Synopses & Reviews
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 worlds leading sales training firms, has dramatically changed how selling is viewedfrom simply promoting a product to empowering customers to achieve goals or solve problems through the use of offerings.
Today, buyers dont want salespeople telling them what they want or need; theyve already gone online and informed themselveswhich 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 cycleand 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 buyers 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, todays customers want control. You can give it to them when you have a selling strategy aligned with their behavior. Its the best and perhaps only way to succeed in todays 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.
Synopsis
Groundbreaking techniques for controlling every moment of the buying cycle
With the proliferation of social networks and other online platforms, buyers are turning to the Internet to arm themselves with as much knowledge as they can, both about what their own needs are and how the marketplace can meet them. It's a fact: You are no longer in complete control of customers' perceptions of your products or services. You need to retool.
From two leaders of CustomerCentric Selling, one of the world's leading sales training organizations, comes a groundbreaking new approach guaranteed to help you control every moment of the buying cycle. Rethinking the Sales Cycle reveals how buyer behavior has changed and explains why traditional sales approaches are all but guaranteed to fail.
John Holland and Tim Young describe the new phases of customer acquisition, and present a step-by-step model that organizations can execute in order to win market share and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by delivering a superior customer experience. Applying their methodology allows you to merge buying and selling into a single process and use it strategically to align with how buyers want to buy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: 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
Part II: The 8 Phases of the new buying cycle
4) Awareness and urgency; 5) Googling options; 6) Social networking reconnaissance; 7) Shortlists and first impressions; 8) Visualizing solutions; 9) Looking under the rug: Blogs, real user reviews and risk; 10) Negotiating and pulling the trigger; 11) Implementation and telling the world
Part III: 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
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
John R. Holland is cofounder and principal of CustomerCentric Selling®. His articles have been published in
Sales and Marketing Executive Report,
Selling Power, and
American Salesman.
Tim Young is CEO of CustomerCentric Selling®. Earlier in his career, he served as president of Harte-Hanks Marketing Services before founding TECHMAR Communications, which became one of the fastest-growing private 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