Do This And Win. Don’t Do This And Lose!

Let me pitch you on how to think about your sales process and why it is important to you as a salesperson and/or a sales manager.

Do This And Win

Your sales process is simply the collection of things that you do that lead to a won deal. It outlines all of the steps between target and close. It outlines all of the outcomes you need to obtain, all the little milestones along the way. And it outlines all of the commitments you need, most of the important ones coming way before you ever get to the final commitment.

When you follow your sales process, you massively improve the value you create for your dream client, and you massively improve the likelihood that you win. That’s why it’s kind of a big deal.

Now look, I’m not suggesting that a sales process isn’t dynamic, that you don’t need some chops to work through the parts where turn-by-turn directions aren’t available. But not following a process is foolish.

Don’t Do This And Lose

When you don’t follow your process, you miss some of the important outcomes that end up costing you deals later.

When you miss the development of needs, you put your solution, your presentation, and your proposal at risk. When you decide that consensus isn’t an outcome you want to worry too much about, you discover later that your “power sponsor” doesn’t have the power, and that the other stakeholders killed the deal.

If there are commitments you need, you need to ask for them. These commitments are what propels your deal forward. Not asking for or obtaining the commitments you need is going to add a big “L” to your record.

Questions

Do you follow your sales process? Be real here. Do you follow your company’s process?

Do you always obtain the outcomes you need to create value for your dream client?

Do you always ask for and obtain the commitments you really need?

Look at the last deal you lost. Now look at your sales process. If you could go back and compete for that deal all over again, what would you change? Is it right there in your process?