The key to successful selling has always been differentiation – primarily in product features, service capabilities and value. The problem with focusing on these narrow issues is that we can easily lose sight of the bigger picture. If we want to achieve different results, we need to think and act in ways that are different from the way we've always done it but also different from our competitors. Applying industrial process thinking to your sales process will help to set you apart from everyone else.

1. Are You Happy with 'Typical' Sales
...or Do You Want More?

2. What do we mean by 'Typical'
Sales?

3. In a manufacturing industry, you
may see it phrased like this:
“Typically, we win 1 in 4 of the quotes we
issue.”

4. “Typically, we win 1 in 4 of the quotes we
issue.”
also means:
“We lose 75% of of the quotes we issue.”

5. Or like this:

6. also means
salespeople only spend 35% of their
time on orders they win.

7. 'Typical' sales seems to mean
spending more time on losing than
on winning orders.
So what can you do about it?

9. 'Different' is not just about your:
✔ Products
✔ Services
✔ Value } 'Table Stakes'

10. What advantages
can we gain by
changing the way
we think about and
approach selling?
Image courtesy of Karen Neogh

11. Stop thinking that
sales works like
this.
It doesn't!

12. Leaks happen

13. Flow reverses

14. People sit on the fence!
Image courtesy of William Murphy

15. The 'Sales
Funnel' model is
no longer fit for
purpose.

16. Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Post Proposal
Commitment
Order
Turn the Sales Funnel upside down
=

17. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Post Proposal
Commitment
Order
Qualification is
not a single event

18. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order Processes flow due
to input:
✔ phone calls
✔ meetings
✔ presentations
✔ proposals
✔ negotiations

19. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order Understand
precisely what
needs to happen
to move from
one stage to the
next.

20. WARNING!
Scientific bit approaching!
(Bear with me, it is relevant)

21. Catalyst reduces Activation Energy

22. Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution
No.ofparticles
Energy
No catalyst
Catalyst = more particles react

23. Sales Catalysts
“Content marketing is the marketing and
business process for creating and distributing
relevant and valuable content to attract,
acquire, and engage a clearly defined and
understood target audience – with the
objective of driving profitable customer
action.”

24. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
White Paper
Checklist
Early Process / 'Top of Funnel'
Focus on business issues.
Content here should answer the 'Why'
questions:
✔ Why should the customer care in the
first place?
✔ Why should the issue (let alone the
product) get on their crowded radar?
✔ Why should they buy anything?

25. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
Video or live
demonstration
Case Studies
Mid Process / 'Middle of Funnel'
Equal focus on business issues and
product/service.
Content here should answer the 'How
questions:
✔ How can I best meet these challenges?

26. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
Data Sheets
Product Guides
Late Process / 'Bottom of Funnel'
Technical companies very good at this
type of content but often present it too
early in the process.
Content here should answer the 'What'
questions:
✔ What should I buy?
It should help with the final decision, and
not be used to raise awareness.

27. 'Fletcher Distribution'
No.ofProspects
Reluctance to Buy
Content catalyst – more prospects willing to buy
No content catalyst – fewer prospects willing to buy
Most prospects
very reluctant to
buy

28. What does our
new process map
look like?

29. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
S
U
S
P
E
C
T
S
QUALIFIED OUT
'Feedstock'
'Ideal World'
Process
{
'Real World' Process for
most suspects!

30. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
S
U
S
P
E
C
T
S
QUALIFIED OUT
Prospecting/Lead
Gen
Proposal
Post Proposal
Commitment
Order
NURTURE
'Sitting on the fence' can happen at any stage.
Use content to nurture.

31. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
S
U
S
P
E
C
T
S
QUALIFIED OUT
Prospecting/Lead
Gen
Proposal
Post Proposal
Commitment
Order
NURTURE
Nurtured prospects can re-enter at any stage

32. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
S
U
S
P
E
C
T
S
QUALIFIED OUT
Prospecting/Lead
Gen
Proposal
Post Proposal
Commitment
Order
NURTURE
Qualification can drop prospects to a previous stage

33. Qualification
Prospecting/Lead Gen
Qualification
Proposal
Qualification
Post Proposal
Qualification
Commitment
Qualification
Order
S
U
S
P
E
C
T
S
QUALIFIED OUT
Prospecting/Lead
Gen
Proposal
Post Proposal
Commitment
Order
NURTURE
Post-order routes - back into process, nurture or out

34. It's a pretty picture of a semi-
closed loop process but so what?

35. This is what a great thinker had to
say on the matter

36. You can continue to work the way
you've always worked and waste
65 - 75%
of your time.

37. OR
You can truly differentiate yourself
from your competitors and really
make a difference.

38. Harvard Business Review had the
following to say*:
“...there was an 18% difference in revenue
growth between companies that defined a
formal sales process and companies that
didn’t.”
*Companies with a Formal Sales Process Generate More Revenue

39. and this:
“Companies that spent at least three hours per
month managing each rep’s sales pipeline saw
11% greater revenue growth than those that
spent fewer than three hours per month.”

40. and this:
“Companies that had trained their sales
managers to manage their pipelines saw their
revenue grow 9% faster than those that didn’t.”

41. Are you insane?
Of course not.
Then what are you waiting for?

42. If you need help defining, refining or mapping your
sales process, contact:
Neil Fletcher
Arrosam Ltd
E-mail: neiljfletcher@arrosam.co.uk
Tel: 01202 882997
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