Sales methodology: how to choose the right one for your business

Without a shared framework, sales reps rely on instinct and improvisation.

A sales methodology gives your team a consistent, proven framework for winning customers and closing deals to increase your revenue metrics over time.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to use a sales methodology to set yourself up for success. We answer the question “What is a methodology?”, share the six most common sales methodologies you can evaluate today and explain how to implement them.

What is a sales methodology?

A sales methodology is a set of guiding principles for how to act at every stage of the sales cycle.

Where a sales process maps out the individual steps, a methodology defines the approach used within them.

One of the first methodologies was developed by Xerox in the 1970s and dubbed the “Needs Satisfaction” approach. It was designed to provide their sales reps with a roadmap to navigate the highly competitive printing and copying space.

It became so successful that Xerox ended up selling its methodology to other companies under the name “Professional Selling Skills”. Companies and individuals began promoting their own iterations, and several of these sales methods are still used today.

Each sales methodology empowers reps to perform at their best using proven approaches to identify and solve problems. One sales methodology might help you handle common objections. An inbound selling methodology might help you develop messaging that attracts prospects on platforms like LinkedIn.

For a methodology to be effective, ensure it’s well adopted across the entire sales organization. This means having efficient training that empowers reps, managers and even director-level salespeople.

Should you adopt a sales methodology?

The short answer to this question is: yes.

There are many possible sales stages, and using a methodology as a guideline for approaching and navigating each stage will give your team a better chance of success.

Here are the real-world benefits of adopting a sales methodology (or several) as part of your sales process.

A sales methodology will improve hiring and training

With a defined methodology, you know exactly which skills and behaviors your reps need, making it easier to evaluate candidates against the same criteria.

Once hired, new reps can get up to speed faster.

Rather than starting with in-depth product training, introduce the methodology first. A proven playbook gives them a foundation to build on before diving into the details of your sales cycle and processes.

Sales methodologies also provide the principles for better one-to-one sales coaching. Sales managers can look at the areas where reps are doing well and where they need assistance.

You can then tailor existing training to help reps improve on these sticking points.

A sales methodology will clarify your process

When everyone on your team follows the same new sales methodologies, measuring performance becomes straightforward.

Tracking and pinpointing the root cause of changes in sales metrics – such as deal flow or win rates – is easier because of your team’s correlated activities (or set of activities).

For example, say a company notices that the average deal size has fallen.

Because the whole team uses SPIN Selling, managers can review calls against the same four stages and spot when reps skip the implication questions that build urgency. Without a shared methodology, that pattern would be much harder to find.

How do you implement a sales methodology?

There are four things you need to consider before implementing any sales methodology for your sales organization.

1. Map your entire sales process

Methodologies only apply to the steps buyers take to become customers (i.e., their buying process). Therefore, the first step is to map out the existing sales stages.

Here are three steps to help you map your existing sales process:

1. Define each process stage. Understand the goal of each stage, who manages each area and where those roles are located. You should also be aware of how many reps are within each team.

2. Use a structure. Process maps are visual in nature, so you’ll need a structure to bring yours together. Use something as simple as a pen and paper, or a specialized tool like Lucidchart. Define what different shapes mean within the process. For example, rectangles could represent an “action”, while diamonds represent a “decision”.

3. Map your existing process. Interview stakeholders from your sales, marketing and demand generation teams to uncover each stage of the sales process. For example, ask SDRs questions like “how do you prioritize leads?” or “how many activities do reps execute a day?”

Here’s an example of what your process map might look like:

We cover the mapping process in more depth in our sales strategy guide.

2. Understand buyer needs

With your sales process mapped out, you’ll need to bridge the gap between your sales messaging and customer needs.

Quantitative research methods, such as questionnaires, can be an effective tool. You can also use qualitative research, such as phone interviews with customers or focus groups, to understand the pain points your product solves.

Segment buyer needs into three buckets:

1. Technical needs can be outlined clearly in a request for discussion (RFD), but you’ll need to dig deeper with qualifying questions to expand your qualitative data.
   
   

2. Financial needs indicate the value your product or service delivers to your buyer. For example, your solution may help alleviate recurring manual tasks and make the customer more efficient in their job, which in turn helps them save time and budget and increase revenue.

3. Personal needs give you insight into your buyer’s motivations. If they want to advance in their career, your solution will help them look good in front of their boss.

On top of these needs, there are several buyer motivations, so make sure to root those out as part of your research objectives.

These motivations are often relevant to pricing but can include more nuanced reactions, such as fear and affinity.

For the former, a buyer may be reluctant to take the leap due to a tight budget. With the latter, a buyer may lean towards working with you through a personal or emotional connection they feel with your brand. Take these into account when collecting information on buyer needs.

3. Adopt or develop methodologies for each stage

With each stage of the sales process mapped out, you’re able to select the methodologies that support them.

Each methodology should guide reps on what to do at each stage, even telling them what to say to move the deal along.

Either adopt existing methodologies, such as SPIN Selling or The Challenger Sales model (which we’ll explain in detail below). Alternatively, develop unique methodologies based on your understanding of your customers.

Adam Hawes, CRO at GatherContent, says it’s often best to adopt elements of several methodologies:

4. Create training and coaching materials

Creating the right training ensures a universal and continuous understanding of the importance of these methodologies.

Start by documenting your new methodologies. Create guides and playbooks that salespeople can get their teeth into. Set up hands-on training to supplement this, holding regular sessions to help improve your reps’ skills.

6 common sales methodologies and their role in the sales process

Whether you’re running complex sales or short transactional cycles, there’s a methodology suited to your situation.

Here are six of the most common sales methodologies, and the scenarios you might use them in.

1. SPIN Selling

First conceptualized by Neil Rackham in his book “SPIN Selling”, this methodology is the result of analyzing 35,000 sales calls to determine why high-performing salespeople achieve great results.

The acronym stands for:

1. Situation questions – help you understand the current situation of the prospect’s day-to-day job, project, etc.
   
   

2. Problem questions – designed to understand the problems your prospect is facing and their true motivations for solving them
   
   

3. Implication questions – get the prospect thinking about the consequences of not taking action to address those problems

4. Need-payoff questions – get the prospect thinking about how solving the problem would improve their situation.

SPIN Selling focuses on these four types of questions to quickly get to the core of the problem and lay the foundation for a long-term relationship.

It’s a simple framework designed to uncover prospect pains and illustrate how your solution can best serve them. Jamie Stiff, Head of Sales at Lyvly, is an advocate of the methodology for how quickly it gets to the point:

SPIN Selling is a methodology best used at the discovery/qualification stage of the sales process. It focuses on understanding your prospect's needs first, rather than jumping headfirst into a product pitch.

Which is why the situation and problem questions are so effective. It helps you gather information about the prospect’s role, organization and strategic goals. Of course, you should do your research before every call, but these questions help you dig deeper into the mind of the prospect.

Situation questions might include:

• What does your current project management process look like?

• Which tools do you use to manage your projects?

• How long have you been using these tools?

The answers to these questions will give you the context to guide the rest of your conversation. Before you can sell your product, you need to understand which problems the prospect has that it can solve.

Problem questions include:

• How reliable is communication between team members during projects?

• How often do tasks and milestones slip through the cracks?

• Are there any points of friction between tasks?

If you’re selling project management software, these questions will help uncover gaps in your prospect’s existing workflow or solution. They’re tied directly to your product, but they don’t talk about features just yet.

Once you’ve identified the challenges your prospect faces, it’s time to dig into the implications of those issues. Your prospect might not see these problems as critical, so your implication questions should highlight the real pain.

Implication questions might look like:

• How much time does your team waste on ineffective communication?

• What impact do missed milestones have on your projects?

• You mentioned that unclear dependencies are a point of friction for completing projects. How often does this cause delays in wrapping up projects?

Finally, need-payoff questions tie all the above together, guiding the prospect to the conclusion that your product or service can solve their problems.

Need-payoff questions include:

• Would a platform that removes this friction help you and your team complete projects faster?

• Would a project management platform that centralizes communication make your team work more efficiently?

According to Marc Wayshaw, 19% of non-top performers pitch their offerings, while only 7% of top performers reach the pitching stage.

While it may seem contradictory, what it actually means is that top performers close deals before they even reach the pitching stage. They engage prospects by asking pointed, conversational questions to uncover problems and offer solutions.

If you’ve done the groundwork correctly and uncovered the most critical problems, positioning your product as the solution will be the easy part.

2. The Challenger Sale model

The Challenger Sale methodology uses an approach that aims to challenge the prospect’s status quo, tailor the sales process to their needs and take control of the conversation.

Written by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, “The Challenger Sale” outlines how sales reps fall into one of five different profiles:

1. The Hard Worker. Doesn’t give up easily, has an interest in self-development and is self-motivated.
   
   

2. The Lone Wolf. Follows their own instincts, delivers results but can be difficult to manage.
   
   

3. The Relationship Builder. Takes a consultative selling approach and builds relationships with prospects.
   
   

4. The Problem Solver. Detail-oriented, responsive and aims to solve all the problems they face.

5. The Challenger. Has a unique outlook on the world, enjoys challenging their prospects’ views and has a strong understanding of the business.

According to Dixon and Adamson’s findings, 40% of high-performing salespeople use a Challenger selling style. Furthermore, only 7% of high performers use a relationship-driven style, which is the least effective approach.

This is why the authors put their focus on the Challenger’s profile for a book that has earned them a huge following. Paul De Barros, Sales Manager at ChargeBee, explains why they adopted it themselves:

In the book, it’s made clear that, with the right training, any sales rep can learn to become a Challenger. It just requires a blend of the right skills and organizational capacity to foster that change.

3. Solution selling

Solution selling is an approach that outlines how your product or service can help prospects overcome a problem.

Similar to SPIN, solution selling helps reps uncover the challenges or problems the prospect faces and suggest areas of their product that will solve them. Solution selling is similar to value selling in its approach, which primarily focuses on problem-solving for the client.

Unlike other methodologies, adopting solution selling can be easily integrated into your current sales process. It simply requires you to reframe how you present your product or service to prospects, taking a more consultative selling approach.

There are six steps to the solution selling process:

1. Prepare. Instead of simply researching your potential customers’ businesses, you research what their biggest problems could be before you speak to them for the first time.
   
   

2. Diagnose. During the initial call, ask questions that get to the crux of their problem and uncover gaps in their processes. Asking the right questions from the outset makes the initial outreach feel less transactional and shows the prospect that you’ve done your homework and thus will be more responsive to their needs.
   
   

3. Qualify. Use qualifying questions to determine whether your prospect is interested in what you have to offer and whether they have the authority to make a decision.
   
   

4. Educate. Provide insights on how their business will benefit from your product. Use statistics, case studies and client results to outline how your solution will solve their biggest problems.
   
   

5. Solve. Show them exactly how your solution will solve the problems they outlined in step two above. Use the same language and framing as the prospect.

6. Close. Address any objections by circling back to the benefits, guiding the conversation towards the sale.

This customer-centric selling process adopts many traditional sales stages. The difference is that solution selling aims to educate the prospect with relevant materials, case studies and insights before moving on to the product (the solve stage). This is where having a strong sales enablement library can be invaluable.

4. The Sandler Selling System

The Sandler sales methodology aims to treat the salesperson and the prospect as equals, both invested in the sales process and working toward a mutually beneficial conclusion.

Trust is built by acting as an advisor, which is a key principle during the objection-handling stage.

Sales reps following the Sandler sales methodology agree upfront on expectations for each interaction, addressing common objections such as time or budget constraints early and proactively.

If it appears that the prospect isn’t a good fit, the rep will let them go.

While this is an uncomfortable thing for salespeople to do, it’s an important trait to foster. As James Condon, European Growth Director at VanHack, says:

The Sandler Selling System has three stages, each with steps leading from it.

• Stage 1: Build and sustain a relationship. This involves building rapport, having a desire to solve the prospect’s problem and controlling the selling process.
  
  

• Stage 2: Qualify the opportunity. Understand the fit between your solution and the prospect’s pain, determine if they’re able to commit (budget) and who is the economic buyer in the decision-making process.

• Stage 3: Close the sale. These activities only happen if prospects pass the qualification process. Presentations should focus on the pains raised during stages one and two.

Focus on qualifying the prospect early and communicating value. Don’t be afraid to let an opportunity go if it’s not a good fit.

5. Conceptual selling

Conceptual selling, created by Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman, is a methodology that addresses the perception that people don’t buy products or services, but they buy based on their concept of your solution.

Instead of selling a pitch, conceptual selling, or the Miller Heiman sales process, instructs sales professionals to first understand a prospect’s perception (or concept) of their product. Miller and Heiman encourage reps to ask questions within five categories:

1. Confirmation– questions that reaffirm information

2. New information – understand a prospect’s concept of your product and what they’d like to achieve

3. Attitude – understand the prospect and their connection to the project or problem

4. Commitment – determine how invested the prospect is in finding a solution

5. Basic issue – uncover any issues or potential problems that could stop the sale

Conceptual selling focuses on listening. It provides a sales framework for reps to gather information, share information and secure a commitment from the prospect.

The Miller Heiman sales process was designed to make complex deals, often involving those in SaaS and B2B sales, easier to manage. It’s often considered the best sales methodology for large account management and high-value transactions involving multiple decision-makers.

6. SNAP Selling

Developed by Jill Konrath, who wrote a book about her concept, SNAP Selling recognizes that buyers have busy lives and often have little time for a long sales process.

The acronym SNAP stands for:

• Keep It Simple – make your proposal and process as simple as possible for customers

• Be iNvaluable – make sure that your customers rely on you

• Always Align – always link back to your customers’ objectives, challenges and needs

• ۠Raise Priorities – ensure that they focus on what’s most important

Aaron Browning, VP Sales at FrontSpin, is a proponent of the methodology.

How to choose the best sales methodology for your business

The best way to determine which methodology is right for your business is to identify your needs first.

If your business struggles to identify your prospects’ pain points, you may want to choose a methodology that focuses on identifying their problems early.

If your product is easy to understand and it doesn’t take much effort to turn a lead into a prospect, choose a methodology that makes it easier for your prospects to buy your product during their busy day.

Once you’ve identified what your needs are, you can identify what methodologies help solve your problems in the best way.

Consider the list of sales methodologies covered in the previous section to find a good fit:

You don’t have to pick just one. Many sales teams blend elements from different sales methodologies to match their sales environment and customer needs.

How to implement and track your sales methodology with Pipedrive

Pipedrive lets you build your chosen methodology directly into your sales workflow.

Follow these steps to align your team and track your results directly in your customer relationship management (CRM) tool.

1. Map your methodology to your pipeline stages

With Pipedrive, you can create custom sales pipeline stages to reflect the methodology you’ve chosen.

For SPIN Selling, your stages might run from “Situation discovery” through “Problem identified” and “Implications explored” to “Need-payoff confirmed”.

For the Sandler method, you might use “Rapport built”, “Pain uncovered”, “Budget qualified” and “Purchasing decision process agreed”.

Naming stages after methodology steps keeps reps anchored to the process on every deal.

2. Assign activities to each stage

Add the specific actions reps need to take at each stage, so you build the methodology into the workflow rather than leaving it to memory.

For example, at the “Problem identified” stage in a SPIN Selling pipeline, you might assign an activity to send a summary email.

The email will recap the pain points the customer discussed during the sales pitch, so the next conversation can pick up where it left off.

3. Log key information as you go

Use notes and custom fields to capture the details your methodology depends on as they come up throughout the sales cycle.

For example, you might log pain points, decision-makers, decision criteria or budget with a note.

In conceptual selling, understanding a prospect’s perception of your product is central to the sales approach. A custom field for “Buyer perception” keeps that information visible to the whole team and consistent across deals.

4. Monitor progress and coach with Insights

Use Pipedrive’s Insights to track deal movement across stages and identify where reps get stuck.

If deals consistently stall at the same stage, that’s a coaching signal as much as a pipeline problem. Insights turns your methodology data into an action plan for sales managers.

Sales methodology training to empower your team

The key to adopting a new methodology is in the training.

Sales training is directly related to sales performance. Research by Objective Management Group found that effective training has the equivalent effect of moving a salesperson from below 70% quota to consistently hitting over 90%.

No matter what methodology you’re adopting, your sales training must include the following:

1. Evaluation of current skills and results

2. Training material development and testing

3. Application of new skills

4. Feedback and accountability

Here’s how each training step increases sales success.

Evaluation of current skills and results

Ideally, your chosen methodology should either solve a problem or improve existing results.

Therefore, the first step is to understand:

• How your team is currently performing

• The results you’d like them to generate

• What needs to happen to bridge the gap

This understanding requires an assessment of your reps. Start with a self-assessment, where reps answer a series of questions to evaluate the perception of their own skills. Encourage them to be honest, as it will help you develop training in areas where they need it most.

As a manager, you must also assess their strengths, weaknesses and the results they bring. Do this through regular one-to-one meetings, by analyzing their sales calls and email activity.

Finally, collect sales pipeline data to create benchmarks. You can then use these benchmarks to set new goals and sales objectives.

Training material development and testing

Before you start developing your playbooks, slides and other materials, it’s best to test your new methodology on a small scale, especially if you lead a large sales team.

By selecting two to three of your reps to experiment with your chosen methodology as part of a short-term project, you can begin looking for bumps that’ll need ironing out during your training.

Most importantly, you’ll be able to see early signs that your chosen methodology contributes to better results or a faster sales cycle.

Sales training development can be segmented into three categories:

1. Playbooks. Manuals, video tutorials and a central knowledge base that reps can refer back to and study as part of their learning.
   
   

2. Group training. Classroom-style training can guide reps through the new set of methods. These sessions should cover both high-level principles, as well as the day-to-day application of techniques, activities and approaches.

3. One-to-one coaching. As a sales leader, it’s your job to ensure each rep is growing and that you address any sticking points.

Application of new skills

With initial training complete (as well as scheduled continuous training), it’s time for reps to execute the new methodology.

These new habits will stretch them outside their comfort zone. Encourage them to play around, reassuring them that things don’t need to be perfect from the beginning.

Regular one-to-one coaching will play a big part in this phase. Reps will inevitably face various challenges, so take a hands-on approach during the first few weeks a methodology is implemented.

Feedback and accountability

As your team begins to internalize the new methodology, encourage them to take accountability for their own development.

To maintain the new habits they’ve developed, reps should partner up with peers to stay on track. Assign reps into groups of three, allowing two to maintain their training if one is on vacation.

This level of ownership encourages reps to take action on their own accord. They’ll also have the chance to get a fresh perspective and ideas from their peers.

Final thoughts

The right sales methodology won’t close deals on its own, but it gives your team the foundation to do it consistently.

Once you’ve chosen an approach that fits your sales environment and customer needs, the work is in the adoption: training your reps, tracking what’s working and refining over time.

Pipedrive helps you manage your pipeline and monitor performance so your chosen methodology translates into results. Try it free for 14 days.

Sales methodology FAQs