Overview
Main description
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.
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
Author comments
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.
Back cover copy
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
With the proliferation of social networking and other online platforms, you are no
longer in control of customers’ perceptions of your products or services. Only by
focusing on buyer behavior can you keep your competitive edge fresh and sharp.
Rethinking the Sales Cycle reveals how buyer behavior has changed and explains why traditional
sales approaches don’t work. You’ll gain critical insight into:
- The unprecedented power customers wield for
building—or killing—your business
- The psychology of buyers and how it changes throughout
the buying process
- Developing an organization-wide strategy that aligns your
selling techniques to buyer behavior
With Rethinking the Sales Cycle, you will enjoy not only increased sales but, more
important, provide superior buying experiences—the foundation of a healthy, lasting
seller-buyer relationship.
