Streamline Your Document Processes with Sales Cycle Steps for IT

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One of the keys to professional selling in the modern world is to have a process, and every process has steps. And we want to make sure that we are following a process that has steps that fit into our world, into our way of selling. So in this video, I'm going to show you the three must-know sales process steps, check it out. (bright music) Number One- Insight. So this is the first step in the sales insights method, where you must bring real value. You've got to come in with something that demonstrates that you know what's going on in their world, and you can use that insight to engage them in a conversation. So we use a concept called your opening play, which basically is a quick introduction. It's the modern equivalent of the elevator pitch, right? Where you only have 25 seconds or so to kind of engage the prospect in a conversation. What are you going to say? Most salespeople do some old school, traditional tap dancing thing. But what we do is we have a scripted out opening play. And so the opening play is very simple. It's basically an introductory sentence that explains who you are and what you help your clients accomplish. And then it demonstrates insight with sharing some of the three most common challenges that you see, and then engages them in the conversation. That's what the process is all about. It's about using insight through your opening play to engage in the conversation. And then from there, we're able to really demonstrate some value by engaging them, showing that we know what's going on in their world. Number Two- Disqualify. If you've been following our videos for long enough, you'll know that we don't believe in persuading, or pitching, or even trying to qualify prospects. Instead, our focus is on disqualifying. And the very simple reason is that the data shows that at least 50% of our prospects that we come across are not going to be a fit for our products or services, period. And so what we want to do is, as quickly as possible, sort through that 50% that are a fit and the 50% that are not a fit. And so the more quickly we can determine that someone's not a fit and move on, the more time we'll have for the people that are actually a fit. Think about most salespeople. Most salespeople come across someone with a pulse and immediately they're trying to pitch, they're trying to persuade, they're trying to convince, which means that they can only spend all of their time equally across 100% of people they get in front of. So they don't have as much time for the people that are actually qualified versus unqualified, 'cuz they're spending their time equally across everyone, and they're getting really mixed results. So disqualification is all about asking effective questions to determine fit, and in the process, creating real value, because now we've separated ourselves from all of the hoards of other salespeople that are just trying to pitch. And now the prospect is starting to see value and it's the person that we want to see value, not the person who was unqualified in the first place. Number Three- Solve. Now, the traditional sales approach would use the term present, but we prefer to use the term solve, because it's not about a presentation. It's not about your PowerPoint slide deck. It's not about your fancy persuasive pitch. It's actually just about demonstrating after you've gone through the disqualification process, it's time to demonstrate that you can actually solve their problems. That's what it's all about. And so having an approach that uses case studies, and so is sharing stories to just demonstrate, connecting their problems with problems that you've solved elsewhere, and creating that bridge from where they are to where they want to go. That's really what the key to the solve phase is all about. And then throughout that, getting feedback, making it a two-way conversation, as opposed to just a one way monologue, and then finally asking for questions, right? We want to let our prospects actually drive the presentation. The traditional model is that the salesperson basically does almost all the talking during the presentation phase of the sale. Our approach in the sales process steps focuses actually on getting the prospect to drive that phase of the sale. That's why the focus is on solving and not presenting, 'cause it's really not a presentation per se. It's really about letting the prospect determine what matters most to them and what questions and concerns do they have about what the solution actually looks like. Number Three and a Half- Next. Now, I know we said that there were only three steps, but there really is another step and it connects all of the other phases together, which is next, which really means having next steps in place, because very few of us are really in a true one call close situation. And so oftentimes there are multiple meetings. And what next is all about is connecting all of those steps through a series of clear next steps. So this means no follow-up, we do not follow up. We are not in the world of following up on our prospects. We're not just chasing them. Instead, what we're doing is we are truly next-step obsessed. Every time we're in this meeting, we're scheduling an appointment for the next meeting. So there's none of this kind of wishy-washy unclearness that happens as a result of, "Hey, let me check in with you next week" kind of stuff. Instead, we always have that next step in place. And ultimately, this is the close, right? This is the close that we're talking about. We don't really care about having some fancy amazing close. Instead, what we want to do is just make sure that there's a calendar invite that went out and that the prospect accepted the calendar invite, and we're holding the sale together. So just because the conversation took three conversations, as opposed to one, I don't care, right? We don't need to give our prospects high-pressure pitches that are going to force them to buy today. Instead, we want to hold the conversation together with those next steps. That is all that matters in that step. So there are three must-know sales process steps. And if you enjoyed this video, then I have a free training on the step-by-step formula to closing more deals. Just click right here to get registered instantly. Seriously, just click right here to get registered. This is an in-depth training that will help you close more sales at higher prices all while generating more appointments. Also, if you got some value, please like this video below on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to my channel by clicking my face right about here to get a new video, just like this one, each week.