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dispatches from the new world of work

An Odd Couple

A pair of books I liked, oddly paired:

Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap, Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale.

I've vigorously championed "solution selling," recently influenced by the amazing transformation story at IBM (where IBM Global Services alone has become a $50 billion business), and similar unfolding tales from UPS, Deere, and others. Now Jeff Thull offers a superb book that takes this essential idea and translates it into practical sales advice. The problem, and a big one: to sell—and implement—a "solution sale" means a willingness on the part of the selling organization to muck about (exactly the right term) in the Client organization. Per Thull: "The business of selling is not just about matching viable solutions to the customers that require them. It's equally about managing the change process the customer will need to go through to implement the solution and achieve the value promised by the solution."

To frame his argument, Thull offers a useful typology, the three "eras" of sales:

Era #1/Obvious Value: "Our 'it' works, is delivered on time" (Seller's task: "Close")

Era #2/Augmented Value: "How our 'it' can add value—a 'useful it' " (Seller's task: "Solve")

Era #3/Complex Value Networks: "How our 'system' can change you and deliver 'business advantage'" (Seller's task: "Implement culture-strategic change")

All this rang especially true to me courtesy my McKinsey experience. Old McKinsey, my McKinsey, circa 1980, sold "augmented value," per Thull's model. We dug in deep and offered a tailored solution ... for the Client to implement. Part of my project that resulted in In Search of Excellence suggested that the work wasn't done until the Culture Change in the Client organization was done (the "dreaded, missing, last 95 percent," as one of my caustic McKinsey friends, Allan Kennedy, put it). In fact, in the years following Search, McKinsey radically shifted gears to emphasize implementation-culture change ("sustained impact," in McKinsey-ese). I now "sell" in my work the meta-idea that survivors in the Age of Outsourcing will-must transform themselves/their group into a full-fledged Professional Service Firm—the hallmark of which will be a "dramatically different point of view" implemented through "hands-on attention to culture change in the Client organization." This holds, I'd add, for a one-person accountancy serving local businesses as well as for McKinsey (and for that matter, IBM).

All this fed my interest in Mr Thull's book ... which I heartily commend to your attention.

The second part of this odd coupling: Dave Smith's To Be of Use: The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work.

I simply loved this book by the unsung half of the founding partners of Smith & Hawken. (Paul Hawken has gotten a lot more ink over the years.) It more or less begins with this wondrous poem by Marge Piercy:

to be of use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shadows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. ...

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again. ...

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. ...

The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Chapter titles are pretty much a compact review, or at least provide a flavor: "Faith: True Belief"; "Hope: Soul School"; "Justice: Action Heroes"; "Temperance: The Briarpatch Way"; "Prudence: Reclaiming the Soul of Business"; "Courage: Creative Action Heroes"; "Love: Useful You."

A handful of others that are new to me:

Creative Company: How St. Luke's Became "the Ad Agency to End All Ad Agencies." Recommendation: The late, great Jay Chiat called it "the book I wish I had written."

Frank McCourt's new Teacher Man. How could you not appreciate a teacher who perceives that the most creative work his kids do is forging excuse notes—so he gives a creative writing assignment on writing excuse notes? The "teach to test" zealots, of course, will vigorously shake their sorry little heads.

Now for something light: MacArthur Fellow Mike Davis' The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu.

Tom Peters posted this on 12/05/05.

Comments

Some random thoughts

Solution Selling - Perhaps the most over "talked" and under "done" concept in selling!

It's a very hard concept to pull off.

It can take time - Your sales person is measured on a Qtr or Month he/she is not going to spend time putting complex stuff together (and it is complex because it is multi discipline/department) if there is an easier way (product selling) of meeting their number.

By far the most successful attempts are when a deal is seen as big enough to put together a virtual X-functional team for an account. Ironically this is why smaller firms can be better at this stuff. With big companies structure gets in the way.

Not all customers want/need solution selling. There is no bigger turn off to a "just want some product" type customer than someone trying to solution sell to them.

Posted by PaulH at December 5, 2005 11:08 AM

Paul H, I'd argue it's a little muddy at times. The client, say, wants shrink-wrap software, but when it's not truly "plug and play," because in reality contextual process change is required, said client is pissed off at the seller for mis-representation.

In my training company, clients "just want workshops" at times--yet are annoyed when the workshops are not precisely tailored to the client's precise current situation. Yet when we truly tailor, it requires nothing short of a consulting engagement--for which the client is reluctant to pay full freight. It's called Catch-22!

Posted by tom peters at December 5, 2005 11:17 AM

Tom

Totally agree with you - there is a real art to "reading between the lines" about what the customer really wants. Often what the customer NEEDS is not the same as what they want!

Part of the problem is also that in many sales Solution Selling just becomes another packaged idea/product rather than a different mind set for the whole company. In reality it's much harder and sometimes you need different sales people who will really engage with the customer rather than superficially match features to products.

I have seen it when it works and it is awesome!

Posted by PaulH at December 5, 2005 11:26 AM

Paul H: "Part of the problem is also that in many sales Solution Selling just becomes another packaged idea/product rather than a different mind set for the whole company."--totally agree!!!!

Posted by tom peters at December 5, 2005 11:32 AM

tom: Good post. I thinkg that "Culture Change" is the toughest part of the paradigm. Coming out of the gate (project assigned) on some new intiatives that impacts business landscpaing,(read as BCP/DHS/CBSA/BTA/FDA ruling), it is imperative that customers are convinced that change is good and good for business too. Right now, the fear of change makes the value propisitons so hard to convegence. Some get it -some dont. There are times, we need to inform them "do it today or tomorrow your toast".

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Going into the USP to these customers, there is a need to invest long hard work and time, before the pay off comes. Most business houses want a quick bang for the buck and fast bottom lines. Where does this stand in the corporate envoornment ?? - They are not walking the talk , correct ??

I think that the value paradigm is simple-- that growth the imperative is only met, when you grow your customers business. Does that make sense ??

Oh btw, some one needs to put a posting on businessweek's video interview.. the link is tucked away to far down and readers will miss it !!

Posted by /pd at December 5, 2005 2:32 PM

Tom,
I'm looking for some of your books, or books based on Entrpreneurship and thinking strategies that change the approach to getting things done, overcoming the obstacles, etc. Seems an easy request, right? well I need them in Italian. I know that you have held a number of presentations here in Italy, any idea if there exists Italian translations of your work, or other business minded individuals.

Posted by Phil P at December 6, 2005 9:32 AM

St.Lukes book! (thanks - on order, I didn't realize they had one) coincidently, St.Lukes came to lecture to our class the week after we watched/studied a Tom Peters flick (ABB, Imagination, Oticon, etc.) at our weekly debate sessions. Talking of innovative business models, check out 'idea machine', by Nadja Schnetzler (BrainStore) "How Industrial Ideas can be Produced Industrially", very process driven with more interesting tools than a 'Home Depot'. Thanks.

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