PUBLISHED DATE: 2025-08-11 22:01:04

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

SPEAKER: Surbhi Dhir, Senior Client Partner at Publicis Sapient

Hi guys, I'm Surbhi Dhir, Senior Client Partner at Publicis Sapient and today I'm here to talk to you about the how to of sales. The sales process typically comprises of seven steps.

  1. Prospect: The prospect is when we do any kind of code calling and we keep reaching out to our clients or we do some kind of marketing campaigns because we are aware that they could be investing in a specific segment. Let's say I work primarily in financial services. So if I know that one of the largest FIs is going to be making huge investments in their capital markets division, it's out there in public and they have a lot of media coverage happening specifically around that subject area. We would start sending them potential point of views or work that we have done for other clients as part of our marketing campaign.
  2. Getting in contact: So we've sent them a bunch of material but now we're getting in touch with the specific point of contact. We are reaching out to people either via LinkedIn, Leads Generator or we are getting to know people through a connection of a connection of a connection, requesting for a contact or for a meeting or for a coffee chat.
  3. Qualifying: The qualify stage sometimes is broken down into two phases by the clients. One is the RFI, which is just request for information and the second one is RFP. So when clients are not typically aware about certain vendors and they're going out in the market for the first time doing major new vendors, they come up with something called RFI where they ask for additional vendors to provide information to make them their go-to vendors. And once that RFI response comes back as positive, then they invite the vendors to qualify for certain problem statements as part of their request for proposal, which is coming out for the line of business from capital markets, asset management, retail banking, so on and so forth.
  4. Presenting yourself: In terms of us providing a response to the client problem and solution. So if you're selected by the client as part of the RFP and if we are getting selected by the client to come and present our solution, we go in with a team of experts either from product, from engineering, from delivery, and along with the account team to really talk about our people, our previous work, our methodologies, our tools and accelerators. So that's the time we are showcasing the work that we have done.
  5. Getting shortlisted: Where the client will say, yes, we love what you do. Yes, we love the fact that you've done it for other clients or for our competitors. So we're shortlisting you amongst the top two. I like your team structure and I love your solution. I want you to really come and present as part of our orals or sometimes we are not even invited for orals. It's a direct conversation that the client wants to have with us. And it's at that stage where we are having sometimes five and sixes mixed, sometimes step four and five is mixed. When we start having conversations or negotiations about the type of contracting we want to do. And those nuances and the pricing conversations happen at the actual sales stage, which is number six.
  6. Sales stage: And those nuances and the pricing conversations happen at the actual sales stage, which is number six.
  7. Reference: And once the sale is closed, congratulations, the client has decided to choose you or choose us as a trusted advisor and they're willing to work with us. And we've started the work. The next and the most important phase of sales is reference. So the client has selected us. We're doing some super normal work for them and they're really happy and excited with the deliverables and the quality of work that we've delivered. But it's not the end because it's not a one by one word. And then comes the whole concept about reference. Can you refer Mr. Klein, us to other parts of the bank? Can you refer us to other clients? We have a pitch coming up. Would you be OK to provide as a reference? And can we use your name as a reference?

Although you might think that, Surabhi, you mentioned six, seven steps. But given that it's a people business, given that it's a relationship business, given that it's driven by so many other factors, it's a continuous loop where we help our clients everywhere, every step of the way. But all in all, the way I look at sales, it's a people business. People like to buy what they like and they like to buy it with people they like. So it's not really a step that will help you close the sale. It's not only the structure of information that will help you close the sales, but it's the way you treat people. And if you're treating your people with integrity, you're treating them with genuineness and you're treating them with your best problem solving capabilities, you're going to be getting limited sales to the client.