Decision Process Selling

The Challenge

Each customer is different. Each is in a unique situation and has a unique set of expectations and requirements. Yet all customers go through a similar purchase decision process when making an initial purchase or considering switching suppliers. Salespeople who effectively involve themselves in a customer’s purchase decision process gain a powerful advantage in today’s highly competitive Marketplace.

Sales approaches that promise to give the salesperson the upper hand are outdated. The customer owns the purchase decision process. Nothing will change that. When a salesperson tries to grab control of the process customers often become protective, pushing the salesperson away. On the other hand, customers value salespeople who understand the purchase decision process and help make it productive. This collaboration puts the salesperson in position to influence the course of the process and therefore its outcome. The skills in Decision Process Sellingsm* help the salesperson get the job done.

Program Outcomes

Decision Process Selling is a two day, highly interactive workshop, designed to equip sellers with the skills they will need to understand the customer's purchase decision process and intervene at key steps in that process to affect the outcome. Participants, through their active involvement, will be able to:

• define what a customer decision process is and explain how and when they can influence that process in the interests of a sale
• know how to overcome initial customer indifference by examining the customer's current business circumstances
• probe to uncover and prioritize customer needs, both on the individual and organizational level
• probe to examine alternatives and, if necessary, reorder priorities
• present and close on a winning alternative that meets the customer's needs and maintains profitability
• recover from objections or a rejection

Skills Development Modules

DPS is organized into nine modules as follows:

	The Pre-Work provides: An introduction to some of the key concepts and terms A preparatory assignment to analyze one of the participant’s own purchase decisions, as a way to tap what each of us already knows about decision-making
	An examination of what all rational purchase decisions have in common How to recognize where a customer is in the purchase decision process How to untangle complexities in a purchase decision process
	How to influence the process without fighting the customer for control Why customers welcome and value salespeople who use this customer-centered approach The four simple keys to staying on track
	Why Probing is the salesperson’s most powerful tool – The Swiss Army Knife of selling skills Probing to understand customer needs Probing to influence the customer’s formation of needs Probing to analyze a customer’s purchase decision process Probing to initiate a purchase decision process
	Using the skill of Selective Validation to gain favorable consideration How validation contributes to rapport Do’s and don’ts of commenting about competitors
	Deciding what information to present Making product information meaningful for customers How to differentiate from competition
	How to prevent or eliminate obstacles to a favorable decision Why and how to guide a customer to revisit and reconsider a step in the decision process
	Completing the purchase decision process Handling an unfavorable outcome
	Professional sales conversation management The three phases of the sales conversation When the purchase decision involves multiple players

Benefits of DPS

• Your salespeople close more sales
• Customers perceive your salesperson as genuinely helpful to their decision-making
• Your salespeople gain deeper knowledge of customer needs
• Your salespeople form stronger relationships with customers

*Decision Process Selling is a registered service mark of Luckett Myrstad Associates, Inc.