What is your company’s Sales Doctrine? - By Jordan Wolf

What is your company’s Sales Doctrine?

As grandiose as this question might seem, it is a very pertinent question to consider. It is our direct experience that most company leaders are unable to articulate their basic sales doctrine when asked. Could you answer it right now? It is fundamental to how your sales operation should work and determines your basic sales strategy and sales process. Let me flesh this out a bit and put some context around the nub of what is being interrogated here.

The Transactional Sale:

Every business vertical, and sub vertical, will naturally predicate the generic sales approach necessary to achieve high sales success in that arena. For example, if your product market is a transaction sale {low value – high volume}, the chances are that your key sales drivers {problem solvers} are as follows:

1.       Price

2.       Availability (short wait times)

3.       Delivery ( when needed)

4.       Relationship

By default, this will mean that your organisation’s ability to achieve sales success will be directly correlated to how many of the above criteria you can meet for your customer. The more you meet the more likely you are to increase sales. Transactional selling is simplistic but very competitive as entry barriers tend to be low.  

The Solution Sale:

Solution Selling occurs where your prospect is very aware of the challenge(s) they face and what the ideal outcome should look like to them.  Their real concern is with whom to best partner with to provide the solution to the problem they wish to overcome. In these scenarios, sales emphasis should be placed on your ability to clearly communicate to the client that you fully understand their problems, that you have solved this problem for companies just like theirs (similar others) and how you will make their lives better because of it. By default, a very slick presentation is required to demonstrate how you will go about solving their challenges and more importantly highlighting the key differentiators between you and the competitive forces at play. In many cases, solution selling is akin to doing a job interview.

The Consultative Sale:

Consultative selling happens when the prospect is aware of their challenge(s) but is unsure of what the solution should look like to overcome it. The customer wants you to drilldown into the problem(s) with them and explore what solutions are available and arrive at the one best tailored to them.  The essence of consultative selling is the ability to ask the right questions to get to the root of the problem, understand the impact this is having on the business today and what the fix should look like. More importantly, be able to convey what effect the solution will have on the customers business. This is question-based selling to get to the root of problems that require solving.   

The Challenger Sale:

Prospects are completely unaware that they have a problem, and as a result – have no idea how to solve it. The prospect is completely unaware of the dangers their company may be facing, and therefore are not looking for help to solve it. The ideal sales scenario when you think about it.

The Challenger Process must do 3 things well:

1.       Identify a problem that will resonate with your target. Is this challenge currently being ignored, neglected, or ineffectively addressed in the marketplace? Does it pass the “it keeps me up at night” threshold?

2.       Develop a challenging point of view about the problem (that fits your solution). Are we a credible source of advice on this challenge?

3.       Lodge the challenge with a Decision Maker inside the target companies who can act on the challenge.

Provocative selling sets out to achieve the following:

·         Compel project investment outside existing budget

·         Challenge the prevailing point of view

·         Address unacknowledged angst

·         Begin with business case and then technical proof

·         Use an insightful hypothesis to provoke a response

·         Is proactive and leading to force issues out

Whilst this approach is favoured by most start-up companies, it can be a very effective sales approach for established companies looking to ramp up sales.

To conclude, take some time to understand the market you operate in, what your prospects are looking from you, tailor your sales process to reflect that, and you are well on your way to creating more valuable sales conversations for your prospects and increasing business for your own organisation.

To discover and discuss your sales doctrine in more detail just email me at gerard@jordanwolf.ie

or visit www.jordanwolf.ie