Successful Salespeople - Sell with Passion and Manage by Process - Control and Pipeline Management

Control and Qualification.

In the previous articles a lot was said about giving the potential customer control. This is somewhat different to some conventional sales training where salespeople are taught to maintain control of the customer. The control that we have given to the customer is a genuine control that will encourage our prospect to communicate openly with us. With the information they share, we get to understand the customer better and as a result we can add value effectively. More importantly, the main focus of our sales activity up to this point is to encourage the customer to develop a positive relationship with positive emotional feeling, security and trust. At this point though we need to get a measure of control if we are going to invest of our time and resources to pursue the sale. This step of the PPSS Sales Process is an activity that is done by the salesperson where investment of time to conclude the sale may run into months. A quick mental qualification should also be done in sales situations with short “cycles” before the salesperson moves into the presentation stage.

Every sale has minor and major decision points for both the buyer and the seller.

If we plan and prepare, a prospective sale will reach different progression points or steps at which either the buyer and / or seller has to make certain decisions. At the end of the first interview we, as the salesperson, must use the PIE sales aid to decide if there is a valid opportunity to do profitable business with the prospect that we have interviewed.

PIE?

Post Interview Evaluation If we are involved in the type of selling where we do not expect to or do not sign orders at the end of the first interview, (items such as Computer systems, Air-conditioning systems, Bridges, Industrial Machines all require a long sales process of call backs, presentations, specification, quotation and so on) then the Post Interview Evaluation sheet at the end of the QP4 will help us to be professional and efficient. It is the “Post Flight Log” that has to be completed after the interview.

We use the PIE to move the status of our “prospect” to that of “potential customer”. PIE is an appraisal of how our offering lines up with the customer’s desires and needs and helps us formulate a realistic pipeline. I have sat in many sales meetings where a forecast, a budget, and a pipeline is manufactured based on the salespeople’s feelings at the time of the meeting. All in the meeting respond to the stimulus of management pressure, the big budget number on the board, and the additional incentives offered by management to make the numbers. Millions of imaginary dollars are manufactured and rationalized in such meetings. Many a “professional” career is ruined two months after such a meeting because the forecast was constructed based on the emotion of the moment. If we walk out of our interview and fill in the information on the PIE chart and use it to construct an objective pipeline we are being professional. If we cannot fill in the information on our PIE chart we are not in the transaction. We have to go back and get to understand all the issues listed on the pie chart. At the end of the interview ask “Do I understand my value proposition in relation to the customer situation?

PIE Qualification Tool.

Maps onto an X and Y axis (arranged so that the axis form a “telescopic crosshair” with value “10” in the middle a “0” on the outside of each of the four axis) the following four measures:

 Customer need and reason to act  Our ability to fulfill  Our unique value proposition  Customer Budget for the Ideal The PIE qualification tool maps the customer requirement against our ability to fulfill and our unique value proposition. It ensures that the salesperson is able to identify the customers need and compelling reason to act, and map or translate that need against the value of whatever it is we are selling. The outer values of the X and Y axis are zero, while the center point is 10. When mapping customer needs and requirements against our value proposition we should really end up with a set of points close to the center if we are going to move our prospect to a validated opportunity. If we score less that 5 in any of the quadrants we should seriously consider not pursuing the opportunity because either:

 The customer has no need or compelling reason to act  The customer has no budget  We do not have a strong value proposition For lengthy sales engagements we can even use the PIE sales aid with the customer to move to the next phase of the “PPSS Sales Process” which is – “Propose and agree on a course of action.”

In this step of the “PPSS Sales Process” we define the steps that both parties might need to take as we engage in the sale and evaluation process. The Action plan is a “stop-go” progression plan on a time line that defines both the buyer’s and seller’s activities and actions. It’s a great Sales Aid as it further qualifies your potential customer when your share the plan with them. It commits them to evaluation actions of your product or solution and also defines the criteria at different points under which either party can de-commit.

So at the end of our first interview we could script our qualification question as follows.

“Would it be acceptable that once we have established (the benefit and validity of the ideal situation) . . . that we proceed with the following – (then outline the proposed action plan)?

Of course if the customer is not open to such a course the best is to get them to tell us what course they see the sale taking. If the steps that they suggest offer no real threat to us we agree and confirm in writing the sales “blueprint.” Confirm at what points demonstrations will be done and at what points proposals will be drawn up. Explain up front if possible the level of persons that you see having to participate in these exercises. In sales situations that have extended lead times we have to continually revisit both the sales plan and the needs, wants and desires expressed by our prospect to ensure that nothing has changed. This is all part of the qualification process in sales with long lead times.

We must decide whether or not the prospect qualifies as an opportunity or lead that we are going to pursue. We must decide what course of action we are going to take. What investment we are prepared to make in order to secure the business. We must analyze whether or not we understand the customers needs, wants and desires. Either at the end of the first interview or as soon as possible thereafter. We should share this plan with the potential customer. Agree on the different points and times when decisions have to be made. If there are to be demonstrations, presentations, proposals, fact finding missions and so on, it is an enormous advantage to both parties, if up front, there is a mutually agreed “stop-go” plan.

We are now at step 4 of the PPSS Sales Process where we need to qualify the opportunity.

As we have not at this stage presented our product or services, but mainly asked for opinions and explored options, which outlines the ideal situation, it stands to reason that we cannot have received any objections to the product and services that we are selling. We will see that the points at which we Present and Handle Objections are very important. We should not, as a general rule, handle each and every objection as it comes along. We definitely should not “Present” our product, solution or service until we have established:

1. A requirement / a need /want/desire 2. In the case of high value capital goods sales we need to understand the prospects compelling reason to act. What business opportunity or threat is driving the purchase? The value to the customer.

3. That we have positive relationships with the all the right stakeholders, before we start “selling”. We may encounter resistance and reservations to the course of action we are proposing, which is not the same as an objection to our sale. It is then at this point that we have to qualify our potential customer and decide whether or not we are going to move them on from “prospect” to “potential customer”. It’s only after we have spent time deciding whether or not our potential customer has a strong need or desire for our product that we will move on the our next sales activity which is Presenting. If our potential customer offers resistance to the proposed course of action we must establish the cause of their concern. Have we identified a need and/or desire? Is there a need? Do they qualify? For what reason are they not comfortable with exploring moving from where they are now to a more ideal situation?

This can take seconds, minutes, or months - depending on our industry and products.

One word of caution. If our customer wants to follow another course of action that will advance the sales process but which we haven’t planned. . . let them. I had the following experience.

My customer did not want to come to a demonstration of my product but wanted to contact a customer reference of the product I was selling. My customer asked me to wait in reception while he phoned the contact that I had given. After a very short while I was invited back and informed that my reference was unavailable and that he (my prospect/customer) would only decide after having spoken to the contact. My customer had shared with me that his need was urgent and we both knew that I had a six week delivery time. I asked; “If I understand the situation correctly you intend to proceed with the transaction if you get a favorable report from the contact I gave?”

The answer was “Yes”. My response “How do you feel about documenting the details of the contract with a cancellation date that will allow you to make your inquiries. Should you receive a favorable report we will already have actioned the order on our side and there will be no delivery delays. If you don’t like what you hear you will be able to cancel the transaction without any penalty?”

Reply. “Do it”

Once we have qualified our now potential customer, we come to the point in our Sales Process where we will Present whatever it is we sell. At this stage of the PPSS Sales Process (not before) we take the opportunity to show how what it is we are selling will move our prospect from their current situation to the ideal situation. We will see that our Presentation skill is the most important skill that we as salespeople have to develop. This is because it will be in our Presentation that our customer will confirm a stronger desire, or develop a desire for that which we are selling.

Remember at this stage all we have created (or identified) is a desire for the ideal situation. The Presentation is where we will link the desire for the ideal situation to our product or service.

Note: The PIE tool and Win Plan can be incorporated at the Back of the QP4 tool. With this document (physical or electronic) all relevant information about the customer / prospect and opportunity is in one place.



Successful Salespeople - Sell with Passion and Manage by Process - Control and Pipeline Management - To learn more about this author, visit James Gracey's Website.

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