Winning Sales by Understanding Your Sales Process -

Your Present Selling System
If you're in a business that is more than a few years old, it is a certainty that someone within that business has developed a system - or a habit - of selling that works for your market - if only in part.  If that system is not the best it could be, then your sales are less than they could be. 

It's really that simple!

Does it stand to reason then that, if you understood the system you have evolved to sell your product (we'll use "product" to include services), you may be able to use that understanding to improve or optimise your system - and increase your sales thereby?

Taking Apart Your Selling System
Every successful sale contained the following element in one proportion or another, executed at some level of competence - or incompetence - such that the sum of the whole was enough to tip the buyer's judgement in your favour.  Becoming consciously aware of each of these elements, and seeking to understand them and their role in what should be a seamless sales process, is one of the two keys to increasing sales.  (What do you think the other key is?)

This template is designed as a Q & A process, so grab a pen and notepad, and start writing.

Those parts are:
1. Identification
What distinguishes someone who may or could buy your product as distinct from someone who won't or can't?  What are the characteristics or identifying factors that someone or some business must have in order to be a potential buyer of your products?

For example, if you wholesale health products for sheep, what is one stand-out factor that will include or exclude someone as a potential buyer?

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2. Qualification
Qualification is a matter of determining whether someone whom you have identified as a potential buyer has the following key credentials: 

a. The need for your product within a reasonable timeframe.  They may have a strong existing relationship with your competitor and have no reason to change right now.
b. The means to buy your product.  They may lack the authority or the funds to act in your favour.  It's a waste of time selling to someone who lacks the authority or influence or funds to complete a sale.

What process do you have for ensuring that the person to whom you are talking has the authority and resources to complete a purchase?

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If you identify someone as having the potential to become a customer, but find they are not ready right now, what process do you have for tracking them, and contacting them periodically to check on their evolving status and/or needs?

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3. Rapport
People buy from people they know, like and trust and every sale has some element of relationship-building.

What is your process for initiating and then building a relationship with your prospective customers? 

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In the short term? 

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Over the long term? 

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4. Needs Analysis
There is no point in talking to someone about something that they don't want or will not become interested in, so every successful sale has a process for determining what the customer wants and then matching that with a product.

Admittedly, in the case of impulse sales, it's almost a case of offering the product and triggering the "want" but we'll assume that you make that offer in the presence of people, some of whom are qualified to buy.

More commonly, selling is a process of accurately determining a person's real wants or needs and then offering a product that they perceive will satisfy that want/need.

What is your process for clarifying your prospective customer's wants?

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What is your process for seeking secondary or related wants that you may be able to satisfy either simultaneously or later?  (McDonald's has a simple system; they ask, "Would you like fries with that?"  What's your "fries" process?)

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5. Proof
At some point in the selling process you will offer proof that the product you say will satisfy the need you have identified, will in fact do that.

Proof can consist of stories of satisfied customers, their testimonials, surveys, statistics, credentials, etc.

What is your proof process?

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6. Feeling
Most of us use proof to satisfy our rational self, but the majority of purchase decisions are made on emotional grounds - we just use "the facts" to rationalise to our friends why we need a 350kW vehicle that weighs 3 tonne and uses more fuel than a tank!  The fact is, that we wanted it for purely emotional reasons then built a rational case for owning it so that we could justify that to ourselves and others.

So, in nearly every instance, a successful selling system will move the buyer to consider how they would feel if they did or did not own or experience the offered product or solution.

What conscious steps do you take in selling to engage your prospective customer's emotions in order to drive the buying decision?

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7. Agreement
At some point in the selling/buying process you will need to reach an agreement to exchange products for value.

What is your process for bringing your selling activities to a successful conclusion?

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We know of over 50 ways to "close" a sale.  Do you have a closing process that is the best for your product, customer and circumstances?

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8.Exploration
Anyone who thinks that the sale ends with the ring of the till was born yesterday, for the best value for both parties often lies beyond the first encounter!

So, what process do you have in place to ensure that the promise of a relationship that you made during your selling activities, is kept after the fact? 

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How do you explore the potential for the next sales, either with this person or someone whom they know and will recommend?

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