Sales Process

A sales process is a repeatable set of steps that sales teams follow to move prospects from initial contact to closed deals. It creates consistency across how different reps approach selling, making revenue generation more predictable and easier to scale.

For example, a SaaS company selling to mid-market businesses might define stages like: qualify inbound lead, run discovery call, deliver custom demo, handle technical evaluation, negotiate contract, close deal. Each rep follows the same framework, adapting their approach within those guardrails based on the specific customer.

Why Sales Processes Matter

Without a defined process, every rep sells differently. Some skip qualification and waste time on unqualified prospects. Others rush to demo before understanding needs. Pricing becomes inconsistent when everyone negotiates from scratch.

A well-designed sales process solves these problems by:

• Creating consistency across the team

• Making it easier to onboard new reps

• Identifying where deals stall in the pipeline

• Enabling better revenue forecasting

• Reducing time wasted on bad-fit prospects

For companies with recurring revenue models, the process extends beyond the initial sale. Customer success, expansion, and renewal become part of the broader revenue process.

Core Stages of a Sales Process

Most B2B sales processes include these fundamental stages:

Prospecting and Lead Generation

Sales teams identify potential customers through outbound efforts (cold outreach, networking, account-based campaigns) or receive inbound leads from marketing (content downloads, demo requests, trial signups). The goal is building a pipeline of companies that match your ideal customer profile.

Qualification

Not every lead deserves equal attention. Qualification frameworks help reps assess fit based on factors like budget, authority, need, and timeline. Common frameworks include BANT, MEDDIC, or custom scoring based on firmographics and behavior signals.

Good qualification prevents reps from spending weeks on deals that were never going to close.

Discovery

This stage uncovers the prospect's actual problems, current solutions, decision-making process, and success criteria. The best discovery calls reveal information the prospect might not volunteer upfront: who else needs to approve, what failed implementations they've experienced, which metrics drive their evaluation.

Discovery findings shape everything that follows—how you position your solution, which features to emphasize, what objections to anticipate.

Solution Presentation

With context from discovery, reps present how the product addresses the prospect's specific needs. This might take the form of a demo, proposal, proof of concept, or business case presentation.

Effective presentations connect product capabilities to the business outcomes uncovered during discovery, rather than walking through every feature.

Objection Handling and Negotiation

Prospects raise concerns about price, implementation complexity, competitive alternatives, or timing. How reps handle these objections often determines whether deals close.

Some objections signal genuine barriers. Others are standard negotiation tactics or requests for reassurance. Experienced reps prepare responses that reframe concerns and reinforce value.

Closing

The final agreement on terms, contract execution, and handoff to implementation or customer success. Modern sales processes treat this as a mutual close plan with clear next steps, rather than a high-pressure moment.

For complex deals, closing might involve legal review, security questionnaires, procurement workflows, and multi-stakeholder approvals.

Implementation Considerations

Building or refining a sales process requires mapping to how your customers actually buy:

Start with your buyer's journey. What triggers someone to start evaluating solutions? Who gets involved at each stage? What information do they need to move forward? Your process should align with this reality, not force buyers through arbitrary gates.

Define clear stage criteria. Each stage needs objective exit criteria that determine when an opportunity moves forward. For example, an opportunity exits discovery when you've documented business requirements, identified decision makers, and confirmed budget availability.

Choose appropriate tools. CRM systems track opportunities through stages. Configure-price-quote (CPQ) tools ensure consistent pricing. Revenue operations platforms connect sales activity to financial outcomes. The right stack enforces process without adding friction.

Measure conversion rates between stages. If 80% of qualified leads reach discovery but only 20% move to proposal, something breaks down in that transition. Process optimization starts with identifying where deals stall.

Common Challenges

Process becomes bureaucracy. Teams add steps and checkpoints until reps spend more time updating systems than selling. The best processes are lightweight, focusing on the minimum viable structure needed for consistency.

One-size-fits-all approach. A $5,000 deal shouldn't require the same process as a $500,000 enterprise contract. Many companies segment their process by deal size, customer segment, or sales motion (self-serve vs. high-touch).

Poor handoffs. Information discovered during sales gets lost when deals transfer to implementation or customer success. This leads to onboarding friction and early churn. Systematic handoff documentation prevents this.

Process doesn't evolve. Markets change. Products expand. Buyer preferences shift. Sales processes need regular review and refinement based on what's actually working.

When to Formalize Your Sales Process

Early-stage companies often sell without a formal process. The founders or first reps figure out what works through trial and error. This is normal.

Formalize your process when:

• You're hiring your second or third sales rep and need consistency

• Forecasting becomes critical for financial planning

• Deal sizes justify more structured evaluation

• Multiple teams (sales, success, finance) need coordination

For companies with usage-based or hybrid pricing models, the process extends beyond initial sale to include expansion and upsell motions. The same rigor applied to new customer acquisition should apply to growing existing accounts.

Sales Process vs. Sales Methodology

A sales process defines the stages opportunities move through. A sales methodology defines how reps approach selling at each stage.

For example, MEDDIC is a methodology that prescribes qualification criteria (Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, Champion). You'd apply MEDDIC within your qualification stage.

Many teams combine a custom process with established methodologies like Challenger, SPIN Selling, or Sandler to guide rep behavior.

The Revenue Operations Connection

Sales process directly impacts revenue operations. Clean process hygiene produces reliable pipeline data. This enables:

• Accurate revenue forecasting

• Better territory planning and quota setting

• Clear attribution between marketing spend and closed deals

• Faster month-end close through predictable bookings

When sales uses billing systems like Meteroid, the process should include steps for pricing configuration, quote generation, and contract terms that sync cleanly to invoicing and revenue recognition.

RevOps teams typically own process optimization, working with sales leadership to identify inefficiencies and drive changes that improve conversion rates and cycle times.

Making It Stick

Creating a documented process is straightforward. Getting reps to actually follow it requires:

Built-in enforcement. CRM validation rules that prevent moving opportunities forward without required information. Approval workflows for discounts or custom terms. Tools that make following process easier than working around it.

Regular coaching. Managers review deals and provide feedback when reps skip steps or misqualify opportunities. Process adherence becomes part of performance evaluation.

Continuous refinement. Quarterly or bi-annual reviews that examine what's working and what's creating friction. The best processes evolve based on data and rep feedback.

Remember: the purpose of a sales process is predictable revenue growth, not administrative compliance. If your process isn't helping reps close more deals or improving customer outcomes, it needs adjustment.