What I’m talking about here is forecasts that are accurate.

Accurate enough to base key decisions on, such as whether to order more materials now, in order to be able to meet potential future orders within your stated delivery or lead times.

Accurate enough to be able to decide if you are going to avoid some short-term cash flow issues, or if you need some short term injection of cash – really critical in the smaller business.

Accurate enough to be able to decide when to let employees – or yourself – have time off for vacation.

Many production and operational processes are predictable enough – you, as the business owner or manager, have sufficient control over what’s going on, under normal circumstances.

But what about the sales operation? I mean, customers are in control, ultimately. You can’t force somebody to buy something – not legally or ethically (these 2 aren’t always the same thing!).

Well, you can reduce the degree of uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity that often reduces the accuracy of forecasts, by employing a solid, proven process-based approach to every aspect of your sales operation, not just to what happens once you’ve closed the order…

It won’t guarantee you sales success, but it will increase your chances of sales success overall. You’ll still lose some. But you should win more – partly because you’re better at selecting opportunities with a better chance of success for you, and partly because you’re better at ‘working’ those opportunities to a successful conclusion. You’ll also more likely be winning business at higher rates of margin or profit. And none of this needs you to have additional sales resources – such as sales people – or having to work extra hours – quite the opposite, potentially.

In future posts I’ll be exploring what these processes look like and how you can implement them.

For the moment, let me leave you with a couple of useful hints…!

1. Identifying the key players in a purchase decision, and understanding their position – how they see the need (or not) for the purchase in the first place, and what business results and personal wins they are looking for…
2. Connecting your products, services and/or solutions, in the minds of each key player (especially the very influential ones in this sale), to their individual required business results and personal wins.
3. Being very aware of what gaps you have in your knowledge (especially relating to points 1 & 2 above), what assumptions you’ve made, and taking steps, by way of an explicit strategy and plan, to reduce the negative impacts of these gaps and other knowledge, and maximise the positive impacts…

That’s a hint at some of the ‘what’ that is to come in future posts. The ‘how’ also comes later!

Related posts:

1. Sales Process: Here is one question every business person wants an answer to There is one question every business person wants an answer...
2. Sales Funnel: Part 2 Part 2 of a short series on what a sales...
3. Sales Funnel: Part 3 A short series on what a sales funnel really is....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s an interesting debate, as you’ll soon see.

On one hand there are those who feel that every effort should be made to uncover the root causes of what went wrong, analyse what happened and why, and use this as the basis for a strong, robust strategy and plan to avoid these problems in the future. I must admit, as a former engineer, this position has a lot of merit.

On the other hand there are those who feel that looking to uncover the root causes and do the analysis runs the risk of focusing on the past, of taking valuable and limited time that could be spent on more useful or value-adding activities. This too is a position that has merit!

So, what to do, which one to choose?

Before choosing, let’s just stop and think for a moment.

Some of you will know I trained and practiced as an engineer (OK, it was a while ago, but still…!). You’ll also know I have a solid background in continuous improvement too, with a heavy emphasis on analysis and data.

So you’d be forgiven for thinking this is an easy choice to make.

Well, it isn’t!

And here’s why.

I know from the experiences I have had, and countless others have had, that where processes dominate a situation in terms of performance, or lack of performance, then performing a root cause analysis – finding out the most fundamental reasons for failure to perform – is the right thing to do.

And selling is a process, right?

So, do the root cause analysis…

EXCEPT…

Sales is not just about process. It’s also about buying, and it’s also about emotion.

I’ve also learned (the hard way, initially…) that when people and emotions play a big, even dominant role, a root cause analysis is often largely a wasted effort in terms of actually contributing to and enabling a better approach and outcome in the future.

Why?

Well, root causes that are, to pardon the pun, rooted in people, are incredibly difficult to find, verify and measure. The analysis becomes too subjective, and this can add to existing tensions in relationships, or more often, create these tensions in the first place.

And because there is limited credibility and agreement about the actual list of root causes and their relative contributions to the overall problem, and plan based on eliminating these root causes is similarly lacking in credibility and buy in – and that leads to problems in implanting any fix, no matter how brilliant the fix actually is.

So, back to the original dilemma – do the root cause analysis, or not… learn from the mistakes of the past & others, or press on, perhaps blindly?

Well, a dilemma in my book, occurs when I’m faced with just 2 choices, neither of which is particularly attractive.

What I try to do in these situations is create a third (or fourth…) option that is more attractive.

And I do the same here.

Option 3 is to do a little of both! Learn from the mistakes while ALSO focusing on how you want your future success to be.

OK, I know what you’re thinking now – you’re thinking that I’m cheating, or fudging the issue somehow.

Well, I beg to differ!

Based on the underlying principles of “Solutions Focus” (see http://www.sfwork.com) I suggest the following to enable you to quickly make some progress:

1. Take a look at the problem situation, and get clear (or clearer…) about what the desired outcome was.
2. Look for what worked, even just a little bit, even just once, that got things just a little bit closer to the desired outcome.
3. Consider doing more of these things that worked. And stopping doing things that didn’t work – this helps you manage your workload too.

The theory (and practice!) goes something like this: when you focus on the problem and why it might have happened, you’re focused on the past and also what you don’t want. Your success lies in the future and what you do want, so focus there!

Sure, acknowledge and pay some heed to past problems and experiences, but don’t over do it. You can avoid this by working through steps 1-3 above. This buys you some progress and this is really valuable in building momentum, motivation, and… hope!

And to get more focus on the future and what steps to take in getting there, work through the steps below:

1. Get a very clear picture or description of how you want & need things to be in the future. If part of a team, build this picture together – it’s great for buy-in, team building and motivation!
2. Find resources that can help you achieve even just a little of this in the very near future – look to the past, present and future for ideas, examples of what has worked that you can copy and/or adapt. Look to your experiences and imagination, as well as that of others – this can be great for getting buy-in!
3. Focus on taking small next steps in the general direction of the desired outcome. Focus on what can be achieved in the next 24-48 hours. Don’t worry too much about a detailed and long-term plan – life has a way of making these pretty useless after a few days or weeks! Once you’ve taken 1 or 2 small steps, take stock – where are you in relation to the desired outcome… And from here, identify the next 1 or 2 small steps you can take to get you headed in roughly the right direction!

Let me know how you get on!

Cheers

Martin

Related posts:

1. Sales Process: Here is one question every business person wants an answer to There is one question every business person wants an answer...
2. Sales Funnel: Part 3 A short series on what a sales funnel really is....
3. Sales Funnel: Part 4 Part of a short series on the sales funnel. In...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Now I don’t know how many of these are totally true, or mostly true or even a total pack of lies. But I do know I’ve had different emotional reactions to them. I know from my conversations in recent months with many others in the industry, that I’m not alone in this observation.

There were times when I felt truly inspired – there are some wonderful stories out there, even if they’re not true. And stories like these made me reflect on my own situation and want to do something about it.

Yet in one sense reading these stories is a bad idea. Let me tell you how & why, and let you make your own mind up.

Personally I think there’s always something to be learned – just so long as I continue to make informed decisions – not always easy, as we’ll shortly see!

As you read their story, you begin to identify with the situation and the author, or at least bits of the story and perhaps a few characteristics of the author. Why? Because you recognise parts of your own history and self in there… And for the author, their salvation comes in the form of some actions built around some great system or method they came across, and you know what? YOU could also do this – none of the actions are particularly difficult or costly…

As you read on (and some of these really do go on… and on….) you find yourself feeling more and more compelled to sign up for what ever they’re offering, or at least, to find out more with their free report… And so you do – you might even think the $97/$67/$47/$27/$7 price they charge (or even $997!) is good value for money, and you reach for your credit card…

By the way, what is it with all these prices ending in ‘7’?!

But your decision will, according to recent research, be an emotional one, untempered by too much logic, despite you having the perfect logic for your actions… You can get the deeper details in several places, though for an easier read I point you to Robert Ciadini’s work…

Cialdini, a bit of a whiz on psychology and influence (he has letters after his name and everything, and writes accessible books… go see “Influence: Science & Practice” http://bit.ly/xM3Gf) suggests 6 ‘weapons of influence’. Once you’re familiar with them you’ll never look at a sales letter page the same way again… I hope!

Oh, the thing to note with all of this is that this influencing stuff happens at a deep level – you respond in these ways almost without thinking… powerful (and scary!) or what?

• Weapon #1 – reciprocation – you can get a whole bunch of freebies from the author,  who has just seemingly told you how to change your life – so you reciprocate – by signing up…
• Weapon #2 – commitment & consistency – people tend to honour a commitment – you make a commitment when you sign up… so you probably do look at the video/free report etc
• Weapon #3 – social proof – people will do things they see others doing – the testimonials on the sites show people signing up and buying in… the conformity factor increases the liklihood that you too will sign up…
• Weapon #4 – authority – using authoritative phrasing & tones, citing testimonials as being from ‘experts’ or showing how the programme is just like (named) experts, some of whom you may even have heard of…
• Weapon #5 – liking – people are more easily persuaded by people they like – a heart-warming story, a familiar, welcoming style or writing/talking style (video/audio more prevalent now) – this is the “s/he’s one of us, so it must be OK…” effect…
• Weapon #6 – scarcity – limited seats/packs/being one of a few out of millions… or time limiting before price rises etc – sound familiar?

Now imagine the overall effect of 2 or more of these working together…! Yup, you’ll be VERY influenced to do buying/signing up etc.

A well-crafted sales page takes time, effort etc, and is effective, whether to system being sold is what what you need or not – and that’s my point..

And so you end up making an unbalanced decision – mostly emotional, with a little logic… but not enough I’d suggest…

But is it the right solution for YOU? How can you know without looking in to ‘this’ more, including the offering & your unique situation? What are your strengths? What time, money and energy can you invest in this offering you’ve just signed up for? What expectations do you subconsciously have and aren’t aware of, at least until you fail to meet them…? If you want to know where MLM depression/demotivation comes from, this last aspect is a BIG factor…

All of this together is why, in my humble opinion, reading too many of these stories is a bad idea. It doesn’t mean the story is ‘pants’, or the offering is ‘pants’ – it just might not be for you.

So before you decide, before you commit, just check back with yourself if this is the right thing for you to be doing now, and if it’s not, but you still want to do it, come up with an action plan to get you in position to take this forward when you ARE ready for it.

Happy story-reading!!

Cheers

Martin

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Ever since I saw early signs for the impending economic storm, I’ve felt driven to create The Second Income Manifesto, also known as the MLM / Network Marketing Manifesto.

And now it’s here, available to all, for free download, from
http://www.thenetworkmarketingmanifesto.com/

After you’ve read and worked through this Manifesto, you will be in a fantastically better position to make an informed decision about your next steps towards starting, or significantly growing, a second income. This is as true of you are totally new to all of this, or an established mlm operator or MLMer.

The Manifesto is both an information source and a workbook, helping you to assess your own unique situation to figure out the next steps. There’s stuff here you won’t find anywhere else, as well as some of the more well known concepts and tools – I want this to be the most convenient way to access what you need.

Anyways, enough said here – you’ll find so much more about a home based business in network marketing, and what is in the Manifesto, plus details of how to freely get hold of our own copy.

Later, as you reflect on what you have read about and in the Manifesto, your mind will be racing with all the possibilities that become known to you – almost too pumped to sleep, glad that you did download your copy…

Click on over to http://www.thenetworkmarketingmanifesto.com/ now!

Cheers

Martin

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.