With technology and the ability to track information comes the risk of over complicating the sales process.
I see this a lot with companies I’m asked to assist. They’re excited to show me how they’ve dissected the sales process. It has the feeling of a patient being prepped for surgery. Flash announcement…. sales is not brain surgery!
Check out this 62-second video where I talk about the myth of over complicating the sales process:
We need to quit over complicating things. The customer is far more knowledgeable than we realize. The internet allows them to know more about us and how we can help them, and as such, they tend to enter the buying process later than ever.
What this means is we have to realize “speed sells!” We need to be viewing the entire sales process from lead to prospect to customer as one where we are bringing additional value to the customer.
We bring value by practicing speed — not in the sense to rush the customer, but rather to enable the customer to benefit sooner.
Having a selling process that is not encumbered with excessive steps also allows the salesperson to be better in tune with what is happening. It doesn’t matter how many tools a salesperson has. They can only handle so much. We should not be in an arms race to install more apps, programs and processes. Let the competition win that race. Our focus should be on simplifying things at each step along the way.
The simpler the sales process, the easier it will be for the salesperson to focus on closing the sale.
What is the step you can eliminate? What is the form or process that people are asked to use that brings zero value? As you look at your sales process, look at it from the eyes of the customer, and if it doesn’t bring value to them, then challenge your self to eliminate it.
Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
Mark Hunter, your next keynote speaker:
Mark Hunter, CSP, “The Sales Hunter” is recognized globally as one of the top sales speakers, known for his challenging insights, high-energy, and passion to create change that he delivers each time he speaks, whether it be a sales kick-off meeting, corporate function or association event. Mark Hunter is the author of the best selling book, High-Profit Prospecting. Here’s what others are saying:
Mark presented “Accelerate Your Sales Prospecting” at the February 2015 Institute for Excellence in Sales program in Northern Virginia. He nailed it and gave the 150 selling professionals and business owners in attendance amazing tips, strategies and tactics they could implement that day. The sales leaders at our program universally acknowledged Mark as one of the top speakers we’ve ever had.
- Fred Diamond, Executive Director, IES Washington DC
At our annual company sales meeting we’ ve never seen a speaker work so hard, with advance preparation, with such genuine style of delivery, and with such hunger for results. If you weren’t on the edge of your seat….you were in a coma. Period!
- Mark Allen, Regional Manager, Marlin Companies
Mark’s strategies are innovative, easy to follow and easy to use in the “real world.” He customized his strategies to directly speak to the issues and challenges facing our unique business, and he helped us encompass specific selling examples. This training was very applicable to our sales staff, both at a senior and junior level, as it reinforced important sales techniques.”
- Danielle Pakradooni, Blue Man Group
Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
3 Responses
Mark, One of my takeaways from VSKO17 is “Fast is slow, slow is fast”. I took that as skipping steps will cost more time than you saved – be systematic and thorough. Are you saying the opposite in this article?
wasn’t that the old sales acronym … the KISS …. “keep it simple stupid” ?
Thanks for your post, Mark. My only concern is that, if salespeople speed up sale, they would become too concerned only in closing the deal, and, not the process. They might forget the customers in the journey. For me, the purpose of slowing down is to perfect sales execution and making sales process better for the customer.