Mapping the Sales Process

Another big idea from yesterday’s EO Accelerator sales education day was to visually map the sales process. Jim Ryerson said that mapping the sales process was the first thing he does when he engages with a new client, and that it’s a simple process most companies never do. Here’s what he recommended:

• Get a stack of post-it notes and a white board
• Make a list of all the stakeholders involved in the process like prospect, prospect’s manager, sales rep., sales engineer, consultant, etc
• List the stakeholders vertically on the white board
• Write each step in the process on a post-it note and put the note on the same row as the stakeholder that’s responsible for it, putting each post-it on a new column from left to right
• Draw a line from each post-it note to the possible outcomes and keep adding more post-it notes

We haven’t tried this yet in my company but I’m looking forward to going through the process and learning the benefits.