by Julie | Mar 5, 2020 | Innovation, Process Improvement
I was never a big fan of process flow maps. It seemed like such a tedious activity, which in my opinion didn’t do much but capture an already obvious process. But that all changed a few years ago. I was working with some Six Sigma Black Belts to develop a hands-on course on how to apply process control tools to the investment casting industry. We knew what we wanted to teach, we knew how we wanted to teach it, but we kept struggling with how to get where we wanted to go. After a few months of minimal progress, I mapped out the steps of the process we wanted the students to follow, identifying decisions that needed to be made and delays that could impact the flow.
What a game changer! This flow chart has become invaluable to students and to the instructors when we teach the class. Our instructors agree that mapping out the process was a turning point, and we often ask ourselves what took us so long to start using this tool, especially since it was a tool we were trying to teach the students to use.
A few weeks ago, I was mapping out a process for a client and we identified some delays that could be avoided if we added some steps earlier in the process. We also identified ways to increase customer satisfaction by adding a few minor steps at strategic points in the process.
Are you looking for ways to increase throughput without adding resources? Try process flow mapping. This can highlight gaps, opportunities for improvement and non-value-added steps. By addressing those, you can reduce delays, improve consistency and increase capacity. If you want help getting started, send me an email! I’d love to help you!
by Julie | Feb 27, 2020 | Innovation, Leadership, Sales
A business needs a product and sales.
A thriving business needs a product, sales, leadership, and innovation.
Here is how each of these contribute to the success of a business:
- The product is the cornerstone of the business.
- Sales provides cash flow to continue producing the product and to fund the business.
- Leadership sets the vision and focuses your resources in the right direction.
- Innovation creates new products, improves the way things are done, and helps implement the details behind the vision.
My consulting practice focuses on improving my clients’ profitability by focusing on these areas for any thriving business: Leadership, Innovation, and Sales.
Let me give you an example. A mid-sized manufacturing company was selling product in the highly competitive automotive industry. Their production line was struggling, resulting in $80,000 in scrap every month. This was crippling their company and damaging relationships with their key customers, because they couldn’t deliver their product on time.
I was able to quickly identify what was causing their scrap issues. Together, we put processes in place to address the gaps and strengthen existing systems. Once this was complete, I trained the engineers, supervisors, and operators on the new processes. Within six months, the cost of scrap fell to just $1,200 per month and throughput increased.
With additional capacity, stronger processes, and greater technical depth, the company was poised to pivot to a higher-margin, less-competitive industry. But in order to do that, they needed to develop a strategy for their sales and marketing team. Using my background in sales, understanding of the company’s plant capabilities, and the needs of the target industry, I led the sales team through the transition. Within a year, they had gained the recognition of the industry as a supplier who delivered on time with excellent quality. The company has been able to grow sales in their target market at a 20% increase year over year with a gross margin more than triple their automotive margin.
If your company wants to strengthen its internal processes in order to transition into a new market, I can lead you through the process, providing guidance and expertise along the way. Email me today to start on your journey tomorrow.
by Julie | Feb 20, 2020 | Uncategorized
Nearly all of my clients want to grow their revenues. This may be due to stagnant sales with their current customer base, new product introductions, or a real or perceived downturn in their target industry. But let’s be honest—can’t we all benefit from additional customers and sales?
So, to help all of you out, I compiled a list of action you can take right now to help grow your sales.
- Call your customers. Nothing beats a personal phone call.
- Personalize your offerings. Every customer has different needs and therefore may need a unique solution or personalized touch. You don’t have to create a whole new product, but you could customize it so it meets unique needs.
- Educate your buyers about all your products—but do it naturally, not as a one-sided presentation.
- Listen to what your customers are saying. Take the time to understand the meaning behind their words. You may need to ask some checking questions to confirm you understand.
- Offer solutions, even if the solution isn’t something you can sell them. A good salesperson is constantly focused on providing valuable information for their customers because they want them to succeed, not just to make the sale.
- Ask probing questions. Most salespeople get stuck in a rut when it comes to asking questions. How many different types of questions do you use? Have you tried the Best/Least, the Magic Wand, or the simple but extremely effective Tell Me More questions?
- Give them a referral. A warm referral is much stronger than a cold call. And if you know your customers and their offerings, you should easily be able to introduce them to someone who could use their product.
- Ask your current customers why they buy from you. Chances are, the answer may surprise you. Then use that information when communicating to your prospects.
- Be clear on your product benefits—but keep price out of the equation. You never want to sell on price alone.
- Don’t prematurely advocate. If you haven’t taken the time to develop trust and uncover the customer’s unique need, you will probably lose the sale. I like to tell my clients that “we are going to date for a while.” I want to make sure I understand my client’s needs before proposing a solution.
- Don’t make assumptions. It won’t serve you well, even if your assumption is correct.
- Communicate in the buyer’s language, not yours. Your customer doesn’t care about your internal processes—she cares about how it benefits her.
- Manage your time wisely. This is one area that very few people have mastered. (I developed a great process to help you master it—just ask me!)
- Ask for the sale. In order to make a sale, you must raise task tension. It isn’t enough to show up—you must move the sales process forward.
- Ask for a referral. Your current clients love working with you, and you love working with them. I’m sure they have friends or business colleagues who could benefit from working with you.
- Show your passion. People love to work with people who love what they do!
- Express your gratitude for having them as a customer. When was the last time someone did that for you? It felt pretty good, didn’t it?
- Be bold. Calling customers and/or prospects can be a little scary, but not hitting your sales numbers is even scarier. Recognize you are not alone with this fear, and not making the call doesn’t make the fear go away—you just compound it with stress and negative thoughts.
- Develop a sales process with metrics, roles and responsibilities, and goals. This should include leading indicators, not just lagging—i.e., number of sales calls per week (leading) vs new accounts closed (lagging).
- Reward yourself. Selling isn’t easy. It requires discipline, focus, strength, and perseverance. Create some milestones for yourself and take time to celebrate the small victories.
If you need help with any of the above, send me an email, or better yet, call me. My proven process can help every company increase their new account production by 30% in just the first year.
by Julie | Feb 13, 2020 | Sales
I met with a prospect this week and we were discussing her perception that she isn’t a good salesperson. I asked her what she thinks a salesperson’s role is, and she said, “To come into a meeting and tell people what they should buy.”
Well, I had news for her: The days of this kind of selling are long gone (or they should be). A good salesperson takes time to understand her customers, their goals and how to help them reach those goals. Today’s sales professionals are focused on helping customers solve problems.
Most of my clients don’t have sales teams that tell the customer what to buy. But I have found that many of them are reluctant to ask the probing questions that will uncover the customer’s true needs. Those needs could be around reducing total cost of manufacturing, or developing an innovative product, or increasing internal efficiencies. But if you don’t ask the questions, you won’t know, and then you are reduced to selling a product, not selling a solution.
If you modified the approach of your sales process to be solution-focused, would that improve your close ratio? If your goal every time you called a prospect was to provide some value, would that result in increased sales?
If you want to increase your sales, and develop customers who want to share their problems with you because you are a solution-focused supplier, send me an email. My proven sales process has resulted in close ratios that increased by 30% in just three months.
by Julie | Feb 6, 2020 | Sales
| If you are paying attention to the news, you know there is a lot of economic uncertainty right now. Yes, our economy has been doing well over the past 3+ years, but several current factors may have an impact, including the upcoming election, Boeing’s 737 Max, the European economy including Brexit, and the coronavirus. Each of these factors could or will affect our customers, our suppliers and ultimately our businesses. If you are concerned about a decrease in sales, it is probably safe to assume that your customers have the same concern.
But here is the good news. We can take steps now that will either prevent or minimize the effect of these factors on your businesses and your customers’ businesses. The following are 5 tips that will keep you on track to increased sales:
- Understand your value proposition to your customers. Do you know why your customers are buying from you? Many assume it is because of your prices. But that assumption is wrong probably 90% of the time. Customers are buying from you because you are helping them add value to their product or service. But you won’t know the real reason unless you ask them.
- Ask your customers what other projects they are working on. You may have other products that could help them achieve their desired results. But don’t lead with your product benefits. You need to understand what they are working on first.
- Offer ideas that could help them reduce their Total Cost of Operation. This is different from lowering your price. It could mean offering a more expensive product with a longer life, a different method of packaging or shipping, or an innovative approach to the current process.
- Bring positivity and energy to the conversation. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you are doing internally to overcome current challenges. This may spark some ideas for your customers to apply.
- Call your customers. You won’t get the information you need through an email, no matter how diligently you ask all the above questions. Even in this day and age, phone calls are better than emails or texts.
If you aren’t sure how to how these five tips can increase your sales, send me an email, and I’ll call you to demonstrate how I can quickly help increase your sales with my proven process. |
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