Sales Frameworks: Which one is right for you?

Read Time: 4 Minutes

Sales Frameworks are like over-the-counter meds 💊

There are way too many, some with fancier names and more commonly used, but at the end of the day - they all do the same thing.

Which begs the question: why are frameworks important and which one should you use?

The Value of Sales Frameworks

It’s important to consider two reasons why sales frameworks are critical to your success:

1. Sales Frameworks turn your goals turned into actionable steps. They drive a repeatable sales process that you can follow. And yes, frameworks and processes are different.Frameworks are the foundation for which you build your process/steps upon. To help visualize this, below is a screenshot of a Sales Framework + Process I built from scratch for a previous employer. As you can see, it’s not any of the well known approaches like SPIN, NEAT, MEDDIC, etc. But it ultimately accomplishes the same thing.

Framework: C.W.E. - Capture, Win, Experience

Process/Stages: C4 - Connect, Collect, Close, Cultivate

Steps: Appropriate steps fall under each stage.

As you can see, frameworks are your foundation. Process sits on top of your foundation.

At high-level, we want to capture attention, win business, and drive a great client experience. The C4 stages provide us with actionable steps to deliver on the outcome we’re trying to accomplish.If you sell a high volume (transactional) product/service, this framework helped us quickly scale +70% YoY and earn the #7 spot on Kansas City’s fastest growing companies list. Reach out if you want guidance on implementation.

2. Sales Frameworks are incredibly reliable safety nets. They protect you from going off course and are a tool you can use as a backstop during challenging or confusing conversations.Anyone who’s spent any time in sales knows prospects can take a conversation to left field if we don’t keep them on track. And as naturally curious salespeople who want to make our prospects feel good/important, we’ll often follow them down a path of irrelevant conversation.

Sometimes thats helpful, but you’ll gain more respect and credibility by holding them accountable.

Frameworks help you keep everyone accountable, including yourself.

They remind you of the ultimate goal. Find out where you’re at vs. where you need to be by referencing your selected framework. And feel free to tell your prospect what you’re doing.

“(Prospect Name), I’d love to talk sports all day but I want to be sure we’re making good use of your time. Here’s what I’m hoping we’ll cover in the next 10 minutes: point a, point b, point c. After that, let’s find time to grab a beer and talk more football. Sound fair?”

Give yourself the power to do something like this, and you’ll have mutual respect for good.

Bonus Reason Frameworks are important:

Let’s look at Objection Handling in particular.

There will (and probably already has) come a time when you get hit with an objection you have no idea how to respond to.

But, engrain the A.R.C. objection handling framework in your brain and you’ll never be speechless again. Why?

Because it quickly teaches you that handling objections has nothing to do with convincing your prospect to buy and everything to do with understanding your prospect better. And to better understand anyone or anything, you need to ask more questions.

That’s what A.R.C. forces you to do.

You don’t need to have a quick-witted response or immaculate sales pitch.

Instead you simply:

Acknowledge: show your prospect that you heard their objection and are actually listening.

Respond: rephrase their objection in a way that demonstrates you understand where they’re coming from.

Close: tie a bow on your response with a discovery question to pull them back into the conversation and take the pressure off you.

Frameworks are your safety net.

Side Note: I recommend using the SPICE sales framework for any consultative/complex sale opposed to BANT or MEDDIC.

Again, they’re all virtually identical. However, SPICE is much more customer-centric: situation, pain, impact, critical event.

Whereas the other frameworks are more seller-centric. And as we all know, that doesn’t end well for anyone.

That’s all for today, make it a good one!