1. Introduction
Today more than ever, a business requires the ability to improve continuously and systematically. Much has been said about the ability of a company to improve its products and services, and also in its production, logistics and administrative processes. But with regard to the commercial aspect, the commercial or sales processes, and the sectors dedicated to this operation, were left aside.
Attention is always focused more on the cost of producing a unit of a certain good or service, or on the quality of production processes, but much less is the cost of selling a certain good or service, or quality failures. in the sales processes and much less in the waste that the sectors or sales processes generate or in which they are participants.
Improving production, purchasing, distribution, and administrative processes is not enough or enough for a company; it is also critical and fundamental to continuously improve the marketing processes.
It is common for managers or entrepreneurs to hire consultants to improve productivity, quality and costs in the production area, but it is very rare to find managers concerned about improving the productivity, quality and cost of their sales area. If they are interested in improving sales techniques and everything related to promotion and advertising, but there is no emphasis on given certain sales techniques and promotional means such as being more effective and efficient every day.
For the kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement, no process or sector of the company is alien to the objectives of improvement in quality, costs, productivity and levels of customer satisfaction.
For this philosophy it is essential that all sectors and members of an organization behave as an authentic work team in the search for improvement and competitiveness. For this, the concern of each sector for the better performance of the other sectors is fundamental. In this way, vendors can inform the design sector of the characteristics most requested by customers, the production sector for the failures of which customers complain in general and the products and services of the company in particular.
In the same way, the production sector can help the sales sector to highlight certain characteristics of the products, modes of use and maintenance, especially in those features that differentiate them from the competition's products and services.
It is essential to keep in mind that kaizen operates within a lean management framework. There are other methods of continuous improvement, but most of them are merely trying to achieve better performance with traditional systems or working methods. The objective of kaizen is to generate a transformation from a traditional management system to a lean one, and once in this system, improve its operation, achieving better performances every day.
What does kaizen have to give to sales or commercial processes?
- A methodology to constantly and systematically improve its effectiveness and efficiency Integrate sales into the other lean systems of the company Make sales personnel aware of the need to continuously improve and follow a methodology Make sales personnel aware of the various types of waste and how to detect, quantify, eliminate and prevent them Underline the importance of quality not only for production processes, but also for other processes and activities of the company Create and make use of data and statistical reports to detect points of improvement, set improvement objectives and evaluate the functioning of the processes. Serve by its direct relationship with customers, as a ram in the processes of innovation and improvement of products and services.
2. Most common problems in traditional companies
With regard to small and medium-sized companies, the sales areas have a series of important defects, which tend to reduce the competitiveness of these companies. Solving these inconveniences is largely the reason for kaizen.
Among the problems that we can classify as the most common we have:
- Lack of teamwork and high degree of individualism Lack of joint meetings to exchange experiences Lack of statistics, lack of use or misuse of them for sales planning and strategies Lack of greater interconnection of sales with processes production and design. High levels of waste in the time dedicated by sales managers to issues that are not directly sales. Only the quality of the products and services is discussed, but not the sales processes. More importance is given sales results in the short term at the expense of a long-term vision and strategy. Quantity and financial aspects are fundamentally negotiated, but not interrelationships and issues related to quality, productivity, costs and logistics.They work mainly with sales goals in terms of quantity, price, total amounts, but not in terms of payment, delivery terms, and forms of payment Low levels of training and training of sales personnel There is more preponderance to intuition when making business decisions.
3. Fundamental kaizen concepts that must be handled in the sales area
There are a series of fundamental concepts of which the managers and personnel that operate in the sales area must be fully ingrained. Among such concepts we have:
- The concern to maintain both the established standards and their improvement. Not only to preserve the way of working, but to look for more effective and efficient methods. Worry about maintaining customer portfolio, area and sales levels, as well as continuously improving them. Continuously implement the improvement process consisting of Planning, Perform, Evaluate and Act. This can be applied to the different processes and activities comprised within commercial operations, always giving priority to processes. The results must always be the result of process improvements. If better results are desired, processes must be improved. Always give priority to quality, both to the quality of the sales services, and to the quality of the products and services sold.Knowing how to defend as a seller the quality of the products and services they are offering, and worry about it, collecting faults and problems to communicate them later to the relevant areas.In order to improve, it is essential to have data, information is critical when it comes to make better decisions. Kaizen is a system for solving problems. For a problem to be understood and resolved properly, the problem must be recognized as such, gathering and analyzing the relevant data, always taking into account who the customers are. On the one hand, external customers who will receive the products and services acquired, and on the other, sectors such as Collection, Logistics / Warehouses, Production and Billing, to which we must send correct data, in a timely manner.
4. Kaizen systems applied to sales processes
In the same way that various management systems can be applied in production processes with the aim of improving the different performance indicators, sales processes are also subject to the application of said systems.
- Just as production processes are subject to the application of Total Quality Management in order to reduce failures and thereby reduce costs and increase customer and consumer satisfaction, in sales processes commission should be reduced and avoided. of failures that imply cost increases and lower levels of customer and consumer satisfaction. Taking an order wrong or reporting it incorrectly to the billing area implies not providing the product requested by the client in a timely manner, or doing so at a price other than the agreed one, which entails returns, or accounting adjustments, with the consequent administrative costs, and a bad image of the company in front of third parties.Salespeople and sales personnel must be incorporated into the suggestion system not only to improve their own processes, but also to improve products and services. Small group activities to address inconveniences, problems, and deviations from results planned, whether it is positive or negative deviations, helps to apply teamwork in the analysis, resolution and application of new methods, and their subsequent evaluation. It is not improved as a hobby but in response to objectives set by the Company's Management. The continuous increase in the quantities sold of products and services cannot be targeted if the company is not in a position to respond to that increase. Objectives must be set in coordination with the other areas of the company.Total Productive Maintenance is critical when sales are via the Internet. Nowadays, to send and receive orders, invoice and provide information, computer support is essential, therefore everything that does to a correct, effective and efficient maintenance of hardware and software linked to the commercial area is critical. Many supplying companies, especially food, carry out the sale and delivery at the same time, therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.Nowadays, to send and receive orders, invoice and provide information, computer support is essential, therefore everything that does a correct, effective and efficient maintenance of hardware and software linked to the commercial area is critical. Many supplying companies, especially food, carry out the sale and delivery at the same time, therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.Nowadays, to send and receive orders, invoice and provide information, computer support is essential, therefore everything that does a correct, effective and efficient maintenance of hardware and software linked to the commercial area is critical. Many supplying companies, especially food, carry out the sale and delivery at the same time, therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.therefore everything that does to a correct, effective and efficient maintenance of hardware and software related to the commercial area is critical. Many supplying companies, especially food, carry out the sale and delivery at the same time, therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.therefore everything that does to a correct, effective and efficient maintenance of hardware and software related to the commercial area is critical. Many supplying companies, especially food, carry out the sale and delivery at the same time, therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.therefore the perfect condition of the vehicles is critical. Sales processes must adjust their methods and activities to Just in Time production processes. For this, the sales staff must know about such a production system, in such a way as to know how to respond to customer requirements and how to transmit orders to the production area.
5. Standards
Administrative, productive, credit and sales activities work according to certain predetermined formulas. These formulas, when explicitly described, become standards. Thus, business management to be successful starts to consist of maintaining and improving standards.
Whenever unsolicited merchandise or quantities are shipped to the customer, such as when products are offered that are no longer for sale, or customers show dissatisfaction, the company's management must look for root causes, initiate actions with the goal of their correction and change the working procedure to eliminate the problem. In kaizen terms, this implies putting into practice the EREA cycle (standardize-perform-evaluate-act).
Once current standards are applied and workers do their jobs according to those standards and without abnormalities, the process can be said to be under control. From there, the improvement of the standards will be pursued, for which the PREA cycle (plan-carry out-evaluate-act) is put into practice.
The realization of new and better standards is the best way to ensure quality and the way to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in the development of activities and processes.
Standards represent the best, easiest and safest way to do a job, whether it is productive, financial, accounting, commercial or credit work. The standards reflect many years of knowledge and know-how on the part of employees in carrying out their duties. When management maintains and improves the way of doing something, be it a productive, administrative, credit or commercial activity, ensuring that all workers, clerks and vendors follow the same procedures, these standards become the most efficient way, safe and cost effective to do the job.
The standardization of processes is the best way to preserve know-how and experience. If an employee knows the best way to offer or sell a product or service and leaves without sharing that experience, their know-how will also leave. Only by standardizing said know-how does it remain in the company, despite the arrivals and departures of workers and employees.
With pre-established standards, management can evaluate performance. When standards are lacking, there is no safe and adequate way to do it.
Not having or not complying with standards inevitably leads to abnormalities, variabilities and waste (doffs).
Compliance with standards leads to maintenance, and refining standards implies improvement. Not having standards prevents knowing whether improvements have been made or not.
Standards can be defined as a set of visual cues that indicate how to carry out tasks. Thus, the standards must be communicated in a simple and understandable way. Thick and extensive manuals of internal standards should not be generated, but rather simple methods that allow describing the activities to be carried out, and the way to carry them out.
These standards provide a basis for the training and development of personnel. Once the standards are set, the next step is to train the staff, to the extent that this becomes second nature to them and they perform the work according to the standards.
Standards provide a means of avoiding the recurrence of errors and anomalies, as well as reducing variability.
They create a basis for auditing and checking compliance with forms and work systems. These standards must allow auditors and managers to verify compliance with the established working methods.
6. Mutes
The changes are waste generated by the different processes and areas of the company. In the case of the changes that affect the commercial area or the sales processes, we have those generated by problems inherent to the sector, and those generated by other sectors of the company but that impact in whole or in part in the commercial area.
1. Own and other people's time (of the buyer) wasted in offering and taking an order that later cannot be completed due to lack of stock. The question is not merely to recognize a waste, but to know why it has occurred and how its reappearance should be avoided. There are several possibilities, example. (a) A product that is no longer for sale was not removed from the list, (b) the seller did not take into account the information provided and despite it offered the product, (c) the warehouse area does not have reliable information on the stock in existence, whether of finished products or inputs for their production, (d) the productive sector was unable to produce the product sold in a timely manner, (e) external suppliers did not deliver the inputs or products in time and form.A good question is, do you have a statistic of how much each of these problems represents in lost sales? Other questions are, what is the reason for each type of inconvenience? And what measures have been adopted to avoid its repetition? The worst thing is that these errors and problems become normal, and of which nobody takes measures to avoid their recurrence.
2. Sales made and then not completed or canceled, due to price changes of which the seller or customer was not notified.
3. Merchandise returned due to quality problems, which affects future offers from sellers, or commercial management. A part of the losses afflict and are the responsibility of the productive sector, but another generates waste in the sales sector, the commissions paid for sales that are later not completed, the financial resources lost in salaries of the sales, accounting and credit area by issuance of credit notes, postings, time allocated to adjustments and corrections tasks.
A very special example concerns the sale of polyethylene bags to supermarkets. These bags must be of such a quality that the supermarket customer does not suffer the loss of the objects purchased or that the supermarket does not have to use several bags to avoid inconveniences. For a seller, getting a customer of this nature is something special, especially because of what it means in volume and amount of turnover of bags to a supermarket. However, what happens if the supermarket is informed that they have to return the bags due to quality problems and that they also expect a bonus for the losses generated. Not only do you lose an important customer, you also end up creating the basis for generating negative information about our company's products.In the same way, problems in each and every one of the various types of industry can be described.
4. Problems in the quality of invoices, which affect future negotiations and relationships with the client. Example. Important mobile phone company, once the client requests their continuous withdrawal, sending them an invoice and for the entire period. The client does not take this way of behaving at all well on the part of the company, when later the service sellers of said telephone company contact again to offer a service, the answer will be a definite NO, in addition to all the negative publicity against the company, and even the possibility of initiating a lawsuit in consumer defense courts.
5. Quality problems in customer service that affect the sale. The product or service may be the best in the market, as well as the price, but what good is it if every time the customer (s) contact the company by phone, the service is lousy.
6. Excess of stationery and bureaucratic procedures, which take time away from sales work for sellers.
7. Failures to take note of orders, or unclear offers, which leads to sending merchandise or supplies not wanted by customers, with the costs of communications to make the proper clarifications.
8. Excess of external transport depending on the magnitude of the operations, this excess includes everything related to travel, lodging and per diem.
9. Lack of information or incorrect information, which leads to serious errors in decision-making by Sales Management and Sellers.
10. Lack of knowledge of the product or service on the part of the sellers.
11. Lack of knowledge of the needs of customers and consumers.
12. Lack of knowledge of current and potential competitors.
13. Lack of knowledge of production processes.
14. Not being properly trained to offer, negotiate, demonstrate and close a sale.
15. Not being able to use and analyze the statistical information received.
16. Lack of optimal and full use of the new communication media, to interact, offer products and services, and make the company and its products and services known. Its lack of use consumes resources in other media, or its misuse leads to a loss of resources.
As has been observed from the list of different types of changes that affect the area and commercial process, many of them are generated by absence or problems in the information. In terms of sales, information has great value and therefore the absence or lack of information causes significant waste as it leads to serious errors in decision-making.
7. Tools and methods to overcome changes in sales processes
A combination of different tools and methods makes it possible to reduce and prevent the generation of different types of molts. The fundamental thing is to be aware of the problems and the economic effects that they cause, in order to adopt with discipline different forms of work aimed at overcoming them.
- Teamwork Improvement of information systems. Updating of information on stocks, prices, delivery times, statistics of clients and areas, statistics by product or service. Continuous training not only in sales techniques, but also in problem solving, decision-making, continuous improvement, statistics applied to business, negotiation, teamwork, in the use of marketed goods, in the production of marketed products, among others Planning of trips and visits to clients Reduction of stationery and bureaucracy Open and direct communication channels of sellers with financial, credit, accounting, production and logistics sectors. Improvement of vertical and horizontal communication Implementation of Zero Defects systems in production processes, billing,credit, commercial and logistics. Have data on time lost in waiting, trips and information errors. Existence of statistics with the performance of the vendors, which allows them to set new objectives of profitability, effectiveness and efficiency in their work.
8. Kaizen methodology
The kaizen methodology constitutes a system that ensures that the company's processes satisfy the needs and expectations of its clients, not only at present, but continuously over time.
The steps to execute for the improvement are:
1. Identification and selection of opportunities for improvement
Every process or system can and should be improved. Either due to external or internal conditions, or both, adjustments, improvements and refinements must be made in order to maintain the company's survival capacity and competitiveness. Among the various needs and opportunities for improvement, those that represent the greatest profit potential should be selected, measured in terms of increased customer satisfaction, position in relation to the competition and optimization in the use of resources.
2. Establishment of improvement goals
Consists of determining the level of improvement to be achieved in a given period of time, in order to close the gap between the current situation and the necessary levels of quality, costs, safety and satisfaction to recover, preserve or expand the competitiveness of the company.
3. Analysis of the current process
To improve something previously, it is necessary to analyze the current situation, in such a way as to identify the restrictions and the factors that motivate them.
4. Generation and selection of improvement alternatives
Develop and test the different alternatives that provide the improvement in the performance of the sectors and processes analyzed, in such a way that the scope of greater productivity, quality, flexibility and reliability of the processes is possible.
5. Implementation of improvements
Preparation of an action plan and its subsequent implementation of the established improvements. Allocation of deadlines, material and human resources, training and direction destined to the implementation of the new working methods.
6. Continuous evaluation of the process
Measurements and verifications aimed at evaluating the result of the improvements incorporated. In the event of a divergence between the results obtained and those set as objectives, it must be analyzed whether the established application guidelines were met, whether the improvement objectives are too high, or whether certain adjustments and changes should be made in the process improvements.
7. Standardization of the new procedure
Consisting of documenting the best way to do the job, based on the improvements incorporated and tested in the processes. When talking about processes, not only the productive processes should be taken into account, but also the administrative, commercial, financial and logistics ones.
9. Conclusion
In companies there are no sectors with greater or lesser value. In the search for greater competitiveness and benefits for companies, all sectors and processes are subject to the imperative need to undergo continuous improvement processes.
Due to the tremendous success and achievement of the companies that have put it into practice, kaizen is undoubtedly the fundamental philosophy and work system to make more efficient and effective companies feasible. Kaizen together with lean management allows to achieve more solid and competitive companies.
Unfortunately, it is common to observe that continuous improvement practices are usually limited to manufacturing or service areas and processes, leaving aside the commercialization processes.
Today more than ever before, companies cannot afford to lose sales or customers, nor can they slip into the inefficient and irrational use of resources. Time and information are not minor issues of these resources.
One might wonder how many of the companies have implemented continuous improvement in the sales area and process, and what are the results over time? Unfortunately, the answer, especially in the West and in the case of small and medium-sized companies, will be very few. It is almost logical, when most of them have not yet implemented it even in the production and administrative processes.
Resources tend to sneak into the segments in which less attention and concern are paid to them. Therefore no segment can be oblivious to the detection, prevention and elimination of waste. These wastes hurt both financial liquidity and profits, as well as add to costs, making companies unable to compete with leaner and lighter companies.
It is not about staff participating in courses or seminars on continuous improvement or kaizen, but rather that managers, managers, supervisors and staff are fully aware of the need for continuous improvement, and action plans are put in place in such sense. Allocating resources, setting goals and times for their realization, properly training staff on an ongoing basis, and establishing discipline in daily actions, is what will allow and make possible the achievement of companies that are truly committed to continuous improvement and that seek to be truly competitive.
10. Bibliography
- Think backwards. Benjamin Coriat. Editorial Siglo XXI. 2000 Light Organization. Adolfo Arata Andreani and Luciano Furlanetto. McGraw Hill. 2001. Administration with the Japanese method. Agustín Cárdenas. CECSA. 1993. Organizations. JJ Ader and others. Editorial Paidos. 1990 Continuous Improvement of Processes. Richard Chang. Gránica Editions. 1996. The philosophy of success. The human side of the Japanese company. Shimasaki. Limusa-Noriega Editores 1993. Kaisha. James C. Abegglen and George Stalk Jr. Plaza & Janes Editores. 1990.
