Sales Methodologies
A primer on the top sales methodologies and ways to integrate them into a sales plan or strategy
The Importance of a Sales Methodology
A good methodology is the backbone of successful sales in organizations or companies. It provides sales representatives (sales reps) and managers with a repeatable, scalable and predictable way of operating that ultimately determines the organization’s ability to achieve process maturity and improve win rates.
S.P.I.N. Selling
What is S.P.I.N. Selling?
It is a sales theory developed through a research study made by Huthwaite Inc. This research of about 35,000 sales calls, showed that the buyers tend to strongly believe in the product when they see it on their own as a solution for some problem they have.
Why is it Useful?
The seller makes the customer reflect and conclude by themselves that they need the product.
The customer is triggered to know more about the product and the chances to buy it increases.
IMPORTANT! Rather than telling prospects why purchasing a product or service is a good idea and what the impact would be, the goal of the S.P.I.N. sell is to guide prospects to these realizations on their own.
Situation
The main objective of this phase for a seller is to learn more about the prospect’s current situation, meaning these all what is related to: Resources, Process, and Results.
REMEMBER that this phase is crucial for you to see a 360° view of where they are. Otherwise, you won’t understand their pains versus your average customers' or their immediacy.
Problem
At this stage, you must identify potential areas of opportunity. In other words: what gap isn’t being filled yet, and where is the prospect dissatisfied? They may be unaware they have a problem, so delve into the common places your solution adds value through questions that can help them figure out the missing pieces.
Implication
Once you’ve identified an issue, figure out how serious it is. Implication questions reveal the depth and magnitude of your prospect’s pain point; this way, they reach for the solution rather than you pushing it. Simultaneously giving you valuable information for customizing your message and instilling urgency in the buyer.
Need-Pay Off
Need-Pay off questions encourage the prospect to explain your product’s benefits in their own words, which is far more persuasive than listening to you describe those benefits. These questions focus on the value, importance, or utility of the solution.
NOTE! Make sure your Need-Pay off questions don’t highlight issues your product can’t solve. For instance: if you help corporate recruiting teams identify potential engineering candidates, you shouldn’t ask about the impact of hiring better marketers.
Bonus: Effective CRM
In order for S.P.I.N. Selling to be effective, it requires to follow an efficient CRM solution. For that you can do the following:
As you gather data throughout your questioning, you need to record it so that can be instantly retrieved, as you make your way through the sales cycle.
The answers to your S.P.I.N. questions fall into one of the steps of your sales process. Your CRM solution should exactly mirror your sales process so the answers fall into the same places, every time.
Your sales process stages should be mapped out as precisely as possible, with the S.P.I.N. questions that should be asked in each stage, the answers that need to be obtained in each stage, and the buyer and seller actions laid out that will result in the sale moving to the next stage.
N.E.A.T. Selling
What is N.E.A.T. Selling?
This is a framework that is focused on understanding the prospect, getting information in front of the right people and providing them with a compelling reason to buy your product by the time expected. N.E.A.T. stands for: core needs, economic impact, access to authority, and timeline (compelling event).
Why is it Useful?
It is a very useful guide on what sales professionals should bear in mind when speaking with potential clients.
The developers based it from their experience in the field and years of observing and working with inside sales professionals in all types of sales organizations.
Needs
What are your prospects core needs?
This is typically represented by focusing on features and benefits of the solution itself, aka surface pains. What our customers want is for us to understand their core pains. This means understanding why solving the pain matters to them both as individuals and as an organization.
We, as salespeople, should delve deeply into the prospect’s challenges. This will lead us to learn about the needs of the potential client and their pain points to find out whether they would benefit from our product or not.
Economics
What is the economic impact of your prospect’s needs?
The core objective of this methodology isn’t about proving your ROI to the prospect. Instead, it’s simply about helping the prospect understand the economic impact of their current situation combined with the economic opportunity based on implementing a solution. After all, everything has a price, and at some point, the economic pain will be great enough to tip the scales in your favor.
Therefore, your role should be to help the buyer understand the economic impact they’re currently on track to realize versus the impact they’ll see if they make a change.
Access to Authority
Who can give you access to authority?
According to the latest studies, the average purchasing decision actually involves five people, all of whom may be decision influencers and decision makers. This is often referred to as the "Consensus Buying Cycle".
In many cases, not one person can singularly say “yes”, but any one person can say "no". Furthermore, in an outbound sales cycle, many prospects don’t reach an ultimate decision until much later in the sales process. So your goal as a seller is to determine which of these five people can get you access to authority.
Timeline
How does the timeline shape the process?
This phase guides you towards learning about the time frame of the sale and putting together a timeline for when the sale can take place.
Quiz
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