Probability Selling

Probability Selling is a complete departure from a traditional or transactional sales philosophy. Persuasion, i.e. manipulation, no matter how subtle, is nonexistent with Probability Selling as the focus is less on selling and primarily on providing consultation.  Many sales people are taught to find prospective clients who already want what they are selling; is this selling or order-taking? How do you sell when you have a new product or service? What is the best sales approach for entering a new market?

The key to Probability Selling is viewing sales as a process or series of planned events rather than a “Buy or No-Buy” decision point. By viewing sales as a process of planned events (first a) awareness introduction, then b) generate interest, then c) demonstrate competency and credibility, next d) highlight value-add, etc.) activities are accountable and results become predictable.  

The objective of Probability Selling is to minimize the “Risk and Spend” of marketing and sales dollars and is based on the following three principles:

1. The vast majority of all salespeople hired (Ephor research shows 80%) by small business fail to live up to hiring goals.
2. Cost of customer acquisition (i.e. cost of sales) for many products and services is greater than first year revenues on a per client basis.
3. Putting a direct salesperson in front of a prospect with less than a 33% probability of buying is not cost-effective for most small businesses and will lead to financial failure.

Probability Selling 101 Introduction:

Strategies to Deploy:

1. Create a Profiled Prospective Buyer Pool “PBP” of highly qualified opportunities (i.e. prospective buyers where only timing is an issue) and focus sales resources here.
2. Identify the lowest cost qualified lead.
3. Create a portfolio of new customer lead sources.
4. Maximize sales productivity (never put a salesperson face-to-face with a prospect with less than a 33% probability of creating a new customer).

Outcomes Created:

1. Profiled Marketing Asset,
2. Probability of Success Increased,
3. Productivity Increased, and 
4. Predictability of Results.

Getting Started With Probability Selling:

1. Step one: Map the customer buying process
2. Step two: Define the gates and stages that go into closing a sale from awareness to interest to evaluation to action. 
3. Step three: Segment the target market and then profile individual accounts and companies.
4. Step four: Rank in order of highest to lowest probability based on the profile handicapp and then target accordingly.

Without a well-defined approach, it is impossible for a sales team to scale (are you captive to lone star sales performer?). Of course please keep in mind, that a methodology is only a tool. Talented people as well as management and support systems (i.e. marketing and sales force automation or CRM) are required to increase your chances of success. 

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