---
title: Salt, Surprises, and Sales Processes
description: Winging it doesn't scale. How to build a sales process that matches the buyer's journey, with clear exit criteria for every step. From The Sales Whisperer®.
image: https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABCDE%20Selling%20System%20by%20Wes%20Schaeffer.jpg
---

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[Get The Daily](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/daily)

 Jun 13, 2025

# Salt, Surprises, and Sales Processes

![Picture of Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png?width=50&name=Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png) [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer)

Share: [facebook-f icon](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-processes) [linkedin-in icon](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-processes) [Twitter icon](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-processes) [pinterest-p icon](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-processes) [envelope icon](mailto:?body=https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-processes)

"Well this deal is different? How? It's different from your good deals that actually close?"

Boring is good when it comes to sorting, sifting, and separating the good deals—the qualified deals—from the dogs.

Your customers aren't loyal until they've had a chance to leave and decided to stick around and renew with you.

You need a defined sales process with metrics.

As the founder/entrepreneur you may have mastery but not a process, so it's tough to scale.

Winging it doesn't cut it.

You need enough process to help your team thrive and grow but not so much that it crushes them. This impacts everything your teams do, including your

- Hiring decisions
- Training efforts
- Coaching strategies

Know who your buyers are and what makes them tick.

Meet them where they are.

"Selling is about buying." ~Mark Roberge

Don't show up and throw up. It's not "alligator selling," i.e. big mouth, small ears.

## The Buyer's Journey

- Awareness
- Consideration
- Decision

Build your sales process so it aligns with the Buyer's Journey.

## Identifying Your Sales Process

1. Lay out the buyer’s journey for your target persona.
2. Identify the places where they can’t move forward without help from a sales rep. These are the steps of your sales process.
3. Define clear exit criteria for each step. 
     1. Required
     2. Factual
     3. Inspectable
     4. Buyer-centric—the buyer must show interest and specific actions to move to the next step

## Then automate the follow-up between the steps

Once the steps and exit criteria are written down, the gaps between them become obvious. That's where deals die: the lead nobody called back, the quote nobody chased, the "let me think about it" nobody followed up on.

Those gaps are the easiest part of a sales process to automate. A documented process tells the software exactly what to send, when, and when to stop. Here's [how to build a follow-up sequence](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/infusionsoft-follow-up-sequences-with-the-campaign-builder). Not sure which step is leaking? [**Grade yourself on the six skills that carry a deal**](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/score). Eighteen questions, four minutes, one honest number.

## The sale is not over when money changes hands

![ABCDE Selling System by Wes Schaeffer – The Sales Whisperer®](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ABCDE%20Selling%20System%20by%20Wes%20Schaeffer.jpg?width=519&height=389&name=ABCDE%20Selling%20System%20by%20Wes%20Schaeffer.jpg)

Think about how you should conduct yourself to make the 2nd, 3rd,...10th sale to your customers.

Think about how you should conduct yourself to get referrals and testimonials from all of your customers.

Every customer can be a salesperson for you. Treat them—and your sales process—with that in mind.

The [word-of-mouth marketing](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/the-fundamental-processes-to-grow-your-sales-without-growing-your-staff-create-word-of-mouth-marketing-part-2) from your customers trumps ALL of your sales and marketing efforts.

Fix Your Follow-Up Failure

Own the business and don't have time to build it? I'll document your process and build the follow-up with you: speed-to-lead, nurture, quote chase and past-customer reactivation. Running in 30 days, or your money back.

[See how it works →](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/follow-up)

Market like you mean it.  
Now go sell something.

## Related posts

[![Go Beyond Sales Enablement To Engage The Modern Buyer, Matt Suggs](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Go%20Beyond%20Sales%20Enablement%20To%20Engage%20The%20Modern%20Buyer.png?height=200&name=Go%20Beyond%20Sales%20Enablement%20To%20Engage%20The%20Modern%20Buyer.png)](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/matt-suggs-beyond-sales-enablement)

[The Sales Podcast](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/the-sales-podcast)

## [Go Beyond Sales Enablement To Engage The Modern Buyer, Matt Suggs](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/matt-suggs-beyond-sales-enablement)

![Picture of Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png?width=50&name=Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png) [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer) 

 Jun 26, 2018

Say hello to the evolved selling solution \[ LISTEN NOW ON APPLE PODCASTS \]

[Read more](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/matt-suggs-beyond-sales-enablement)

[![The ABCDEs of Sales and Marketing Start With Attraction — AI-powered sales insights from Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Featured_Images/pexels-32633936.jpg?height=200&name=pexels-32633936.jpg)](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/abcs-sales-and-marketing-automation-step-one-attract)

[custom AI solution development](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/custom-ai-solution-development), [Sales Training](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/sales-training), [ROI of AI](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/roi-of-ai)

## [The ABCDEs of Sales and Marketing Start With Attraction](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/abcs-sales-and-marketing-automation-step-one-attract)

![Picture of Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png?width=50&name=Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png) [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer) 

 Jun 13, 2025

2026 Update From Wes The tools changed. The platforms got new names, new features, and new prices....

[Read more](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/abcs-sales-and-marketing-automation-step-one-attract)

[![](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hubfs/Documents/Process_Before_Login_v4.pdf)](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-agenda-make-every-sale)

[custom AI solution development](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/custom-ai-solution-development), [Sales Training](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/sales-training), [ROI of AI](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/topic/roi-of-ai)

## [The Ideal Sales Process Includes a Sales Agenda to Make Every Sale](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-agenda-make-every-sale)

![Picture of Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png?width=50&name=Wes%20Schaeffer%2c%20The%20Sales%20Whisperer%20black%20white.png) [Wes Schaeffer](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/author/wes-schaeffer) 

 Jun 13, 2025

Why do so many sales trainers still teach

[Read more](https://thesaleswhisperer.com/blog/sales-agenda-make-every-sale)

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