by Andrew Milbourn, CEO of Kiss The Fish
If you don’t have a common process for sales in your team then quite simply, you are allowing your team to fail or at best, not consistently achieve their potential.
Selling is about human interaction which as you will know is infinitely variable. If you leave your client’s contact schedule to flex according to each of the team’s habits and/or ideas, they won’t be performing to the max every time they meet someone even if they are usually good salespeople.
The best sales teams all follow a common process – if it’s good enough for Proctor and Gamble then it’s good enough for your team.
Here is our world-class sales process – explained for you to deploy in your sales teams.
We call it the “I KNOW PROCESS” and it’s all about coaching a client to buy the right thing for their business.
- I KNOW ME
The way you show up (that is the way you think about who you are and what you are selling) will determine how successful you are going to be in any sales contact meeting or call. Great selling starts with some self-awareness, knowing what habits you have, what you look like, and what messages you communicate when you walk into any room.
SELLING REQUIRES THAT THE BEST VERSION OF YOU TURNS UP EVERY TIME AND ONLY THE BEST VERSION OF YOU.
- I KNOW YOU
Great selling relies on your understanding that it isn’t about what you have to say about your product. It is about why the buyer should be buying something and this is the essence of selling. Most sales conversations end up very quickly discussing product and price. The commoditization only happens because salespeople go into meetings thinking about how they need to sell. It forces communication into a negative experience for any buyer and becomes combative very quickly.
I Know You means I have researched your business and I’ve analyzed how I might be able to help you make more money. Of course, this can only be guessed prior to a meeting or a phone call but I need to build trust quickly, and that only happens if I gain an emotional connection with you. It is a process that uses ‘feeling’ based questions to build rapport and then value questions to understand why a buyer might buy etc. This section requires an understanding of how to win trust fast followed up with a discussion around the issues facing the business and the person who is buying.
- YOU KNOW YOU
This is a section that no other sales process contains. It is the detail of customer value discussed through five ‘must ask’ questions. But they will only be meaningful if the early conversation is handled properly and professionally.
- How do you measure that? (the problem value)
- What is it now?
- What should it be – what does great look like?
- What is the value of the difference?
- What is the value of the difference over time?
- YOU KNOW ME
This is the salesperson’s presentation or ‘solution’ match. Now we fully understand the client’s requirements and have helped them define true value, we need to build desire and make sure the client buys the right solution. We will get interested which may be stated as multiple objections, but these can easily be dealt with if we are there to help advise the client and coach them. The skills of You Know Me are all in storytelling and being genuine (meaning we should be there to help the buyer buy, not sell whatever we can at any price we can).
- WE KNOW WE
When the client has fully understood the unique value that the pitch contains, they will really want to work with the salesperson and their company. This is great selling in which the salesperson is an extra resource working for the client and charging for it. Salespeople fear the close and they think that you can sell through trickery or that there is some sort of magic formula to make closing easier. Well, there isn’t, but there is a great process and if you follow the steps then building desire is more likely, and being able to close is merely a feature of your selling. It’s easy if you follow the process correctly.
So, there you have it, our sales process is shown in steps. Now of course this may prove difficult to implement through your team. So, to make sure you understand it fully and how to work with it, drop me an email or get in touch with one of the team who can help you accelerate your sales growth.
Andrew@kissthefish.net – For general inquiries and those in the Southwest of England
Colin@kissthefish.net – For London and the Southeast of England
Terry@kissthefish.net – For the Midlands
David.Powell@kissthefish.net – For the North of England
Andy@kissthefish.net – For the East of England
