In 1986, a Japanese industrial engineer by the name of Shingeo Shingo published a book outlining a revolutionary approach to quality control in manufacturing. His approach included a concept called, “poka-yoke,” which roughly translates in English to “mistake-proofing.”
The concept became integrated into the disciplines of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, and was part of Toyota’s legendary quality control system.
We all know that salespeople sometimes make mistakes, and that those mistakes can sometimes cost them the sale. Eliminating these mistakes would naturally improve performance and win rates. But of course, sales is different than manufacturing. Could it actually be possible to mistake-proof a sales process in the same way?
I'm convinced that it can. Of course, some aspects of poka-yoke don’t apply (such as testing a product’s size, shape, or color). But the core concepts are relevant, useful, and simple to implement–in just two steps.
In manufacturing, the poka-yoke process begins by identifying points in the process where mistakes can be made, and then designing systems that prevent those mistakes from being made.
Likewise, in sales. We know there are points in the process where mistakes are commonly made. They vary somewhat from organization to organization, and may include qualifying too early or too late (or not at all), not accessing the right decision makers and influencers, or providing materials in the wrong order or at the wrong points in the process. Start by identifying where your sales people most commonly make mistakes, and focus attention there.
In manufacturing, an example of a poka-yoke system might be a counter that shows when the correct number of solder points have been made, thus preventing the operator from making too few. Another example is a machine that will only hold a component when it is in the correct position for installation, thus preventing incorrect installation.
In sales, the system can be designed to provide a visual reminder to the salesperson when a step has been skipped. For instance, it might flag a contact in red when the salesperson has failed to fill in the organization chart with the relevant decision makers and their contact information. In another example, software might prevent a new contact from entering the sales pipeline until the salesperson has filled out the qualifying criteria.
Poka-yoke comes in two basic varieties: Warning poka-yoke, and control poka-yoke. Red flagging a contact is an example of a warning poka-yoke. Preventing contacts from entering the pipeline until properly qualified is an example of a control poka-yoke.
Both are important and useful elements of your system. Warnings can provide information both to the salespeople themselves, and also to their coaches and managers, that a mistake is about to be made, so that it can be addressed before it becomes a problem. Controls help prevent mistakes from happening at all.
Implementing poka-yoke is relatively simple with the right tools, and yields significant benefits including:
By preventing basic mistakes from happening, poka-yoke eliminates the need to train, and retrain people in avoiding those mistakes. Instead, resources can be focused on helping them master the more complex aspects and skills required for high performance.
For obvious reasons, win rates increase when mistakes are eliminated from the process.
Finally, poka-yoke enables managers and coaches to quickly see when mistakes are made and coach salespeople proactively to avoid them. It also frees them from wasting time coaching on avoiding basic mistakes, because the system handles them itself.
Some poka-yoke tactics can be applied without special technology. For instance, checklists can be employed to help salespeople quickly see when they’ve missed a step, and this can be done without special software.
However, in most cases, whether for manufacturing or sales purposes, proper poka-yoke requires proper tools. Unfortunately, most standard CRMs do not have built-in capability to drive a true mistake-proofed system. You need a system like Membrain or the Membrain plug-in for Salesforce, which has built-in capabilities for both warning and control measures. For a demonstration, contact our representatives today.
George is the founder & CEO of Membrain, the Sales Enablement CRM that makes it easy to execute your sales strategy. A life-long entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the software space and a passion for sales and marketing. With the life motto "Don't settle for mainstream", he is always looking for new ways to achieve improved business results using innovative software, skills, and processes. George is also the author of the book Stop Killing Deals and the host of the Stop Killing Deals webinar and podcast series.
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