One goal every business is constantly in pursuit of, regardless of industry, is increased sales. And while the goal is the same, the strategy on how to accomplish that goal differs from business to business. At UP&R we view sales as a process, just like manufacturing. It’s not simply a matter of turning to our sales team and saying “Sell more.” We track inputs of the sales process, as well as various outputs to determine if we’re on the right track.
We track calls made, quotes generated, dollar value of quotes, success rate of quotes and total amount of new business. We then compare all of these to company goals. If our goal is to attain growth of $3 million in new business, and we’re only quoting for $2 million dollars, then we know where we need to improve and we can determine the best way to do that. Are we making enough calls? Are we calling the right people? There are numeric checks at every step, allowing us to plan rather than simply throwing darts at a map and saying “Hmmm….let’s try our luck in Virginia this week.”
Our strategy is based off of the Japanese manufacturing idiom that this blog post is named for—“Plan. Do. Action. Check.” The strength of this methodology lies in the fact that it’s circular, not linear. We execute our plan, benchmark it versus expected results and then take action accordingly, be that corrective action or simply continuing what we’re doing. We can adjust our strategy to meet our financial goal, or we can hone our strategy in order to shoot past that initial goal. Plan. Do. Action. Check. is a means for continuous improvement, and it’s a strategy worth considering for any business looking to succeed.