All too often, though, sales forces define their sales processes from their own perspective, not the customer’s. This puts them at risk of calling on the wrong people, at the wrong time, with the wrong message. Inappropriate sales processes probably kill more sales than sales managers will ever know.
When formalizing sales processes, world-class sales forces view their actions from the customer’s perspective. They design a way of selling that is reflective of the way their customer buys, not just the way they want to sell. The deck is therefore stacked in their favor when they compete with other salespeople who are making it up as they go along.