Sales Fundamentals – How to Build a Professional Sales Process

The world of marketing and sales... Although we often hear about disputes between marketers and salespeople, the real problem is often that the responsibilities of the two areas are not clearly defined, leading to different approaches to the same issues. This conflict can become pronounced when boundaries blur, and the roles of marketing and sales are not clarified.

Now that I have been exclusively focused on sales tasks for over a year, I’ve observed that sales and marketing must not only work together but also complement each other. In fact, we can now say that neither can exist without the other.

But what is the real difference between the two, and how can they support each other for effective collaboration?

Sales vs. Marketing – What’s the Difference?

The primary goal of both fields is to acquire customers for a business, but their tools, methods, and approaches differ significantly. To better understand the differences, let’s take a closer look at the definitions of each area.

The Concept of Marketing

Marketing, as both a science and practice, is a corporate activity that analyzes market needs, defines the products and services offered, and then strives to present and promote them. According to theoretical definitions, the task of marketing is to introduce the products, services, or even ideas to be sold into consumer consciousness. This applies not only to products but also to services, concepts, or even individuals who aim to capture market attention.

Marketing, therefore, is a broad, data-driven profession that shapes a company’s market presence using various disciplines—such as economics, psychology, sociology, and applied mathematics. The primary task of marketers is to influence customer decisions based on market data and trends and to communicate messages that strengthen the company’s position.

Many worry upon hearing the word "influence," but it’s worth clarifying that for marketers and salespeople, influence is a tool. It’s not negative but helps people make the best decisions for themselves. Think about it: a teacher also influences their students but aims to guide them in the right direction. The same applies in the world of marketing.

In essence, marketing focuses on reaching and informing a broad audience and aims to embed a company’s message in the audience’s consciousness using the right information.

The Concept of Sales

Sales takes a much more direct approach. While marketing works in the background and tries to lay the groundwork for potential customer decisions, sales happen during the final steps, after the customer has made their decision. The sales process typically involves personal or situationally tailored direct communication. The key here is that the salesperson establishes direct contact with the potential customer to highlight the benefits of the specific product or service and assist them in making the final decision.

The difference lies in that marketing seeks to shape the needs of a broader audience, while sales is more closely tied to the customer journey and directly addresses the prospect before the final purchasing decision.

Collaboration Between Marketing and Sales

The key to successful collaboration between the two areas lies in accurately defining the quality of sales. A well-functioning sales process can only be realized if marketing can generate qualified leads that the sales team can actively reach out to.

This is especially important in B2B sales systems, where managing leads (i.e., prospects) requires a well-defined system. If marketing does its job well and provides quality leads, the sales team has the opportunity to actively engage them and guide them through the purchasing process.

Of course, successful collaboration between the marketing and sales teams comes with challenges. For example, if marketing provides poor-quality leads to the sales team, it wastes the time and energy of salespeople, or if the sales team does not use proper methods for handling leads, the work of the two departments cannot be harmonized.

Sales 2.0 – Inbound Sales

Today, the world of sales is increasingly dominated by the so-called inbound sales method, which focuses on recognizing and meeting customer needs rather than traditional cold calls, purchased lists, and unsolicited spam. Inbound sales is a sales philosophy where salespeople aim not to sell the product or service as quickly as possible but to help prospects make the right choice.

This approach fundamentally transforms the nature of sales: the salesperson’s role is not to force a decision on the customer but to support them in finding the solution that best suits their needs. Inbound sales represent not just a new sales method but a new mindset, focusing on the customer’s needs and resulting in a more human and relationship-oriented sales process.

How to Build an Effective and Professional Sales Process: A Detailed Guide

Designing and optimizing sales processes is crucial for the successful operation of any business. When working with new clients, as part of strategic planning, I personally take on the comprehensive design and optimization of their sales processes. This task involves the following steps: I thoroughly review and analyze the client’s current sales steps, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and then, during a joint discussion, gather all the necessary information to begin designing the new, efficient sales process.

Although the actual sales process consists of several steps, detailed below, it is important to note that a well-functioning and professional sales strategy is not just built on these simple steps. In a previous article, I demonstrated how effective collaboration between marketing and the sales team can be achieved, which is essential for creating a successful sales process. The goal is always to ensure that qualified leads are integrated into the process at the right time and in the right way, so their conversion can continue.

Step 1: Plan the Starting Point of the Sales Process!

In the first phase of strategic planning, I divide the sales process into two distinct parts. The first phase focuses on defining the marketing team’s tasks, while the second phase highlights the sales team’s responsibilities. This approach allows the sales process to be clear and well-structured for both teams, ensuring everyone understands their roles and goals.

The sales process uses three basic concepts to organize prospects and potential customers at different stages. If you’ve worked with a CRM system before, these concepts may already be familiar to you:

• Contact: A contact is a person or prospect we’ve already reached out to and whose information we’ve recorded in the CRM system.
  If a prospect has at least one point of contact (e.g., email address) and has given permission for marketing communication, they are added to the CRM system as a contact.
  GDPR compliance is crucial here, as personal data must be handled lawfully.
• Lead: A lead is a prospect who has shown interest in the company’s products or services but is not yet ready to make a purchase.
  Leads usually enter the system as a result of marketing activities (e.g., through a downloadable resource, signing up for a newsletter, etc.), and the goal is to qualify them further.
  This involves determining whether the lead is serious about purchasing the product or service and whether they meet the criteria for a potential customer.
• Opportunity: When a lead becomes a qualified potential customer and moves closer to purchasing, they are referred to as an opportunity.
  In the CRM system,the opportunity phase typically begins with the customer’s clear interest in the product or service and ends with the final decision.

Step 2: Define the Sales Steps!

The starting point of a professional sales process is the sales funnel, which divides potential customers into various stages of interest and purchase intention. The funnel system is particularly important in identifying opportunities for potential customers.

When planning the sales process, I use the following sales funnel system:

1. Awareness Stage The customer becomes aware of the product or service. This stage is mostly managed by the marketing team, where their task is to attract attention and direct traffic to the company. Typical activities at this stage include social media posts, blog articles, SEO-optimized web pages, and other content-marketing tools.
2. Interest Stage In this stage, the customer expresses interest in the product or service, often through interaction with marketing materials or signing up for an event. At this point, the lead is recorded in the CRM system, and marketing activities continue to nurture the lead.
3. Consideration Stage The prospect is seriously considering the product or service and compares it with other solutions. Marketing and sales work together during this phase to provide relevant and personalized information to help the prospect move forward in the decision-making process.
4. Decision Stage The sales team takes over entirely. This phase involves direct communication with the customer to clarify any open questions, present customized offers, and guide the prospect to a final decision.
5. Purchase Stage The prospect has decided to make the purchase. The salesperson’s job is to assist with the purchase and ensure the process goes smoothly. This stage is also about creating a positive first experience for the customer, which can lead to future loyalty.
6. Post-Purchase Stage Many believe the sales process ends with the purchase, but a truly professional sales team knows the importance of after-sales care. Maintaining a good relationship with the customer, resolving potential issues, and even encouraging future purchases are all part of this phase.

Step 3: Define the Deal Stages!

Once you’ve carefully planned the sales process, there’s one crucial task left: highlighting the most important steps that categorize prospects into different statuses. These will form the deal stages—a system of statuses through which leads progress during the sales process.

It’s essential to define the deal stages in a way that realistically reflects the various phases a lead goes through. Different statuses help ensure you always know where you stand with any given deal. In the previous illustration, the red and green colors indicate which steps the company can influence directly and which are outside direct control. Red statuses represent passive steps, while green statuses indicate areas where active involvement is possible.

Examples of statuses might include:

“Scheduled an appointment to assess options” – This is one of the earliest and most crucial statuses, as it directly impacts subsequent steps.

“Received a price quote” – A status that signifies a concrete step and helps you know when to actively respond or prepare for the next phase.

Step 4: Convert the Statuses into Past Tense!

After defining the statuses, a small but significant modification is required: converting these statuses into past tense from the perspective of the lead.

This means every status should reflect a completed event.

For example, instead of a status like “sending a price quote,” it’s much clearer and more practical to use “received a price quote,” as this provides a clear understanding of the lead’s current position. Though this is a relatively minor step, it makes the sales process much clearer because the statuses always indicate an event that has already occurred rather than an ongoing or future action. When fine-tuning the sales process, this small adjustment can have a significant impact on efficiency.

Step 5: Implement the Planned Process in the CRM System!

Now that you’ve outlined every step of the sales process and clearly defined the deal stages, it’s time to put this plan into action. To achieve this, you’ll need a reliable CRM system that can handle and track the planned sales process.

Using the CRM, you can easily implement all the steps and statuses defined in the previous stages. All the information and statuses will now be available in a single system, which will assist your team and ensure that every lead receives the best possible treatment. Implementing this plan into the CRM system is essentially a technical step, as the groundwork has already been laid in the first four steps. Now, it’s simply a matter of selecting and configuring the appropriate tool.

What Does a Sales Process Look Like in Practice?

Designing and building a sales process isn’t as complicated as many initially think. While some believe it’s a lengthy and complex task, following the right steps makes it possible to quickly create an effective system. Let me show you how our sales process works to give you insight into how we operate in practice.

What Is a Sales Pipeline?

A sales pipeline is one of the most critical tools upon which we base our processes. It provides a visual representation of how a potential deal progresses through the various sales stages, from the initial interest to closing the deal. The pipeline helps us maintain an overview of every step in the process and ensures that we always know where we stand.

This system is indispensable for us. Since adopting this sales pipeline, we’ve experienced remarkable improvements: our workflows have become more transparent, and automation has saved us significant time. Automation not only reduces daily administrative tasks but also allows salespeople to focus on core sales activities while the system handles background tasks.

How Does the Pipeline Support My Work?

In addition to the sales pipeline, we use other automated tools to ensure that the sales process runs as smoothly and quickly as possible. This eliminates much of the administrative burden on our team, meaning we don’t need to hire additional sales staff, as our current resources are sufficient.

On a typical day, the sales pipeline provides immediate access to the status of all ongoing deals. The system shows where leads currently stand in their purchasing decision process. While I can’t share detailed data publicly, the pipeline clearly indicates how many leads are in each phase and the potential revenue these deals could generate.

The system organizes all leads according to their respective stages and, if necessary, highlights areas requiring prompt attention. For example, our forecasts for the near future indicate a strong period ahead. We currently have a high number of leads in the second and third phases, suggesting that these deals will soon move into the decision phase and generate substantial revenue.

How Can I Optimize the First Stage?

In the first stage—when leads are still familiarizing themselves with the product or service—we currently have only a few active leads. It’s therefore crucial to attract more leads and increase the volume within this stage. Doing so will not only boost the number of leads awaiting their first meeting but will also strengthen the entire sales funnel, providing more opportunities for successful deals in the coming months.

Conclusion

Designing and building a professional sales process is fundamentally straightforward but requires significant experience and attention to detail to ensure that every step is executed correctly and efficiently. Once the system is in place, you can sit back with satisfaction, but remember: this is only the first step toward creating the perfect sales process!

Sales automation is critical to simplifying your work. Don’t waste time on tasks like scheduling meetings or writing follow-up emails when all of this can be automated. Salespeople have much more important things to focus on than manual administration!

FAQs About Sales

What is sales? Sales is the process of providing potential buyers with the necessary information to help them make the right decision. Sales often involve personal interactions, but the same principles apply in online sales environments. Whether via phone, online meetings, or emails, the goal remains the same: to assist the buyer in choosing the most suitable option.

What is B2B sales? B2B (Business-to-Business) sales occur when a business establishes a commercial relationship with another business—specifically, their representatives. While B2B sales don’t differ fundamentally from B2C (Business-to-Consumer) processes, they place greater emphasis on building long-term partnerships and meeting business needs. In B2B sales, decision-making processes are often more complex, involving multiple stakeholders and more detailed proposals.