Today’s business environment is ever-changing, so it’s crucial to have a reliable sales methodology in place to help you make the best decisions for your company. Adapting to new environments without losing your top performers is essential for success. This article explores different sales methodologies and their implementation to achieve the best results.
Sales Methodologies
When it comes to the sales process, a sales methodology is a set of principles meant to guide the sales team throughout the process. This is regardless of the situations they may encounter. In sales methodologies, organizations are instructed on how to work together to close more sales and win more customers. As the backbone of a successful sales process, it answers the questions “What to do” and “How to do”.
The sales process is a set of instructions for executing a task. It involves documenting all the stages (usually 7) you go through to make a sale. However, methodologies describe how you approach each stage. The sales methodology is a set of guidelines for intervening during and between the phases of the sales process.
Sales Methodology Types
At the core of each sales methodology, representatives are empowered to perform at their best by using proven methods for identifying and solving problems. Most of these approaches are backed by substantiated psychological principles and field-tested tactics developed by professionals.
The purpose of each methodology differs, so it is imperative to consider not only the buyer’s needs and communication style but also your organization’s cultural fit. Five sales methodologies are outlined here with examples of scenarios where they may be applied:
The Challenger Sales
The Challenger sales methodology is better suited to companies with considerable sales experience and is not recommended for start-ups. Getting it off the ground requires a great deal of domain knowledge from your sales team. It also needs some guidance from the marketing team to explain the market to the sales team. In a nutshell, Challenger’s sales methodology can be explained as:
- educating prospects
- tailoring the sales process to their requirements
- controlling the conversation
The challenger sales methodology is used by 40% of high-performing salespeople. A sales representative needs the right training to use this approach.
The Sandler Selling Method
Using Sandler’s approach to sales, salespeople act as advisers who control the selling process through a low-pressure and consultative approach.
Sandler’s seven-step (shown above) submarine sales method is frequently portrayed as a non-visible and low-pressure strategy.
This methodology, however, may cause concerns for salespeople, including budget and time. These are concerns that they will need to address proactively in order not to spend their resources on prospects who do not appear to be their ideal customers.
It is versatile as it can be used in various situations related to sales. Due to this, many sales organizations rely on it, no matter how experienced they are.
Inbound Selling
Marketing strategies and inbound sales methodology are tightly connected, so the seller’s business needs to engage prospects with highly personalized messages. A buyer persona guides inbound sellers instead of direct pitches to prospects.
This methodology consists of four steps shown below:
It is helpful for sales organizations that are experienced in contacting decision-makers and have a good deal of inbound marketing resources.
MEDDIC
The acronym MEDDIC stands for metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, identify pain and champion.
Sales representatives can use MEDDIC to qualify opportunities and determine where to spend most of their time. It is a beneficial methodology for companies with multiple possible targets and investments that need to be targeted at the best prospects. Rather than focusing on how to make the sale, it focuses on where sales are most likely to occur.
SNAP Selling Solution
There are four principles a salesperson should follow:
This methodology is appropriate for companies that sell in a big, competitive market and deal with transactional B2B sales. Their competitive advantage is operating quickly, precisely, and efficiently with the SNAP sales model.
Conclusion
You choose a sales methodology depending on the complexity, price of a product and your customer’s buying preferences. Throughout the sales process, prospects are guided toward becoming customers through various stages. Within these stages, your chosen methodology determines the method and group of activities that the sales team will utilize.
The goal should be to achieve a win-win outcome for your sales representatives and prospects. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system may help your company stay connected with customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability. Runo provides a powerful SIM-based call management CRM with multiple features. Read more about Runo Sim-Based CRM here.