Sales Methodology? Sales Process? Sales Philosophy!

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Lots have been written, some tediously so, about Sales Process and Sales Methodology.  It will make your eyes glaze over. So in this article, I want to clarify what each of these is (in my opinion) and also share a third, more important area of growth for sales driven companies: Sales Philosophy.

Just for clarity, here are my definitions:

Sales Process

It’s the sequence of events that characterize how a customer makes his/her way through from Awareness to Comprehension to Conviction to Action. It is usually discussed in a step-by-step way.

An example: 1) Entry Point, which is how a sales person begins the discussion with a prospect. 2) Needs Assessment, where the sales person asks a series of questions about the customer’s state or circumstance. 3) Education, where the sales person educates the customer as to how similar companies are solving their problem. 4) Alternatives, where the sales person brings a set of alternatives on how he/she might solve the presenting problem. 5) The decision, where the customer makes a decision on moving forward.

Obviously, these will vary a lot depending on your structure, culture, and goals.

Sales Methodology

This is more of an over-arching template, usually branded like Rackham’s SpinSelling, Konrath’s SNAP Selling or Miller-Heiman’s Conceptual Selling. It’s typically the “skill set” portion of selling. How to ask questions, how to position your product in the eyes of the customer, how to frame the value. “How To” is the meme of methodology.

Sales Philosophy

A totally missed and misunderstood element. This deals with the mentality of the seller. How one thinks about one’s self, one’s value, one’s expertise, one’s process, one’s customers, one’s follow up, one’s role in the sales process…etc,

My belief, after 26 years of training teams and coaching people is that a sound philosophy trumps process and methodology every time.

Why? Read more

When You Don’t Feel Like You Matter, Do This

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That’s the number one question we ask ourselves silently, isn’t it? Do I matter? Sometimes we ask it as in ‘Does my life matter?’ More often, its circumstantial. “Do I matter in this particular area of life?”

EVEN-THE-SMALLEST,-WEAKEST,-MOST

I received an email from a blog reader this week that was most touching. Here is an excerpt:

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Bill,

Thanks for all the content publishing you do. It really helps. 

I took a job last year as a sales person for a highly technical service. And I’m lost. I don’t feel like my expertise can measure up to my client’s expertise in what I’m selling. And I don’t think it ever will.  

I’m thinking about changing professions. Either get out of sales. Or get out of this industry. I just don’t feel like I matter much when I’m calling on these high-powered doctors. 

What should I do?

Becca,

San Francisco, CA

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It struck a nerve with me. How often have I felt like my work doesn’t matter? Lots. Read more

7 Tips For Becoming The WORST Sales Person

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OK, you caught me on a bad day. You caught me on a day where I don’t really want to give “tips on excellence.” I’d much rather give tips on how to be the WORST Sales Person. That’s right. How can you be mediocre at selling?

NO-VISION-NO-GOALS

Here they are:

  1. Have No Vision & No Goals. Stop with the goal setting. It’s all a scam. You don’t need goals. Just go out and do it, do it, do it. Pay no attention to your personal goals. Your prospect doesn’t care about your goals, so why should you? Just work extra hard. It’ll all work out.
  2. Be Overly Enthusiastic. Just scream louder. Sell harder. Don’t let the prospect get a word in. Why would you. You know what they need already, so why let them tell you. It’s a waste of time.
  3. Spend Zero Time on Your Message. Just allow the prospect to connect all the dots on how your value will solve their problem – or help them achieve their dreams. They’re smart enough aren’t they? Just tell them how great you are.  Tell them how they’d be an idiot not to buy from you. They’ll surely buy – especially if you keep telling them.
  4. See Everyone as a Prospect. If they’re breathing and even, remotely, resemble a good prospect, sell on! You’re just playing the game of odds. At some point, someone will buy. It’s better to see everyone as a prospect because then you get to put them on your pipeline report – and your manager will be ecstatic about all the opportunity you’re uncovering.
  5. Wing Everything. Have no prospect plan. Have no personal business plan. Have no meeting plan. After all, you’ve been doing this for years so why do you need a process? You have your personality! What more could you need?
  6. Forget The Follow Up. You know follow-up is overrated, don’t you? No need to recap what happened in the sales call. Surely, they took notes. It’s just a waste of time.
  7. No More Questions. You have what you have so why do you care about the prospect’s pain and goals? It’s not like you’re going to change your offer based on what they say, are you? No. So ditch the questions.
  8. BONUS TIP: Spend no time at all on developing your self. Forget skill-building. Forget the mental side of selling. Forget working on how to handle difficult circumstances.  Sit back and watch one more episode of “The Bachelor” instead of working on yourself. After all, this is all about your product, isn’t it?

Read more

Are You Doing These 3 Things To Influence The Customer Journey?

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I had a friend call it ‘the customer ride.’ It’s that customer journey that we’re all trying to figure out. 

Courtesy of LandRover MENA. The Journey To Beijing

Courtesy of LandRover MENA. The Journey To Beijing

It’s something that every sales leader and sales person should pay attention to. It’s the customer journey. That path that your prospect takes on the way through the sales cycle.

We sales-types love to vault over some pretty important elements as we seek to close business. This post is about influence and how you can behave in a manner consistent with how your customer buys. This should be the first step your sales trainer should have you complete, prior to any skills work.

Here are three things you can do to influence it: Read more

What Abraham Lincoln Knows About Your Story

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bill caskey abraham lincolnThe story goes that Leonard Swit was a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s. Read more

Are We Sales People or Are We Leaders? Caskey Interviewed

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I’m always happy to do radio interviews especially with someone as good as Pete De La Torre on his talk show on WZAB, 880AM in Miami.

http://www.petedelatorre.com/blog/radio-show/

His questions are always poignant and well thought out. Here is a 20-minute clip from my interview where I talk about practice, high achievement, how to be less of a sales person and more of a leader, and other notions that hit us during the talk.

Enjoy.

How’s Your Mental Fitness?

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FebLinkedinBanner
I ask that because we’ve been inundated in January with personal goals, resolutions, financial objectives…but where is the talk about the ONE THING that makes all of that possible: a fit mind?

We’ve decided to make February Mental Fitness month and we’d like you to take the Challenge.

Read and act on each one of our daily tips during the month. You can Follow our Company page to get access to each Challenge; Go here on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/943672

Naturally, we’d love you to share it with friends and offer up your comments.

Do this for one month, and let us know the result!

LinkedIn Group Question and Answer

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The Advanced Selling Podcast with Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale

In today’s episode of the Advanced Selling Podcast Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale answer some questions sent in by members of the Advanced Selling Podcast LinkedIn Group. The two important questions answered were first off, “why are certain Challengers more likely to be the top sales people and are they the future of new business?” The other question is “do you need to have another reason to call your client or is it okay to just check in?”

Make sure to join the Advanced Selling Podcast Linkedin Group and post your questions today. We would love to hear from you.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

  • We’re mobile! Get the podcast app in the iTunes store. Search “Advanced Selling” for the free download. App listeners will get something a little extra each week.
  • Interested in what your fellow podcast listeners have to say? Join our LinkedIn group and find out.

Download This Podcast

Hot Tip Thursday Episode #2 – Calendar End Dates

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Hot Tip Thursday Episode #1In the second episode of Hot Tip Thursday, Bryan Neale tells how to make your deals run smoother by using Calendar End Dates. Don’t miss this episode or the next, free of charge to all users.

 

 

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