The One Thing You Should Do to Drive Consistent Sales
Concern… anxiety… fear of limitations.
These are common reactions from small business owners and founders when I recommend implementing sales processes. They are concerned that a process-driven sales organization will stifle creativity and innovation. They also express concern that processes will make their company less nimble and agile. In a word, they are concerned about introducing bureaucracy.
Founders and small-business owners build their companies by knowing their customers. They anticipate market changes. They introduce innovative products and solutions. They react quickly to customer and market shifts. These are traits to enhance. Business owners are often concerned that sales processes will dampen their ability to anticipate and slow their speed to react.
However, introducing process to your sales organization can generate huge benefits, especially when done without introducing bureaucratic quicksand. Here are six immediate benefits that you can realize from implementing sales processes.
Benefits of Sales Process
- Clear vision and communication – reinforce your company’s vision and facilitate communications across sales and other corporate functions.
- Consistency across sales effort and message – everyone on the sales team knows how to execute their role and responsibility. Brand and product messages are delivered with consistency.
- Stronger and better sales pipeline – a consistent sales process generates more qualified leads generating more predictable sales and revenue.
- Continuous improvement – processes can be continually measured, assessed and improved, leading to greater effectiveness and efficiency in sales. They also encourage an optimal use of resources to drive growth.
- Measurable performance and accountability – sales reps and supporting team members can be held accountable for delivering on their commitments. You can also measure individual and team performance to ensure steady progress on the path to success.
- Better overall customer experience – better communications and consistent performance lead to improved customer experiences.
Avoiding Bureaucratic Quicksand
The way to avoid the bureaucratic quicksand that is often associated with heavily process-oriented organizations is reinforce your company’s goals and mission. Implement processes only where:
- Tasks are frequent and have ordered steps necessary for successful completion
- High-level structure is necessary to guide productive thought
- New team members must be trained to execute their responsibilities
- Legal or regulatory overseers have specific requirements
Additionally, I recommend you:
- Encourage open and clear communications across teams and other functions
- Stress critical thought over mindless process
- Maintain flexibility to override processes when necessary and appropriate
- Focus on customers and results
TechCXO Can Help
As a partner at TechCXO, I can help you put the processes in place to drive consistent, predictable sales. We build teams that deliver profitable, long-term customers. We lead companies to become customer-focused. Learn more at techcxo.com.
We’d like to help you achieve your sales, marketing and customer success goals. Contact us at (203) 856-9400 or david.wallace@techcxo.com to discuss how we can help you drive more business.
