Rethinking the Sales Cycle: How Superior Sellers Embrace the Buying Cycle to Achieve a Sustainable and Competitive Advantage

by Tim Young, John R. Holland

Overview

Align your selling methods with their buying habits for a win-win relationship!

“The digital age has dramatically changed the selling profession. John Holland and Tim Young will bring you up to date on their new rules for a customer-centric approach.”
—Al Ries, bestselling coauthor, War in the Boardroom

Since its founding in 2002, CustomerCentric Selling, one of the world’s leading sales training firms, has dramatically changed how selling is viewed—from simply promoting a product to empowering customers to achieve goals or solve problems through the use of offerings.

Today, buyers don’t want salespeople telling them what they want or need; they’ve already gone online and informed themselves—which makes the job of selling more difficult than ever.

So how do you reestablish the relevance you previously took for granted? How, in the world of Web 2.0, can you develop long-term relationships with customers and maintain your competitive advantage? You must stop focusing squarely on the selling cycle—and pay closer attention to the buying cycle. In other words, learn how customers want to buy and align your selling techniques accordingly.

In Rethinking the Sales Cycle, two leaders from CustomerCentric Selling provide the latest research into the buying cycle. They present a step-by-step model that helps you seize market share and hold it by understanding the five stages of the buying cycle. Learn how to:

• Interpret buying behavior at different stages
• Assess your competitive position based upon buyer behavior
• Read the impetus behind a buyer objection
• Merge your selling process with a buyer’s buying process
• Take a committee through a buying cycle to maximize the chance of consensus at the end

When it comes to the buying cycle, today’s customers want control. You can give it to them when you have a selling strategy aligned with their behavior. It’s the best and perhaps only way to succeed in today’s ultra-competitive world.

Rethinking the Sales Cycle gives you unprecedented insight into the mindset, emotions, and behaviors of buyers. Armed with this information, you will find the solutions you need to lead your organization to new heights of success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071639798
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	12/25/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

John R. Holland is cofounder and principalof CustomerCentric Selling®. His articleshave been published in Sales and MarketingExecutive Report, Selling Power, and AmericanSalesman.

Tim Young is CEO of CustomerCentricSelling®. Earlier in his career, he served aspresident of Harte-Hanks Marketing Servicesbefore founding TECHMAR Communications,which became one of the fastest-growingprivate companies in America.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Pt 1 – Recognizing the revolution

1 – Power to the buyer.
2 – How the internet and social networking have empowered buyers and forever changed the sales process.
3 – The sales cycle is dead. Long live the buying cycle.

PT 2 – The 8 Phases of the new buying cycle

4 – Phase 1: Awareness and urgency
5 – Phase 2: Googling options
6 – Phase 3: Social networking reconnaissance
7 – Phase 4: Shortlists and first impressions
8 – Phase 5: Visualizing solutions
9 – Phase 6: Looking under the rug: Blogs, real user reviews and risk
10 – Phase 7: Negotiating and pulling the trigger
11 – Phase 8: Implementation and telling the world

Pt 3 – Fostering a sales culture that facilitates buying
12 – How traditional selling conflicts with the new buying process
13 – People want to buy! Align selling activities that let them.
14 – Getting product marketing right
15 – Managing sales to facilitate the buying process
16 – Magic moments: Creating a great customer experience
17 – Using sales process to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage