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Before we identify a typical Consultative Sales Cycle, it is important to discover if you are currently selling in a traditional way or, if in fact, you are already selling consultatively
Vending or Traditional Selling:
You sell to purchasing managers
You sell product
You defend price
You fill-out order forms
You detail features and benefits
You are a salesperson
You sell to
Selling As a Consultative Specialist
You plan & consult with business managers
You sell profit improvement systems
You offer a return on investment
You present a partnered profit plan
You design improved performance
You are a business development manager
You sell with
Ok, lets look at a typical cycle and examine the various stages.
Selection:
The first stage of the business development cycle requires identification and review of the customer base, prospective customers, types of business and competitive services within your market or geographical segment in order to decide:-
Which companies represent potential.
How many of them exist.
In which order they should be approached.
Suspecting:
The next stage is to go fact finding. Based on your personal observations and working with existing contacts, you must try to answer the following questions:-
Is the prospective client organisation worth spending time with?
Do they really have a need for additional products and services?
Will or does the MAN (the person with the Money, Authority and Need) recognise that need, if not can they be educated?
How could I justify our products, services, price etc. as a response to the need?
Can I identify all the people who make and influence the decision to buy?
At this stage the selection list is further honed.
Prospect Qualification:
This is the Go/No Go decision stage. Based on the information found through personal observation you decide whether the company is worth investing time in, based primarily on the answers to the questions listed under Suspecting.
If the answer is Go then develop an account sales plan which specifies:-
What products, process, services etc. will most likely satisfy the prospects needs?
How are you going to sell that to the prospect?
You develop a strategy for the Approach Call and check:-
Do I have enough information to confidently approach the Suspect?
What is my objective / purpose?
What will I propose to the MAN?
Can I justify the time they give me?
Approach:
During the Approach Call with the MAN, qualification and fact finding continues. As appropriate you present ideas and solutions to meet the specific need or needs you have identified within the customers organisation.
Together you decide and agree what criteria must be met, what other actions must take place and by whom, before the customer is in a position to make a decision.
Advancement:
Together with the customer, you perform the mutually agreed actions. You continue to qualify and you try to understand what really will affect the final sale. You also sell to the decision influencers and obtain their commitment. All the time you are gathering and organising information for your cost / benefit justification based on the real needs and wants in order to move towards a sale.
This may include:-
- Application/usage/manpower/resource/plant surveys or studies
- Collation of costs and benefits data
- Determining locations for surveys, studies, meetings,
presentations etc
- Identifying critical, and vital information
- Determination of how to position the pricing of the services
Through surveys, applications development, cost benefit analysis, demonstrations, seminars, VIP trips, top level calls and so forth you prove to the individual decision makers and influencers that:-
- There is a real need for the products and services now
- The suggested products, pricing, services etc. will satisfy their
needs
- They can rely on you and your company to implement the proposed solution
- That it is worth the investment you are asking them to make and that they can afford it.
Commitment:
You have done enough justification. You have sold each individual involved in the decision and satisfied their needs and buying criteria. In a proposal presentation, you summarise the solution and the agreements reached previously. You obtain mutual agreement that the buying criteria have been met. You can now ask for the go ahead for the project, assignment or whatever.
Order:
You obtain a signed agreement, terms of reference or purchase order. Together with the customer you agree or confirm the implementation plan.
Implementation & Installation:
At this stage you schedule the personnel required from both your company and the customers that will be needed to implement the proposed solution and to deliver the promised benefits. They ensure that the deliverables are delivered, in the case of products or systems, that the installation takes place that users are trained as suggested, that the key people in the customers organisation know who is who in your organisation and how they can be contacted. You ensure that the invoice is understood and paid. In summary, you establish a smooth customer interface with all the areas that the customer may want to contact.
Protection:
It is your responsibility to re-justify the services provided to the decision makers and influencers. They demonstrate that they received or are receiving, the benefits promised and this confirms in their mind that they made the right decision.
You do that through:-
o An account review or
o An internal customer account review/account presentation
You must answer the following question: Will the customer use your company again based on their current satisfaction with the products, pricing, service, value and support?
Development:
Finally, you develop with the MAN a plan to ensure an on-going mutually beneficial business relationship.
The objectives of the plan are:-
o To obtain additional on-going business
o To ensure the customer has the best price and services for their needs
The plan must be based on the customers current and financial requirements.
To sell and execute the plan you again go through the activities described under: Approach, Advancement, Commitment, Order and Implementation.
Copyright © 2006 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved
Vending or Traditional Selling:
You sell to purchasing managers
You sell product
You defend price
You fill-out order forms
You detail features and benefits
You are a salesperson
You sell to
Selling As a Consultative Specialist
You plan & consult with business managers
You sell profit improvement systems
You offer a return on investment
You present a partnered profit plan
You design improved performance
You are a business development manager
You sell with
Ok, lets look at a typical cycle and examine the various stages.
Selection:
The first stage of the business development cycle requires identification and review of the customer base, prospective customers, types of business and competitive services within your market or geographical segment in order to decide:-
Which companies represent potential.
How many of them exist.
In which order they should be approached.
Suspecting:
The next stage is to go fact finding. Based on your personal observations and working with existing contacts, you must try to answer the following questions:-
Is the prospective client organisation worth spending time with?
Do they really have a need for additional products and services?
Will or does the MAN (the person with the Money, Authority and Need) recognise that need, if not can they be educated?
How could I justify our products, services, price etc. as a response to the need?
Can I identify all the people who make and influence the decision to buy?
At this stage the selection list is further honed.
Prospect Qualification:
This is the Go/No Go decision stage. Based on the information found through personal observation you decide whether the company is worth investing time in, based primarily on the answers to the questions listed under Suspecting.
If the answer is Go then develop an account sales plan which specifies:-
What products, process, services etc. will most likely satisfy the prospects needs?
How are you going to sell that to the prospect?
You develop a strategy for the Approach Call and check:-
Do I have enough information to confidently approach the Suspect?
What is my objective / purpose?
What will I propose to the MAN?
Can I justify the time they give me?
Approach:
During the Approach Call with the MAN, qualification and fact finding continues. As appropriate you present ideas and solutions to meet the specific need or needs you have identified within the customers organisation.
Together you decide and agree what criteria must be met, what other actions must take place and by whom, before the customer is in a position to make a decision.
Advancement:
Together with the customer, you perform the mutually agreed actions. You continue to qualify and you try to understand what really will affect the final sale. You also sell to the decision influencers and obtain their commitment. All the time you are gathering and organising information for your cost / benefit justification based on the real needs and wants in order to move towards a sale.
This may include:-
- Application/usage/manpower/resource/plant surveys or studies
- Collation of costs and benefits data
- Determining locations for surveys, studies, meetings,
presentations etc
- Identifying critical, and vital information
- Determination of how to position the pricing of the services
Through surveys, applications development, cost benefit analysis, demonstrations, seminars, VIP trips, top level calls and so forth you prove to the individual decision makers and influencers that:-
- There is a real need for the products and services now
- The suggested products, pricing, services etc. will satisfy their
needs
- They can rely on you and your company to implement the proposed solution
- That it is worth the investment you are asking them to make and that they can afford it.
Commitment:
You have done enough justification. You have sold each individual involved in the decision and satisfied their needs and buying criteria. In a proposal presentation, you summarise the solution and the agreements reached previously. You obtain mutual agreement that the buying criteria have been met. You can now ask for the go ahead for the project, assignment or whatever.
Order:
You obtain a signed agreement, terms of reference or purchase order. Together with the customer you agree or confirm the implementation plan.
Implementation & Installation:
At this stage you schedule the personnel required from both your company and the customers that will be needed to implement the proposed solution and to deliver the promised benefits. They ensure that the deliverables are delivered, in the case of products or systems, that the installation takes place that users are trained as suggested, that the key people in the customers organisation know who is who in your organisation and how they can be contacted. You ensure that the invoice is understood and paid. In summary, you establish a smooth customer interface with all the areas that the customer may want to contact.
Protection:
It is your responsibility to re-justify the services provided to the decision makers and influencers. They demonstrate that they received or are receiving, the benefits promised and this confirms in their mind that they made the right decision.
You do that through:-
o An account review or
o An internal customer account review/account presentation
You must answer the following question: Will the customer use your company again based on their current satisfaction with the products, pricing, service, value and support?
Development:
Finally, you develop with the MAN a plan to ensure an on-going mutually beneficial business relationship.
The objectives of the plan are:-
o To obtain additional on-going business
o To ensure the customer has the best price and services for their needs
The plan must be based on the customers current and financial requirements.
To sell and execute the plan you again go through the activities described under: Approach, Advancement, Commitment, Order and Implementation.
Copyright © 2006 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved