In this recent article on Strategic Selling Group, Inform Partner, Wayne Moloney explores how the principle of Lean are applicable to sales. As he writes:
Lean has long been associated with manufacturing and credited to Toyota. However, I challenge both premises and am a believer that Toyota’s role in post-war Japan was to ‘commercialise’ a concept that was probably started by Henry Ford. Further, while it no doubt started as a manufacturing ‘tool’, it has since evolved into a set of management principles that can and have been applied effectively across a broad range of industries and business operations.
Lean is about increasing capacity by designing operational processes so the business optimally responds to customer demand and then to utilise the additional capacity to add greater value and/or increase output. And this applies to sales!
The reality is, every function or service provided by any department or organisation is a process that can be documented, standardised, and most importantly, improved – and that includes Sales.
The concept of Lean in sales has developed slowly and is still alien to many salespeople and sales managers. However, there is an increasing awareness of how Lean can help businesses deliver greater revenue at reduced cost and therefore increased profit. So what is Lean Sales? Read more →
Succeeding in the Culture Change Playground
/in Human Resources /by Greg Mitchell“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
I saw this posted on Linked In the other day and it reminded me of a question I am often asked by clients when speaking with them about potential workplace culture change programs.
The question usually arises while I’m extolling the virtues of taking a structured, collaborative approach to assessing, envisioning and managing workplace culture as a means to improving engagement, productivity and bottom line results. The client or prospect often nods knowingly, then looks thoughtfully, before asking the question, usually along the lines of:
“Yeah, well that’s great, but we have a couple of individuals/teams that are very resistant to change and I just can’t see them coming on board. What do we do with them?” Read more →
Office Wastes
/in Business Strategy, Process Improvement, Quality Management /by Mike KarleWhile much has been said and written about Lean and the 7-Wastes within a manufacturing environment, it is in the office of professional service functions where we often see huge amounts of waste, particularly within the accounting, legal, design and consulting engineering sectors. Below are some of the typical ‘Office Wastes’ that we encounter.
Read more →
Are You Prepared To Be Less Of A D*ckhead To Be A Better Leader?
/in Human Resources /by Greg MitchellAs usual, the annual Conference on Culture and Leadership presented by Human Synergistics Australia earlier this week delivered the goodies, with some great speakers sharing their personal leadership and workplace culture experiences with an enthusiastic Sydney audience.
One of the many things on the day that resonated strongly with me arose out of a performance piece by the talented corporate dramatists from Coup, which successfully highlighted the challenges and opportunities typically presented by leadership and workplace culture change.
In the piece, one of the dramatists playing the role of “the Ghost of Business Future” (with all due respect to Charles Dickens), asked the struggling CEO if he wanted to become a better leader in order to save the business from its projected downward spiral. Of course he said yes, to which the Ghost of Business Future responded quite simply “Great…. so are you prepared to be less of a d*ckhead?”
The laughs from the audience suggest that I wasn’t the only one for whom this comment resonated. As much as we might typically use more accepted corporate language, structured models and frameworks to diagnose and improve leadership effectiveness, I couldn’t help but think that this phrase, as undiplomatic as it might be, provides some fundamental truths. Read more →
Blue Eco Homes – winners again!
/in Clients /by Wayne MoloneyHuge congratulations to our client Blue Eco Homes for winning, yet again, the HIA Small Builder of the Year award.
An office wall full of business and industry awards is testament to the professionalism and commitment to quality they deliver in every build.
We are pleased and proud to be working with owners, Joe and Merylese Mercieca and look forward to seeing what lies ahead on their journey.
Lean sales: More revenue, More profit, Less Resource
/in Sales /by Wayne MoloneyIn this recent article on Strategic Selling Group, Inform Partner, Wayne Moloney explores how the principle of Lean are applicable to sales. As he writes:
Lean has long been associated with manufacturing and credited to Toyota. However, I challenge both premises and am a believer that Toyota’s role in post-war Japan was to ‘commercialise’ a concept that was probably started by Henry Ford. Further, while it no doubt started as a manufacturing ‘tool’, it has since evolved into a set of management principles that can and have been applied effectively across a broad range of industries and business operations.
Lean is about increasing capacity by designing operational processes so the business optimally responds to customer demand and then to utilise the additional capacity to add greater value and/or increase output. And this applies to sales!
The reality is, every function or service provided by any department or organisation is a process that can be documented, standardised, and most importantly, improved – and that includes Sales.
The concept of Lean in sales has developed slowly and is still alien to many salespeople and sales managers. However, there is an increasing awareness of how Lean can help businesses deliver greater revenue at reduced cost and therefore increased profit. So what is Lean Sales? Read more →
Lean Selling: Qualifying to reduce waste
/in Marketing, Sales /by Wayne MoloneyDid you know that Businesses regularly spend up to five times longer losing a sale than winning a sale?
Wayne Moloney explains why this is so – and what we need to do about it.
In Wayne’s recent appearance on Strategic Selling Group he emphasises the need for a stringent qualification process to ensure we know our opportunity is winnable.
Wayne suggests spending more time on opportunities that have got the greatest chance of success and to help make these decisions he offers some simple qualification questions that will assist in determining if you should invest in furthering opportunities.
Sales and Marketing – More Alike Than You Think!
/in Marketing, Sales /by Wayne MoloneyMy ‘Sales Masterminds Australasia’ colleague, Peter Strohkorb is a strong advocate of the need for sales and marketing to be more collaborative. In fact he is so passionate about this he has coined a phrase to cover the concept –Smarketing! His research has shown that businesses where this occurs are twice as likely to be financially successful than companies where sales and marketing collaboration is not present.
Now while I know Peter has strong anecdotal evidence to back this finding, this should not come as a surprise to those who follow trends in how people buy. In days past the lack of information available to buyers meant businesses ‘held the high ground’ when it came to providing information and hence solutions to buyers needs. Marketing sold to the masses by providing general information and creating awareness, sales people followed up and sold to individuals (or individual businesses) by fine tuning offerings to meet specific needs. A bit like strategic bombing or artillery followed by the infantry.
But today, is there still such a delineation? Aren’t salespeople marketers and marketers salespeople?
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks, then it’s probably a duck….
or is it?
Read more →
Thinking About Thinking – Enhancing Employee Performance
/in Human Resources /by Greg MitchellWe all know that effectively managing employees is fundamental to the success of our business. We variously rely on our employees to serve our customers/clients, to market and sell the goods and services of the business and to implement the processes and systems that keep the business flowing.
As business owners or managers, we can’t be there all the time, so it’s absolutely critical that our employees clearly understand what is expected of them. This in turn means that our ability to effectively communicate with our employees can have a direct and significant impact on the performance of the business.
Read more →
It’s Payback Time! …or is it?
/in Business Finance /by Eric de DiesbachEveryone facing a business investment decision, such as launching a new product, purchasing equipment, installing a new production line, building a factory or acquiring a business needs to ask themselves the following questions:
How long before I get my money back?
Which of these investments is better?
The Payback Analysis provides us with a means to answer these questions by clarifying the length of time (weeks, months or years) required for an investment to reach breakeven, before it begins returning a profit. This length of time is called the Payback Period.
The calculation takes into account Incomes, Expenses (*) and Taxes. The shorter the payback period, the better. The longer the payback period, the longer funds are locked up and the riskier the project.
Read more →
Planning for Sales Success
/in Marketing, Sales /by Wayne MoloneyTo enter into a battle without a plan is the height of stupidity and arrogance. Such generals should be put to death for they risk the lives of their warriors…”
Sun Tzu, Chinese Military General, circa 2500BC
In all my years of business development management and consulting, probably the greatest challenge I experience is getting sales teams to invest the proper time and effort in planning. All too often it is neglected or not treated with the seriousness it deserves. And sadly, those who do plan often overcomplicate the process.
I am a firm believer in keeping things simple. Whether it’s a strategic business plan, a marketing plan, a sales plan for a territory, or an individual’s sales plan – it should be short, sharp and to the point.
Your sales plan should detail the how you are going to retain and grow existing business, as well as bring on new business. For both new and existing clients, your plan should include both strategies – the high level plans to achieve your objectives and tactics – the actions necessary to carry out your plan. Read more →