Sales Methodologies - Why you should have one

There are a lot of great sales methodologies out there that will result in increased average sales productivity. A lot of sales people confuse a sales methodology with taking away their individual style with a top down process. Nothing is further from the truth. The words you choose and say, your communication style, your tenacity are not guided by a sales methodology, those things are uniquely you. So, how should you choose a sales methodology?

• Using the process should be non-intrusive and increase the sales reps productivity (more of an aha moment than you might think)

• The sales methodology needs to focus on the buying process, not your selling process

• The process must include all steps in the sales cycle, from the effective first call to getting the signature

• The sales cycle measured in the CRM needs to match exactly the objective steps completed in the buy/sell cycle and tell us what needs to happen next to get a positive decision

• The methodology should provide sales tools to the sales person to make them more productive, more quickly than stumbling around until they figure it out

• Use of the methodology should generate management reports that are the direct output of the process

A sales methodology should enhance the management process and set expectations of productivity and sales output. If the sales team and management are in alignment, then sales reviews, territory reviews and pipeline reports should naturally flow out of the process. Watch for future blogs on specific sales methodologies, as I have been trained in and implemented several, I have some opinions. For the ones I have selected and used, they are all good but success is dependent on matching the right methodology to your products, sales cycle, customers and average sales prices.