This document provides guidance on designing an effective guided sales process. It discusses what a guided sales process is, why companies need one, and outlines a 5-step process for creating one: 1) Define your sales process, 2) Perform persona analysis, 3) Conduct competitive analysis, 4) Prepare a content inventory, and 5) Monitor, measure, coach and change the process over time. The goal is to provide salespeople with clear guidance on what to say, when to say it, and how to say it at each stage of the buyer's journey.

1. Helping your salespeople succeed with a guided sales process
What is a guided sales process?
Why do you need one?
How do you design a guided sales process that can help your
sales networks succeed?

2. What is a guided sales
process?
A guided sales process is a map,
a GPS for your salespeople that
takes them to their ultimate goal­­
lead closure.
It offers a systematic organization
of all marketing and sales assets
whereby each asset is mapped
to the buyer’s position in the
sales cycle.

3. Why do you need a guided
sales process?
You know your salespeople are supposed
to sell. They know they are supposed to
sell, but did you know that they spend
almost a quarter of their working day on
non­sales activities?
Typically, companies provide salespeople
with a bunch of sales materials, perhaps
a few brochures, sales presentations, a
couple of emails and a call script, maybe,
and expect them to work magic.
And oh...not to forget the leads thrown in
by marketing, which, according to sales,
are not qualified enough to pursue.
Expecting your salespeople to
put random information/assets
to use and close deals just
because they are 'salespeople' is
like expecting a penguin to fly
just because it is a bird!

4. Still not convinced? Here are some numbers for you to
crunch...
33% of lost deals could
have been won if the
seller had been better
informed and more client­
oriented
Over 50% of sales
managers are too busy to
train and develop their
sales teams
Just 20% of the
knowledge in an average
enterprise is explicitly
recorded and shared
Imagine what could be accomplished if
salespeople were trained to pick up exactly
what their lead wanted and could share that
information with them on time!
50%

5. Resolving your salespeople's
three basic challenges
Did you know that 70% of customer­facing
team members report lacking the information
they need to adequately perform their jobs?
Your salespeople could very well be a part of
this statistic!
Once aboard, most salespeople find
themselves struggling to find answers to 3
key questions:
1. WHAT TO SAY TO A LEAD/PROSPECT?
2. WHEN TO SAY IT?
3. HOW TO SAY IT?
What to
say?
How to say it?
When to
say it?

6. A guided sales process can help your salespeople find
answers to the 3 key questions we just discussed.
This whitepaper explains how you can create
a guided sales process for your sales teams,
helping them sell more...
What to say?
When to say it?
How to say it?

7. Before we discuss how you can build a
well­guided sales process for your
sales teams, we must shatter some
misconceptions that surround it.
Often, the term guided sales process
is associated with an asset dump.
Many companies equate a guided
sales process with an asset repository
wherein they dump all their sales and
marketing collateral and make them
accessible to their sales teams.
However, this doesn't really help, as
salespeople are still at a loss when it
comes to using the assets provided to
them.
Giving your salespeople assets
without a guided sales process is
akin to giving them an address
and a vehicle without directions
on how to get there
What is NOT a guided
sales process?

8. A sales playbook helps connect your
content to the buying stages. A sales
playbook lets you map your sales
assets to the relevant point in the
buyer’s journey and gives your sales
networks easy access to all the sales
and marketing assets.
Unlike shared folders or drives on the
cloud, sales playbooks are less
complicated and specifically created
for sales teams. They are not a
random asset dump and work as a
great mechanism to share internal
sales knowledge.
The role of playbooks in
helping you create a guided
sales process
50%
Companies with mechanisms in
place to share internal sales
knowledge have win rates that
exceed 50%

9. In short, a sales playbook plays a key role in
helping you build and sustain a guided sales
process for your sales teams, helping them sell
more...

10. DESIGNING A
GUIDED
SALES
PROCESS

11. The first step is to spell out every stage
in your sales process. Describe your
sales process in such detail that any
person who reads through the
document should be able to make
sense of it. Information that should find
its way into your sales process
definition document include:
Tip: Don't forget to answer key
questions such as how you keep
prospects engaged at each stage
of the sales cycle or
what happens after the sale or
what is your overall closure rate?
Step 1: Define your sales
process
Target audience
Contact touch­points
Typical buying stages
The triggers used to demarcate the
prospect journey from one stage to
another
Typical timeframe of your sales
process
Information about the sales
tools/best practices currently being
used

12. The next step is to perform a persona
analysis whereby you understand who
your buyers are and provide your
salespeople with all the information
they will need to sell to them.
Your buyer's persona analysis should
answer the following questions about
them:
Tip: Make sure you study your
buyer's vertical background in
detail. It will help immensely
when drawing up a
personalized/well-targeted sales
action plan for them.
Step 2: Persona analysis
Who are your ideal buyers?
What are they buying from you?
How much and when are they
buying?
What are the common objections of
your buyers?
What business vertical do they
belong to?
What are your buyer's core
challenges or pain points?
FAQs by prospects/buyers

13. After the persona analysis, the next
item on your plate is a competitive
analysis. Draw up a comparative
analysis chart which clearly identifies
your main competitors in the market.
This is important because many times
your prospects will compare your
offering with that of your competitors
and you don't want your salespeople
to be caught off­guard.
One look at your competitive analysis
chart and your salespeople should
know:
A competitive
analysis is
important, because
many times your
prospects will
compare your
offering with that of
your competitors and
you don't want your
salespeople to be
caught off-guard.
Step 3: Competitive analysis
Who are your key competitors?
What is their unique selling point?
How do you differentiate your
brand from them? (Your USP)

14. Step 4 calls for a detailed content
inventory analysis. You need to take
stock of the content you have, list the
content your sales team will
need, then identify the gaps, if any
between the two and plug them.
Typically, here's what you need to do
at this stage:
Step 4: Preparing a content
inventory
Document all the assets you have
Consult with the salespersons on
their asset requirements
Decide what assets you need
Put the marketing team in charge of
creating new assets
Consider content restructuring and
re­use at this stage

15. When preparing a content
inventory, be sure not to forget
anything. Every sales or marketing
asset needs to be a part of your
content inventory and make its
way into the guided sales process.
Include every detail, every minor
situation or milestone that's a part
of your buyer's journey. You never
know which asset will come in
handy at what stage for your
salespersons.
Content that can be part
of your sales process
Emails | Call scripts | Presentations | Whitepapers | E­guides | Case studies
Training materials | Product updates | Testimonials | Infographics | Relevant articles
| Press mentions | Press releases | Videos | Brochures | Pricing sheets | Proposals
| Client agreements/contracts
Don't forget...

16. The final step in designing a winning, repeatable and guided
sales process is ensuring that you constantly monitor it for
relevance, measure its effectiveness, coach salespeople
who are not following the process and change or modify
your sales process when needed.
Remember that a successful sales process will almost never
be constant. It needs to be constantly adapted to meet the
fluctuating demands of your buyers and to catch up to
competition.
Step 5: Monitor, measure, coach, change
You need to check if your sales team is truly benefiting from your
guided sales process. Are they really using the documents/assets
that are a part of the process? If not, then what is the reason for their
non­compliance?
What are the open, download, click rates for assets that are a part of
your sales process?
Coach salespeople who are not using the right assets and train new
salespeople to use the right assets
Gather feedback from your sales team and update your process
documents and assets regularly

17. So, you've done your research and
analysis and are ready with a well
documented sales process. You have
checked every box on the list and are
now waiting for your salespeople to
replicate the success formula that you
just provided. But...the waiting doesn't
seem to end!
One of the reasons for this could be
that you never involved your
salespeople in the whole discussion,
so you never got to know if your sales
process is practical to implement
Your efforts to create a
guided sales process can fail
if you ignore these things
ALERT!
Involve your salespeople in every stage of the sales process and playbook
creation. While you can encourage them to use the guided sales process, don't
straitjacket them. Give them some leeway to experiment. Who knows, they
might come up with valuable suggestions which may improve your process
even further.

18. Don't forget mobile access!
Remember that your salespeople may
not be in the office most of the time.
Between client calls and business
meetings, they need easy access to
sales process documents and assets
so they can replicate the sales
success as you expect them to.
Giving them mobile access to sales
playbooks will go a long way in
ensuring they stick to the process and
utilize your assets provided to their
fullest.

19. Tools you need to make
your sales process a success
Tools that let you document every
step of the sales process with visual
workflows so your sales process is
well defined
360­degree prospect view to define
your buyer's persona and behavior
clearly
Template based approach to
collateral creation, so your playbook
can be updated dynamically across
the board
On­demand access to marketing
and sales collateral so your
salespeople actually use the
materials you provide them
Detailed asset reporting system so
you know whether your playbooks
are being used and if they are
working

20. Who is Mindmatrix?
Founded in 1998, Mindmatrix provides a sales and marketing enablement
platform for direct sales teams helping them sell more.
Only Mindmatrix supports sales and marketing teams throughout the entire
buyer’s journey–Lead to Revenue using Asset Management, Sales Enablement,
Marketing Automation and Channel Enablement functionalities.

21. W W W . M I N D M A T R I X . N E T
2403 Sidney Street, Suite 150,
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Phone: 412.381.0230
Fax: 412.774.1992
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW
YOU CAN DESIGN A GUIDED
SALES PROCESS THAT CAN
HELP YOUR SALES
TEAMS SUCCEED