Sales Process Flowcharting

Should a business or government agency need to visualize a solution model for a some aspect of their business, there is a good chance that resulting diagram will take the form of a flowchart. They are an invaluable tool when charting a sales process — they give you the opportunity to visualise and understand the process, and also serve to highlight any issues or bottlenecks that might occur throughout the workflow. As an example of how ubiquitously intertwined flowcharts are with business process, here are a number of synonyms that may also be used:

• Flow chart
• Process flowchart
• Functional flowchart
• Process map
• Process chart
• Functional process chart
• Business process model
• Process model
• Process flow diagram
• Work flow diagram
• Business flow diagram

In its most basic form, a flowchart consists of a series of steps that act as a diagrammatic representation of a simple problem or process. Each step is represented graphically by a box — most commonly a square (representing processing steps or an activity), or a diamond (representing a decision). These boxes are linked by arrows, that indicate the direction of the workflow.

A flowchart doesn't so much represent the flow itself; rather, it focuses on the controls that govern the flow.

In practical terms, individual algorithms, workflows or processes can require a specific approach when designing, documenting or analyzing a flow chart. This has resulted in a widened selection of boxes and icons to cater for more niche controls and commands, and several flowchart variants stemming from the 'classical notation' style (the basic style outlined above). For instance, you can make a flowchart 'cross-functional', by introducing swimlanes that divide a process into organizational units. You also need to decide on your chart's perspective — is it from a managers, system analyst, or customer's point of view? A workflow diagram connects multiple processes, and allows you to define execution responsibility.

Flowcharts can be subdivided even further in accordance to what type of process they describe:

• Decision
• Logic
• Systems
• Product
• Process
• Program
• Document
• Data

The Sales Process

For most commercial organizations, the sales process is inherent to its existence and ability to create profit. Although each company will achieve this aim in its own way, the core selling process remains similar throughout — a potential buyer or prospective customer exchanges money with an organization in return for goods or services. Despite this rather simplistic definition, there exists huge scope as to which approach is taken. Indeed, it is not uncommon for the sales division to be the largest within a corporate structure, employing a team of salespeople, analysts, and the sales managers, who are in charge of sales division operations.

Sales operations is an umbrella term for all the processes and business activities that a key to running a sales division. The sales operation team is responsible for its smooth and efficient running, and to act as a liaison between other parts of company structure, such as IT, Legal, HR, Finance, or Marketing. There is a continual focus on sales process engineering, which is the analysis and refinement of a sales process in order to increase its efficiency or to identify problems within the workflow; other benefits might include the ability to standardize customer response into the form of a process, or as a platform to conduct buyer and seller risk management. A sales process itself is defined by strategy, sales targets, quotas, forecasting and demand; some theories also ascribe to a generic framework to build your process around — Rich, Spiro and Stanton identify 8 steps that make up a sales process in Management of a Sales Force (12th Ed. p. 66). They are as follows:

• Prospecting/initial contact
• Pre-approach — planning the sale
• Identifying and cross questioning
• Need assessment
• Presentation
• Meeting objections
• Gaining commitment
• Follow-up

The ideal method with which to represent these step-by-step processes is through the flowchart medium.

Charting The Flow

The practical applications of sales process flowcharts are numerous and wide ranging. At sales level, you might map the process of customer interaction, from first contact to sale. Or a system flowchart, that depicts the flow of actual physical elements or company resources. A program flowchart can be used to process map a software system for an online shop. For a manager, a sales process can generate key performance indicators, that allow senior management to discern the effectiveness of a process, and take corrective action if needed. The main aim is ongoing quality and margin improvement, process refinement and study of effectiveness. To take this concept even further, there are a number of 'doctrines' that some practitioners will apply to business process mapping.

Six Sigma is not only a set of tools and techniques to assist with your sales process diagrams, it is more like a doctrine for the whole company to follow. It shares the main ideals of process analysis and refinement, but adds focus on financial return, emphasis on strong leadership, and a rule to only ever make decisions based on verifiable data and statistical analysis. Following a similar pattern is ISO 9001, which represents a quality management system with a strict set of guidelines. Now adopted round the globe, it has become the de facto quality standard for business, and its application is routinely assessed by a third party. What both of these systems do is apply process mapping theory to every aspect of an organization; flowcharts provide the flexibility with which to do this.

As you can see, a simple premise like a sale process flowchart can culminate in an almost endless array of options and elements, not to mention the constant need for updating and refinement. Once again, ConceptDraw have produced a solution that allows you full freedom of expression when creating your sales flowcharts. The Sales Flowcharts solution for ConceptDraw PRO provides you with six sizable vector stencil libraries, including the full set of classical flowchart notation symbols, as well as stylized pictograms and arrows that bring energy and color to your design. It is ideal for users of all experience levels — beginners are catered for with handy templates and lessons that help you get the most out of the solution. Leave no process unmapped with the Sales Flowcharts solution from ConceptDraw.

States and territories maps of Australia

When European explorers and settlers reached Australia's shores, they brought with them the style of social structure, politics and governance from their homelands. Early settlements became colonies, some of which would form the foundations of modern day Australian cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. These colonies began to divide the mainland (and certain surrounding islands) into distinct territories — initially their boundaries were ever-changing, but by the end of the 1800s they eventually settled with the formation of six states that have remained largely unchanged to this day.

With Australia no longer serving solely as a penal colony for British convicts, and more and more migrants reaching the country, population and infrastructure expanded rapidly, leading to a call to unify the individual territories under one flag. After some negotiations, the six member states were ratified under the Commonwealth of Australia, that although still holding strong ties with the United Kingdom, would be largely self governing. In the 120 years since this unification, the political map of Australia has been consistent; the following is a list of the six states that comprised the nation then and now:

• South Australia
• New South Wales
• Queensland
• Victoria
• Western Australia
• Tasmania

There are also 3 self governing territories — Northern Territory, Jervis Bay Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory, which is something like the USA's Washington DC. Over the years, Australia has also grouped several island chains under the Commonwealth, resulting in seven extra external territories.

Australian map was created with ConceptDraw PRO, it shows states and territories of Australia

The distinct and long standing territories, aligned with interesting geological features across a wide expanse, make thematic maps an ideal way of presenting geological, geographical or political information relating to Australia. A thematic map studies a particular theme or subject area in relation to a particular location — often the focus is on the distribution and spatial variation of whatever data is being analysed.

Thematic maps lack a certain level of detail — they often do not show features such as road networks or contours, but instead tend to use a basic political map as the foundation, with an added layer of data to give context. A common example is a map of population density. Using Australia in this instance, the map would consist of a basic outline with state borders, and some form of dot distribution to indicate population. The more dots condensed in one area, the more populous it is — looking at Australia we would see a large collection of dots spread along the (particularly South) coast, while the center of the map (the Australian Outback) would be relatively clear.

A geospatial infographic goes one step further than a thematic map, in that it can tackle a broader range of subjects and use a more dynamic visual style to get its message across. The idea behind an infographic is to tell the viewer a story about that subject, perhaps answering a posed question or using statistics to back up a more general statement. Rather than just focussing on one set of data, such as Australia's population density as used in the last example, an infographic can expand on linked causes and effects — health issues, pay disparities or political leanings for example.

There are few limits on how this information is presented, only that visual techniques are used to present the data in a way that is easily identifiable and understandable, and that a coherent argument is made.

The way geospatial and social data is collected now results in reams of data that is impenetrable to a casual viewer. Thematic maps and infographics have risen to prominence as effective ways of collating this data, and breaking it down into manageable pieces that are conducive to sharing through social media streams. At CS Odessa, we recognize the fact that working with complicated data while trying to express this creatively through original diagrams represents a challenge, particularly with the fast moving trends and deadlines that many are bound to. We constantly endeavour to provide the solutions to these problems.

The Australia Map solution for ConceptDraw PRO is our latest solution for knowledge workers and business people. We try and make every step of the creative process as simple and intuitive as possible. Inside the Australia Map solution you will find templates and samples to get you started, a library containing vector graphics representing each Australian state, and if you're still struggling for inspiration then there is our comprehensive help and video tutorial section to explain some tips and tricks. Used in conjunction with other ConceptDraw PRO solutions libraries, our vector graphics allow you to create rich and varied infographics along any theme. For a more concentrated map, these images allow extra levels of detail — you can choose to display your map with county borders, named geographical regions, and major towns and cities.

Once you've finished you design, we offer a full range of import and export capabilities, including exporting to different file formats, or sharing your creativity through presentations.

The Australia Map solution for ConceptDraw PRO is part of an ever-growing collection of visual solutions from CS Odessa — aiming to provide inspiration and productivity at every stage of the design process.