The Sales Process Flowchart is a visual representation that outlines the steps involved in converting a potential customer into a paying customer.

Many sales managers need help building repeatable sales processes that their sales team can repeatedly follow as they work toward closing deals.

A sales process refers simply to the steps the sales team will follow with each potential client.

When a team understands the key elements of each stage of your sales cycle, they can usher more deals to the finish line.

A sales process flowchart is one useful tool that can help sales managers accomplish this.

Sales process flowcharts take the concept of the sales cycle and illustrate it visually.

Let’s examine the steps in a well-defined sales process. But first, consider the benefits of displaying your sales methodology visually for your sales reps.

Why Develop a Sales Process Flowchart

There are several beneficial reasons to create a sales process flowchart. The goal is to get sales teams to understand all sales process steps they will take.

It answers the question, “What do I do next?”

Consistency

This gives a sales rep a consistent experience and proves helpful to new employees just starting with selling for your company – directing them to reach their sales goals.

Flow charts are also a helpful reminder to senior sales team members that most sales processes are interconnected.

Even sales activities that may only sometimes feel very important are interconnected and directly affect the end sales goals.

Differentiation

Another benefit of maintaining sales process flowcharts is that one can be developed for each type of selling that is being pursued by sales reps and informs how they are different.

For example, what steps are the focus of a typical sales process? How do outside sales or selling products B2B differ?

If teams can differentiate specific sales process steps, the complex process is more attainable and can prompt solutions when roadblocks arise.

Flowchart examples can make the steps a sale team takes more understandable to other departments, like marketing and administration, so that there is a greater understanding of the methods being actively used.

Customer Experience

Documenting the sales steps in a sales cycle with a flow chart can also ensure that customers receive a consistent experience from sales reps.

A sales flowchart will help to identify bottlenecks in processes that limit reaching sales targets.

Managers and team members can then evaluate the sales team’s steps to address and overcome problem areas and keep new clients satisfied with the buying experience.

A Typical Sales Process

Consider the discrete, key steps that will populate your sales process flowchart. Depending on the industry and your company’s focus, these items may merge, overlap, or receive more or less priority.

After reviewing these key sales process elements, you can fine-tune your flow chart to your business process.

Prospecting

The prospecting stage starts the sales process, where sales reps work to find new leads.

Historically, this has meant a lot of cold calls – phone calls made unsolicited to locate potential customers. This phase may also involve sending countless emails out.

Technology has advanced to the point where a sales rep has more lead-generation options.

That means the sales process flowchart may branch off in several directions depending on the communication methods used.

For example, social media provides avenues for connecting with interested parties. Seek to engage with content on sites like LinkedIn and Quora that resonate with you and build a respectable online presence on these platforms.

Prospecting may also happen at industry events, trade shows, and conferences. Current clients may even provide referrals to individuals who express interest in your products and services.

Preparation

The next stage of the sales process flowchart involves lead qualification. Not every contact with a person will result in them becoming a customer.

Finding qualified leads may lead you to the point on your sales process flowchart where you hit a dead end. This indicates that a sales rep’s time and attention are better focused on a new potential customer.

To come to this determination, a sales rep must try to start a conversation with the prospect. This discovery phase involves understanding what the person wants in a new product or service.

Well-thought-out questions can lead a good sales rep to understand whether the prospect is a good candidate for moving further along the sales pipeline.

A sales representative may question the prospect’s day-to-day activities, what problems they are currently trying to solve, or their business priorities.

This information may reveal what products and services appeal to the potential client.

Understand the Customer

You want to determine which product will best suit your prospect’s needs.

If the initial discovery phase shows a possible interest in your products and services, it’s time to create relationships and deepen the connection with the other person.

You want to get to know them. This may take the form of asking more technical questions and offering demonstrations or free trials of a product with a promise of feedback.

This stage of the sales process tailors and personalizes the experience to the customer, making it a more effective process.

Presentation

Next, you are ready to make a formal pitch to your prospect, which can be time-consuming.

No one wants to waste their time and energy. Reserve this step in the sales process flowchart for well-qualified prospects that match well with the products and services you offer.

Try to demonstrate a product or service before providing a quote.

If prospective customers need to learn the benefits of partnering with your business, how can they make an informed purchasing decision?

A sales rep may include an engineer or executive at this stage to answer questions that the sales team may not be in the best position to answer.

Objection Handling

It’s common to receive some pushback on a presentation or proposal, and handling objections is a key trait of a good salesperson.

The prospect may indicate the need to bring in other stakeholders or express the need for more money from their budget. Or they may provide negative feedback to the sales pitch or product itself.

Build these potentials into your sales process flowchart so that sales reps have a path forward to address these eventualities.

When sales reps have trouble determining solutions, it can indicate that the sales process flowchart needs to be revisited to account for unseen possibilities.

Closing Deals

As deal-closing approaches, some sales activities may need to be addressed to push the sale over the finish line.

This may include providing proposals, negotiations, addressing specific business needs, and getting final buy-in from decision-makers.

Contracts and documents between the buyer and seller must be signed, and the account will be passed on to a customer service rep.

Follow-Up

The final step in the sales process is not closing deals. There is still work to do. Sales reps need to confirm customers have received what they purchased and are happy with the experience.

There is value in keeping communication lines open, reinforcing the value of your business to them personally.

It also provides an opportunity for repeat business and to upsell. It might bring referral sales too.

Common Mistakes Sales Teams Make with Sales Process Flowcharts

Remember that a sales process flowchart is sometimes very specific in the details that a sales team takes into making sales. It often shows the process’s flow – thus, it is called a flow chart.

Since it provides an overview, different team members may understand it differently. Teams should discuss their processes openly, so everyone works along complementary paths.

Expect that one sales process flowchart will address only some situations perfectly.

Make the sales process flowchart accessible to other teams. Marketing and administration will benefit by understanding your methods to close deals.

Remember to update and revise the flowchart when implementing a new sales process. This keeps everyone working together in your sales operations, including new team members.

Of course, a sales process will always grow and change, and it should. Consistently measure your level of success and seek feedback from reps to make changes to processes moving forward.

Conclusion

Be aware of your sales methodology and the individual steps that your team takes to make a sale.

Document the phases of selling that you work through as you push qualified leads toward the goal of buying.

A sales process flowchart will keep all team members and the business on the same page and bring more deals to a successful close.