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middle managers are high up the pyramid “Sales performance can often be down Know your lucky numbers
and only sales and service teams with variable to customers rather than the sales person,” There’s no doubt that discounting and
skills and attitude interact with customers. said Morrell. value offers are a key part of any business
Instead, they advocate the creation of a “If someone in a call centre isn’t procurement strategy in the current climate.
new horizontal model, with non-execs and getting many calls in, it’s going to be very But that doesn’t mean that the biggest
support roles such as HR and IT feeding into difficult for them to meet their targets even discounts are necessarily the most effective.
a single customer-facing group incorporating if their conversion rate is excellent.” Morrell and Blake believe that if you have
everyone from chief exec to the most junior to discount, you should be clever about the
sales rep. Recognise a failing business way you do it.
“Hierarchies sort of work, but if you go to The brutal fact is that “bad times clear away Common mistakes include jumping to
Japan, you’ll see managers who are much bad businesses”, said Morrell. round numbers such as 10%, when you could
more visible within the team, and that But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still time retain some margin by offering less common
system really works,” said Morrell. to heed the warning signs and take action to discounts such as 3.5% or even 2.7%. The
“It motivates the team as a whole, and safeguard your company. latter could be particularly effective, as
makes them much more creative.” Reality Training suggested a checklist of customers can be swayed by percentages and
indicators for a badly-run business: prices that aren’t commonplace.
Get rid of targets ■Owner-managed businesses with no other “Don’t underestimate the importance of
Perhaps the suggestion that raised the managers sevens in prices,” added Morrell.
most eyebrows during the presentation ■Products retained for sentimental reasons “People are used to seeing £399 or £599,
was the proposal to ditch reports, ■Any company that has an inability to but they’ll look twice if you use a figure such
forecasting and targets to maximise adopt serious change as £417 that they’re not used to.”
the time spent with customers. ■A lack of creativity in sales and marketing, Blake said: “Any price that is rounded
Although Morrell and Blake leaving only a discounting option looks negotiable. If your customer has an
recognised that businesses ■Poor communication both from managers offer of £599 from somewhere else, and you
needed structure and focus, and departments pitch them £613, they may pay slightly more
they suggested that continual ■A fear culture perpetuated by old-style as they feel you’ve made the effort to get ex-
assessment and judging management actly the right holiday for them rather than
could be detrimental ■A siege mentality rather than an attack offering something straight off the shelf.”
to a business. strategy – ie “we’re just trying to ride
“Why not consider the storm” ■ An e-book called The Perfect
having no targets ■Announcing recruitment and salary Storm: 30 ways to drive your
beyond personal freezes; they may be necessary, but there’s business, is currently available
goals?” said no need to publicise them from Reality Training. Go to
Blake. ■Suggesting the recession “is allowing the realitytraining.co.uk
“Targets are company to get rid of dead wood”. Why
gone in no time, was the dead wood there in the first place?
and you have a ■Any company totally reliant on
situation where people who realise they are discounting
not going to hit their targets for a month
give up and think they’ll try again next And when it comes to dealing
month instead.” with problems in your business,
Instead, Morrell and Blake advocated don’t automatically assume that
setting realistic personal development cutting costs, particularly staff, is the
goals for staff and rewarding them for only answer.
meeting them, but not always tying “You need to root out operational
those goals in to hitting numbers. inefficiency before cutting back,” said Blake.
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