EPISODE SUMMARY
Matt talks with Stephanie Sims, the host of the What’s Your Ask podcast, about the workings of an ideal sales process. Matt discussed the importance and intricacies of the discovery process. He also touched on a metrics-based revival process for hitherto successful companies. Matt elaborated on the role of sales in Capital generation while dissecting the Perfect D.E.A.L. Process.
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: What’s Your Ask?
Episode: A Solid Sales Process Requires Discovery—With Matt Wolach
Host: Stephanie Sims
Guest: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS Sales Coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Ask Questions Calculatedly
Central to Matt’s Discovery Process is the art of asking guided and calculated questions. In a sales conversation, a salesperson needs to break the code; to get into the innermost part of a prospect’s head. Matt believes that a sales person’s surest bet when it comes to understanding what a customer is looking for or struggling with is to ask guided questions.
Matt advocates that salespersons not only ask questions that elicit specific responses. Salespersons should focus on asking questions that drive prospects to the salesperson’s end solutions. Then, a salesperson gets and agitates preferred emotions in a client – a technique Matt calls “twisting the knife.”
Asking guided and calculated questions in the discovery process helps to avoid the trial and error approach, helps to avoid overwhelming clients with unnecessary details about the product, and in the words of Matt, helps salespeople “associate their product to the customer’s pain.”
Metrics Are Your Basis
Whether a company is a startup, a mature but struggling company, or a blossoming franchise, metrics are the basis upon which a company scales successfully. Metrics help both on a macro and micro level. Metrics help to figure out correlations and causes. Metrics help to identify trends and predict consequences.
Metrics also help with insights into trends in a niche, helps in keeping an eye on what competitors are doing better, and helps in giving insights into what tweaks could be applied to aggressively fix dips.
Build a Sales Machine
Matt believes that there is a need for a proper understanding of the Sales Process to have a framework or a sales engine that provides its fuel. Having a sales engine with crystal clear goals as its brick and mortar facilitates growth and helps companies scale better.
Matt believes that the first fuel for a sales engine is from sales. He advises that startups put back into the business the first generated sales.
It is D.E.A.L. Or No Deal
The Perfect deal process, created and pioneered by Matt, is the framework for a Salesperson-client relationship. The first stage is the Discovery Process. Here, the salesperson tries to grasp where the prospects are and what their goals are. The salesperson also has the responsibility to make prospects understand their own goals.
The Salesperson then goes ahead to Educate the prospects on the nitty-gritty they might have missed or overlooked, the recent trends in the niches, or a recent cultural shift in the industry.
The next step the salesperson takes is to Associate his or her solution to the client’s pain.
Also, the salesperson must Lead and take charge. The salesperson, as the expert, should lead the conversation and should decide what is best for the clients.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Build a Foundation with the Discovery Process
“One of the best things you can do is asking clients more guided questions. Guide them towards your end solutions or end products to help them solve specific problems. Try to agitate their problems through questions so you can get to twist the knife the way you want.”
“Instead of overwhelming clients with the details of your products, use the sales discovery process to learn what they need and only show them what applies to them. Associate your product to their pain to make them realize that what you are offering is the solution that they need.”
Follow the Sales Process
“You need to have your processes spelled out right down the funnel.” “If your goal is to have an infusion of cash, you need to have a sales machine. You need that process. You need to have a framework, a sales engine.”
“Your first early sales are your first initial investment; take your first sales and put it back in the business and scale with that.”
Create Mutually Beneficial Relationships
“Learn about them first. Make sure there is mutual benefit. You need to understand them. How does what they do fit into your end goal? How is what they are doing going to help your brand? How can we both benefit? If we partner, am I going to be able to serve them and solve their problems and add value to the partnership?
TOP QUOTES
Matt:
[10:25] “One of the best things you can do is to ask your clients guided questions.”
[12:49] “No one is born with is a born salesperson. The skills and tactics are learned.”
[20:15] “The first fuel for a sales engine is from sales.”
[21:35] “If you want to scale, you should not be thinking about profit for a while.”
LEARN MORE
For more about how host Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/
As part of the founding team in his first SaaS product, Matt owned the sales & marketing processes. But he struggled to sell and gain traction for the company. It took years of learning and tweaking before Matt created The Perfect DEAL Process, an innovative yet easy to implement method for closing more software deals. To find out more, visit https://mattwolach.com/about-matt.
