Mastering the sales process flowchart

Unlocking the power of visual sales strategy with flowcharts

Imagine your sales process as a map that guides every step from prospect to loyal customer. Just like a map helps you navigate unknown terrain, a sales process flowchart does the same for your sales team. It ensures that no opportunity is missed, increasing the chances of converting a lead into a customer.

What is a sales process flowchart?

A sales process flowchart is a visual representation of the steps your sales team takes to convert prospects into customers. It's more than just a diagram; it's a strategic tool that helps clarify roles, align activities, and identify potential bottlenecks before they become roadblocks. Using symbols and arrows, this flowchart maps out each action in a sequence, making complex processes easier to understand and follow.

Key components of an effective sales process flowchart

Creating an effective flowchart involves understanding and defining every part of your sales process. Here's what to include and how to visualize each component:

Lead Generation: Start your flowchart by mapping out all the sources of your leads, such as social media, referrals, or direct marketing. Use a distinct symbol for each source, connecting them to the next step with arrows to show flow direction.

Lead Qualification: After generating leads, include decision points to evaluate their potential. Use diamond-shaped decision symbols to represent these criteria checks, leading to different branches based on the outcome (e.g., qualified or not qualified).

Initial Contact: For each qualified lead, detail the preferred contact method (call, email, in-person). Use a rectangular process symbol for each action, illustrating the sequence and scripting that might be involved.

Needs Assessment: Specify steps for understanding client needs using a series of process boxes linked together, showing how to gather and record this information effectively.

Proposal Delivery: Indicate the preparation and delivery of tailored proposals. Use document symbols to represent proposal generation, linking to the next steps for feedback or revisions.

Negotiation: Map negotiation stages with multiple decision points and corresponding strategies to handle various objections, depicted through interconnected decision symbols.

Closure: Use a predefined symbol to denote the final agreement, leading to the successful closure of the deal.

Follow-up and Retention: Conclude with steps for post-sale engagement, such as follow-up calls and loyalty programs, represented by cyclic arrows to indicate ongoing processes.

Crafting your own sales flowchart: A detailed step-by-step guide

Creating a detailed and effective sales process flowchart is a systematic approach that involves using specific frameworks to ensure each step is thoroughly planned and implemented:

1. Define objectives

Framework: SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)

How: Start by setting clear, SMART objectives for what the flowchart will accomplish. Use Miro for brainstorming sessions with stakeholders to discuss and visualize these goals, ensuring that every objective is precise and aligned with the overall business strategy.

2. Gather information

Framework: SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers)

How: Use the SIPOC framework to comprehensively view the existing sales processes. Conduct interviews and surveys to gather detailed information from sales team members and review CRM reports to understand the current workflow and pain points.

3. Draft the flowchart

Framework: Sequential Flowcharting

How: Begin with the initial step (e.g., lead generation) and progressively build the flowchart using sequential flowcharting. This approach ensures that each step logically follows the previous one, creating a natural flow. Use Miro's templates and design tools to visually map out each process, employing appropriate symbols and arrows to depict actions and decisions.

4. Review and revise

Framework: RACI Matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)

How: Implement the RACI Matrix to identify who in the team needs to review the flowchart and who makes final decisions on changes. This clarity ensures that feedback is efficiently gathered and incorporated. Use Miro's collaborative features to facilitate these discussions and make revisions directly on the platform.

5. Implement and monitor

Framework: PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act)

How: Employ the PDCA cycle to guide the flowchart's initial rollout and ongoing management. Start by planning how to integrate the flowchart into daily sales activities, do the implementation, check the performance against KPIs in your CRM, and act on feedback to make continuous improvements.

6. Iterate based on feedback

Framework: Continuous Improvement Cycle

How: Utilize continuous improvement practices to refine the flowchart based on operational feedback and performance analytics. Regularly update the flowchart in Miro, ensuring all changes are immediately accessible to the team and reflect the most current and effective processes.

By incorporating these structured frameworks, you enhance the development and refinement of your sales process flowchart, making it a dynamic tool that evolves with your sales team's needs and contributes effectively to achieving your business objectives.

Benefits of using a sales process flowchart

A well-crafted sales process flowchart offers substantial benefits across various aspects of an organization:

Sales Team: Provides a clear structure and standardized steps, enhancing understanding and reducing errors.

Marketing team: Assists in aligning marketing strategies with the sales process, improving lead quality and conversion rates.

Customer service: Helps service teams understand the sales context, enabling better support and higher customer satisfaction.

Management and leadership: Offers insights into the sales process efficiency and effectiveness, aiding strategic decisions and resource allocation.

Value to business goals:

Enhanced clarity and focus: Ensures everyone is on the same page, reducing confusion and aligning efforts with business objectives.

Improved efficiency: Streamlines operations, cutting down the time it takes to close deals and reducing costs.

Better training resource: Accelerates onboarding, quickly transforming new hires into productive team members.

Increased consistency: Standardizes the sales approach across the team, ensuring a uniform customer experience.

Identifies improvement areas: Provides a framework for ongoing optimization, directly supporting continuous improvement initiatives.

These comprehensive benefits highlight how a sales process flowchart is not just a tool for individual teams but a strategic asset for the entire organization, driving overall business success.

Why Miro is the ideal tool for sales process mapping

Miro is an intuitive and collaborative tool for creating dynamic and interactive sales process flowcharts, making it indispensable for process mapping.

Interactive and user-friendly interface: Drag-and-drop elements make it easy to create complex diagrams.

Real time collaboration: Teams can work together synchronously, no matter where they are.

Integration capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with other tools used by sales teams, enhancing workflow.

Scalability: Adapts to teams of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.

Resource-pich platform: Offers templates, tutorials, and community support to maximize the utility of your flowcharts.

Using Miro for your sales process flowchart not only simplifies the design process but also enhances the practical implementation of your sales strategy, making every step from prospecting to closing clear and actionable. Embrace Miro and turn the art of sales into a science with precision and ease.