This past week, Coach DiDonato came and spoke to our class about his personal sales funnel strategy he used in the medical sales profession before transferring those skills into recruiting for the GCC football team. I enjoyed his presentation and found his method so compelling and practical that I decided to recap it for my blog post this week.
Coach talked about 5 primary sections of his funnel
1. Pre-call analysis
- Need Analysis
- Need Awareness
- Need Solution
- Need Satisfaction
Pre-call analysis he regarded as the “research” of the prospect before selling – making sure as the salesperson you know particular facts about the person you’re selling to, in order to establish a relationship and credibility. Need analysis was asking the prospect questions about their interests to further understand where your sale can pinpoint. Instead of talking “at” the customer, he emphasized the importance of asking continual questions to keep the customer talking. Need awareness is a more focused kind of question asking, airing on the side of “probing” to understand specifically a niche area your sale connects to. Need solution is starting a statement with something along the lines of, “You’ll be happy to know that _______ (something I am offering) can meet ________ (need that you have).” Need satisfaction follows closely, which is the closing of the sale or when the salesperson can ask for an agreement.
One part of his strategy I had never thought about was focusing on 3 or 4 primary topic areas the client might be focused on, that can relate to your pitch or your offering. With each question, the focus topics narrow until there’s a particular area of your offering your customer can relate to, further closing the sale. I appreciated how Coach related this funnel to the interview process, giving me preparation tools for my next interview, and a process of how I can talk to my strengths that is of most value to a potential employer.
BoweryJE22
Awesome post! I really loved Coach’s talk as well. Sales sometimes seems so ambiguous, so I loved the clear and concise, step-by-step method he presented. His lecture is applicable to all sales positions, even to interview situations, like you said, which I think is so cool!
This is a great recap of Coach’s talk in class. Coach has a special passion for selling and moving people in general. The biggest thing i took away from his talk was how to do Pre-call analysis the right way. One thing he touched on was how young sales people do to much research and not enough listen, which hurts then in the end. Great Post!
I loved this lecture as well and had many of the same takeaways as you did. The whole 4 things or applied to anything the different routes a conversation can go to be able to sell and relate, know your facts, and communicate them effectively was so interesting and something I want to do better for future interviews or potential sales opportunities. The story he shared about the girl he helped prepare for her interview was wonderful and is definitely something I want to practice and apply to future interviews, even if it is additional time and effort it will set one apart in the interview process.
The sales funnel is a great picture that sticks in your mind. I definitely plan on using a similar model if I end up in some form of a sales job… (Apparently everything in life involves sales, so I guess there’s a high likelihood).