Master the Sales Process: Closing Deals Effectively

For most deals today, sellers aren’t just facing off against their competitors; they’re also battling a potential “no decision” scenario. In fact, some studies have shown that between 40% and 60% of deals wither on the vine, failing to close even after the customer expressed an intent to purchase. At the same time, buying cycles have grown longer and more complex, bogging down deal velocity and creating more opportunities for a buyer to reconsider or put off a decision—sometimes indefinitely.

One of the most important tools for combatting “no decision” is a customer-focused, values-based sales framework. This formal framework facilitates understanding the buyer’s needs, recognizing and addressing potential barriers or issues at each stage, and helping guide the prospect towards a positive decision that creates mutual value. Put simply, a great sales framework within a broader sales process is a roadmap to success, for both the seller and the buyer.

Let’s take a closer look at an effective sales process and framework and how to implement it for maximum results.

What is a Sales Process? 

A sales process is a systematic series of steps for progressing through the sales cycle, from prospecting to close. There are many different sales processes out there, but the most effective ones focus on how people engage with each other, with a goal of building trusted relationships. This type of process includes frameworks for uncovering customer needs and judging how much time to listen vs. talk, as well as the steps that must be completed before a sale can be made.

Defining the Sales Process

It’s not enough to talk about process in general terms or assume people have been through training so they know the steps involved in making a sale. In one study we conducted, fewer than 19% of the companies we surveyed said their salespeople consistently follow an established sales process. Clearly defining and holding people accountable to a structured, formalized sales process and complementary sales framework is critical. It will not only help accelerate more deals through the pipeline, it will also build consistency in the way people interact with customers. Put another way, it gets everyone on the same page and speaking the same language.

One of the pitfalls many companies fall into when they’re defining the sales process is forgetting the customer point of view. The sales process can’t just be an inward-focused system. It must be defined in customer terms—aligning with the way the buyer wants to buy and helping to match customer needs to product benefits and values.

Why a Strong Process Matters and How a Strong Framework Helps 

The word “process” may not bring to mind “freedom,” but that’s actually what a disciplined sales process creates for the salesperson. It frees them up to be present, to have confidence that they know where they want to go next and they know how to use a communication framework to take the conversation there in a customer-focused way. Without a formal process and framework to rely on, salespeople can overlook or rush through important steps, fail to notice clues that the customer has some resistance or other concern that needs to be addressed, or fall into ineffective old habits, like rattling off product features and benefits. 

A strong sales framework is also important for building a high-performing sales team because it instills consistency across the organization and helps people learn, improve and share from their experiences at each stage of the process. And when everyone is using the same framework, it’s much easier to extend the relationship beyond just a single rep.

Building a Sales Pipeline 

A well-thought-out customer-focused sales process goes hand in hand with building a sales pipeline that reflects the buyer’s journey. The pipeline allows you to see where deals are within the sales process and pinpoint at what stage or stages opportunities might be stalling out. With this data, you can identify trends to ensure deals progress smoothly through each stage using the sales communication framework to ensure clarity about the buyer’s needs.

When the sales process and pipeline are effectively aligned and executed and reflect the actions the buyer takes as well as the seller, it will go a long way towards improving forecasting accuracy and pipeline management.

Stages of a Winning Sales Framework 

A winning sales framework starts with a customer-needs-focused philosophy, rooted in integrity. This is the kind of conversation framework that both the seller and the buyer will feel good about doing. Because it’s focused on creating value for customers, the salesperson doesn’t approach with the intent of selling something. Instead, the goal is to gain rapport and understand what the buyer’s objectives are so they can help them get what they need.

A good example is Integrity Selling’s six-step AID,Inc model:

• Approach: Establish rapport and break the barriers of preoccupation.
• Interview: Identify needs, challenges and problems.
• Demonstrate: Show how your products and services fill identified and agreed-upon needs.
• Val-I-date: Prove your claims and heighten trust. (The acronym refers to the “I” in val-i-date.)
• Negotiate: Understand and work through problems and concerns.
• Close: Ask for an appropriate commitment to action.

Each of these steps is essential, but the time spent in each varies based on the circumstances. It’s also not always linear, as situations will come up that require revisiting a previous step to clarify needs.

Prospecting and Planning: The First Step to Success

People are more apt to trust and open up to you when you listen to them, care about them and have a sincere desire to understand them. When we think about the “Approach” step in the Integrity Selling sales framework, it’s really the first sale you’re making. This is where the other person decides whether they trust you, want to communicate with you and, ultimately, want to do business with you.

Communication and social skills are key at every stage of a customer-focused sales process, and the prospecting aspect is no exception. Even when you’re working with repeat customers, the first order of business in the Approach phase is putting aside your own concerns and focusing on establishing rapport.

You may have only a few minutes with the person, so it’s important to get past the preoccupations or distractions that keep them from hearing you. When you let go of your own preoccupations, your prospects are more likely to let go of theirs. This takes preparation, observation and emotional intelligence. The most effective salespeople will be looking for clues about the person’s communication and behavior style so they can adapt their approach and put the person at ease.

Engaging with Potential Buyers 

In addition to the sales process outlining the steps that must be completed before a sale can be made, the sales framework should help reps judge how much time they should spend talking vs. how much time they should spend listening at each step.

The main objective of a customer-focused, value-based sales framework is to uncover and clarify the customer’s needs so that you can then help them fulfill those needs. And you can’t do that effectively if you’re doing all the talking. The AID,Inc model, for example, reinforces this customer-focused mindset by ensuring the sales rep spends most of their time listening to understand instead of telling to conduct a transaction. 

Successful salespeople are driven by a curiosity to understand what’s most important to each stakeholder, and they apply strong listening and questioning skills to get to the core of people’s needs and motivations. In this way, the sales framework helps keep the rep on track in the context of the broader sales process by focusing on having better conversations with their customers and on forging relationships across the account, not just with one person.

This is particularly important in the Interview stage of the sales framework. Great questions and active listening are vital to creating clarity for both the seller and the buyer about what their current situation is, what their desired situation is, what the gap between those two looks like and the consequences of not taking action. They also help create a sense of urgency, which is a major objective of any interview. Rarely will people make a purchase decision without a sufficient sense of urgency.

Presenting and Demonstrating Value 

Many salespeople are eager to skip ahead to presenting or demonstrating solutions, but it’s important to establish needs in the prior stages first. An effective sales framework will help reps clarify for themselves that it’s time to present solutions to the person’s problem: Has the person expressed a need or a want? Have they expressed interest in a solution? Are they willing to talk to you about a solution? Do they have a sense of urgency, and can they make a decision?

A sales communication framework that is rooted in integrity will also prompt the sales rep to ask themselves if they have the best solutions for that person’s needs or wants. If the answer is “yes,” they have a professional responsibility to present and demonstrate how they can help. If the answer is “no,” they have a professional responsibility to tell them what they’re selling isn’t the right solution for them.

When it comes to showing and telling how the product or service fits their wants and needs, an effective sales framework within every step of the sales process will tie everything back to customer needs, which should be woven throughout the presentation. But even though this is the time to tell, it shouldn’t be a one-way dissertation. The AID,Inc model shows a balanced 50/50 conversation, which means the rep should ask questions, solicit opinions, get feedback, ask for clarification and listen while presenting.

All of this underscores the salesperson’s genuine desire to fulfill the customer’s needs—and it gets both involved in helping them make the best decision. This dovetails with the Validate stage in the AID,Inc model, which really isn’t a separate step but is something continues throughout the holistic sales framework. It’s an ongoing conversation that encompasses translating features into customer benefits, justifying the price and emphasizing value, offering proof and evidence, and reassuring and reinforcing people to neutralize the fear of buying.

Handling Objections and Negotiating 

Some sales frameworks define the negotiation phase in terms of convincing the person to change their position and see things your way. It’s a combative position that pits the salesperson against the customer. A more effective approach to negotiation is to view it as a process of working out the problems or concerns that keep people from buying—when they want to work them out.

The good news is, when salespeople follow a customer-focused sales framework, the need for negotiation decreases and takes on a different form. That’s because when trust and rapport are strong, negotiation becomes a collaborative effort of figuring out what concerns or objectives remain and partnering together to work through them. And the benefits extend from there, because welcoming and seeking to understand customer concerns will further strengthen rapport.

Closing the Sale 

Closing is about getting a positive decision that creates mutual value for the seller and the buyer. The rep shouldn’t ask for a decision until after they’ve understood the customers’ needs or wants, offered a solution they like and want, worked through any problems or concerns they may have and agreed on terms, price or delivery time.

In other words, they shouldn’t ask until they’ve completed the previous stages of the sales framework within the context of the larger step in the sales process. If they’ve done that and the customer hasn’t suggested a closing action, it’s time to ask for one. A negative response means one or more of the previous stages wasn’t properly completed and needs to be revisited.

There will be times, though, when you’ve done everything right and still get hit with a “no.” If the door to the sale hasn’t been completely closed, this is where great questioning skills can help the customer sort out what they want and bring the deal back.

Optimizing Your Sales Processes and Supporting Frameworks 

Analyzing and Refining

One of the most important things to consider when analyzing your sales process and communication framework is whether it’s just a checklist of inward-focused seller activities and milestones or whether it also links to the corresponding customer actions. Often when salespeople are caught off guard about a stalled deal or negative decision response it’s because the process they followed didn’t take into account the buyer’s point of view and whether they had taken necessary actions as well. An effective sales process not only includes both the seller and buyer points of view, it also makes it easy for the rep to identify whether both parties have actually completed the stage before moving on to the next one.

Sales Training and Team Alignment 

Improving Sales Performance by Following a Selling Framework

While salespeople now have an array of sales enablement tools, digital resources, marketing content and other information available to them to help speed up the sales cycle and close more deals, these won’t do the job if you don’t have the foundation of an effective, straightforward sales framework in place to hold them up.

When your sellers have a customer-focused formal sales process and associated communication framework to rely on—along with the necessary skills, mindset and confidence to execute on it—they’ll be able to optimize their approach and be more strategic about how they engage with customers and deal with potential setbacks. Ultimately, it will give them the clarity and roadmap they need to perform at their best so they can better focus on creating more meaningful value for their customers.

Let’s work together to build and refine your winning sales framework. Contact us today!

About the Author

Integrity Solutions