Your sales process: not a straitjacket but a guide for the customer journey

Many people get itchy at the word process. It sounds like a straitjacket, like assembly-line work, like the opposite of personal. I see it exactly the other way around. A good process is your route map. See it as a stage: a solid stage gives the artist the stability and the space to shine. Without a stage it is chaos.

What happens without a sales process?

Because what happens without a process? You forget follow-ups, potential fans fall through the cracks, and your head is overflowing with loose ends. That mental load costs energy, and your customer feels that tension. With a clear process you always know what the next step is. That brings calm, and you radiate that composed, confident energy.

The six phases of a fan-centric sales process

A process that creates fans is designed from the customer's point of view. How do they most like to buy, and how do they want to be helped? The journey has six phases:

1. Lead generation and qualification. Find the right people for whom you create the most value, and dare to say a respectful no to a mismatch.
2. Connection and discovery. Understanding comes before selling, with open questions and real listening.
3. The solution presentation. Link your offer to the problem you have uncovered.
4. Objections. Usually these are disguised requests for more information. So, opportunities.
5. The close. If you have worked through the process well, this is a shared, logical decision. No pushing needed.
6. Onboarding and aftercare. The most important one. Because this is where, after the signature, the fan is born.

Measure what counts in your sales process

Meanwhile, measure what counts. For years, for me that was the number of appointments, because no appointment means no deal. I simply counted them all, every week, with the whole team. That way you can see today how much result is coming in three months' time.

Process is the fifth element of the Customer Experience Model. All the phases, tools and metrics are worked out in Sales, Honest & Relaxed. Start small this week: open your diary and count your good appointments. That is your first metric.