Most salespeople know this! It’s Sales 101. But if it is such a basic of selling, how come few salespeople put the knowledge to practical use?

“The situation, endemic to sales forces around the world today, is that they obsess about their sales process. Many invest millions in CRM and contact management technology and spent time training their salespeople in understanding the sales process – much of which ignores that there’s a buyer at the other end who is far more powerful than the sales process.

Our studies show that every sales process used today has a step where the salesperson must identify a need. Chances are that when salespeople do uncover the needs they move on to the next step in their sales process. But in reality selling isn’t about the salesperson uncovering the need – it’s about the buyer recognising that a need exists and being motivated to take action.

Uncovering the need only starts the initial step in the process, not completes it! The buyer is still considering issues such as: “How important is the need in the scheme of things? Is there an emotional desire to take action? Is the solution on offer the best alternative? All these issues need to be weighed before moving on to the next stage of the sales process, but they usually are not, because the salesperson has moved on.

So how do you close the gap between your sales cycle and the customer’s buying cycle without going back to square one? First, you need to understand the buying process. Every buyer goes through four steps – always in the same order and never skipping a step…

Rationale. Once the sales interaction commences the customer’s initial state of mind is awareness that there is a need. AT this stage buyers consider their options. Salespeople should keep in mind that one of the options may be to take no action.

Appetite. Although business implications are important, customers initially evaluate the options in a sale from a personal stand point. Salespeople talking to a buyer should acknowledge that prospects will consider personal implications. And the key issue for a buyer is, “Do I have the emotional appetite for the solution”. You’ll know when they’ve made this emotional decision because this is when buyers start asking questions that indicate they’re trying to picture how your solution fits into their world.

Thrust. The thrust of the solution is the rational side of decision making. Once a buyer has made the emotional decision to buy they look at the numbers. At this stage buyers are asking: “Can we afford it”? “Is there an adequate return on the investment”? “What are the political ramifications within the company”?

Stir. When buyers have made both the emotionally and rational considerations, they’re ready to buy. Asking for a commitment at this stage is more likely to get a positive response than at any other time in the sales process.

Once your sales process is geared to chasing R.A.T.S. you’re ready to align your sales process to the four-step buying process. This is simply a matter of taking each step in the sales process and plugging it into the corresponding step in the buying process, then shuffling the order so that it tracks logically with the buying process.

By making these adjustments salespeople will significantly reduce their number of lost deals and shorten the sales cycle.