Five Step Sales Process

Much of the emphasis in educating sales engineers is placed on the technical side of the business. My past employers were very generous and allowed me to attend several sales courses.  They were a big benefit to me and to the companies.  I thought I would share the basics of a sales course I attended in the hope that it might help some readers that have not been able to attend any formal sales training.  The first step is "earn the right".  This means that you must have done something to make you worthy of the prospect's time and attention.  For example...I have successfully solved thousands of specific business problems and improved business processes using telecom technology.  By doing this...I have "earned the right" to meet with a new prospect.  The next step is "salesman awareness".  In the case of a salesman and SE...I extrapolated this to mean sales team awareness.  This is the fact finding part of selling.  Asking questions that give the team a thorough understanding of the prospect's business as it is today and what their current plans are for the future.  This usually involves interviewing many people to get their perspective of what is currently working and what challenges they are encountering in conducting day-to-day business activities.  During this step the sales team becomes aware of many problems that exist (that can be solved by the products they are trying to sell).  And many opportunities to change the business processes to positively impact company revenue, image, productivity, efficiency, safety, security and stability.  Step number three is "customer awareness".  During this step the sales team presents their findings to the prospect decision makers and gets their agreement that these findings are accurate.  There is usually an awakening on their behalf during this step.  You are likely to hear "I was unaware that they were having such a problem in that department...but now that you mention it...I understand how that issue would be a problem for them".  The next step is to "present the solution" to the problems identified in the previous step. (There is a lot of important things that must happen [back at the office] between steps three and four...like designing the solution...but this is not part of the "selling" process).  Presenting the solution is demonstrating how the product you are selling addresses all of the problems that were identified and confirmed as being real (and important) by the prospect during the "customer awareness" step.  The next step...is to "ask for the order".  The account manager should not find this difficult to do since the previous steps identified and confirmed problems and opportunities for improvement, and presented solutions and described their benefits.   Oh...and an unofficial "step six" of a five step selling process is "answer the prospect's objections all along the way".  In every customer engagement and communication the prospect may bring up an objection.  These objections need to be handled successfully...and if this is done...then asking for and obtaining the order is a natural outcome.  This post was not intended to replace a formal sales training program and if you ever get the opportunity to attend one...you (and your company) will find it time well spent.  One of the biggest benefits this training had for me was that as I was called into a sale process I could identify where we were as a team...and engage the prospect in the right context.  For example...even though it might be tempting...because you just came out with a new feature...don't try to describe the solution to a problem that you don't know exists.