A ten step journey through our unique ten step method for improving organizations（8）

A ten step journey through our unique ten step method for improving organizations（8）

－－Eliminating the external constraint :  selling the excess capacity

The external constraint

At this stage in our transformation process, we should not be surprised if our constraint has moved from inside the organization to outside: the willingness of the market to buy what we produce.

If the market does not absorb all our products, we should reduce production. This means people have less work to do.

If our thinking is limited to the cost-cutting paradigm, we will decide to optimize our improved system by cutting back on people. (The very people who contributed to improving the company). If our focus is on increasing Throughput, then we understand the importance of excess capacity.

Using the Thinking Processes, we can find the most effective way of selling our excess capacity, thus increasing Throughput. 
 
Understanding what the customer wants

We can greatly increase people’s perception of our product’s value by making them see that it solves a problem for them. If we identify our current and potential customers’ problems, or Undesirable Effects (UDEs) in TOC terminology,  we can find the core problem that generates them. If we can tackle this core problem, it will be the key to making a successful offer.

In order to derive the core problem we have to stratify the data we have on our customers. We do this on the basis of the commonality of their UDEs. When we group organizations according to their common main UDEs, we are able to develop common core conflicts.  The core problem of a prospect consists of  the assumptions lying behind his/her core conflict. These assumptions are what prevents him/her from buying what we offer.

If we use the Thinking Processes Tools  in full, we will be able to properly exploit the knowledge provided by a correct stratification, fully understand customers’ needs and greatly increase our chance of satisfying the customer.

Using the Tools, we can develop an offer that is a solution to our customers’ core problem. Moreover, it is a solution that provides benefits without creating negative effects for us or the customer.

Our constraint has become sales. Once we have constructed the offer, our sales people will have to learn how  to sell it, and how to continuously improve their ability to sell. 

Summary

When our constraint moves from inside to outside the organization, it becomes sales. Using the Thinking Processes Tools we can construct unrefusable offers to sell our excess capacity successfully.