To help you identify areas for improvement in how you sell, I’ve designed this checklist based on the different stages in the sales process. If you consider yourself a salesperson, answer the questions for your own approach to selling. If you have a different role, answer the questions based on your observations of how your company performs. To keep things simple answer each question with yes, no, or don’t know.
- Are you strong at proactively generating demand for your products and services?
- Do you continuously ask satisfied customers for introductions to potential new ones?
- Do you have relationships with key stakeholders in existing customers for your entire
portfolio of products and services? - Is your pipeline large enough to make the numbers even if your largest opportunities fail to
close? - Does the way you prepare and conduct meetings result in an outstanding customer
experience? - Do you consistently assess your chances of success and disengage from RFPs if your chances
of winning are low? - Do you carefully assess your competitive strengths and weaknesses, and execute an effective
competitive strategy? - Do you have a thorough understanding of the goals and decision criteria in the Buying
Center before you submit a proposal? - Do your proposals successfully differentiate you from the competition?
- Do you quantify the ROI of your solution to accelerate the buying process and reduce the
likelihood of losing to no-decision? - Are you strong at equipping your contacts with the information they need for internal
selling? - Does your win strategy for each opportunity incorporate game-changers that radically
improve your chances of winning? - Does the way you prepare and conduct negotiations protect your price?
- When you lose deals, do you consistently identify deficits in your sales process and build
learnings into future opportunities? - Last but not least, do you ensure excellent delivery, go the extra mile and ensure that your
value proposition is realized?