It seems that so many SME business owners are eager to talk about the value of their company’s core product offerings, and yet they shy away from calling themselves “sales people”. It’s a shame, really, because personal selling done well should be a pleasant exercise in relationship building for both the buyer and the seller. In business, it’s especially important if you’re negotiating a large sale; whether a significant capital investment or a long-term service contract. It’s a multi-step dance between the two parties, designed for mutual satisfaction.

Prospecting is simply identifying well-qualified purchasers who need your product. Note that the emphasis should be on need – you have to be certain that your product or service is an excellent match to your client. You want to gather the correct contact information for your prospect (including whether they’re the key decision maker or need to refer to others) and to make sure that their company is in a financial position to buy your product.

The pre-approach is defining how your product is best suited for the potential customer, and gathering as much information as possible about the company you’re selling to. You don’t want to start your selling process completely in the dark. Wow your prospect by knowing exactly how your product or service will fit into their company.

The approach is the first contact with the prospect. The purpose is to build a positive relationship, and to ensure that your pre-approach information is spot-on. Sales professionals often refer to this as ‘getting a foot in the door’, but more importantly, it’s about asking open-ended questions to allow your prospects to clearly define their needs.

The Presentation. If you’ve determined that the prospects are viable and they’ve awarded you time and attention to make a presentation, this is the opportunity for your sales professional to tell a story. The story is simply “We understand your problem” and in keeping with that position, a skilled sales person will let the potential client do most of the talking.

Overcoming objections is the stage of the sales process in which a true sales professional will earn his commission.  Rather than avoiding objections, a good sales person will seek them out and squash them ruthlessly. The message at this point should be clearly defined as “Our product/service will solve your problem.”

Closing the sale. In the typical sales strategy, this step is defined as a key stakeholders’ signature on a contract, and/or a firm financial down payment for the product or service. Many a sales process will fall through at this point and businesses are left with an ongoing prospect that never quite commits to the deal. In the case of the car salesman, this is often the step jumped straight to from the “Hi, my name is John” introduction, lending to their nasty reputation. Closing a sale is a delicate balance of pressure and personality assessment, and the experienced sales person will go back to overcoming objections many times if needs be to successfully finish this step.

Follow-up is the final step of the sales process and the one most frequently dropped by forward-focused sales people. The sales person has represented the company to this point and build the relationship; its disheartening to a new client to be dropped like a stone the moment the papers are signed. More importantly, follow-up introduces the possibility of up-sell and cross-sell in the future; a critical step for ongoing revenue generation and customer satisfaction.

If your company employs a personal selling strategy, whether through a sales professional or the owner, it’s worth reviewing these simple steps to ensure that you’re hitting all the right points.