6 Steps to an Effective Sales Process

by Dave Kahle

All too often, salespeople are directed by the urgencies of the moment:  A lead pops up, a customer calls with a problem or some paperwork to which you need to attend.  They find themselves busily pursuing an agenda created by other people.  They are busy, but too often with the wrong things.

     The best salespeople, however, understand that sales happen as a result of methodically managing people through certain well-defined steps in a sales process.  They have refined that process to the specifics of their selling situation, reflecting the uniqueness of their customers and their offerings, while at the same time building it on the infrastructure of the fundamental sales process.  Here is an excerpt from my book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime, which describes that sales process.

Step One:  Engage with the right people 

“Engage” means to interact in some kind of communication.  It can be face-to-face, over the phone, via email, or via a website.  “Right people” means those people who have a need or interest in your product, and for whom the timing is right.

     If you don’t engage with the right people, you spend all of your time in the wrong place.  Sort of like trying to plant carrot seeds on a cement sidewalk.  You can do everything else right, but it won’t matter.

Too much to do, and not enough time in which to do it?

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Step Two:  Make them comfortable with you

If they are going to believe what you say, you have to be somewhat credible, and they have to feel at least a bit comfortable with you.  If they aren’t comfortable with you, they won’t spend much time with you, and the time they do spend will be guarded and tentative.  They may be convinced to do business with you because of the fundamental attractiveness of your offer, but if they are not comfortable with you, it will be action taken against the grain.  They will be forever uncomfortable and eager to find a replacement.

On the other hand, if they are comfortable with you, they won’t mind spending time with you.  They’ll be much more open to sharing the information that is necessary for you to do a good job of crafting a solution.  They’ll believe what you have to say.  You’ll get the benefit of the doubt and they’ll be eager to share future opportunities with you.

Step Three:  Find out what they want

Selling is not manipulating people so that they take something they don’t want.  It is, instead, finding out what they already want, and appealing to that interest.  The best salespeople excel at this step in the process.

I believe this step is the heart of selling – the essence of what sales are all about.  I know that flies in the face of the routine practices of multitudes of salespeople, who believe that the end-all of their focus is to push their product.

You can proclaim the merits of your product to willing and unwilling listeners and web page visitors far and wide, attempting to sway them with the powerful features and... READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE