Traditional sales training is a mess. There are a thousand different formulas to remember. A million templates you’re told to follow. And a billion different gurus, courses, and companies all telling you their way is the right way.
It’s complicated out there.
But we do things differently. We make selling simple.
Here’s an overview of how our Simple Selling Method turns the complicated beast of selling into a simple, actionable process you can use for the rest of your career.
Why Use a Selling Methodology?
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of useless fluff out there when it comes to traditional sales training. Overcomplicated methodologies, meaningless formulas, confusing templates—they’re everywhere these days.
Why?
Because the entire multibillion-dollar industry is built on getting people hooked and then never delivering results. That way, reps like you keep spending money with them again and again.
But when you break selling down into the fundamentals, you make sales success simple. And that’s exactly what The Simple Selling Method does.
Why Use Frameworks?
There are two ways to go about selling. You can do whatever you feel like in the moment, relying on intuition, guesswork, and downright luck. Or you can use a framework.
Selling frameworks are proven step-by-step instructions to complete a specific selling activity. When you leverage frameworks, your results become predictable. You’ve got a process to follow, so you know exactly what to do next.
The result is less stress, more consistency, and a heck of a lot more wins in your book of business.
We’ve had over 2,000 salespeople use our frameworks to level up their sales careers. We know they work. And all you have to do to get the same results is leverage them too.
The Simple Selling Method
Modern B2B sales success can be broken down into three steps:
- Understand Your Market
- Get in Front of the Buyer
- Explain the Value
If you can master all three, your sales success is virtually guaranteed.
Each step can then be broken down into the specific, proven, step-by-step frameworks below.
A. Understand the Market
If you don’t know who you’re selling to and why people buy it, then you’re going to be wasting a lot of time chasing your tail. It’s important for salespeople like you to understand these things for themselves and not just rely on information passed on from marketing.
1. Selling by the Numbers
We’ve all heard the saying, “Sales is a numbers game.” And it’s true. Once you’ve learned how to build your sales process around selling by the numbers, you can create an astonishingly consistent process that leads to great results time and time again.
The Selling by the Numbers Guide covers:
- Understanding Your Numbers – How do you get started selling by the numbers? By understanding your metrics and carefully tracking your data.
- Identifying Areas of Improvement – The best thing about a process is you can continually refine it for even better results. But how do you do it?
- Testing, Testing, Testing – How do you come up with a hypothesis? What testing methods are most effective? And what are some examples you can follow?
2. Value Proposition
Your value proposition is foundational. It dictates your messaging, your clients, your process, and just about everything else you do as a sales rep. And if your value proposition is off, then your selling is going to be massively ineffective.
The Value Proposition Design Framework covers:
Identify Your Value (The Value Diagram) – To identify your unique value, you need to first determine:
- Your Products
- Perk Producers
- Strain Reducers
Find Your ideal Buyers (The Buyer Breakdown) – Now it’s time to focus on the buyer by defining:
- Your Buyer’s Job
- Perks
- Strains
Find the Fit – The next step is finding alignment between your Value Diagram and the Buyer Breakdown. Fit is determined by whether your products
- Address the most critical buyer jobs
- Reduce the biggest strains
- Provide the most sought-after perks
Create Your Value Proposition Statement – This is the core of your sales process that informs nearly every aspect of your messaging.
Verify Your Value Proposition – Finally, you’ll need to test if your value proposition actually resonates with buyers.
3. Buyer’s Journey
If you don’t know where your prospect’s been, how can you help them get to where they’re going? Understanding your buyer’s journey is critical to creating a sales process that works for your market.
But the buyer’s journey for B2B sales has changed quite a bit recently. And if you don’t know how to navigate this new landscape, you just might fall behind.
The Mapping Your Buyer’s Journey Framework covers:
What Is the Buyer’s Journey? – Buyers don’t just wake up one day and decide to purchase on a whim. Instead, they move through very specific stages along the way.
- No Awareness
- Awareness
- Exploring Solutions
- Comparing Vendors
- Purchase Decision
How the B2B Buyer’s Journey Has Changed – A lot has changed in B2B sales. But what are the specific shifts that are affecting reps like you?
Strategic Takeaways – What can you do to maximize your successes in the new B2B selling landscape?
- Sales Cycles Are Longer
- Focusing on Strategic Content
- “Education First, Salesmanship Second”
- Importance of Alignment Tools
The Mapping Your Buyer’s Journey Framework – To figure out how your own customers are moving through the buyer’s journey, you need to take into account the following:
- What Step Do You Meet Them?
- Where Have They Been?
- What Pain Are They In?
- What Is Their Next Step?
- How Do You Get Them To the Next Stage?
Creating Your Journey Statement – Your journey statement defines your role as a sales rep and dictates when, where, and how to interact with buyers for a more successful sale.
4. Building Prospecting List
Building a strategic and ever-growing prospect list is key to bringing in consistent wins. But building a list of the right clients isn’t always easy.
The Sales Prospect List Building Framework covers:
Why Build a Prospect List? – Why should you go through the effort of building a list anyway? There are a few key benefits of building a list rather than closing buyers as you find them.
- You Can Focus on the Best Prospects
- Makes Sales Activity Clear
- Speeds Up Prospecting
- Let’s You Refine & Scale
The Sales Prospect List Building Framework – Building a list is hard without the right step-by-step method. That’s where this framework comes in.
- Refine Your ICP
- Create Your Test Audience
- “Testing” Your Test Audience
- Scale or Change
B. Get in Front of Buyers
To be able to sell a prospect, you need to get their attention and then earn a phone call with them. Some salespeople will be able to get by on inbound sales leads alone. But for salespeople who want to be truly in control of their income, they must master the outbound sales process.
5. Sales Cadence
To get the best results from your outreach, you need to follow a defined process. When do you reach out to warm leads? How long do you wait before following up? Which outreach method do you use? And oh yeah, what do you say?
A sales cadence hits on all those points and more. And building your sales cadence is a core component to making it as a sales rep.
The Cold Outreach Sales Cadence Framework covers:
What Is an Outbound Sales Cadence? – Dive into the specifics of sales cadences as well as some of the biggest benefits using one like:
- Simplify Your Sales Process
- Scale Without Sounding Spammy
- Track, Refine, & Keep Improving
Essential Elements of a Successful Sales Cadence – The best sales cadences are made up of three essential elements:
- Activities
- Plays
- Cadences
The Two Types of “Plays” – There are only two types of plays you need to build a cold outreach sales cadence.
- One-Step
- Multi-Step
Starter Sales Cadence Frameworks – So, what does a high-performing sales cadence look like anyway? This section covers three proven sales cadence frameworks you can start using today.
- Education Cadence
- Social Cadence
- Stone Cold Cadence
6. Cold Email
Cold email is an essential outreach method for sales reps. And if you know how to do it right, it can lead to a serious source of high-quality leads that are ready to buy.
But cold email is also difficult to master. Especially since so many buyers hit “Delete” the instant they catch even a whiff of spam or selling.
The Cold Email Outreach Framework covers:
Get Their Attention – How do you stop the scroll and get your buyers to actually open your email in the first place? It’s all about the subject line.
- Direct Subject Lines
- News Subject Lines
- “How To” Subject Lines
- Question Subject Lines
Story Email Structure – Once they’ve clicked your email, what’s next? Using the Story Telling Framework is the best way to keep them reading and eager to set up a call.
- Highlight Their Current Reality
- Show Their Future Reality
- Create the Reality Bridge
Call To Action – Finally, we tackle the proven formula for driving real, meaningful action from just one email.
7. Cold Call
Cold calling tends to strike fear in the hearts of reps. But it doesn’t have to. And more importantly, it shouldn’t. Because cold calling can be a fantastic way to generate great leads and plenty of sales success.
You just need the right framework.
The Bulletproof Cold Calling Framework covers:
Cold Calling Defined – First and foremost, we settle on a proper definition. Then we move into why you need to be doing it at all.
- What Is Cold Calling?
- What Is Cold Calling Not?
- Why Cold Call?
Perfecting Your Mental Game – 75% of cold calling success comes down to mindset. So how can you get into the right mindset before picking up the phone?
- Role 1: The Entertainer
- Role 2: The Expert
- How to Play Both Roles
The Bulletproof Cold Calling Framework – Let’s get into the specifics with a proven cold calling framework that tells you what to say, when to say it, and how to master the art of cold calling.
- Confirm
- Break
- Value
- Tie-In
- Close
8. Social Lead Generation
Social lead generation is quickly becoming one of the best ways to reach buyers and get them to sign on as your client.
Best of all, the right lead generation approach can actually set you up to sell while you sleep.
The LinkedIn Lead Generation Framework (“The Flywheel”) covers:
The What & Why of LinkedIn – LinkedIn’s platform is perfect for building business. Here’s why:
- It’s Huge
- It’s Trusted
- It’s Scalable
- It “Builds Trust at Scale”
The LinkedIn Lead Generation Framework (“The Flywheel”) – What exactly do you need to do to bring in qualified leads using LinkedIn?
- Insights (Spread Your Knowledge)
- Authority (Prove Your Knowledge)
- Outreach (Leverage Your Knowledge)
- How Long Does It Take?
- Should You Use Lead Gen Software?
C. Explain the Value
You’ve got your prospect’s attention. That’s great! But how do you sell them on your solution?
Knowing exactly how to explain the value of what you’re offering is key to getting a win. And if you don’t know how to do it right, you’re never going to make it big in this business.
It’s the third step in the selling process, and it’s also one of the most important to master.
9. Diagnosis Call
Just because you have more leads doesn’t mean you’re going to get more sales. In fact, if you’re dealing with the wrong types of buyers, it’s only going to lead to wasted time and tons of frustration on your part.
That’s why you need to treat your discovery calls as a qualification process. Is this really the right type of buyer for you?
This framework helps you figure out just that.
The Sales Diagnosis Framework covers:
Why Diagnose at All? – What’s the point of going through the diagnosis process? Well, it lets you do three things in particular.
- Qualify Your Leads
- Gather More Intel
- Positions You as An Authority
Becoming a Doctor – The best way to run a discovery call is by approaching it like a doctor.
- Zero Judgment
- Patient-First Approach
- Keep It Real
- Be In Control
The Sales Diagnosis Framework – Got a discovery call? Great! Now it’s time to evaluate the prospect on these eight metrics:
- Pain
- Time
- Fit
- Return
- Process
- Budget
- Champion
- Agreement
10. Demo
A sales demo is one of the most powerful tools in your sales toolbox for getting buyers to say “I want that!” and for bringing in those hefty commissions.
But how do you run one like a pro?
The Ultra-Effective Sales Demo Framework covers:
What Is a Sales Demo? – We define what exactly a sales demo is and where it falls in your sales process.
The Ultra-Effective Sales Demo Framework? – All it takes to knock your sales demo out of the park is following these six simple steps.
- Agree On an Agenda
- Find Real Needs
- Agree “If I X, You Will Y”
- Feature, Benefit, Confirm “X”
- Peak-End Rule
- “Does It Make Sense To…” Close
Sales Demo Best Practices – What can you do to give your demo the best chance possible of winning over your prospects?
- Always Do It Live
- Go For In-Person If Possible
- Stay Flexible
- Keep Prospects Engaged
11. Upsell
One of the most underutilized sales tactics is the upsell. Upselling your existing customers can be incredibly lucrative for sales reps that know what they’re doing. It’s also an easy source for simple-to-close deals.
But how do you do it right?
The Proven Product Upsell Framework covers:
What Is Upselling? – There’s quite a bit of misinformation out there about what upselling actually is. Here we shed some light on the subject.
Why Upsell at All? – What are the benefits of upselling in the first place?
- Easier Than Finding New Prospects
- Drives More Revenue
- Instills Greater Loyalty
- Enhances Personalization
The Proven Product Upsell Framework – Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. This four-part framework shows you the exact steps you should take to bring in a successful upsell.
- Document Current Results
- Explore the Changing Needs
- Highlight the Risk of Not Switching
- Give an Instant Discount
12. Competitor Takeover
Sometimes, the best leads to go after are the ones working with your competitor. And no, that doesn’t mean they’re off limits.
But bringing over clients from the competition can get sticky unless you know what you’re doing.
Luckily, we’ve developed a step-by-step framework to take all the guesswork out of it.
The Competitive Takeover Framework covers:
Why Sell Into Competitor Accounts? – There are some real benefits of taking over competitor accounts along with some considerable downsides.
- Potential Benefits (When You Do It Right)
- Why It Can Be So Difficult to Pull Off
The Competitive Takeover Framework – All it takes is following these four steps to get your competition’s clients coming over to your side instead.
- Find the Gap
- Get Agreement
- Eliminate Self Doubt
- Answer “Why Now?”
13. Close
Closing—it’s what sales is all about.
But there are plenty of misconceptions out there about what closing is, what it should be, and how it’s done right.
That’s where our framework comes in.
The Continuously Closing Framework covers:
The Importance of Closing – Knowing how to close is a must in this business. Here we talk about why.
Micro-Closing – This innovative approach to closing makes getting that “yes” 10X simpler for you and 10X more likely to happen.
The Continuously Closing Framework – What do you say? What do you do? What does successful closing look like? All it takes is following three simple steps.
- Question 1: “Does It Make Sense to [X]?”
- Question 2: “What Do We Need to Do to Move This Forward?”
- The Loop
How to Close a Sale Frequently Asked Questions – When it comes to closing, reps like you have questions. And we have answers.
- How to Close a Sale on the Phone
- How Many Follow-Ups to Close a Sale
- How to Close a Sale Via Email
- How to Close a Sale Interview Questions
- What Are Common Sales Closing Techniques
14. Referral
A referral is worth its weight in gold in the world of sales. If you know how to get them and use them well, your life as a sales rep is going to be a heck of a lot easier (not to mention wealthier).
And yes, we’ve got a framework for that.
The More Referrals Framework covers:
Why Ask for Referrals? – There are five huge benefits to regularly asking for referrals.
- They’re the Easiest Leads You’ll Ever Uncover
- The Best Way to Gain Instant Influence
- Easier Closing
- Bigger Purchases
- Flywheel Referrals
Identify Your Best Referral Sources – Knowing who to ask for referrals is critical to getting them in the first place.
- A Recent Buyer
- Great Rapport
- Agree On Your Value
- Knowledgeable of Your Product
- Well Connected
The More Referrals Framework – What exactly do you need to do and say to maximize the success of asking for a referral?
- Confirm Your Value
- Ask “Who Else?”
- Make a Specific Ask
- Use the 1-1-1 Follow Up
Wrapping Up
There’s a lot of misinformation and overcomplication in sales today. And unfortunately, that can make the professional lives of reps like you a lot more difficult than it has to be.
With the Selling Made Simple Academy, we use proven frameworks to simplify sales success. Just learn the frameworks, follow the steps, and watch your numbers take off.
That’s all there is to it!
So if you’re interested in upping your sales game with a no-bullcrap approach you can use for decades to come, join The Selling Made Simple Academy today.
We make selling simple.
