Eight steps of selling: how to reach and sell your potential customers at each step.

By Kevin Davis

As salespeople, many of us have been conditioned to see things through our own eyes--and our sales behaviors are based on these perceptions. Seeing a buy/sell relationship only through our own eyes, however, should be a thing of the past.

Faced with increasing pressure to reduce costs and increase productivity, today's buyers are more sophisticated, more knowledgeable, less loyal and more cautious. Given these changes, buyers will no longer simply allow you to "sell."

Instead, successful salespeople will: provide information and recommendations; anticipate problems and offer solutions; look at the sales process as long-term and provide guidance along the way. In short, the successful salesperson gets into the customer's head and applies a customer-focused selling strategy.

Buy-Knowing vs. Buy-Learning

In customer-focused selling, a salesperson sees things from the buyer's perspective and matches the sales process to each customer. Instrumental in adopting this approach is understanding the two ways people buy: buy-knowing and buy-learning. Buy-knowing: when buyers believe they already know what they need to know and can make a relatively quick purchase decision. A repeat order is an example.

Buy-learning: this method is more complex because it involves acquiring knowledge and weighing alternatives to arrive at the optimum choice. It is certainly the buying process of the '90s. Advances in technology, continued change and a multitude of choices create more risk and uncertainty for buyers. Therefore, there's a greater need to learn about the available options.

Buy-learning, as I define it, unfolds in a series of eight predictable steps: change, discontent, research, comparison, fear, commitment, expectations and satisfaction. The effective salesperson understands how to shepherd buyers through each step of the buying process to encourage them to make the purchase.

To make the customer-focused selling process easier to use, I developed a memory aid for these eight roles of selling. In the buying process, each step a buyer takes is firmly based on the preceding step. The more effective you are providing the correct information at each juncture, the better your chances of winning the sale.

Eight Roles of Selling for the Eight Steps of Buying

1. Change: The Student. Take the role of a student; study how changes are affecting your prospects and find opportunities to add value. To make larger and more profitable sales, you must find bigger and more significant needs. The prospects' potential value to you will determine how much time you devote to learning about them.

2. Discontent: The Doctor. Ask questions that diagnose your customers' discontent and uncover their needs. Discontent occurs with prospects recognize that they are not where they would like to be. A problem or an opportunity can cause discontent, and you must look at both. As a doctor, you diagnose what ails your prospects, and identify the complications that are likely to affect them if they do nothing to resolve their discontent.

3. Research: The Architect. Here, your role is to design unique solutions that simplify your customers' research steps while setting the ground rules in your favor. Help them by translating their tangible concepts of what they need into more definite buying criteria.

To move from a general concept to a specific plan, you can use the same four steps an architect uses: 1. Understand the client's intangible concept of need. 2. Determine the must-have requirements necessary to achieve the concept. 3. Refine the concept by identifying "nice-two-haves." 4. Determine the relative importance of each nice-to-have to the client.

4. Comparison: The Coach. As your prospect compares your offering to that of the competition, your goal is to defeat your opponents without cutting price. A coach gains competitive advantage through analysis and insight, then executes a winning game plan.

Take steps that will help lead you to victory: 1. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses in comparison to those of your competitors. 2. Develop a game plan to positively position yourself against the competition. 3. Demonstrate your superiority on the playing field with a great sales proposal and presentation.

5. Fear: The Therapist. The therapist draws out fears and helps resolve them. The closer people get to making a major commitment, the more they focus on the future consequences. Be on the lookout for indications that the prospect is getting nervous. To detect fear, you must be sensitive and observant. Take time to review how things are going. Is anything out of the ordinary happening?

Once you have detected fear, you must determine its source. This is not always easy and may require a bit of risk on your part. Raise the issue that you think is causing fear and help your prospects by weighing options and discussing alternatives.

6. Commitment: The Negotiator. The goal here is to reach a mutual commitment to open a relationship, not to hammer-close the sale. Negotiation is a discussion designed to reach an agreement between parties who share some interests but are at odds on others.

Here are some key points to consider as you negotiate the commitment:

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