Don't confuse sales methodology and sales process. And the importance of consistency.

‘I don't understand. We have a good product and a good sales team. We even have a process in place. But the results of our salespeople vary greatly. Even for prospects who are really similar”

The frustration of this sales director of a fast-growing start-up, a ‘scale-up’ as they say, was palpable. The lack of consistency was eating away at him. It's something I hear a lot and there are many reasons for this variability. One of them is the confusion between process and methodology.

Don't confuse sales methodology and sales process

Organisations often have a well-established sales process. Percentages at each stage, tools (Salesforce, Pardot, email cadences, etc.), KPIs. Having a process is important. But the reality is that, often, what guides the leadership in the construction of this process is not to help the salespeople succeed. It is to set up a system that allows them to control their activities. It is a rather ‘financial’ and monetary approach. Based on their KPIs, the percentage chance of closing, the elements that have been collected from the prospect, etc.

These aspects are certainly necessary and important. But when I start asking questions about the way that each salesperson sells, I notice a huge disparity. Each individual has their own approach, their own semantics, their own way of approaching and ending appointments, of managing the exploratory phase, etc., etc., etc.

There is a huge amount of improvisation in interactions with prospects. Mediocre salespeople improvise. The most successful salespeople have a methodology that they follow on a recurring basis. They prepare their calls or meetings and rehearse them, and they debrief them afterwards. They know what questions to ask and, above all, how to ask them. They also prepare for the type of questions their prospects will ask them, etc.

I like the analogy of the skeleton. While a sales process is important, it only represents the skeleton of the sale. Everything that surrounds this skeleton is the methodology which, once defined, helps salespeople to achieve their results and, ultimately, the organisation to grow. The British speak of ‘flesh around the bones’.

So what makes it possible to avoid this variability that my contact was complaining about is having a methodology in place. Not just a process.

Practice makes perfect

OK, I can hear you saying from here, all you need is a way of asking questions and that's it? Mmmm, not quite.

Contrary to popular belief, selling is not a natural job. Do you want your salespeople to use the same sales techniques as your competitors? If the answer is no, the methodology to be implemented will be difficult for the teams to adopt and maintain. One example among many is that salespeople believe that developing a friendly relationship is essential to success. Developing a personal relationship is certainly important, but falling into what is known as the ‘friend zone’ with a potential customer can be counter-productive (see an article on the subject). So an effective methodology allows you to find the right balance between being too abrupt and falling into the ‘friend zone’. It's a balancing act that is not at all easy.

So once the methodology has been put in place, it is important to adopt an approach that allows this new way of working to gradually become part of the salespeople's DNA. This doesn't happen in a day or two. Nothing that we have learned and that is important in our lives can be learned in a day or two. Only repetition allows us to acquire new habits that we can rely on automatically. This is essential in sales because when prospecting or selling, it is not unusual for sales people to be under pressure - when they shouldn't but that's another conversation -. Therefore, only reflexes that are well anchored through repetition can allow sales representatives to draw on their ‘best practices’.

So remember to regularly set up exercises to practise this methodology, with an easy prospect, with a difficult prospect, with an easy prospect who ‘shops around’ and therefore has to be disqualified, with a prospect who has a D communication style, then one who has a C communication style, etc. Exercises to quantify the problem, to bring in a DM (decision maker), to postpone the demo until all stakeholders have been engaged, etc. The list is endless. Sales is an exercise that is won on the margins. Each micro-improvement can be seen in the long term.

That's it?

Almost. You have your methodology that helps (rather than controls) your salespeople. You have them repeat it. Now there is one last thing missing. Numerous studies show that the more structured and documented the sales process, the better the sales teams perform. A 2015 HBR study points out that there is twice the chance of having an underperforming sales organisation when the process (including methodology) is not structured and documented.

Implementing this methodology naturally takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day. Just getting started can bring results. But it is important to document it.

This is what sales professionals call a sales playbook. It covers all the fundamental aspects of sales. Recruitment and how to avoid costly mistakes, prospecting, applicable scripts, onboarding, presumptive questions, etc. The content of each playbook will naturally depend on each organisation. I have written a white paper on the subject which can be downloaded at this link.

Today, the scale-up I mentioned and its sales director are doing well. There is consistency in their approach and when an individual is struggling, it is easy to focus on the aspects of the process that are causing them problems or even to help them work on their mindset. But it took time. And you, how do you ensure consistency in your operations?