Work-life balance is not the only equilibrium that need be of concern to business leaders. An imbalance between sales and service is the reason that most companies are not achieving their full potential. Even many of the best organizations that are growing at a rapid clip suffer from at least a slow drip of lost opportunity as a result of this asymmetry. To see a picture of this phenomenon, check out the process visual at the bottom of this post.
Strategies, tactics, and cultural factors each have an impact on the Sales Momentum or Service Momentum of a company. The good news is that momentum can be measured and rebalanced to create a sustainable system that continuously stimulates profitable growth.
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Where to start? One of the five factors is the current level of effectiveness of your company. Answer the following questions:
- Are the revenues from any one customer more than 10 percent of your total revenues?
- Are your gross profits from your top ten customers more than 40 percent of your total gross profits?
- In the past year, did you find yourself doing less delegating when compared to the previous year?
- Do your salespeople struggle to meet or even exceed sales quotas?
- In comparing the past two years, are you spending more time on tactics versus strategy?
- Besides your sales efforts, does your company rely more on advertising and Internet marketing than on referrals?
- In comparing the past two years, have your gross profits shrunk?
- When your customers demand a rate or fee reduction, do you ever give in?
- Does technology ever interfere with efficiency?
- Do you struggle to retain at least 90% of your staff for at least five years or longer?
The more “yes” answers you have, the more that effectiveness, or lack of it, is a key factor in any imbalance in your sales and service systems. This is where to start — turning those “yes” answers into “noes.”
Achieving Stimulative Symmetry will allow you to achieve higher profits more quickly and with less effort. What a wonderful contributor this can be to your work-life balance as you have more time to do things other than work!
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