MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

The first stage of the program is to understand the history, current position and future outlook relating to Sales Generation, not just for the organization as a whole, but for each individual department, including: customer service; e-business; finance; globalization; human resources; information technology; legal; management; marketing; production; education and logistics because sales has an impact upon all departments. This will be achieved by implementing a process within each department, enabling the head of that department to conduct a detailed and thorough internal analysis to establish the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats in relation to Sales Generation and to establish a MOST analysis: Mission; Objectives; Strategies; Tasks, enabling them to be more proactive about the way in which they plan, develop, implement, manage and review Sales Generation, within their department.

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Objectives

01. Obtain a clear understanding of the core objective of Workshop 1. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Analyse the history of Sales Generation processes within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Analyse the current position of Sales Generation processes within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Analyse the future outlook of Sales Generation processes within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Analyse internal strengths and weaknesses, relating to Sales Generation, within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Analyse external opportunities and threats, relating to Sales Generation, within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Identify and engage up to 10 Key Stakeholders within your department. Time Allocated: 1 Month
08. Identify a process that would enable your stakeholders to decentralize Sales Generation. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Estimate the likely costs and the ongoing financial budget required for this process. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Estimate the likely hours and the ongoing time budget required for this process. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Each department head is to personally set aside time to study Workshop 1 content thoroughly.
02. List the key projects that have been undertaken historically within your department and analyse how and if a Sales Generation process was used and where it was successful.
03. List the key projects that are currently being undertaken within your department and analyse how and if Sales Generation process is being used and where it is being successful.
04. List the key projects that are scheduled to be undertaken in the future within your department and analyse how a Sales Generation process can be used in order to ensure success.
05. Research internal strengths and weaknesses, relating to Sales Generation, within your department.
06. Research external opportunities and threats, relating to Sales Generation, within your department.
07. Review the files and resumes of employees within your department in order to identify those with Sales Generation experience.
08. Research and identify a process that would enable your stakeholders to decentralize Sales Generation.
09. Liaise with the Finance department to evaluate the likely costs and the ongoing financial budget required for this process.
10. Liaise with the Human Resource department to evaluate the likely hours and the ongoing time budget required for this process.

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Tasks

01. Read through the entire workshop content while making notes including: Profile; MOST; Introduction; Executive Summary; Curriculum; Distance Learning; Tutorial Support; How To Study; Preliminary Analysis; Course Manuals; Project Studies; Benefits.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to list and analyse historical projects.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to list and analyse current projects.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to list and analyse future projects.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to research and analyse internal strengths and weaknesses, relating to Sales Generation, within your department.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, in order to research and analyse external opportunities and threats, relating to Sales Generation, within your department.
07. Set up interviews with employees within your department in order to identify those with a collaborative nature.
08. Implement a process that will enable your stakeholders to decentralize Sales Generation.
09. Set up an appointment with the Finance department to evaluate the likely costs and the ongoing financial budget required for this process.
10. Set up appointment with Human Resource department to evaluate the likely hours and the ongoing time budget required for this process.

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Workshop Introduction

Workshop Objective

The first stage of the program is to understand the history, current position and future outlook relating to Sales Generation, not just for the organization as a whole, but for each individual department, including: customer service; e-business; finance; globalization; human resources; information technology; legal; management; marketing; production; education and logistics. This will be achieved by implementing a process within each department, enabling the head of that department to conduct a detailed and thorough internal analysis to establish the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats in relation to Sales Generation and to establish a MOST analysis: Mission; Objectives; Strategies; Tasks, enabling them to be more proactive about the way in which they plan, develop, implement, manage and review Sales Generation processes, within their department.

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While lean thinking is increasingly being applied beyond the operations arena in many organisations, sales and marketing appears to have been particularly immune to the lean mantra. The reasons behind this are not particularly well documented or researched and probably include the reluctance of sales and marketing managers to view what they do as definable ‘processes’, a belief that they operate in a black box world of relationships and the art of selling and that all the ‘lean stuff’ is just for the shop floor.

At this stage it is worth noting that the term ‘sales and marketing’ covers a broad array of activities, including sales management, business development, advertising, market research and planning, product development, direct marketing, communication, PR, etc. Furthermore, there are different sectors – for example, FMCG, consumer durables, business-to-business (B2B) – each of which have their own approaches and methods. This program’s focus is the classic sales management and business development function in B2B relationships and while lean principles and techniques can no doubt be applied to all areas, a degree of adaptation will invariably be required.

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Sales Generation – Methodology

Lean and process excellence enables relentless increases in business productivity. This doesn’t just mean eliminating waste. It also means increasing the value perceived by the customer. Lean thinking begins with what the customer wants, and works backwards from there. Four characteristics distinguish a Lean process approach to sales and marketing from traditional approaches:

Lean is Collaborative – Not a Canned Program

Traditional “sales consulting” artfully delivers a “canned” program for your salespeople. These approaches are about the training (or the CRM software), not about your business. In most cases, it takes a while to find out how much of the supplier’s content doesn’t really apply to you. The best approach – the Lean approach – begins by uncovering evidence and data around your prospect’s and customer’s and their problems. Then, it identifies the best means at your disposal of helping them realize, prioritize, and solve their problems. This requires a good plan for how your employees and channel partners will get them to take the actions you want them to take. Your people are the only ones who can fulfill your company’s promises, so they must develop the plan. They only want what works and makes their job easier. Not things that don’t apply or make their job harder.

Lean is About Data and Evidence – Not Opinion and Anecdotes

Traditional approaches to sales management do not offer a means of measuring cause and effect. Lean process excellence energizes your team by creating operating definitions of their key terms (such as “qualified prospect,” and “customer”). They identify the customer’s journey. They define the observable characteristics that make them more or less likely to buy from you. How do you get them to distinguish work that creates value from work that is wasted in sales and marketing?

Simple: If the customer takes an action you wanted them to take, value is created. The fact is, if you haven’t earned your prospect’s attention, their information, their respect, and their trust, you’re never going to earn any of their money. Most companies have not enabled their team to build on their customer knowledge to create a home-grown approach focused on the few, simple activities and measures that create the most value. The outcome is a unique, mutually-respectful agreement for how your team can do the work and measure the value, created by the best minds in your business. The Lean approach guarantees buy-in from salespeople.

Lean Deployment is Hands On – Not “Step Back and Watch” or “Wait and See”

Rather than stepping back to wait for results, a Lean approach requires the senior executive to participate in events where sales processes are designed and improved. They closely follow what works and doesn’t work in the field so they can clear the way for adjustments and improvements. Are prospects responding to the lead-generation offers? Is forecast accuracy increasing? Are decision makers responding to value propositions? Why, or why not? Curiosity and participation of the company’s leaders is the only way to ensure problems get surfaced – and dealt with.

Presidents or General Managers not interested leading and supporting this effort (in cooperation with the Sales VP, of course) shouldn’t bother with a Lean sales approach.

Lean Takes A Team – Superheroes are Welcome, Not Required

Traditional sales consulting approaches change nothing inside the company. They ask salespeople to do extra work (some of which might pay off occasionally). Swimming against the current is hard. Only superheroes can keep doing it for long. No wonder salespeople take what they like and leave the rest behind.

In contrast, Lean aims a team of marketers, sellers, technicians, and servicers at a specific class of prospects and customers. It asks them to learn how to help these prospects and customers to realize, prioritize, and solve their problems more quickly. Super-human efforts may be required occasionally, but not all the time. That’s because the point is to change something every day to make it easier on the inside – and more compelling on the outside for prospects and customers to want to work with you.

Lean endures in manufacturing because it incorporates the kind of management practices required to improve results and sustain the gains. Over time, organizational silos diminish in a Lean environment. The daily work of your customer teams generates data around the high-impact, common problems preventing them from achieving their goals, so management knows where to focus and invest. Best of all, your company becomes known as a great place to work, so you can attract better talent and keep them happy.

A Lean process excellence approach doesn’t say you don’t need things like sales training, or CRM software. It says without evidence and data showing exactly how you will create value for your customers, you may be shooing in the dark.

Why Consider a Lean Sales Approach?

As you can see, Lean sales process excellence is not typical. Typical business people think they need a process, which they try to get from sales training or CRM software. Yet these are one-size fits all, and can become obsolete within a week. What business people really need is not a process, but a means of improving their process and their results. They need to make sure the way they are going to market is efficient and effective. They need to know their people can detect evidence of market changes and respond in the correctly short as well as the long term.

If your goal is to create the next sales dynasty in your business, and if sales and marketing is a determining factor in your success, you need the Sales Generation corporate training program. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better way.

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Executive Summary

Lean’s focus on identifying and delivering value to customers should make it a prime concern of sales and marketing people, who are generally charged with that task in many organisations. Most lean advocates would probably claim that the concepts and principles of lean are just as relevant to the sales