Sales Process
Discipline: the sales process is a promise to the customer that we won't waste their time. Every stage has exit criteria. A rep cannot move a deal forward in Salesforce without meeting them.
1. The 7-stage funnel
┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────┐
│ Suspect │ → │ Prospect/ │ → │ Demo │ → │ POC/ │ → │Proposal│ → │ Verbal │ → │Closed│
│ │ │ Qualify │ │ │ │Pilot │ │ │ │ Commit │ │ Won │
└─────────┘ └───────────┘ └────────┘ └──────┘ └─────┘ └─────────┘ └─────┘
5% 15% 30% 50% 70% 90% 100%
Probabilities are Salesforce defaults. Adjust per-rep based on historical hit-rate (set after first 90 days of data).
2. Stage definitions and exit criteria
Stage 1 — Suspect (5%)
Definition: Account exists in CRM. We have basic firmographics. No two-way conversation yet.
Entry signals:
- Inbound: form fill, demo request, chat
- Outbound: prospect responded to email/InMail
- Event: badge scan + conversation
- PLG: trial signup but no activation
- Channel: partner-registered deal
Exit criteria (to qualify):
- ☐ Confirmed property type + size (key/bed/outlet count)
- ☐ Confirmed role of contact (decision-maker or influencer)
- ☐ Confirmed buying timeframe (within 12 months)
- ☐ Account tiered (T1-T6)
- ☐ Owner assigned in Salesforce
- ☐ Next step scheduled within 7 days
Time-in-stage SLA: 7 days max. Auto-recycles to "Marketing Nurture" if no exit by day 8.
Stage 2 — Qualified (15%)
Definition: First substantive call complete. BANT-ish qualifying done. Prospect has agreed to a demo.
Exit criteria:
- ☐ Pain validated and quantified (current vendor stack, hours lost, costs)
- ☐ Decision criteria identified
- ☐ Budget signal (existing vendor spend OR explicit budget mentioned)
- ☐ Timeline (replacement / renewal / opening date)
- ☐ Decision-making unit mapped (champion + economic buyer + IT + procurement)
- ☐ Demo agenda agreed + stakeholders confirmed
- ☐ Demo scheduled within 10 business days
Time-in-stage SLA: 14 days max.
MEDDPICC fields (required in SFDC):
- Metrics — what success looks like in their words
- Economic buyer — name + role
- Decision criteria — top 3
- Decision process — who signs, who reviews
- Paper process — procurement / legal involved?
- Identify pain — specific quote we can use
- Champion — who advocates internally
- Competition — what alternatives in shortlist
Stage 3 — Demo (30%)
Definition: Tailored demo delivered to identified DMU. See
[[Demo Script and Discovery]] for execution.
Exit criteria:
- ☐ Demo delivered to ≥ 2 stakeholders (one of whom is economic buyer)
- ☐ Demo customised to their property/segment (no generic demos)
- ☐ Recorded with permission for internal coaching
- ☐ Follow-up summary email sent within 24h
- ☐ Champion identified and verified ("Will you stake your reputation on this?")
- ☐ Defined next step: POC, technical deep-dive, OR proposal request
- ☐ Mutual close plan drafted (jointly-held milestones to close)
Time-in-stage SLA: 21 days max.
Stage 4 — POC / Pilot (50%)
Definition: Prospect is testing KeyNova in a controlled environment (sandbox or live pilot at one property).
POC types
- Sandbox POC (T2/T3 standard) — 14-day trial in pre-seeded sandbox
- Live pilot (T4/T5 enterprise) — 6-12 week pilot at one property
- Limited production (T6 restaurants) — 30-day pilot at one outlet
Exit criteria:
- ☐ POC scope statement signed
- ☐ Success criteria documented and agreed (mutual)
- ☐ Mid-POC review held (Day 7 sandbox / Day 30 live pilot)
- ☐ Champion has shown KeyNova to additional stakeholders internally
- ☐ Procurement / Legal engaged (T3+)
- ☐ Security review initiated (T4+)
- ☐ Pricing discussion held — order of magnitude agreed
Time-in-stage SLA: 30 days (sandbox), 90 days (live pilot)
Common POC traps to avoid:
- POC with no scoped success criteria → "evaluation extension" forever
- POC handled by champion alone → economic buyer never sees value
- POC with custom requests we can't fulfil → over-commit to win, lose on delivery
- Free POC longer than 90 days → free customer that never converts
Stage 5 — Proposal / SOW (70%)
Definition: Formal proposal delivered. Pricing, scope, timeline, contract terms on the table.
Exit criteria:
- ☐ Proposal sent with detailed scope (modules, properties, terms)
- ☐ Proposal reviewed live with champion + economic buyer
- ☐ Objections logged and answered
- ☐ Procurement contacted (if applicable)
- ☐ Legal redlines exchanged (if applicable)
- ☐ Decision date committed in writing or email
Time-in-stage SLA: 30 days enterprise, 14 days SMB.
Stage 6 — Verbal Commit (90%)
Definition: Customer has said "yes" verbally. Contract under signature.
Exit criteria:
- ☐ Contract drafted with final terms
- ☐ Customer has signed (or signature in motion via DocuSign with explicit CFO/CEO approval logged)
- ☐ Purchase order issued (where applicable)
- ☐ First invoice raised
- ☐ Implementation kick-off scheduled within 30 days
Time-in-stage SLA: 14 days. Anything > 14 days here is a smell — push to Closed or back to Proposal.
Stage 7 — Closed Won (100%)
Definition: Contract signed, invoice paid (or PO confirmed). Handed off to CS.
Handoff checklist (rep → CS, internal SOP):
- ☐ Salesforce opp marked Closed-Won with full ACV
- ☐ Contract uploaded to docs
- ☐ Decision criteria + champion notes shared with CSM
- ☐ Implementation kickoff call scheduled
- ☐ CS Manager assigned within 2 business days
- ☐ Welcome email sequence triggered
- ☐ First success milestone defined jointly with customer
3. Closed Lost — equally important
When a deal closes lost:
Mandatory exit interview by rep + manager:
- Why did we lose? (root cause, not symptoms)
- Who did we lose to?
- Was price the actual issue, or surface?
- Could we have won with better process?
- What would the customer change about our experience?
Loss reason taxonomy (use exactly these codes):
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| LOSS-COMPETITOR | Lost to named competitor (specify) |
| LOSS-PRICE | Price was decisive factor (and product gap explained why) |
| LOSS-PRODUCT | Specific feature gap killed deal (specify) |
| LOSS-TIMING | Decided to defer / not buy anything |
| LOSS-INCUMBENT | Renewed with existing vendor |
| LOSS-NO-DECISION | Stalled out; no clear winner chosen |
| LOSS-DISQUALIFIED | We disqualified them mid-cycle (good outcome) |
| LOSS-INTERNAL | Internal politics, M&A, leadership change |
| LOSS-COMPLIANCE | Couldn't satisfy compliance/security requirement |
| LOSS-OTHER | Specify in note |
Loss-prevention pattern surfacing:
- Weekly review of all losses in the week → CRO + CMO
- Monthly aggregation → product-gap top 5, pricing-pressure top 3, win-back candidates
4. Pipeline hygiene
Required Salesforce fields by stage
| Stage | Required fields |
|---|---|
| Suspect | Account, Contact, Source, Tier |
| Qualified | All Suspect + Pain + Budget signal + Timeline + DMU |
| Demo | All Qualified + MEDDPICC + Demo date + Champion |
| POC | All Demo + POC scope + Success criteria + Pilot start date |
| Proposal | All POC + Proposed ACV + Modules + Term length + Discount % |
| Verbal | All Proposal + Verbal date + Expected close date + Signature path |
| Closed Won/Lost | All Verbal + Outcome reason + Lessons learned |
Pipeline review cadence
- Daily (10 min, by pod) — what's stalled, what's stuck
- Weekly (60 min, by team) — deals ≥ ₹10 lakh ACV walked through
- Bi-weekly (90 min, by region) — forecast call with CRO
- Monthly (4h, exec) — board metric prep
- Quarterly (full day, offsite) — strategy retro
The "no surprise" rule
A deal can only push out one quarter once. After that, it's marked "At Risk" and a deal-rescue meeting is held with CRO + AE + CS.
Forecast accuracy targets
| Forecast call timing | Accuracy band |
|---|---|
| Quarter start | ±15% |
| Mid-quarter | ±10% |
| End-of-month 2 | ±5% |
| Final week | ±2% |
Below band = forecast credibility deduction (impacts rep's rep score, used for promotion).
5. Account assignment rules
Inbound demo requests
- Form classifies tier from property type + key count
- T1 → automated PLG flow (no human in early stages)
- T2/T3 → round-robin to ISR pod, regional preference if known
- T4/T5 → named-account map; AE for that account auto-assigned
- T6 → POS specialist sub-team
Conflict resolution
- AE vs ISR conflict — if account ≥ 200 keys, AE gets it
- Channel vs direct conflict — first to register has 90-day exclusivity
- AE vs AE conflict — VP Sales decides; default to AE who's furthest along
6. Sales cycle by tier — typical
| Tier | Days (median) | Stages compressed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 PLG | 1 day | (self-serve) | Activation matters, not "stages" |
| T2 SMB | 45 days | Demo → Proposal → Won | Often skip POC |
| T3 Mid | 75 days | Full 7 stages | Sandbox POC standard |
| T4 Enterprise | 180 days | Full 7 stages | Live pilot mandatory |
| T5 Resort | 210 days | Full 7 stages | Live pilot mandatory |
| T6 F&B | 35 days | Demo → POC → Won | Outlet-level pilot |
If a deal exceeds 1.5× the median for its tier without a documented reason in Salesforce, it auto-flags for review.
7. Internal sales SLAs
| Trigger | Response SLA |
|---|---|
| Inbound demo request | First contact within 15 min (business hours), 2h (off-hours) |
| Demo no-show | Re-engagement attempt within 24h |
| Proposal requested | Sent within 2 business days |
| Procurement question | Answered within 1 business day |
| Reference request | Reference call scheduled within 5 business days |
| Compliance pack request | Sent within 2 business days |
| Trial issue (PLG) | Responded within 4 business hours |
8. The "champion test"
A rep cannot mark a deal past Demo stage without verifying the champion test. Ask the champion (verbatim, recorded):
"If we send you a proposal tomorrow that meets the conditions we discussed, can you commit to championing it through to signature within [N weeks]?"
If the answer is anything other than a confident yes → you do not have a champion. Mark champion field as null and don't move the deal forward.
9. Stop-doing list
- Don't move stages without checklist completed
- Don't promise features not on roadmap
- Don't discount before all value selling is exhausted
- Don't oversell — under-promise / over-deliver
- Don't run demos without a champion in attendance
- Don't let POCs extend past defined window without VP Sales approval
- Don't accept "send me a proposal" as next step without champion test
- Don't celebrate verbal commits as closed
- Don't update Salesforce optimistically — accurate beats hopeful
10. The "minimum viable forecast"
What VP Sales reports to CEO every Friday:
This Quarter:
Closed-Won (this Q): ₹X.X Cr
Committed (verbal/signed): ₹X.X Cr
Best-case (in proposal): ₹X.X Cr
Total pipeline: ₹XX.X Cr (Y× quota)
This Month:
Closed-Won (this M): ₹X.X Cr (Y% to plan)
Committed in-month: ₹X.X Cr
Risk in-month: ₹X.X Cr (specify deals)
Watch list:
- Top 3 deals at risk (with action plan)
- Top 3 stalled deals > 30 days in stage
- Top 3 over-discounted deals (if any > 25% discount)
Last reviewed: 2026-05-16