How Half-Measures in Your Sales Process Can Kill Your Win Rate

I was scrolling satellite radio stations and something caused me to pause when I heard Dr. Charles Stanley talking about The Lord’s Prayer.  He said that if you simply recite it by rote then God won’t listen. He said that you must believe in God and you must say it with intent and only then will God listen.

Some of you might be nodding along, thinking, ‘Obviously!’ but it hit me so differently.  Especially the “intentional” part.

Just like praying with intent, a sales process demands full commitment to every step and milestone, no shortcuts.

Belief and intent are a huge part of what’s lacking in company sales processes.

It reminded me of the concept behind my March 2024 article, Homicide Detective Makes Best Case for Sales Process, where my theme was the difference between believing THAT sales process could help you achieve sales success, versus believing IN the sales process as the key to achieving sales success.  Believing THAT versus believing IN.  I believe it’s one of the best articles I have ever written and while it didn’t win BEST sales article of 2024, it was the runner-up.

Including the article I mentioned above, I’ve published approximately 60 articles on sales process, not to mention the book, Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know About Baseball, and 4 online self-directed courses on Baseline Selling.

I am guilty of not taking a strong enough position on sales process.  I’ve taken a pacifist’s position, showing clients how we could merge the best of what they currently do with the best practices included in the Baseline Selling process.  I’ve shown companies how we could overlay other methodologies and processes on top of Baseline Selling.  In an attempt to get companies to take customized, formal sales processes seriously, I’ve been WAY too accommodating.

I get it, change is hard, but half-measures won’t get you to the finish line.

Compromises cause the sales team to fall short of realizing the full potential of the sales process. The sales process would be a major game changer when it is both solid and executable by the entire sales team.

Do the compromised sales processes still produce revenue increases? Yes.

Do the compromised sales processes still disqualify opportunities that should be disqualified?  Yes.

Could the sales process have gotten better results if we didn’t compromise?  Yes.

Here’s an example.  One client insisted that they must still be able to demo their SaaS offering during the second stage of the sales process where Discovery should take place.  Discovery requires a consultative approach, with an emphasis on listening and asking questions, to uncover a compelling reason to buy, differentiate from all competition, and create urgency. Demos to non-decision-makers often spark interest but lack the authority to drive action. That is exactly what often results in a “nice to have” instead of a “must have.”  “Nice to have” demo outcomes cause opportunities to stall out, because the demo alone wasn’t tailored in that it didn’t provide a specific solution to a specific problem.  In a discovery-free vacuum, the demo wasn’t compelling enough for the participant to either engage the stake holder(s) or authorize the spend. The Sales Leader thought Baseline Selling would help despite the early demo, but didn’t fully buy into its game-changing potential without it.

Despite the compromise, the client increased their win-rate by 20% because salespeople did follow the rest of the sales process but without the compromise the win-rate would have doubled.  How do I know?  Because Baseline Selling has doubled win rates for clients who fully commit.

Check out this example.  One client was stuck on $24 Million in revenue for four years.  After we helped them replace 3 of their 5 sales managers, we customized the Baseline Selling sales process, trained and coached the team to execute it, and in our first year of working together, they grew to $65 Million and they were acquired by Oracle.  How did they accomplish that?  We doubled their win rate and it all comes down to what must change to improve the win rate.

For those of you who could benefit from a dramatic increase in win-rate, if we do it the right way, together, I’ll guarantee a 30% win-rate boost or your money back.  It’s risk-free!

What will your increase in revenue be if 30% more opportunities close?  What would a 30% increase do for you?

Reach out to us here, or you can drop me a note and I’ll get back to you.