Although he didn’t intend it this way, Newton’s law on action and reaction works well when we try to unravel the sales process. The sales process is a reaction to the buying process.

The mantra of “the customer comes first,” leads to the conclusion that the deliberate steps defining the buying process should initiate responses from the salesperson that form the sales process. The OPM Sales Methodology works on the assumption that the sales process is a reaction to the buying process.

If the buyer is concerned, understand the concern and work to eliminate it. If the customer wants to know more, provide the information and explain it. If the customer wants proof, provide the evidence and references to back it up. If the customer wants a better deal, reconstruct the deal and prove that it is better.

Cause and effect, give and take, push and pull, action and reaction—whatever you want to call it, the salesperson has to be adaptable to every nuance of the customer’s process and any change in direction it may take.

–Excerpt from OPM: Opportunity Portfolio Management, the upcoming book.