I'm not an expert on sales methodologies and process. But these guys are, and this is so worth 1 hour of your time.
A short list from several sources includes:
- Transactional
- Solution Selling
- Strategic Selling / Miller Heiman
- Sandler
- MEDDIC / MEDDPICC
- Consultative Selling
- Challenger Sale
What these seem to have in common is a focus on solving customers' pain and helping them realize business value. A number of SE leaders differentiate between Sales Process and Sales Methodology but there seems to be a lot of overlap, if not confusion. MEDDPICC, for example, starts as a way to qualify and score deal health.
The way I understand it, thanks to this (if you didn't click the link above) useful webinar on Process:
- Methodology is the overarching approach, often in the "DNA" of the organization
- Process is basically the stages in your sales pipeline or funnel
- Plays and Key Activities define what each role must show / say / do in each stage, along with why, in order to progress the sale and realize value for the customer.
Plays and activities implement the process, which supports and aligns with the methodology. The unifying factor is a customer-centricity, and one way to look at this is the Customer Journey: both seller and buyer / customer / champions / stakeholders agree (or don't) to take it together.
Clear stage-exit criteria are essential to maintaining complex sales deal health, as well as for forecasting and process improvement. This is where data and analytics come in.
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