Shipley Asia Pacific

Big blog, big topic - the everything of leadership in just 20 questions.

Bookmark this page, and be prepared to invest a week or so reading all of the material behind it.

This, for many - will help with many of the questions we gat asked all the time, about how to make things change for the better.

Most senior leadership teams exposed to the Shipley 'Win-Work'  process, model, steps and tools, say "this is great, but how do I get my organisation to try better new ideas like this, and make them stick?"

I commend this article - well, series of posts - as a good place to start

Is this why consistent BD process is so hard?

"People will do what they want to do, then find reasons to support it" Norton & Chance - Harvard Oct 2009

Most Senior Leadership Teams agree: winning work is getting harder; revenue forecasts are still notoriously up & down; and the traditional 'fixes' of hiring, training and yet more CRM - aren't fixing anything.

How much of this article rings true for you? To what extent are the very real, human biases highlighted also the barriers to teams doing the right thing in BD?

What strikes you as relevant about the observations, consequences and sentiments of this article - when you overlay it on your organisation's beliefs and behaviours around winning work?

Business Development (as a process, not just a job description) is often the first place short-termism gets in the way of doing the right thing, even for the medium term.

The irony is that the year or two to turn around win rates, cut the cost of sales, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty is cheaper than discounting quarter by quarter to meet the analysts expectations.

In our consulting practice we've found starting with the measurement systems, the KPIs, the bonuses and triggers, tells us all exactly where the misguided, short-term focus is, and the law of (often) unintended consequences takes over from there...

Short-termism is hiring new/more sales reps; investing even more millions in a CRM; or more sales training most forget after 30 days and didn't apply when they did remember it.

Better win rates, and the un-fashionable disciplines of awareness, lean process, leadership, investment and consistency needed to deliver them - are rare because the tenure of the roles to make it happen is getting shorter.  

And, what C-suite or board hasn't outsourced responsibility for revenue to the 'only in the role 18-22mths' sales manager who is not around to drive and live with changes that are actually broader than just the sales team?

Leadership must start with winning work process, no just sales - no revenue strategy = no business

OK - Hands up - who wishes they had more hours in their day? Most it seems. Read how to do more, by doing less!

Best quote? "human beings are designed evolutionarily to be reaction machines" -  most programs of self improvement start with self awareness.

What makes this so hard personally, and professionally?

We've worked with tens of thousands of Business Development, Sales and bid professionals and their leadership teams.  And the turn-arounds cannot begin until the awareness of the face in the mirror being the start of the journey.

Marketing, collateral, websites, capability statements, sales calls, proposals - customer focus lacking, fears over competition or price without substantiation.  There's a lot of money left on the table for no reason...

A puzzle. In our Revenue Performance Practice at Ernst & Young, we were astonished at the data on how long sales people and sales management 'hang on' to lost deals.

On average a deal is won in around 7 months. Losing a deal, on the other hand, could take up to 18 months. There's some interesting brain science on the fears and biases behind this - but Riddleberger's story here is a nice example of a practical technique for helping individual reps LET GO ! of a deal that will likely never be.

What is much harder, is helping sales managers learn how to better forecast, and manage pipeline and let go of the unlikely deals they use to even out pipeline 'anomalies' e.g. deals slipping don't look so bad if there are plenty of deals coming up behind (even if mostly rubbish)

This 'letting go' - usually requires sales managers to have much more confidence than most have, in the marketing team providing well qualified leads. Leads which they know can be more quickly, easily and consistently closed.

And THAT lead nurturing is not a sales issue. That is a senior management issue. 

Keep up or lose.

Changes in buyer behaviour impact sales activity, as outlined in this perceptive summary by Ago Cluytens.

These changes also impact heavily on bidding to #WinWork the sales or Business Development (BD) teams bring to Bid Managers.

The procurement aware, collaborative, consultative, risk managing, value building sales people are in the box seat for a winning proposal - when they can pass on/share all these insights with the bid-team they need to summarise all this in a logical, coherent, persuasive form.

Diversity in teams helps - especially in the complex, fast paced world of Must-Win bids and proposals.

Multiple points of view are critical to avoid the 'group think' that leads to misplaced overconfidence, over bidding - and the big killer of trust in buyers - unsubstantiated claims (Proud is fine, but proof is better)

Trying to Win Work across cultures? My surprise breakthrough came with a nappy delivery truck.  Huh?

At Shipley we talk about deals or bids being like icebergs - the stated or public issues (above the water) are rarely the only drivers of decision making. Winning Work must also be based on understanding of the under-the-water (often unstated) needs and triggers.

Similarly, different teams, locations and cultures can different social icebergs. This article highlights that the factual/technical bias of some cultures is different to others where the social buildup (under the water) is more important.

Finding the common ground culturally can come from unexpected sources. At a business dinner in Zurich, some Asian colleagues and I were making heavy going of a conversation with our quite serious Swiss hosts,

Outside the restaurant window, in the early evening traffic, a Huggies nappy truck stopped at the traffic lights.

Without thinking, I expressed a fond sentiment for the product. We had two children under two years of age, and the fit and fastenings made Huggies our new favourite.

Immediately, all around the table, the (all male) multi-national group joined in a chorus of praise, sharing their own personal experiences and preferences. 

With the ice broken, the evening flowed more easily. Years later, the Swiss & Singaporeans present still refer to the 'nappy dinner' with smiles. 

So while the trigger and phasing of the cultural capital building might vary, it will invariably arrive given enough time and social space. And a chance delivery truck

Our Insight: This article describes the symptoms of failures around defining and acting in a strategic way. So not new news.

This article also suggest 3 simple headline ideas for doing strategy better.

If you don't want to or cannot hire Johan or A.T. Kearney, here's our take on how to execute these 3 ideas in a practical way - based on our decades of practical, lean strategy to Win Work.

1) Know the People & Issues in your market. Have a broad enough perspective, and understanding of the stated & unstated issues, needs, triggers and drivers. Net these down to the top 4-6 Hot-Buttons, and test your assumptions - with your customers.

2) Don't just engage your organisation in this process - although mixing up your suits & hi-vis will certainly help - also collaborate with your customers. Test their views on how they see you Vs other choices to address key market issues and specific Hot-Buttons.

3) Win Work (and defeat competition) by not just highlighting your strengths (as seen by customers - not marketing) but also learning how to mitigate market perceptions of your weaknesses. This multi-part execution can be more effective than traditional strategy - but needs iterative focus by senior management.

Time after time, year after year, Shipley clients grow share relative to market in boom or bust times, using these simple steps.

Find it harder to get through to people? Having trouble clearly thinking through solutions to problems? Getting less and les work done very day?

Too many interruptions - mostly self inflicted by too many screens, windows and apps. 

Just. Do. One. Thing. At. A. Time.  

As the article says - try Timeboxing.

I use Vitamin-R   http://j.mp/1QbYXHl

As domestic markets evolve, companies look overseas.

Behind the headline spend in other countries, there are complex issues impacting what the actual addressable market really is, and how realistic are your chances of winning work?

Here are five questions Chinn, Sonino & Dehoff suggest the aerospace & defence industry ask to best plan for and execute an international growth strategy.

1. Is There Value in The Opportunity?

This is no time for 'field of dreams' speculation or forecasts based on extrapolating a domestic share offshore.

We recommend sound Capture Planning methodologies with clients to help avoid false-starts, and ensure quicker traction in chosen markets.

2. Is Offering 'fit-for-purpose' Internationally?

Knowing where you offers are seen Versus the buyers competitive choices is vital. Failure to see you offers through the eyes of your intended customers can results in 'pride going before a fall' - how good you think you are is not the same as the actual perceptions of buyers. The Shipley Bidder Comparison Matrix is a powerful tool & processes to eliminate bias in planning.

3. Are You Set Up To Deliver Internationally?

Another benefit of the Shipley Bidder Comparison Matrix is the ability it gives you to assess varied solution and delivery options - again, from the eyes of your potential buyers.

This is particularly true in an international context where who you align and partner with can be a major factor in buyer decision making.

4. Do You Have The Right People For International Operation?

Aside from the obvious recruitment advice around prior experience, we find many clients use the People & Issues identification stage of their Shipley Win Work process to highlight the degree to which their team (and partners) really know what is going on in a market. Difficulty in completing this stage and identifying buyer Critical Success Factors (CSFs) is a sign that both the team and partners are not up to the task.

5. How Aware And Responsive Around Offsets & Regulations Are You?

Price To Win - is a crucial discipline - and in international defence sales your ability to have high awareness and flexibility around the regulatory framework and domestic offsets & engagements is make-or-break on most deals.

High customer focus, laser focus on buyer Hot Buttons, and disciplined self awareness can insure against stumbling internationally 

We help non-sales people Win-Work.

Starting and maintaining interesting conversations (to both parties) is a key part of building insight, trust, and ultimately effective relationships.

These interview tips have broad applicability for many.

Good article

Why is a friend of mine preparing to launch a 'Tech School' program in teaching skills and finding employment in B2B sales?

Could it be that some high school students don't actually need a degree to go and learn to earn? 

My only caution is that Tech Schools also teach: how to learn; how to re-skill; and how to effectively network for employment.

Yes, more and more dollars are generated from the knowledge economy, but the physical world does not go away in that shift - the trades, many personal services and the management and supervision of these will be with us forever.

And these a/ do not need a degree  b/ will change over time - sometimes quickly - requiring more localised, topical skills & employability training.

For example, sometimes the shift in skills required will come from an entire industry speeding up or slowing down (mining), or from skills being automated (driverless mining trucks)

Tech Schools and ongoing vocational training will be vital in support of and integrated with the knowledge economy.

Strategy 'Priests' Vs Sales 'Sinners' -  why is strategy to help actually WIN WORK is so, so, so hard for people to do.?

HBR 'Less than 10% of strategic plans are effectively executed' = 90% is a total waste of time, revenue and opportunity.

So what DOES work, is simply following a consistent, global standard for developing business.  No new techniques, no multi-million dollar 'strategy' consultants, no wasted money on yet more 'latest new thing' sales training.   

The key point of this article, is that the good strategy that does work, is always, always, always based upon excellent customer focus. And that people with the most customer contact tend to have more of this. 

So yes, sales people, but we also find delivery, operations, customer service people often have the most extraordinary insights into what customer like or dislike about current service delivery, and what the untapped needs or issues are.

Of course some executives, founders, consultants can and do actually talk to (and in the process some even listen as well) to customers. But less than 10% really know how their company looks and feels to the people that count - customers.

The other 90% are too full of themselves to listen. Look at you own website for example. How many sentences start with your company name Vs customer names?

A durable sales quote is "two ears, one mouth - use in that ratio", is never more true than at the very beginning of your process for Winning Work - strategy.

How's your company's ratio?