Miller Heiman Sales Process: Everything You Should Know

Since the 1970s, the Miller Heiman sales process has evolved into one of the most commonly used frameworks across the globe. Although it’s been updated for a more modern sales landscape, the core components of the Miller Heiman sales methodology ring true.

In our beginner-friendly guide, we’ll go over everything you should know about the Miller Heiman sales process, including its conception, how it works, the pros and cons to this framework, and how you can implement it for boosted sales performance for your team. 

What Is the Miller Heiman Sales Process?

The Miller Heiman sales process is a sales methodology that hones in on unearthing a buyer’s needs and strategically providing a solution for those needs. 

It’s based on the SPIN selling framework, which stands for:

• Situation, AKA the buyer’s current situation
• Problem, or the buyer’s specific pain points, frustrations, and difficulties 
• Implication, AKA the results and consequences of the customer’s specific pain points 
• Need-payoff, or the connection of the buyer’s needs to the seller’s service or product 

A core component of the Miller Heiman sales process is truly understanding the thought process of the customer when it comes to decision making. Honing in on the decision-making aspect allows reps to cater selling strategies to the buyer much more effectively.

Who invented the Miller Heiman sales methodology?

As the name suggests, the Miller Heiman sales methodology was created by Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heiman during the latter half of the ’70s. The two men founded the Miller Heiman Group and combined their respective expertises — Miller’s consulting skills and Heiman’s sales training — to use this framework to handle large, nuanced sales deals.

In 1985, Miller and Heiman published their book, “Strategic Selling.” The methodology was updated for a more modern sales landscape in 2005 in “The New Strategic Selling.” 

Who could benefit from using the Miller Heiman sales methodology?

Although the general framework could be applied to virtually any deal, the Miller Heiman sales methodology is ideal for large, complex sales. In fact, for smaller deals, this framework could potentially slow down the process. It’s much more effective for large deals. For example, account management or enterprise sales teams that sell costly, complicated solutions can use it for more successfully closed deals.

The Miller Heiman sales process is also beneficial for deals that involve lots of stakeholders (at least six) or that are expected to take more than 12 months to close. That’s because complex, expensive deals naturally require a more nuanced approach.

How Does the Miller Heiman Sales Process Work?

The Miller Heiman sales process works by zeroing in on a handful of straightforward but critical steps. 

1. Find out who’s involved in making the decisions. 

During this initial step, reps should pinpoint who exactly makes the decisions. But not just the decision-maker. You’ll also need to discover who else is involved in their process and what their specific role is. Find out stakeholders’ objectives, pain points, and needs.

Categorizing all the stakeholders by level of influence can help. Oftentimes, this step involves examining a large number of stakeholders or “purchase influencers.” Although it can feel overwhelming this first step is critical to the success of the overall Miller Heiman sales methodology.

2. Pinpoint buying modes to prep for the best approach. 

There are several buying modes that stakeholders lean on when making a decision regarding a sale. These buy modes can be organized into four perspectives or mindsets: 

• Looking for growth, where your prospect is actively looking for new chances to grow their business and explore something better than what they currently have
• Not actively searching, in which the prospect feels good about their situation and isn’t looking for a solution
• Looking for a replacement, in which your prospect isn’t happy with where they are and are looking for a replacement or another solution
• Cost-oriented, where a prospect is most concerned with cost, particularly a solution that will cost them the least amount of resources

Understanding these buy modes also includes getting an idea of the pain points, priorities, and a general timeline for the decision-making process. 

3. Realize where you stand compared to your competition.

Understanding where you stand in the market is one of the most critical steps in the Miller Heiman sales process. That’s because this step forces reps to get familiar with their own strengths and weaknesses, especially when it comes to the next best option.

How do you compare? Considering what your competition has to offer compared to your unique value proposition can be very illuminating.

Reps can also use qualifying questions to get a better idea. Asking who else the prospect is considering and how your solution compares to a competitor’s can be eye-opening and help you adjust your strategy as needed.

4. Look out for red flags and objections.

The Miller Heiman sales methodology also stresses the importance of pinpointing any potential red flags or objections. This can help prevent reps from being completely blindsided down the road.  

For example, maybe the buyer is concerned about the implementation of your solution or the price. Knowing ahead of time can help you address these concerns more effectively than waiting until they crop up down the line.

5. Align and close.

Lastly, the Miller Heiman sales process aligns whatever your prospect’s needs are with the solution your team offers. The end goal, of course, is converting the prospect to a customer, which places a greater level of importance on offering personalized solutions to address their specific pain points.

Aligning the prospect’s needs with your solution also boosts the chances of a successful, closed deal.

How to Use Yoodli to Implement the Miller Heiman Sales Methodology

Because the Miller Heiman sales process is so customer-centric, relationship building is at the forefront. Reps need to be confident in their selling skills in order to build a good rapport with multiple stakeholders. Training reps with the Miller Heiman sales methodology at-scale can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to. Enter Yoodli, a sales coach powered by AI that provides a safe space for sales reps to practice the Miller Heiman sales methodology in realistic sales scenarios for training and implementation, at-scale. 

Yoodli is a tried-and-true way to get reps up to speed, and it’s used by leaders in the industry from Korn Ferry to Dale Carnegie and Google. Learning how to implement the Miller Heiman sales process via Yoodli can increase seller attainment and decrease ramp. 

One of the best parts of using Yoodli for training and implementation is that it’s a completely risk-free yet realistic environment for reps to practice. Simulated cold calls, inbound and outbound discovery, and other specific sales scenarios allow salespeople to use Miller Heiman techniques with different customer personalities, too. The coaching feedback Yoodli offers (based on your brand’s enablement) reps is detailed and backed by data, taking your team’s skills to the next level.

Recently, Google Cloud leveraged Yoodli to train thousands of reps — over 15,000 — and it was so successful that the brand now uses Yoodli for other enablement programs. The results of this exciting case study (for example, a 92% CSAT score in the sales pitch certification training program) speak for themselves. 

Learn more about how you can use Yoodli to implement at-scale Miller Heiman sales methodology training at https://yoodli.ai/. 

Miller Heiman Sales Process Pros + Cons

Although the Miller Heiman sales methodology is widely used across the world, that’s not to say it doesn’t have any drawbacks. 

Here are the advantages and disadvantages to using the Miller Heiman sales process.

Pros of the Miller Heiman sales process 

Perhaps the biggest advantage to the Miller Heiman sales process is that the client is at the forefront. Looking at sales opportunities through such a customer-centric lens can actually boost sales performance overall. It’s much easier to align the prospect’s needs to the solution you’re offering when you thoroughly understand the customer. 

Another huge advantage of this framework is that it’s proven effective for large, complicated deals. Not every sales methodology considers sales that are extremely nuanced or complex, and have lots of stakeholders involved. Miller Heiman, however, does, which makes it perfect for products or services that are expensive or complicated. 

Some of the other noteworthy pros of the Miller Heiman sales methodology include: 

• How adaptable it is, as sales teams can tweak it to better suit other versatile sales environments
• Its structured, clear approach that relies on the SPIN selling model
• How it lends itself to measurable results that sales teams can use to measure how effective it is

Cons to using the Miller Heiman sales methodology

Still, like any sales methodology, the Miller Heiman sales process does have some disadvantages. For example, the most notable drawback is that teams can’t apply it across the board for all buyers. While it can be very effective for those larger deals, chances are, it won’t work for every prospect. 

It can also be pretty time-consuming to implement at-scale, which is why it’s so important to consider training programs like Yoodli offers. Otherwise, its complexities can require lots of training which isn’t ideal for complicated sales cycles. 

The Bottom Line

With such a client-centric approach like the Miller Heiman sales process, practice truly makes perfect. It’s a tried-and-true methodology that’s worth implementing, especially if you routinely work with complicated solutions or many decision makers. This specific methodology can help reps face expensive, complicated deals head on — but only with strong relationship building skills.

Sources

• Sales Enablement Collective: “What is the Miller Heiman sales methodology?” 
• Revenue Grid: “Miller Heiman Sales Process Guide.”
• Close: “What is the Miller Heiman Sales Process? Strategic Selling For Enterprise Sales.”
• Lucidchart: “An introduction to the Miller Heiman sales process.”