According to legendary quality expert W. Edwards Deming, there is one critical, but often overlooked, factor upon which success in almost any business endeavor depends. The ability of your sales team to meet and exceed your revenue targets will be determined largely by your awareness, or lack of awareness, of this one thing. It amazes me how many companies neglect it entirely, focusing instead on individuals and performance issues while the real problem goes unnoticed and unaddressed. Obviously it is vital for you to understand this important component and learn how to manage it properly so that you can unlock the full potential of your sales organization.

According to Dr. Deming, the critical component is your system, or process. For the purposes of our discussion, we’ll be focusing on the process that has to do with generating sales–your selling process. In my experience it doesn’t matter how talented, educated, or experienced your salespeople are, or how hard they work at it, there remains a very large gap between the actual results they will produce and the results they could have produced had someone been paying attention to process. In today’s ultra competitive business environment, where the margin between winning and losing is so slight, I am surprised at how many companies continue to ignore an area that holds such potential for drastic increases in productivity and bottom line results. Read the rest of this entry »