August 2004
R³evolution®!
by Randall K. Murphy, Founder and President, Acclivus
“If you want to obsess on something, obsess on building relationships
and providing results for customers. Predictable, profitable revenue
will follow.”
Twelve years ago this month—in conjunction with our first worldwide
client conference—Acclivus introduced R³®,
our symbol signifying the interdependence of Relationships, Results,
and Revenue. R³® represents a philosophy,
or set of beliefs and values, about organizations working together.
R³® also represents a statement
of purpose and process for how organizations, and the individuals
representing those organizations, can most effectively work together
to create the greatest value.
When Acclivus introduced R³ twelve years ago, we essentially
made this commitment: working together as partners, we will enable
and inspire our clients to build strong, lasting client and customer
relationships, achieve optimal results with their product and service
solutions, and meet and exceed their aggressive objectives for profitable
revenue.
Over the past twelve years, this commitment has become a statement
of our mission—why we exist. To remind us of our commitment on a
daily basis, to share our commitment with the world, and to celebrate
the great success we’ve experienced working with our client partners.
We are adopting a new logo and launching our new brand!
This new logo and new brand—and the phrase Acclivus R³ Solutions®—now
represent our integrated curriculum as well as our consulting and
teaching work with clients in the worldwide Business-with-Business®
arena.
R³ Focus® and R³ Value®
Revenue, especially profitable revenue, is terrific—a wonderful
thing for any organization. Just the thought of meeting—and then
exceeding—aggressive objectives for profitable revenue is inspiring.
Knowing that your own organization is on plan for profitable revenue
can’t help but make every member of the organization a little more
proud. Profitable revenue makes shareholders and market analysts
happy. It attracts talent. It makes room for innovation. It funds
raises and bonuses. It drives growth.
Profitable revenue is indeed a wonderful thing. It is not, though,
the best measure of an organization’s current health and vitality.
It is not the best source for the answer to the question “how are
we doing?” Nor is it the best source for the answer to the question
“how will we be doing in the future?”
Current revenue, even current profitable revenue, is a lagging
indicator. It does not tell us how we are doing; it reflects how
we have done. To measure current performance, we must look to the
relationships we are currently supporting and building. And we must
look to the results we are currently achieving with our clients
and customers. These are the best measures of how well we are doing.
And they are the most reliable predictors of how we will be doing
in the future.
To achieve R³ Focus, in order to create R³ Value, we must get all
three factors—RELATIONSHIPS, RESULTS, REVENUE—in the picture. And
we must look at results and relationships in new ways.
Results include, but are not limited to, what our product or service
does and how well it does it. Results also include how our client’s
larger goals are impacted through our product/service solution.
Is our customer able to attain a higher level of customer satisfaction?
Is our client able to increase market share… regain lost business…
strengthen key relationships? The more aligned we are with our clients’
business objectives the more highly -valued we are—for results.
Relationships include, but do not simply equate to, rapport. Every
working relationship has four facets. The first is trust; each relationship
is built on a foundation of trust. And no relationship in an organizational
setting can ever be stronger than the trust that supports it. Next
there is respect and rapport. Finally, there is value. The ultimate
purpose for the relationship between organizations is to create
value. And it is the responsibility of the individuals representing
those organizations—working together—to create the greatest possible
value.
Acclivus R³ Solutions are designed, developed, tested, validated,
and implemented to assist our clients in achieving R³ Focus and
creating R³ Value.
“If you want to obsess on something, obsess on building relationships
and providing results for customers. Predictable, profitable revenue
will follow.”
NEW R³ SOLUTIONS™
Keeping Acclivus’ R³ Solutions curriculum up-to-date is an
ongoing affair; as business issues evolve, programs must keep pace
in order to retain relevance and applicability. At Acclivus this
is a labor of love—a constant and growing labor because of the breadth
of the curriculum and the integration of the programs.
Over the past two years, the R&D team at Acclivus has been hard
at work, completing a unique offering in our industry—an integrated
suite of programs for the entire range of customer-facing professionals
and their managers.
Here’s a rundown of the newest additions to the R³Solutions curriculum:
The Consultative Approach.®
We recently completed Acclivus’ new flagship program, R³
Sales Excellence — The Consultative Approach®.
It’s the successor to The New BASE for Sales Excellence,
which remains among the most successful programs ever offered for
sales professionals.
R³ Sales Excellence is designed for outside sales representatives
and consultants who are responsible for business development.
R³ Sales Excellence provides a proven approach for understanding
and influencing the decision process at multiple levels of even
the most complex client organizations. It employs The Consultative
Approach, which is just that—Acclivus’ proven approach to working
with clients and customers to:
- develop strong, lasting relationships in complex selling environments
- ensure optimal business results from products and services,
configured after thorough diagnoses with multiple contacts
- meeting—and exceeding—revenue objectives
R³ Sales Excellence consists of a two-day workshop
followed by a 12-week structured follow-through process and a one-day
Mastery workshop.
Companies increasingly rely on inside sales teams to meet their
business objectives. Because travel time/expense is not a factor
for them, inside salespeople can often serve customers more efficiently.
Just like outside salespeople, they are responsible for establishing
and maintaining relationships; however, they have the special challenge
that comes from not very often— if ever—being face-to-face.
In many ways, inside salespeople must be better communicators than
their colleagues in the field. Inside R³ Sales helps
them carefully prepare for the outbound calls they initiate, as
well as for the inbound calls they receive spontaneously. Without
the benefit of noticing customers’ body language and facial expressions,
inside salespeople must still open the call, guide the dialogue,
identify significant needs, qualify opportunities, make recommendations,
manage resistance, and close the call with mutual action plans.
Inside R³ Sales provides inside sales professionals
with the skills necessary to have an R³ Focus—all while relying
on the telephone, fax, and email.
Inside R³ Sales consists of a two-day workshop followed
by a 12-week structured follow-through process and a one-day Mastery
workshop.
Many sales teams operate in a faster-paced, lower-margin environment.
R³ transACTION is for salespeople who are responsible
for conducting dozens of calls—and closing sales— every day. Their
greatest challenge is to take a consultative approach in an environment
where success depends on qualifying and closing sales in minutes,
not days or months.
R³ transACTION is designed for inside sales and call
centers, as well as for consumer/retail markets requiring consultative
selling skills. Participants learn the skills to take charge of
a call and guide the dialogue, identify relevant needs and qualify
opportunities, make recommendations that increase the potential
and probability of a sale, differentiate based on value rather than
price, and close the sale.
R³ transACTION can be facilitated in a one and one-half
day session, or in two modules. The 40-day Follow-Through program
helps participants apply what they learned daily, one skill at a
time.
In today’s complex, highly competitive, and rapidly changing business
environment, service is becoming the key differentiator for many
organizations. The service professional is an increasingly important
factor in providing R³ Value.
In the award-winning R³ Service program, service professionals
learn skills, techniques, and approaches for taking customer communication
to a new level. They learn world-class techniques for identifying
needs, finding root causes of problems, managing customer expectations,
responding to demands, and taking responsibility for meeting customers’
needs.
R³ Service consists of a two-day workshop followed
by a 10-week structured follow-through process and a oneday Mastery
workshop.
ACCLIVUS FORMS ALLIANCE TO CONDUCT SALES, SUPPORT
AND SERVICE ALIGNMENT SURVEY
Differentiation in today’s marketplace is difficult. One of the
few remaining competitive advantages is sales, support, and services
professionals working together to create value with customers. We
call this distinct advantage S³ AlignmentSM.
This month we’re launching a major research effort focused on more
than 10,000 managers and executives from across the Fortune 1,000.
For the first time, we will measure S3 Alignment and link its impact
directly to relationships, results, and profitable revenue.
Our research team includes experts from the Association for Services
Management International (AFSMI), the Baylor University Center for
Professional Selling, Sales and Marketing Management magazine, and
Training magazine.
To be part of this ground breaking research into how sales, support,
and services professionals work together in your organization, please
go to: http://www.s3alignment.com/update.htm.
All survey participants will receive a complimentary report of the
survey findings.
We believe that improving S³ Alignment is one of the most
overlooked ways to improve business performance. We’ll know for
certain when the findings of this research project are published
in late summer, 2004. Stay tuned!
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