Do you have a sales methodology that your team follows? Let’s step back. What is a sales methodology? Sales best practices? A sales process? Documented steps/procedures in the sale? Sales skills? Tools? All of the above?
A sales methodology is the system a sales organization follows to win business. In one sense (not the best sense), every sales organization and/or salesperson has a sales methodology whether it is the remnants of one that had once been put in place, the norm people follow, or what a particular salesperson has figured out for him or herself.
An effective sales methodology is one that a sales organization has thought out clearly and provides it to its salesforce. The differences between a sales methodology that just exists because a company or most salespeople pretty much operate that way and a highly effective sales methodology boils down to six critical success factors.
Documentation: Map out clear steps as a guide for salespeople to follow/repeat.
Best Practices: Embed it with what your top performers consistently do.
Training: Prepare your salesforce to ensure they have the knowledge and skills needed to carry out the steps.
Tools: Give salespeople and sales managers tools, such as easy to use CRMs, planners, access to research … to make them more productive.
Execution: Follow it and coach to it.
Assessment: Ongoing feedback, tweaking and refinement.
The goal of having a sales methodology is to win more deals and to win them more quickly.
The initial question was do you have a sales methodology. The second question is if not should you have one?
Take the time to map out the steps it takes to identify and convert a lead into a customer. Make it a collaborative process with marketing team and your top performers. It is more than worth the effort. 10% of your reps will do fine without a clear sales methodology. But 80% will do better with one.
Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com
Posts
