Every sale is a bit different, but there are some key milestones we tend to hit. Every Lead comes to us with some kind of problem they are trying to solve. The sales process is to identify if we can solve that problem, and then to introduce them to our and tell them whether we are a good fit for them.
Each Lead should be tracked within a Hubspot “Deal” which is owned by their primary Cantilever contact (Typically the President).
Our Leads are either:
The Biz Dev Manager is responsible for fielding all of our inbound messages and screening them. When there is a true lead from one of our channels, the Biz Dev Manager should alert the President to follow up.
For warm leads, the person who receives the lead should handle the initial introduction.
During this phase, the goal is to assess whether the Lead fits our Customer Profile. This is typically done via email. Once we have a sense that there is a fit, loop in the President. If the President agrees, they should set up a Deal in Hubspot and decide who should “own” the deal. Typically that will be the Strategist who would be in line to handle the business.
The intro meeting is to hear more detail about the person’s need, and assess if there is a fit. In this meeting, we focus on listening, not talking. The Deal owner is responsible for running the meeting and deciding who should be there. The meeting should be between 30 and 60 minutes depending on the complexity of the project.
This is the point where we need to “qualify” the Lead. This means we need to confirm that they have a realistic budget for our services and the authority to approve the Deal. Most people don’t have a set budget so we typically qualify prospects by sharing a rough picture of our own pricing, and asking them if they feel we offer any realistic options for them. We should not move forward with the Proposal Meeting without the decision-maker in the room.