Bizlogx February 2006 Newsletter

Here is where our network of affiliates provide answers to various questions submitted by you, our readers. We publish two questions each month. To submit a question, please click here.

Question:
I can see how a standardized, or consultative, sales process is required when selling high tech products, but I think it may be overkill for a mature or commodity business.

Answer:
There are several factors to consider as you determine if a sales process could be applied to your business. Let's explore a few of these factors:

1.	When applying a consultative approach to selling, the sales person focuses first on understanding the customer before proposing products/services. Even when a prospect calls in requesting a specific product, the sales person seeks to understand why they want that product because there may be a better solution. The sales person takes on the role of an advisor once they understand what the customer needs. Is focusing on what the customer needs and why they need it relevant to your business?
2.	Think about a standardized sales process as i) a standard for performance, and ii) a process applied to the selling function. You wouldn't take a team of professional athletes, throw them out onto the field, and tell them to "get out there and win!" So, why would you take a team of professional salespeople, throw them out into the field, and tell them to "get out there and sell!" A process incorporates the "rules and tools" for predictable performance and success. Would your salespeople benefit by having you set the bar for excellent performance and equipping them to get there?
3.	Let's see if a common process can be applied to both a complex selling situation and a more simplistic or transactional selling situation. I would suggest that the process is a constant, but how it is deployed can vary. I'll use a baking analogy. Consider the process for baking a cake. The process includes the instructions, ingredients, and baking tools. Agree? Now let's assume that one person is baking the cake from scratch, i.e. complex, and another person is baking using a cake mix, i.e. simplistic. The process—instructions, ingredients, baking tools—applies to both situations. Certain steps are merely combined or accelerated when baking with a mix. Can you see that a common sales process, deployed differently, can apply to both complex and transactional selling situations?

Answer:
Sales Ready Messaging® teaches sales people what to say at each step in the sales process. We believe the foundation of any sales process is a meaningful dialog between a seller and a prospect about how the prospect can achieve a goal or solve a problem using the seller's offering. The conversation would follow guidelines, which are part of a defined sales process. It would be supported by Sales Ready Messaging®. The “messaging” is the content of the conversation, product usage positioning and delivery strategy. This enables the salesperson, regardless of their age or experience, to relate to the vertical market, job title and goals of the buyer.

For example, a twenty-something salesperson wants to have a meaningful dialogue with a 55-year-old enterprise executive who is considering spending hundreds of thousands — even millions — of dollars on technology that he or she doesn't understand in order to solve a problem he or she has never solved. Sales Ready Messaging® allows the young salesperson to relate to this executive by job title and corresponding job responsibilities. The conversation would focus on the executive's specific goals with respect to the seller's offering