Pre-sales
Owner: Sales Last revision: 10.12.2021
The goal of our pre-sales process is to easy the workload of the technical sales team. This is done by qualifying lead, setting a meeting time and gathering all the documents necessary to prepare for the meeting.
CRM#
Each inbound lead shall be added to Productive’s sales module (CRM), initially as a Suspect.
Qualification#
Each Suspect should be qualified. A lead is Qualified if we are certain the project is of interest to us and is going ahead (and is financed). This can be found out by asking questions in the mould of:
- What sparked the idea of this project?
- What steps have been taken until this point (problem framing, idea validation, competittor analysis, specification, etc.)?
- What are the services they need help with (problem framing, validation, wireframing, UI design, etc.)?
- Is this project definitely happening or is it contingent an anything (e.g. funding, investment, etc.)?
Some clients also request and NDA at this stage. We can provide them with one of our own templates (HU or EN), but they are free to send their own template.
Pitched#
The next step with a Qualified lead is to set up a meeting, so we can pitch our services and work methodology. To prepare for the meeting we should get every pre-existing resource from the client:
- Brief / RFP / RFQ;
- Demo to current;
- Software specification;
- Wireframes, mockups, UI designs.
Always send a meeting memo afterwards.
Proposed#
After the lead has been Pitched, a proposal or offer must be created. Please refer to the Analysis & Offer section of this wiki.
When sending out proposals, it’s always a good idea to pre-agree a follow-up meeting to discuss proposal. This prevents leads from ghosting.
Won/Lost#
If we get a hard yes on a project (basically, the project agreement has been signed) the lead should be marked as won.
If we get a hard no on the project, the lead should be marked as lost, and a lost reason must be selected.
Lead timeline#
Every conversation or interaction with the lead, email, message, phone, document sending must be registered in the CRM.
Follow-up strategy#
Whatever status a lead is currently in, they must be always followed up at certain times, unless a specific time has been pre-agreed. A pre-agreed time is always the best way to go, but here’s the default follow-up strategy if needed:
- By email, 3 days after last contact;
- By email, 7 days after last contact;
- By email, 15 days after last contact;
- By email, every month until a hard yes/no;
- By phone/message, always 1-2 days after email.
Newsletter#
Each lead must be added to our newsletter list, but only after a resolution (either won or lost) or when going stale for over 1 month.