We have a process for most things that we do in life. We don't necessarily think of things in these terms, but it is true, so what is a process? Really a process is merely a routine that's become a habit. For instance, we have a routine or a process for what we do when we come home from work. Maybe we walk in the door and kiss our spouse, and then the kids, and maybe head upstairs, kick off our shoes, check the sports scores, and maybe turn the TV on to watch the news.

Whatever it is, we have some sort of routine. Again, this is just a process that's become a habit. The list could go on and on and encompass many areas of our life. The interesting thing is that when we experience an interruption of these routines, we know it, and in some cases, it can really throw us off.

If routines or processes are such a part of life, why would we resist the idea of having one for our sales efforts? In our sales live, we have plenty of things that keep us busy, don't we? We have prospecting, meetings, follow-up, fires to put out, reports providing our bosses, travel time, training, and our own personal learning time.

In short, we've got a lot to do. The chances of something important falling through the cracks is fairly high. For most of us, we try to limit the number of things that we forget to do by trying to stay organized using our various digital devices, or even a notepad. It would seem then, that the concept of having a sales process should be fairly easy for us to understand. One of the benefits of having a sales process is the ability to stay organized on your appointments.

Just like our average working day is filled with distractions, a sales call can be just the same. We might show up on a call expecting to meet with Mary only to find out that Mary recently left the company and has been replaced by Joe. Or maybe we think Joe is the only person that we're meeting with, but there are actually five people attending the meeting.

Prospects throw curve balls all the time, and a sales process can help us stay on track and continue to move the conversation forward. For example, we've all had the experience of a prospect who's a talker. We ask them a question and then they have a tendency to go on and on, and on. Now we may have to respond to a few of their points or questions that they ask and pretty soon 10 minutes have passed, and we're way off-topic.