A Story Of Lost And Restored Vision

I had dinner with a friend of mine recently and the story he shared with me was eye-opening! In fact, if you have ever experienced a drop in sales, reduced margins, increased turnover, and general frustration among the employees in your business, then his story could have an impact on you as well! It is a story of lost and restored vision.

Lost Vision

My friend relayed his story about a time when he had to mentally step away from his business for a period of roughly 6 months. He was still present in this business on a daily basis, but his mind was far from there. He had another project he was working on that was consuming his attention.

Since his business had been humming along for quite a while, he was not worried. It was in good hands and he was right there on site in case anything went wrong. It seemed like the perfect situation.

Unfortunately, after a period of time, my friend noticed that sales had been trending downward. Even worse, his normal margins had begun to shrink. Knowing his company as well as he did, he knew he had to get to the bottom of what was causing the problem.

Back To Selling Music Boxes?

My friend’s business manufactures and sells music boxes. He built this business from scratch in his garage and now it was the largest of its kind in North America. This was not a typical small business and he did not expect to find a small problem.

As he stepped back into the business, he began to listen to what his salespeople were saying. What he found was not surprising to him, but might confuse you. He found that his salespeople had fallen into a habit of selling music boxes and he had to fix that!

Like I said, you might be confused about this point. Isn’t selling music boxes the central business of this company? Actually, according to my friend, he never sold music boxes as he built the company. He has never sold music boxes and did not intend to start now.

Selling Product Vs. Solution

From the first day of his business, rather than selling music boxes, my friend sold a solution to the risk that small retailers faced every day. He did not focus on the features and benefits of his music boxes. He did not focus on the pricing of the various product in his portfolio.

Instead of selling them on his particular product, he would show the small business owners how his product line could help them overcome the risk associated with their daily overhead expenses. He sold them on how his product line could increase their revenue without a significant investment on their part. He provided a solution to the problem they faced.

Unfortunately, he found that his sales force had begun selling music boxes and no longer sold the solution to the retailers’ risk. In doing so, they lost some sales when the retailers focused on comparing features and benefits with other product lines. The salespeople created reduced margins when they began competing on price, negotiating in desperation to prevent a further loss of sales.

Restored Vision

Have you seen this happen in your business? Have you seen your sales force forget the vision that you first gave them? Have you witnessed their focus shift to competing head-to-head with their competition and giving up on what makes your company’s product unique? Have you experienced the loss of sales, shrinking margins, increased turnover, and general frustration I mentioned earlier?

If so, I think it is worth your time to see what my friend did to correct his situation. He did not walk in and fire the sales manager. He did not place the blame on his sales force. Instead, he recognized that he was the one individual that could correct the problem. He stepped back into the business to begin recasting the original vision of his company – selling a solution to risk.

Actions Taken

He first initiated conversations with members of his sales team, telling them what made their company different. He created incentives for the salespeople that rewarded them for using certain “solution” focused word tracks when talking with customers. He made it a point at every opportunity to talk about the solutions his company provides, taking the focus off of the product. The more he talked about it, the more they talked about it.

In a period of three months, the sales trend reversed and margins increased. They are now seeing better results than they have seen in a long time. As impressive as this is, you can have the very same results. In fact, you do not even have to wait until you see a sales drop!

Cast (And Recast) The Vision!

Our job as leaders in our businesses is to continuously cast the vision. Repeat over and over whatever it is that makes your company and its products or services different. Do this with incentives, compensation, and conversation. Just do it over and over. The only time you need to stop doing this is when you are tired of sales and margins being where they are and desire them to drop!

Obviously, this concept applies to every aspect of your business. If you want a culture that honors God and points others to Him, then you must cast and recast this vision just as often as you do your unique selling proposition. As Christian business leaders, we simply cannot afford to leave this job to anyone else.

Have you seen similar symptoms in your business?

What have you done to restore the original vision?

What next steps do you need to take?

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