Paradigm of Abdundance from Water to Funnel

Professor Anthony Turton is trying to change our attitude to water.

He bemoans that we view it as a finite stock. This means our treatment of it has made us turn it into a rare and diminishing resource.

Much better to think of it as a flux. How it can be managed in different ways for differing purposes. Switching the paradigm of scarcity for a paradigm of abundance.

Selected quotes;

“We are locked into a paradigm of scarcity which was developed in the 1850s, and have now run out of surface water that we have been chasing since then.

Water as a flux means water is an infinitely renewable resource. It has a different value and price, and different qualities are used for different purposes.

If we don’t define the problem correctly, we’ll never find the right solution. We must turn the dilemma into a series of problems, which we can then start solving. We are going to have to do things differently.

Business is beginning to realise that it is not about the price of water or finding alternative sources, but rather the cost of not having water.”

I couldn’t help but buy in to his work aiming to H2Overturn our mistaken water policies.

I’ve seen this in practice myself with handling the Cape Town drought. A new market in non-potable water has sprung up to sate all but the drinking and safe-use needs and contributed to a remarkable reduction in fresh water consumption that saw levels used halve.

Note the clear parallel with solution selling pipeline management.

Opportunities – as many a crm terms potential deals – are often considered as a stock. In my experience, salespeople so fixated – whether by natural outlook or supervisory pressure – with writing business in the now will overlook any possible bid which is not likely to come home in the current sales period.

There’s nothing completely wrong about this. After all, our job is to sell. Energy is better prioritised on those ready to buy sooner rather than later.

Yet the optimum balance for sustainable quota-busting performance can be out of sync.

Is your territory viewed as a specific, limited stock of specific order figures? Or is it instead judged as a flux, where scales of buying timeframes, problem recognitions, product set portfolios, delivery volumes and expansions will slide up and down over the medium term?

Can you exchange your funnel paradigm from one of scarcity to abundance?