Kejian 168
Business & Management Resources
Archive for July, 2008
Establishing Performance Objectives and Measurements
One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot do it ‘‘the same old way.” That would be like trying to drive an old oversized luxury car from the 1950s today. It may be beautiful to look at and comfortable to ride in, but the quality, gas mileage, and shortage of technologies will make it useless for anything but an antique auto exhibit.
There are four areas to consider when creating or setting performance objectives. These are:
- Needs of the business
- Performance needs
- Training needs
- Work environment needs
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A true one-piece-flow system would be a zero-inventory system where goods just appear when they are needed by the customer. The closest system Toyota has devised to achieve this is the one-piece flow cell that builds to order only at the precise time the product is needed. But when pure flow is not possible because processes are too far apart or the cycle times to perform the operations vary a great deal, the next best choice is often Toyota’s kanban system.
Rother and Shook (1999), in a widely circulated book about Toyota’s Production System called Learning to See, say, “Flow where you can, pull where you must.” If you want to design lean systems, repeat this phrase every day when you get up to start the day. You can go far with this simple principle. Where it is not possible to create a one-piece flow, the next best thing is to design a pull system with some inventory.
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You have now completed some key documents involved in successful sales force planning. So far, you have:
- Developed a snapshot of the current environment
- Applied trend analysis to your snapshot to give you a vision of the future
- Determined prioritized corporate objectives
- Clarified short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals
- Created directional statements for your sales team Read the rest of this entry »
One way to demystify the concept of kanban is by thinking of simple examples of pull-replenishment systems in everyday life. Like when you decide to buy gas for your car. Does your gas tank get filled according to a schedule? Would you consider simply filling the tank once per week on Monday morning? I doubt it. If you did, you would find you sometimes really do not need gas Monday morning and other times you will run out before Monday. Most likely, when you notice the gas gauge approaching empty, you stop at a gas station. The same pull system behavior goes for most routine things we purchase in our households. The simple trigger is that we notice our inventory is running low on an item and at some point say, “Yep, I better go out and get some more of that.”
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Do you know where you need to take your team in the near and long-term future? If called upon, could you easily and clearly communicate these goals to any and all interested parties? Let’s take a look at some sales management tools to do just that.
Mission and Vision Statements
In essence, you have just constructed the foundation of a mission statement and a vision statement for your sales organization. Surprised that you need them? You may have thought that these directional statements are only for the organization as a whole. The truth is, exceptionally well-run companies have a mission statement and a vision statement for every department. There are two important considerations when constructing directional statements. First, they must be aligned from your sales organization up through the overall corporate statements. Second, they must support the coordinated long-term approach to a vision of success. Let’s take a look at these two powerful statements. Read the rest of this entry »