In Chapter 2 we gave an overview of the different ways that a company can sell in NetSuite. Companies in Business to Business markets often rely on a direct sales force and/or brokers, or partners. In this chapter we focus on how a sales force, whether direct or partners, uses NetSuite to manage the sales process and the pipeline. (The following discussion covers both partners and direct sales staff). First there is the 'handoff'. In Chapter 4 on Marketing Automation I argued that it is more appropriate and more efficient to following a marketing process to winnow the real prospects from the leads. Once we have a group of real prospects we can start the sales process. The handoff is simply the moment when marketing hands the prospects off to direct sales or partners and direct contact with the prospect takes place. The handoff can be casual, but only if you have a casual attitude toward sales revenue. Our experience is that those companies with real processes tend to see real results, and NetSuite can help. We use sales territories and sales rules to route prospects to sales people. This can be done in many ways; by geography, by product interest, by prospect size and expected sales volume, etc.. Really, with NetSuite's vast customization capabilities you can determine routing in an infinite number of ways, as long as you can identify the data and get it into the system. When you have completed the Marketing Process you can quickly change the stage of several leads to 'Prospect' in a Mass Change and then the routing rules and territories take over. The next time the sales person logs into the system they will discover new prospects that have been assigned to them. Better yet, you can send them an email alert every time a new prospect is assigned. Then monitor the activity on the prospect to make sure the handoff is complete. It may sound simple but all sales managers, directors, executives with whom I have worked, not to mention marketing directors, have listed the handoff as a major concern and area of improvement. Well, you have the tool now, NetSuite, so no more excuses! | 
