Forget The Trumpets

Although I’ve tagged this post for when selling  ‘new products’, it is highly applicable to any new sales drive.

In the context of a shift in the focus of a particular salesteam I know, the upcoming year-end was considered the ideal time to introduce a new structure.

Ever closer client alignment sought. Nothing untoward here.

Then the top Ops chap started talking about the difference between the,

initiation program versus the maintenance program.

How incredibly spot on was he.

What his day job had clearly taught him, is that both need thorough attention before any new project begins.

In the Sales context, I can’t tell you how many new initiatives (mainly pushing new product but almost as many bringing a ‘new’ way of doing business) I see stall because disproportionate thinking goes into the Launch, in preference over what happens after.

So much effort is put into making the kick-off such a tumultuous fanfare, that vital steps to measure, understand, and crucially, adapt, as progress unfolds are left until it’s too late. And that point is when the ‘change’ has failed to yield superstellar, immediate results, jobs on the line.

So, if Ops pros know it, then we can build on that too. Ask someone you know in your Operations team about a project they recently ran. You might have to go to a darkened room to make contact, but the tips they give could make all the difference with your next major planning jaunt.