Deep Dives: The Sales Process

A Note on Deep Dive Conversations

Deep Dive conversations are designed to get your thinking started so that the agendas will be fairly loose sometimes. We'll know we have a good deep dive if the meeting is conversational. We allow the conversations to dictate the questions, as the greatest insights often come from the 3rd follow-up question that we hadn't expected to ask but asked because of something said.

The Sales Process conversation aims to understand the ebbs and flows of selling within your organization. In essence, what's a week/month in the life of a sales rep like?

Common Questions:

Describe your target customer(s).
How is the sales team structured (org chart, roles & number of people in each role)
What's a day, a week, or a month in the life of a sales rep like? A sales manager?
How much of the sales team's focus is on generating new accounts vs. selling to existing accounts (note: if the sales team is segmented by specialization/focus, please explain).
How does the sales team identify new business opportunities?
How does the sales team segment existing accounts to identify those accounts/customers that are of higher value?
How does the sales team connect with new prospects?
Outline the sales process (stages/steps to making a sale). If there is more than one process, please highlight each.
How do you measure/assess "a healthy pipeline"?
What are the key metrics you track/want to track?
Why do your customers buy from you?
Why do you win the business you win?
Why do you lose business?
How do you define your competition?
How do you approach opportunities?
How do you view the progression of an opportunity? How do you know if you're in a strong position to win or if there's a need to adjust?
What are the primary challenges and obstacles you face in connecting with prospects and customers?
What aspects of the sales process do you feel are more difficult than they should be?
Why do you win business? Why do you lose business? Why do you lose business that you should win?