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The Complex Sale Talk to any number of professional salespeople and no matter what they're selling you're likely to get the impression that what they do is complex and even mysterious. And that may be so. Selling is not something that comes easily to many people. But, when it comes to marketing, we believe that even the most complex sales can be managed. For our purposes, we treat the "Complex Sale" in a business-to-business environment as a particular set of circumstances that involves both a "sales team" and a "buying contingent." We also assume it involves major purchase decisions and big dollars. Without getting technical, a couple of other working definitions are in order. It is helpful to clarify the difference between the following: The Sales Cycle – The time it takes to close (or "book") a sale from beginning to end. And, with few exceptions, the shorter it is the better. The Sales Strategy – Our overall plan of attack on the marketplace, including the management levels you're aiming at, your points of impact and major sales considerations to be addressed. The Sales Process – The overall methodology, techniques and content of your sales delivery system. (The who, to whom, what, why, how and where you plan to make sales presentations, demonstrations, proposals, etc.) The Buying Process – This is what a prospect company thinks it must go through to exchange money for products or services. It is usually most sacrosanct at the mid-to-lower management levels. The problem comes in trying to match our sales process to the various buying processes of a number of major accounts. (It's kind of like playing 3-dimensional chess with live mice as pieces!) The Sales Sequence – A "digitized" version of the sales process wherein we assign media and messages to each step in the sales process. In the complex sale, the care and feeding of every component in the sales sequence becomes mission critical. (For more, see The Sales Process and The Sales Sequence.) The Complex Sale involves all of the above. It's where we have several people in a prospect organization who are stakeholders in our products or services. Each person may have a different agenda. Each person's influence carries different weight. And each person's questions need to be addressed in some sort of sequence in order to get to the next step. In shaping a sales process and designing each component in the sales sequence(s), we look at the relative power of persuasion (including credibility, etc.) of each medium, from electronic or print ads to direct mail, e-mail and website. But we really start at the back end (or, if you prefer, the top of the pyramid) with the most powerful of all media…the personal, face-to-face sales call. Our goal is to work our way backward, getting all of the details out of the way using the most appropriate and efficient format so that major decisions can be made at this key, face-to-face meeting. Attention to detail is mission critical in building a sales strategy for any complex sale opportunity. |
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