Closing a sales deal, especially a large B2B deal can be a complicated process that requires coordination, patience, and strategy. What is the best way to close a deal like this to bypass these challenges? The Miller Heiman strategic sales methodology is one option. In this article, we will look at what the Miller Heiman sales process is, and if it is right for your business to help you make more sales and grow.
The Miller Heiman sales process involves building and managing relationships with the different parties involved in a deal. This process works well with large B2B sales as these deals usually incorporate multiple stakeholders, decision-makers, and large amounts of money. During large sales like this, having a methodology that your sales team are familiar with can be crucial to the outcome of a deal. Using a reliable methodology will bring you consistency and predictability.
The Miller Heiman process can be broken down into three steps that your sales team will take to win a deal. These steps are:
The first stage of the Miller Heiman sales process is the stage where your sales representatives categorize the people involved in the deal. Here your sales team should step back from the deal and identify each stakeholder and decision-maker in the buying process and the influence they have on the deal.
This process is very important to the Miller Heiman sales process as it will help your sales team manage their relationships more efficiently, and know where the focus should be during negotiations.
The next stage is the determining stage. This is where your sales team will look at the different people that have been categorized, and determine which people are for your deal and which people may push back against your deal.
Identifying this will help you understand where you have support for the deal to be agreed, upon and where to continue trying to build a relationship to convert decision-makers to want to complete a deal with your business. Usually, there are four different types of buyers in a negotiation which are:
Growth mode: These are buyers that are ready and willing to make purchases to improve their current situation. These are optimistic buyers in negotiations.
Trouble mode: These buyers are in a difficult situation, with bad pain points that are negatively affecting them, creating urgency for a purchase.
Neutral mode: These buyers are neutral in the decision to make a purchase. They do not have the urgency to make the purchase and will take more convincing, so they agree to a deal.
Resistant mode: These are buyers that are hesitant to make a purchase as they believe they do not need to and their pain points are not negatively affecting them. These buyers require a strategic approach to convince them that the purchase is necessary to make.
The last stage is where your sales team take action to influence the stakeholders and decision-makers they have identified in the deal. The stakeholders involved in the deal that is in support of you should be nurtured effectively. Treat them with great customer care, building a relationship with them to make them want to stay with your business in the long term. The stakeholders who are not yet convinced should also be nurtured, with you reminding them of the benefits they will get from your product and listening to their pain points. This will build trust with these clients increasing the likelihood they will want to complete a deal with you.
With there being such an emphasis on relationship management with the Miller Heiman sales process, CRM software becomes an invaluable tool for you. CRM software will help you manage and track the relationships you have in each deal to stay on top of your negotiations.
To identify if this methodology is right for your business, you must consider the type of sales that your business makes and the benefits you will get from the process.
The Miller Heiman process is brilliant for businesses to make large deals with multiple stakeholders and decision-makers due to the emphasis on relationship management. You must identify if your business consistently makes large deals with multiple people involved as this methodology specializes in these deals. However, this process can also be used effectively with smaller-sized deals, meaning if your business has variety in the size of deals that are made, it can be a very effective methodology to adopt.
Here are the invaluable benefits you would get by adopting this sales methodology:
TEB, the sales automation CRM software, will help your business strengthen any sales methodology that it adopts due to the massive benefits it will bring you such as improved data visibility and streamlined pipeline management. Key features of TEB that will grow your business:
Want to see these features and more for yourself? Easily book a demo to see TEB, where with just 30 minutes of your time we can show you how you can boost your sales and drive your revenue.
