5 UK Sales Influencers are Re-Defining Sales Process Steps
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What the top 5 UK sales innovators say about re-defining your sales process steps
Sales is a fine art.
You’ve got to know how to carefully craft your sales journey and how to lead the customer through it. But, things have changed and it’s no longer the sales professional that’s in the driving seat, it’s the consumer.
With this shift to customers becoming more aware and more educated on what they want from a product, the way salespeople approach closing deals needs to change too.
So, naturally, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Let’s run through what the UK’s leading sales innovators say about re-defining your sales processes steps to close more deals.
Jules White – Live it, Love it, Sell it
Twitter:@JulesAuthor
Jules has been a TEDx speaker and has a regular podcast with other sales influencers. She believes that sales has never changed in terms of how we build relationships.
“I have always sold this way since the 1980’s when I first started working in sales. What has significantly changed is the sales person is no longer KING.”
“When we had no internet, social media, and even websites, the only place to gain knowledge was from the salesperson themselves, and trust was high in the person who had the solutions to solve our problems.”
“Sadly we developed very one-sided sales processes that then forced the buyer down the sales person’s journey on their terms. Hence the language ‘close the deal’, which is one of my least favourite phrases.”
She thinks salespeople have to understand buyers – really understand them. Nurture the buyer journey and travel on it alongside them. What does their world look like and what do they believe value is. No more egos, no more assuming and no more chasing targets.
“I have developed a new philosophy called UHP – UNIQUE HUMAN PROPOSITION®. No longer is USP the strength in what we offer as businesses as there is so much noise out there to cut through.
“Now our greatest asset is our people.”
“They are all unique and sales training now has to be about them. Allowing them to be truly themselves. Their language, their personal brand and the connection to the buyer is then like nothing else – it is an unparalleled sales experience.”
Her last point on where salespeople should be focussing is…
“Business and Sales Leaders have to stop chasing targets and be brave, because if they adopt training programmes like UHP – UNIQUE HUMAN PROPOSITION® they will exceed targets every time.”
You can get Jules’ book, Live it, Love it, Sell it on Amazon.
Berkeley Harris – Sandler Consultancy & training
Twitter:@BHSandler
Berkeley speaks mostly about empowering and leading your Sales team better:
“Knowing what to expect from your sales team can take the stress out of sales forecasts, especially if a standard is to be expected rather than relying on a hit and miss individualistic approach.”
“Since there is no simple formula, you must consider your prospecting objectives and then carefully track your activities and results. Then, you can decide how much time you want to invest and choose the activities that will allow you to achieve your objectives in that time period.”
Victoria Fleming – Sparkup Your Sales
Twitter:@BeSalestastic
Victoria is a sales coach for entrepreneurs and start-up businesses and holds the opinion that everyone can sell. Though often she feels salespeople get a bad rap, mostly because of the sales reps that have the wrong sales process steps, she describes it in a podcast:
“Sales is a process and at the beginning of that process you don’t know who the person you’re dealing with is, and at the end of the process, someone agrees to buy something. But, so often people, especially online, are jumping right to the end of that process.”
“My big top of mind right now for entrepreneurs is to stop thinking your self-worth is your saleable worth! … and vice versa”
Connect with Victoria on Linked in.
Iain Swanston – Klozers
Twitter:@IainSwanston
Iain is a sales coach with Klozers and an international TEDx speaker. He speaks on training graduates properly, and how time management and a re-focus to what the customer wants is what sales professionals need.
“Busy does not equal effective. Time is one of these things we have a habit of wasting. We need to be respectful of our client’s time, not just our own.”
“Often salespeople focus on themselves, their commissions, their goals, their targets. But, if we want to be successful we need to have a completely different mindset and focus on the customer. Sometimes we need to walk away from some business because we know that it’s not the right fit for the customer.”
Alison Edgar
Twitter: @thealisonedgar
Alison loves looking at the psychology behind selling and touches on similar ground to Iain and Jules, whereby you need to know the customer and build a relationship with them before you sell. She comments on how she’s witnessed sales changing in recent years, and where she sees it going now.
“Sales has changed so much in recent years, especially with the growth of LinkedIn and other social selling tools. When there’s a resource that provides decision-makers names, email addresses, and phone numbers at our fingertips there’s no need for cold calls anymore. In much broader terms, the internet makes it a buyers’ market, and so you’ve really got to take the reins and make sure your sales pitch and customer service is leaps and bounds above the competition”
In her TEDx talk she covers the types of people and how they like to be approached:
“Don’t treat people how you’d want to be treated. Treat people how they want to be treated.”
“Because ultimate;y people buy from people who they think are similar to them. So, you need to identify how they’d like to be spoken to so that you can start building a trusting relationship in order to get what you want.”
Alison provides sales training and coaching across the UK and globe with her team at Sales Coaching Solutions, you can take a look at her offering here.
How to implement your new sales process steps?
When focusing on the customer and time are the big drivers for modern sales, you need to think about what would help maximise both. By using electronic contracts that take minutes to set up and send you can focus on ensuring your reliability with the customer and making sure what you’re offering is a good fit for them.