sales process engineering

(noun)

The systematic application of scientific and mathematical principles to achieve the practical goals of a particular sales process. Selden pointed out that in this context, sales referred to the output of a process involving a variety of functions across an organization, and not that of a "sales department" alone. Primary areas of application span functions including sales, marketing, and customer service.

Examples of sales process engineering in the following topics:

  • Defining Personal Selling

    • Personal selling is when salespersons use a process to engage customers and take a sales order that may not otherwise have been made.
    • Sales management would break down the selling process and then increase the effectiveness of the discrete processes as well as the interaction between processes.
    • The relatively new field of sales process engineering views "sales" as the output of a larger system, not just as the output of one department.
    • In this context, improving an "output" (such as sales) involves studying and improving the broader sales process, as in any system, since the component functional areas interact and are interdependent.
    • Meeting the customer face-to-face to makes the sales process more personalized.

  • The Sales Process

    • A sales process is a systematic approach to selling a product or service.
    • A sales process is a systematic approach to selling a product or service.
    • A growing body of published literature approaches the sales process from the point of view of an engineering discipline.
    • Quality expert Joseph Juran observed, "There should be no reason our familiar principles of quality and process engineering would not work in the sales process. " A sales team's fundamental job is to move a greater number of larger deals through the sales process in less time.
    • These eight steps of the sales process are more current and accurate than traditional sales.

  • Support Personnel

    • Support personnel provide after-sales or technical assistance to customers, including functions ranging from engineering to marketing.
    • Support personnel are professionals not directly involved in the sales or revenue generating process, but nonetheless have an important role to play in a company's success.
    • Other common support roles that work with sales managers directly or assist clients and customers with product and service issues include sales engineers, technical support specialists, and customer support representatives .
    • In highly technical companies, the technical support salesperson is often a member of a key account team and has the title of sales engineer, professional services specialist, or something similar.
    • Marketing, advertising, and public relations professionals often support sales and executive teams during the prospecting and evaluation phases of the sales process.

  • Identifying Prospects

    • Identifying these prospects or potential customers early in the sales process is key to keeping a company's sales pipeline full.
    • These systems are also used to map the different marketing communication touchpoints that help funnel leads into the organization's sales process.
    • It can also shorten time to sale.
    • Organic search engine results and word-of-mouth referrals, particularly through social media and other digital channels, can also be powerful tools for identifying potential customers.
    • Many organizations focus on building a strong web presence using effective search engine optimization, along with both traditional and digital communication channels, to generate new leads.

  • Organizational Requirements for Product Development and Management

    • Product development – the process of bringing new products to the marketplace – combined with product marketing, make up the product management function that oversees the launch of a company's new products.
    • Product management can be a function separate on its own, or fall under marketing or engineering.
    • Often, product management professionals serve as the middlemen between product development and engineering and marketing and sales teams.
    • They often translate business objectives set for a product by marketing or sales into engineering requirements for product development.
    • To facilitate this communication process, product management teams will perform activities including customer research, competitive intelligence, industry analysis, and competitive analysis.

  • Carnot Cycles

    • The Carnot cycle is the most efficient cyclical process possible and uses only reversible processes through its cycle.
    • Any heat engine employing the Carnot cycle is called a Carnot engine.
    • Obviously, then, reversible processes are superior.
    • Furthermore, all engines employing only reversible processes have this same maximum efficiency when operating between the same given temperatures.
    • The Carnot cycle comprises two isothermal and two adiabatic processes.

  • Objective, constraints and alternatives

    • These include profits, utility, sales, market share, income, growth,...With in a firm different individuals may have different objectives.
    • The CEO may want to maximize profits while the Vice president of engineering may want to minimize the cost per unit and the person in charge of marketing may want to maximize the growth in sales or market share.
    • The objectives may not be consistent so some sort or hierarchical or bureaucratic process must resolve the inconsistency.
    • Constraints may be technology, quantity of factors of production, quality of factors, profits, utility, sales, market share, income, growth, social institutions, values, law or a myriad of other possibilities.

  • Deletion

    • Brands must task their engineering and design teams to produce successful products that generate a consistent stream of sales for both short-term profit and long-term survival.
    • An organization must establish a series of successful products, if that organization wants to maintain a consistent stream of sales or else grow sales over time.
    • No product lasts forever, and sales levels can fluctuate dramatically over time.
    • Deletion is the process of removing products that perform below market expectations or fail to meet company objectives.
    • It was phased out in North America by the end of 2005 due to low sales.

  • Online Sales Promotion

    • The development of a relationship with a sales representative created by a personal referral often makes the difference between an inquiry and a sale.
    • Search engine marketing (SEM) promotes websites by increasing their visibility on the search results page.
    • The latter, also referred to as search engine optimization (SEO), offers a more organic, natural, and free way to garner a desired ranking on a search results page.
    • Online sales promotions enable you to obtain measurable results.
    • Discuss on line sales promotion as a sales promotion method and relative to personal selling and sales promotion

  • Client-Based Relationships

    • Rolls-Royce PLC has ensured its aircraft engines are in high demand by continuously monitoring the health of its 3000 engines for 45 airlines through live satellite feeds.
    • Under its TotalCare program, airlines pay Rolls a fee for every hour an engine in flight, and Rolls assumes the risks and costs of downtime and repairs in return.
    • Therefore, the service provider should listen to the needs of the customer, fulfill them through the appropriate service offering, and build a long-lasting relationship that will lead to repeat sales and positive word-of-mouth.
    • Since services are usually generated and consumed at the same time, they actually involve the customer in the service delivery process by taking into consideration his or her requirements and feedback.
    • Rolls Royce PLC maintains its competitive edge in the airplane engine industry by adding valued services to improve the quality of the engine.