Is Your B2B Sales Process Dead or Alive?

It's time for another edition of the?Art & Science of Complex Sales!?If you're new, this is where we talk about all things related to putting HOW you sell at the core of your business -- from sales process execution to best practices in sales coaching to driving winning behaviors to enabling growth in your sales organization.

Every week, I share ONE idea or strategy that sales leaders and teams can use to enable consistent growth for their organization. Whether you're a sales leader, sales consultant, sales manager, sales enablement expert or sales team member ready to accelerate your performance -- you'll find one action item that you can implement each week to get you one step closer to your goals.

My mission is to elevate the sales profession with technology and partnerships, so that we can all improve our sales effectiveness and raise the bar in sales.

Now, onto this week's topic! ????

Is your sales process dead or alive?

Adjusting to buyer behavior is important. However, when taken too far salespeople become reactive rather than proactive, responding to customer demands rather than leading the way.

How can you break the trend? Implementing a sales process based on what your top performers do differently will go a long way.

Do your salespeople share?too much?information with prospects too soon, schedule countless follow-ups and have trouble gaining commitment?

Are they agreeing to discounts, producing stale pipelines and poor win rates?

If so, your salespeople are not driving opportunities in line with a well-thought-through sales process and methodology; your buyers are in the driver’s seat.

But we’re told to follow the buying process?

With the internet and the rise of inbound marketing, the sales community has been flooded with information on how to align with the buying process in order to win more business. If you only produce and share the right content, customers will be banging on your door looking to buy…

Not happening for your sales team? I suggest sales leaders use caution before jumping on the bandwagon, or you’ll risk ending up with a?deadbeat pipeline .

You know better

In complex b2b sales environments, your salespeople are offering products and services with high strategic value. Customers might not even know what?process to follow to achieve the best possible outcome. If your company?has?helped similar companies,?your?experience and expertise can add a lot of value that should not be underestimated.

Your prospects have an idea about what they want and need, but if you have not influenced their perception of their current state and desired future, someone else certainly has. All too often, sales people are just reacting to the questions and requests from buyers. Don’t do it. It won’t increase your chances of winning. Instead, be proactive and make sure to understand your prospect’s pains and goals. Dig deeper, get under their skin, short-circuit their default behaviors and lead the process.

“Having a process” is not enough

All too often, the sales process is either a drop-down in a CRM, a laminated piece of paper or a PDF created after-sales training sessions. If this is how you do it, rest assured that it is not being used in daily operations. It’s likely costing you millions each year as a result of poor onboarding, deals that fall between the cracks, and buyers who take advantage of your salespeople.

Your?top-performing salespeople ?most likely have a way of approaching and working with prospects, which improves their outcomes.

Have you bottled their magic sauce? Do they know how they do it? Start mapping out the steps they are taking and draw out the best practices for your team.

And no, it’s not just about the phases of the sales process. Your less effective performer will need to do a lot of learning to implement this in practice and providing them with a map is the first step to improving performance.

Make your sales process come to life!

A living sales process drives the right sales behaviors, including best practices and educational steps. There are clear outcomes and milestones to achieve and it helps both sales people and front-line sales managers visualize and understand every opportunity in the pipeline. It provides the analytics to help you iterate and constantly improve, while also allowing for a methodology and common terminology to be weaved in. Over time, your sales team will be what makes the difference.?

Start investing in solid sales infrastructure today.

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This article was first published on the Membrain blog here: https://www.membrain.com/blog/is-your-sales-process-dead-or-alive