Strategies Used by Sales Leaders to Achieve Results: Eliminate the 4 Ps

What does it take to succeed?  Too many salespeople are stuck using sales strategies that were great five years ago, but simply do not work today. 

One of the biggest changes I see is how salespeople are stuck focused on the “4 Ps” of selling: Price, Promotion, Product and Place.

Problem is these are all feature oriented.  Today more than ever, we have to be focused on being customer centric.

Customer centric means being focused on the “4 Cs”: Culture, Connecting, Creating and Curating.

Each one of these places zero emphasis on features of the product and instead is focused on the customer and creating confidence.

Making the leap from being focused on “Ps” to “Cs” requires reworking every element of the sales process, starting with prospecting.   Prospecting in today’s environment starts with the customer first and developing the connection before even thinking about introducing the product or service you’re selling.

Think about what you would need to change to begin to make this happen.

Now take this thinking even further and ask yourself about how it would change how you use your time, how you would forecast and ultimately how you would close the sale.

It’s easy to say how what you sell and the market you sell to is different and, therefore, you’re OK in using your existing sales process.  I’ll argue no, you can’t ignore the 4 Cs for one simple reason: the Internet.  There is not one market that has not been impacted by the Internet with regard to how it has altered how customers make their buying decisions

On Oct. 13 at Dreamforce, I will be presenting with Jill Rowley a session on this subject.   It’s not too late to register for either this session or the other one I will be doing with Anthony Iannarino on  5 Mission-Critical Requirements to Establishing Value and Increasing Revenue.

Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.

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