From the JustSell.com newsletter:
Sales is not a game. Nothing about it should be left to chance. An effective process that ensures progress toward the goal of bringing in new customers and retaining current customers is what you and your team should strive for. Your process should be methodical, predictable and hold you and/ or your team accountable.
Excellent. Unfortunately, we encounter many sales departments that have no process. We are strong proponents of a selling system. The last thing a sales manager needs is a team of lone wolf salespeople attacking the market with different processes. Good luck with the forecast in that scenario.
The system should be flexible so that each salesperson can adapt it to his or her style, but the core goals should be the same for each salesperson. Any approach short of that leads to an unreliable forecast. An unreliable forecast sends waves through an entire company, not just the sales department.