One of the biggest issues I see that limits face time with customers is the avalanche of paperwork it takes to process a deal. Whether order forms, POs or contracts, staring at printed paper for hours on end locks good sales personnel behind a desk. Usually these forms have been developed by an administrative mind that measure good work as every blank filled and page completed. Now don’t get me wrong, it is important to have the details. But really, with today’s technology companies cannot find a simpler way to get the data?
Any time saved by sales personnel can be translated into customer contact. You can have triplicate copies of sales information and actually hurt your overall sales effort. Not to mention, most strong business development people are usually lousy at paperwork. Kinda goes hand in hand. You show me a rep that’s great at paperwork and I’ll show you a rep that under produces…usually. So what’s the answer?
First of all, make sure your administrative support is actually assisting your sales personnel not fighting them. The reverse needs to true as well with sales people working at giving them good information. If there are not enough or no support people then the business development person needs to take it upon themselves to personally create systems that gets the paperwork done without robbing face time. How? Before or after hours, Monday mornings and tracking slow periods in your normal sales days.
I know every salesperson out there is working to no end and every administrative staff member is overworked, but finding an answer is critical to sales success. Remember, time is money!
Good Selling!
Tom
