Everyone is in Sales

You may think you know what you do for a living. You probably have a title that tells other people what you do for a living. If it doesn’t involve the words “sales” or “account manager”, you may be under the assumption that your job has nothing to do with sales. If you work for a company that sells a product or service, that assumption is false. Try again.

You are in sales. Your coworker is in sales. Your intern is in sales. Your admin is in sales. Your boss is in sales. Your entire company is in sales.

Whether you are welcoming visitors and guests, addressing complaints in billing, or shipping boxes, you are in sales. There is so much to say about how each person can affect the sale regardless of how much or little interaction with the customer he or she has.

Imagine your salesperson really hits it out of the park with a customer. They place an order. However, your manufacturing team is way behind schedule. The customer’s order is much later than the original delivery date the salesperson anticipated. How happy is your customer? How likely will they be to order from you again or recommend you to their colleagues? Most importantly, do you think the customer cares about the distinction of titles when the bottom line is that what they were sold didn’t get made on time? No. They don’t. They had a bad sales experience.

What if the sale goes through and everything is delivered on time, but your financial department didn’t invoice them correctly? It takes about 10 calls and 5 emails back and forth to fix this small issue that was just a clerical error in the end. Did that customer end the sales experience on a high note? Are they leaving this transaction all warm and fuzzy? Nope.

The last interaction they had with you and your company as a whole was a negative one.

You see, everybody in your company is going to become a part of the sales experience, directly or indirectly. So, everyone is in sales. It’s essential that there is no confusion about the experience every customer will have, every time. Consistency is key to maintaining the integrity of your brand and the loyalty of your customers. So, as you run to fetch your boss that coffee, pick up the pace and deliver it well. After all, you are a vital part of sales.