Comments on: If you tell your team to ‘maximize sales’ that may be a tacit admission of a flaw in the design of your business! http://www.salesprocessengineering.net/2009/08/02/if-you-tell-your-team-to-%e2%80%98maximize-sales%e2%80%99-that-may-be-a-tacit-admission-of-a-flaw-in-the-design-of-your-business/ The application of process-engineering principles (particularly TOC) to the sales process Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:26:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: SKI http://www.salesprocessengineering.net/2009/08/02/if-you-tell-your-team-to-%e2%80%98maximize-sales%e2%80%99-that-may-be-a-tacit-admission-of-a-flaw-in-the-design-of-your-business/comment-page-1/#comment-609 SKI Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:48:04 +0000 http://www.salesprocessengineering.net/2009/08/02/if-you-tell-your-team-to-%e2%80%98maximize-sales%e2%80%99-that-may-be-a-tacit-admission-of-a-flaw-in-the-design-of-your-business/#comment-609 Great mental exercise for a Sunday morning. May I suggest that you forgot two other likely choices? 4. Status Quo I always list it first. It provides an easy way to bail out of a project when you find out the leadership is paying lip service to change. Nothing will take years off one's life faster than dealing with bozos on a daily basis. Life is too short. Of course when you noticed the (perfectly healthy) CEO's Porsche consistently parked in the handicap spot in front of the building, you should have found a quicker way to bail... but I digress. 5. Biz Basics Boot Camp People rarely know what they do not know. Justin's work on SPE is just so much common sense. So much so, that the first time I read one of his White Papers on it, I thought he was all wrong. But over coffee one morning, just thinking about the ramifications of Ballistix SPE, I had to admit that he was absolutely 100% spot on. When you take the time to think it through (something most Americans just hate to do!), there is but one conclusion: SPE has to work. But in my experience, just like fitting a rocket engine to your Piper Cub, bolting on SPE to most organizations is not going to work. At least not for long. Until the underlying assumptions are challenged (and exposed), any gains will be short lived. At best. Most often, they are simply rejected outright. That "If there were a better way, we would have thought it" ego-speak of the doomed. Enter the requirement to 'school' leadership as well as the rank & file on business basics. Think military: they train and train, then train some more. All just to be effective. Ask yourself: when was the last time you attended any training? Thanks again Justin for a great article on addressing the weakest link. -ski Great mental exercise for a Sunday morning.

May I suggest that you forgot two other likely choices?

4. Status Quo

I always list it first. It provides an easy way to bail out of a project when you find out the leadership is paying lip service to change. Nothing will take years off one’s life faster than dealing with bozos on a daily basis. Life is too short. Of course when you noticed the (perfectly healthy) CEO’s Porsche consistently parked in the handicap spot in front of the building, you should have found a quicker way to bail… but I digress.

5. Biz Basics Boot Camp

People rarely know what they do not know. Justin’s work on SPE is just so much common sense. So much so, that the first time I read one of his White Papers on it, I thought he was all wrong.

But over coffee one morning, just thinking about the ramifications of Ballistix SPE, I had to admit that he was absolutely 100% spot on. When you take the time to think it through (something most Americans just hate to do!), there is but one conclusion: SPE has to work.

But in my experience, just like fitting a rocket engine to your Piper Cub, bolting on SPE to most organizations is not going to work. At least not for long. Until the underlying assumptions are challenged (and exposed), any gains will be short lived. At best. Most often, they are simply rejected outright.

That “If there were a better way, we would have thought it” ego-speak of the doomed. Enter the requirement to ‘school’ leadership as well as the rank & file on business basics. Think military: they train and train, then train some more. All just to be effective.

Ask yourself: when was the last time you attended any training?

Thanks again Justin for a great article on addressing the weakest link.

-ski

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