Posted by Jim Kasper on Tue, Sep 22, 2009 @ 03:46 PM
Avoid "flavor of the month" terminology
The lack of uniformity of sales practice and commonality of sales process vocabulary will pose a barrier to sales organization effectiveness. Sales executives, managers, and representatives all come from various sales methodology trainings. Hence, most internal sales organization are a hodge podge of sales expressions. We highly recommend that you adopt and embed a common terminology for your professional sales team that is universally and quickly adopted and not proprietary to a specific "flavor of the month" methodology that will change as people come and go.
Legal, medical, financial, and educational occupations are prime examples of highly effective use of common professional language. In each of the aforementioned vocations words have the same meaning. We cannot make that claim in our profession.
Sales Process Glossary
Let us present the first "primer glossary" of universal sales process terminology. You are welcome to adopt these in your sales organization.
Sales Methodology: a specific sales philosophy utilized by your sales team to close/capture a sale. Embedded in each methodology are sales skills specific to that methodology's successful implementation. Examples: transactional, consultative, customer centric, strategic account, solution based, short cycle selling
Sales Cycle: Synonymous with sales process. The step-by-step procedure that your sales team must undertake to successfully conclude a sale from start to close. It is the process in which you practice your sales methodology. The following figure illustrates a generic sales cycle/process. Your sales cycle closely follows the buying cycle of your customers. It is called a sales "cycle" because, if you notice, it ends with a referral which starts a new cycle in the prospect stage.
Sales Cycle Stages: Each step within your sales cycle is referred to as a stage because a stage is a "platform or level" from which you will perform certain activities and achieve the next stage or level. Prospect is the first "stage" in the above sales cycle. Interview is the second "stage" and so on.
Sales Cycle Predominant Activities: Within each stage of your sales cycle are specific activities you must accomplish; however, you are not rewarded for conducting those activities; you are rewarded for achieving the next stage, which is your only objective. Example: Predominant activities in the "interview stage" of the above generic sales cycle may include pre-call planning, meeting agenda, and account history review.
Sales Cycle Dwell Time: Look again at the generic sales cycle example. You will notice little clocks between the sales cycle stages. Those clocks represent the amount of time expended to complete the next stage. In essence, the clocks measure the time your sales professionals "dwell" between stages. Most sales cycles have "standard or expected" dwell times between stages.
Sales Cycle Velocity: The total time it takes to complete one complete sales cycle (all of the stages). For consultative, complex sales cycles, this is usually measured in days, weeks, or months. It is easily calculated by adding all of the "dwell" times.
To download a free sales process glossary of terms for your sales team, click here.
Photo credit: shawn_econo