I get it. The job of the salesperson is to sell. They rely on their ability to convince a buyer to use their widget or service, and in exchange, they earn more wealth.

Far too many businesses reward, however, on short-term success. They set the pathway up for potential risk by providing a bonus or commission based on the first sale rather than the longevity and total value of the deal.

This has the potential to set up the wrong approach in the beginning because it’s more about getting the deal done than truly setting expectations.

In a review-filled world, this is risky to businesses. Validation has the potential to get crushed if the sales process is not aligned with the deliverables or the expectations of the experience.

If Domino’s Pizza sold on pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less and was constantly late, the consumers would have revolted because of the time delay. Delivery of expectations would not have met the set message. Domino’s understood this, and in fact, also understood that there was a chance they would miss their promise sometimes. Understanding the possibility of human error, they added in the caveat that if it’s not there in 30 minutes or less, it’s free. In today’s world, that would have protected the validation by giving an admittance that the sales process and the experience were not aligned.

When you think about sales surrounding your business, how do you protect for this?

In many cases, saying “or it’s free” is not an option. Instead, you should focus your attention on two things: early education of the sales team and adjusting what defines success so that it’s not what’s in the moment, but rather what the deal value is over time. This way, you are giving the sales team every bit of information and training they need to be successful, and instead of the short-term sale, you are focusing on long-term success.

No sales process is perfect, but it seems as if fully integrated sales processes have the best chance at success. The sales processes where operations, marketing and leadership are aligned seem to protect the brand better and ensure more deal value. They also seem to be aligned in delivering on the promise made to the consumer.

I have written this many times before, but the gap between good and great business is actually really tiny. It comes down to great customer service and proactive attitudes.

If you don’t take care of your clients, someone else will be happy to do so. Thus, make sure you are doing the basics, aligning expectations with deliverables and winning the short game.