All other activities within your business become expenses. Therefore, you should focus on sales above all else, yet few small businesses do. Most start-up entrepreneurs focus on making their product or service the best it can be, convinced the world will beat a path to their door. These companies quickly become anemic, because the blood flow never starts. The business graveyards are littered with their shriveled remains.
Some entrepreneurs initially focus on closing the order, and they get the lifeblood flowing.
However, they never try to understand their sales process. As the company grows and the market changes, they fail to make appropriate adjustments in their sales procedures, and their company gradually deteriorates and dies, a victim of its own success. A select few entrepreneurs understand that to sustain the lifeblood of sales and keep the heart of the business beating strong, they must understand each step of their sales process. The best way to visualize your company's unique process is with a customized flow sheet. Assembling a doll house or a model plane kit is relatively easy, because you have an instruction sheet telling you how to put the pieces together.