Do You Really Need a New Sales Process?
I read a thought-provoking blog post by Dan Waldschmidt today entitled The Lie of a “Better” Sales Process.
In it Dan argues that we spend far too much time looking for a shiny new way of selling that will increase our results – and far too small time getting better at by the perfectly adequate process we already have.
I’d agree with him up to a point.
If you’ve already got a decent sales process or methodology in house, then switching to a new one is going to have small impact on your success. Some methodologies are better suited for selling professional services than others (SPIN, Solution Selling and the ORDER process from Let’s Get Real immediately jump to mind). But agreed a decent methodology, you’re usually far better off getting better at by it than starting again from scratch.
But, there’s an exception to this rule.
And it’s one that, alas, applies to many consultants, coaches, lawyers and other professionals.
If you don’t use a methodology at all – then you need to find a decent one.
If you “just wing it”, you reckon you’re a “natural salesperson” or you use what you’ve learned from your personal experience – the chances are your performance is way below what it could be.
Sales isn’t just an art. It’s been studied based on decades of experience and performance of thousands of sales meetings. And that includes large, complex professional services sales.
If you’re by just your own experience or what you’ve learned from colleagues and you’re up against a competitor by a process based on these decades of experience from thousands of people then you’re going to be outgunned time and time again.
And before you invest in sales training focused on “tips and techniques” – make sure you have a solid process in house too. Otherwise most of what you learn will be pointless. Rather like trying to learn how to “fade” a golf ball when you haven’t got your vital swing sorted.
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How about you? Have you switched sales processes and had fantastic success? Or has it just been a horrendous waste of time? Drop me a comment below, it would be fantastic to share experiences.
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Do You Really Need a New Sales Process? is a post from: Get More Clients in Less Time: Practical Strategies, Proven Results