Are You Maximizing Profit w/ Process?

Sales Is a Process That Must Be Built and Perfected

It’s tempting to wing it – shoot from the hip. A small percentage of sales people just seem to hit it out of the park without thinking or strategizing beforehand. But process always outperforms the average.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, told us that even an average process would outperform the average player.

In my Event Marketing Success Kit, I introduced a concept called the conversion blueprint for sales. A flow chart that moves sales reps away from flawed methods like, make 60 calls per day to get 1 meeting…and close a percentage per month. Instead, I’ve systematized the process of attracting new customers, taking them through a series of steps that create justification and ultimately a decision to buy.

If one point of conversion is too low, there are strategies that can be used, and tips given to perfect that point. I’ve also given average conversion rates on each, giving the rep something to compare their success to.

It’s been said that the low income earners are working hard while the higher income earners own processes. McDonalds hires and trains low income earners while those who designed and improved the process have done very well for themselves. While sales is not like building burgers, it is a process that can be systematized.

Getting Started with Process

Need a place to start? Selling everything to anyone leads to hard work and chaos. On the other hand, finding an something to lead with can save you time and offer greater value through specialization w/ higher close rates.

For instance, if you know the assessment always leads to business (or converts 60% – 70% of the time as a client told me yesterday), then you know your system works best when you focus on moving people to the assessment first. From there you can branch out into many directions, but the sales are in motion at that point. Your income naturally goes up.

As Collins points out, the process doesn’t have to be perfect. Better to start with something and tweak it as you go. Eric Ries, author of The Lean Start Up reminds us to build, measure, learn. Rather than building the perfect mousetrap the first time around, get something on paper, begin to work it, and perfect it as you go. In the end you’ll have a much better system.

For more on how to build the right systems to drive margin rich IT services, check out The House & The Cloud…The only book I know of that explains how to sell security services with a simple, easy to implement, sales process.