When every sale depends on the owner: write a sales process your team can follow

Sales stop when you step away

"Customers only want to talk to me." "When I go to Dhaka for two days, nothing gets sold." "My staff can't explain the product properly." If this sounds familiar, your business does have a sales process. It just lives entirely in your head. That works while the business is small. It becomes a ceiling when you want to grow, open a second outlet, or simply take a week off. In family businesses it also becomes a problem when the next generation steps in and nothing was ever written down.

The fix is not a training course. It is to make what you already do visible, in plain steps, so someone else can follow it and later improve it.

Map how you actually sell

Spend a week noticing your own sales conversations, then write the steps as they really happen. For most small businesses they look something like this:

1. First contact. How customers reach you (shop visit, phone, Facebook message, WhatsApp, referral) and what you say in the first minute.
2. Understanding the need. The questions you ask to work out what the customer really wants. Write the actual questions down, word for word.
3. Recommending. How you match a product or package to that need, and when you suggest something cheaper or more expensive.
4. Price and objections. What you say when someone says "too expensive", "I'll think about it" or "the other shop is cheaper". Collect your best answers.
5. Closing. How you confirm the order, take payment or an advance, and agree delivery.
6. After the sale. A follow-up call, explaining the warranty, asking for a review or a referral.

For each step, note what the staff member says, what they need to hand (price list, photos, sample, stock check) and what they may decide on their own.

Decide where the limits are

Most owners hold on to sales because they fear a mistake on price. So decide in advance:

• What discount, if any, staff may give without asking, and when they must call you.
• Which customers or order sizes still come to you personally.
• What staff must never promise: delivery dates they cannot control, custom work, credit.

Clear limits let you hand over routine sales with confidence and keep the sensitive ones.

Turn it into tools people use

A process in a notebook in your drawer does not help anyone. Turn it into:

• A one-page sales script for each main product, in Bangla, in the words your customers use.
• An answer sheet for the most common questions and objections.
• A shared list of open enquiries, so nothing depends on one person's phone. A simple CRM or even a shared sheet is enough at first.
• A short weekly review: which enquiries were lost, and why.

Trade-offs and common mistakes

• Writing the ideal process, not the real one. Start with what works today and improve it later.
• Handing over everything at once. Let staff take one stage first, such as first contact and understanding the need, while you still close. Then widen their role.
• No feedback. For the first few weeks, listen in on calls or read message threads and coach, rather than taking the sale back.
• Expecting a copy of yourself. Your staff will sell differently. The process sets the standard; the style can vary.

You can write the first version yourself. An outside facilitator helps by interviewing you, spotting the steps you do without thinking, and turning them into scripts and training that fit your team. That is part of my business development work.

Start with one product

This week, pick your best-selling product and write down the five questions you always ask a customer about it, plus your three best answers to "it's too expensive". Give that page to one staff member and review their next few conversations together. If you would like help building the full process, contact me.