The Les Mills (East-coast, USA) story Erin Kelly and I get on pretty well. But when we first met, we argued about a bunch of stuff! We disagreed on commissions, of course. Erin wasn’t so sure it made sense to convert salespeople from piece-rate pay to salaries. Then there was the whole idea of centralizing… “Leaner. More powerful. New sales function for group-fitness provider.”
If you listen only to Kirk Nelson’s first few words in the interview below, you’ll be missing out on one hell of a treat! Kirk starts the interview by assuring me that ARCA has an accurate sales funnel and a good understanding of what’s going on in the business. That’s good, right? But, where’s the… “The incredible ARCA journey: two-fifths the sales team; twice the sales”
Most managers are excited by technology. Technology enables us to get more done, faster. And technology is practical. Concrete. It’s not about ideas; it’s about execution. This is certainly true in sales environments. It’s almost impossible to propose any initiative without prompting the question: is there software for that? In sales environments, the answer to… “The Machine > Part 2 > Chapter 10: Technology (why CRM sucks!)”
I’m so happy to post this video! On the one hand it demonstrates that organizations can implement SPE without the assistance of Ballistix. On the other hand it suggests that we’ve made huge progress in our efforts to codify and communicate both the principles and the practice of SPE. Aside from reading our books and… “No help from Ballistix: Finance provider goes it alone and enjoys 5x boost in profits!”
A little over a year ago, I posted on our initial experiments with “social media” (or, more specifically, with pay-per-click advertising). That post was well received so this one is an update. Actually, it’s more than an update: it’s a review of our entire US lead-generation machine. I hope it provides you an idea or… “Our experiences with Lead-Gen in the USA (a self-liquidating promotional machine)”
Welcome to Part 2! Here’s where we dot all the ‘i’s and cross all the ‘t’s. We’ll be talking about roles, workflows, campaigns, technology and much more. But I don’t think we should be satisfied to examine these building blocks in a vacuum. After all, Part 2 is all about practice, not theory. Accordingly, it’s… “The Machine > Part 2 > Chapter 7: Formulating a plan”
Case study: Bas Sol, Perth (Australia) If you are a professional-services firm – or if you track and bill time – I think you’ll find this video very interesting. It’s an interview I conducted just before Christmas with Rosie Davidson, the CEO of Bas Sol, a Perth (Australia) based accounting and bookkeeping firm. I must… “Accounting firm abandons time-and-material billing and converts practice to factory: team morale and customer satisfaction up!”
Our first order of business is to address two questions that have the potential to derail this discussion. The issue is not that these questions expose weaknesses in Sales Process Engineering (SPE). The issue is that these questions stand in the way of our discussion even getting started! Considering the radical nature of the change… “The Machine > Part 1 > Chapter 2: Four key principles (and how to win a boat race)”
Four appointments a day, five days a week Jennifer retrieves her Blackberry from her purse and flicks it free of its protective case in one easy gesture. Moments later, she’s talking to David – her assistant back at head office. “Good meeting,” she answers, “you can go ahead and schedule the RDM. Yep, you can… “The Machine > Part 1 > Chapter 1: After the revolution”
The Titanic is Sinking All is not well in sales. The sales environment, in a typical organization (most every organization, in fact), is seriously dysfunctional. But rather than focusing on the obvious dysfunction, management is busy with incremental improvement initiatives: Sales training Sales force automation (technology of various types) Bolt-on lead-generation activities (outsourced telemarketing, for… “The Machine > Introduction”
