Building a great sales framework

A sales framework is a repeatable set of steps designed to achieve sales objectives and a repeatedly desired level of performance from sales representatives. The aim of a sales framework is to layout all the stages needed from the early stages of a sale to gaining a customer.

‍Why do you need a sales framework?

Creating a sales framework in your company will help to ensure that every sales representative in your business does not miss a crucial step into gaining a customer or sale. This is a great technique to incorporate as a successful sales framework will cover each of the major milestones involved in conducting a sale. Using a sales framework will ultimately benefit your business as it is there to help your business generate more sales and more revenue.

How to build a great sales framework?

A successful sales framework usually consists of between 3 and 7 stages depending on the complexity of the project / business. Before building a sales framework, ensure that you have a full understanding of what your team is currently doing in the sales process. This is an important first step as this helps you to fill in these blanks for the new sales framework.

The steps to include to build a great sales framework:

1. Prospecting - this consists of identifying potential customers that fit in to your ideal target customer through lead generation efforts
2. Qualifying - this stage is the first time your sales reps would make contact with the customer to consider whether they are the correct fit for the specific     product / service
3. Presenting - this is where the sales rep will lay out a personalised case to the customer to give details on how your product / service will benefit their needs
4. Handling objections - this stage is where the sales rep will address and resolve any of the concerns the customer may have about the product / service
5. Closing - this is the stage where you get the customer to buy the product / service and therefore have gained them as a customer
6. Nurturing - this is the longest stage as this is the stage that ensures you give customers excellent post-sale support and can even be a chance to upsell any other products or services relating to their purchase

The sales framework doesn’t have to stop there. You could also include other steps such as researching, issuing a proposal or delivering. You can cater the framework depending on the complexity of the project and the scale of the sale.

Shark software can be used successfully at any stage during the sales framework, if you'd like to know more get in touch.