What Happens to Peace & Happiness
Being at peace and being happy are goals I would like to achieve someday. But, the promise I made to lead a sales meeting with an unhappy customer is getting in my way. Being in front of this customer, who we’ve upset often over the years, is not the best place to find happiness. Or, peace.
My default position is to remain safe and secure. To avoid pain. To go on living without the added stress of putting myself in challenging situations. But, I do like to challenge myself. And, putting myself in uncomfortable positions will be challenging.
When challenged the outcomes have been amazing and beyond anyone’s understanding. I did find the courage. I did take a risk. I did stand up for what I believe in so that others could live in a better world. Well, at least have a better work life. And, most folks I worked with spent a lot of time at work. When I see a better way of doing something and it can help others, I will do my best to get the greatest effect from my knowledge and understanding.
Fear
The one thing which keeps me from being courageous is simple. It’s fear. Plain, unadulterated, paralyzing fear. And, when I realize this is what’s holding me back, I get depressed because I sometimes believe I’m helpless to overcome the fear. And, being helpless at my age, is a depressing thing. I hide from my responsibilities. I procrastinate. I need things to be perfect. I’m sure something terrible is about to happen. Somewhere in there the anxiety starts, the faithful companions of worthlessness and of being un-loved come along for the ride.
Fear Does Not Last, Sometimes
I don’t know where it comes from but there are times where I can get past the anxious feelings, become worthy and feel the love of others again. Maybe I got enough sleep. Maybe I got enough sunshine. Maybe I got good exercise. Maybe I had a stimulating conversation with someone. Maybe all these things happened and I find myself in a productive mood. Not only that, I realize there is nothing threatening me. No impending harm is standing outside the front door. Or no foreign entity is about the destroy me in some deadly, but silent way. I hold out hope these things are not happening and will not happen in the few minutes. I hang on to these feelings as long as I can. I have faith.
I can relate to the pressing issues our customer has. I have faith I can show them from where these issues come from. I can take it on the chin and admit our company is at the root of the problem. And, I have faith I can show them we have a solid solution to these issues. They need to give us a chance to prove it. But, before they give us a chance, I need to be prepared for the next sales meeting.
Brainstorming the Sales Meeting Flow
Enough about me. It’s time to dismiss the fleeting thoughts, the feelings that come with them, and the distractions. As my staff takes their seats the coffee cups land on the table top. I hear a peasant good morning here. A pleasant good morning there. I’m satisfied to see the casual way everyone gets along these days. If you would have seen this group six months ago you would have thought they hated each other. So competitive. So sensitive. But, today it is different.
I clear my throat and say, “Good morning everyone! This morning’s staff meeting is going to be a little different. I need your help preparing for a sales meeting next week.”
“What do we know about sales boss,” Jim said.
You Know More Than You Think
“Much more than you think,” I said. “We are about to test the impact of our reliability engine on our customer’s environment. We don’t need to focus on features and benefits of our catalog of offerings. We do need to focus on showing how a reliable suppler can improve the financials of our customer. We know a lot more about this than we think we do.”
Looking at Jim, Karen said, “We do know enough about our customers business because I have taken more than one tour of their facility. Customers like bringing us in on these tours with their customers because of our unique product offerings. Although their facility is state of the art, it’s follows a predictable and conventional production process.”
Look at Your Own Problems for Guidance
I said, “It’s the same way we look at our own problems like rescheduling hassles, procurement headaches, and holding higher than necessary inventories (to protect ourselves from our own poor suppliers performance). But, this is the tip of the iceberg. In the old days, our late deliveries created these other problems.”
As Jim was speaking, our CFO took a seat in the back of the room. I glanced over at him, gave him a one minute sign, and looked back at my notes.
I said, “Exactly. I talked with Gary and he gave me some guidelines to follow. Jacques is allowing me to start the sales pitch and hand it off to him at some point to close the deal.”
Karen said, “Are you going to start off with what our company has been focused on, e.g., product development, quality improvements, and competitive pricing? These are well known facts about our company.”
Objections & Gaining Commitment to the Reliability Offer
I said, “During the sales pitch, we want to keep the number of objections to a minimum. This of an objection as a thought or a comment from the customer which implies or stated another way means they don’t agree with what I said. Gary told me that the number of objectives raised is proportional to the likelihood an advance or a sale will be made. If was off the cuff advice, but it sounds like a good guideline to follow.”
“OK,” Karen said. “At some point, to include these things can show that we are not sacrificing what customer like about us to be reliable. The changes we’ve made over the past few months are still surprising to me and I was here to make them. Someone not involved with the changes we’ve made may wonder if we cut corners somewhere along the line.”
I said, “Good point. We can focus on product development, quality improvements, and competitive pricing. But, not at the expense of our on-time delivery and consistent delivery lead times. Customers know what they are going to get, but have to guess at when they will get what they ordered from us.”
What Does Everyone Agree On (For Sure)
“That sounds good,” Karen said. “But, to prevent any objections, focusing on what they are already telling us, we are an unreliable supplier, would be the best place to start. Everyone agrees on that point, no argument.”
I said, “I agree, but there is something even more damaging that everyone will agree with, too. It’s that customers don’t trust us. We’ve promised due dates and broken our promise so many times they don’t trust us, no matter how well designed and manufactured our solutions are.”
Protecting Operations
Jim said, “Right, look at what we do when we don’t trust our suppliers. When we are on the receiving end of poor on-time delivery and inconsistent delivery lead times, it forces us to protect their own operations. We do this by planning for longer lead times than quoted by suppliers, hold inventory, if we can, and place orders with only preliminary information.”
I said, “This also forces us to pass on longer lead times to our own customers. It increases our work in process inventories (both raw and work in process). And, it reduces our flexibility to make changes because of the time consumed by the expected change orders. I’m sure they will be able to relate this these things.”
Wasting Resources
Karen said, “Don’t forget when supplier deliver late and delivery lead times are inconsistent, this forces us to waste our own resources. For example, we are forced to take extra efforts to manage suppliers, work overtime or subcontract expensive outside resources, and under-utilize equipment.”
I said, “This leads to more hassle and frustration of managing more suppliers and reducing our efficiency. I’m sure they will be able to relate this these things, too.”
Rescheduling Hassles
Jim said, “Poor supplier delivery performance also forces us to reschedule our orders. What a hassle. We are forced to shuffle In-house operations, re-prioritize sub-contractors & other suppliers and then you have to manage our customer’s expectations. Sorry about that, boss.”
I said, “I dread having to make those phone calls. But, this also leads to a negative impact on other orders, more unhappy customers, and missing other commitments. We are going around in circles sometimes.”
Estimating the Financial Impact
Our CFO, Rodney Rabinowitz, said, “You have a good handle on how our own unreliable supplier make things difficult for us. Let me give you some more perspective on these issues from a financial perspective. Our customers focus on reducing costs like everyone else. They have programs to put in place lean production methods, and focus on efficiency, and they have their own goals to be on time. But, they are forced to work with unreliable suppliers. They have to guess about the best way to reduce the impact of the supplier’s delivery variability. In other words, suppliers don’t make it easy of our customers to make the margins or profits they would like.”
I said, “I don’t know how much worse we can make things appear. Do we all agree that our customers experience the same things when their suppliers deliver late?”
There were nods all around.
We’ve covered the direct effects of late deliveries on our customers operations. We’ve covered the continued negative effects on a customers resource use, rescheduling and the necessary ways needed to protect their own operations. And, to convert these issues into an impact on their financials is the sour cherry on top of the cake. Once I go through these impacts, I’m sure a customer will agree I understand what their problems are.
I look back at the notes I took when I was on the phone with Gary.
How To Solve the Customer’s Problems
I said, “Next, we need to get agreement that there is a way to solve these issues. Gary said to first review the criteria for a good solution, to any solution, the customer is considering. Our customers are not sitting on their hands waiting for a reliable supplier to appear. In fact, they have given up looking for one. They don’t think it’s possible. So, they’ve put things in place to protect themselves like Karen mentioned earlier.”
Rodney said, “If you don’t mind, I’ll stay for the rest of this meeting.”
Looking at me, he said, “I may be able to contribute something. In the meantime, please continue. I’m curious to see how you are going to dig yourself out of the deep hole you’ve dug for yourself.”
I smiled. I was curious, too. I worry a little that we have have laid on the problems too thick. Made things sound worse than they seem. A little over the top. But, the I want the impact to overcome the denial that anything is wrong. Or, rely on what they’ve learned to do to live with unreliable suppliers. They still make money. They are still in business.”
Criteria for a Good Solution
I said, “Plus, setting criteria for a good solution will also blocks a customer from considering any other supplier who don’t meet these criteria. I know our competitors have not made the same kind of improvements we have. So, I’ve written down these criteria for now. They are, on time, every time, consistent and competitive lead times without compromising product development, quality improvement and competitive pricing. These are all the things I’m confident we can do.”
Rodney said, “And, the solution must be sustainable over the long term. This should stop most, if not all, competitors in their tracks. Depending on their situation our competitors may be able to match up from time to time, but not for the ling haul.”
The Proof
Jim said, “The first thing I would show them is our on-time performance for the past six months. It shows a starting point of about 50% and making a steep climb to the high 90% range after a few months and staying there.”
I nod.
I said, “We can also show this kind of performance is not a fluke. It’s not because we have excess capacity coming out of our ears. There are some unique operational changes we can share. We don’t have time nor do we want to go into too much detail. But, we need to say enough to show the customer something different has happened with our operations.”
Easy to Understand Changes in the Way We Operate
Rodney said, “For example, we’ve limited our work in process. This provides stable a workflow. We use a single priority system so that we work on the right jobs at the right time. And, most important, we recognize the load on key resources which ensures we sustain the ability to deliver orders as promised.”
I looked at Rodney in surprise. I had no idea he was so interested in the main elements of our CCPM solution. Not only that, he summed them up so well. Very unlike any CFO I know.
I said, “The CCPM solution elements we’ve used are obvious to us now. But, I bet they won’t be obvious to our customers. Remember, we will be talking to the procurement department. Unless they have operational experience they may not be able to relate to anything of these things, but we’ll leave them in for now.”
No-one spoke. Jim and Karen were looking down at the table. Rodney was glancing away.
Getting Serious About Our Offer
I said, “But, here’s the thing I know will get their attention. We need show we are serious about being on time. Remember the story about the plumber who promised on time delivery? He offered to let me reduce the invoice amount any the amount of damage we would have caused if he didn’t arrive on time. This self-imposed penalty told me he was serious about being on time. There has to be a way we can show this same level of commitment to our offer.”
Karen said, “In other words, if we fail to deliver on our promise, we’ll pay.”
I said, “That’s right. We are announcing, for the first time in our industry, a self-imposed penalty for non-performance. I’ll work out the details with you, Rodney, and test some penalties before the sales meeting. We need to get a feel for how much of penalty it will take for a customer to take us seriously.”
Rodney looked surprised. His eyes looked at me and then scanned the others in the room.
I said, “Keep in mind if we maintain our excellent performance, we will never have to pay the self-imposed penalty. Don’t worry Rodney.”
Other Elements to Support Our Offer
Rodney said, “The only other thing we can say are the things which support our long term criteria. We are a fourth generation, family-owned and have been in business since 1910. We’ve had no work stoppage in our history. Our safety rating is the best in the industry. We are ISO Certified. And, we have financial flexibility due to our complete lack of debt.”
Jim said, “I’m feeling better and better about our company. Thanks, Rodney. I didn’t even know about some of these things. But, shouldn’t we expect something from our customers in exchange for what we are offering?”
I said, “What are you thinking, Jim? We expect them to order more from us. Isn’t that enough?”
The Not So Fine Print
Jim said, “I’m no expert at sales, but I’m thinking about any loop holes we need to close. With a unique offer like this there will be some misunderstandings. For example, it’s important to us that when we make a due date promise, we have the information necessary to be able to keep that promise. The due date should be provided when we have full working documentation, drawings and specifications. I can’t promise something I don’t have all the information for.”
Karen said, “I agree, but sometimes customers need to make changes to their order. In such cases, how about we review the impact of the change and provide a new due date. if necessary.”
I said, “You guys are on a roll. Here’s another element to consider. In some case a customer is an integral part of the order fulfillment process. They need to provide approvals, inspections, etc., A delay in such a step impacts the ability to ship on time. So, a new due date will be provided when the step is completed.”
Rodney said, “Let me pile on two more things. One, the penalty, whatever we decide it is, will not apply in the event of fire, war, terrorist activity, strike, lockout, flood or natural catastrophe. It’s the lawyer in me, sorry about that. And, two, we are counting on their adherence to our agreed upon payment terms.”
I said, “Wow, I didn’t think these things would come out so well. Good job everyone!”
“Give us some credit boss. We’re good,” said Jim. Everyone nodded. I smiled.
A Sigh of Relief
It was good to be working with others. It wasn’t always this way. I thought the only way to get things done was to be on my own. I didn’t need anyone. No one could do it as well as I could have. I’ve come to realize how egotistical that position is. The work we did in our staff meeting proves I do enjoy working with others. We did do some good work and in far less time and effort than I could have done by myself.
I said, “Where are we at this point in the presentation? I can ask the customer how well they think we’ll do to meet the solution criteria. I’ll get agreement. If so, it’s over to Jacques to close the deal or advance us to the next stage of the sales process.”
Rodney said, “Good job everyone!” Turning to me he said, “I’ll do some calculations and see if I can give you a number for the costs savings your CCPM program has produced. I know that wasn’t the point, but it will help customers with their decision about the benefits of our reliability offer.”
I said, “Thanks Rodney. Is there anything else for this morning?”
No one said anything. Everyone looked at everyone else and then left the room as they came.
Finally, Some Peace & Happiness
I felt encouraged. I needed to do more preparations, but I now have the content I need to make the sales pitch. It will be unconventional, but it’s the start I need to help me find peace and to be happy. I hope it will help others, as well.