Rugby. There’s plenty of rivalry in the game, even within the same team. But during the scrum, all personal goals are put aside for the good of the next play. As the legendary Sir Clive Woodward (former England Rugby player and coach) said:
'Concentrate on measuring performance, and winning will take care of itself'
Food for thought.
Terms like ‘performance’ and ‘process’ sound a tad boring, and perhaps elementary. But countless sports coaches and business experts over the years have proven that the greatest gains are achieved by the cumulative effect of numerous small adjustments. Teams can work stronger and smarter than individuals, and this requires a little more energy, focus, patience, creativity and commitment from all concerned. But don’t despair! The Enforma team wants you to start thinking about the tactical, high impact changes that can be made to effect a tangible increase in performance:
Step 1: Carry out an assessment of your current position concerning data, people, processes and systems.
Step 2: Define your destination; where you are now, versus where you need to be.
Step 3: Assess how you will travel from current position to destination. This destination must be clearly articulated through goals relating to data, people, process and systems.
Basic? Maybe. Or perhaps you are already wondering if your people have what it takes to make this leap, if they are maintaining entrenched positions and there has already been a breakdown of communication between your Marketing and Sales teams.
As a starting point, here are a few ways of assessing the integration maturity of your Marketing and Sales practice (as one team):
Do your Marketing and Sales Heads collaborate on Business Development strategies and tactics? How often?
Have Lead qualification criteria for Marketing and Sales teams been clearly and collaboratively defined and agreed?
Are the processes and systems for generating, processing, qualifying and progressing Leads into High Value, High Probability Sales Opportunities properly documented and followed?
Is Lead progression documented and therefore visible to the management team?
How do your Marketing and Sales departments score on the points above? Any rugby team with a weak scrum discipline will not consistently score, so we ignore collaboratively integrated, defined and documented, strategies and tactical plans at our peril. For without these foundations data, people, processes and systems cannot not be properly aligned to create an effective business development engine.
Perhaps you'll consider floating these ideas with your heads of department next week? Or perhaps you would like to discuss your situation with an experienced professional? If so, don’t hesitate to get in touch.