Salespeople grumble about administrative tasks. It's in their nature. Good salespeople close sales, and when that activity is over they are thinking about closing the next one. Much of this is justifiable. Once they make a sale, they have to make another one and another one and so on... However, if they do not document the transaction appropriately the customer may get the wrong product, pay the wrong price, or expect services that are not forthcoming. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Penny Wise / Pound Foolish

So consider this. Is your organization's pre- and post- sales administration complicated or particularly lengthy? Do the salespeople make specific, valid complaints about it? If they were relieved of the burden of paperwork, could your salespeople sell more than they do now? Could the amount of additional sales revenue more than compensate for the salary or part of a salary that an administrative hire would entail? Might they even be more motivated? Depending on how these questions are answered, it might make sense to consider hiring or assigning many or all of the tasks involved to an administrative person. Or perhaps there are ways you can streamline your paperwork so all concerned - including your salespeople and potentially your customers - would benefit.

Many forward-thinking organizations, large and small, try to minimize the amount of paperwork that their salespeople are responsible for so they can do what they do best – sell. With this luxury comes responsibility, however. These companies hire the best salespeople they can find, hold them to high standards and do not allow them to hide behind administrative activities.

Address the Issue

If you feel that the post-sale paperwork at your company is not overly burdensome, and if everyone else on the staff is able to complete it with a minimum number of errors, then you know you have a problem with one individual. If this sales representative knows that everyone will run around covering for them in an effort to serve the customer, then they will not be motivated to change their ways.

Have a talk with them and make sure that they fully understand how to fill out the paperwork. Once that has been determined, let them know that in the future, if the paperwork is not done correctly, it will wind up either back on their desk or back in their e-mail box. Tell them that they will need to handle any fallout from an irate customer who wonders where their order is. No matter how uncomfortable this feels, you need to stick to this plan. The salesperson will test you and will see that you are not serious if you bail them out.

Create a Cover Sheet

Though you may have determined that the paperwork is not overly taxing, there still may be a lot of little details to see to. If this is the case, consider creating a one-page order acceptance checklist. Work with the staff members who require the order information (Legal, Finance, Customer Service, Production, etc.) to create the document. This checklist that must be filled out by the salesperson before an order is considered complete.

A closed sale generates paperwork. This is inevitable. It's up to each company President or business owner to determine the value of their salesperson’s time versus the amount of effort expended on administrative tasks. It takes some time and research to come to the right conclusion, but it is well worth the effort.