Oftentimes we speak with business owners about sales processes. The quick response is, “our sales processes are excellent and in force with a written step by step system.” When reviewing the steps we find that what they have is indeed excellent! An excellent system of processing the sale once it’s come through the door. Although this doesn’t happen in every case, it is a point of confusion with many companies.
The confusion lies in the difference between a procedure and a process. And its distinction is in the timing of this process; is it before or after the sale. A sales process is made up of the steps which lead up to the sale; the prospecting process, the qualifying process, the relationship building process, the presentation, closing and follow up process!
Processing the sale after it’s made is the delivery procedure not the sales process! And while delivery is important with every sale, the question is… “What is your company’s sales process and is it efficient and effective?”
