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Is it possible to sell without a sales process? Can you be successful engaging customers without a plan?
It happens all the time. I even hear sales people brag about “the art of sales.” The bravado of natural born rainmakers sounds good, but it’s a fool’s errand. It simply doesn’t work that way.
The best don’t sell by the seat of their pants.
Winning Takes a Process
To prove my point let me take you to the root of this little cliche–flying by the seat of your pants. Let me tell you no competent pilot wings it.
Back when I was in Air Force pilot-training we practiced procedures over and over and over again. We were tested on our knowledge of the most minute procedures and processes daily, in: stand-up, chair-flying, desk reviews, academics, simulator, pre-flight, and post-flight. That completely leaves out the actual hundreds of hours we logged in the actual aircraft practicing these same procedures.
All this practice and repetition reviewing the same procedures served only one purpose:
When the real pressure was on you executed flawlessly and instinctively.
Can you imagine putting millions of dollars on the line (in the air) without a plan? We do it everyday with our sales revenue–right? Why?
Learn to Win Over and Over Again
If you want to learn to win consistently and as frequently as possible you need a plan. This is the carefully measured and planned process to winning. It’s not that hard and we expect it in most things we want to do well–sports, music, education, (most) jobs.
Sales seems to be a notable exception. We win deals and we’re not sure how we got there. We look at a list of prospects with no idea of what a good one looks like. We email and call with no rhyme of reason. We talk to prospects without any clear goal or message.
Successful sales people don’t do it like this. Why are so many trying?
Questions and Answers
I’d love to hear your thoughts:
- Do you agree or disagree with me? Why?
- How do you track and iterate your sales plan?
- Do you have any systems you use (I’m thinking GTD-style)?
- Has your organization adopted a common “sales process?” What is it?
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{ 7 comments }
Bill: Thanks for your post. I agree with you: process + practice matters.
IMO, one of the keys that's often missing in sales processes is the feedback that fighter pilots get in their training. If you're about to crash the plane, you get feedback that helps you stay in the air and avoid making the same mistake a 2nd time. Twyla Tharpe said it best: practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.My take on implications of her ideas for sales process + practice: bit.ly/PjBW2
Trust this adds some value to your valuable points.
- John
John,
I like the ideas of feedback and perfect practices. These are great additions to the conversation on how we can build a consistent process for winning in sales and other life pursuits. Great post too. Thanks for introducing me to Twyla Tharpe.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
Most salespeople spend more time planning their vacation, something that will cost them money, than planning the next sale, something that will make them money.
Having a process as a guideline is like having a map to follow. You're less likely to get lost. But then, even a blind squirrel will find the occasional nut. In my opinion, most salespeople sell like blind squirrels.
Brian,
How true! And like a “blind squirrel” we sometimes look stunned when we have the “nut” drop in our lap. This is the shame of it all–we have no idea how we got it or how to get another one. I have to confess it's happen to me a time or two and it's a reminder to stay focused and track my sales planning. Great analogy.
Thanks for the comment.
I like this metaphor very much. Not being a pilot myself, I know though that there are Visual Flight Rules” (VFR) and “Instrument Flight Rules” (IFR). People bragging about being able by “flying by the seat of their pants” are usually only trained on VFR. They only can be amateurs and are not allowed to fly in clouds Professionals know that humans are unable to determine their position in space if they have no visual reference point. That's why they practice IFR. They know how to use instruments in the cockpit, allowing them to determine their position in space and therefore can also fly through clouds.
So be carefully bragging how you can wing your sales ( the equivalent of flying by the seat of your pants). It puts you in the amateur category!
Christian,
Excellent extension of the metaphor and a great point!
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Bill,
I couldn't agree more with the fact that you need a process to succeed. I have seen before in companies that I have worked in and worked for, where no process is followed and the company wonders why they can't achieve the results they want or why their sales pipeline is a mess.
I found some stats from the Aberdeen Group that show this:
Best in class companies (those that follow a process) are 200% more likely to retain 75% of current customers compared to laggards (or those that probably don't follow a process).
Best in Class companies are 3 times more likely than laggards to covert more than 50% of leads into a sales pipeline
Best in Class Companies have a documented sales process typically 81% of the time compared with laggard companies at 57%.
So the stats show your point.
Great post Bill.
Chris
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