While reading the newspapers today…..
“The UK economy is like Wile E. Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons who runs off the edge of a cliff and is suspended in mid air, only plummeting to earth when he finally realises his predicament.”
This rather stark simile, taken from today’s Guardian describes the parlous state of the UK economy.
The same grammatical comparison could be used to describe the situation some companies can find themselves in when not using disciplined sales planning & forecasting techniques.
Like Wile E Coyote, his legs spinning fast as he zooms off towards oblivion, sales teams can appear to be successful. The team is out of the office, lots of meetings are taking place, technical resources busy doing ‘stuff’ and lots of lunch receipts and mileage chits are flowing back into the expenses department.
But of course what is important is not just the activity taking place but the movement of opportunities through the various levels of sales cycle from pre-qualification to closure.
The process of planning, delivering & managing marketing/sales activity MUST also include the ability and discipline to measure sales opportunity metrics through the sales cycle. This mandatory aspect of running a business helps alleviate those big surprises that can lead to heavy if not catastrophic landings for SME enterprises.
I’m showing my age here but its the difference between the manic reactive plummeting Coyote and my real favourite, the most effectual Top Cat !
And now an ad break
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High Five Business Limited helps companies reduce the risks of cartoon capers in their sales efforts through consultancy and fully managed implementations of Customer Relationship Management solutions.
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That’s All Folks !!
