Sales is rocket science. And just as rocket science is built from a foundation of physical and mathematical laws and principles, sales can be distilled to its very simple laws and principles.
While branded selling “systems” and “approaches” serve several purposes (they help differentiate sales books and training material in order to sell them better as well as assist in articulating a message so it’s easily learned and/ or implemented) the simple laws and principles underlying them all have remained relatively unchanged since the beginning of time.
Here’s the bottom line for your records – fluff removed. Depending on what you sell, parts of the process may not be needed and some parts might need repeating.
Use it as a guide for the in-house sales development of your team or for your personal sales skill development (you do work on your most valuable asset, don’t you?) Focus on one area each week or month. Print it out. Send it out. Build from it.
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The sales process
Assuming you’ve identified the features & benefits of your product/ service – and you’ve identified and defined your target market – the sales process begins…
- Prospect
- Interview
- Analyze needs
- Present
- Negotiate
- Close
- Service & follow-up
Throughout the sales process, the salesperson should be continually…
- positively expectant
- enthusiastic
- asking questions
- listening
- qualifying the opportunity (for both parties)
- discovering hot buttons (what’s in it for them)
- building rapport
- establishing trust
- developing credibility
- developing a valuable relationship
- addressing objections
- planning next action steps
- confirming understanding
- asking for referrals
- seeking additional opportunities to serve & sell
- evaluating responses & results (positive/ negative)
- affirming decisions (minimizing buyer’s remorse)
The Skill Of Selling – Part 2 | BigFishMLM.net says:
[...] Sales Process Defined – Just Sell [...]
2 February 2010
chicago web design says:
great article, although I dont agree about sales being rocket science, but hey, to each their own. Thanks poster
20 January 2010
Alen Majer says:
The secret of being successful in selling is the ability to transmit your energy and your enthusiasm about your product or service. If you fail to do that, you will not sell.
29 December 2009
Matt says:
The key to making all of this work is “listening”. No matter how great your process, presentation, or relationships, if you listen well and know your product/solution well, you should always be able to make a business case, or just as important recognize when there isn’t one and move on to the next opportunity.
19 November 2009
Jorge Gomez says:
The most important part of the sale process is the closing. It defines whether or not the customer is really into buying your product/service. whenever you do a close on a customer, you will either get an “ok, let’s do it”, or another objection/buying sign.
12 November 2009
Michael Elam says:
The most important part of the sales link is empathy. If you cannot make the cogent case by emulating empathy from the customer this will not work consistently.
6 August 2009
Marion Mariatu Joe says:
I want to be getting more tips on the sales process, as I’m a sales person. I appreciate this tips, but I want to get more and more so as my company will get more revenue.Thanks
5 August 2009
Keith Deal says:
Wow, this really breaks it down to bare bones! When you said”no fluff”, you weren’t kidding!Great job on making the sales process so easy to dissect. I have come to expect nothing less than the best from your website. Thanks for helping me load my tool belt with these simple yet effective tools.
1 August 2009