 Level 3: External Data Integration. You’ve added external non-ERP data to your existing internal data sets, creating a data integrity improvement feedback loop. For example, investing in data analysis on annual wire rope consumption by state and company. This generates opportunities by identifying wallet share values, underserved markets, and the potential to improve your alignment of resources to market size and structure. At the same time, you’re engaging and integrating business processes with customers and suppliers, taking the friction out of their processes. (Most companies are either here or on level 4.)


 Level 4: Interdependent Data Applications. At this level, big data management has become a competitive advantage, and the insights you’ve developed can be leveraged beyond the core enterprise. You can help customers get customers for their customers while moving up the value stream by providing insights to key suppliers on market behaviors and competitive positioning.


 Level 5: Best in Class. Less than 3% of firms have made it here, where marketing owns the front end of the sales funnel and is fully integrated with the field, while inside sales does most of the market serving. The field sales team is management-directed, only making qualified sales calls set up by marketing and inside sales. These companies broaden their base and


increase their wallet share by spending time on opportunity, not revenue. Generalist field sales reps have become specialists and experts on how their customers choose to buy. And digitally enabled inside selling resources provide most of the company’s market-serving activities. Level 5 companies might as well be playing a different game altogether. Their website and ERP is directly linked to their main customers’ ERP systems, and they often manage their customers’ social media marketing, too. Phone calls are replaced with advanced applications, enterprise texting, and other tech-forward approaches that


Mike Marks


enable 24/7/365 service. And their inventory automatically migrates to high-demand areas, reducing working capital to sales ratios while improving fill rates. These companies have successfully gotten the decision-making close to the customer with accountability. They’ve also managed to level up by finding the best applications for artificial intelligence, such as: Pricing negotiations where >80% is approved at the first pass; Building complex quotes from provided lists; Scheduling deliveries and truck loading sequences; Lights out order processing; Evaluating incoming leads; Expediting delayed shipments. To make it to the top, you need to invest in data analytics, AI, and whatever else is necessary for a radical shift in how you do business. Don’t get confused: The rise of big data and AI doesn’t mean that you should focus exclusively on technology. Human beings are still the beating heart of any business operation. If you’re going to grow, your evolving business model needs to include a fresh approach to talent management. Old school firms tend to wax poetic about the virtues of loyalty. Well, if you want loyalty, I suggest getting a dog. Younger generations of workers are much more willing to leave a company behind if their needs aren’t being met. According to McKinsey, employers are overlooking the relational elements that employees


place the most importance on. They want to be valued, they want a sense of belonging, and they want opportunities to advance. When they don’t get those things, they leave—and employers are often left scratching their heads because this doesn’t line up with their assumptions. I’ve been consulting for nearly four decades, and every single client has had at least one manager who was outgrown by position requirements, a bully or a disruptive/incompetent nepotism hire. And bad bosses make employees jump ship in a hurry. So, you’ll need to weed ineffective leaders and bullies out of the ranks if you want to reduce the outflow of good talent. This means investing in feedback surveys, providing leadership coaching to managers who need to improve, and maybe even throwing your old employee handbook out the window in favor of a more flexible common-sense approach. Plan to provide a rich employment experience. Each employee should have a 12-to-18-month career development plan that gives them something to look forward to. If they feel adrift, they’ll hitch a ride with the first rescue boat that comes along. Of course, no matter how good your talent management approach may be, you’ll still have people leave seeking greener pastures. It’s important to not see this as a betrayal worth burning a bridge over. Develop a process that makes it easier for those people to rejoin the company and save face. Talent development is just another opportunity to create a competitive advantage. Show your employees where they are on the succession chart and ask them about their career expectations. Offer well-funded training and development courses to employees who have mastered core position basics. And identify all the TBDs that define your expansion recruiting requirements. If you can increase the premium that your competitors must pay to recruit one of your employees, you can achieve the continuity necessary for real growth. 


For more information visit ircg.com.


ochmagazine.com | Fall 2024


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