There has been much discussion on our shifting perspective in sales and marketing most noticeably from outbound to inbound. It has required a different perspective. In the advent of the platform-creation. it has created another style of engagement. It requires us stop thinking of maybe that one to one marketing and more to what the group they are in represents. Price Pritchard’s outline in the short read, By Price Pritchett Managing Sideways provides a different perspective.
The book was written from the perspective of managing process internally within a company but I thought the 10-step outline provided some interesting and applicable steps.
- Shift perspective 90°
- Rethink your role as a manager
- Give everybody a bigger job
- Focus your people on performing for the customer
- Manage the change.
- Put new measurement systems in place
- Manage the environment more than the people
- Encourage initiative and self-directed performance
- Create new communication patterns
- Balance the three process components (plan…perform…measure and manage
One of the major premises of this book is that we must manage our processes, and in sales, it is one of the few things we have control over. In sales, we have a tendency to try to manage the customer, who will seldom have little if any control. However, if we improve the process and our ability to add value to the environment, sales and marketing may start becoming clearer.
I don;t think reading this book, it is more like a large pamphlet, will change any of your marketing processes but it certainly might add a few ideas and maybe get you started thinking sideways a little.