My hope for you and your business is that each week, you take steps to increase your activity, increase your planning, and get clear on what you can do that you’re not doing. You know what? Filling up your pipeline is great, but what good does it do you if you can’t close those sales?
The Sales Process
In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) we often talk about the five-step sales process. When I teach NLP programs and boot camps, half of it is about life and half of it is about business. I usually spend about five to seven hours alone on the sales process. When you’re dealing with sales, it’s wrapped up in human nature.
There are a lot of sales trainings out there. And, I’ll tell you what, you should participate in as many of them as you can. You’ll end up taking important pieces from each one that will integrate within you and be congruent with you.
The Buyer and the Seller
But, the reality is, sales is really a buying process AND a selling process. In every sale, there are two salespeople, the person who is buying and the person who is selling. The outcome is who bought who’s product. Who sold who.
So when a buyer has a need, want, or desire, and they don’t buy from you, YOU bought their lack of need for you. So, they sold YOU.
There is always a buyer and there is always a seller. Once we understand how both sides operate, then you can better understand the sales process.
Here’s the Highlights
As I said, when I’m teaching a training on the Five-Step Sales Process, I spend five to seven hours on it depending on the size of the class and the number of questions asked. I know you don’t have five hours right now, so I’m just going to give you a few highlights… enough to make you a little dangerous!
What are your numbers?
The average salesperson, at any given time, closes 10% of their sales.
You’ve heard me say this time and time again, if you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business and if you treat it like a hobby it will cost you like a hobby.
So where are you right now? Do you know the numbers of your business? Do you know your sales stats? What’s your closing ratio? What’s your ASP (Average Sales Price)?
My sales percentage is anywhere between forty and seventy percent, depending on what kind of environment I’m in. If I’m in a one-on-one environment, I close 70% of my sales. If I’m on stage, I close about 40% of my sales.
Do you know your sales stats?
Where do I find the time?
I hear this question time and time again. Or, “I don’t have time to do this. I don’t have time to do that.” And I’ll tell you the average entrepreneur works about three to four hours a day. You have the time. Trust me.
So what are the five steps?
- Establish rapport
- Ask questions
- Find a need
- Link the need or value to your product, service, or solution
- Closing the sale