How to build a sales force that delivers
Results Brief newsletter 9/20/2006
by Dianne Ledingham, Mark Kovac and Heidi Locke Simon
Today's smart companies are turning selling into science. But they're not depending on the native talents and gut instincts of their best and brightest to do so. Nor are they hiring extra salespeople. By adding scientific systems to the sales process, top-performing organizations are responding more effectively to new market environments.
Who has the "D"?
Results Brief newsletter 6/28/2006
by Paul Rogers and Marcia Blenko
Fast, effective decision making can lift an entire organization's performance. The key is to be clear about where the bottlenecks lie and who is responsible - and accountable - for breaking through them.
Localization: a quiet revolution in consumer markets
Results Brief newsletter 5/10/2006
by Darrell K. Rigby and Vijay Vishwanath
A quiet revolution is under way in consumer markets. Standardization-once the growth strategy of the goliaths- has become a dead end. Consumers are rebelling against cookie-cutter stores that sell the same goods to everyone. Now success for retailers and their suppliers hinges on their ability to cater to local differences.
Cutting through complexity
Results Brief newsletter 3/27/2006
by Mark Gottfredson
It's a dilemma faced by even the most successful companies. Customers are crying out for innovation. Yet if you create too many offerings, costs spiral out of control; create too few and you miss profitable sales. Because traditional accounting systems do not capture the full costs of complexity, we have found that most companies tip the balance toward too much. Companies that find the right balance-their "innovation fulcrum"-can often dramatically improve their performance, with cost reductions of as much as 35%, along with up to 40% increases in sales.
Blowing the whistle on bad profits
Results Brief newsletter 2/7/2006
by Fred Reichheld and Rob Markey
A dangerous addiction threatens today's corporations. It's the addiction to bad profits-profits reaped at the expense of the customer-and it can seriously damage a firm's prospects for strong, lasting growth. But companies can turn bad profits into good profits-which come from customers who love doing business with you. Good profits create an army of customers who promote your business. They generate growth that can be sustained over the long term. To get on the right path, companies should start by tracking a simple metric they can calculate by asking customers just one question. At the heart of a new way of getting actionable customer feedback, this one question is helping companies become more customer focused. This article describes Bain's insights into how to harness this powerful tool.
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