Some months ago, I was talking to a sales VP at a high-tech consulting firm. He mentioned that, at present, his company’s revenue comes from existing accounts and partner referrals, about a 50-50 split. Then, he mentioned that he wanted to develop a sales model where his revenue was coming from existing accounts, partner referrals and new accounts, about a 33-33-33 split.
As we kept talking, I could literally see the huge chasm between strategy & execution in his organization. This divide is especially wide in the sales domain where most personnel are heads-down-focused on making the next month’s numbers. Strategy just goes out the window.
Now, what makes up a sound sales strategy? Some key elements include:
Ask any sales executive and s/he will mention that tuning any one of the above elements will take years of focused effort. How then is a sales organization to adjust its sales strategy while being focused on its current numbers? At the risk of this post looking like a thinly veiled sales attempt, I think that adjustments to sales strategies can best be done by independent, outside consultants that aren’t exclusively focused on near-term results.
The above example of the sales domain is particularly poignant and illustrates the deep divide between strategy and execution. However, this issue is also at the root of constant tussles in the board room where scarce resources have to be allocated to either tackling today’s competitors or being in a better position tomorrow. There are no easy answers. And I think, the Management Consulting industry has a sound future …
Cheers,
Sampath
Several of my friends have told me that my blog has a doomsday-ish ring to it. If you think I sound like an alarmist, you should read a book called The Elephant and the Dragon by Robyn Meredith. Robyn is a foreign correspondent for Forbes magazine and reports on China and India. And I must say that she has done a fantastic job of recapping the development of China and India as the next economic superpowers. And the fact that she is reporting from the field, based on first-hand observations, does add credence to her estimates and projections.
Robyn has a couple of very innovative concepts she pushes through in her book. First, she calls the development of China (as the factory of the world) and India (as the back-office of the world) as the Third Industrial Revolution, at par with the developments in Britain in the 1800s and the assembly line invented by Henry Ford in the early 1900s. Second, she introduces the concept of the Disassembly Line. With recent developments in supply chain management, technology and network connectivity, one of the drivers behind the growth of China and India is the ability to disaggregate the manufacturing and back-office processes into more and more granular levels.
Just to highlight a few quantitative and qualitative observations that Robyn makes in her book:
There are significant downsides to this growth spurt as well.
What does all this mean for the US? I mentioned in an earlier post that the only way for the US to stay competitive is to keep innovating. Robyn articulates this point much better by emphasizing that:
All in all, Robyn has done a phenomenal job of paraphrasing such complex issues as the emergence of China & India, projections for the next few decades and the implications for US companies & employees. Highly recommended reading.
Sampath
Every professional plays the role of a consultant at some point in his or her career. Some more than others. Large companies these days are training their employees on consulting skills because even within organizations, there are “customers” who need to be “sold” on ideas and solutions.
Having been a Management Consultant over the last decade or so, I have heard customers, both external and internal, ask me two questions over and over:
• What can you tell me that I don’t know?
• Why should I trust you?
This leads to my hypothesis that for a Management Consultant to be effective, s/he needs to be competent and independent. Competent enough to walk into the meeting with the customer well aware of the customer’s issues, pain-points, industry trends and articulate potential solutions. Independent enough to think primarily about what is best for the customer and not just offer solutions that are thinly-veiled attempts at cross or up-selling.
And over the last decade, I have seen blatant violations of both the above codes of conduct. I have seen consulting practices that have over-emphasized buzz-words, management fads and nebulous solutions that will never see the light of day. I have also seen consultants recommend solutions that they themselves are in a prime position to implement. But, I have also seen up-standing consultants who know what they are talking about and put the customer’s interests ahead of theirs. And needless to say, these are the types of consultants who are well regarded by their customers.
So, if you are in the business of dispensing advise, figure out how to score high in the competence and independence scales and the rest will follow.
Sampath