In the previous pages, a decision-focused, diagnosis-based selling system called the Prime Process has been identified and explained. The question now is how to create a decision process based on your products and services, and hire and develop a sales force capable of executing that process.

The Prime Process is a meta-model for the successful execution of complex sales, but to turn it into a more detailed blueprint, it must be customized according to the unique value proposition and offerings your company brings to market. All four phases of the Prime Process must be aligned to your unique situation, but most organizations also find that there are specific phases of the Diagnostic Business Development process that are particularly important in their selling system.

Thus, when the complexity of your customers’ problems is high, but the complexity of your solution remains low, the diagnosis phase becomes the most critical aspect of the Prime Process. When both the problems and solutions are complex, you would place special emphasis on the Design phase of the Prime Process. (When problems and solutions are complex, customers find it difficult to connect the two. Thus, the solution designer’s ability to align the problem to the best solution becomes a paramount concern.) Finally, if your solution is complex, but the problem is not, you should put special emphasis on the Delivery phase of the Prime Process. The quadrant that represents your business is the best place to begin analyzing and customizing the decision process that you will bring to your customers.

Why do sales managers keep hiring salespeople based on personality? Because without a systematic method for determining the true ingredients of sales success, they have little choice but to attribute it to some random genetic permutation.

Assessment instruments remain the best way to quickly and accurately predict the performance of sales candidates. With that said, you must be sure to carefully explore what characteristics the assessments you use actually measure. A combination of three assessments can be used to reveal the candidate’s behavioral style, personal interests and values, and attitudes and motivations.

Once you’ve hired a candidate, training and development are imperative. The problem in the complex sales world is that sales training is generally relegated to product knowledge. Customer and market knowledge, and the integration of the systems, skills and discipline of the profession are largely ignored.

Typically, 90 percent of sales training is devoted to the products and services being sold, and almost all of the remaining 10 percent is spent on conventional selling techniques, such as prospecting, cold-calling, presentation and closing skills. The amount of training that is devoted to understanding the customer, market knowledge, and the integration of skills that complex salespeople need to diagnose customer problems, design solutions, and deliver results is negligible at best.