First Principles Sales Process Audit - Your Baselines (ii Process Map)

nb Building on yesterday's '1 to 4' starting points; First Principles Sales Process Audit - Your Baselines (i).

5

Now the mapping. Getting to grips with what really takes place in our process.

To be right in line with how the SpaceX engineers achieved their world-leading solutions, we too must list every discrete stage in our current sales process.

Not just what your CRM screen tabs demand. Not solely what your guru-given sales methodology stipulates. Not reliant on any corporate playbook as was.

The actual steps that occur. Away from gateways, workflows or outputs.

Getting these right first time of asking is tricky (to impossible).

When is a stage not a stage? What have we missed? What have we compounded?

I talk of this kind of thing a lot.

For me, the best process understanding comes from knowing the pattern of what we do when we always win.

Sure anyone can say the usuals. Discovery Call, CEO grants Hunting Licence, Board closing Presentation.

They are of themselves specific events. All with vital activity around them that can fall out of view. Yet distinguish ourselves as different, unique, and desired.

6

I'm going to go with these three traits that we now need document for each one.

Think Value Added to the Buyer Decision first off. I'd be tempted to keep this freeform, but I suspect a binary or percentage tag could apply. I've been in workshops where the assembled sales brains trust robustly bats around deals, each insisting every step has made a difference. As with qualifying any deal, the default lean should be on leaving 'out' each step, rather than always over-justifying it staying 'in'.

Then for each, a pair of Costs to consider. Time being the obvious. We must reduce those overall Days, right? And all whilst winning more. Also Resource each devours is an important factor.

7

Then where we make inroads. The big bucks to come not from adding, but from what we're finally willing to cut.

Whilst focused on which are ripe for getting rid of, there's also the slicing that comes from compressing a stage too. A practical pointer from experience.

Alright. I realise you could take this as a fourth variable. Beyond the three I said earlier (in '6'). But this is important because not everything in getting to a sale is black and white. So it stays, separate. Because it earns its place. Compression isn't a cop-out. Nor a softer flavour of delete.

So for each stage we can look at a Yes or No. Remembering there's no shame in not knowing. So a Maybe too. And Maybe earns its keep. It's not indecision, but where compression is still doing its work.

8

Those all together ought provide a final flag. Those marked Delete.

Three scores, one question, one flag. Everything marked Delete are the day(s) you get back.