.
- Proposal / Statement of work: Clearly defining and the customer needs, and aligning those to your capability to deliver and customer value is essential.
- Closing: Prospects agree on your terms and price but closing is usually only successful when all previous steps have also been a success.
- Nurturing: Happy customers are always willing to purchase from you again. Consider nurturing through valuable content or a loyalty program.
Since closing is one of the more difficult aspects of the sales process, it’s important to implement a step-by-step plan for employees to follow. By precisely mapping processes and procedures, sales teams can assess the right time to close a customer, transforming them from prospect to conversion.
Tools alone won’t fix the problem – accountability is a must
If you’re wondering why accountability is important, it helps to ensure that all of the cogs in the machine turn smoothly.
Providing leaders or teams with the responsibility to guide customers through the funnel makes them accountable for ensuring that there are no communication black spots.
When there’s no accountability between teams, you’ll often face the challenge of communication mishaps, data input errors, and a lack of motivation from your employees. When your employees are less engaged, productivity dips and that’s when customers will start to fall out of your pipeline.
Remember...
- Tools - like a CRM - won't fix the customer experience problem alone, but getting visibility is a good first step
- The customer experience is a whole of business problem to solve
- Keep it simple and just get started today
What’s next?
Since you’ve made it this far you might be interested to know more about our SalesPlay On-Ramp™ Program? If we're right, shoot us an email and we'll send through all the details.
