In many SMEs, sales start with a hero. Usually it is the owner, sometimes one or two senior people, who know the customers, the pricing, the history and exactly when to step in. In a single, familiar market, that works well enough. International growth is where it starts to strain. A new market creates more than additional sales activity. It introduces more decisions, more follow-ups, more handoffs and more information that needs to move between people. What was manageable

For many SME owners, systemisation is not a new concept. When the topic comes up, a common response is: “We already have SOPs”. And often, they do. There are process manuals, templates, checklists and documented workflows. Yet the owner is still called when something goes wrong. Senior staff still answer the same questions. Different people deliver the same service differently. When deadlines get tight, the documented process is sometimes bypassed altogether. So, the proble