The Only 3 Phases of a Sales Cycle

You may have worked at companies where you had 4-6 different “stages” of a new sales opportunity…

This pretty much holds true for every company I’ve ever worked for.

What I can tell you is that those stages do not relate to the phase of a sales cycle! Stages are for tracking purposes only.

However, thinking in terms of the following 3 phases will keep you more on track than anything else you will ever see…

The 3 Phases

Phase #1: Identify Interest

Phase #2: Build Value

Phase #3: Buying Decision

These are the only 3 phases of customer acquisition there are, and this makes it’s super simple to know where you’re at in the sales cycle.

You need to be able to operate with a different intention within each phase, otherwise you’re going to sound like it’s your first day in sales every single day.

Phase #1: Identify Interest

Identifying interest is basically marketing and/or cold calling.

At this point you are simply trying to find people who would be a fit for your product, and have a problem that you can help solve.

This is phase is all about getting as much attention as possible!

Phase #2: Build Value

Building value starts with asking questions to identify the customer’s problem and what their ideal outcome looks like.

Once you have your road map, you also need to present your product so the buyer starts to connect your product/service to their ideal outcome.

This phase is really what most people think about when they think of “selling”.

Phase #3: Buying Decision

Phase 3 is purely shutting this deal down and taking the money! This is closing.

It’s better to think about this phase as helping the buyer make the buying decision though, because truly “closing” is about way more than just asking for the business.

This phase is all about identifying what barriers, doubts, concerns, uncertainty the buyer has about trusting you with their hard earned money.

Once you get to this phase, you no longer need to build value, you need to turn emotions into logic!

Summary

You’ll find it much easier to know what you need to do next in every sales cycle when you simplify the process down to just these 3 phases.

You don’t have to worry about losing a deal because you tried closing in Phase 1, or because you just kept selling in Phase 2 until the buyer cried uncle and went and bought the same product from your competitor.

You can smoothly transition- even within a single interaction – from phase 1 to 2 to 3, employing the right strategy for the proper phase and closing deals faster and easier than before!

I know this seems too subtle to make a difference, but you’ll just have to commit to this to see that this works. 😉

-Jake Martincic