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August 8, 2014
Is it Time to Dump Your Old Sales Process?
By:
The sales process is dead. Forever gone into the history of the sales profession. It was great while we had it. You know, the one that resembles something like the illustration above.
Almost every sales team and rep has been trained to follow a process similar to this one. I personally made a lot of money following this type of process. But it is no longer effective.
Why? Your buyer has forever changed. The difference in the way they buy forces a selling change. But since you already have a sales process, can you still use it?
Download the Sales Process Test to find out. It will:
The best sales people today don’t use a sales process to sell. They use a buying process to understand and match themselves to the customer. Understanding this helps them deploy specific actions and activities. These help pull the customer through their buying process. They help strengthen compelling events. And help prioritize the customer’s problem and use your solution exclusively to solve it.
These actions and activities are then mapped to the customers buying process by stage. A new selling process is now established. One that shows a sales person what to do and when to do it. This is all based on what stage the customer is in. This new selling process doubles win rates and reduces sales cycle lengths.
But how does this work? It has three major components. Each is described below:
Download our “How to Make Your Number in 2015” Research Report here for more information on using Personas and Buying Process.
Let’s look at an example for clarity:
Your car won’t start. You tow it to the mechanic which he tells you need a new starter. You are in the stimulated phase in your buying process. And your trigger event is simple. You ask yourself a question: ‘Do I fix the car or get a new one?’
You decide to buy a new car instead of fixing the old one. Yet this purchase requires you to discuss it with your spouse. There are now two ‘personas’ involved in this decision-you and your spouse. You are further along in your buying process than your spouse at this point. Your spouse is just entering their buying process. And your objectives are to now buy a sports car as a replacement. But your spouse wants to purchase an SUV. Each of you have different objectives, desires, fears etc.
Enter a car sales person in our example. If this person was using the methods described, they would do several things. First they would identify all the personas involved in the decision. Then they would map where each one is on the buying process map. Actions and activities are now performed tied back to where the customer is. In our example, the car salesperson would help answer questions for both personas. And pull both personas through their buying process with activities mapped to it.
Call to Action:
Scrapping the old traditional sales process for a new one is necessary. We have noticed win rates falling and sales cycles getting longer. Your sales people are struggling keeping up with their buyers. Don’t get caught with an inward out sales process that doesn’t work anymore. Get them enabled now. Or face the realism you might miss the number.
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