Sales Process

Is your process thinking about the new economics

Is your process thinking about the new economics

Do you find yourself giving 40% discounts in the second week of March, in July? if the answer is yes, then it is time to succumb to the current economic state and surrender. If not, what are you doing to keep sales alive?
If it is too late and you are forced to drop price to [...]

Process Schmocess

Process Schmocess

During the late 90s and early 00s I made my living improving sales processes. I lived and breathed process maps, metrics, re-engineering workshops and implementation plans.
So what I’m going to say may sound a little sacreligious – but over the years I’ve come to believe that sales processes just aren’t that important.
Now don’t get me [...]

How Do You Make an Orange?

How Do You Make an Orange?

Image via Wikipedia

“How do you make an orange?”
When I ask business owners and groups of sales professionals that question, I get a lot of different responses (as well as the occasional mystified look):
“I buy them at the store.”
“I pick them off a tree.”
“I start with a seed.”
“So what you’re telling me,” I [...]

The Sales Process – Backbone of the Business

The Sales Process – Backbone of the Business

We are surrounded by processes everyday. When you get up out of bed you are going through the process of waking up, the everyday process of breathing is a set of organic processes, when you turn the ignition key of a car you are starting a very complicated process of mechanics a by-product of which [...]

In Sales, Process is Everything...

In Sales, Process is Everything…

Image by b_trnavsky via Flickr

In Sales, process is everything. By nature I am not a process-oriented guy, I am more of the fly by the seat of my pants gut-reaction type. However, not everyone works well like this (including me). I learned early in my sales career that processes, as much as I hate [...]

Give Your New Sales Process Plenty of Time Before Giving Up on It

Give Your New Sales Process Plenty of Time Before Giving Up on It

Have you ever tried to implement a new sales process with prospective customers in your sales career? If you have ever sold for a living, you have. You have to start somewhere, right?
Whether you were just a new salesperson or were just trained on a new way of selling, we all take a [...]

Taking The Mystery Out Of The Sales Process

Taking The Mystery Out Of The Sales Process

A lot of sales people and organizations talk about a sales process, but many really don’t get it, and as a result end up doing more harm than good through the motion of implementing one.
A good sales process is a series of logical steps, executed in sequential order that help the buyer and seller go [...]

The Secret to a Wildly Successful Sales Process

The Secret to a Wildly Successful Sales Process

What is at the core of your current sales process?

The Sales Process:  Working with Customer Responses

The Sales Process: Working with Customer Responses

Sellers are trained to overcome objections.  As a result, they don’t listen carefully to what is being said to them by a prospect and they assume that everything said is an objection.  My observation is that prospects make comments that can be classified into the following four categories:
1) Statements
2) Concerns
3) Blow offs and
4) Objections
A statement is [...]

Sales Process often stifles sales

Sales Process often stifles sales

The title of this post may lead you to believe I’m against sales process which couldn’t be further from the truth… I’m all for sales process and what’s more; I earn a living out of helping companies implement sales methodology and sales process.
The problem that I often see is that most companies use and abuse [...]