What to Do When Sales Are Down?

Rarely do we have the patience, tolerance and overall fortitude to do something about change. Patience suffers even more when that change appears or is in reality adverse to us. Businesses seem to get the back draft of this human tradition and pull away from their internally entrenched docks at the wrong speed to make the needed transitions.

I believe there are a 4 significant ways to overcome the "ADD effect" when times are seemingly good or bad - it isn't often that markets are headlined any differently than the extremes anyway:

1. Build research into your business - at every level. This doesn't mean a department should be created or bolstered. It means that you should charge your people with finding their most important success indicators, which should be metrics, and publicize them for the company to see (no, not necessarily P&L stuff. Believe me, there are an amazing amount of numbers in your business that would shock you when correlated to some of the biggies. The invention of certain metrics will be proven or dis-proven through the process and that is a good thing. It runs norms and ghosts into a more clear reality. Some end up in the trash bin where they always belonged...). Make it a daily headline and the definitive outcomes you can expect are better focus and promises to the business. After a short time you will then experience true involvement and collaboration around same goals - from all areas of the business. Don't make it too formal that people don't challenge the results or measurements. Don't make it too informal where it's hard to stick to subject.

2. Codify your key processes that result from learning the fundamentals on how things get done vs. what's been done already. You know the adage: "Teach once. Learn twice."

3. Do these things on as many levels of your business as you can in small town hall meetings/huddles each week. Maybe even twice per week. You won't believe the cross-training that can occur just from everyone being in the same room with some form of ownership in what's publicized.

4. Build a strong and focused performance management system. No matter what the business climate is, people need a solid framework for what performance means. Points 1-3 make it easier to do this. It should be as concise and focused a document as possible - have no fear of the one-pager. A second page should have well-documented monthly updates on the reviewer/reviewee's performance scores and rationale. This is the boat most often missed. Performance shouldn't be discussed and evolved in 3-6-12 month increments. It can be officially scored in that timeframe, but it should be scrutinized monthly. If nothing else, it will serve a greater periodicity of motivation and relationship-building for a superior and his talent.

Organizations who build themselves on research will be prepared for the reality of changes that face them regardless of market headlines and realities.

E of NE 10:07AM February 22, 2009