Editor's note: This article is the sixth and final in aseries on how to "Bake the cake: The 6 P's to insurance salesexcellence."

All of my previous articles speak about the sales process for anindividual sales professional and guides you through some of thebest sales habits and practices to cultivate. In this finalsegment, we will bring it all together.

Last 2 steps

All the previous steps are the ingredients. If you want to bake acake properly, you need the proper temperature and the proper time.These last two steps represent the customer’s buying process andtheir decision process.

I had a great relationship with a former sales manager that ledto both of us meeting and exceeding our monthly number on a regularbasis. A big part of that success was our open discussions about mysales pipeline.

She would frequently ask me “what will you sell this month?”That questions was usually followed by “what about this deal youhave for next month? Can we bring that in this month instead?” Mostof the time, my answer to her was “The cake’s not baked yetboss.”

Every sales requires the appropriate time and the appropriatetemperature. If the box says “350 degree for 45 minutes” you cannotcrank the oven up to 450 and hope to cook it in 30 minutes. On theother side, you cannot turn the oven down to 250 degrees and let itcook for an hour. You need to collect some fundamentalinformation.

The buying process

The buying process includes three main points of information:

• Who is the point of contact, or POC? (Notice, not necessarilythe decision maker)
• What is their budget for this need?
• What is their time frame to implement? (And why that time framematters to the customer)

These are three very basic components and are critical to thesale. What role your POC plays, will fall under the decisionprocess.

The budget, is a simple but often omitted question. Why is itomitted? Because salespeople are afraid to bring up difficultquestions. I say, find out early. If they have “X” amount ofdollars to spend and your product costs 3 or 4 times times that,you have little opportunity to persuade them.

When does the customer want this to happen and why? The more youcan connect the decision to a significant customer event the morelikely they will buy. If you ask them and they have no time frame,you probably have no sale.

Spend 5-10 minutes in your first meeting getting the necessaryinformation for their buying process. If they are not a qualifiedcandidate for your services. Find that out now, and not 2-3meetings later.

The decision process

The decision process is a bit more subtle and it's oftenoverlooked. Which means most sales people end up burning aperfectly good cake.

Your POC, will always tell you they are the decision maker. Theydo that, usually because the salesperson will ask them. You arebetter off asking “who else will you involve in this decision?”

Once you understand who is involved you need to understand theirinfluence in the decision. When you read, The Challenger Customer, you will learn thatthe average decision has 5.4 people involved. Depending on what youare selling and its cost, these factors will dictate the number ofpeople and the person in that group who will lead the decision.

Now, here is the question: Who is your POC? Are they aninfluencer? An advocate? A skeptic? Are they simply someone thatlikes to feel important? Are they someone that likes to sharevaluable information in order to get valuable information?

The answer to which one’s best serve you, may shock you. As isoften the case, a salesperson will often take the path of leastresistance. That path usually leads to no sale and a bewilderedsalesperson.

That is the series, what did you think? I would love feedback onthe process. What steps would you add, that have worked foryou?

Part 1: Bake the cake: The 6 P's to insurance salesexcellence

Part 2: 4 keys to sale meeting preparation for insuranceagents

Part 3: Your 'presence' is critical to the insurance salesprocess

Part 4: Why is your insurance sales presentationterrible?

Part 5: Insurance sales isn't just about customer pain.Discover the 'why'

Mike Shelah is the founder of Mike Shelah Consulting. Anadmitted “LinkedIn geek” Mike loves talking: LinkedIn, sales &emotional intelligence to anyone who will listen. You can contacthim at 443-808-1670 or [email protected].