Most who sell follow some sort of process, or try to.
Maybe it works well because you follow it, or maybe you
follow it because it works – but both have to happen - consistently!
Taking the process apart to look at it can be very
productive. Who knows what you might
find if you do?
Maybe there’s a step that just doesn’t work. The results or outcomes you want just don’t happen
when you follow that part of the process.
That’s GREAT news! The first step
in fixing a problem is finding it – and if you find one broken part in your
sales process, that may be what’s holding you back.
Maybe there’s a step that’s often skipped, like a follow-up
note. When you skip a step, you’re
breaking the process yourself. How many
sales are lost for a simple missed step?
Maybe there’s a step that only a very few can do with any
skill. That’s great news, too! Just isolate and
model how the best do exactly that part – and then "clone" that excellence for others. (The cloning's a separate skill from selling, which I'll cover in another blog)
On Jan 23 Scott Plum and I are going to walk through some
sales processes we each know, from various sources, so everybody can see -- they’re all
built on the same frame, in theory at least.
The difference is in execution -- how whatever process really gets used. What matters is what the salesperson actually does "in the moment" - and that's not always the same process they espouse.
Then we’ll take a volunteer from the participants, and do “real-time
mapping” to document exactly how his/her sales process works. I’ll use XSOL software to do this rapid redesign exercise so everyone can see how the process fits together and works.
What usually happens in a conversation like that, about how
a process really, really works, is this:
As it gets more specific, some things just pop out as
obvious opportunities for improvement.
Some things might turn out to be broken, redundant, or waste. Sometimes there's a Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious - which can be really valuable.
Or it might be that one attendee will be absolutely vindicated that she / he has the
perfect sales process, combined with flawless execution.
And if that happens, I’ll wonder why they’re in a sales
process workshop, instead of on a beach in Cancun…
Here’s a link to register for it: RSVP – Click Here