Understanding What a Sales Process Is: Dissecting The Buyer’s Jounrey

A sales process is an intentional strategy used to convert prospects into paying customers. This is often accomplished by designing a buyer’s journey where prospects are given a clear path which walks them step-by-step toward becoming an ideal customer.

While there are many reasons to create a sales process, it should be more than just a packaged guide that points toward the cash register - it is something that is big, clunky, and complex, but still needs to be beautifully designed. To fully answer the question of what is a sales process, I would like to share with you one of my recent experiences.

I found myself somewhere I never expected to be - I was at a Taekwondo tournament watching my son compete on a regional level.

There were two reasons I didn’t expect this. First, my son isn’t the athletic type and had never shown a real interest in sports. Secondly, I had never been exposed to martial arts. As a parent, we often expose our children to activities and sports that we are familiar with. And for this reason, I had never even considered martial arts as an option for my son.

But how had I ended up here, watching my intellectual son competing in a tournament? I realized that I was there because the Taekwondo academy understood martial arts marketing and really understood what a sales process is;they learned how to create a fantastic sale path - which I call the buyer’s journey - that had led me to this point.

The Buyer’s Journey

For me, I have always thought about tech companies when thinking about a buyer’s journey. Tech companies constantly talk about the process of converting a website visitor into a paying customer. But my son’s Taekwondo academy helped remind me of the importance of a buyer’s journey for brick and mortar businesses.

In its simplest form, a buyer’s journey is the process by which a prospect moves from awareness to becoming an ideal customer. It provides a path for a prospect to walk and creates momentum toward an end goal. Basically, it is a strategic process that helps to proactively create ideal customers.

The Four Stages

Generally, a buyer’s journey will consist of four stages: Find It, Experience It, Engage It, and Love It - this is how to create a sales process. For example, let us take a look at my son’s path to the Taekwondo tournament.

First, he found them through a demonstration at his school. In addition, they found him by going to the school. This was the Find It stage of their buyer’s journey.

Next, my son was given a free lesson which was a chance for him to experience what the academy was like. He met an instructor, learned a few Korean words, and learned how to bow in and bow out when entering and exiting the academy. This was the Experience It stage, where trust and familiarity began to build.

The next step in the buyer’s journey was for us to sign my son up for a 6 month membership where he went through his first three belts. This was the Engage It stage. It was a structured commitment that allowed him to go deeper without yet making the ultimate decision. The program was designed to teach students the basics of Taekwondo, and it felt like a natural next step.

Once that initial membership was complete, it was time for the real commitment. This is where my son enrolled in the Black Belt club which is a two year track with the goal of earning his black belt. This was the Love It stage. This membership required a significant commitment from both my son, for his efforts, and from me financially. It involved the purchasing of sparring gear, an increased monthly membership fee, and separate testing and tournament fees.

But for my son (and the three other students who were in his same belt level), the decision to make this big commitment was easy to make. My son had already earned several belts, had increased respect and manners at home, and was building confidence. We liked what we had and were willing to continue down the path we were on.

Why It Works

To break this down even further, let’s take a look at why the sales process worked for my son. The Taekwondo Academy’s buyer’s journey essentially created three things: momentum, anticipation, and trust.

First, the buyer’s journey provided a clear path for my son to follow. The academy essentially walked him from one stage to another. Each stage had a smooth transition and was a natural next step. Once we started down this path, we were moving and enjoying the ride.

Secondly, the buyer’s journey provided anticipation at each step of the process. The demonstration left my son with a coupon for a free lesson, which he talked about for weeks before we finally scheduled the lesson. The lesson created excitement for becoming part of the “family” atmosphere the academy has created. Then the basic membership helped my son get excited about earning his black belt, not to mention the next belt which he was already on his way to earning.

Finally, the buyer’s journey built trust. I never would have been willing to enroll my son into the full black belt program if I had been asked to do so in the very beginning of the process. Now, parents who had been exposed to martial arts previously may have been willing to take that jump, but that jump would have been too big for me to take initially. I found it amazing how the buyer’s journey built the appropriate level of trust needed for me to proceed to the next stage.

Using a Sales Process In Your Business

At this point, you may be thinking, “That’s great for a Taekwondo academy, but how does this apply to my business?” The truth is, whether you realize it or not, you already have a sales process. The only question is whether it is intentional.

Every business has a buyer’s journey. People find you somehow. They interact with you in some way. They evaluate whether you are the right solution. And then they either move forward or they don’t. The difference between businesses that grow consistently and those that struggle often comes down to whether that journey has been thoughtfully designed.

Using a sales process in your business means stepping back and asking yourself how buyers actually experience you. How do they first find you? What happens when they interact with your brand for the first time? Are you overwhelming them with options? Are you leaving them unsure of the next step? Or are you guiding them forward with clarity and confidence?

A well-designed buyer’s journey should create forward movement. Each stage should feel like a natural next step rather than a leap. When someone engages with your business, they should feel momentum building. They should feel anticipation about what comes next. And most importantly, they should feel trust increasing with each interaction.

This is not about manipulation. It is about intentional design. When you remove friction and organize your sales process around the FEEL stages — Find It, Experience It, Engage It, and Love It — you make buying easier. And when buying becomes easier, growth becomes more predictable.

Next Steps

If you are serious about improving your sales results, the next step is not to add more products, lower your prices, or increase your advertising budget. The next step is to evaluate your sales process by looking at your buyer’s journey.

Begin by mapping out how someone moves from first discovering your business to becoming a loyal, long-term customer. Identify where confusion might exist. Identify where momentum slows. Identify where trust needs to be strengthened. Most businesses do not struggle because they lack quality products or services. They struggle because their buyer’s journey is unclear or incomplete.

When you intentionally design your sales process around the buyer — not around your preferences, your internal structure, or your assumptions — everything changes. You stop hoping people will figure it out. You start guiding them.

A well-built buyer’s journey does not feel pushy. It feels helpful. It does not feel complicated. It feels clear. And it does not rely on pressure to close a sale. It builds enough trust and momentum that the sale becomes the natural next step.

If you would like a simple, structured framework to walk through this process in your own business, I encourage you to take the next step.

Click below to Learn The Buyer-Centric Method and discover how to intentionally design a buyer’s journey that works for your business — and for your buyers.