what's the selling process like?

The selling process all depends on how you can relate to your customer. Think of all of your personal relationships and how you got there. Nothing happens over night so it will always be a work in process. If you can create a very compelling story and utilize active listening skills the process becomes so much easier. Think of your product and or service in a way that you would think of describing one of your favorite hobbies. Many sales people like to talk instead of listening, which leads to a lot of assumptions. So, you can't assume that your customer will love your product/service because they are not familiar with it, or maybe there's a competitor that provides a similar solution. You will hear many "No's" and not every "No" actually means "No", in most cases it means you haven't provided enough information so that the customer can make a sound decision. There's so many dynamics that go into the sales process such as an "elevator pitch", identifying the proper industry vertical to sell into, Fiscal year considerations, what the customer's need behind a need would be, expected close dates, demos, a budget, and other.

Hi Rodriguez!

You've asked a very interesting question that I could answer in a couple of ways. I currently work for a large corporation in the network security business unit. I've developed sales training and I currently develop sales enablement materials (powerpoint presentations, sales toolkits, videos, etc.) so I know quite a bit about it from two sides. The complicated answer to your question really depends on what industry, what company, what product, what geographical regions, and a host of other things that drive the process. The simplest answer for you that I can give from the process I developed training for goes something like this: Expectation, Preparation, Identification, Qualification, Forecasting, Evaluation, Win. This could apply across the board to almost any industry, any product, any company.

To me an important part of the selling process is understanding what your prospect needs and what solution will help them fill that need. Always be thinking about their pain points and what the solution is then bring in the details about why your company is the best to provide that solution that solves that pain.

Pain -> Solution -> Why ABC Company

Manual applicant tracking is difficult -> a great software tool would help -> here is why you should select ours

I also think it is important to try to get in front of the prospect even before they call you. They are doing their shopping and making decisions before even calling a company so make sure you are where they are looking!

The selling process is all about listening and understanding your customer just as much, or even more than, you understand the products/services you are selling. Nothing is less interesting to a potential customer than someone who is uninteresting in their business problems. Your ability to marry the needs of your customer to the portfolio you are selling - and ensure they realize value - will build trust. Once you have a trusted relationship with a customer, the selling process becomes much more of an ongoing relationship.

Hi Rodriquez - great question. In my view, the selling process has a basic framework: 1) Target (identify a target or opportunity); 2) Interact (communicate well, develop a genuine relationship, LISTEN); 3) Propose (bring the right solution and or team); 4) Close the sale/ ask for their business; 5) Deliver/ exceed expectations/ delight the client.

Hope this helps! Also -- if you think about the process as not necessarily "selling" but really just trying to help someone else solve a problem or challenge, that helps you become a more effective "seller".