Sales Process in B2B according to the Customers

aware of the selling process and be on the same flow with the customers. Such a cooper-ation results in effective working atmosphere which achieves goals of successful selling at the end. (SalesForce 2018.)

customers have about the sales world. From the customers’ point of view, sales process is an activity which consists of 16 steps and is an important base for the successful coop-eration and touchpoint between the sellers and the clients. It is a well-known fact that if the sellers want to increase the amount of sales, they should first understand the custom-ers and their needs. (Äijö 2015, 39-41.) According to Äijö (2015, 40), the numbered se-quence of the 16-step sales process from the customer point of view should look like as it is illustrated below in Figure 9.

FIGURE 9. Customers’ 16 Step Sales Process

This sales process framework is illustrated by the eyes and experience of the customers to how sales work is held in their opinions. (Äijö 2015, 40.) It is necessary for the sellers to perceive the existence of this sales process from the attitude of the customers with the aim to compare this process with the sales process from the sellers’ view.

The first step of the sales process is customer’s need. Customers’ needs differ from each other depending on the age, gender, culture, interests, nationality and etc. But they all are united by the certain needs. From the first sight, it is effortful to recognize what kind of needs customers have in order to start following this sales process correctly. That is why, Äijö (2015, 33) suggests to make a questionnaire for the seller to ask itself if he sees that the offered products or service accomplish the clients’ needs, if yes then how and in which way. The seller can understand this due to some familiarity of the customers and watch their reactions to the quotations.

The second step is the knowledge of the suppliers. Nowadays there are many suppliers in different categories of the industry who provide a great amount of the goods and service.

By matching with the needs, the customers should have a picture of what kind of suppliers

Customer’s need Knowledge of

Suppliers

Vendors’

contacts

Step forward

Evaluations and comparisons Budgeting

Approvals from inside

Bids from suppliers Sequence of preferences

Customers’

evaluation of quotations

Sending of proposals

Quotation’s decision Preferred

sellers’ list Contact sellers Improving the RFQ with the chosen sellers

Start of the order process with the selected suppliers

they need and start undertaking the actions for the search of the suppliers who can com-plete their criteria wills, and can supply them the needful goods or service. The third step in the current sales process is the vendors’ contacts. This step characterizes the process when the customers start contacting possible vendors who best suit them in providing the goods and service. Following step stands for the decision of actions for the customer in doing further business towards making the choice of their future vendors. At this pace of the process, the customer observes the vendors’ activities, analyzes the matching and possible results in the attitude to the clients. The fifth step helps for both sides, mainly for the customers and sellers to analyze the potential costs in materials, advantages and dis-advantages, possible problems of the future quotations, comparison with the results of the previous similar projects and give the objective evaluation to the actions. Sixthly, after the evaluation of activities, comes the calculation of the budget which is made by both the customers and the sellers. In its turn, the sellers look through the materials costs for the service or the equipment to be able to provide the buyers the sufficient price by covering their costs. The buyer formulates the minimum and maximum evaluation of the price which he can afford to buy. In the seventh step, when the buyer gathers all the necessary information for presenting the project inside the company, the company’s team makes a decision about approving the offered project or not. The eighth step shows the decision made out of the project’s presentation which informs the sellers that the approval is ac-cepted. Then the buyers contact with the sellers by asking them to send out the quotation which was negotiated about before. Ninthly, the sellers receive the request for the quota-tion in the form of the message in which the buyers write about what they actually need, including the product descriptions, size, and the amounts. The sellers have a choice to re-spond to the customers accordingly by telling if they have the requested products, service or not. Tenthly, in case if the sellers meet the requirements of the buyers with their own requirements, the suppliers send the quotations with the limited time of validity. The elev-enth step illustrates that the customers start comparing the conditions of the quotations of several suppliers. In this phase the customers totally evaluate the offers, looking at the ad-vantages and disadad-vantages of conditions for themselves. The twelfth step says about the rank of the suppliers which the customers appraise from least suitable to the most advisa-ble. In the thirteenth step, the future buyers make the list of the shortlisted suppliers who are, in their opinions, most appropriate candidates for the supply of the goods. As in addi-tion, the customers start refining the suppliers and their requirements in the quotation. The fourteenth step points out the formulation of the preferred suppliers for the customers. The customers claim that those suppliers who suit them mostly in terms of price, terms of pay-ments, transportation and delivery time are chosen to be the final producers for them at the end. This means that these particular suppliers win among others and they are chosen

for the supply. The fifteenth step identifies the decision of the customers and the wills to continue negotiating with the selected suppliers. In the process of negotiations, the cus-tomers ask the supplies the questions of their interest. The questions can be connected with discount of the price, mitigation of delivery or payment terms. The final step of the sales process from the customers’ point of view is making the order. The order is made after the quotation is officially accepted by the customers and the customers send the agreements and purchase orders for signing. When both purchase orders and contracts are checked by the sellers, the sellers continue with the procedure of the orders by using all the information stated in the contract and purchase order. (Äijö 2015, 40.)