The sales wheel is a crucial model within your sales and marketing strategy that can help businesses drive better results.
In this blog post, we’ll dive into what the sales wheel is and how it can be implemented effectively. Read on to discover the potential of the sales wheel to help you get better results.
What is the sales wheel?
The Sales Wheel is a structured sales process that helps you increase your sales performance. This includes identifying customer needs, closing the sale and after-sales. By proactively using the sales wheel, you can achieve better results by creating a systematic approach to sales.
Benefits of using the sales wheel
Using the sales wheel has multiple benefits because it creates a structured process for your sales. For many, sales has become an art that doesn’t require knowledge to master, but those who use a structured process like the flywheel provide a clear advantage. See the benefits below:
Optimized sales process
The sales wheel contributes to a more structured and efficient sales process. By following the steps of the wheel, salespeople get a better overview and can work more purposefully towards closing the sale.
Better customer understanding
The sales wheel facilitates needs discovery and helps to understand the customer’s wants and requirements for your products and/or services at a deeper level. This leads to better communication, greater trust and increased chances of positive customer decision-making.
By using the sales wheel, you can achieve an optimized sales process, better customer understanding and increase the efficiency of your sales work. Salespeople will have a clearer overview of the entire process and which parts to prioritize. This makes it easier to guide potential customers from needs assessment to deciding whether they want one or more of your products or services.
In addition, the use of the wheel will facilitate communication between salesperson and customer. The structured process also ensures time savings throughout the sales process.
What does the sales wheel consist of?
The sales wheel is composed of different stages in the buying process. In each phase, there are critical success factors that need to be addressed to achieve great results. There are also various sales activities and tools that can support each phase and help increase the efficiency of the sales process.
The sales wheel consists of 4 phases: opening/interest, needs assessment, solution presentation/closing
The 4 elements of the sales wheel
Opening/Interest:
Description: This is the initial phase where the salesperson makes the first contact with a potential customer. The primary goal is to capture the customer’s attention and generate interest in the product or service being offered.
Your focus: Introduce yourself, build rapport and give a brief overview of the product/service to pique the customer’s interest.
Needs assessment:
Description: In this phase, the salesperson seeks to understand the customer’s specific needs, challenges and desires. By asking open-ended questions, the salesperson can uncover pain points and identify how the product or service can meet those needs.
Your focus: Ask probing questions, actively listen to the customer’s answers and take notes to ensure a clear understanding of the customer’s requirements.
Solution presentation:
Description: Based on the information gathered during the needs assessment phase, the salesperson presents a customized solution that addresses the customer’s specific needs. Here, the salesperson showcases the features and benefits of the product or service and demonstrates how it can solve the customer’s challenges.
Your focus: Demonstrate the product/service, highlight its unique selling points and address any objections or concerns from the customer.
Completion:
Description: This is the closing phase where the seller aims to close the deal. It involves addressing any remaining objections, negotiating terms (if necessary) and getting the customer’s commitment to buy.
Your focus: Summarizing the value proposition, asking for the sale, handling objections, and finalizing the transaction details.
Each stage of the sales wheel is crucial and requires specific skills and techniques. By following this structured approach, you can sell more effectively, guide customers through the buyer’s journey and increase the likelihood of closing your sale.
Download the Radiant 5-point pitch model used by more than 1,000 sales professionals.
How to use the sales wheel in practice
To put the sales wheel into practice, it’s worth looking at how you can create a behavioural change in your salespeople. That’s why it’s important to tell them what they’ll get out of using the sales wheel. Next, use their feedback to design the sales wheel according to their needs. which stages are difficult, what questions to ask and how to use the sales wheel in a simple and concrete way.
One way to do this is to set a number of specific requirements for your salespeople to report in your CRM system so they can take the lead to the next step in the pipeline. If you don’t have a CRM system, it’s a good idea to implement one so they have to report the specific responses they can get by following the sales wheel.
The sales wheel is an effective way to structure your sales work. By following the steps of the wheel, businesses can identify and engage with potential customers in a more systematic way. Implementing this methodology can lead to better results and increased efficiency in the sales process.
Optimize your sales process with Radiant
Get a CRM system that supports the entire buying process. With HubSpot, you can manage and follow up on your customers’ journey from first contact to becoming a customer. This ensures a structured and efficient sales process where no step in your process with or without the sales wheel is missed.
Radiant has implemented more than 100 HubSpot solutions and designed just as many sales processes. We have insight into best practice and more than 15,000 data points – so we know what works and what doesn’t. With a HubSpot tailored to your sales process, you can get a scalable solution that contributes to your growth, just like we’ve done for many of our customers.
Read more about HubSpot as a Service or Sales as a Service to learn how we can optimize your sales process.
