Building a Sales Process from Zero: A Step-by-Step Guide

You Do Not Have a Sales Process (And That Is Costing You)

If your approach to sales is "wing it and hope for the best," you are not alone. Most B2B service firms under £5M in revenue have no formal sales process. The founder handles sales, follows up when they remember, and closes deals on gut feeling.

This works until it does not. And when it stops working, you have no idea why — because there is nothing to diagnose.

A sales process gives you predictability, consistency, and the ability to improve.

What a Sales Process Actually Is

A sales process is a defined series of stages that a prospect moves through from first contact to closed deal. Each stage has:

Entry criteria: What qualifies a prospect to enter this stage

Activities: What happens during this stage

Exit criteria: What needs to happen before moving to the next stage

The 6-Stage Framework

Stage 1: Lead

A new contact has entered your system. They filled out a form, responded to an outreach email, or were referred.

Activities:

Capture contact details in CRM

Research the company and contact

Qualify against your ICP criteria

Exit criteria: Meets ICP criteria → moves to Discovery. Does not meet criteria → Disqualified.

Stage 2: Discovery

You are exploring whether there is a mutual fit.

Activities:

Conduct a discovery call (30 minutes)

Understand their current situation, challenges, and goals

Identify decision-makers and timeline

Assess budget alignment

Key questions to ask:

What is your current approach to [problem you solve]?

What have you tried before?

What would success look like?

Who else is involved in this decision?

What is your timeline for making a change?

Exit criteria: Clear need identified + budget + authority + timeline → moves to Proposal.

Stage 3: Proposal

You are presenting your recommended solution and investment.

Activities:

Create a custom proposal within 48 hours

Address their specific challenges with your solution

Include pricing, timeline, and deliverables

Send proposal and schedule a review call

Exit criteria: Proposal reviewed → moves to Negotiation.

Stage 4: Negotiation

The prospect is considering your proposal and may have questions or objections.

Activities:

Handle objections (we will cover frameworks for this)

Clarify scope, terms, or pricing

Address any concerns from other stakeholders

Provide additional case studies or references if needed

Exit criteria: Agreement on terms → moves to Close.

Stage 5: Close

Contracts are signed and the engagement begins.

Activities:

Send contract or agreement

Collect signatures

Process initial payment

Schedule kickoff meeting

Transition to delivery team

Stage 6: Won/Lost

The deal is either closed-won or closed-lost.

If Won:

Record in CRM with deal value

Begin onboarding

Set up for potential referral or case study

If Lost:

Record reason for loss

Set follow-up reminder for 3-6 months

Add to nurture sequence

Implementing Your Process in a CRM

Every stage should exist as a pipeline stage in your CRM. When you move a deal from one stage to the next, it should trigger:

A task for the next action

A notification to the deal owner

An update to your pipeline reporting

We recommend Apollo.io or HubSpot for B2B service firms. Both allow you to customise pipeline stages and automate follow-ups.

Measuring Your Pipeline

Once your process is live, track these metrics weekly:

Conversion rate by stage: Where are deals stalling?

Average time in stage: How long does each phase take?

Win rate: What percentage of proposals close?

Average deal size: Is it increasing or decreasing?

Pipeline velocity: How fast do deals move through your pipeline?

The Biggest Mistake

The biggest mistake is building a process and never following it. A sales process only works if every conversation, every follow-up, and every proposal goes through the same stages.

Consistency is what separates firms with predictable revenue from firms that wonder where next month's revenue is coming from.

Build Your Process With MAVEN

At MAVEN, we design, document, and install sales processes for B2B service firms as part of our 90-day engagement. Every stage is customised to your sales cycle, configured in your CRM, and reinforced through team coaching.

Book a Virtual Coffee to start building yours.