Exercise - Customize the sales process
At Contoso Home Security, account representatives are assigned to any corporate accounts that are looking for security solutions. Corporate sales generally take longer and include several different stages and tasks.
Specification
An example of a sales process might include the following stages:
- Qualify: This is where the account executive attempts to determine if we would be a good fit for a customer.
- Develop: This is where the account executive works with other members of the sales team to create a solution that would best suit the customer. During this stage, accounts execs should include relevant products from the Contoso product catalog.
- Quote: This is where the executive builds out and deliver a quote to the customer. A quote might go through multiple iterations before the customer signs off.
- Tech Check: This stage only applies to deals that are valued at more than $20,000.00 dollars. The solution needs to be verified by a technical consultant before being closed.
- Close: This is where the account executive walks through the deal one more time and ensures that the customer is ready to sign out.
Lead nurturing
Contoso also has a lead nurturing program that they use to maximize the possibilities of closing a deal. The lead nurturing program consists of the following:
- Introduction Phone Call: The account executive calls the customer to introduce Contoso and the products they might be interested in.
- Information Email: One day after the initial phone call the account executive sends the customer an email. The email includes details about Contoso Home Security and the products they sell.
- Check-in email: Three days after the Introduction email, another email is sent to the customer to see if they have any questions.
- Schedule Appointment Phone Call: Two days after the check-in email, they should receive another phone call where the account executive attempts to get a meeting with the customer to qualify or disqualify them.
Important details
- The lead nurturing process should only be applied to customers who are labeled as corporate accounts.
- Contoso Home Security doesn't refer to their opportunities as opportunities: they call them Deals.
- Deals that are worth more than $20,00.00 require tech checks. This step is required, and the deal can't move forward if this hasn't been accomplished.
- The tech check and its details need to be noted and logged with the deal. They need to identify which team member did it, the date it was done, and any other relevant details. If everything checks out, that needs to be noted as well.
Check your work
- Do you see the term "Opportunity" in your application, or is it replaced with Contoso's terminology?
- Does the business process flow on the row reflect Contoso's specific sales process?
- Are tech checks required for high-value customers? Can you record the necessary details in the tech check step?