What are the steps of a sales process?

First contact, quotation, follow-up, negotiation, closing, invoicing and getting paid. Around them sit repeat business, a weekly review and consent for marketing.

Do I need a CRM for a small business?

You need one place where every customer, quotation, next step and unpaid invoice is visible to the whole team. A spreadsheet works for a handful of deals; once several people sell, one shared record stops deals and payments slipping.

How often should I review my sales pipeline?

Once a week, at a fixed time. See Weekly sales routine.

What is the difference between a lead and an opportunity?

A lead is someone who might buy and is not yet qualified. An opportunity is a deal you are actively working on with a customer, with a value and an expected close date. See Leads.

Can I use these templates as they are?

Yes. Change the names, numbers and dates, and keep the structure: what it is about, the facts, and the next step.

Sales playbook

Copy for AI

This playbook is a practical sales routine for a small business: how to turn an enquiry into a quotation, follow it up without being pushy, close the deal, invoice it and get paid on time. Each article gives the general approach first, then how to do it in easySales, then templates you can copy, in your own language and written the way business is done where you work.

The seven steps

Every deal passes through the same steps, whether it is a SGD 500 repair or a SGD 50,000 fit-out. Knowing which step a deal is in tells you what to do next and when to move on.

Step	What you do	Move on when	Read
1. First contact	Note where they came from, find out what they need, agree the next step	They want a price	First contact
2. Quotation	Send a clear offer: scope, price, tax, validity, payment terms	It is sent	Write a clear quotation
3. Follow-up	Check it arrived, answer questions, ask for a decision	They want to talk terms, or decide	Follow up a quotation
4. Negotiation	Trade a lower price for something in return, revise in writing	Both sides agree	Negotiate and revise
5. Close	Get written acceptance, take the deposit, hand over to the team	The customer accepts	Close the deal
6. Invoice	Invoice the day you deliver, to the person who pays	The invoice is sent	Invoice on time
7. Get paid	Remind before and after the due date, on a fixed schedule	It is paid	Get paid faster

Around the seven steps sit three habits: winning repeat business from customers you already have, a weekly sales routine that keeps every deal moving, and consent for marketing. When a payment is badly late, see Long-overdue debts.

Good practice

Always know the next step. A deal without a booked next step — a call, a visit, a date to send the revised price — is the deal that quietly goes cold. End every contact by agreeing what happens next and when.

Write things down where the team can see them. A note on the customer, not in your own notebook, means a colleague can pick the deal up when you are away and nobody asks the customer the same question twice.

Keep the paperwork tidy from the start. The customer’s correct company name, the person who approves, the person who pays and the payment term all matter later. Getting them right at the first quotation saves a corrected invoice and a late payment.

Look at the whole pipeline every week. Thirty minutes once a week, at the same time, is enough to see which deals are stuck, which quotations are waiting for an answer and who owes you money.

Do it in easySales

Each step has a home in easySales, and each record links to the next:

A new enquiry is a lead. When it becomes real business you convert it into an account, a contact or an opportunity.
The deal is an opportunity, moved through your stages on the pipeline board.
The offer is a quotation; you mark it as sent so follow-up reminders start.
The charge is an invoice, raised from the accepted quotation, and the money is a payment on it.
Every call, visit and next step is an activity, and your own list of what is due is My work.

The whole chain, and why each document follows the one before, is explained in Quote to cash.

Examples

One deal, start to finish. Harbour Café asks Lim & Co about a new counter and lighting. Marcus Tan records a lead with the Source Web form, calls the owner, books a site visit and converts the lead into a business account with an opportunity. He sends quotation QN-10000125 for SGD 2,080.00 before GST, marks it as sent, and calls three days later. The café asks for a lower price; Marcus takes SGD 100.00 off in return for a 50% deposit and revises the quotation. The café accepts, pays the deposit, and Lim & Co invoices the balance on the day the counter is installed. A reminder goes out three days before the due date, and the café pays on time.

Common questions

What are the steps of a sales process? First contact, quotation, follow-up, negotiation, closing, invoicing and getting paid. Around them sit repeat business, a weekly review and consent for marketing.
Do I need a CRM for a small business? You need one place where every customer, quotation, next step and unpaid invoice is visible to the whole team. A spreadsheet works for a handful of deals; once several people sell, one shared record stops deals and payments slipping.
How often should I review my sales pipeline? Once a week, at a fixed time. See Weekly sales routine.
What is the difference between a lead and an opportunity? A lead is someone who might buy and is not yet qualified. An opportunity is a deal you are actively working on with a customer, with a value and an expected close date. See Leads.
Can I use these templates as they are? Yes. Change the names, numbers and dates, and keep the structure: what it is about, the facts, and the next step.