5 Golden Rules of Sales by ProsperWorks

We all know sales success doesn’t just happen overnight. Luckily, there are a few secrets to close deals faster, meet quotas quicker, and grow your team with ease.
About manojranaweera

Founder of UnifiedVU and Venture 9. Previously Founder and CEO of edocr.com

Help companies with digital and business transformation via process optimisation and system design, especially in the areas of bringing everything together for increased productivity and revenue growth.
Sales Sales Process team custom Golden Rule copper
We all know sales success doesn’t just happen overnight. Luckily, there are a few secrets to close deals faster, meet quotas quicker, and grow your team with ease.
About manojranaweera

Sales Sales Process team custom Golden Rule copper
5 Golden Rules 
of Sales
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
2
5 Golden Rules of Sales
We all know sales success doesn’t just happen 
overnight. Luckily, there are a few secrets to close 
more deals, meet quotas faster, and grow your team 
with ease. 
For any sales leader, data should be running the show — 
however, only 0.5% of available data is taken advantage 
of, as the sheer volume often intimidates many teams. 
Many believe that only large enterprises have the 
resources to utilize big data, but small businesses can 
easily take advantage of it too. Because the information 
surrounding a prospect helps you make or break a deal, 
here are 5 Golden Rules to ensure your team is well on 
its way to increase sales.
Table of Contents
Rule 1: Declutter Your Contacts, Declutter Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
Rule 2: Establish a Clear and Repeatable Sales Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
Rule 3: Monitor How Your Process is Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
Rule 4: Create a Culture of Transparency and Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
Rule 5: Make Data-driven Decisions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
3
5 Golden Rules of Sales
For any growing business, getting organized immediately sets you up for 
success. If you have an email address for one person, a Twitter handle 
for another, and a LinkedIn connection with another, it’s time to consider 
putting everything in one place. Having a broad network is amazing, but 
if your contacts aren’t organized, you risk losing some really important 
business relationships.
A CRM can be your saving grace
CRMs make it easy to import contact details from a variety of sources. 
Customer information (name, company, contact info, social links, etc.) is all 
recorded automatically. Most programs also integrate with email so that every 
interaction is attached to the contact. From there, you can analyze and track 
your communication across the team to stay organized and engaged with 
your customer base. In turn, you’ll be grateful next time you need to contact 
“Joe Schmoe” and can’t remember how you’d usually connect with him.
Take customer relations to the next level
Customizing fields within a CRM is the best way to analyze the information that 
you need for your specific customers. Say you run a cupcake shop. You could 
add a new field that would allow you to track your customer’s favorite flavor 
of cupcake that they normally purchase from your bakery. Imagine the look 
on your customer’s face when the employee asks if they’d like their favourite 
cupcake by name! This is the kind of customer service that’s lacking in today’s 
world, which will keep your customers coming back to your business.
Keeping notes on customers — birthdays, favorite products or brands, 
places they’ve traveled, what city they’re from — via custom fields allows you 
to create a better customer experience. Unless you have a brilliant memory 
and/or a small customer base, custom fields are a great way to remember 
these details.
Rule 1 
Declutter Your Contacts, 
Declutter Your Life
“If your contacts aren’t organized, you risk losing some 
really important business relationships.”
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
4
5 Golden Rules of Sales
Once your contacts are organized, ensure your reps are in line as well. 
Sales process may be one of the most overused terms used by businesses 
today, but it’s important for you to have a clear understanding of what 
yours looks like.
While every business is different, most follow a progression with comparable 
sales stages. From lead to close, to onboarding and beyond, make sure your 
sales process is repeatable and that it can be optimized for success.
Start by observing
Look back at the last 5 or 10 deals that closed. What were the major steps in 
the process? What did touchpoints with the customer look like? How long did 
the entire process take, and how much time elapsed between each step? The 
more examples you have (and the more people on your team those examples 
are coming from), the better.
From there, tackle the basics. Map your observations to a generic example and 
formulate a plan around how you can best execute the following: 
Hunting & gathering
Prospecting is the process of sourcing new people/companies/organizations 
to begin your sales process with. This may involve online research to find new 
prospects, or looking into an existing database of contacts.
Saying, “What’s up?”
Initiating contact with early stage leads (via phone or email) allows you to 
gather information and judge their worthiness for moving forward. 
“Sales process may be one of the most overused terms 
used by businesses today, but it’s important for you to 
have a clear understanding of what yours looks like.”
Rule 2 
Establish a Clear and 
Repeatable Sales Process
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
5
5 Golden Rules of Sales
Doing your research
As an opportunity moves through the pipeline, you should be learning 
more about the prospect and their company. This allows you to offer 
an experience that is better tailored to their needs, which improves the 
likelihood of a deal closing. 
Showing them why they need you
During any sales process, the demo is your company’s time to shine. This 
stage typically comes after a few conversations, as it’s only for well-qualified 
prospects. Highlight all the ways your product/solution fits your prospect’s 
needs and why you’re there to help.
Sealing the deal
Closing involves any late-stage activities that happen as a decision is made. 
This varies from company to company, but may include delivering a proposal, 
negotiation, receiving the buy-in of decision makers, or any other related 
actions.
Iterating over time
For each stage, make sure you know why a prospect moved from one area 
to the next. Use yes or no questions, or questions with quantifiable answers, 
to determine what worked. Ideally, that reason/cause will be based on the 
customer’s own actions, and not on the perception of the rep. 
At the end of the day, determining which process works best will become an 
ongoing project. As you begin implementing new ways of doing things, you’ll 
want to continue making changes based on feedback from your team.
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
6
5 Golden Rules of Sales
A critical component of optimizing your sales process includes thinking about 
the key metrics that you should be measuring at each stage. These include:
Adoption
Are 90+% of your reps using the process? This shows that you’ve removed 
friction and extra cycles from the process.
Deal Size 
Are average sales prices increasing? This is a strong indication that your 
process is helping customers recognize needs — you’re selling on value, 
not price.
Forecast Accuracy 
Is your pipeline-based forecast within 10% of reality? This is a great indicator 
that you are in step with the buyer. Solid forecasting is also a sign of 
consistent use of the process by your team.
Win Rates
Like deal size, win rates should improve in a measurable way. Your process is 
helping you beat the competition — even if the competition is the status quo 
where the buyer takes no action.
Sales Cycle Length 
A good process will drive opportunities through the pipeline faster. This 
illustrates you haven’t introduced friction and extra cycles into the process.
Rule 3 
Monitor How Your Process 
is Working
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
7
5 Golden Rules of Sales
Common mistakes & tips for success:
Don’t leave your sales process steps open to interpretation
It’s important to define specific actions made by the prospect that caused 
them to be moved from one stage to the next. Leaving it up to your sales team 
to interpret will leave you with a less accurate understanding of where things 
are and aren’t working in your sales process.
Your sales process will always be a work in progress
As we mentioned above, establishing your sales process won’t be a one and 
done project. In addition to watching performance metrics on a daily basis, 
get in the habit of stepping back to review how you think about your sales 
process every 4-6 months with the reps who are selling every day.
Building a sales culture of transparency and accountability is a new concept 
for most sales teams. An open culture of communication makes for happier 
employees because everyone knows what is happening and why.
In an environment filled with strong personalities, this can be a difficult thing 
to accomplish — however, technology makes it easier. 
Ensure everyone is on the same page
Is your team aware of how much revenue they’re earning this quarter/month/
year? Does each sales rep know how much they need to contribute to make 
this a reality? Shifting the conversation from rep-centric quota attainment to 
team success helps open everyone’s eyes to what is happening in the room. 
In order to achieve this, you don’t need to make major changes to 
compensation plans — a small bonus or the promise of a team trip at the 
end of the quarter is often enough. What you might find is that by publishing 
and highlighting the team goal, you as a leader implement and exemplify 
transparency. 
Rule 4 
Create a Culture of Transparency 
and Competition
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
8
5 Golden Rules of Sales
Share data with the team
Take your transparency a step further by highlighting the data that matters 
most. Make sure everyone knows the number of marketing leads that you 
expect each month. Set targets for the number of meetings you expect your 
Sales Development team to set, as well as how many calls and emails they 
need to send to get them booked. Likewise, set targets for the amount of 
pipeline you want your sales team to create themselves, as well as the amount 
of revenue you expect them to close. 
Don’t be afraid to add in the number of meetings your CEO or your VP of Sales 
has with customers, or the number of new leads your Customer Success team 
has generated through referrals. By mandating accountability for everyone 
across the board, you lift the burden on your sales team and they won’t feel 
like they are the only ones who need to be transparent to the company.
Win and Lose Together
Celebrating wins is easy — accepting that a sales pitch isn’t working, or that a 
new pricing strategy is driving down your deal sizes, is not.  
Part of maintaining an environment of transparency includes sitting down 
with your team and running an analysis on all of the deals that you lost. This 
should not be time spent dwelling on past failures, but rather time to address 
them as a team. 
One way to to go about this? Run sessions where each salesperson presents 
one to two deals that they lost. Provide them with constructive insight on 
how they can improve moving forward. And if it’s pricing or messaging that 
needs to be changed, explain why you’re doing it and the rationale for the 
new approach.
Be upfront with customers
Being transparent also extends externally, especially to customers. There’s 
nothing worse than coming across hidden fees while they’re trying to 
purchase something new.
Consider building a pricing tool where customers can find out exactly how 
much your service will cost for their business. Or, when a customer is not 
a great fit for your product, recommend another provider — no matter how 
painful it is to lose their business. By being clear and upfront, you’ll have a 
happier customer for the long term when you are a great fit.
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
9
5 Golden Rules of Sales
To make analytics part of your daily operations, you must view them as central 
to solving problems and identifying opportunities. You must also possess the 
muscle to transform your organization so that data and models actually yield 
better decisions. At the end of the day, data means nothing if you’re not able 
to turn it into actionable insights.
Finding the right tools
An organization cannot be data-driven without the right technology. Invest 
time and money in the resources that will make your sales reps more 
successful and empower your team with the right tools to help them do their 
job efficiently. Collecting and analyzing the proper data can quickly uncover 
opportunities for improvement and allow for more informed decision making.
Using data to improve forecasting
For many sales leaders, their number one pain point is forecasting. Even if you 
know how many touches it takes to close an opportunity or what the average 
sales cycle looks like, are you leveraging the right insights to determine how 
you’re pacing towards goals? 
Consider what your conversion rates look like from beginning to end. How is 
the data around an opportunity flowing through the pipeline? Are there any 
gaps? If you can predict how your team will perform, you’ll know what you 
need to do along the way to ensure your goals are met. 
Making data easy to consume
Use dashboards to visualize trends and gain valuable insights into sales rep 
activity. This type of data-driven sales strategy will replicate the behaviors of 
top performers and help the average performers improve.
“Data means nothing if you’re not able to turn it into 
actionable insights.”
Rule 5
Make Data-driven Decisions
www.copper.com   /   (415) 355-4776   /   sales@copper.com 
10
5 Golden Rules of Sales
If you’re building your own dashboard, don’t just incorporate random data. The 
most helpful dashboard includes a visual overview of your lead funnel, pipeline 
status, conversion rates, win rates and sales activity so that you can see how 
you’re pacing towards goals. These metrics will narrow your focus to what will 
actually move the needle for your business, while allowing you to course correct 
if things have fallen off track.
Setting a precedence for data can also improve communication across the 
organization, while helping employees build a business case for functions 
such as new hires, new technology, or different processes. High-quality data 
makes it easier for others to follow the decision-makers’ logic and align to 
the decision.
Start by researching a CRM. From there, evaluate your sales process — and 
if you don’t have one, figure out what will make your team most productive. 
Finally, determine which metrics that matter most, and how you can maintain 
visibility among your team.
Apply these Golden Rules, and you’ll be selling more in no time!
 
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