Does your company have internal partners for B2B success?
Is this the way your company operates? Are Marketing, Sales, and Service internal partners of B2B success? Are they singing from the same sheet of music? Do the three groups make great music together, or do you look like nails scraping on a chalkboard?
Back in the day, this is the way most businesses worked:
The Marketing, Sales, and Service teams were always finger-pointing at each other. And they had a well-rehearsed list of complaints. Here are a few:
- Sales (to Marketing) – We need qualified leads. We waste all our time chasing people who are “just looking.”
- Marketing (to Sales) – We sent you 100 qualified leads last month, and you sent two quotes. Why do we even bother?
- Sales (to Service) – We lost three accounts to a competitor this month because you could not fix their system.
- Service (to Sales) – When will you stop giving away Services?
- Marketing (to Service) – Your Service contracts are much too expensive. They are eating into our product margin.
- Service (to Marketing) – Why can’t I get three hours during the next Sales training session to explain what we do and how to sell our contracts?
My condolences to those of you who are still living with this nonsense.
How To Fire the Three Stooges
Two terms must be managed across the three teams:
- Focus on Customer Outcome
- Metrics and Incentive Compensation
Let’s talk about each in turn.
Focus on Customer Outcomes
No matter what business your customers are in, they all want three outcomes:
- Increase revenue
- Reduce cost
- Minimize risks
Anytime you can show that you deliver one of these three outcomes, you become part of their conversation. Deliver two of these outcomes, and you are the conversation. Deliver all three outcomes, and there is no conversation – just the discussion about moving forward at full speed.
The only way to perform well for your customers (and prospects) is for the three customer-facing organizations to work together. They must figure out how to create one or all of the desired outcomes, deliver it, price it, support it, and most importantly, get their customer to believe they can do what you say. The Three Stooges will never build the trust and respect underpinning these types of confidence. It is truly a team effort.
Metrics and Incentive Compensation for the Internal Partners of B2B Success
When you start a new project or program, one of the first things to do is decide how you will track progress. This means deciding on the metrics and setting goals. When breaking down silos, these goals must be shared. Everyone on the team must know, understand, and embrace the outcomes your business will deliver.
Several years ago, our company signed an OEM agreement with IBM. IBM wanted to resell our new product, and we wanted them to do a great job and bring in many orders. I was the Manufacturing Technology Director and was appointed co-leader (with the Hardware Engineering Director) of a project to develop, document, and release this unique product into our Manufacturing process.
We pulled together a cross-functional team from our parent departments. We started each day with a short meeting to get an update on the previous day’s progress and individual plans for the current day. We knew the end date was too close for comfort, so my partner and I decided to prepare an unofficial ECO (Engineering Change Order), increasing the number of workdays from five to six weeks in a month from four to five. Everyone on the team signed the document and taped it to a wall in our meeting room. When the IBM representatives came for their first biweekly progress visit, they saw the ECO and changed it before signing – they made the day extend from eight hours to twelve.
Everyone was onboard, and we achieved our planned acceptance date!
Today, our team would be on an incentive plan, promising to receive a cash bonus if we achieved our goal. The bonus would have been the same percent of our monthly pay irrespective of our role, responsibility, or pay level. The bonus would shrink or grow depending on when we achieve the primary outcome – acceptance of the first production unit by IBM.
It would help if you did the same thing for all Marketing, Sales, and Service people involved with a new sales initiative. The people will then change from being involved to being committed! Your project will have the best chance to succeed, and your prospects and customers will see a cohesive team focused on helping them achieve their business goals.
Time for a high-five!
About Middlesex Consulting
Middlesex Consulting is an experienced team of professionals with the primary goal of helping capital equipment companies create more value for their clients and stakeholders. Middlesex Consulting continues to provide superior solutions to meet the needs of its clients by focusing on our strengths in Services, Manufacturing, Customer Experience, and Engineering. If you want to learn more about how we can help your organization create a team of internal partners of success, please contact us or check out some of our free articles and white papers here.