Three Tips to Build a Sales Excellence Framework

Sales needs to change the narrative of success for their clients.

There’s a misconception that the goal of sales is signed contracts and closed-won, but therein lies the faltering narrative of sales. 

Approaching sales with the short-sightedness of only closing deals is not what is truly at the heart of sales: creating power users, raving fans, and loyalty.

Most B2B buyers (80% of them) have changed to new suppliers in the past year or say they plan to do so within the next year. Why?

B2B sellers go for contracts, not power users.

That’s where the narrative needs to change. Stringent sales framework, qualitative sales process, information gates – these lie at the heart of close-focused selling. Specifically:

1. 1. There is no standard framework for working customers through an optimized buyer experience
   2. Sellers aren’t collaborators or consultative with their customers: they’re too focused on qualification/moving through their step in the process instead of creating loyal customers
   3. A lack of transparency is causing too much friction for customers 

Creating the future of sales relies on transforming away from these issues. 

Over the next one, three, to five years, it’s up to sales leaders and executives to start working towards a sales excellence framework that looks more like:

1. 1. Standardizing a sales framework that follows the customer’s buying process
   2. Focus on building collaborative and consultative skills and processes for sellers
   3. Embrace radical transparency around the process, competition, pricing, etc.

Tips for Creating a Sales Excellence Framework 

#1 Standardizing a Framework for an Ideal Buyer Experience

The problem with the many proprietary methodologies for sales out there, is not that they’re relatively similar. In all honesty, sales follows two predictable patterns:

The Bottom-Up Path: A seller will engage someone at a company who’s more of a frontline user. From there, the seller needs to approach the team, engage with them, and get them excited about what you’re selling. Then, they move up the ladder and work with a manager or executive, send them a proof of concept and get them to sign off on the project. 

The Top-Down Path: The seller engages an executive and gets them excited about the product, the strategy, and the vision. Then, the seller moves down the chain of command to ensure there’s equal utility and usage for the frontline users. Finally, the seller moves into proof of concept and contract signing.

The real problem is that these methodologies were created decades ago and aren’t flexible. The stages of a sales process will not differ greatly from methodology to methodology, but how and when customers want to be interacted with is going to be unique to every industry and business.

Related Content: Why a Buyer-Focused Sales Strategy is Key to Winning More

Your specific customer buying process should be the roadmap for your sales framework. Unfortunately, 46% of sales leaders report that they need to improve their understanding of the consumer buying process. This means a significant amount of sales teams are operating out of sync with their buyers. 

When you identify how your buyer operates and a framework that optimizes your ICP’s buyer experience, that’s the one you standardize. The individuality of your framework shouldn’t be based on how the sales team works, but how the customer works. 

Setting this standard for your team is going to be critical in building a sales excellence framework around your use case. 

#2 Listen, Collaborate, and Consultant Buyers

There are two skills for salespeople that are going to be absolutely critical over the next ten years: productive collaboration and consultation.

Today’s buyers aren’t interested in being qualified; they’re interested in the value for them. It’s the salesperson’s job to be a guide in manifesting that value for their customers. How do we do that? We move away from qualification and begin working toward true consultation.

A truly consultative salesperson is an expert in their industry. They’re a pillar of information around their product, their vertical, the verticals they sell into, and any auxiliary products/services. But more importantly, they can paint this story from customer to customer. 

79% of B2B buyers prefer a salesperson who acts as a trusted advisor.

83% prefer to interact with a salesperson who is an expert in their industry, products, or services. (Salesforce, State of the Connected Customer).

Consultative sales transforms meetings into conversations of true discovery, not a one-sided qualification of customer eligibility. (Not to mention, sellers who have a deep understanding of their customers tend to increase their win rate.)

This touches on the second skill: productive collaboration.

Sales excellence relies on having more two-way conversations than one-sided meetings with potential customers.

Over the next decade, we foresee sales teams actively learning how to deliver beneficial materials, demos, and resources to their customers. Future sellers will be project managers and create solutions entirely based on their customer’s needs, their projections, and their goals.

The future of sales is collaborative and consultative. Every engagement will be focused on leading buyers to the right conclusion for their business through these types of interactions. 

#3 Open Up a Little! Be Honest About Pricing, Competition, & Process

We have been hammering into this idea of radical transparency for a while now, and for good reason. A gated and encumbered sales process is becoming more and more frustrating for customers.

Review and listen to your sales calls, meetings, and emails today and ask yourself: 

• • Is this a transparent process?
  • Am I talking openly with my customers?
  • Am I upfront about competition, needs, etc.?

When the conversation is honest and sellers are open about pricing, the process becomes frictionless. There’s less grey area (on both sides) in trying to gauge how well the seller’s product/service fits with the buyer’s needs and budget.

Related Content [LinkedIn Live]: What Does “Radical Transparency” Mean in Sales Today?

Transparency allows sellers to alleviate the stop-and-go of information and enables a streamlined buyer experience. To help you get there, here’s a checklist for igniting transparent conversations with your buyers:

1. 1. Explain your specific sales process and how you’ll work through it together.
   2. Have a mutual conversation to define where your buyer’s people fit in and how the solution will touch each layer of their team.
   3. Talk about different nuances and distinct qualities of their business to acclimate their scenario with other use cases.
   4. Explain how you two will work together in each period
   5. Learn what they need to be successful, and show them what it’s going to take to get them there.

The goal? To lead buyers to the value and impact of your product/service with as little friction as possible.

Optimize the Buyer Experience with a Sales Excellence Framework

Sales excellence changes the goal of sales. Contract signed? Big deal. When the product or service is woven into the fabric of a customer’s success, that’s when sellers win. 

The teams that adopt this sales excellence framework won’t stop at contract signed. Their objective is to create power users and raving fans. 

If you didn’t pick up on how to do this, let’s break it down one last time:

1. 1. Map the sales framework to your specific customer journey and standardize it.
   2. Teach sellers to hone better consultative and collaboration skills and prioritize expertise in the space.
   3. Keep every aspect of the process transparent and be upfront with clients.