Challenge 1: Getting rid of long lines of communication
28 July 2011
Why does it take so long for a sound quotation to arrive in the customer’s hands? To put it briefly, there are too many people involved in the quotation process. You will no doubt be thinking: but surely I can't leave my engineer or planner out of this process? That’s not what I am saying; what I am saying is that things can run more smoothly.
The ‘normal’ process
I’ll give you an example of the sales process that is common at many companies. Every company is different, of course, but outlining this process provides a clear picture of the opportunities that exist for making improvements.
At many companies the customer will be in contact with your Account Manager. Together they go through the customer’s requirements. The Account Manager will then get an employee from the sales office to translate these wishes and requirements into a suitable quotation. The sales office will cast a glance over the ‘archive’ of old quotations to determine which quotation is similar to this new enquiry. Text is then copied and pasted from an old quotation (we talked about the dangers of copying and pasting briefly last week). The calculation department likewise sets to work on estimating the costs and the planning department looks at whether the proposed product is actually feasible. The quotation can then be sent – via the above lines of communication – to the customer. It is a long-winded process:
Amendment
If the customer has an amendment to the quotation – which is more the rule than the exception – this entire process is repeated. Changes are made in the text file, and the calculation and planning departments are also involved once again. Once it is established that the amended order can also be realized, all lines are informed and the field sales employee can notify the customer that the quotation has been successfully revised. A tense moment – surely there won’t be any further changes (read: time and money) now?
Approval
With a little bit of luck, the customer will then leave the quotation as it stands (otherwise the process starts from the beginning again...). The field sales team passes on this information internally, after which the purchasing and production departments are controlled via the various lines. Finally – all being well – you then have a product that meets the wishes and requirements of your customer. By this point, in order to draw up the quotation, make the changes and get approval, numerous colleagues and departments will have spent time on this enquiry:
Optimal process
There is no denying that this process can be made simpler. Nor can it be denied that the quality of this process can be improved. The key lies in making the sales representative more independent so that he or she can generate a quotation completely autonomously. How would this work? I will tell you next week.
Judith Steinmeier is Communication Manager at Sofon - supplier of sales support software. As Judith has a lot of contact with clients, she has a clear insight into how companies that deliver customer-specific products and services can realize improvements within their sales and quotation process.
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