Regardless of industry, market, or skill level, all sales reps can agree on one thing—a lot of hard work goes into sales. However, what many businesses don’t know is that there are specific tools and techniques designed to facilitate the job. Sales methodologies and processes can help companies increase productivity, unify team members, and most importantly, achieve sales goals.
“We like to keep things simple,” says SELLect Sales Development CEO, Merit Kahn, “we teach a way of thinking about sales and formulas to make it easy to execute which is your sales method and a series of steps to execute which is your sales process.”
So what’s the difference between a sales process and methodology? And which one is right for your business? Keep reading to find out.
Sales Process vs. Methodology
Believe it or not, there is a very distinct difference between a sales methodology and a sales process. Let’s discuss the main points of each term:
What Is a Sales Process?
A sales process essentially serves as a guide to help your sales reps follow the proper steps of the selling journey, ultimately leading to the final sale. It covers every stage of the sales cycle.
A sales process should be based on your specific market, industry, products, and audience—it should be unique to your business! It’s perfectly alright for your sales process to look vastly different than other companies.
It’s crucial to craft a sales process before you begin searching for prospects. Once you have a set model in place, you won’t have to worry about any loose ends. With an effective sales process, your sales team will have an outline of everything they need to discover and gain new customers.
What Is a Sales Methodology?
On the other hand, a sales methodology focuses on one area of a sales process, building unique approaches based on your specific business values, culture, and goals. It’s basically more of a strategy than a system—it’s the “how” of selling.
Check out this list of the top ten sales methodologies companies use.
While a sales process should be uniquely tailored to each business, the same sales methodology can be used by many businesses. The right sales methodology encourages you to focus on your business identity in order to drive the right buyers and sales. The SELLect Sales Methodology is a dynamic set of practices for developing selling strategies that win and grow business.
How Do Your Sales Process and Methodology Fit Together?
A sales process and sales methodology work best together. Without a sales process, your sales reps will never fully understand the intended path of your selling cycle. They won’t know what steps to take, what direction to guide prospects, and how to turn qualified leads into committed sales. Without a sales methodology, your sales process will lack the unique approaches that demonstrate to your customers who you are as a company.
With both a sales process and methodology in place, your sales team will have all the tools and techniques they need to excel in obtaining new customers and closing deals. The right sales process will guide your team in the right direction, and the right methodology will utilize each rep’s strengths while also providing the necessary support for individual challenges.
Which Sales Methodology Is Right for Your Company?
An effective methodology provides a set of best practices and tools that assists sales professionals in building trusted relationships that simplify the sales opportunity pursuit process. But which one is right for your sales team? We recommend utilizing the one that best suits your current priorities—don’t think too far ahead, focus on what your business has to work with in the moment. Factors such as business size, sales team training and experience, and even product type should all be considered when deciding on a methodology.
Some methodologies are more question-focused, while others are optimized for developing large accounts. Your company’s needs will surely change over time, so choose a methodology that suits your current priorities.
Some companies don’t use any form of methodology—which is a big risk. Regardless of which methodology you choose for your business, it’s important to leverage one in order to enhance your abilities to execute sales and drive high performance levels.
SELLect Sales Offers Solutions for Both Process and Methodology Needs!
An effective methodology provides a set of best practices and tools that assist sales reps in building trusted relationships that simplify the sales opportunity pursuit process.
The key difference is that a sales methodology is a collection of practices, while a sales process is more of an outline or guidebook. However, it is vital to use each of these sales strategy components in tandem to enhance the customer experience and grow results.
The SELLect Sales Methodology integrates consultative sales processes, behavioral changes and refined skills to will help you SELL more, SELL faster and SELL smarter. Our sales process includes a complete selling system that teaches you everything you need to know about finding prospects, qualifying opportunities, and closing deals.
Contact SELLect Sales today for more information about how to license the SELLect Sales Methodology!
Tags: sales, sales methodology, sales process, sales training Posted by