When print businesses buy software, you are sold on the return-on-investment (ROI) of the software tool. The sales process includes references to other printers who have completely revolutionized their business with the purchase of this tool. The sales process informs you that you will be more efficient, win more business, and increase your profits from purchasing this tool. All of that is possible. It does happen. It’s never guaranteed, and the software is not the most important component in making all those good things happen. In a world that is addicted to the idea that technology can fix everything, it seems like a controversial statement. 

The most important component of your business is having people who are good at process creation. What do I mean by process creation? We can really simplify work down to just two kinds of work: process creation and process adherence/execution. Your business, as it runs today, is a collection of processes that are executed over and over everyday by your employees. Many of these are “informal processes” that exist only in your employees’ heads and they are executed based on memory. So when there is turnover or expansion, undocumented processes get passed down verbally, if at all.

A business’s ability to execute is really about the processes it uses to get work done. What are your processes? Do they work for you? Do they work when your best CSR goes out on maternity leave? Do they work when your top press operator breaks their leg skateboarding? Processes that rely on your best humans are people-centered processes; every business has some of them. Sales is a very people-centered process but even there you can create a methodology for guiding a prospect through the sales process of becoming a customer.