The holiday decorations (and even Valentine’s hearts) may have come and gone, but the year is still young and fresh. Many of you are still digging in on goal setting and priority establishment knowing there is a lot of 2020 left ahead.
Come, gather ‘round. We have a story to tell you, one we call “A Tale of Two Vendors.”
Does this scenario sound common? Your company has been growing, and things are getting ever more complex. Your employees are wrangling multiple systems to complete everyday tasks. Whether they’re in the back office or the field, everyone is struggling to access reliable, timely data on what’s happening in the business. Your finance people are burdened by accounting and financial reporting that’s become far too cumbersome and labor-intensive. And your poor field inventory management folks are overwhelmed with the daily scramble needed to keep track of inventory coming and going—as well as tabs on what is in the field.
As we write this, the chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. Just above them, the stockings have been hung with care, in the hopes that you-know-who will soon be there.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, “In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” Maslow, who was famous for his theory about the hierarchy of human needs, certainly nailed the idea that growth requires change but is often uncomfortable.
Question: Which of these scrambles do you prefer?
You’ve probably heard it over and over again: when looking for a solution, don’t stare at the problem. Why? That’s because, as a recent Forbes author noted, focusing on defining the problem can limit the creativity of your solutions. Analytical problem-defining is a fundamentally different brain activity than creative problem-solving.
Is your supply chain effectively translating the market’s needs through your business?
Though purchases should always be an objective decision, human beings are just that: human beings. We’re swayed by emotion and imagination, which quickly turn purchases into subjective decisions. This can be especially true when decision-makers considering the purchase of a large technology investment are wooed by a demo scenario.
“There is more than one way to skin a cat,” goes the old adage. It means, of course, that there’s more than one way of doing something—very much like the reality of the commissions process in the orthopedic medical device industry.