Rather than focusing on the 'sales process', sales people need to be taught how to notice the customer's 'buying process'.

So forget about the sales process and start to notice the customer's buying process so that you can pitch what they need to hear.

This isn't about text book definitions! It's customer centric. It can't be described in a few steps, but it can be described with a set of principles and a foundation of skill.

You might have come across these silly steps before:

1.sales lead

2.qualifying the lead

3.find out their needs

4.sell to them

5.the close

6.transacting the deal

... and I know they sound smart but following those steps doesn't necessarily lead to a sale.

To phrase it differently: if person A has a close rate of 60% but doesn't follow the rigid 'sales process' and person B has a close rate of 5% but does follow the 'sales process' then who's a better salesperson?! I've never been contracted to teach a team the 'sales process'; only to 'increase their bottom line'. And I do that by teaching them to focus on the buyer and not the text book process.

Supposedly there is an advantage to following the 6 steps above and its: ' achieving a standard with customer interaction in sales'.

It's important to use standards diligently so that they don't cap progress. Take the example of an A+ student: can he/she get a higher grade?

But there's tons of choice when it comes to achieving lower grades.

If, like me, you think that the more money the better then you wouldn't want to cap that by using a standard sales process, would you?

Enough of the diversion, lets recap: the sales process needs to be about noticing verbal and non verbal cues that allow us to pitch our product or service in just the right way for the customer to buy.