The discipline of a sales process allows everyone in the selling organization to have useful discussions about a customer, and get the best information on which to base their decisions. They can share information and insights, collaborate, and report progress. Their actions have more meaning. The selling organization is more productive in its activities and the whole company is more productive in its business.
Each step of a sale requires selling activities that will help achieve the targeted customer outcome. Using customer outcomes as targets, sellers can identify critical actions that will move them steadily toward reaching those outcomes and moving a step ahead in closing the opportunity. At Critical Path Strategies, we encourage our clients to focus on five specific areas to segment activities necessary to achieve the customer outcome from a specific sales stage.
- Demonstrate company’s capabilities
- Communicate value of those capabilities
- Build trust-based relationships
- Establish clear, fair, commercial governing principles
- Engage correct buying and selling team members at appropriate time
With a general framework for the selling process clearly established, sellers can tap their best performers to discover what works best for them at each stage of the process.
* What do One-Percenters do to reach their goals successfully?
* What are the characteristics of their most successful sales pursuits?
* How do they overcome hurdles?
* Are there repeatable patterns in their sales activities?
Criteria for Excellence
* TRUST your pipeline – Clients continue to validate our TRUST framework as the opportunity management discipline within their selling organizations. (TRUST = Technology fit, Relationship, Utility [value], Strategy, Team)
* Scope – Some sales activities may require the participation of non-sales participants. Sales process activities must properly reflect the required range of participation.
* Usability – No process, however solid or sophisticated, is worth much if the people for whom it is designed do not use it. The sales process needs to be simple, memorable, and useful for all participants.
* Usefulness – Sales process activities must be useful and valuable for sellers in their work. They will be ignored if they are overcomplicated.
If the above criteria have been met, there is just one final filter to ensure a powerful, predictable, and optimized sales process.
* Scalable – Accommodates all types of selling situations » Read more: Best Practices That Support Your Sales Process
