Do you need a sales process?
How would you go about developing one if you don’t have one or if the
one you have does not reflect how your customers want to buy?
ACT! users are astute students of sales and marketing
philosophies, adopting tools to engineer better results. You may be aware that Sage ACT! itself
evolved into its present state through 25 years of development beginning with
Pat Sullivan, ACT!’s founder. Among his
many contributions were the ID/Status field and Last Results field, marking a
dynamic relationship between the salesperson, their prospects, and the database
driving the process.
When ACT! introduced the Opportunity with
ACT! 4.0 Pat consulted with Dale Carnegie and Associates (now Dale Carnegie
Training) to develop a sales process with 11 separate stages based on the DCT
Sales Advantage methodology. In recent
years Sage ACT! added web integration to plug into social media, getting closer
to prospects and customers. As
technology advances, so do the opportunities to adopt expanding philosphies.
There are hundreds of philosophies, all with inspiring
authors and speakers, but their approaches are varied. You may know:
- · Jeffrey Gittomer. Little Red Book: 12.5 Principles of Selling
- · Seth Godin. All Marketers are Liars and Purple Cow
- · John Jantsch. Duct Tape Marketing and Referral Engine
- · Sandler Training. The Sandler Rules
- · Catherine Kaputa. You are a Brand
Adhering to your philosophy of selling and marketing
requires some introspection and planning.
Recognizing your streamlined process and the stages you pass through
become steps in your own Sage ACT! opportunities.
You may have several processes, one for sales
and another for service, for example.
While using the samples that ship with Sage ACT! may work well for you,
there are no limits to how you may modify the processes to follow strategies
based on your preferred philosophy.
When you are beginning with a philosophy for sales and
marketing and adapting it to your own strategy be careful to look at each stage
as a gate through which each deal may pass.
A definitive stage is rarely a task (activity) completed by you, it is
more likely your prospect’s response to the task and whether they have moved themselves
into your next stage.
Also, the earliest stages may be based on your research
(Qualifying, for instance) which requires only a modest amount of interaction
with the prospect.
When you are done with your analysis of how you may best apply your sales and marketing philosophy to your database, then you roll up your sleeves and begin making the alterations to your database. This may also be the time to contact us and get some help in this transformation.
