Introduction to Sales Process Improvement: Gaining More of The Right Customers at Higher Margins and Lower Costs with Lean and Six Sigma

- How can making marketing and selling be more profitabile, and more predictable?
- Why do things we used to do (prospecting, entertainment, tradeshows, promotions, etc. ) seem not to work any more?
- How can we meet increased quotas when sales are flat?
- What can be done when forecasts are wrong, or right, and we don't know why?

Many executives simply fall back on an old standby: You know ... the one where you ask you people to "Just work a little harder!"

Now you do not have to be in that position! Michael Webb's "Introduction to Sales Process Improvement" will show you how to improve your marketing an selling results by answering one simple question: "What value does your sales process create for your customer?"

You'll learn how answering this question unlocks the effectiveness of your marketing and selling, while engaging the powerful analytical tools of the quality movement to fix causes for unwanted results.

---

All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Applying Process Thinking to Sales, 2005-11-19
Process thinking has revolutionized industry with such powerful tools as lean manufacturing, total quality management and Six Sigma. Mike Webb's new book shows how to apply those same tools to sales and marketing, and help your organization vastly improve your productivity and results.

Sales are the lifeblood of any company, but most organizations still approach this discipline as though it were totally an art - with success depending on `born salespeople.' Webb takes the mystery out of the sales and marketing functions, and shows how they can be approached as a process - with input and outputs, causes and effects.

Perhaps Webb's breakthrough idea is the parallel between the manufacturing process and selling that then allows him to apply all the process tools that have help companies improve their production efficiency. As Webb notes: Advertising produces `leads', which are the equivalent of raw materials in manufacturing Sales people qualify those leads, moving them through the selling funnel, like `work in process.' Finally, sales closes `deals', with new customers equating to finished goods. With this insight, Webb then shows how to apply tools like Six Sigma to the selling process.

Another key idea is the concept of measuring marketing and selling effectiveness using the direct-response model. Direct marketing and telemarketing companies have been measuring effectiveness for decades - charting the response to each change in an ad or telescript with microscopic precision. By using this same model for general sales and marketing, companies can create tools and benchmarks to track their results at each step of the total sales process.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is responsible for selling or marketing - be they the VP of the department, the CFO hoping for better forecasting, or the CEO looking to gain higher margins while lower the total cost of sales. It will completely change the way you view sales and marketing, and helping you get a handle on sales process improvement.

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.