Maintaining control of the buying process could easily be considered the highest goal in any sales scenario-even a ‘successful’ sale can turn into a mess when you allow the client to gain too much control over the situation. With that in mind, developing the skills necessary to keep the buying process well in hand under any circumstances should be a high priority for any salesperson looking to excel in the art. We’ll discuss three crucial steps to staying in control of the buying process and set you on your way to perfecting this vital skill.

Step 1: Understand the Sales Cycle

Before you can develop consistent control of the buying process, you need to fully understand the elements of each purchase, especially the moving parts and what can be flexible. There can be no single how-to’ guide for this, only personally developed experience, as you need a level of insight specific to your industry, your prospect base, and your sales methodologies.

For most sales people, breaking down the buying process in this way should be easy once you put your mind to it-figure out the consistencies between your successful sales, then figure out the parts that didn’t really matter: the aspects that changed between clients without any impact on your ability to close the deal or successfully deliver the product.

Step 2: Don’t Wing It

Some sales people go into the buying process without a fixed strategy, believing in the inherent superiority of flexibility, creativity, and personal charm unburdened by a fixed process. That may work for a minority of sales people, but most will find themselves only completing sales by chance.

A base line sales process built on your understanding of how and why people buy from you gives you a strong framework to hang your creativity on, which you can then deviate from as needed. You may find that you deviate from your plan more often than you stick firmly to it, but that does not diminish the value of having a baseline to consider when reviewing your sales or as something to fall back on when the buying process goes awry.

Step 3: Separate the Illusion of Control from the Reality of Control

This requires a bit of advanced thinking, but once you begin thinking about it understanding it should be simple.

The greatest sales people don’t always seem to hold control over the buying process-because they allow the buyer free rein where they can. Excessively forceful and domineering sales people will quickly find that they ‘control’ themselves directly into failed sales. This is where your firm understanding of the buying process and your customers becomes vital.

With adequate insight into your sales, you can aim the client in the right direction and let them ‘choose’ to go where you like. The details of the buying process do not matter, so long as you identify your key points for a successful sale and hit them.