Throughout the coming weeks and months, we will be releasing Sneak Peeks of Keith Thompson’s upcoming book, OPM: Opportunity Portfolio Management, through the SalesWays blog. Here, you’ll get snapshots of the OPM method, and have a chance to see what makes OPM stand out.

There are four types of salespeople, and in our many collective years as sales professionals, we have, more than likely, met all of them.

Type 1: There won’t be many salespeople who have been working for any lengthy period of time, that still happen to be here. Type 1 salespeople don’t like dealing with people, and they will also be very weak at basic selling skills.

Type 2: This salesperson relies on friendship with the customer to win sales, but shies away from competitive selling. They will have a loyal circle of customers who will repeatedly buy, but they can get trounced by salespeople who have better selling skills.

Type 3: Type 3 salespeople are aggressive, hard-working, and excellent sales tacticians, which puts them in a good position to win most sales they come across. But once a sale is made, they often fail to follow up with the customer to ensure that the customer is happy with what they have paid for. As the customer relationship declines, repeat sales become unlikely. This salesperson is the very definition of a “one hit wonder” in the sales business.

Type 4: This is the place to be. Type 4 salespeople are comfortable with building the customer relationship where necessary, but also have the ability to win the sale by sound and proven sales practice. What’s more, they can switch between either of the styles as the dynamic of the sale changes.

It goes without saying that every salesperson should strive to be Type 4. Which type are you? And if you aren’t yet a Type 4, what can you do to get there?

The only way that the sales process can get implemented is through communication with the customer. Salespeople usually think of this dialogue as sitting in front of the customer and telling the story face-to-face. Being able to see and feel the impact of the conversation, good or bad, provides the best way to adjust tactics midstream if needed. But a complex sale can’t be conducted face-to-face through its entirety.

OPM defines a couple of distinctly different types of interactions: one-way and two-way. Two-way interactions are where both customer and salesperson are involved in conversation in real time. This happens in face-to-face or phone conversation. One-way interactions are just that–sending an email, letter, or fax is one-way. Sometimes, it is acknowledged with a reply, in which case it becomes two-way.

One-way interactions can also be important in the sales process. A customer’s time will always limit the number of face-to-face or phone conversations that are possible, so it is much easier to get material in front of the customer if the interaction is one-way.

Both one-way and two-way interactions can be of high-value to a salesperson, because they make up a key component of any strategic planning process. Top level strategy is always played out in conversation between customer and salesperson, and that conversation happens through interactions.

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

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.