Sales

The sales process, even abstracted away from the rest of your business, is one of your most important considerations.  As Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM, is quoted, "Nothing happens until someone sells something." (Or was it "Nothing happens until a sale is made"?)  Whatever it was that old Tom actually said, the point is clear.  A business will not continue without people buying products or services, and that means that somehow the business has made those sales.

This is such a fundamental factor of a successful business, it is definitely worth serious attention to the health of the sales process itself.

One thing to notice is the extent to which the sales process has penetrated into one of the traditional arenas of marketing - the advertisement.  This has been made possible by various electronic media, including television and the WorldWide Web.  A familiar example is the infomercial, which seeks to 

1. Gain our attention
2. Make a claim to provide some satisfaction of desire to enhance or remedy our lives in some way
3. Educate us as to how such a claim is brought into reality through some device or product that can be delivered
4. Have us respond to a call to action -- "Call this number now!  Operators are waiting"

This is a form of sales that populates late-night television, of course, but is also ubiquitous on the Web. There, the all-important click-through takes the potential buyer directly to a place payment can be made through some supposedly secure service, and the product or device sent, through the magic of outbound logistics, straight to the buyer's home or office.

There are many gems and quips of wit and wisdom about the art and science of selling.  People buy from those they know, like, and trust.  Everyone likes to buy, no one wants to be sold to.  Etc.  There are also dozens of programs that can help salespeople from cold calling to closing.  These typically have some version of the following approach:

1. Establish rapport, or find common ground, with the potential buyer.
2. Determine the needs or desires of the buyer.
3. Match something you offer to the concerns you've uncovered.
4. Make the deal, close the sale.

Variations on this approach include solution selling, and consultative selling.  A still more recent approach has arisen from an intersection of the selling process and the coaching discipline.  A summary of a coaching-based sales process can be found here.

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