When does your sales process end? Maybe it’s too soon. If you think it ends when you close the sale you might be missing a huge opportunity!
What’s that? It’s the chance to deliver true business value (as seen by the customer). Unless you’re selling precious metals on the commodity market, your customer bought from you for one reason and it’s not because you’re a great salesperson (although you may be): they believed there would be an exchange of value; for the price they paid they will get more in return. This manifests itself not in just buying the product, but in the outcomes it produces for them. So you need to make sure those outcomes are delivered and recognized by the customer.
You might say, “But my job is to sell, not get all wrapped up with post-sale work. That’s someone else’s job. We have Project managers, a Customer Success team, etc.” And you would be right. I’m not suggesting you get involved in the actual implementation of your product or service or that you even manage the process. That is someone else’s job. I preach to salespeople that their job is not micro-managing implementation details or playing super customer service rep. What I am suggesting is that you need to continue engagement with the customer to confirm that the desired outcomes are being achieved. And if they are not being achieved, collaborating with them to figure out why and helping them put a plan in place to get there. Sometimes that plan consists of only work on their part, sometimes it is work on your team’s part and often it’s a combination of the two.
It starts with how you sell, your approach. Everybody wants to be a “solution seller” or “insight seller” or “challenger” or whatever. That’s great, but how many work up front to uncover what success looks like for the customer and how it will be measured? Not many in my experience. And even fewer stick around to see if what they sold is working to the customer’s benefit, delivering the results they were looking for when they bought in the first place.
Yes, this takes a bit more time and time is precious. But again, you’re not managing the details. You’re just staying engaged with the customer so it shouldn’t be a significant time drain. And it pays huge dividends in the long run. It builds relationships of trust and value with customers. It sets you apart from most salespeople you compete with. It creates references and case studies. And it creates customers who buy again and again because they know you care about their outcomes and you’ve demonstrated that.
So by ensuring your customer gets a fair value exchange (people, time and money invested < desired outcomes), you get a favorable value exchange too (incremental time and effort < a loyal repeat customer). Now that’s a win/win proposition!
