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Walking through the Miller Heiman Sales Process

The Miller Heiman sales process is a well-known and respected sales methodology that has been used by sales professionals for years.

Let’s first dive into a couple of FAQs before continuing.

When did Miller Heiman Patent Strategic Selling?

The Miller Heiman Group first filed for a patent on Strategic Selling in 1993.

What is Miller Heiman’s purchase influencer methodology?

Miller Heiman Group introduced its purchase influencer methodology in 2009. It is a tool that sales professionals can use to identify and map the buying committee for a deal.

Want to win?  Run the Miller Heiman Sales Process.

In this article, we will discuss:

  • The basics of the Miller Heiman sales process
  • When should you use the Miller Heiman sales methodology?
  • Key Stages of Miller Heiman
  • The Blue Sheet
  • Sales Methodology Training

What is the Miller Heiman Sales Process?

The Miller Heiman sales process is a decades-old sales methodology, originally called Strategic Selling, that leverages a three-stage approach to move prospects through the sales funnel.

Note: The Miller Heiman Group is a part of Korn Ferry.

When Should You Use This Approach?

If you are selling a product or solution that is complex, challenging to articulate, with multiple stakeholders involved, and generally high-priced, the Miller Heiman Sales Methodology may be worth considering.

Is the Miller Heiman Strategic Selling Approach Right for you?

We would suggest reaching out to them directly, but their one-pager speaks to the following points:

“Strategic Selling® may be the right solution if your company is trying to:

  • Secure approval from multiple decision makers.
  • Navigate the internal bureaucracy of customers and prospects.
  • Gain more visibility into the status of important sales opportunities.
  • Allocate resources appropriately for large sales.
  • Improve team collaboration to pursue strategic opportunities.
  • Forecast revenue with greater accuracy.
  • Increase close rates for opportunities with long sales cycles.”

What are the stages of the Sales Methodology?

The methodology breaks down into three primary areas.

3 stages of Miller Heiman

CategorizeDetermineInfluence
Take time to identify all members of the buying group, understand your level of influence with each, the interest they have, and how you can best collaborate to win the deal.Focus on where you can build stronger relationships and determine where you can strengthen your supporters and weaken your detractors.Put it all into action. Now that you know what each member of the buying committee needs, execute on that understanding.

What is the Blue Sheet?

The Blue Sheet is a form that sales professionals use to keep track of key stakeholders and the details of each stakeholder, such as their role in the buying decision, their relationship with the seller, and more.

This sheet began its life as an actual paper printout, due to a lack of white paper availability when the team when to print it out, blue paper.

You can use the Blue Sheets to:

  • Identify stakeholders early in the sales process
  • Track your interactions and progress with each stakeholder
  • As a reminder to touch base with all stakeholders on a regular basis
  • Identify and understand when a prospect is ready to buy

Managing the strategic selling Blue Sheets, and the entire process should be done in your CRM. Korn Ferry, as one example, sells a product called Korn Ferry Sell to manage this process within the Salesforce CRM.

Supporting Technology

Learning any methodology takes work.

Incorporating it fully into your go-to-market approach — even more.

But the deeper you embed it into your work, the more powerful it can become.

Consider these key technologies are you work to do both.

Salesflare
Arm sellers with a personal CRM like Salesflare
AutoKlose Logo
Ensure consistent cold/warm outreach with Autoklose
PandaDoc Logo
Ensure consistency, and scale, in delivering proposals, QBRs, and other documents with PandaDoc

What about Miller Heiman Sales Training?

Miller Heiman sales training is now delivered through Korn Ferry.

Korn Ferry notes on their website:

“Our sales training programs teach sales and sales leadership skills to create a repeatable selling behavior for greater success. At Korn Ferry, we deploy innovative technology, to not only re-enforce that learning but to bring it to life in the daily workflow of sales professionals in an immersive and rich learning journey.”

The sales training covers a variety of topics, including

  • Creating relationships through rapport and trust
  • Identifying customer needs
  • Asking questions to uncover needs
  • Handling objections
  • Getting buy-in
  • Negotiating
  • Methods of closing a sale

You can learn more about their sales methodology training on their website (linked to above).

And, before you go, give a listen to Byron Matthews (President and CEO fo Miller Heiman Group) discussing “The Three T’s of the Future: Training, Technology and Talent”.

 

And, if you decide to train your team on your own, review The Surrounded Learner Technique to maximize your investment in your team.

 

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