Kaizen Selling: The New Way

Date Created: 11.20.20

Over the years, the selling system we've used to close $10's of Millions in sales has continued to evolve.

It wasn't until the 3rd time I was introduced to the philosophy of Kaizen, that I decided to integrate it into our selling system.

The first time I learned about it was about 17 years ago.

That was right when I was underway creating the very first version of the Ascension Method sales system.

I was selling for an electronics manufacturing company based in Fort Collins, CO and had been completely consumed in a recent 2 day seminar that Zig Ziglar's organization had put on.

I came away completely fired up and ready to go.

There were 7 new tactics I thought I could use in a particular part of my selling system and I was totally pumped to try them all out.

So, I lined them up in the order I wanted to test before my Monday morning meeting with my company.

As I arrived at work that next Monday, I got a dose of frustration served on a silver platter by the Robb, the owner of the electronics company I was selling for.

He said...

"Sean, since you and Dave are the true rain makers for our business I need to ask you to hold off on bringing any new clients our way for 90 days."

I got furious.

But as I was in deep practice of growing my patience and increasing my pro sales abilities so I responded with,

"No problem. Could I ask why?"

And with that, Rob opened up to me...

"I'm so glad you asked. We have been working to adopt a new philosophy in our manufacturing plant - it's called Kaizen. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Well no." I said, "tell me more..."

And here's what he shared with me...

WHAT IS KAIZEN PHILOSOPHY?

Kaizen is the core concept underpinning modern lean and agile business practices.

The Japanese word kaizen (改善) means “improvement.” That’s the most basic definition of kaizen.

As a business concept, the Japanese term kaizen refers to improvements that are incremental and ongoing.

Since I wasn't really in the mood for a history lesson, I stopped him...

"Rob, that's great. But why do I have to stop bringing new clients to your doorstep for 90 days? How long does it take to install this Kaizen thing?"

As he realized I was annoyed, he shared that it was going to be a major overhaul and if we did bring on other clients right now they would probably drop the ball on quality and delivery.

So we took a pause.

Fast forward those painful 90 days...

Robb took us on a walk through the facility sharing what had changed.

Completely different.

Because I was hungry to get back into the sales convo, I didn't pay too much attention to all the details that Robb shared.

In fact, the only part of that tour I remember was the part where he said,

"Fellas... We're ready to ramp. Open the flood gates and pour it on us!"

So Dave and I raced back out into the streets and starting to re-heat the pipeline and bring the rainstorm of deals and dollar bills.

9 months later, Dave & I had grown revenues in his business from $3M to $37M per year run rate, and witnessed their quality tolerances getting tighter, and the delivery windows getting shorter.

It was literally a game changing adjustment.

I was amazed... and yes, it was a financially fruitful time.

The 2nd time I became aware of the Kaizen formula was after I had purchased 47% ownership of my electronics company in Las Vegas.

With the system I was using to prospect and generate new business, we grew quickly from $250K/year in revenue to just shy of $3M.

Then everything broke.

The systems we were using weren't robust.

Order processing was missing things.

Our on time delivery had slipped.

Returns had shot through the roof, and quality issues were emerging.

I was sitting at my desk wondering how I was gonna fix this.

So, I went to my bookshelf to pull out some of the old books I had on manufacturing optimization and came across a picture of me and Robb.

Then I remembered those painful 90 days.

I called him.

And asked him if he could walk me through what he did.

He went on to share how the philosophy works.

He said...

"Kaizen refers to continuous changes made to boost business efficiency. 

Kaizen aims to reduce inefficiency in its 3 major forms.

These are muda (waste), muri (overburdening work), and mura (inconsistency of work).

Tweaks are made to better operations all the time.

And the small step improvements are holistic.

Kaizen is directed at processes, products, work environment, and the individual people at work.

Kaizen is synonymous with a constant striving for better efficiency.

And quality of work.

Change takes place in an iterative way.

Rather than through “big moves,” like a top-down reorganization or technological change.

Kaizen philosophy is all about making small changes for the greater good.

This decision-making is inclusive and participative.

In the kaizen management system, everyone at a company is involved.

Regardless of position.

It takes advantage of the brainpower and intrinsic psychological motivations of team members.

The ENTIRE VILLAGE...

From frontline workers up to the CEO.

There’s also the associated concept of kaizen blitz (also known as kaizen events).

This refers to the idea of a scheduled, super-focused period of attention.

All directed on a single business process."

I stopped him for a minute and asked...

"Hey Robb - what about Six Sigma? How is that different?"

He replied,

"Kaizen is different from Six Sigma.

Six Sigma focuses on quality control of the final product.

Kaizen is for improving the whole business."

The call went on and Robb took the time to share how to start implementing this into our manufacturing environment.

We re-structured and implemented.

Over the next few years we scaled from $3M/year to upwards of $8.5M.

And finally, the most important part...

The 3rd time I came across and implemented Kaizen into our selling system.

If you've read this far you're probably thinking, OK sean, I get all that, but how do I implement this in my sales?

Glad you asked...

HOW TO APPLY KAIZEN PHILOSOPHY TO YOUR SALES WORLD

The kaizen process can be applied to ANYTHING that resembles a system.

So, if you have a system, such as the Ascension Selling method, the Plan - Do - Check - Act execution can improve it.

Here's the quick 3-step guide on how to integrate kaizen activities into your sales process.

3 STEPS TO PUT THIS IN YOUR SALES SYSTEM

STEP 1: People in leadership positions (TOP DOWN) need to set the tone of the new culture.

I'm sure you remember that old adage... "Monkey see, Monkey do" right?

Well, when adopting a new philosophy, there must be buy in from the top down in any organization.

This means all the leadership needs to show adoption and encourage others to embrace the new philosophy.

It's takes a minimum of 3-5 convo's to start gaining buy in from everyone on your team.

So, if you're the visionary, operator, C-suite, or sales pro... be the cheerleader for the momentum you're building!

STEP 2: Document your standardized work processes.

This means adopting a step-by-step approach that shows your workflow.

In a selling system for example, what are the different check points of your sales convo.

What are the different steps?

Do you have questioning strategies that help you move easily from one check box to the next?

Do you have a process for sales convo reviews that you're following on a consistent basis?

Do you have an accountability coach helping with this?

STEP 3: Implement Plan - Do - Check - Act into your selling system.

Now you have your sales process (or selling system) documented, it's time to start the Kaizen Improvement.

Just like when I was developing the original version of the Ascension Method and went to that Zig Ziglar seminar, I had 7 new tactics I "Planned" to use in a certain place in my system.

Then I would "Do" the test on each of them each independently with all other things equal.

Next I would "Check" the best result, and this would lead to the last piece...

I would start to consistently "Act" using this new tactic because I'd proven it to be superior.

And the results would just keep getting better.

After testing our Sales Ascension Selling method over 1000's of sales convos in both prospecting situations as well as sales situations of all kinds, we've been able to develop a "scriptless" method that works universally.

It's bullet-proof.

It's awesome.

And this is the foundation of Kaizen Selling.

CONCLUSION

That you have the understanding of how to implement this philosophy into your world, take action.

Remember, as a true Sales Ascender, you only have 3 things you control.

We call it the Triple Threat For Success...

1. Attitude. Good or bad, you control it.
2. Activity. Activity breeds results, you control it.
3. Ability to track. Make sure you're tracking the right thing, and track it - because it'll grow.

I really hope you consider applying this philosophy into your world.

It's helped me enormously in every business endeavor I've had and I'm confident it'll help you too!

Happy Selling!

-sean ??.

Go. ????. Fight. ??. Win. ??.

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