Sales is both a science and an art form. The process of Sales can be vague. However, with the correct sales method in a clearly mapped sales process, the vague sales process becomes much clearer to identify.
Learning the critical difference between closing and losing a deal is vital.
What is a sales method?
A sales method is a framework that helps to guide your sales representatives to close clients. It helps to interpret goals and turn them into clear actionable steps for your sales representatives to complete during each stage of the sales process. This creates a sales model.
For example:
Strangers >>> Leads >>> Qualified Leads >>> Opportunities >>> Customers
Guiding the process from Awareness, Consideration and Decision.
Sales Model
A sales model is an approach to selling that outlines how to make a sales method work which is specific to your business.
The sales model defines specific parts of the sales cycle to implement best practices. For example if a sales representative identifies that a client is currently in the early stage of the sales cycle, a demo should be shown.
Every business should develop a unique sales process based on the business's specific customer needs, products and industry position.
12 Best Sales Methods for Small Business in Malaysia
1. N.E.A.T
This qualification framework was developed by the Harris Consulting Group and Sales Hacker.
N = Core Needs
E = Economic Impact
A = Access to Authority
T = Timeline
The idea is to encourage sales representatives to not just focus on the surface-level pain that any prospect faces but to learn why it matters to them as an individual and why it would make a difference in the context of a business.
Next beyond presenting the solution's ROI, helping the buyer to understand the financial impact they're currently on track to realise versus what they will see if they implement your suggestions.
And all this effort would not make sense if you are not speaking to the person making the decision.
Finally, if there aren't any negative consequences to meeting any date, this is no longer a real deadline.
2. Conceptual Selling
This idea presents that customers buy a concept of a solution that a product or service provides and not the product or service itself. The idea is to encourage sales representatives to uncover the prospect's concept of their product and understand their decision-making process.
To do this sales representatives should ask questions that fall into these 5 categories:
- Confirmation questions to reaffirm information.
- New information questions to clarify the prospective customer's concept of the product or service
- Attitude questions to understand a customer personally and discover their connection to the project
- Commitment questions to learn about the customer's investment in the project.
- Basic issue questions to learn about any potential problems.
3. SNAP Selling
- Keep it simple
- Be i(n)valuable
- Always align
- Raise priorities
4. Challenger Sale
According to Dixon and Adamson most B2B sales representatives fit into 1 of 5 personas:
- Relationship builders
- Hard workers
- Lone wolves
- Reactive problem solvers
- Challengers
And they found that the most successful of the 5 were the challengers. Challengers are effective sellers because they implement the following controlled process:
Teach: First, they teach their prospects - not about the product or service in question, but about more significant business problems, new ideas and astute observations.
Tailor: Next, they tailor their communications to their prospect.
Take Control: Finally, they control the sale by not being afraid to push back on their customer and focusing more on the end goal than being liked.
5. The Sandler System
This method prioritizes building mutual trust between both sides. The sales representative acts as an advisor and asks questions to identify challenges in the qualification process.
And during the qualification process sales representatives are trained to raise and assess most obstacles and as part of the discovery when they notice that the solution won't truly address the customer's concerns they won't waste time convincing them.
6. MEDDIC
If your small business intends to implement a more complex enterprise sales qualification process MEDDIC is a good place to start.
Metrics: What's the economic impact of the situation?
Economic buyer: Who controls the budget?
Decision criteria: What are the formal evaluation criteria the business is using to pick a vendor?
Decision process: How will the business pick a vendor?
Identify pain: What are the trigger events and financial consequences of the problem?
Champion:Who is selling on your behalf?
7. Solution Selling
This method focus's on sales representatives leveraging on the benefits a custom solution can provide for the interested prospect. This acknowledges that people are more informed and allows sales representatives to fit the prospect's needs.
8. Spin Selling
Popularised by Neil Rackham, SPIN is an acronym for questions that generally surround 4 elements.
- Situation by aiming to understand the current situation - encouraged through a call or a meeting.
- Problem by getting to the heard of the problem
- The implication by probing to think about the consequences of not solving the problem
- Need-payoff prompts the prospect to consider how the situation would change if their problem wasn't solved.
9. Inbound Selling
This strategy encourages the strategy of meeting prospects where they are by leading prospects through a journey of awareness, consideration and decision-making stages which leads to 4 main actions:
- Identify, by prioritising active buyers rather than passive ones.
- Connect, by connecting with prospects through personalised messages on their socials or at in-person events.
- Explore, by focusing on building rapport and recap at previous conversations.
- Advise, by creating and delivering a personalised sales presentation covering what they've learned covering the needs and the value of the assistance the product or service can provide.
10. Target Account Selling
The idea is that picking the right prospects to engage with is the most crucial aspect of a sales process — that means paying careful attention to and conducting more extensive research during lead qualification and creating buyer personas.
11. Gap Selling
Highlighting the gap between where a prospect's business currently stands and where they would like it to be. Its underlying premise rests on addressing problems as opposed to touting products.
12. Command of the Sale
Selling with urgency, some degree of bravado, extensive product knowledge, and exceptional situational awareness — all aspects of sales that could be described as commanding in their own right.
