By this time, you have realized that organizations are made up of any number of unique individuals whose behaviors are uniquely affected by the way they think. These individuals' thought processes greatly impact a business's performance and consequentially, the success (or not) of that business.

The challenge of a sales team manager is to successfully pull together these individuals, each with their own way of viewing and approaching your customers and leads, and establishing a cohesive customer aligned sales process that will empower the team to work towards goals more effectively and will improve the success of your organization.

1. Needs assessment
   First, assess the needs of your sales team by understanding the thinking processes of each of your team members. The Whole Brain Thinking Model is a great place to start in order to better understand the individuals in your organization and train them in understanding others' thinking differences.
   
   
2. Team environment
   Strive to create balanced sales teams in terms of thinking preferences. These teams will be able to better see the bigger picture of how to approach the customer by taking a variety of different viewpoints and approaches into consideration.
   
   
3. Product knowledge
   While the words "customer-centic" directly indicate the importance of prioritizing the customers' needs and desires over the products being sold, it is still important that the sales reps have a thorough understanding of how these products/services function so that they can later be appropriately aligned with customers' various needs.
   
   
4. Customer knowledge
   This step is the key. By learning how to do the research, ask the questions, and listen to the answers, you will discover who your customers are personally, uncover their underlying needs and desires, and be more able to tailor an approach that is individually aligned with that specific customer. Sales training sessions should camp out on this point until it is fully grasped.
   
   
5. Target market
   Once team members understand what makes a potential prospective customer tick, they should be better able to identify these qualities in other customer groups, effectively establishing a more specific target market to engage.
   
   
6. Presentation
   When making a traditional "sales presentation" to the customer, the conversation remains laser focused on the features of the products/services being offered. In a customer aligned approach, the focus is instead based on discovering the prospects' actual needs and desires and having a discussion on how the products/services fulfill those specific root needs. It is less about selling the "what" and more about delighting the "who."
   
   
7. Follow-up
   When the goal is to meet the needs of the customer, the sale doesn't end at the sale. It is essential that sales reps are intentionally trained to continue to build trust and to maintain an ongoing customer relationship.

Once you, as the sales manager, fully understand the importance of, and how to implement, a buyer aligned sales process, you will then be able to train your employees on how to follow your lead.