A Consistent and Structured Sales Process Means Consistent and Predictable Wins
Have you ever wondered why Steph Curry always makes clutch shots or why Tiger Woods (in his heyday) never missed a key putt? How about why the top salespeople remain consistently at the top of the leaderboard delivering key wins at the end of every quarter?
Conversely, why are some salespeople occasionally, but unpredictably, closing deals? The difference between the consistently great and occasionally successful tends to be their sales process which, through diligent practice, has become muscle memory for the consistently successful ones.
Steph Curry shoots with the same rhythm and motion on every shot and great salespeople adhere to the same structured sales process on every deal. After all, practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent.
Having a great golf swing doesn’t do much good if it’s not consistently applied and occasionally closing a sale (no matter how big) doesn’t make a sales rep consistently great.
Strictly following an effective value-based sales process on every deal eliminates (or at least minimizes) the inevitable unwelcome variables during sales cycles. Religious conformity to the process provides consistency and predictability; assuming, of course, that the sales process being followed is designed specifically for strategic enterprise application sales projects.
It is obvious which sales processes are designed for organizational change application projects (strategic deals) — those that are business case driven and outcome-based. Task oriented sales processes that assume that deals will self-close after every task is completed are designed for more transactional software deals that rely on speeds, feeds and price.
Wildcat salespeople, however occasionally successful, need the consistency and structure of a value-based sales process to win on a consistent and predictable basis. If Steph Curry used different shooting motions when shooting with the game hanging in the balance, he would not be the shooting legend that he has become. If Tiger Woods stroked the golf ball differently at random times, he would not have become a golf legend.
Enterprise application salespeople need that same religious commitment to their value-based sales process to become software sales legends. If your salespeople struggle with consistency due to a lack of adherence to an effective value-based sales process, you can email dave@moicpartners.com.
