What a Basic Sales Process Looks Like [Visual Template]

There's a reason why teachers instruct students to make an outline before they start writing a paper. With a defined outline, writers ensure they address each point in the correct order. Without an outline, writers sometimes forget to include a crucial argument, or construct their paper in an illogical manner.

Think of a defined sales process as the outline of selling. Without a concrete sales process, reps create their own strategies, which gives rise to two negative results:

• Depending on how the rep approaches sales, they might provide a bad experience for the buyer
• Sales managers can't glean team-wide data

So, how can you make a sales process that works for your team? Start with a sales process template.

Sales Process Template

If your team doesn't work from a standardized sales process, check out the graphic and sales process template below. The graphic depicts a basic 10-step sales process:

1. Prospect
2. Qualify
3. Connect
4. Identify Pain and Needs
5. Present
6. Handle Objections
7. Issue Proposal
8. Close
9. Deliver Product/Service
10. Upsell/Cross-Sell

Ready to build your own? Use this sales process template to outline your sales process and share it across your team.

Working from this template, you can customize a sales process that will work for your team. Too many steps? Cut a few. Too few? Add some. But whatever you do, define a sales process -- and hold reps to it. To learn more, check out these sales close rate industry benchmarks next.