W. Edwards Deming said "If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing." This is absolutely the case for sales.
Most people who are new to sales often do not realise that there is a process that is generally followed. Their experience of selling has often been seeing a presentation of some new product followed by it arriving on their desk. They never saw the rest of the work that was done, the research done to identify them as a potential customer, the initial meetings with senior management to understand needs, the development of a proposal and the negotiations to close the deal. It is important to be mindful of all the work that is needed to be done to close a deal throughout the process so that you can prepare both yourself and your customer for the close.
Following the process is important to success though it is important not to be too driven by it. Some sales organisations implement a very complicated sales process, trying to cover every possible eventuality that their sales team may face. I believe that we should try to keep things as simple as possible and have a simple sales process that is straightforward to follow.
Customer Research
In this stage, we want to find our potential customers. For products that are sold into a vertical market, like the oil industry or financial services, it is quite easy to list out all of the potential customers we might be able to sell to. For products that can be sold to anyone, we have a much wider potential market and there may be a limit to the customers we can try to sell to. Based on our customer list, we then need to find out about them, what are they doing, could they be a customer, do they look like they might need our product?
Needs Analysis
As defined in The Equation of Sales, no one buys something unless they need it. Our customer research defines our potential customers but not all customers will have an immediate, specific need that your solution can satisfy. We therefore need to identify the customers with the most likely pressing need and work to understand that more. That sets us up to go and have an intelligent conversation with them.
Validation
Based on your research, you hopefully have an idea that your customer is right for you and that they have some needs that would influence a purchase. However, you can never be sure that this is the case. You must go to talk to them to validate these ideas to be sure that this is all correct. Validation is about asking questions and ensuring that the customer does have a need that you can help with.
Proposal
Once we have met with the customer, understood their needs and how we can help them, we now have to define what we are going to actually do for them. This is documented in a proposal.
Too many companies treat the proposal like a quotation, simply listing a number of products and a price. This is the wrong approach. The proposal must sell the solution. This is because the proposal may be read by more people than you have met with. They may be unaware of your product before they see the proposal. As a result, your proposal must be a sales document and be understandable to anyone who reads it.
Presentation
Most people are surprised to see presentation so late in the process. They typically think that the presentation comes near the start. A sales presentation comes nearer the end of the sales process and is essentially a verbal delivery of the proposal. The sales presentation is entirely focussed on the customer and must state what is in the proposal. It is a chance for the customer to ask relevant questions and for the seller to move them towards a close. It may also include more proof of the products being sold, for example a software demonstration or a visit to a laboratory.
Negotiation
If your client starts to negotiate with you, then you should be confident that you have done a good job and they want to buy your solution. People don’t generally negotiate with you unless they actually want to buy. Otherwise, they would just be wasting everyone’s time and that is not usually something people want to do. Wasting time or delaying may be a negotiating tactic but it is still part of the negotiation. At this point, both you and your customer should you be working towards the same end – a successful sale / purchase – as that is what both want.
Closing
Closing is often considered to be the hardest part of the sales process. However, I would contend that it is the easiest, provided that you have done everything well before you get there. All you need to do is to get a signature on the order form and celebrate!
For more information about this, check out The Equation of Sales, https://www.hoolock-consulting.com/book