Implementing changes in the sales department. Part 11/12. Stage IX – Implementation of internal procedures.
Changing internal procedures for sales and customer service is a task that requires consideration, because new organizational solutions can affect customer relationships. When introducing procedural improvements, every manager should be careful not to achieve the opposite effect, i.e. disorganize work. Due to such risk, it is necessary to perform a number of preparatory actions that will reduce the risk of implementing a non-functional and thus demotivating work system. What’s worse, mistakes made can have a negative impact on sales results and the quality of customer service. It should also be remembered that the word “procedure” in most organizations is pejorative. Employees often assess internal rules as inconsistent with reality or limiting their field of activity or paralyzing work.
Another common mistake is the lack of internal training refreshing employees’ knowledge of procedures. As a result, a common condition in the organization is that commercial activities are implemented based on one criterion – sales result, and according to the principle: the end justifies the means. Commercial procedures should be understood as the overall regulation of the sales department’s scope of work. Depending on the type of business or market segment, this type of procedure may contain different regulations. They should also protect the company against broadly understood poor quality sales. The scope of risk incurred by sales activities is significant and includes many factors that go far beyond standard thinking about the task of offering and providing products to customers. In this context, it should be noted how the correct programming of the work system by creating functional procedures has a positive effect on employee motivation. To illustrate the scale of possible regulations, and as an overview, the following is a list of areas that can be considered in commercial procedures:
- Principles to verify the credibility of contractors (verification of the solvency of contractors and the legality of their business scope).
- Principles of preventing fraud attempts and fraud to the detriment of the enterprise.
- Rules for organizing transport to customers and selecting transport companies (eliminating the risk of losses during transport and phishing).
- Sales rules within the insurance limit and sales monitoring within the limit (control of the turnover balance with individual clients under external or internal transaction limits).
- Principles for hedging financial risk (cooperation with the risk department in securing transactions on the stock exchange and eliminating currency risk).
- Principles of cooperation with production departments in the scope of ordering production.
Therefore, the implementation of the sales procedure has the following objectives:
- Maximum reduction of transaction risk with clients.
- Meeting the formal and legal requirements necessary from a tax point of view.
- Reduction of the risk of goods being lost due to phishing scams.
- Providing employees with comfort of work by providing precise instructions in specific cases and documenting work.
It should be emphasized that the last point of the above list is of particular importance from the point of view of the employer / supervisor – employee relationship. A clearly defined sales procedure, approved by superiors, clearly delimits the scope of responsibility between these parties. The employee may be assessed for compliance with the procedure, while the supervisor’s responsibility is to correctly construct this regulation.
To prepare a reliable commercial procedure, you can take the following actions:
- Review of existing procedures in the area of sales and customer service.
- Mapping of all main and secondary processes in sales and customer service.
- Transaction risk analysis (from the financial security side) at individual stages of the sales process.
- Interview with sales department employees about knowledge of procedures and their actual application.
After the analysis, which can be described as an internal audit, proceed to the development of individual elements of the sales procedure. Considering the long process of its preparation and implementation, resulting from the need for internal consultations and the approval of managers, its individual components can be implemented based on a business order with validity until a comprehensive regulation is announced. The caveat to any official order should be the rule that if the order does not provide for any situation or raises any doubts, the employee should refrain from action until the supervisor decides. The consequence of this solution will be the rapid implementation of the necessary regulations and ensuring the safety and quality of commercial operations.
On the other hand, it will be possible to verify specific procedural regulations in practice. Therefore, in this case one can speak of pilot implementation of the procedure.
Depending on the level of complication, the final implementation of the procedure may take place over several weeks or months. It is recommended to test individual solutions and collect comments from all persons acting on its basis. This approach provides the following benefits:
- All interested parties, and later persons using the procedure, are involved in its development and thus become familiar with the purposefulness of the regulation and the genesis of its creation.
- Employees naturally already know procedural regulations at the pilot stage.
- The implementation of the final document is quick and does not require significant commentary or, for example, long training and explanations.
- Employees gain comfort by clearly indicating the paths of action in specific situations.
From the supervisor’s point of view, the main benefit is, of course, the fulfillment of their duties in this area, but also the regulation of a significant area of work, which eliminates making ad hoc decisions and introduces uniform and transparent action towards contractors.
Speaking of sales procedures, you cannot ask questions about regulations directly related to the standards of working with the client – speaking the so-called commercial language service. The literature on the subject extensively describes this aspect of working with clients.