Categories: Sales Process
An effective sales process hinges on how well it’s aligned to your customer’s buying process. Building this alignment with customer Verifiable Outcomes shortens the sales cycle and improves your win-rate.
Customer Verifiable Outcomes build qualification into the sales process, and allow sellers to qualify opportunities based on what the customer is doing at a particular buying stage.
Customer Verifiable Outcomes allow the customer to participate in the selling process. They indicate their “buying” state-of-mind. They may include things like:
- Documented pain points
- Implications of the customer’s current situation
- Knowledge the organization is ready to invest resources
Using Customer Verifiable Outcomes as criteria in your sales process earns your sellers the right to advance the opportunity to the next stage of the buying process. As a result, sellers are better able to verify areas where they would otherwise be guessing. If reps can determine these benchmarks, they are less likely to:
- Lose a Deal
- Spend too much time on a deal that won’t happen
- Waste time on unexpected delays
If reps don’t focus on staying in sync with their customers and reading the buying signs, they greatly increase the probability of losing deals.
What “buyer signals” do you look for that show you it’s time to move an opportunity to the next stage? How are you ensuring your reps aren’t skipping key steps in the sales process?
Developing tools like Opportunity Qualifiers and Pre-Call Planners will help sellers consistently manage opportunities. Remember, simply following a sales process doesn’t guarantee the deal will close. Make sure your team is consistently qualifying all opportunities with customer verifiable outcomes throughout the sales process. It’s a sure way to prove an opportunity warrants your investment of time and resources.
