Exactly How to Sell

4Defining Your Sales Process

Garnering interest in you and your products or services is very different than creating intent in the buyer to move ahead with their decision. Successful selling starts with understanding that there is a process with a series of steps to work through if you are looking to achieve long‐term success. Perhaps the easiest way to consider the process is to draw parallels with the dating game. Although dating is typically something people partake in with a predetermined future purpose, it is rare that communicating this purpose early will allow the relationship to go the distance and achieve the success desired. Slowing the process down often results in speeding the outcome up.

When you consider physical human relationships, then it becomes obvious that there are a number of steps that need to complete for the relationship to advance. The one critical step that is always important is to get to the position of “first date.” This critical component is just as essential in the sales process as it is in the world of romance.

Knowing exactly how to sell is going to require you to become highly skilled at winning first dates. So far you have read about lots of ideas and strategies for creating opportunities, being prepared to look the part when the moments arise, and having your mind focused to impress when in the moment. It is now time to discuss precisely how you can define your process of creating the decision‐making conversations that result in your first ...