Applying Sales Process Engineering Archives

Why everything you’ve ever been told about pricing is wrong (and why a totally different approach is warranted)

I spend hours every month trying to reprogram the brains of our clients’ estimators (and their executive teams). The problem is that their entire approach to pricing (and perhaps yours too) is built on a false assumption. The fallacious assumption is that their organizations set prices. The bottom-up approach to pricing If you assume that… “Why everything you’ve ever been told about pricing is wrong (and why a totally different approach is warranted)”

Why a “full kit” is the key to an effective handoff.

A handoff is effective when there is a rapid change in ownership of the work packet, with a complete absence of conflict. The handoff itself does not create value, but it can destroy value, of course! Value is created by the overarching process. The key to an effective handoff is a full kit. The “kit”… “Why a “full kit” is the key to an effective handoff.”

Why a commitment to following up every quote is probably costing you money (and handicapping your growth)

Your salespeople have finite capacity, and we should probably assume that they are consistently busy. This means that if we ask them to perform an activity, it will be performed in place of another activity. If we consider the pool of possible transactions upstream from your organization, this pool can be divided into two categories:… “Why a commitment to following up every quote is probably costing you money (and handicapping your growth)”

Distributors claim that branch salespeople’s customer relationships are their key value driver.

This claim is not wrong. But it’s not helpful either! I’ve spent a week at the nation’s leading distributor conference, listening to executive after executive proclaiming the criticality of local customer relationships, maintained by branch salespeople. Now, on the final day of the conference, McKinsey is presenting survey results, suggesting that customers value availability, price,… “Distributors claim that branch salespeople’s customer relationships are their key value driver.”

If Your Sales Proposition Isn’t Relevant Every Day, It’s Not Relevant at All

Let’s assume you’re a salesperson. You have a compelling proposition for your target customers, but there’s one small problem. Your customers only make purchasing decisions periodically. This means that, most of the time, when you reach out to a prospective customer, they are not interested in having a conversation with you. Before I share the… “If Your Sales Proposition Isn’t Relevant Every Day, It’s Not Relevant at All”

An Introduction to the Speed-Based Operating System

A healthy business A healthy business has two value chains: Business as usual (generates operating profit) Growth (generates growth in operating profit) It should not be controversial to suggest that both chains should be optimized for speed. However, in most businesses, these two value chains do not exist in any meaningful sense. You have one… “An Introduction to the Speed-Based Operating System”

Why a focus on cost makes organizations weaker, less profitable, and less competitive

A viable alternative based on Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints Imagine you were to take over the management of a Formula One team, and rather than focusing on the car’s speed, you focused on reducing fuel consumption. That would be stupid, right? Idiotic, even! But this is the orthodox approach to business management. Not surprisingly, the… “Why a focus on cost makes organizations weaker, less profitable, and less competitive”

A breakthrough (?) approach to the management of dealers (and other reseller relationships)

When we work with those manufacturers that sell via resellers of various types, we often encounter an instance of the Drunkard’s Search problem within the sales department. This article describes the problem, as well as a solution we devised around 15 years ago—but abandoned because we believed it was too complex to be practical. Our… “A breakthrough (?) approach to the management of dealers (and other reseller relationships)”

Fuelling Growth: The abundance of leads in industrial sales

This article was first published on Thomasnet.com. You can read the original here. Your salespeople are NOT short of leads! If you hear a crazy idea often enough, there’s a danger that you’ll come to passively accept it — particularly if it’s on the periphery of your primary interest area. Some of these ideas (think, astrology)… “Fuelling Growth: The abundance of leads in industrial sales”

Revenue Should Always Be the Responsibility of Operations, Never Sales

This article was first published on Thomasnet.com. You can read the original here. If you make revenue the responsibility of your sales department, you will handicap the growth of your organization. If you want your organization to grow, operations should be responsible for revenue and your sales department should focus exclusively on new business. Before… “Revenue Should Always Be the Responsibility of Operations, Never Sales”

Category Archives: Applying Sales Process Engineering