5 Reasons Why Processes Are the Real MVPs in Sales and Marketing (And How They Keep Us Sane)

You're probably thinking, "Processes? Yawn." I get it. The word doesn’t exactly scream "fun" or "exciting," but trust me, processes are the unsung heroes of sales and marketing. Personally, I've always been a planner, but not necessarily a process gal. But I learned from someone who was the queen of process (hat tip, Kelly Taylor Stoner, PMP ) and have been championing process refinement and improvement ever since.

If you want your company to be best-in-class, work on your sales and marketing processes. It's these processes that create the most impact on the initial experience that future clients have with your company.

Think of processes like that friend who always remembers to bring snacks and sunscreen to the beach — they keep you on track, make things smoother, and stop you from getting burned.

You'll be a fan of them soon enough, so keep reading if you want to learn the five benefits of processes that I've seen in my work.

1. Consistency: No More “What Did We Do Last Time?” Moments

Have you ever had a moment halfway through something important and thought, “Wait, how did we do this before?” That’s what happens when you don’t have processes. With a good process, there’s no scrambling to remember what worked last quarter or which email template performed best.

In sales and marketing, this is so key. You always want to be doing what worked well and then tweaking it. You NEVER want to start from scratch. Because when you start from scratch, you're just guessing.

And guessing is the enemy of performance.

2. Efficiency: Less Time Running Around Like a Headless Chicken

I've worked with many companies that run around like crazy and act like it's the most normal thing ever. Sorry, but if you're dysfunctional and can't help but make it difficult to work with you, you might as well not market at all. Your prospects will sniff out your internal problems quickly and will choose someone else who is easy.

3. Less Stress: Because Who Needs More of That?

Imagine this: You’ve just wrapped up a massive campaign, and now your team is like, “Cool, let’s do that again next month.” Without a process, you're left trying to remember what worked, what didn’t, and it'll feel daunting to do it again. With a process? You’ve got it all documented, so you can rinse and repeat (with some improvements, of course).

4. Scalability: Because You Want to Grow, Right?

One of the biggest challenges companies face is scaling. When things start getting bigger, it’s super easy for everything to go sideways if you’re just relying on memory and goodwill. With processes, though? Growth is so much easier!

When you onboard new sales reps or marketers, you don’t have to spend 100 years training them on every little detail. Just hand over the processes, and boom — they’re up to speed aside from a question or two here and there. It's dreamy!

5. Measuring Success: Know What’s Working (and What’s Failing Miserably)

Here's where the big impact comes in. Not every campaign or sales strategy is going to be a home run. But how do you know what’s actually working if you don’t have a process? Without one, it’s like trying to track down the leak in a boat while blindfolded. You’ll probably sink before you figure it out.

With a solid process for tracking and measuring leads and marketing influence, you can track every step and measure what’s a winner and what's worthless. Processes give you the data you need to tweak, adjust, and improve.

The Bottom Line: Processes Are Your Best Friend

Sure, processes might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but they’re essential if you want to stay sane and actually, you know, succeed in sales and marketing. They give you consistency, help you scale, and make sure that your brilliant ideas actually see the light of day. Plus, they save you from reinventing the wheel (and burning it to the ground) every time you launch a campaign.