A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 26

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints.

Whether you’re selling stuff or just trying to get the collaboration of other people, you need buy-in. Do you follow a buy-in process?

As W. Edward Deming, father of the Quality Management revolution said, “If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.”

So let’s describe the buy-in process that was developed by Dr. Eli Goldratt, father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC). Big picture, the steps are:

• What to Change?
• To What to Change?
• How to Cause the Change? more information on the TOC Thinking Processes

You use a buy-in process to accomplish business objectives. For a profit-seeking company, the overall company objectives can be generalized as:

• “Make more money, now as well as in the future”, and
• “Provide a secure and satisfying environment for employees now as well as in the future”, and
• “Provide satisfaction to the market now as well as in the future”.

Usually though, buy-in is sought related to a more specific objective and you should verbalize what that is. This more specific objective should make sense in relation to the overall business objectives of the company.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.


NEXT Group Mafia Offer Boot Camp: September 24, 25, 26 2008 in Denver. More information at http://www.mafiaoffers.com/. There are also PRIVATE and On-line Mafia Offer Boot Camps. The July boot camp SOLD OUT and there is no group boot camp in August. Don't miss September!

Are you a Vistage/TEC member who would like your team to hear my speech? Here it is: NEXT Maximizing Profitability Event (no charge): September 23, 2008 in Denver from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the Science of Business Training Center. More information at http://www.viable-vision.com/. You can register by fax or on-line.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 25

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints.

There is probably at least one step in your sales funnel that is more expensive or uses more highly trained personnel. If so, that step can be managed just like a production constraint. It should not be wasted. In fact, it can become the control point for managing your sales funnel. Work should be released into the sales funnel at the rate the control point can produce. Essentially applying Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) to Sales.

If you are interested in more information about sales funnel management the TOC way, and the significant increase in sales and profits it can bring, we recommend you read “The Cash Machine” by Klapholz and Klarman. It is an easy to read novel that provides a story for the development and improvement of sales funnel management.

Also, read “Reengineering the Sales Process” by Roff-Marsh. This book explains how to apply the Drum-Buffer-Rope production scheduling methodology to managing the sales process and sales people. Both books can be found on our website with links to the lowest cost purchase option.

Please contact either Dr. Lisa or Brad if you're interested in having the co-authors present and discuss TOC and a process of ongoing improvement to increase sales and profitability with your company or one of the groups you belong to.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

The steps to implement Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) are not that hard to understand or explain. The difficulity lies in applying it to YOUR specific situation. If you don't know how to do that or do it incorreclty, it could lead to the conclusion that -- TOC doesn't work.

We are going to take 5 companies through the process of implementing DBR remotely. We will explain each step and discuss any questions or concerns specific to your situation. This will be a 12 week program with one session per week. Each session is 90 minutes in length. All 5 companies will be on the same call to take advantage of learning from the other companies. During this 12 week program you will learn: to read the rest, click here

NEXT Group Mafia Offer Boot Camp: September 24, 25, 26 2008 in Denver. More information at http://www.mafiaoffers.com/. There are also PRIVATE and On-line Mafia Offer Boot Camps. The July boot camp SOLD OUT and there is no group boot camp in August. Don't miss September!

Are you a Vistage/TEC member who would like your team to hear my speech? Here it is: NEXT Maximizing Profitability Event (no charge): September 23, 2008 in Denver from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the Science of Business Training Center. More information at http://www.viable-vision.com/. You can register by fax or on-line.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 24

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints.

To describe sales as a process, we must define the steps of the process. Of course, these may vary somewhat between industries and companies, and may be described in more or less detail. One such list of steps for a sales process is:




Often not considered are the capacity of the sales process and the flow of work through the sales process. In the example above, the capacity of the organization is greater than where work is (snapshot 1) except in one place: engineering at 20. Is it the case that in your company you may have one or bottlenecks that slows your responsiveness when trying to win new customers? As in the example above, will such a bottleneck serve to further reduce the rate at which you win new business?

In snapshot 2, we’ve assumed we’ve doubled the capacity of engineering. Now the rate of sales through the sales funnel is limited by the capacity of Production prototype at 35.

No, sales funnel management is not rocket science. But few organizations—including machine shops—are managing their sales process.

To manage your sales funnel, you must (1) define the steps in your sales process, (2) determine the capacity of your organization to perform each step in a time period, and (3) measure how many prospects are in each step a particular point in time.


...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

The steps to implement Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) are not that hard to understand or explain. The difficulity lies in applying it to YOUR specific situation. If you don't know how to do that or do it incorreclty, it could lead to the conclusion that -- TOC doesn't work.

We are going to take 5 companies through the process of implementing DBR remotely. We will explain each step and discuss any questions or concerns specific to your situation. This will be a 12 week program with one session per week. Each session is 90 minutes in length. All 5 companies will be on the same call to take advantage of learning from the other companies. During this 12 week program you will learn:
to read the rest, click here

NEXT Group Mafia Offer Boot Camp: September 24, 25, 26 2008 in Denver. More information at http://www.mafiaoffers.com/. There are also PRIVATE and On-line Mafia Offer Boot Camps. The July boot camp SOLD OUT and there is no group boot camp in August. Don't miss September!

Are you a Vistage/TEC member who would like your team to hear my speech? Here it is: NEXT Maximizing Profitability Event (no charge): September 23, 2008 in Denver from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the Science of Business Training Center. More information at http://www.viable-vision.com/. You can register by fax or on-line.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 23

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints.

Last time, we discussed how having a "Mafia Offer", an offer so good that (1) your customers can’t refuse it and (2) your competition can’t or won’t match it -- had the potential to dramatically increase sales.

A Mafia Offer is another “technology” that is part of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a holistic business process improvement body of knowledge developed by Dr. Goldratt, author of The Goal.

TOC is especially effective in machine shops. In fact, it is usually possible to develop an excellent Mafia Offer for a machine shop, especially if your competitors have long lead-times and poor due-date performance.

Here’s a test: do you and your competitors’ quote lead-times that you know have a low probability of being met just to get the order? If so, you have an excellent Mafia Offer. Would you like to find out what it is?

The process of implementing the internal changes a Mafia Offer requires is not trivial, but doing so improves sales closing rates from less than 5% to as high as 80%. Typically, additional sales people aren’t required, but sales funnel management is.

Why? Because having a Mafia Offer doesn’t address the following issues with your sales process:

• Prospects aren’t aware of you
• You aren’t aware of enough prospects
• You have difficulty getting in to see your prospect
• You have a long sales cycle
• You have difficulty quoting as many jobs as you would like
• Quote turnaround is too long
• There are peaks and valleys of booking sales.

Sales funnel management begins with realizing that sales is a process. As Dr. Deming said, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing”. Many companies abdicate selling activities to individual sales people, and then have understandable difficulty managing and measuring sales performance and effectiveness.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

NEXT Group Mafia Offer Boot Camp: September 24, 25, 26 2008 in Denver. More information at http://www.mafiaoffers.com/. There are also PRIVATE and On-line Mafia Offer Boot Camps. The July boot camp SOLD OUT and there is no group boot camp in August. Don't miss September!

Are you a Vistage/TEC member who would like your team to hear my speech? Here it is: NEXT Maximizing Profitability Event (no charge): September 23, 2008 in Denver from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the Science of Business Training Center. More information at http://www.viable-vision.com/. You can register by fax or on-line.