Today I have a guest on my blog, his name is Marshall W. Northcott and he is a master in the field of sales training, coaching and consulting, with over 20 successful years of practical work experience and a solid track record in the sales industry. He partners with progressive, growth oriented organizations in challenging and rewarding roles that allow him to leverage his skills and assets in corporate sales, sales management and/or customer service. Here is his article:

The Sales Process

In the early years of my sales career, what I discovered was missing most was what I affectionately call the finesse skills.  Closely related to those finesse skills is what is commonly referred to as The Sales Process.

If you study most activities that occur in business after a while, you will notice that a pattern emerges.  Every successful outcome is preceded by a series of steps that make it possible for you to arrive at that outcome.  Simply put it’s like preparing a recipe.  If you use and properly prepare the ingredients as instructed, cook them in the manner suggested, for the length of time outlined, you will likely enjoy the desired outcome expected.  These success steps are known as The Sales Process.  Anyone who is willing to learn and master these steps will enjoy the greatest of rewards during their career in professional selling.  However if you don’t know and/or recognize the steps and in addition you have a haphazard, random approach although you may get results, those results will likely be limited, inconsistent, unpredictable and less than what you are truly capable of.

At the core of The Sales Cycle is the thought process that will make a significant difference in your success.  Establishing winning thought patterns is essential to achieving sustainable, long term results.  This training includes psychology, personality styles, people skills, communication skills, business and time management skills.  On the outer portion of The Sales Cycle you will note the various steps of the selling process from new business generation (or prospecting) to qualifying, to pre-call planning, to telephone skills, to appointment scheduling, rapport building, needs assessment, proposal preparation, presentation skills, objection handling, closing techniques, negotiation skills, on-going customer service and asking for referrals.

Work ethic is extremely important, however, hard work alone will only get you so far.  I’ve always worked hard without being told to do so.  Unfortunately, I discovered that left me short of hitting my objectives and reaching my sales goals.  There are a number of essential skills and beyond those are many other pieces of the puzzle that can have a huge impact on results.  Our primary goal through a structured, formal training program is to discuss these pieces of the puzzle, explain what they are individually and then cover how they fit together.

In The Bourne Supremacy, the second in the trilogy, there is a line in the movie that is directed towards Matt Damon’s character and those other individuals who were trained to be operatives like him.  Bourne gets caught crossing a European border and one of government agents states that he must have made his first mistake, a random error and got caught.  The woman who had once been his handler states, “It’s not a mistake they don’t make mistakes, they don’t do random, there’s always an objective, always a target.”  The point is that they were trained, programmed and conditioned to know what they were doing at all times and be 100% conscious of it at all times.  You will find that those sales professionals who end up at the top of the ranks in their chosen field are the same!  There is a reason for everything that they say and do their timing is well thought out and positioned, they are perfectly deliberate in their actions.

It isn’t practical to think that anyone, who doesn’t commit themselves to their profession, can fully reach their potential.  It is also rare for the majority of people to step up and take on this responsibility on their own.  If you are one of those rare individuals who has acted on your own in the past, congratulations!  It is likely that you are well on your way to achieving exceptional results in your sales or business endeavors.  You may already be in a management position or one of the principles of your organization.  This is all best summed up by the quote, “Those who don’t need a boss are usually asked to be one.”  Either way, in order for people to be fully productive contributors to the corporate effort, knowing and putting the steps of The Sales Process into action each and every time is not optional, it must be mandatory.

Visit Marshall’s website at www.marshallnorthcott.com.