How often do you use the term “sales methodology” and “sales process” interchangeably? If you’re guilty of this mistake, you’re not alone. The words “methodology” and “process” are pretty similar, and the two concepts themselves have a lot of overlapping elements.
However, sales processes and sales methodologies aren’t exactly the same. They’re two heavily intertwined concepts, crucial to the success of the overall sales cycle, with their own unique elements. Today, we’re going to provide a definition of both terms, to clear the air once and for all.
Here’s your guide to sales methodologies, vs sales processes.
Sales Methodologies vs Sales Processes: What is a Sales Process?
Let’s start with the most basic term: “sales process”. Every company, from every industry has its own distinctive “sales process”. It’s essentially a sequenced selection of sales activities, defining each stage and component of the sales journey.
The exact components of your sales process will depend on a number of factors, from your target personas to the product or service you’re selling. However, most of the time, a sales process will involve at least some of the following steps:
- Prospecting: Capturing lead information and determining which people are ideally suited to your product or solution. During the prospecting stage of sales, you’ll spend a lot of time reaching out to people, and qualifying leads.
- Preparing: Otherwise known as building rapport, or “warming up the lead”, preparing involves collecting more information about the prospect. You find out their pain points, their needs, and determine how to tailor your pitch or approach.
- Approaching: In this stage of the sales process, you contact a prospect, via email, text, a phone call, or in-person meeting. There are various ways to approach a prospect, from asking for an introduction, to sending someone a free sample or gift.
- Presenting: During the presenting or pitching stage, you introduce how your service or product addresses the customer’s pain points. You’ll show evidence of your solution solving the problem for another customer, provide metrics, and share USPs.
- Handling objections: Next, you need to field any doubts or queries your customers have about making the purchase. Sales teams invest in consistent training for objection handling, to help them reduce the risk of a lost sale.
- Closing: The end goal of many sales models, closing involves actually completing the deal and earning the purchase. Closing may require sales reps to invest in negotiation techniques, present a demo, or introduce a contract.
- Follow up: After the sale, the goal becomes retaining the customer. Maintaining contact with the lead after a sale and ensuring they achieve their goals with their purchase is crucial to increasing customer lifetime value.
What is a Sales Methodology?
So, what is a sales methodology? In simple terms, a sales methodology is a variety of methods, tactics, and strategies leveraged by a sales professional, to initiate and complete the sales process.
Unlike the sales process, which is often fully defined for each company, a sales methodology is more adaptable. It’s usually a problem-centric approach to selling, which requires sales reps to pivot and adjust their strategies based on the situation.
A sales process and methodology goes hand-in-hand in the sales world. However, while a sales process covers every structured step of the sales journey, a sales methodology focuses on a specific part of the sales process.
Examples of Sales Methodologies
These easiest way to understand how sales methods work in the modern world, is to look at some examples of common methodologies. Although sales processes are often specific to each company, sales methodologies are publicly available and widely applicable.
Some common examples of popular sales methodologies include:
SPIN Selling
Popular with B2B sellers, SPIN selling is one of the oldest and most prominent sales methodologies in the book. The concept revolves around an acronym: SPIN, which stands for:
- Situation: Questions to analyze the state of the prospect
- Problem: Questions for deconstructing the problems they face.
- Implication: Questions that probe the consequences of not addressing the issue
- Need-payoff: Questions that drive prospects to think about the ideal pay-off when a problem or issue is solved.
Often taking part in the early stages of the sales process, the SPIN sales methodology is about guiding prospects into seeing your product or solution as a solution to their pain points.
NEAT Selling
The concept of NEAT selling, popularized by the Harris Consulting Group’s training, is one of the slightly new sales methodologies in circulation today. It replaced a number of other sales models, such as “BANT” and “ANUM”. Like SPIN, “NEAT” is an acronym for various stages of the sales process:
- N: Need: Understanding buyer needs and challenges
- E: Economic impact: The influence of change or inaction
- A: Access to Authority: Finding the right buyer to make a purchasing decision
- T: Timeline: Setting a deadline for when a decision needs to be made
The NEAT sales methodology is often used for solution selling strategies, focusing on customer-centric lead qualification.
SNAP Selling
SNAP selling is a conceptual selling strategy which involves finding ways for salespeople to align with customers in a more relatable, meaningful, and value-driven manner. The acronym stands for: Simple, I(n)valuable, Alignment, and Priorities.
Essentially, the idea behind this sales methodology is to make outreach more effective, by ensuring professionals can quickly and clearly outline the benefits of their solutions.
The Challenger Sale
Established by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, the Challenger Sales model splits sales reps into different profiles, to guide sales strategies. These profiles include:
- The challenger: A salesperson with an astute understanding of the business, and ability to overcome obstacles and challenges.
- The problem solver: Someone who can solve every problem using a detail-oriented and responsive mindset.
- The relationship builder: The salesperson who enhances inbound sales with a focus on rapport and relationship building.
- The lone wolf: A singular professional who can deliver results on various fronts.
- The hard worker: The self-motivated professional who refuses to give up easily
According to the Dixon and Adamson, cultivating the “challenger” profile can make sales professionals more successful in their roles.
The Sandler System
The Sandler system methodology includes equal input and participation from both the seller and buyer, to carry a deal forward. It views both stakeholders as having equal responsibilities in ensuring a sale, and takes an interesting approach to selling.
If you follow the Sandler approach with outbound and inbound selling, you don’t waste time trying to convince prospects to purchase your goods or services. Instead, you offer advice and guidance to motivate your buyer to discover the right solution to their problems.
MEDDIC
MEDDIC, used in the prospecting and lead qualification stage of the sales process, is a popular methodology that helps to improve return on investment. While following the MEDDIC approach, sales professionals focus on the following:
- Metrics: What are the key metrics related to the problem or solution?
- Economic buyer: Who is responsible for making the decision?
- Decision criteria: What is the process of evaluation used by the decision maker?
- Decision process: How does an organization make a choice?
- Identify pain: What are the pain points driving a decision?
- Champion: Who is the key buyer responsible for driving the deal?
Sales Methodology vs Sales Process: What’s the Difference?
Ultimately, there’s definitely a connection between the sales process and sales methodologies. However, they’re two different concepts. The sales methodology is essentially a subset of the sales process. Different methodologies are used at each stage of the buying cycle to drive results.
The sales process, on the other hand, governs the entire sales cycle, providing a step-by-step repeatable map for sales professionals to follow. If the sales process defines the “what” of selling, sales methodologies define the “how”.
Additionally, while sales processes generally remain consistent, sales methodologies can be adapted and changed based on the situation. They’re more dynamic and customizable.
Notably, success in sales isn’t about deciding whether to use a sales process or a sales methodology. These two concepts are both tied together around the same common goal – driving sales.
If you want to learn more about how you can enhance both your sales process, and sales methodologies to increase revenue for your business, HSE has the whitepaper for you. Download the paper for free here for behind-the-scenes tips into revenue coaching for c-levels.
