Most sales processes are vendor-focused. They define what the sales rep is supposed to do in order to move the sale process forward. (For an example of this see my previous post “Is Your Sales Process Obsolete?“) As such, they try to shoehorn customer behavior to the wishful thinking of sales management.
Sales process guru Michael Bosworth believes that such “vendor-focused” sales processes cause problems, confusion and delay. He believes that sales processes should be built around the stages of decision-making that take place within the customer organization.
If I understand him rightly, the ideal sales process might looks something like this:
- SUSPECT. A target individual has become curious (via your demand creation efforts) how you have helped a similar firm use your offering to achieve a goal or solve a problem. The rep’s response: a “warm” call to that customer.
- PROSPECT. The target individual has shared a goal with or admitted a problem to the sales rep. The rep’s response: a proposed solution to the problem.
- CHAMPION. The target individual has visualized how the sales reps offering can help him achieve a goal or solve a problem and has agreed to give the rep access to key players needed to get the offering sold, funded and implemented. The rep’s response: meetings with key players.
- OPPORTUNITY. The target, along will all key players, has agreed as a group to evaluate your offering, after having collaborated with your rep on a written sequence of events with multiple go/no go checkpoints. Response: move the sale through the go/no checkpoints.
- CUSTOMER. The target’s firm has agreed in writing to purchase the offering.
What I like about this structure is that it keeps the sales process tied to the customer’s decision-making process, with the sales rep as the master facilitator rather than the master manipulator.
Anybody want to weigh in on whether this is a good idea or not. Our (unscientific) poll in my earlier post (”Is Sales Process Worth It?“) suggests that most companies don’t have much of sales process in any case.
Would a process structured around the decision-making of the buyer make sales process more useful and hence more popular?
