Selling is only successful with a buyer. That makes the buyer the most important part of the selling process. Everything we do in selling, therefore, must match the buyer's buying process.

How we view the buying process underpins much of the work we're doing with tools and forms the basis for both successful Pipeline Management and Qualification. It is also the lynch pin for successful selling.

Not all deals are equal. They're obviously not equal in size or value but, perhaps more importantly, they're not equal in terms of your ability to be able to win them. It is crucial, therefore, that you can identify which deals give you the best chance of winning. The first stage in identifying deals you can win is to map them to our buying process followed by accurate and continuous qualification.

The diagram to the left also shows where the Business Imperative, Value and Influence falls within the buying process.

Opportunity Analysis is an easy and quick personal productivity tool used to plot all your opportunities against the buying process and to the Qualification Analysis, Business Imperative Analysis, Value Analysis and Relationship Analysis tools (see Deal Management) to help determine if the deal is to be considered Upside or Commit. The Commit deal form part of your forecast and will help with the question - "Show me how you are making your number". The methodology behind the tool relies on early identification of sales leads Funnel – your potential opportunities.

Manage opportunities in this way and use it as the basis to update the corporate pipeline will greatly increase the accuracy and predictability of the corporate forecast. It also increases the volume of deals in the pipeline as these are taken from the sales leads identified.

The justification for qualification is to ensure that you're working on the right deals at the right time. Too much effort expended on a deal too early is a waste of effort - effort that should be used elsewhere to close another deal. Qualification, therefore, is about prioritising sales opportunities. Prioritising helps you determine whether the opportunity is real, whether the customer has the means and desire to buy, and whether you want to pursue the deal. Let's face it, you have limited resources at your disposal, so you want to make sure you use those resources for maximum return. You want to hit your target and make money.

Qualification Analysis can also be found as part of the Deal Management suite.

What's the difference between why a customer must purchase and why a customer must purchase now? Well, let's imagine we're selling into the IT side of an organization. You answer the 'why?' quickly and easily: they have outdated equipment that is having a detrimental impact on the services they're providing internally. Unfortunately, the head of IT, who clearly supports the need for a purchase, is not in control of the company budget. Spending is controlled by 'the business'. And 'the business' has a number of competing claims for finance.

In a world of unlimited budgets, providing a simple reason for 'why?' would almost certainly be enough to bring your proposal to close. In the real world of closely-monitored spending, however, 'the business' will release funding according to priority. That means that any proposal that you create must convert a need for your solution into a business imperative. Taking our IT division example, 'the business' must be presented with evidence that failing to purchase would cause severe problems or that a purchase would lead to significant gains. When documenting the business imperative, it's important to speak in business terms: the best articulated business reasons have the greatest chance of winning budget.

Business Imperative Analysis can also be found as part of the Deal Management suite.

Value, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder. If what you have is not valued by your customer, then it is of no value to that customer. Therefore, when you seek to provide value, your value has to be determined separately for each different sales opportunity and only your customer can tell you if what you have provides them with value. There are three areas of value to be considered, a return on the investment, uniqueness and personal value. Your value statements are plotted on three individual grids with the relevant ones showing in the top right quadrants.

Having plotted and determined your value, do not give a list of reasons to the customer, they won't remember them all. Instead look at the top right grids and pull out the common statements across the all three grids - you only normally find one or two and these then become your key selling message for the this deal, to this customer, at this time. - You now have a powerful sales message as it delivers all three elements of value.

Value Analysis can also be found as part of the Deal Management suite.

Plan your tactical approach within an account by creating a visual map of the political landscape. Identify the people with influence, draw the lines of power that connect them, and determine your level of influence.

In our qualification methodology we highlight four key roles; Stopper, Leader, Insider and Persuader. The acronym for the four roles is SLIP. Deals that slip to the next period are the scourge of the pipeline and a measure of qualification inefficiency. You'll find the four key roles in your custome's organisation for every deal you work on. If you can't match the roles to individuals, it's a sign that you're not in enough control of the deal

The development of Relationship Map will clearly show the level of influence you have within the account. It will also help determine your sales strategy.

Relationship Analysis can also be found as part of the Deal Management suite.