Among sales techniques, the ADAPAC method makes it easy for a beginner salesperson to memorize the stages of a sale. To learn more, you can also take our online sales course. There is also the PADAPACS variant, which adds Preparation before the approach and Follow-up after the close.
ADAPAC – Sales techniques: steps
- Approach
- Discovery
- Abstract of the solution
- Proposal
- Argumentation
- Conclusion
The approach
The approach corresponds to the first few seconds of contact, when you create the right climate for the rest of the sale. This translates into :
- Identifying your contact
- Our identification: who we are, what our skills are in the customer’s field of activity
- The purpose of the meeting and what we can bring to the other person
- A topic to break the ice and engage in non-professional communication to begin with, for example by congratulating him on his décor, the view from his office, a sport you play together, an association you’re both members of, or even better, a school where you met as youngsters.
The discovery
Discovery is the most important part of the sale. It lets you learn the customer’s needs and also, through skilful questions, get them to build the argument themselves.
Discovery has two parts: technical discovery, which gives you the technical characteristics of the solution they need, and psychological discovery, which reveals their motivations to buy. You must not move on to the argument before completing the psychological discovery with a technique such as SONCAS.
Abstract of the solution
In the ADAPAC technique, you first propose a general proposal to check the customer’s receptiveness to this orientation before going into more detail. The advantage is that you don’t have to waste time costing a proposal before the customer accepts it. The other advantage is that it’s easier to convince a customer of a general idea than of technical details. This can be likened to the SOS technique, which advocates selling the customer the achievement of his objectives first, before proposing a technical solution to achieve them.
Proposal
In this step, you’ll detail the technical aspects of the proposal, as well as the process: who’s going to do what, where, when and how. This step validates the presentation of the general proposal in the previous step. The idea is to go step by step.
Argumentation
You can then convince the customer that this is the best solution for him:
- General benefits
- The specific benefits they will get, ideally those they expressed during the needs discovery. These benefits must also match the psychological motivations you identified with the SONCAS method.
Generally speaking, the sales pitch is a way of showing the customer that he can achieve his objectives.
Closing the sale
At some point, you must help the customer make their decision: that is the role of the close. Until the sale is closed, there is no result; you must not do the work and then let a competitor come after you and reap the rewards. Here are a few closing techniques:
- Ask the customer for the sale, but he may say no.
- End with the alternative, asking for a choice between two solutions that are favorable to you.
- Assume that the customer agrees, and take action by issuing the contract signature or invoicing documents.
Advantages and disadvantages of the ADAPAC method
The method has the advantage of being simple and of reminding a beginner salesperson of the key stages, but experienced salespeople will prefer more advanced methods such as SPIN, PSAI or SOS.
Jean-Pierre Mercier