{"id":18338,"date":"2024-10-28T14:19:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sandler.com\/?p=18338"},"modified":"2024-10-28T14:19:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:19:02","slug":"is-it-a-sales-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/is-it-a-sales-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it a sales process\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is It a Sales Process \u2026 or Is it Dysfunction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alana Nicol<\/p>\n

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Daniel Negreanu does nothing by accident.<\/p>\n

Negreanu is, arguably, the greatest poker player of all time. He\u2019s won seven World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. His total winnings, at last count, added up to roughly six million dollars. Maybe we should call him the Six Million Dollar Man. Whatever we call him, though, what we want to be sure we bear in mind is that he didn\u2019t win all that money because he was lucky.<\/p>\n

Like every other elite professional gambler, Negreanu has a process. He teaches an online MasterClass course that details that process; I am here to tell you that I got a lot out of that course. Not because I\u2019m a gambler \u2013 I have zero poker face \u2013 but because I\u2019m a sales professional, and because his course is a powerful reminder of a fundamental selling rule that\u2019s more important today, in the age of AI, than it ever was: Don\u2019t do anything that isn\u2019t backed up by the data.<\/strong> Because if the data doesn\u2019t back up your game, your game doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Your Game Plan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another name for \u201cdoesn\u2019t work\u201d is \u201cdysfunctional.\u201d Unfortunately, a lot of sales teams are still playing a game plan that they think is a \u201csales process,\u201d but is actually something very different: sales team dysfunction.<\/p>\n

Hear me out. Negreanu uses statistics and data analysis to create a system<\/strong> that helps him understand and respond to every possible combination he could come up against during a poker game. He also has a system<\/strong> for reading his opponent on an emotional level \u2013 but that system itself is not emotional. It\u2019s based in results and outcomes he can count and verify over time. \u00a0Those systems <\/strong>complement and reinforce each other, and combine to form a repeatable process <\/strong>that works. How does he know it works? He wins. He secures revenue.<\/p>\n

Every single decision that Negreanu makes at the poker table is based on data, on a well-defined, constantly re-evaluated, data-driven process. That makes sense, right? So let me invite you to and your team to consider the possibility that there may be an important lesson here for sales professionals. Let me challenge you, for just a moment, to think critically for a minute about your<\/em> data. What, exactly, is the data that your team uses when it\u2019s working deals through your process? Is<\/em> there data? And if your answer is \u201cYes\u201d\u2014how do you know?<\/p>\n

Whether you track your deals using something low-tech like Excel, or with a tool that\u2019s more cutting-edge \u2013 a CRM like HubSpot, or SalesForce say \u2013 I want to suggest that you\u2019ve got a professional responsibility to answer questions like this objectively. Not with emotion. With verifiable data.<\/p>\n

With that responsibility in mind, I\u2019d like you to consider taking on the following thought exercise: rate the quality of the data that your team is using to make decisions on a scale of one to ten.<\/p>\n

One means this: \u201cWe use the 1-800-WING-IT method,\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ten means this: \u201cListen — because we\u2019re talking about very, very good, verifiable data that we put in consistently, with zero resistance from the team, data we constantly update, data that delivers outcomes we regularly check against reality \u2013 because of all that, our sales process can forecast results so accurately that I personally feel comfortable betting my paycheck on it. I would do that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the scale. So: Where does your sales process fall? Take a moment right now to think about that. Come up with a number.<\/p>\n

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The Reality Check<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most people we talk to use this challenge as an opportunity be honest with themselves and their team \u2013 as a reality check. Usually, after a long and thoughtful silence, the numbers they share with us come in at six or lower. Sometimes way lower.<\/p>\n

I am here to tell you that six on a scale of ten would not work for Daniel Negreanu. And it won\u2019t work for you or your team.<\/p>\n

Six or lower on this scale is dysfunction<\/strong>. And again, all I mean by that is: The game plan doesn\u2019t work. It doesn\u2019t perform optimally. It doesn\u2019t deliver the results it should. It doesn\u2019t do the job.<\/p>\n

Our sales process must help us make good decisions, and we can’t possibly make good decisions without good data<\/strong>. That\u2019s reality. So right now, I’m going to share with you three questions you can use to improve your sales process. Getting to the point where you can answer YES to each of these questions will get you closer to what I call the Professional Poker Champion level \u2013 which comes in at nine or higher on the scale I just shared with you.<\/p>\n

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Question One: Is Your Process Staged to Match What Really Happens When Someone Buys from You?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A functional sales process is realistically staged. That means it identifies all the<\/strong> major real-world steps that an opportunity must go through to close.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its very simplest form, meaning a transactional sales process without a whole lot of moving parts, the staging might look like this:<\/p>\n