Top ten fundamentals of best practice

Many corporations like to think they have best practice processes already in place. Richard Ilsley of Synogis highlights the top 10 fundamental issues that must be considered with respect to any best practice process.

It is hard to find an organisation that is not using the term ‘best practice’ somewhere within its sales operation. It seems that no matter where you go, someone is talking about it and everyone wants it. But what is it and how do we know when we have it?

A recent survey by The Sales & Marketing Consulting Group suggests that some clarity is required. The survey involved senior managers from a number of different organisations and considered attitudes as well as processes.

Here is the initial question, so please take a moment to answer it yourself. “Is your organisation part of the upper quartile of best practice companies?” The response from the senior managers was that 65 percent of them agreed that their organisation was in the top 25 percent of best practice companies. Clearly there is some need for clarity and objectivity.

This article summarises the main learning in the form of “the best practice top ten fundamentals.”

1. Best practice must be defined
If best practice is to have any meaning it cannot be a vague intangible concept. This means that the company needs to be able to define specifically what it means by ‘best practice’ so that everyone can understand what best practice looks like.

In some cases awkward questions need to be asked. Questions that many people would like to ignore quietly. Questions like “What added value does the customer believe we offer beyond the product?” “What do we have to do to increase the volume while maintaining or reducing the cost of sale?” “What is success and what causes it to happen?”