Managing to stay ahead of your competitors is a constant struggle. Very few companies are able to stay consistently ahead of their competition. Let alone establish a clear strategic advantage that they use to propel their business ahead of their competitors.
Mutual Action Planning is the tool that establishes a strategic competitive advantage and provides superior results. Implementing an engaged sales strategy is a requirement to achieve exceptional sales performance and capture high customer satisfaction. Establishing
a growth oriented Mutual Action Plan yields additional long term business performance. How do you implement Mutual Action Planning quickly and without introducing change to your existing business? The simple answer: not possible. If you are looking for quick
results that will get you a neat little boost to short term profits, there are plenty of quickie sales methods you can employ. Don’t expect any of them to stick. Mutual Action Planning is not for the faint of heart. You must be willing to get 'dirty' and engage
your sales channel. The first step making a Mutual Action Plan work is skin in the game. If you are not willing to put your skin in the game, why should you expect your sales force to do the same? To get a sales representative, account manager or business
development executive to change his behavior requires a let's get it done together attitude. Changing your sales people is certainly easier when you step up your game and bring your critical action items to the table. Quite frankly for long term organizational
change this is a requirement. Forever. Not just the next three months. The second step changing your sales performance to great is providing a formal periodic review medium. For many businesses the personal face to face meeting every quarter cannot be replaced.
Not if you want your most vital future business contributors to change with you. There are ways now to achieve maximum results with properly targeted web based review formats. However you must kick off Mutual Action Plan in a face to face setting. This establishes
the credibility and allows both sides to set a base line from where to move forward. Thereafter formal review can take place via teleconference, video chats or interactive webinars. The key word is interactive. Even if you engage via internet communications,
the actual Mutual Action Plan formal review must allow for both sides to communicate live. Third step in the MAP process is to commit to a specific strategy such as a growth based business strategy. Many companies need a strategic harvesting business strategy.
And for many a mix of the two, new business growth and managing existing customers, is the right way forward. The requirement is simple: both parties, management and sales must provide an action item to move the sales process forward. Making the commitment
to a Mutual Action Plan as your cornerstone sales & marketing strategy starts setting your company apart from your competition. Most companies get stuck in day to day activities that take away from engaging your sales people. And many companies that actually
do have frequent information flow from their sales channel get so much noise it is difficult for them to realize any significant benefits. Establishing critical two way field communications is a huge competitive advantage that your company can turn into a
core strategy. Following the three step process laid out here will provide a critical turning point to exceptional business performance. One that will turn your company into the standard your competitors will measure up to. We will explore each Mutual Action
Planning step in detail via upcoming The Pease Group newsletters.

All too often today, business decisions are base on only the tangible, track-able and concrete means of the ubiquitous spreadsheet. Sometimes spreadsheets lie. In most businesses, there are certain functions or aspects that can make no dollars and cents
sense, that are not only necessary but are, in-fact, essential to the sustainability of the company. These necessary functions make other, more profitable, departments work or aid in the marketing efforts of the company as a whole. Take for example Ruff’s
RV Center in Euclid, Ohio. Ruff’s has been around for over 25 years and has weathered; oil embargoes, double-digit interest rates, the advent of internet sales and a host of other things that put several other competitors out of business. How does this small,
family owned and operated RV dealership stay successful? “That’s easy”, says Rick Stohlman General Manager, “It’s still about the Service Department”. “My Father and Uncle started this business when they closed their service station (that’s what we used to
call gas stations, back in the days of windows being cleaned and oil being checked) when ARCO pulled out of Ohio in 1980. They had built a great reputation for auto repairs in the area, and wanted to still do that. Because of local zoning issues with the building
they purchased, they needed to be a motor vehicle dealer of some kind. The property had been used as a travel trailer dealership in the past and they chose to continue with that in the front while they concentrated on auto repair and service in the back.”
Now fast forward 30 years, and that little mom & pop shop is now a thriving, profitable and growing RV dealership in the major market of Cleveland, Ohio. Their motto or tagline is “The dealership that service built”. While it is certainly the front end (vehicle
sales and accessories store) of the operation that turns the profits that fuel growth, it is the service department that pushes the traffic. The service department, which in a good year is a break-even profit center, not only drives the traffic into sales,
but also is the “brand” of Ruff’s RV. As large national chain dealerships gobble up other formerly family owned dealerships in the market they use big advertising budgets hawking low sales prices. In most of these large chain stores, their service departments
concentrate on warranty work and accessories installation, and have meager offerings for maintenance, engine and chassis work. At Ruff’s, Rick and his team concentrate on customer relationships formed through the award winning service department. “Our customer
base, both new and old, knows that we are going to be here to keep their investment running,” says Stohlman. What Rick does not share is that there gross profit is typically higher on unit sales because of their relationship based sales approach. “The sales
department has the fewest number of people in our whole operation”. “My service technicians are responsible for as many vehicle sales as anyone else here. Think about it, if you were in a market for making a large purchase wouldn’t it be great to get advice
from the guy who is going to help you maintain it. That’s how my dad and uncle started things, and I’m not going to re-invent the wheel now”.