Lee Salz is a Featured Columnist for The Business Journals.
When the economy gets tight or competition grows fierce, pressure mounts on sales teams to perform.
Those two circumstances lead to an introspective analysis focused on sales process. After all, it is commonly known that having a documented, step-by-step sales process is a key to consistent, profitable growth.
The question is: Can a sales process be too rigid?
I’m a huge proponent of having a well-crafted sales process and agree that it is a key to consistent sales growth. However, there is also a pitfall when designing and implementing sales processes — you could turn your salespeople into sales robots.
While sales process is important, the personalities of the salespeople is also a key ingredient in the sales recipe. If the process is too rigid and does not allow for their personality to come through, you may be left scratching your head, wondering why you have lackluster results.