Sales are the lifeblood of any business. It is the most crucial activity undertaken by businesses, and hence it must entail thorough planning. Having a haphazard approach to sales will naturally lead to inconsistencies and lags, which will negatively impact your revenue. However, if you adopt a coherent sales methodology, you can ensure that your sales process remains consistent and streamlined. In simple terms, a sales methodology is a model or framework that guides your sales teams on the strategy that they must use to close clients.
There are numerous sales methodology options available for a business to choose from. These differ from one another in the approach and steps that they recommend for boosting the closure rates. Among these options, SNAP Selling stands out because it recognizes the characteristics of today’s buyers and accordingly suggests an approach to convert them into customers. Businesses need this framework to win over the highly informed and aware buyers of today. By understanding and adopting SNAP Selling, you can level up your sales process and ace all your targets!
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What Is SNAP Selling?
The buyer’s journey has evolved drastically from how it used to be. For every small requirement today, buyers have hundreds of options. While having more choices is usually a good thing, it can also get in the way of the decision-making process and confuse a buyer. SNAP Selling was structured by Jill Konrath, a globally renowned sales strategist, keeping in mind this frazzled and confused mentality of buyers. It serves as a comprehensive guideline for how businesses can capture the attention of buyers among the hundreds of choices in front of them, and how they can be convinced to make a purchase.
The SNAP Selling framework is based on 4 simple rules:
S- Keep it Simple
N- Be INvaluable
A- Always Align
P- Raise Priorities
If followed correctly, these rules can serve as a winning guide for sales teams to close the maximum number of deals. Let us break down every aspect of this framework to get a detailed understanding of what it entails and how it works.
Keep it Simple
One of the fundamental requirements for successful sales is to keep things as simple as possible. Your buyers are already dealing with multiple priorities, and a lengthy and overcomplicated pitch might overwhelm them. The key is to be fully clear and transparent in your approach so that your buyers can easily understand the benefits that your product has for them. Here are a few things you can do to ensure that you’re keeping it simple for your buyers:
- Decide on a concise agenda for every meeting
- Map out every touchpoint in your sales process
- Ensure all your content/presentations are crisp
Be INvaluable
74% of buyers chose the first brand that adds value for them. It is vital for salespersons to convince their buyers that they have a valuable solution to the problems that buyers are experiencing. You must bring value into every interaction and position yourself as a reliable and trustworthy partner. Once your buyers realize how invaluable your product can be for them, they will be highly inclined to choose you over your competitors.
- Avoiding using aggressive persuasion techniques
- Using research in your proposals to portray confidence
- Demonstrating the value that you can add
are some ways in which you can implement this rule.
Always Align
One of the sure-shot ways to generate sales is to align your solution and proposals with the needs of your buyers. If your product cannot cater to your buyers’ specific demands, even having a top-notch product is not enough to convince them to make a purchase. Some of the ways in which you can ensure that you are aligning with your buyer’s needs are:
- Customize your solutions to suit every different client
Raise Priorities
One of the classic traits of a confused buyer is to put off the decision-making process and maintain the status quo. You must convince them why fixing their problem should be a priority for them. Establishing an urgency to purchase and making it the top priority of buyers is a challenge for 42% of sales reps. Another approach for this rule is also that you must provide solutions around the top priorities of your buyers.
Some of the ways in which this can be done are:
- Convey the improvement that your solution can bring to the status quo
- Attempt to shift the buyer’s priorities by leveraging trigger events like changes in legislation, budget fluctuations, etc.
These steps comprise the SNAP Selling framework. While it is exceedingly beneficial for boosting the sales of a company, it is also essential to know if and when you should adopt it. One size doesn’t fit all, similarly, one sales methodology cannot apply to all businesses. It is essential to understand the type of buyers and market on whom this method works, and accordingly determine its suitability for your business.
When Should You Adopt SNAP Selling?
SNAP Selling comprises rules that eventually focus on presenting your brand as a no-brainer solution for your buyer. It dictates that your sales process be simplified yet impactful. However, this approach cannot be applied to all types of businesses. If your business caters to a specific type of buyer and operates in a specific type of market, it is the ideal sales methodology for you:
Firstly, SNAP selling applies to frazzled buyers. They are the ones who have numerous choices at their disposal and hence do not know where to begin their decision-making. Such buyers are easily distracted and often withdraw from the contact. Thus, if your business sells fast-moving and off-the-shelf products, this methodology is not the right fit. However, if you sell complex and high-involvement products, your buyers will likely be falling into this category and SNAP will be the perfect approach for you.
Secondly, you must consider the market that you operate in. Overcrowded markets always have numerous product options available for buyers. The traditional sales processes usually have reps only focusing on their product offers, which results in buyers only hearing the same type of pitch several times. SNAP selling can help you stand out in such a market because it recommends taking a straightforward approach. This can help differentiate your pitch from that of your competitors and your business can thrive in the market.
These aspects can serve as the deciding factor for whether you should adopt the SNAP framework. Your business will fully benefit from the methodology only if it is the right fit for it. Hence, the choice must be made after carefully considering the psyche of your buyers and the nature of the market in which you operate in.
The 3 Decisions in SNAP Selling
The average length of time between a lead and a closed sale is 102 days. This time is required for your prospects to consider all their options, evaluate their situation, and then choose whether to make the purchase or not.
Even in SNAP selling, buyers go through three distinct stages of decision-making. The outcome of these decisions will eventually dictate whether they make the purchase from you or not. It is hence essential to know what these decisions are, and how you can sway them in your favor:
1. Allowing Access
As mentioned above, frazzled buyers are not too keen to connect or make contact. The first major question that arises in their mind is whether to allow you access. The most essential task for a business at this stage is to connect with the right people and get them interested enough to take the conversation ahead.
- Providing them with valuable insights related to their field to become a trusted source for them
are some ways that can help you gain access to your buyers.
2. Initiating a Change
Even though you have initiated contact, buyers are often content to carry on with their present status. The idea of researching options, comparing prices and specifications, and negotiating is tiring for them, and their first instinct is to avoid doing it altogether. You must be able to convince your prospects that these efforts are worth it and make them receptive towards initiating a change.
This can be achieved by taking time to understand your prospect’s priorities and asking the right questions. You can get them to talk about their operations or the way in which their pain points affect their operations. This practice will help you build good relations with your prospects, and they will be more receptive towards considering your solution.
3. Choosing the Right Solution
The last stage involves your prospects considering whether your product is the right solution for them. To gain a beneficial outcome from this stage, you must convince your buyers that your product is the ideal fit for their requirements. Before doing so, it is essential for you to learn about some crucial aspects related to your buyer:
- What are the evaluation criteria they use
- How will they measure the success of your solution
- Their grievances with their current solution
Once you have clarity on these aspects, you can align your proposal in a way that adds true value to your buyers.
Each of these decisions focuses on a different aspect of a buyer’s journey, and hence must be tackled with a different approach. By implementing the measures suggested above, you can greatly increase your chances of securing a sale from your prospects.
How Can You Incorporate the SNAP Selling Methodology?
The underlying theme behind the SNAP selling framework is to create a simplified process that can help you win over buyers. It does not mandate any drastic changes in your sales cycle and only recommends making it more straightforward and direct. Hence, you can easily incorporate this methodology into your existing process with a few measures:
1. Explore the Mentality of Frazzled Buyers
The frazzled buyers of today are the main reason for which SNAP selling was devised. To embrace this method, you must primarily explore the mindset of these buyers. It is essential to understand their temperament, their thought process, and the difficulties they face while making a purchasing decision. Once you have clarity on these aspects, you can make informed decisions about how your process can be tailor-made to suit frazzled and confused buyers.
2. Create Buyer Personas
A majority of the customers upon whom you will use SNAP selling will be frazzled buyers. However, not all of these will be facing the same problem or desiring the same kind of solution. Thus, creating buyer personas will help you customize your approach for each different type of frazzled buyer. This way, you can align your questions, content, and sales strategies for each buyer.
3. Leverage the Buyer’s Matrix
After creating buyer personas, you can use them to generate a buyer’s matrix. This is a simple yet highly effective system through which you can personalize your sales process and thereby add more value for your customers. In the matrix, you can map out vital factors such as roles, challenges, change drivers, or inhibitors. This will help you communicate more effectively.
With these measures, your SNAP selling framework can be streamlined and incorporated into your existing process. This framework is reliable and tested, and you can stand to boost your sales figures after adopting it.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, SNAP selling emphasizes that your sales process should have these three crucial characteristics:
Once this methodology is in place, your sales process will become well-suited for today’s climate when buyers are overwhelmed with a multitude of choices. The trick to selling to them is to keep it simple for them. With this golden rule in mind, you can leverage the power of SNAP selling to increase your sales multifold.
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