“How do you formalize your sales process?” This was a question on one of the decorated apparel Facebook groups recently.

Bingo!

What a great topic for a blog article. I’m up for the challenge!

The fun part though is that so many companies in this industry serve different markets. What works for one shop, might be completely different for another. My thought process here is going to be to boil everything down to the best practices. Can we find the lowest common denominator approach that should work for any shop?

So, let’s yank the cover off and see what you can use…

Define, Then Refine

The first step in creating a successful sales process is to start with the customer. I know, crazy right?

Sometimes shops in this industry get hypnotized by the fact that they are open for business. “Hey, we can print or embroider on a shirt! Come on down!”

For them, it’s all about what the shop can do. Not so much about what the customer wants or needs.

If a sales process is to work for your shop, it needs alignment in what your potential customers desire, coupled with how they buy it. You might be the best on the planet at something. But if you aren’t selling what people are willing to pay for, you’ll soon be out of business.

Nobody wants that.

So let’s think this through for a minute.

In your business, is it built on selling to everyone with universal appeal? Which is the “we will take everything” approach? You might go after selling direct to consumers but also offer a B2B platform as well.

I call this the “All Over the Map Trap”.

The problem with the All Over the Map Trap sales process is that it is directionless. How can you understand your customer’s behavior when they aren’t even selected as a focus yet? Forget marketing. When the customer isn’t defined, who do you even talk to?

Orders that come in this way begin more often than not due to luck, and not with any strategic thinking.

Define Your Best Order

Here’s a quick exercise:

Take a few minutes and think about your best order that you have had in the last two years. Consider the quantity of the order. Think about the type of decoration, the number of colors, the difficulty level in producing it. What garment was it on? Do you remember the timeframe you had for production? Did this one order spin many repeat orders or blossom into more opportunities for your shop? How much moola did you make on the job?

List everything that made it the “best order”.

Got that job in your brain? Good.

So what do you think would happen to your shop’s profit if you repeated that type of order ten times next month? What about twenty? One hundred? What if that type of order became your standard?

Imagine when that “best” order becomes the norm! With your schedule brimming with that awesomeness. Can you imagine your cheeks hurting from the constant smile on your face?

What happens to all the other orders that don’t make as much sense? They don’t seem as desirable any longer.

Why?

Because you are replacing them with jobs that are a better value to your business. Simply put, this is how you scale.

Focus Your Efforts On What You Want

With direction, your sales process efforts will make much more sense. It’s the lens that allows you to see things with clarity.

Remember that sunlight illuminates the world, but a lens focuses the light into a beam that can start a fire. That’s what we are talking about here for your sales process.

Focusing your direction on the sales process will start the fire for your shop for growth.

Sales Process Comprehension

Get that sales direction mapped out. Once that is out of the way, your sales process becomes much easier.

Remember, customers buy from us because they Know, Like and Trust us. The more they align with your sales value proposition, the better.

I often talk to shop owners about their sales strategy. One of my first questions is about defining their “Why.”

As in, “Why would anyone do business with your shop?”

Can you answer this? Bonus points if you never mention price as a factor in your customer’s decisions. Which is where a lot of shops get stuck.

Sales Process Isn’t Generic

Your sales process needs to align with what your target customers need. It is a one to one match.

In fact, the more unique you make this the better your shop will do in attracting new customers.

Sales is an “on-purpose” effort. What resonates in your marketplace? When you have defined that, you’ll know exactly how to create a sales process strategy that will work.

It can’t be an accident or rely on luck.

Points of Separation

What distinguishes your shop from any other schmo out there that can get an image on a shirt?

Frictionless buying experience? 

Being online means having the right tool for the job. Are your customers sticky?

Creativity? 

What is easier to duplicate? The production process or an overload of originality? How does your art team stack up against the competition?

Speed? 

With online sales speed to delivery matters more every day. Are you still locked into the 7-10 business day window when more shops are competing in the 3-5 day turn, or even less?

Sustainability? 

A sustainability program is a huge driver for sales in the marketplace. Not to mention, it can save you a boatload of cash on the operations side too.

Craftsmanship? 

Can you do what others can’t? Do you prove this in your marketing collateral?

Professionalism? 

This is 100% branding. Some shops exude that they are the masters of all they survey. Others look like they are stuck in 1987.

Expertise? 

People listen to experts. Solve for what’s missing instead of delivering on only the requirements.

Throw all the great things about your shop into a pile. Do they match with what your targeted customer base desires?

Maybe waterbase ink is the rage with your customer base, but you are still printing plastisol? Do customers keep pestering you for orders that are 12 or less? Maybe it’s time to go the DTG route.

Is there a good fit? If not, what’s missing? You may not have to reinvent the wheel here, but you do need to pay attention.

What’s driving that sales criterion?

Core capabilities for your shop should be in sync with making the customer happy.

Sales Pipeline – How to Focus

Now more than ever it is critical to understand how your sales pipeline evolves.

In a 2012 Harvard Business Review study found that customers “completed, on average, nearly 60% of a typical buying decision – researching solutions, ranking options, setting requirements, benchmarking pricing, and so on – before even having a conversation with a supplier.”

Your sales pipeline isn’t about forecasting. The management of your sales has to revolve around understanding your customer’s behavior. What steps trigger the best results? Can you influence those triggers earlier? How can your shop get ahead of the curve?

Honestly. Do you think potential customers understand what you can do for them? How are you getting that 60% out of the way?

The work then becomes defining the stages of the sales process. Denote any milestones that must occur.

“When customers are at this stage they are more apt to move to the next when ________ happens.” Fill in the blank with your trigger. This activity builds the sales pipeline for you.

Create More Opportunities

The next step is to construct the sales process to create more opportunities for growth. Like in baseball, the more times you’re at bat, the more opportunities you will have to hit a home run.

Stuck in the dugout? That means you aren’t competing. You can’t just be sitting there waiting for business to come to you.

Get more opportunities to swing at pitches.

Online Stores Example

Many shops are having fantastic success with using the web as a sales tool. They go beyond the traditional shop website though.

Instead, they have been creating distinct online stores for customers. These focus on a particular niche group. The more stores they have online, the more pitches they get to swing at daily. It’s all about the selling opportunities.

Some shops have over fifty online stores and each one caters to a specific market or customer. These stores are a strategic effort to capitalize on the ease of selling to customers 24/7.

Yet, the trick isn’t to create the stores. There has to be a marketing effort to drive customers for the core demographic to the store too.

The sales process is first built on identifying opportunities to create more stores. Second, build the store. Then, focus on marketing that store to the target market best suited. Finally, produce and ship the orders.

Your shop sales volume scales with each store added to the lineup. Swing at more pitches.

This becomes a rinse and repeat type of sales process.

You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure

For many shops, the difference between success and failure boils down to metrics. Understanding what’s going on helps them adjust.As we all know in this industry, there isn’t a crystal ball that can predict the future with certainty.

Yet, reviewing historical data allows for the understanding of the journey. Your sales process must include effort in obtaining data and reviewing progress.

This is how you know what’s working and what isn’t. In a sales slump? How does that correlate with the marketing effort for your shop?

Use SMART Goals

Your shop’s sales pipeline must include some realistic SMART goal setting. Why?

For starters when you set a goal that is going to give you some direction. Remember a SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. This means you can’t set a goal that reads, “We want to double our sales”. That isn’t defined well.

A better SMART Goal for the same idea might read like this:

“By the end of this quarter Shop XYZ will increase the total sales revenue by 50% from the previous quarter. We will do this by closing 10 more deals a week. At least two of those deals will include building an online store for the customer, with a goal of adding twenty-four stores in total. Because we operate at a 25% sales close ratio, we will need to have at least 40 sales opportunities per week.”

So for Shop XYZ, their goal for growth works by adding an average of ten more orders per week. At least two of these will project to have a custom web store or fulfillment program created for the customer. These will drive longterm repeat business for the shop. This means by the end of the quarter, the shop’s goal will have two dozen online web stores added to their portfolio.

Of course, the shop wants to fill its schedule with immediate work. But it also recognizes the need to flatten out the production scheduling rollercoaster. Nobody likes that ride.

These are goals. As each week passes the shop can judge if they are on track or not. If Shop XYZ works toward the goal and uses metrics to gauge success or failure, they can adjust as they progress.

Like Everything, It All Comes Down to Training

How you manage your sales team isn’t much different than how you manage other departments. It all comes down to training.

How can you rely on your staff to do what you expect, unless you have trained them on how to do it? Slow down for a minute.

Think about how your staff talks to customers? Does everyone say the same thing? If you have many people quoting an order, will everyone wind up with the same numbers?

Your sales process needs to work like a machine. It uses standards to create expected outcomes.

For example, what happens if your staff doesn’t consistently add a screen fee to a quote? One person always charges while another waives the fee to get the business?

What do you think this says to your customers?

It says to talk to Bill not Susie as you’ll get a better price. How much money are you leaving on the table because your shop can’t quote consistently?

Target Your Training

Let’s talk training.

In production, you’ve hopefully built a good program. Different crew members can mix an ink color. Burn a screen. Rethread an embroidery machine. Ship to Canada.

For sales though, have you implemented a training program as well? What scenarios do your staff always face? Can you train your sales staff to confront the most common challenges?

I’ll bet you know these like the back of your hand…

Fear

Can you do a good job? Will the order ship on time? What happens if there is a problem?

Cost

Are you selling on value or price? Can your staff articulate your shop’s value proposition?

Time

What does your production schedule look like? Have you nailed this process so it is accurate?

Empathy

Show you care. That you understand. Align yourself with the customer. You are their partner.

Easy

Prove how easy you make it. No order forms. Click. Bam. Shirts.

Support

People don’t like to feel that they are alone in the process. Show how you are there for them.

Satisfaction

What happens if something isn’t right? Do you have a guarantee?

Be a Champion

In your sales process, can you champion these points?

Don’t forget, most customers have already spent that 60% effort to understand what to do. Your job is to close that 40% gap and bring them home.

Train your staff so everyone can articulate the same viewpoint. Make it on-target and push the shop’s brand. Define your value proposition so that you can sell with strength.

Remember, “Those that sell on price have nothing interesting to say.”

Say stuff that matters to your customers.

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“Dig your well before you are thirsty.” – Seth Godin

“There is no lotion or potion that will make sales faster or easier for you. Unless your potion is hard work.” – Jeffery Gitomer

“In sales, a referral is the key to the door of resistance.” – Bo Bennett

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Production Manager Tool

From day one, we’ve been devoted to making InkSoft the most useful tool for printing and customization professionals across the industry. While thousands of users are growing their businesses with InkSoft Stores and the Design Studio, we know we still have a lot of work to do to help print shops run more efficiently.

The next big step is a production management tool. We want to bring InkSoft full circle by providing a powerful way for you to streamline production and communication, ultimately boosting profitability and reducing costly mistakes.