Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process
We spend way too much time in our companies designing, measuring, and enabling, the Sales Process.
Every time you hear those words (Sales Process), I want you to ask a question: Wouldn’t it be more useful if we talked about the Buying Process?
Does this difference – between Sales process and Buying process – sound like hair splitting?
It’s not. You can make up a Sales Process. You have to talk to actual buyers to map the Buying Process. When you do that, everything will change.
- Alan
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good point. it is easy to interchange the two processes but in reality they are different.
the more you can learn about what goes through a customers mind during the buying process the better you can plan.
thanks,
josh
“Roger” that. To maximize sales effectiveness, you need to apply both. Too often sales executives are focused on developing a repeatable sale process — paying little attention to how customers make buying decisions. While a repeatable sales process is key to scaling sales operations, the tougher (and more interesting) job is to identify a buying process. In fact, understanding your market’s buying process is (should be) a prerequisite to any sales process worth its salt (or quota). After all, how can your sales process effectively address customer needs without first understanding them? A well designed sales process “matches” your customers’ buying process.
Understanding the buying process is not just an issue for the sales organization, but for the company as a whole. Very often it will have significant implications – requiring flexibility of thinking & operational processes – to accomodate customer’s buying processes.
e.g., JIT/VIM purchasing frameworks….
Check out Neil Rackham’s book “SPIN Selling” for a good research-based treatment of the buying process.
Hmm, sounds suspiciously similar to what I heard in a session at ProductCamp Austin yesterday
@onpm my 2 cents on recent post: Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process http://bit.ly/FYrcn #pct2 #pca09 #prodmgmt
Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process « On Product … http://bit.ly/N4pj9
Thanks for these comments. Despite our violent agreement in this corner of the blogosphere, I don’t see this idea being incorporated into very many sales or PMM functions. The industry needs to reorient itself, gents!
I Agree. If this is Incorporated. We can realize better output by putting in the efforts in the right direction
RT @onpm: Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process http://bit.ly/FYrcn #pct2 #pca09 #prodmgmt #sales
RT @Jmike_moores: RT @onpm: Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process http://bit.ly/FYrcn #pct2 #pca09 #prodmgmt #sales
http://onproductmanagement.net/2009/08/16/screw-the-sales-process-study-the-buying-process/
Good tip: Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process http://bit.ly/DJ7Gy
Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process via @onpm @bdoctor: http://bit.ly/FYrcn #prodmktg #marketing
Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process: http://bit.ly/FYrcn (via @michelelinn)
Weeknd Proj #15 "Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process." Talk w/ a potential customer http://bit.ly/NGv21
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Screw the Sales Process. Study the Buying Process http://bit.ly/2t6A #postrank #prod_mgmt