Small Business Today Magazine JUN 2014 MASTERWORD SERVICES INC | Page 15

EDITORIALFEATURE

Avoid a Dangerous Sales Process 

That Could Kill Your Business
By Craig Klein

F

ailure of your sales process doesn’t happen
overnight.  Instead, the insidious threat to
your business sneaks up on you with declining sales leads conversion.

your company.  Like we said earlier, pushing today’s buyers can easily push them away instead of
converting them, so you must change your tactics.

With an increasing number of buyers not ready
•Your first instinct is to believe your sales team for a sales conversation, companies benefit from
is not doing their job.
marketing automation that targets nurturing sales
•Careful examination of sales staff may cause leads who are not yet ready.  It is smart for salesyou to lay off the poorer producers.
people to quickly disqualify the bulk of sales leads
•Motivating salespeople becomes priority so they can focus on those ready to have a sales
one…pressure intensifies.
conversation.  That way, the sales process be •Salespeople
complain
comes efficient and profitable.
about the poor quality of
the sales leads.
Why nurture poor sales leads?
Analyze lead
•Analyze lead sources and
Buyers want to be fully educatsources and make
make some changes to
ed and control the buying profind what produces high- some changes to find cess. They will welcome emails
er quality sales leads.
what produces higher from your company if your
•Sometimes more monfocus is on good information
quality sales leads.
ey is spent on sales lead
– not selling.  While they only
sources to find the eluwant you to educate them, with
sive “good” sales leads.
no commitment from them to
•Conversions and sales continue to fall. 
ever purchase, you still benefit.
•The company is in jeopardy.

What’s going on???

The tragic scenario outlined X