Growth Mapping using Sales Interactions
In this post we will show you how to define part of your Business Profile. Included in the post you can find;
We believe that identifying your business growth goals begins by truly understanding your business — and that means leaving no stone unturned.
From the big picture “what you do and why you matter” to the seemingly small interactions that bring prospects that bit closer to converting, it pays to interrogate every aspect of your business.
This outlook is the catalyst for the first part of our Growth Mapping framework, which is dedicated to building a clear and detailed Business Profile.
Through a series of interactive exercises, our growth experts help you capture the essence of your business in just a few lines. We then probe and prod to learn more about what a “good lead” looks like and the steps it takes to turn them into customers. Finally, we drill down into your tech stack and key partnerships. Like we said, no stone unturned.
All of this info helps us plot a path towards sustainable business growth, and in this post, we give you a sneak peek into one of the most important exercises: Growth Mapping using Sales Interactions.
Here, you’ll learn:
Why mapping your sales process is vital;
How to break down your key sales interactions;
And how doing so will help you spot the opportunities and weaknesses in your pipeline.
Plus, at the bottom of this post, you’ll find a handy worksheet download to help you define (and refine) your company’s sales process.
Ready? Let’s go.
Why map out your sales interactions?
Often, online business owners think the goal is website conversions, plain and simple. Everything after the lead has been won sort of takes care of itself, right? You either turn that lead into a customer, or you don’t.
The truth is, once you get traffic to your website and convert, it’s not the end of the process. It’s just getting started. And if you don’t understand each important step within that post-conversion journey, it can skew your figures and your perception of success.
Remember, your goal is to grow revenue. Don’t get hoodwinked by a large number of website conversions if you’re not seeing a steady stream of paying customers emerge at the other end. If that happens, something’s broken in your sales process — and the following exercise can help you fix it.
Exercise: mapping, measuring, and improving your sales pipeline
This is a quick and thought-provoking exercise designed to help you understand your prospect’s journey, from their first contact through to becoming a paying customer.
In the above graphic, you’ll see we’ve laid out a series of interactions. We’ve got first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. You could have more steps, depending on the size and complexity of the sale, or you could have fewer.
At each stage, you reflect on how you interact with and convert your prospects. For example, the first interaction could be a qualification call, where you determine the customer’s needs and whether you can meet them. You may also discuss budget, scope, and timeframes at this stage.
If they qualify as a lead, you move onto the second interaction. Depending on your business, this could be a product demo, a site survey, or another way of demonstrating your value while gauging their interest.
The third interaction could be a presentation, the fourth could be a quote, and the fifth could be a follow-up. Once you’ve mapped the journey, the next step is to run the numbers.
You’ll see in this example that 5% of website visitors are converted to enquiries. Let’s suppose you receive 12,000 visitors over the year. That’s 600 leads. Following the qualification call, you convert 25% to the next interaction (let’s use the site survey example). 150 leads are given an in-depth site survey and 50% of those request a quote. Of the 75 quotes issued, roughly 50% are closed as sales. That’s 37 paying customers from 600 leads.
This creates a benchmark for your business and allows you to pinpoint weaknesses (and opportunities) in your sales pipeline. For instance, doubling your web traffic could increase your leads, but doing so can take a lot of work and investment. On the other hand, maintaining your traffic and increasing your conversion rate from, say, the second to the third interaction could result in more paying customers without increasing your marketing spend.
In the above example, that could mean finding a way to improve your conversion rate following the site survey (perhaps by tweaking its design or content) and increasing quote requests from 50% to 70%. Maintaining the 50% close rate of the next interaction, you would see an increase from 37 to 52 paying customers — just by pinpointing and improving an area of your sales funnel.
Key Takeaway: This exercise can help you realise that the buck doesn’t stop with your website. Once you’ve converted your visitors, you have several opportunities to improve revenue and growth by enhancing or refining your key sales interactions. Even a minor bump in the right direction could have you closer to achieving your growth goals.
Head over to our Resources Area to access the Profiling Workbook, and discover a whole range of resources to implement in your business. Or, if you’re ahead of the game, book a call in with our Growth Experts.
Try the Growth Mapper today
Each section of our Growth Mapper process has been designed around a critical part of your business growth. We start with the basics and drill down into the details, giving you a clear picture of the opportunities and challenges moving forward.
