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The
Consultative Sales Process WOE Results In Longer Sales Cycles Let’s spend a moment reviewing just how many unnecessary additional steps are caused by WOE. Taking a page from project management, the Gantt Chart below shows all the Consultative Sales’ steps from beginning to close. Each shaded box represents an event or activity in the sales process.
(click graphic to enlarge) Chart #1 illustrates the ‘Ideal’ scenario. In their first meeting (Box 1), the client and salesperson meet to discuss the client’s needs. The next planned meeting between them is the formal presentation (Box 3) that could also be the sales close. Between 1 & 3, there’s our hidden step— when the salesperson must perform the analysis that becomes the basis of the demonstration. This suggests a minimum 2-meeting, 3-step process. Chart #2 represents the ‘probable’ or more likely case. If during the presentation, the client has questions that require new analysis (‘What If?’), it’s back to step 1 to get additional information and then the cycle starts all over. When we look at this chart, the implications are clear.
(click graphic to enlarge) In sales situations involving complex products or services, where analysis is needed, consultative selling’s process and traditional tools create gaps in time, decreasing the chance of completing a sale. Each time new information or unanticipated questions are introduced, analysis is required. The sales process stops. The salesperson goes behind the curtain to create more printouts and, hopefully, picks up where they left off. The more ‘what ifs’ raised …the more meetings…the longer the process…and the more likely the sale will derail entirely. WOE Fails to Recognize That Clients Also Do Analysis ... click here |
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