Sales Kata

Sales Kata

In recent years, there has been a rise of popularity in Toyota Kata as demonstrated in the slide by Mike Rother.

Using the Improvement and the Coaching Kata gives us a form for continuous improvement to overcome the resistance to change and to develop deliberate practice in the discipline of Lean and maybe even Sales.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html

Many visualize the marketing cycle through the use of funnel thinking. How it narrows down to the actual purchase of the product. A linear approach to predict, plan, and proceed is a precarious way to advance. This approach prematurely foresees a solution for the customer without ever understanding their needs. As we work our way down the funnel, it is just as likely evidence will mount that the proposed solution is wrong. However, we have so much invested we attempt to sway the course of action in our favor. Linear planning actually increases the risk for a customer to engage in an inappropriate course of action.

People are busy looking at Marketing Funnels and Value Stream Mapping thinking it will make them more effective. It has been said over and over again in the B2B world 57% of the selling cycle is over by the time we get invited. The majority of our growth and revenue is coming after the sale, not before. But our marketing dollars and direction of our sales efforts are at the top of the funnel. We talk about being adaptable or agile, but few of us know what that means. We may talk about being customer-centric or customer focused. But for both of those to take place, we must develop a sales and marketing planning system that incorporates a structure that values long-term type thinking with a short term process of regular review and assessment that can be adjusted or changed.

We must recognize that sales is not about a transactional exchange of value at a moment of time, but part of an ongoing investment in customers as appreciating assets. Is there a reliable system that incorporates both long-term type thinking with a short term process of regular review?

Co-authors Liker and Meir of The Toyota Way Fieldbook created the pyramid of the Supplier Partnering Hierarchy of Toyota that consisted of these 7 steps.

It is no longer about mapping and scripting. It is about knowledge building and learning. Instead of looking at creating marketing content in reaction to each of these stages I like to think of it as a way of creating and gaining knowledge for the customer and myself.

Set the Target condition based on the Customer’s Job To Be Done. What the customer is trying to achieve. Most purchase processes consist of 3 phases: defining a problem, identifying a solution and selecting a supplier. Anymore there are numerous, I have heard over 5 people on average, are involved in most purchase decisions. Though they may have agreed on problem, how they perceive the problem and solution is most likely different and with that said deciding on a supplier may be even more unclear. Most of us focus on the wrong problem, which is choosing us, the supplier, rather than aiming for the target condition or the job the customer needs done. We need to stop looking at “solutions to customer problems or delighting customer experiences. They are important but the longer term, maybe even a target condition we need to see customers as valued investments in who the customer wants to become‌their target condition.

The creation of knowledge is a fundamental agile concept and an integral part of the process. In Agile, you build in incremental steps, delivering to the customer frequently and gaining customer insights along the way. This way you can keep the good things and discard the unwanted. Small incremental batches of information often will facilitate in getting quicker feedback from the customer and help us determine what is of value to them. As these areas are uncovered and considered, our credibility also increases and often a stronger loyalty develops.

I encourage you to download the Improvement Kata Handbook from the Toyota Kata Website. You can start using those tools right NOW. I warn you though, Lean, Kata is not a magic potion. They are not a prescription. They set the ideal, however, you must understand your organization, the culture that exists and the culture that your customers expect and are willing to derive value from. You have to make the process your own. I believe successful companies that start down a Lean path are not Lean anymore, only the unsuccessful ones are. If you are successful at implementing Lean, it is simply not Lean. It becomes yours. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html

Sales people return from an external world that has afforded them the opportunity to explore, converse, share ideas, and ask questions. They are often met upon their return to a restrictive internal world. Don’t go down this path.

It has failure written all over it. It is a prescription for cost savings not for growth. Making connections to what is known and what needs to be learned is today’s sales funnel. It is just as important for sales and marketing to get the message in as it is to get the message out.

We use PDCA to provide a flexible structure and create a team with shared responsibility and authority for a successful outcome. The plan is in creating an effective way for teams to work, create, share and capture knowledge during the sales cycle. It has been said that less than 20% of the knowledge within a company is captured. When you consider that number and now consider that you are primarily dealing outside the company that percentage has to be significantly lower. PDCA is an effective methodology that can be utilized to counter act this. It is first and foremost a learning tool that emphasizes the creation, sharing and capturing of knowledge. It is also a people process that emphasizes learning by doing and as a result focuses on making things happen.

If you can build a culture of PDCA, a culture of learning, growth becomes part of everyone’s job. It is this aspect I believe that separates good companies from great companies.

Use Lean as your growth engine. Do something BIG!