subject: When Is Continuous Improvement Bad For Lead Generation? [print this page] One of the major reasons as to why companies got lead generation problems is because they were unable to identify the solution for these problems. Certain concerns like gathering more business to business leads, looking for more efficient methods for sales lead generation, and searching for feasible channels to do the work, such as telemarketing. Whilst it might be essential to delve into enhancing quality control of goods and services, it's a must to look at the improvements themselves. Improvement of present processes may be the true culprit why it's tough to get business leads.
Yes, we all know that improving our manufacturing or operation process is a must, we must also be aware that too much of a good thing is never good. Indeed, there are managers who believe that continuous improvements in the process are the sole answer to their difficulty in getting business leads. That is far from the truth. In fact, relying solely on this can stifle creativity and innovation (the two main powerful drivers for improved business operations). At worse, these managers would force their lead generation process to fit into whatever model or theory that is accepted at the time.
Because of these risks, it can be helpful for you to comply with some points to prevent these errors:
1. Customize your system - yes, you need to customize. You have to suit the theory or prototype in order to match your process, and not the other way around. After all, your system is unique, and there are no ready-made answers to managing your process. You also need to monitor how things are being carried out so that the changes would still remain as smoothly as it can. 2. Take into account the necessity for the process itself - you have to ask yourself whether what you need is to remove, modify, or change the system. Sometimes, the wrong choice is the source of all the problems. Not to mention that there are some portions of the system which, though seems to be wanting of improvements, might not be needed to be improved at all, yet only precise execution. You may be able to save on effort and time which you may as well as use to other more significant activities. 3. Check the impact on your business culture - sometimes, an improvement system may clash with the inherent character of your business culture. Maybe the changes are too technical for your workers to handle. It might be possible that the changes will affect their productivity. This is especially a trick issue when it comes to generating business leads, since there are schedules made between your people and business prospects that might clash with your desired changes.
Still, what is important here is that you provide some slack in your creative process. Innovation is a continuous event, where an answer to a problem might actually come from a different place. Just adhering to a single procedure, centering more on improvement of the current process rather than searching for a better option, may make it more difficult to obtain more sales leads.
