Most Popular Sales Methodologies and The Importance of Choosing One

by Paulina Romero H Paulina Romero H | Dec 26, 2018 12:00:00 PM

 

sales methodologies

 What is the difference between a Sales Process and a Sales Methodology?

A sales process is a set of specific repeatable steps that your sales team must follow in order to convert prospects into customers and close sales, in other words, it is a detailed how-to manual.

Now, a sales methodology is a more general framework in which each sales process fits, it has to do more with the attitude and vision that are held around the selling activity and within this framework, the process or plan is elaborated.

Do you need to have both?

Ideally, yes. Why? because there are many ways to approach sales, many methodologies (which we'll describe in this article). You first need to decide on your vision, your focus, and then you think of the specific steps that you will take, that is, on your plan.

Now, could you go directly to the sales plan without deciding on a methodology? Of course you can, but that will leave you with a very important gap: the sales approach that you are going to apply and that should organize your entire process. You may start to mixing everything randomly and hopefully, it'll work for you, but it is always better to work in a more informed and systematic way than by leaving it all to chance.

There are methodologies that may share some sales techniques, but there are also sales methodologies that are opposed to each other, that their sales vision is radically different. That's why we always recommend choosing a sales methodology first (or at least, compatible methodologies) so that based on this decision, you can design your sales plan, your "magic recipe".

Most Popular Sales Methodologies

most popular sales methodologies
  1. Solution selling. Popular by the end of the 70's, beginning of the 80's. The salesperson focuses on the client's pain or problema and not on what the company sells. Products are later offered as a solution to relieve that pain.
  2. Challenger Model. Based on "Challenger", Dixon and Adamson's book. The salesperson must challenge the buyer, he must push him or challenge his pre-conceptions during the sales process.
  3. Sandler model. This model's salespeople must work with the objections of the clients from the very beginning, by doing so, no one's time is wasted, neither the client's nor the salesperson. The idea is that, instead of making the salesperson convince the client, it should be the client who almost ends up convincing the salesperson to sell him the product.
  4. Consultative selling. The sales representative becomes the client's advisor. He has earned this place by listening to the client during some period of time. Thanks to this strategy, the salesperson has come to know the client and offer him what he needs, gaining thus, authority as his advisor.
  5. Inbound sales. It works by attracting clients with relevant content for them, instead of offering messages that they aren't really interested in. It was created based on the belief that:
    1. Buyers these days look for information online before contacting a sales rep.
    2. Buyers block out messages and sales techniques that are irrelevant to them (phone calls, TV ads...)
    3. Buyers control the whole buying experience and thus, all the salesperson can do is to adopt a more human, more helpful approach.

As you can see, there are methodologies that can be compatible and others that can't. What's really important is that you choose the approach that most convinces you and build your sales process from there.

DataBranding works with an Inbound methodology, both for sales and marketing. We believe that buyers are increasingly searching online for the information of the products that they are interested in. They are the ones who navigate and inform themselves according to their needs and it is not until they have the information they need that they contact the salesperson. Hence the importance of offering quality content that is relevant to them and that truly helps them solve their problem.

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