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Without a defined sales process, your team is flying blind. They lack a clear roadmap, a shared understanding of the buyer journey, and a consistent approach to closing deals.
The result? Lower close rates, scaling challenges, and a frustrating lack of visibility into the pipeline. Sound familiar? Don’t worry — sales process mapping can help you avoid these issues, and in this guide, we’ll show you how.
What is a sales process map?
A sales process map is a visual blueprint that shows exactly what happens at each stage of the sales process. It’s all about breaking down the sales journey into clear steps, so everyone knows what to expect and where to focus their efforts.
Mapping the sales process helps you:
- Track performance
- Identify bottlenecks
- Improve conversion rates
By laying out the steps, you can better explain and optimize the entire process. After all, visuals make everything clearer — especially when you’re working with complex workflows.
Sales process mapping examples
There are various ways to create sales process maps, depending on your team's needs. Using the right tools, like Mural, allows you to experiment with different layouts, making it easier to find the right representation for your specific needs.
For instance, you can use our process flowchart template to create a sales flowchart. This diagram indicates stages such as lead qualification, needs assessment, and proposal delivery — all necessary steps to acquire a customer.
If you need to present your sales enablement process map to stakeholders, you can count on our process flow slides template. Designed to present new processes in a meeting and gather feedback, this template helps you break down complex ideas into digestible pieces of information.
Why mapping the sales process matters
Creating an end-to-end sales process map might look like a lot of work. But it’s hard to ignore benefits like:
- Increased efficiency: A clear, documented process means fewer wasted hours. You eliminate confusion and everyone knows exactly what to do next.
- Easier performance tracking: With a map in hand, you can track where deals get stuck and why. Are prospects ghosting after the demo? Maybe the proposal stage needs a refresh. Sales process mapping makes it much easier to analyze performance and identify patterns.
- Better collaboration: When everyone’s on the same page, it’s easier to work together. A sales rep can pass a deal off smoothly to the next person, and the marketing team can align campaigns with the stages of the customer journey. The result? Fewer hiccups and smoother handoffs.
- Stronger customer relationships: A mapped-out sales process ensures that your team is aligned with your customers’ needs. When sales reps understand where prospects are in their journey, they can engage with the right message at the right time, leading to stronger, more meaningful relationships.
How to make a sales process flowchart
You already know that mapping out your sales activities is an easy way to bring clarity and consistency to your efforts. Now, let’s dive into the fun part: creating a process that works for you.
1. Identify the stages of your sales process
The first step on how to create a sales process is to outline the key stages — from prospecting to closing a deal.
- Lead generation: Identifying potential customers
- Lead qualification: Determining whether the leads are a good fit
- Initial contact: Reaching out to leads, often through calls or emails
- Proposal: Sending detailed offers to qualified leads
- Negotiation: Discussing terms and resolving any objections
- Closing: Finalizing the deal and securing the sale
If your sales cycle has more detailed steps, include them. Just ensure each stage is distinct and easy to understand.
2. Define key decision points
Decision points are where the process could take different directions based on specific criteria. For example:
- Is the lead qualified? If yes, move to the next stage (e.g., initial contact). If no, either discard the lead or move them to a "nurture" list for follow-up later.
- Did the prospect agree to a proposal? If yes, proceed to the negotiation stage. If no, go back to lead nurturing or consider a different follow-up strategy.
You can use our flowchart creator to save time and make the creative process easier. Remember: each decision point should be represented with a diamond-shaped box in your flowchart, which helps to visually separate them from the regular steps.
3. Map your customer journey
The sales process is inherently tied to the customer journey — with research showing that mapping customers’ journeys helps align internal teams, improve investment efforts to solve existing problems, and enhance the overall user experience.
So make sure your sales process flowchart mirrors the path customers take, from their first interaction with your brand to the final sale. Use Mural’s customer journey map template to outline customer touchpoints, needs, motivations, and obstacles by illustrating their path from start to finish. This way, you can better identify where prospects may drop off and where you can improve.
Here are some examples:
- Awareness stage: The prospect realizes they have a problem and starts searching for solutions.
- Consideration stage: The prospect evaluates your offering against competitors.
- Decision stage: The prospect is ready to make a decision and sign on.
You can also use our empathy map template to plan customer-centric sales efforts. Consider what your users say, do, feel, and think creating a more holistic view of their experience.
4. Create a basic sales process flowchart
Now, it’s time to learn how to map a sales process. All you have to do is break down each sales stage further by specifying what actions need to be taken and by whom. For example:
- Lead qualification: Sales reps qualify leads by reviewing demographics, industry fit, or budget. If the lead doesn’t meet the criteria, it's marked as "disqualified" and removed from the pipeline.
- Proposal stage: Sales reps create and deliver a document outlining the solution, price, and timeline.
- Negotiation: Sales reps negotiate pricing, terms, and contract details with the prospect.
Each action step should be simple, clear, and assigned to the appropriate person — sales rep, account manager, marketing specialist, etc.
5. Set your performance metrics
Your flowchart should not only show the stages but also include the key performance metrics at each point. For example:
- Lead qualification: Track lead sources and qualification rates, such as how many leads meet the criteria vs. how many don’t.
- Proposal: Monitor the proposal acceptance rate and time spent in this stage.
- Closing: Measure win rates, average deal size, and time to close.
These metrics give your team insight into how well the sales process is performing and where you need to make adjustments to close more deals.
6. Document everything
A Panopto study shows that 60% of employees struggle to get the information they need from coworkers to do their job. Process documentation can help alleviate this information gap.
Process documentation is the practice of capturing and organizing the nitty-gritty details of your workflows — everything from the steps involved to who’s responsible for what. It’s like creating a roadmap for your team to follow, ensuring everyone’s on the same page and no one’s left guessing.
Related: How to document a process
7. Take advantage of sales process mapping best practices
Here’s a quick rundown of best practices for successful sales process mappings:
- Involve your sales team: Creating a sales process map isn’t something you should do in isolation. Your sales team is the one living the process every day, so get their input. They’ll spot inefficiencies you might miss, and you’ll make sure the map reflects what’s really going on.
- Keep it simple and visual: The goal is clarity, not complexity. Don’t overcomplicate the process with too much detail. Stick to high-level steps and use visuals to make the flow easy to follow.
- Review and tweak regularly: A sales process map isn’t a “set it and forget it” tool — you need to apply process improvement techniques. Examples include reviewing it regularly and updating it as things change, whether that’s based on feedback from the team or performance data.
Create the best sales process flow diagrams with Mural
Simplify the sales process mapping experience with Mural. As an online collaboration platform, Mural helps sales professionals visualize their processes in a way that’s easy to understand and share.
We offer:
- Online process mapping software: Work on process mapping in real time, no matter where you are.
- Comprehensive template library: Hit the ground running with different templates, ready to use and apply to your sales process mapping.
- Integration features: Share your sales maps through different platforms — including Google Workspace and Slack — so you can connect with other teams.
Sign up with Mural to build the perfect sales process map for your organization.
