MSM FULL-FUNNEL CONVERSION GLOSSARY
What is a Sales Process?
A sales process is a defined sequence of steps that takes an opportunity from first conversation to a decision, where each step has to be completed before the next one begins.
THE SHORT ANSWER
The Definition
A sales process is a defined sequence of steps that takes an opportunity from first conversation to a decision, where each step has to be completed before the next one begins.
Why It Matters Commercially
Without a defined process, every salesperson runs their own version and you can't tell whether a lost deal was a bad fit or a bad conversation. With one, your pipeline numbers describe something real, your forecast means something, and you find out early which opportunities aren't going anywhere.
How It's Measured
Stage conversion rate and average time in stage, calculated for every step. Add the percentage of opportunities that end in a clear no, because a process that produces decisions rather than silence is working.
Who Owns It
Sales owns running it. Whoever leads the business owns defining it and holding people to it. Marketing needs to know it, because the questions asked in the early stages tell you what your content should be answering before anyone picks up a phone.
HOW IT WORKS
A sales process is a defined sequence, not a set of tactics. Each step has a purpose and a condition that must be met before the conversation moves forward. Skip a step and it costs you later, usually at the point where you're waiting on a decision that never comes.
A well built B2B process runs through seven stages:
- Rapport and trust. Establish a working relationship where the buyer will tell you the truth. Without this, everything you learn afterwards is unreliable.
- Agreeing the ground rules. Before any meeting, agree what you'll both cover, how long it will take and what happens at the end. Both parties know what a good outcome looks like, so nobody leaves with a vague next step.
- Understanding the problem. Not the surface request but the commercial impact underneath it. What is this costing them, what have they already tried, and what happens if they do nothing.
- Money. Establish whether the budget exists and whether the person you're speaking to controls it. Doing this early feels uncomfortable and saves months.
- The decision. Who decides, what process do they follow, what criteria will they use, and when. Most stalled deals are stalled because this was never asked.
- The proposal. Present a solution to the problem you've established, at a price they've confirmed is workable, to a person who can say yes. By this point a proposal should hold no surprises for either side.
- After the yes. Confirm the decision, deal with any second thoughts, and agree what happens next. This is the step most often skipped and it's where deals get lost after they've been won.
Why the order matters
The sequence is the whole point. Presenting a solution before you understand the problem gives you a pitch. Discussing price before you've established value gives you a negotiation. Asking who decides after you've sent the proposal gives you a deal that sits in your pipeline for six months.
Each stage has an exit condition. Something that must be true before you move on. Written down, those conditions turn a sales funnel into a measurement system rather than a set of labels.
A sales process versus a sales methodology
The process is the sequence your business follows. A methodology is the framework of questions and techniques used inside it. You can run the same process with different methodologies. What you can't do is run a methodology without a process and expect consistent results, because every salesperson will apply it differently.
A sales process versus a CRM pipeline
The pipeline is where you record what's happening. The process is what should be happening. Businesses often build a pipeline in their CRM without defining the process behind it, which produces stages named after activities rather than decisions. Deals then move because time has passed rather than because anything was established.
Our sales management work starts by defining the process and its exit conditions, then building the pipeline to match. See also qualified lead for how the early stages connect to marketing.
WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE
A firm's pipeline holds 30 open opportunities worth a substantial sum. Reviewing them, 18 have never had a budget conversation and 22 have no named decision maker recorded.
Those 18 aren't opportunities. They're conversations. The pipeline value everyone has been reporting includes deals where nobody knows whether the money exists or who would sign.
Applying the process retrospectively took two weeks of phone calls. Half those deals closed out as a no, which felt like a bad month and was the opposite. The forecast became reliable and the team stopped spending time on work that was never going to convert.
IS THIS COSTING YOU REVENUE RIGHT NOW?
Review your last ten open opportunities against these:
- Has a budget conversation happened on all of them?
- Do you know the named decision maker on each one?
- Does every meeting end with a specific agreed next step and a date?
- Are the exit conditions for each stage written down?
- Would two salespeople describe your process the same way?
- How many deals are sitting in your pipeline with no activity in the last month?
Two or more problems here and your pipeline contains conversations rather than opportunities.
SEE WHAT YOUR COMPETITORS ARE DOING THAT YOU AREN'T
We'll analyse two of your competitors against your own site and show you where they're winning conversions you should be getting.
WHAT WE SEE IN THE FIELD
The two steps businesses skip most often are money and decision, because both feel awkward to raise early. Skipping them doesn't remove the awkwardness, it postpones it to the point where you've already invested weeks of work.
A prospect who won't discuss budget or won't tell you who decides is giving you useful information. Getting a clear no in week one is a better outcome than a maybe that runs until March.
Reviewed by Ian Wilson, MSM.
Frequently Asked
What are the stages of a sales process?
Most effective B2B processes run through seven: building rapport and trust, agreeing the ground rules for the meeting, understanding the problem and its commercial impact, establishing budget, establishing who decides and how, presenting the proposal, and confirming the decision afterwards. The order matters more than the labels.
What is the difference between a sales process and a sales methodology?
The process is the sequence your business follows. A methodology is the framework of questions and techniques used inside it. You can run the same process with different methodologies. You can't run a methodology without a process and expect consistent results, because every salesperson will apply it differently.
Why do deals stall in the pipeline?
Usually because a step was skipped. Deals that stall after a proposal nearly always turn out to have had no budget conversation, or no confirmed decision maker. The proposal went to someone who couldn't say yes, about a price nobody had established was workable. Neither problem is visible until you're waiting.
How do you know when to walk away from a deal?
When a prospect won't discuss budget or won't tell you who decides, that's information. A clear no in week one is a better outcome than a maybe that runs until March, because it frees the time for opportunities that will close. A defined process surfaces those answers early rather than after weeks of work.
Does a sales process work for a small team?
It matters more with a small team, not less. With two salespeople running their own versions, you can't tell whether a lost deal was a bad fit or a bad conversation, so you never learn anything from it. A written process with exit conditions for each stage costs an afternoon to agree and makes every number after it mean something.
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