KaizenTip 103: Which one little letter spells havoc for your sales organisation?

This week's KaizenTip was written by Haider Imam of Kaizen Training.

As they say on Sesame Street, "This tip is brought to you by the letter 'M' and the number three." Why? Because we're referring to 'Mura', 'Muri' and 'Muda' - the three M's.

Understanding and tackling the 3 M's have been central to the legendary growth and dynamism of organisations like Toyota and General Electric. Mistakenly, the 3 M's are often associated with manufacturing companies. So, let's have a look at what each 'M' signifies and you'll start to see how tackling them can help revenue revolution for your sales teams.

'Mura' means 'unevenness in demand'. This variation could be due to factors such as

• Seasonal trends such as those in travel and tourism
• New campaigns, promotions and discounts
• New product or service releases (and many more.)

 'Muri' means 'strenuous work' and is often a knock-on effect of 'Mura'. Periods of high demand means people have less time per activity and need to raise their productivity. This is often when mistakes are made. 

'Muda' means 'waste' or 'non-value adding activity' in the process and is a product of 'Mura' and 'Muri'. In sales, these are the effects that will weaken the relationship between you and your customers (strengthening the relationship between your competitors and your customers!) They also cost you in your time, administration and money. Examples of this may be

• Insufficient information gained from and given to customers before ordering, resulting in ordering incorrect goods or services
• Post-call notes not being captured on the CRM system, resulting in the customer having to repeat themselves on the next call
• Orders being entered incorrectly onto the system, meaning customers get the wrong thing
• Follow up calls and visits not being honoured (and many more), meaning promises are broken
  

The ultimate effects of Muda can be

• Credits and returns
• Discounts and lower revenue
• Extra administration time and cost
• Damaged customer relationships (trust, expectation, loyalty, spend and referrals)
  

So what's your answer to Mura, Muri and Muda?

• Is employing 'temps' in busy periods an answer?
• Is multi-skilling your salesforce to do other tasks when it's quieter an answer?
• Is reviewing your processes to cut out the areas of waste an answer?
• What are the pros and cons of each option?

 This week's call to action:

Identify the 'Muri' in your sales organisation