By John Treace
I have taken part in many business turnarounds in my career, and time and again I noticed the same problems, regardless of whether the reason for the turnaround was a relatively minor situation or a reorganization after bankruptcy. Here are the ten steps that need to happen during any major business adjustment and some of the pitfalls to avoid along the way.
1. Assess the situation. Before a successful business turnaround can be implemented, it is crucial to understand what got the company where it is now. Providing that the company’s products or services are competitive, the issues affecting the performance of a sales team can range from poor management to an ineffective sales process to low morale, which is caused by any number of factors. Insight can be gained by getting close to the company’s sales force, sales processes, and customers to determine why sales are not progressing to plan.
2. Hire consultants. Ineffective management teams often say they need greater funding to correct the sagging business, but throwing money at a problem does not work. Those who created the problem in the first place will not know how to fix it, so providing them greater resources is a mistake: it wastes money and degrades employee morale.
3. Measure performance. Metrics should not only tell company leaders where they have been but should also be used to gauge future performance. Management should be able to clearly describe how the metrics it uses will predict future results.
