The growth of any business is tied to the growth of its sales. No matter how many widgets you make, how cleverly you tell people about them or how efficient your shipping operation is, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand all the elements of your sales process.

There are four pillars of end-to-end sales that work together to support a repeatable, scalable process. One that creates not just happy customers, but loyal brand evangelists. And it is based on building strong sales relationships.

1. Connect

Any relationship begins with a connection, and sales is no different. You need to identify potential customers as the first step. Whether you develop full-blown personas or just list the types of people and companies to target, you need get in front of them. This marketing effort includes a mix of online and offline tactics like social media, advertising, events, email, and company websites. These activities need to connect with people so they are willing to raise their hand, take an action and become a lead.

2. Engage

Once someone has expressed an interest in your company or your content, it is time to qualify them to see if they are really a prospect for your products or services. Remember, they might have dropped a business card in a fishbowl at a trade show, or responded to an online offer of an ebook or webinar, which only means they were willing to trade their contact information for your offer. It is at this stage where you can engage with them to understand their needs and let them know more about what you offer. This may happen by email or phone, and could include an additional offer if you need to further nurture the relationship. According to Gleanster Research more than 50% of leads are not yet sales-ready.

3. Convert

Converting a prospect into a customer may take time depending on how complex your solution is or how many decision makers are involved, but the scalable and repeatable parts of the process are the same. Establish the value of your company and confirm the prospect's specific needs. Call on others within your company to help close the sale. These can be product experts, industry experts or even others in the sales organization. Selling really is a team sport. A closed sale should always include a timeline to set expectations of what happens next.

4. Retain

When you focus on growing your business, you know that the relationship does not end with the sale. New members of your team need to be brought into the fold to serve these customers. Without best-in-class customer service that keeps customers engaged and happy, you will have a high churn rate. And that’s no way to grow a business. All of your customers have the potential to tell others about their experiences with your company. The happy ones become your brand advocates. The more happy customers you have, the more potential brand advocates you have. And in social media, where peer recommendations carry a lot of weight, and are easy to get, you need to make sure your company is portrayed in the best light.

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