Optimizing Sales Tactics and Techniques?: The Realm Of Ad Hoc Sales Vs. Organized Sales in Lean Thinking.

Published by: 27 April 2023

Written By: Lamis Al Kaati, B.Eng. JWMI MBA Student (Operations Management Concentration).?

First, let us set straight the three most important pillars that support any successful organization. Without a doubt, they are Design Engineers, Workers producing value, and Sales People. Since Lean Thinking is about functioning faster, cheaper, and better while touching every corner of each function, every team is responsible for delivering value to customers by conducting their activities most efficiently and effectively.

One of the reflections that Sales Leaders are recommended to have is how they can relate to Lean Thinking Methodologies and apply them to actual sales activities conducted by their Sales Teams. ?

Being a visionary leader means foreseeing the future and relentlessly implementing lean thinking methodologies that help the organization be ahead of the game in its industry. This mindset should be continuously instilled across all departments and functions of your teams. Instilling the value of Lean Thinking in Sales means Optimizing Sales Tactics and Techniques?.

The same Metrics used to measure processes and tasks can be used to measure sales activities. These metrics are Lead-times (LT), Process Times (PT), Labor Utilization, Capacity, Accuracy & Complete (%C&A). Aiming to serve customers better, drive revenues, save company resources, and provide a safe and healthy place of work.

The sales team can participate in one team exercise by thinking and reflecting on one activity and then learn and apply lean methods to design a new way to improve performance. It is vital to walk the current value stream of the activity with an open mind, meaning questioning the status quo at the organization. Investigating how it is conducted now, ask why, and design a new way forward. The activity could be a phone call, a customer visit, a tender submission, responding to customer requests, or even a prospecting exercise.

Below is an analysis example about responding to customers by email versus phone.

Exercise: If an Email is received in the inbox, depending on the sales manager’s capacity and Work In process (WIP) at the routing connection, it can stay unchecked for up to two days (A Day assumes 8hrs shifts). It takes at least three emails back and forth, and each email takes a minimum of five minutes to write, one minute to load, and one minute to send. That means Lead time (967 minutes) and Process Time (Seven minutes). The same activity can be handled by phone with fewer resources, ‘one call,’ and less process time and the lead time leading to more effective outcomes.

It is essential to gain buy-in before designing a new value stream of activity by collecting data and explaining the rationale behind the action.

For example, in this exercise, we have analyzed the rationale further.

Phone call Or Email:

How did we get there? With all this technology, things are still taking much more time to be resolved. It is all about human behavior and awareness of how and when to use technology. For instance, historically, the mission of selling was always carried out in five steps: meet the customer, showcase your product, provide a price, negotiate, and close the order. There was only one medium to communicate with customers, which was meeting customers face-to-face. It remains the most effective way to connect with customers and build relationships. However, as technological advancement has swept the world, companies have started utilizing other means to communicate with customers, such as the telephone, then the internet through email, and now through instant messages and social media. Quickly the most effective tool, meeting customers “face to face.” has sunk deep into the overwhelming piles of tasks that any Sales Person is expected to conduct. Although current methods can save organizations costs, travel expenses, and effort, they can only serve a business purpose in the shorter term. Therefore, the most successful business people aim to spend valuable time with their customers because they understand the essence of building connectedness versus building connection. Connectedness is connecting using multi-sensory senses beyond the one-dimensional five senses; it touches thoughts, hearts, and spirits, which is impossible when using technology.

Below are seven steps that can help sales individuals and sales teams to elevate their sales techniques, optimizing their Sales Tactics aiming to achieve Lean Thinking Growth:

1.????Opt For Clarity In Communication; minimizing misunderstanding and disagreement with your customers will increase the Overall Percent Complete and Accurate (%C&A) Metrics. Likewise, clarity and accuracy in internal communication will increase your team's performance. Set forth the educational path of developing cross-cultural intelligence across your sales team. A business conducting international sales or aspiring to go global requires another level of social expertise. A well-traveled individual does not mean they understand cultural differences in conducting business in each region. They must understand the etiquette and values of connecting with clients and dealing with diversity. This can happen by investigating cultural maps and comparing cultural factors between countries. Therefore, educate yourself, then your team to improve cultural fluency and remember that socializing with clients is crucial. As Jack Welch said, “Socialization takes intentionality.” This can happen by conducting meetings with your team members to analyze each client depending on where they are based, how business is expected to be undertaken, and what values their key decision-makers appreciate. Discuss how you can serve them better as a team. Please do not shy away from identifying the areas of challenge in communication with customers, and remind your team that there are always individuals in the customer base who tend to be challenging to deal with; therefore, agree on a specific technique suitable to handle those types of customers aiming to win them over.

2.????Serving customers faster is a principle of lean thinking, which means speed in serving customers and resolving their issues is necessary. Maximize the use of technology in communicating internally to help Decrease internal Process Times Metrics (PT).

1.????Although Speed is a lean thinking method, knowing when and where to apply it is an art. Minimize the use of technology to communicate with your customers. Phone calls can help resolve customer complaints and resolve issues faster than technology. By calling customers, you will manage to Decrease Lead Time (LT) in resolving problems and serve your customer much quicker. Take advantage of your opportunity to achieve connectedness with customers beyond connecting or communicating. Always call your customers by phone to prospect; if they send you an email, always respond by a call. If they do not respond, call them again till they respond.

2.????Prioritize and Increase the Time spent on all Necessary Value-Added (NVA) activities such as prospecting, calling, and visiting customers. Indeed, those are the activities considered high value because they drive the revenue of your organization and aim to Decrease The time of activities spent on Necessary None-Value-Added (NNVA) such as: following up internally on orders that are already placed, creating comprehensive reports, updating sales pipeline information on Salesforce or any other CRM tools. Do not get sucked in by the internal pressure from your peers or direct managers on those tasks.

3.????Optimize the balance between Customer Service Consistency (CSC)? Vs. Free Capacity. Consistency in business is meeting your customer promise continuously. For example, if a customer has purchased a product, they expect continuous support for the product life cycle. This could mean, in some industries, over fifteen years. The challenge is supporting them with the same level of eagerness as when you first sold to them while balancing your valuable time. Remember, sales mean closing orders, and it is necessary to maintain that balance between Selling and Serving. For helpful tips on this point, you can read recommended Articles - Scroll down:

4.????Secure a Continuous Flow of Value with no barriers to customers. Cross -Train your Sales Teams to handle different accounts. You can Increase Labor Utilization Metrics by training your Sales Team and helping them build knowledge about customers outside their assigned regions. Shuffling customer accounts occasionally and sharing regional and global reports internally can widen the team’s perspective and help them accumulate experiences that can be applied to customers in their regions. Additionally, the replacement for sick leave or holidays can easily be handled.

5.????Coach your sales teams, Instill Trust & Embrace Empathy. As a Sales Leader, you are expected to operate with optimal leadership skills to lead Sales Teams. Managing teams means building functionality between them and instilling the trust philosophy. Resolving misunderstandings and disagreements in a civilized way happens by coaching, guiding, and embracing empathy. Saving Talents can lead to Saving Company Resources, which Lean Thinking is all about. ?

Finally, remember to find a better way every day. This is not confined to the factory floor. This touches every corner of every function that is taken at work. This mindset requires candid discussions questioning the hamster wheel metaphor addiction approach, unconsciously followed by many in large corporations, where outdated methods and ineffective processes are inherited, and ancient strategies are instilled. At the same time, all metrics and business environments around the company have changed.

If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out.

Best regards,

Written By: Lamis Al Kaati, B.Eng.

JWMI MBA Student (Operations Management Concentration).?

#gse #groundhandling #aviation #airlines #aviationindustry #equipment #process #optimization #salesoperations #salesoptimization #emea

?Recommended Articles:

Article Title: Sales Process & Tender Optimization Funnel?- Lean Thinking. Link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/sales-process-optimization-lamis-al-kaati ?

Article Title: Optimizing The Balance Between A Technical Bid Vs. A Financial Bid Submission Process. Link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/optimizing-balance-between-technical-bid-vs-financial-lamis