"Danger, Will Robinson!"

This was the line I remember most from the 1960’s series?Lost in Space.??The character, The Robot (yes, that's an original name), delivered the line constantly to 9-year-old Will Robinson as he went off on various adventures.??What was a boy to do on the alien world Priplanus with no other children and only the hapless and devious Dr. Zachary Smith as a companion???

Yes, I have completely dated myself for having watched the series re-runs on the old WTBS as a child.

The warning still stands, though, for individuals and companies working without clarity. DANGER!

Clarity.

Definition:??the quality of being coherent and intelligible.?

Having clarity of purpose is not just something NICE to have for a company.??

Having clarity of purpose is not just critical to the SUCCESS of a company.??

Having clarity of purpose is critical for the continued SURVIVAL of a company.

Example 1

The most fun I have had professionally was selling for a company where we knew what we were good at doing from top to bottom in the organization.??We had a great product, we had great expertise in applying the product, we had great expertise in manufacturing the product, and we had great expertise in designing the product and its variations.??

Having this clarity made it easy for us to know which projects to take on and which to turn down.??We knew what our customers looked like, what they did, how they did it, and were able to write down their company names before we ever went to visit them the first time.??This clarity helped the salespeople know how to speak clearly and intelligently to customers as well as troubleshoot problems effectively.??We knew how to communicate clearly to our customers and to our company on what was wrong and what was right.??The biggest problem we dealt with was growing too quickly.??

As a salesperson, I could just go sell.??

It wasn’t until we expanded into an area that we did not have expertise that we lost the clarity of purpose and the company suffered.??This is not to say that we could not have adapted and clearly understood what we needed to do, but the loss of clarity stretched the company and its resources.??As a result, desperation set in, and we lost touch with what made us successful previously.??

Example 2

The second most fun was working for a company that was hungry for expansion.??We had the right equipment, the willingness to invest, and the right people in the right seats on the bus to make it happen.??And we were successful, mostly.??The problem was the industries we were targeting were on the edge of our manufacturing capabilities.??The results were the quality was mostly where it needed to be.??

The key word in that last sentence is mostly.

We would perform great for a while but then would have little problems arise.??A missed dimension here.??A characteristic that was just a little “off” there.??We would identify these issues and correct them and the issues would be corrected for a time, but would return to the frustration of our customers.

It was like having an infection that caused only a low-grade fever.??We could take ibuprofen to reduce the fever, but the cause of the infection was never addressed.??

Actions to take

Reading?New Sales. Simplified?by Mike Weinberg has brought these lessons back to front of mind.??Included is a section from Weinberg’s book that I suggest the leadership in every company read prior to sending their salesforces into the field to face customers with a new product or service.??Just because a designer thinks the new shiny object is “super cool” does not mean the new shiny object is ready to take to market.??Trust me, customers are not the people you want putting your new product or service through its paces.??They will find the problems and you will not have a second chance.??

Thank you, Mike Weinberg, for yet another hard smack of reality. I need steel toe boots complete with metatarsal protection reading your books.

Believe me, even products that have been in your offering for a significant period of time are still not completely understood by a certain percentage of your salesforce and your distribution channels. I've seen it firsthand as seasoned salespeople tell me privately after conducting a hands-on training session with the products we relied on every day that they did not know or understand all of the features we had covered.

(Insert "scared" emoji here.)

Additionally, as the leadership of your company, it is imperative the salesforce truly understands where the shiny new object fits not only within your own portfolio of products and services but also where it fits in the market. I have seen salespeople struggle mightily with questions such as:

• Am I supposed to replace existing business with this?
• Which competitors or competitors' products or services does this new offering compete against?
• What are the features?
• Have we tested this? Where?
• Who should we target?

Just because you, the sales leader, understand where the new product or service fits, does not mean your team will. Be clear. Be precise. Be patient. Help them connect the dots.

Clarity of purpose is critical.??

What does a company look like?without?clarity of purpose??

• A lack of understanding of what the ideal customer looks, smells, and acts like.??If you are thinking, "any company can be our customer," be prepared for your salesforce to struggle.
• A lack of understanding of what the end result looks like for a new initiative OR an unwillingness to share this vision with the salesforce. If you don't start with the end in mind and can articulate what success is, the effort will struggle until this is in place. The famous quote by Yogi Berra comes to mind, "If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else."
• A lack of consistent quality.??Yes, inconsistent product quality is often an indication manufacturing, engineering, and sales are not in alignment.
• A salesforce that isn’t selling the new product or service.??Not just a small percentage of the salesforce, but most of the salesforce. If you need to force them to sell the shiny new object, you haven't sold them.

If any of these and other indications exist, don’t be quick to question if the salesforce understands the product or service OR cannot sell the product or service.??Look first at the strategy to bring the product or service to the marketplace.??If the company leadership cannot define success and how to achieve success, it is safe to say the salesforce cannot either.