How to Tell if You Need a Strategic Selling System

Sales can be accomplished through a range of sales models, each of which has an associated cost.

Generally, as the complexity of the sales cycle increases, more customer intimacy is required and the cost of the sales model increases.

Self-service: For small transactional purchases a web site that allows the customer to research and even try the product or service is appropriate. This is a self-service model.

Telesales: If the price point is higher or the decision more complex, customers may need some assistance making a decision. In this case a telesales system should work well.

Field sales: Where sales cycles are long, dollar values high, and more than one decision maker is involved, deploying field salespeople may be both justified and required for competitive reasons.

Pick the lowest cost model that will get the job done. There’s no need to complicate the process when a simple solution will do.

Higher Intimacy = Strategic Sales

Your sales cycle is a high-intimacy environment if:

Your price point is high
Multiple decision makers are involved
Your solution is hard to understand
Your offering is new to the market
Your solution is novel
Deployment risk is high
Your solution requires significant cultural change
Your offering is highly customized
The sales cycle requires more than three sales calls

If you work in a high intimacy sales environment, you’ll generally need both tactical sales and a strategic selling system.

Three things to keep in mind before implementing a strategic selling system

Master the tactics first: If you train the strategic before you have tactical basics in place, you will fail. Don’t assume your sales team already knows how to do tactical sales. You’ll never go wrong by ensuring the fundamentals are in place.
Make it part of the culture: A two-day training process will not drive change. Making the system part of the company culture starts with buy-in from the executive and sales leadership teams is what drives change.
Train the managers: If you want your sales people to do the right thing, start by training the manager to support and reinforce the process.