Andy Raynor - Beyond the Brief
Andy Raynor's blog
The enemy's out there....
The last weeks have brought continuing evidence that, faced with a crisis, the majority of us revert to type. Never has this been so apparent than in the pressures piling up on traditional professions when their market stops growing.
Which it has, if you're a normal mortal and dependent on the domestic market. Best stop kidding ourselves that GDP growth is coming anytime soon, and understand that when a business only grows when the market grows, it's a passenger.
So what's the natural professional response to getting back in the driving seat? Well, let's have a meeting first, a big debate about all the "strategic" alternatives, which are shall we, er...
a) Spend Money or....
b) ....Save Money?
Well you can imagine the debates are furious, can't you? And the answer is?
I don't knock this, you understand. A business has to be as efficient as possible as it attacks the market. But the clue is in the second part of this paragraph.
You have to use your efficiency to attack the market.
Far too often the efficency becomes one of cost-saving which becomes one of spending less.....which are simply not the same. This results in misery as the Costs Committee meets in their bunker to decide which biscuits can be served in the meeting rooms....
.....hang on....biscuits in the meeting rooms? Let's draft an email...
Cards on the table - in 2013 we must not spend what we do not need to spend. But invert that - we must spend what we need to spend. Do not cut muscle. And do not confuse a business that is being cheap with one that is being efficient; they could not be more different.
So let's assume we've cut out the crap, we have a team waiting for our next move, what do we do? More to the point, what do we do that's economical, motivational and moves the needle?
We Sales Manage, that's what we do.
Because that's what most of our competitors don't. Sales management gets us on the street, consistently, with a message, with targets and objectives. It applauds success. It rewards. It encourages individuality within a framework that is good for all. It flies in the face or the market and exploits the absence of others, still down in their bunkers. It gives a common purpose and message. It expands the responsibility of sales and makes it the culture of the business. It unifies, sharpens, uplifts.
And it isn't hard to start.
So which do you want your business to be, the passenger or the driver, the sales manager?
I couldn't resist, could I.......listen in your own time, please......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hPnZUMBwA
Tell me what you think at andy@andypraynor.com
And take a look at what's been said before by looking in the archive:
© Andy Raynor 2013