Everybody Has One

An opinion, that is.  Perhaps you were the recipient of receiving feedback on an idea or project you were working on.  Whether is was solicited or not, you may have been a bit put off or even a bit discouraged after receiving harsh words.  Do you then think that it is possible that maybe at one point or another you may have done the same?  In this digital age of social media and endless methods of communication, now more than ever it is essential to learn how to provide more effective feedback to influence the outcome.

Assume Positive Intent

Whether you are providing or receiving feedback, we cannot emphasize this critical point enough: always, ALWAYS assume positive intent.  Choose to take the perspective that the person that might otherwise be chewing you out has the best intent in mind and truly wants the best possible outcome.  Similarly, when it is your turn to provide feedback, assume that the person you are about to address has the best intent in mind and truly wants the best possible outcome.  This always ensures that you will be in the best mindset for giving or receiving more effective constructive feedback.

The Magic Words

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just wave a wand and chant some magic words to influence a change in behavior or a particular outcome?  While we have not yet come across such enchantment, we have come across three words that have demonstrated to be most effective in not only delivering the feedback, but opening up the door for more productive conversations and hence more effective results.

Consider… So that…

Three simple words in concept, but very often takes a bit of intent and practice to use regularly.  These words carry certain connotations in this context and prepares both participants to engage in a constructive discussion.  They make the provider of the feedback really think about what they are about to say and more importantly WHY.  There is also the underlying implication that not all feedback will be implemented.

This very important principle come in the very first word “Consider”.  Afterall, your feedback is one option of many to consider.  By opening with consider, you are preparing both yourself and the receiver that what is about to come next should be considered as another option.  The recipient may not have even considered your perspective at first and may be very appreciative of this suggestion.  Or maybe they might not agree or understand the reasoning behind your proposal.

This is where the next two words come into play.  “So that” provides the WHY this alternative should be considered in the first place.  It substantiates the recommendation and serves to demonstrate that this will help ensure the best possible outcome.  However, you will find that this isn’t always easy to articulate.  You may also become quickly humbled yourself as you find that some of the feedback you are looking to provide are more about your own personal opinions and preferences rather than focusing on what is truly best.

Keep it Positive

There is nothing magic in these words alone.  As the old adage goes, it’s not what you say but how you say it.  In line with assuming positive intent, please ensure that your feedback is solution seeking and stated in the positive and not used (or abused) to systematically cut someone down.  To serve as an example, consider the following scenario:

Your coworker is creating a presentation to pitch a new project and you feel that it is a bit wordy and doesn’t necessarily get to the point.

Do NOT take this as an opportunity for shaming as in, “Consider letting me write it for you so that you don’t embarrass yourself.”

Instead, try something along the lines of, “Consider presenting a more concise summary with a specific call to action so that you can help facilitate the decision-making process”.  You may also use this as an opportunity to suggest including elements of the RAPID decision-making process we introduced last month!

Influence, NOT Control

Finally, recognize that providing effective feedback is intended to influence and not control.  Your ability to influence is directly correlated to how well you are able to convey your thoughts and ideas in a way that people will listen and not only listen to your advice, but will also seek you out as a trusted advisor.  So with that said, consider using this method the next time you are providing feedback so that you can increase your influence and help lead the way to the best possible result!

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Get to the Point

You may have heard:

Win Fast,

Win Slow,

Lost Fast,

But Never Lose Slow

Point being, even if the outcome is unfavorable, it is still better to come to that conclusion as quickly as possible and move on rather than let things linger on.  How many times have you been in a team meeting, conversations go down the rabbit hole and time is up with no clear decision or direction in sight?  The can gets kicked down the road once again!  What often is lacking is a clear definition of roles within the decision-making process, leading to SLOW decision making.  We often find that when given enough time, if you don’t make a decision the decision gets made for you.  Wouldn’t you rather be the master of your own fate?

RAPID Decision-Making Model

We’ve found that the RAPID decision-making model provides a simple framework that teams may employ for effective and efficient decision making.  The model clearly defines clear roles each participant plays in the decision-making process.  Time is best spent when teams first determine the role of each person around the table before diving into the topic content.  Discussions can then be focused by each individual contributing to the decision-making process.  So then, what are the roles and what are the rules of engagement for better decision-making?

Decide

Ok, for the acronym to make sense, it is best to being with the end in mind and define the role of the decision maker.  Afterall, the point is to make a RAPID decision!  The person who is to decide is the single person with the authority to commit the team and / or the organization to action.  This person is ultimately accountable for outcome of the project or initiative.  Best decisions are made when authority and accountability are aligned!

Recommend

For the decision maker to make an informed decision, they need a single point of reference who can pull together all the important pieces of information to make a sound decision.  The recommender is the person who is tasked with collecting the required information, summarizing the information, and presenting the decision maker with a recommended course of action.  The recommender has much more responsibility than simply gathering information though.  They are responsible for collaborating with the other three roles to ensure all voices are heard and represented in decision making process.

Input

Often, there are several individuals who are sought to provide input to the recommendation.  These will include subject matter experts and others who may be considered stakeholders in the decision.  It is often found that some people who provide input are very passionate about the topic at hand feel that they have decision making authority and are primary contributors to delaying the decision-making process.  Thus, it is essential to remind participants that their role is to provide input to be considered but may not be included in the final recommendation.

Perform

There is a similar decision-making model called RAID, which is nearly identical to RAPID only without the “P”.  We caution against the RAID model for the primary reason that success of the decision implementation relies on the person or people performing the work following the decision.  It is best to at least solicit input from the performers to capture their voices and opinions as well as keeping them informed and engaged in the project or initiative.  Very often, those who have to do the work have some of the best insights!

Agree

Finally, there are those who have to agree with the decision.  These typically include management representatives at higher levels than the decision maker.  Of course, not everyone will always be satisfied with decisions that are made (very often among those providing input or performing the work).  That is not the role of those who need to agree though.  Instead, this is the person or group that has “veto” power to overrule a decision.  As we have already established, the decision maker’s accountability is aligned with his / her authority for making the decision.  Thus, the veto should be used sparingly so as not to disempower nor disengage the decision maker.  It is then best for the recommender to also solicit the input from those who need to agree to ensure their agreement up front.

RAPID in Action

A very common decision we see that often gets delayed with the approval of a change in a business process.  Companies of a reasonable size often have standard operating procedures (SOPs) and work instructions (WIs) that define how work is to be performed.  These are “living” documents that need to be updated from time to time.  However, change is often not easily accepted and process improvements that could benefit the organization are delayed, if ever implemented at all.  The RAPID model may be used to help drive this change with increased velocity in just a few simple steps:

1. Determine who the process owner is. This person is accountable for the process outcomes and hence should have the authority to make the decision for change.
2. Determine who the recommender will be. This will be the project or change lead who will engage with the other team members to present the formal recommended change.
3. Identify those who need to agree with the decision, who will be performing the work, and those who’s input should be solicited for consideration.
4. The recommender will work with the team members, facilitating the conversations and collecting all the information required to make a sound recommendation.
5. The formal recommendation will be presented to the decision maker in the form of a redlined document, along with any additional feedback the team may have to either enhance the recommended changes, or to dispute it.
6. The process owner then makes the final decision on which changes will be included and which will not for the proposed revision.

Improvement vs. Perfection

While not always perfect, the RAPID decision-making method drives action toward improvement.  It is often said that perfection is the enemy of improvement.  It is almost always better to advance and course correct as needed rather than stall out in indecision.  Consider using the RAPID decision-making model the next time your team appears to be stuck.

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In the Beginning

In order to be able to demonstrate that your solution was effective in solving your problem, you must ensure that the problem-solving process is set up right from the start.  Beginning with the end in mind is not just one of the 7 Habits of Effective People, but a general practice for effective problem solving!  Given that there are a lot of problems out there, a good problem statement ensures that the team is focused on solving the right problem.  It also ensures that an objective verification of effectiveness can be established.

A good problem statement focuses on the issue and makes no assumptions about the root cause nor the solution.  When crafting your problem statement, being by answering 4 W’s and an H:

• What is the issue?
• Where did it happen?
• When did it occur?
• Who identified it?
• How much was affected?

The answers to these questions can very often be stitched together into a somewhat concise yet information dense problem statement:

On (WHEN), (WHO) identified that (HOW MUCH) (WHAT) (WHERE).

Example: On March 17^th, the quality inspector identified that 3 of 12 widgets failed functionality testing on the alpha production line.

Pre-Flight Check

While a good problem statement increases the probability of finding an effective solution, it is not guaranteed.  Thus, it is wise to perform due diligence and try to establish the likelihood of success BEFORE implementing the final implementation.  Techniques such as piloting or simulations can be used to evaluate the proposed solution.  Once deemed to be promising, the fix can be fully implemented.

Verification Activities

Post implementation, there are two primary verification activities that need to be performed: Verification of Completion and Verification of Effectiveness.  Verification of completion is commonly performed by visual review / examination.  Inspecting the physical implementation and review of any records or documentation of the implementation are common methods.

Verification of effectiveness tends to take a bit more effort.  There are various methods that can be used to demonstrate effectiveness post implementation.  As we opened up with this article, the verification of effectiveness strategy should align with the problem statement.  In fact, the verification of effectiveness strategy should already be determined during the creation of the problem statement.

Methods for verification of effectiveness include:

• Audits
• Examination
• Monitoring
• Statistical Sampling

Upon successful demonstration of effectiveness, the problem may be deemed as resolved.  However, continued process monitoring is wise to ensure that the gains are sustained.

The post Verifiably Effective! appeared first on Business Improvement Group.

Elements of a Problem

In order to solve problems effectively, it is first essential to identify the three elements that are common among all problems:

Issue – is the symptom or pain experienced by the customer or the process owner.

Root Cause – is the ultimate cause of the issue.  Root Cause is determined using cause and effect analyses and is essential in effective problem solving.

Solution – addresses the Issue and/or the Root Cause.  Solutions may eliminate, reduce, or mitigate the occurrence of the problem.

Types of Issues

Before we introduce the CAPA process, being able to identify the type of issue will help in determining the problem-solving strategy.  A variety of tools may be used within the CAPA process, and some are more suited to some issue types that others.  Consider the three issue types:

Gradual Decline – characterized by a slow steady decrease in performance over time.

Sudden Drop Off – characterized by a sudden adverse change in performance.

Performance Gap – characterized by a pre-existing difference between performance and goal.

Types of Causes

While the root cause is the ultimate cause of the issue, it is not always sufficient or possible to identify the root cause.  As such, other causes may be found to help ensure effective problem solving:

Potential Causes – is a listing of all factors that could have led to the issue and must be ruled in/out.

Contributing Causes – are factors that indirectly led to the issue and must be addressed.

Root Causes – are factors that directly led to the issue and must be addressed.

Types of Solutions

Once the issue type and cause(s) have been identified, a solution strategy must be considered.  Again, understanding the types of solutions will be essential to effective problem solving:

Correction – is an action taken to reduce or eliminate the effects of the non-conformance.

Corrective Action – is an action taken to reduce or eliminate causes of non-conformances to prevent reoccurrence of an issue.

Preventive Action – is an action taken to reduce or eliminate causes of potential non-conformances to prevent occurrence of an issue.

The CAPA Process

High performance organizations rely on processes to accomplish a variety of activities, and CAPA is no exception.  Processes are established to ensure a standard approach to producing predictable results time and time again.  Here is an overview of a highly effective CAPA process:

Initiation – is the formal start of the CAPA.  It begins with an initial problem statement, proposing the problem as “CAPA worthy”, approval to initiate the CAPA, and assigning a CAPA owner.  Once assigned, the problem statement may be refined.  It is essential to start off with a good problem statement to ensure that the right problem is being solved and the effectiveness of the solution may ultimately be objectively verified.

Investigation Plan – is the documented strategy of trying to determine the root cause of the issue.  As mentioned earlier, there are a variety of tools available to determine root cause, and the issue type will aid in the investigation planning process.

Investigation – is the execution of the plan.  Data is collected and root cause analysis tools are used to demonstrate cause and effect relationships.  The investigation ends with the statement of causes and an implementation plan documenting the improvement plan.

Implementation – is the execution of the activities defined in the improvement plan.  This is the implementation of the solution that seeks to reduce or eliminate the cause to prevent reoccurrence of the issue.

Verification – activities are twofold: verification of completion and verification of effectiveness.  Verification of completion is a formal review of the solution to ensure everything was implemented per the plan.  Verification of effectiveness (VoE) is a formal review and/or monitoring of outcomes to ensure that the solution has reliably addressed the issue with a high level of confidence.  Statistical methods are commonly used, and the VoE will tie back to the problem statement.

Closure – the CAPA is formally closed upon a successful verification phase.  Should the CAPA be deemed incomplete or ineffective, a subsequent investigation must be performed to understand why and additional measures must be implemented before the CAPA may be closed.

Implementing Your CAPA Process

Now that you have the basics, you may be asking, “How can I implement an effective CAPA process in my organization?”  For any process implementation, a formal documentation of the process must be established.  Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Work Instructions (WIs) are common formats.  In addition to the CAPA process itself, Work Instructions on root cause analysis tools are commonly established to provide how-to guidance on using the tools and methods deemed acceptable within the organization.  Training, coaching, and standard operating mechanisms such as a CAPA Review Board meeting will help ensure full deployment and sustaining of the CAPA process for long-term effective problem solving and continuous improvement.

The post Problem Solving with CAPA appeared first on Business Improvement Group.

Top-Down Cascade

One of our favorite habits of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is the habit of beginning with the end in mind.  No surprise then that this habit plays a major role in our metric selection strategy.  When selecting metrics, it is essential to define what are the primary goals of the company.  Metrics are then selected to not only provide indication of performance, but also include complimentary leading metrics that can be readily acted upon and drive results.

To do so, a solid metrics strategy must include a cascade of measures from the top-most important company goals all the way down to the level where the work is being performed.  The top-tier metrics are considered lagging indicators, as they are measures of business outcomes following a month’s, quarter’s, or even a year’s worth of activity.  Any action on a lagging indicator would be considered reactive at best, as an effort to perform better the following reporting period.

Conversely, leading indicators may be considered as metrics that precede a lagging goal should have a direct cause-and-effect relationship the succeeding measure.  As metrics are cascaded from top-down, each level will be linked with a lead-lag combination.  The intent being that work being performed will have direct influence on the leading indicator, which will in turn correspond to a correlated influence on the subsequent lagging indicators.

Less is More

In pursuit of achieving Operational Excellence, the business leader may be temped to measure anything.  Afterall, if metrics can be used to drive results, more metrics means more results.  Right?  Not necessarily.

Consider the simplest automotive dashboards.  They typically have only a handful of indicators: Speedometer, Odometer, Tachometer, Gas Gage, and a Temperature Gage.  Certainly, more modern cars have much instrumentation.  But for years, the aforementioned gages provide the driver with everything necessary for operating the vehicle.  As each of these are key to the operational performance, these few critical measures are often called Key Performance Indicators, or commonly KPIs.

A Balanced Scorecard

It takes a lot to run a successful business, and most tend to be multifaceted.  Obviously, the goal of any for-profit company is to, well, earn a profit.  Thus, there is a financial component that must be considered.  Next, there are the internal processes that are required to design, make, and sell the product or service.  These processes must be designed with the customer in mind to ensure their satisfaction and ongoing loyalty.  And last but certainly not least, are the employees themselves.

A balanced scorecard will include a good mix of cascading KPIs to hit each facet of the business to ensure overall health, sustainability, and growth for the organization.  While each organization must consider the right combination of metrics to support their policy deployment and strategic objectives, there are a few guidelines that may be considered to help.

We recommend starting with the acronym SQDC, standing for Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost.  And we also recommend keeping those in that order and emphasize this as a priority within your organization.

Safety – Each employee deserves to go home in as good, if not better, condition from which they arrived.  Employees deserve a safe working environment and it is the leader’s job to ensure this is assured.

Quality – The product or service provided must meet customer and any applicable regulatory requirements.  Beginning with the end in mind once again, the entire product realization workstream begins and ends with the customer.  Quality is defined by the customer, and it is a top priority to ensure the product or service is right by the customer’s standards.

Delivery – Once we’ve ensured a safe work environment and that our product or service meets all customer requirements, then we move onto what most workers will consider “the numbers”  This is most commonly measured as the total output of the product or service.  However, measures in both volume and velocity should be considered since the customer not only demands a particular quantity, but within a particular schedule as well.

Cost – After all of that, THEN we consider our costs.  Cost Of Goods Sold, or COGS, are most often considered.  COGS typically include the cost of labor, materials, and overhead required during the normal operation of delivering your product or service.

Driving Performance

Once the wildly important goals at the highest level have been defined and the cascade of KPIs established all the way down to where the work is performed, two additional key elements must be implemented: develop a compelling scoreboard and create a cadence of accountability.

The compelling scoreboard is simply a visualization of the metric, designed in a way where the team can easily tell if they’re winning or losing.  Much like the scoreboard at any sporting event, teams can tell where they stand from 20-ft away.  Also like a sport scoreboard, the design should include a time element and invoke a call to action.  Especially at the leading indicator level, team members should be able to know exactly what activities they can do to influence the performance of their metrics.

The cadence of accountability is the regular venues where team members get together to review performance to goal and take actions to collaboratively drive performance.  Much like the cascading metric design, the accountability meetings should cascade as well, with an appropriate frequency for each level.

For example, C-suite executives may review top-level metrics on a quarterly basis.  In order to meet quarterly goals, Directors may meet monthly to review KPI trends and sponsor strategic improvement projects to drive their metrics.  In order to meet monthly goals, managers may meet weekly to review week-to-month performance and weekly trends and identify tactical changes to influence next week’s performance.  Supervisors in turn meet daily with cross functional support team to ensure adherence to daily goals, and production staff tracks their hourly performance to goals.

Thus, driving hourly performance delivers daily goals.  Meet your daily goals, hit your weekly goals.  On track for each week, and monthly goals are made.  Ultimately leading to hitting annual goals year after year, in alignment with the organization’s strategic goals and objectives.

The post Winning KPIs appeared first on Business Improvement Group.

…and I answered.

The First Win

First, we have to go back.   Way back!

I originally co-founded Business Improvement Group in 2011 in preparation for my release from my corporate job due to a planned site closure.  I have amassed the skills and certifications that I knew were in demand.  However, I was new to consulting and had a bit of uncertainty.  After talking it out with one of my best friends who was also consulting, we agreed that we should go in as partners and Business Improvement Group was born.

It didn’t take long to get my first project, albeit in Warsaw, Indiana (we lived in South Florida at the time).  Given that we’re a homeschooling family, I saw this as an opportunity to show the family other parts of our great country.  So we packed up a small U-Haul trailer and headed for the Midwest.

The project was great, but it was the local area that really grabbed our hearts.  Growing up near bigger cities on the East Coast, Warsaw offered all of the small-town experiences you would expect to see on a warm, family friendly holiday movie.  The project was going along well, we were making great friends, and we were taking in all that this quaint area in The Hoosier State had to offer.  And then I got the call…

The Second Win

I received a call from a colleague I worked with at that corporate job I mentioned earlier.  I still recall back in 2011 when we were on a roof top party in Miami when he asked me what I was planning to do when the site closed.  When I told him I was considering consulting, he looked at me with a combination of surprise and excitement and said, “Let’s talk…”

So that day a few months later when he called, I already knew what would come next.  He secured a contract with a former boss of ours, and there was a project that basically had my name all over it and they both wanted me to join in.  Just to set the stage here, I always viewed this boss as a true leader and I always said that he is truly one that I would follow.  So we packed up the U-Haul trailer and headed out to Minnesota.

Mixed Emotions

From the moment we arrived, we had a blast!  The project was exciting, and it was great to work with some of my old friends from South Florida as well as some new folks.  My wife always has a knack of making any new place our home, and even somehow broke into some of the most closed homeschool groups for locals (even some native Minnesotan families could not get in!).  We enjoyed all that this new area had to offer, joined a family Judo dojo, and made some really great friends.

However, the move from Indiana was not easy for the boys.  While we were only there for a few months, we had some great experiences and some very close friends.  So we decided that we were not going to travel the country as we first thought, and began to consider settling in once again.  We started looking around for houses, but each time we looked at one we found ourselves comparing back to Indiana.

After looking at several houses in several areas, we came to the conclusion that if were to settle down, it would be back in Warsaw, Indiana.

Taking a Pause

So, here is the thing; settling down in Minnesota made sense because I specialize in the medical device industry and there are tons of medical device companies in the Twin Cities area.  I could have easily kept consulting until I retired with all the opportunities that were ripe for the picking.  However, our hearts were in Warsaw, Indiana.

Remember I mentioned to the small-town experience?  There were 4 major players in the medical device industry in Warsaw at that time, and not much more than that.  That meant that if we were going to live in Warsaw, I would have to take a pause from consulting as I did not believe I would be able to garner enough work to support our family of five.

So, I reached out to some contacts that I made during my first consulting engagement and eventually sealed the deal.  I took the job, stepped away from consulting, and moved the family back to Indiana.  We ended up finding a nice home to rent that was only 15-minutes from the plant where I was to work; a farm home on 15 acres of partially wooded farmland.  We eventually purchased the home from the owner, and it was our little slice of heaven.

Moonlighting

The job started off well but wasn’t quite as fulfilling as the projects I had as a consultant.  So, I maintained a little consulting on the side, mostly remote and in an advisory role.  However, it was extremely satisfying.  It seemed like I had the best of both worlds.  My day job made it possible for me to provide such a unique experience for our family.  We had a farm; albeit a hobby farm with some goats, chickens, bees, a few pigs, and a bunch or barn cats.  We had a few local spots we truly enjoyed, and celebrated Christmas Eve with the closest friends we consider family.

While keeping a little consulting on the side, I thought to myself that maybe I can have it all.  Maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to sustain a full-time consultancy from my farmhouse in Indiana.  Life was good, and the opportunities ahead looked promising.  So, in 2016, I gave my notice and walked away from my full-time job to pursue my consultancy once again.

The Catch

Leaving my job was truly a leap of faith.  You see, I didn’t even have a contract lined up.  I literally “burned the ship”, removing the safety net of a job to ensure that I could give 110% to re-establishing my consultancy.  Sure enough, it wasn’t too long before I landed that first gig.  Back in Florida…

It was a small project, only a few days.  But it was travel nonetheless, and the thing that was most concerning.  I originally pursued a full-time job in our journey back to Indiana because I didn’t think that I’d be able to sustain a full-time consultancy locally.  What was originally 4 major players in the medical device industry was now down to 3, following a merger between two of the largest ones.  There were a few smaller ones that popped up, but nothing that could sustain a steady revenue stream.  Some travel was going to have to be part of the deal.

I had a few other smaller projects, then the big one hit!  An acquisition and an opportunity to lead the integration efforts.  Projects like this are what I live for!  I’d find that this project would be challenging in the perfect way; allowing me to exercise all of the skills I’ve amassed to date as well as providing continued professional growth.

If you thought the catch was that trip back to Florida, think again.  What I will just chalk up to a combination of miscommunication and misunderstanding, what I thought was going to be an occasional trip to Georgia turned into an expectation that I would be onsite full-time throughout the entire duration of the project.

The Costs

The first cost came early in the project.  My business partner and I did not necessarily agree on the logistics of the partnership.  After a few exchanges that I wish I could take back, we decided it would be best for us to go our separate ways.  I bought out his share of the business and lost my partner and one of my best friends that day.

The subsequent costs cut even deeper.  Whenever I would travel in the past, I would always come home to find the entire family awaiting my return, excited that “daddy is home”, and meet me out in the driveway with hugs and kisses.  After a few weeks of travel on this project, my coming home after a week of being away was no longer special.  It was routine.  It was just like my commute to and from work, however it took a week each time.

Trying to fit everything in two days before heading back out was always a challenge.  I was exhausted, and my family and friends weren’t getting the best of me even when I was there.  A hotel room was my home for the week, and quality time with the family was a short FaceTime call before bedtime.  My wife would share pictures of all the things they did: basketball games, drive-in movies with friends, band concerts, etc.  While I was happy to see the photos and see how happy everyone was, the one common theme was obvious: I was not in any of those pictures.  I missed 3 years of my marriage and 3 critical years of my boys growing up.

The Opportunity

Following the Georgia project, I doubled down in what I thought would be my exit strategy: take on multiple projects to bank enough savings to take a little time off to focus on finding more local and remote work so that I can remain home.  While the opportunities were certainly there, an unexpected opportunity was soon to be knocking…

Aside from my full-time contract onsite in Utah (yes, another one!), I fielded a few more projects that I could support remotely from my hotel room after hours.  One of them was a review and advising project with my former boss from Florida and subsequently Minnesota (yes, THAT leader I said I would follow).  Well, he was now in California and had a project that he needed my help on.  As I performed the work and traveled out to provide an in-person report out of my findings and recommendations, one thing led to another and…

Well, long story short, an opportunity presented itself for a permanent position.  Once again, mixed emotions.  Do I pick up the family once again and relocate or do I decline and stay in the consulting game full time?  Seeing that I already lost 3 years of family time that I could never replace, I opted to put my consulting business on pause once again and take the role.  This time however, I knew that the role would be professionally satisfying such that I would not miss the allure of consulting.

This is a leader I said I would follow, and little did I expect that this would ultimately lead me in a coast-to-coast adventure.  After talking it over with my wife, I am going to take the job and be reunited with my family once again.  I know the leadership team that I am following, so there is little risk there and I am excited about this new chapter from a professional perspective.  I’m not sure what California will have in store for our family, but whatever it is I know one thing for sure: we will be TOGETHER, and I will once again be a husband and father who will be present for each and every experience with my family.

The post When Opportunity Knocks… appeared first on Business Improvement Group.

All prospects were at one time leads, but not all leads will become prospects. So, how can we determine which leads are most likely to become customers – and thereby qualify them? Typically, sales teams will do this through a discovery call. By asking a series of questions to the lead, we can ascertain whether or not they are in a position to buy and open to the idea of doing so.

Asking the right questions during such a call or meeting is essential to earning the lead’s trust and determining whether or not to proceed. If done properly discovery shows the lead the unique value that your company stands to offer them. Every firm should have a standardized process for this. A lot of people within sales advocate for SPIN selling today. Without writing an entire article on that, it can be summarized as a method of strategic questioning that leads to the potential customer making the case for your product to themselves, rather than you selling them on it.

Qualifying Leads

There are a number of well-known factors that go into whether or not a lead should qualify, thereby becoming a prospect. At BIG, we see qualification as a sliding scale rather than a binary. It can be thought of as a percent match to an ideal. Some leads are more qualified than others, but there is not a “yes” list and a “no” list. You may be familiar with a standard list of questions asked of leads to determine whether or not to qualify them. Most small businesses have a vague idea of what questions to ask but do not do it in a systematic way. If we are going to get the most out of our qualification process, it needs to be systematic and consistent.  One common method is called BANT.  Think of the letters representing the 4 key qualifying factors, and not necessarily a sequenced barrage of questions.  Just like the sales process we are leading into; the conversation should be natural and not an interrogation.  Below is the order we suggest but be flexible.

Authority – Qualifications starts with a persona. This is the template against which we can match a lead. The more closely they resemble our ideal customer, the more qualified they are. When qualifying leads, it is important to remember that the better the match – the more qualified the lead, the higher probability of conversion. If our persona is a high level executive a CEO is a perfect match, a mid-level manager is a decent match, and a secretary is not a match at all. However, the persona is not the end of our qualification process.

Need – Next, we need to see if the lead has a problem we can actually solve. If the answer is no then there is little point in wasting either parties’ time unless there is the possibility for a referral. Speaking of secretaries and mid-level managers, our next consideration is the role of the lead. Just because someone is not an exact match does not mean they don’t have influence over someone who is. Secretaries and assistants can have a major impact on decisions that are made, so they should not be immediately discounted.

Timing – A natural transition out of need is timing.  Yes, there may be a need but how urgent is addressing this need within the organization among other priorities?  Gaining an understanding of the urgency around the need and an anticipated timeline, you can better assess how likely the lead is going to convert into a customer.  If it is a priority, then it is also more likely to be funded, which naturally leads into…

Budget – If it still seems probable that there could be a conversion here, then we can start considering more objective concerns. The first is budgetary. Even if you’re talking to the perfect lead that is in love with your ideas, if they can’t pay it isn’t a sale. Somehow, the transaction has to be mutually beneficial. It’s important to remember this isn’t just a one way deal. You have to offer something worth more to them than the money you’re asking for it. Likewise, the product or service has to be available within a timeline that works for the customer. If you are only able to solve a problem tomorrow that they want solved today, this lead may not convert.

These are the sorts of questions that have to be asked during discovery. While directly asking the lead what their budget is may not be the best technique at all times, organizations need to develop ways of gathering this information. Without it, you are chasing leads in the dark. Once qualified, we will want to transition into the sales process itself, by digging a little deeper into the need and helping the prospect see how your solution will address their need. You need to get a lot of precise information in a short amount of time without it seeming like you are grilling the prospect. There are a number of techniques for this, but we will be discussing one in particular that works in almost any situation!

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The answer, as with everything in business, is it depends. You first have to have a clear idea of what your goal will be with the lead generation campaign in order to decide which method to pursue. If your product or service tends towards a longer sales cycle, is expensive, and requires a consultative sale built on trust, you will probably target the more personal, direct methods of sourcing leads – referrals, in person events, and reselling. If your offering is not these things, especially if it is a B2C offering, you may tend towards the wider net methods of lead sourcing.

In order of most individualized and engaged leads provided to least, we can rank the sources of potential leads as reselling, referrals, in person events, inbound SEO, social media campaigns, buying leads, and web scraping.

Reselling – Targeting past customers for future business is the easiest source of leads. At one point they saw enough value in your product in order to buy it. Targeting of these individuals should be highly personalized, having someone they’ve previously worked with reaching out to them, perhaps offering them some free piece of content or other value add. For instance, if they were struggling with process improvement and they hired your company to consult on this, reaching out with a recent article or case study is a good way to restart conversations.

In Person Events – These provide a great way to meet leads in a physical, face to face manner. These sorts of leads tend to be very hot and committed, since they feel like they really know your company. Consider offering an educational seminar or networking event for individuals in your target industry. This shows competence in the topic you are speaking on and creates brand equity with those in attendance.

Referrals – Building trust with a lead is always a challenge. Referrals overcome this because the source of the trust is the person referring you. Having a well-defined and well-known referral program is key. Many companies offer some kind of benefit for referrers, but few people know about these. These sorts of leads should be a very high priority for companies with an involved sales process or larger purchase prices. Referrals are especially valuable because the primary selling point is trust, not price.

Inbound SEO – Inbound marketing seeks to bring leads to you, rather than bringing your brand in front of your leads. By targeting very specific, long tail keywords and phrases that people are searching, you can ensure that your company is one of the first they see. The advantage of this is that if the right terms are chosen, you get a predictable stream of inbound leads every month that are more or less ready to buy. This is great for any business, especially those that can handle online sales and have a shorter sales cycle. This is also a great way to select topics for content and should be explored in depth by any organization with a substantial online presence.

Social Media Campaigns – Sponsoring relevant content for leads is nothing new, and for good reason. It works. You need to be careful searching for leads this way – unless such campaigns are highly targeted the quality of leads tends to be low, thus raising the price per lead conversion too high – sometimes higher than is profitable.

Buying Leads – There are plenty of services that offer leads for sale to companies. This can at times seem unethical, and indeed it may be, but it is an important part of some business models. This is really only valuable for companies with the staff able to work through and prospect such a list. These tend to be companies offering quicker, transactional sales. Generally, if you can find a more upfront way of gaining leads, you should. Those on the receiving end of these cold calls tend to look at them as spam and don’t appreciate the effort. It is a matter of pure volume.

Web Scraping – A number of software services exist that can scrape information for leads off of the internet or social media sites. This is something that should only be done with the utmost caution, as it is illegal in some jurisdictions and highly suspect in most others. These sorts of leads are the coldest of cold, but some companies are able to use them to their own benefit. Web scraping wouldn’t exist if it didn’t work for someone, but it is generally cautioned against.

There are so many different tactics for finding leads. This is in no way an exhaustive list. As you continue searching for your own leads, you will no doubt find out what works best for your company and your products. The best advice is to keep extremely detailed metrics so you can understand the cost per lead of each source, thus finding the most efficient one for your company.

Next week we will be speaking about some of these metrics and how to qualify leads. By putting these two things together companies are able to see where their best sources of leads are and target them, getting the most bang for their buck.

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So, what are those approaches? Really, it follows a funnel. The goal is turning cold leads into warm leads into qualified leads into customers. Cold leads are of course the most difficult and will have the highest attrition rates simply because they are the least likely to be interested or in need of your product. Cold leads are also the least likely to be up to date, since they’ve gone the longest without contact, if they’ve been contacted at all by your organization.

The priority then is warming up cold leads. How can we turn a cold, uninterested lead into one that sees enough value in our product or service to at least engage with the brand? This is a question for both sales and marketing. Sales is obviously who we tend to think of working with leads, but both departments have something to add to this process. Educating consumers and showing them the value add of the brand is obviously a marketing function as well as a sales one, the difference being whether the work is done in a one on one setting or as a broadcast message.

We’ve talked quite a bit about strategies that the marketing department can use to warm leads up, for instance during our content marketing series. However, there are plenty of tactics the sales team can use as well to create great relationships with leads and get them engaged with the brand.

To Call or Not to Call

Cold calling or emailing is difficult. While many people see it as a pure numbers game, there are some methods that work better than others. The simplest thing you can do is offer some value. Everyone knows a business reaching out to them out of the blue is trying to sell them something. To overcome that, you need to offer them something valuable without asking anything in return. This could be a guide or handbook written for people in their situation, access to free coaching or advice, or something else entirely. It just has to be compelling enough to get through their initial barriers.

Since this is a cold lead that knows little or nothing about your brand, you also have to prove your credibility without sounding braggadocious. This coincides with answering the “why are you contacting me” question sales staff tend to get. Starting an email off by establishing credibility and then moving into a specific value add is much more effective than simply offering to call them sometime next week.

Tell Me More, Tell Me More…

After a lead has reengaged with a brand, either having been contacted one on one by a sales representative or through marketing efforts, they can be considered a warm lead. This is where excellent CRM processes come into play. Moving a warm lead to greater and greater engagement and commitment with the brand requires very careful tracking and a well thought out process. Content is a big part of this, but it won’t do anything without maintaining open and honest communication with the lead. While one on one communication with every lead may be impractical for some companies, ensuring a personalized experience is a must.

Thinking back to the plant-nurture-harvest metaphor that BIG uses, qualified leads are those that are closest to being harvest ready. They have qualified themselves by expressing interest in buying the product or service you offer and have fulfilled a set of criteria established by your company to differentiate them from other leads. These are the leads that sales needs to initiate a one on one conversation with, discovering specifically what their needs are and how your organization stands to help them. Qualified leads already see value in your brand, so making that specific and tangible is all that is left to turn them into a customer.

The best way of doing this is inherent in the SPIN Selling methodology. By asking directed, pointed questions that reveal the lead’s real underlying needs you learn how to position your offering in a way that best addresses their needs. There are many guides that already exist on SPIN, so an in-depth explainer is not necessary here, however SPIN is what BIG uses and suggests for our own clients.

Next week, we will be speaking in detail about sourcing leads. This is something that many organizations struggle with – where do we find people to talk to? There are plenty of creative ways to answer this question, and no business has found all the answers. By talking it out, hopefully we can spark ideas within your organization that lead to bigger and better ideas!

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When sales people talk about leads, they typically have three categories in mind. There are cold leads, warm leads, and qualified leads. These three basic categories seek to encapsulate the different relationships that a lead can have to your company.

Leads of All Kinds

Cold leads are just that – they haven’t had any contact with your company in a long time, if ever. They are not engaged with the brand and haven’t expressed interest. This doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t buy from you, it just means that they aren’t aware of you. Everyone has probably been on the receiving end of this type of lead prospecting. Being called or emailed out of the blue is frustrating because chances are if you were interested you would have called them.  Keep this in mind when working with cold leads for your business!  The goal of working with cold leads is then not to close a sale, but to create awareness and stimulate interest.

Warm leads are those that are aware and have expressed interest in your product or service by interacting with the brand in some ways. This is your hot list – the people that are further along the buying cycle and more likely to buy from you. Their awareness of your brand could have come by interacting with social media posts, having done business together before, or something else entirely. While you certainly don’t have a right to harass anyone, these people are generally safe to contact.  The goal of working with warm leads then is to gauge how interested they are and if they are able to buy.

Finally, there are qualified leads. These are the best of all. These leads have reached out to you, indicating that they are interested in buying from you and demonstrate the behaviors and characteristics of others you’ve sold to. Lead qualification is a critical step to ensure you don’t waste valuable time on leads who are not ready or cannot buy.  There are several models to follow, one being BANT – Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing.  The likelihood of converting a lead into a customer increases with each one of these criteria that are met.

Finding Leads

Each of these types of leads will come from different sources. Cold leads can be purchased from online sources. Think of that promise most companies make not to sell your data to third party sources. The ones that don’t make the promise – that is where you can buy cold leads based off different demographic characteristics. This is a sheer numbers game since most of these leads are not interested in buying.

Companies that have a well-developed content marketing strategy can start to produce warm leads through their outreach efforts. In addition, warm leads can be sourced from referrals. Encouraging existing customers and partners to refer leads to you is one of the most effective ways to fill your sales funnel. Once you have enough metrics, you can structure a referral program that generously rewards both referees and referrers while still being profitable.

Qualified leads are not found but developed.  Following BIG’s farming analogy, cold leads are planted and nurtured into warm leads.  Prospecting through your field, you identify and qualify leads that are most likely ready for harvest. By differentiating between leads, we can recognize the different techniques we need to pursue to have success with each of the three types of leads. This is what we will be discussing next week, when we go into the different strategies required for each type of lead. Since the leads themselves are different, the approach one takes should reflect that.

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