ALIGNMENT

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Fusion Learning Inc 272 Richmond Street East Suite 200 Toronto, ON M5A 1P4 416-424-2999 ... medical devices, Business Un
ALIGNMENT The Sales Force Multiplier

In times of uncertainty, when markets get wobbly, there is Dynamic Funds had an unusual problem – the country’s leading one certainty – sharp businesspeople will reach out for ideas and developer and seller of mutual funds had built a reputation as a fastdirections that will help them keep their balance. Accordingly an eager moving innovator with a flat management structure and a culture that crowd came to hear speakers from Baxter Canada, Dynamic Funds and celebrated individualism. Now, bought by a bank, Dynamic had been The Globe and Mail – from very different economic sectors: healthcare, told to do everything possible to preserve its free-wheeling, very unpersonal investment and news, respectively, along with host Fusion bank-like culture so as to keep the qualities that made it valuable in the Learning. What they heard was testimony to the force-multiplying first place. Although it was clear that a concise and accurate statement power of corporate alignment via Fusion Learning’s Strategic of corporate objectives would go a long way toward stabilizing culture BluePRINT process. and focusing thinking, Dynamic’s leaders found capturing a vision an One of the central insights gained in Fusion Learning’s 13 years intractable problem. of helping companies empower and energize their sales teams is Dedicated work with BluePRINT gave them that vision, a the critical importance of alignment within the organization. A sales “touchstone” that establishes a direction for the entire company and force that is not just selling, but working to fulfill corporate objectives, that focusses the strategies that look to it. The resultant sales strategy deliberately and explicitly, will achieve greater success aligns: for itself and for the company than one that is simply • up to senior management’s corporate strategies; maximizing volume. Fusion Learning’s BluePRINT • across the organization to marketing and tools and templates are a foundation on which a operations strategies; company can articulate its own objectives, then align • down to individuals’ personal goals and strategies; the output these objectives down through the organization, and is simple and across the interacting functions such as marketing and • out to feedback from key customers. you can drive operations to maximize cohesion of effort, and out to Given the current financial climate, Mark Brisley, it right down key customers to keep responses synchronized with Managing Director and National Sales Manager for to the lowest the market’s needs. Dynamic, feels that comparisons of pre- and postlevels of the Diverse issues brought the presenters to BluePRINT volumes are unfair, but several significant organization. BluePRINT, and ultimately to this event. Speaking for consequences have fallen from Dynamic’s aligned Baxter Canada, part of a $13.7 Billion manufacturer of strategies. First, while Dynamic was known to be medical devices, Business Unit Director Mike Hamilton fast on its feet, decisions were not always consistent, noted that while the company had a well defined nor were implementation and consequences well corporate strategy, the sales strategies and methods managed. Now, he says, there is a document to keep differed from division to division; health-care providers wanted decisions on track, and the discipline in decisions flows down to the consistency. management of change. For Baxter, the BluePRINT process had a time horizon of three There is a new discipline to product development too – aligned years from inception to realization, a process complicated by a history effort across the responsible functions yields a better targeted mix of implementing and dropping similar initiatives. Ultimately, two of new products – and these yield the same volumes as prior efforts understandings came together: BluePRINT was valued by managers requiring more than twice the resources. In an overcrowded market, and wasn’t going away – and it worked. focusing marketing and sales on a carefully selected mix gets attention “The process,” says Hamilton, “is not simple, but the output and pays dividends. is simple and you can drive it right down to the lowest levels of the Dynamic’s new vision has brought clarity of purpose to Dynamic’s organization.” A mix of people was pulled into the early processes, sales team. Many of Dynamic’s people are type-A lone wolves, but which were sliced into manageable bits. Thorny issues were hived off despite that, says Brisley, they want to feel connected and they want to dedicated teams, then folded back into the mix when solutions were to know ‘What’s next?’ Bringing transparency to Dynamic’s future found. Buy-in was advanced by the familiar tactic of enlisting fence- direction keeps these people, who after all are the foundation of its sitters to the early work; given responsibility, they took ownership and culture, in the loop and in the company. made the whole process work. What he would do again, he now says, BluePRINT has brought vision and clarity to Dynamic’s future, as is involve marketing and operations much earlier in the BluePRINT it has to Baxter’s. Seeing ‘What’s next’ may not be significantly easier process. “I treated this as a sales strategy that had been cascaded down than in the past, but when the future becomes “now”, there is a clear from corporate. If we’d had the others involved earlier, we’d have had and well structured path to action. good momentum earlier in the process.” He knew BluePRINT had clicked when he joined in a major sales Fusion Learning Inc., is recognized by Selling Power as one of the call and saw the representative draw on his BluePRINT notes at a top 10 sales training companies in North America. For more information, tricky – and successful – moment in discussions. visit www.fusionlearninginc.com.

alignment - the sales force multiplier

Fusion Learning Inc 272 Richmond Street East Suite 200 Toronto, ON M5A 1P4 416-424-2999 www.fusionlearninginc.com