Rethinking the Sales Cycle: How Superior Sellers Embrace the Buying Cycle to Achieve a Sustainable and Competitive Advantage by Young, Tim; Holland, John;

Short description:

Align your selling methods with theirbuying 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 newrules for a customer-centric approach.”
—Al Ries, bestselling coauthor, War in the Boardroom

With the proliferation of social networking and other online platforms, you are nolonger in control of customers’ perceptions of your products or services. Only byfocusing on buyer behavior can you keep your competitive edge fresh and sharp.

Rethinking the Sales Cycle reveals how buyer behavior has changed and explains why traditionalsales approaches don’t work. You’ll gain critical insight into:

• The unprecedented power customers wield forbuilding—or killing—your business
• The psychology of buyers and how it changes throughoutthe buying process
• Developing an organization-wide strategy that aligns yourselling techniques to buyer behavior

With Rethinking the Sales Cycle, you will enjoy not only increased sales but, moreimportant, provide superior buying experiences—the foundation of a healthy, lastingseller-buyer relationship.

Long description:

Align your selling methods with theirbuying 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 newrules 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 leadingsales training firms, has dramatically changedhow selling is viewed—from simply promotinga product to empowering customers toachieve goals or solve problems through the useof offerings.

Today, buyers don’t want salespeople tellingthem what they want or need; they’ve alreadygone online and informed themselves—whichmakes the job of selling more difficult than ever.

So how do you reestablish the relevance youpreviously took for granted? How, in the worldof Web 2.0, can you develop long-term relationshipswith customers and maintain yourcompetitive advantage? You must stop focusingsquarely on the selling cycle—and pay closerattention to the buying cycle. In other words,learn how customers want to buy and align yourselling techniques accordingly.

In Rethinking the Sales Cycle, two leaders fromCustomerCentric Selling provide the latestresearch into the buying cycle. They present astep-by-step model that helps you seize marketshare and hold it by understanding the five stagesof the buying cycle. Learn how to:

• Interpret buying behavior at different stages
• Assess your competitive position basedupon buyer behavior
• Read the impetus behind a buyer objection
• Merge your selling process with a buyer’sbuying process
• Take a committee through a buying cycle tomaximize the chance of consensus at the end

When it comes to the buying cycle, today’s customerswant control. You can give it to themwhen you have a selling strategy aligned withtheir behavior. It’s the best and perhaps only wayto succeed in today’s ultra-competitive world.

Rethinking the Sales Cycle gives you unprecedentedinsight into the mindset, emotions, andbehaviors of buyers. Armed with this information,you will find the solutions you need to leadyour organization to new heights of success.

Align your selling methods with theirbuying 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 newrules 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 leadingsales training firms, has dramatically changedhow selling is viewed—from simply promotinga product to empowering customers toachieve goals or solve problems through the useof offerings.

Today, buyers don’t want salespeople tellingthem what they want or need; they’ve alreadygone online and informed themselves—whichmakes the job of selling more difficult than ever.

So how do you reestablish the relevance youpreviously took for granted? How, in the worldof Web 2.0, can you develop long-term relationshipswith customers and maintain yourcompetitive advantage? You must stop focusingsquarely on the selling cycle—and pay closerattention to the buying cycle. In other words,learn how customers want to buy and align yourselling techniques accordingly.

In Rethinking the Sales Cycle, two leaders fromCustomerCentric Selling provide the latestresearch into the buying cycle. They present astep-by-step model that helps you seize marketshare and hold it by understanding the five stagesof the buying cycle. Learn how to:

• Interpret buying behavior at different stages
• Assess your competitive position basedupon buyer behavior
• Read the impetus behind a buyer objection
• Merge your selling process with a buyer’sbuying process
• Take a committee through a buying cycle tomaximize the chance of consensus at the end

When it comes to the buying cycle, today’s customerswant control. You can give it to themwhen you have a selling strategy aligned withtheir behavior. It’s the best and perhaps only wayto succeed in today’s ultra-competitive world.

Rethinking the Sales Cycle gives you unprecedentedinsight into the mindset, emotions, andbehaviors of buyers. Armed with this information,you will find the solutions you need to leadyour organization to new heights of success.

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