Keep It In or Send It Out?

RECENTLY, I had the pleasure of meeting an exceptionally kind and open in-plant manager who works for a pharmaceutical company. I was told the shop was recently placed "in scope" by management and was looking for help on how to deal with the situation.

I admit I didn't know what "in scope" meant at first. When I asked I was told a department is placed in scope—or under review by the parent organization—to determine, in essence, whether to keep the work in or send it out. People's jobs are at stake here, along with the profitability of the organization, the needs of the customers (across multiple countries) and the needs of the organization's customer. That's a lot of needs.

I asked, "What's your plan to get out of scope?" The answer was honest: they were looking for help to create the plan because they weren't sure where to start.

I asked if they had a justification plan? Some in-plants call them a business or marketing plan or an in-plant strategy. I really don't care what you call it. I want to know that the benefits of the in-plant are documented as part of a constantly updated and analyzed justification of why the department exists, the benefits of having it and where it's going. He answered that some of that information existed but it wasn't gathered in one place. This is often the situation I encounter at in-plants.

Creating a Justification Plan

There's two parts to a justification plan. The financial bits that cover costs, chargebacks, potential profits, etc. and the marketing bits that discuss who you are, what you do, who you do it for, why you do it and how you get the business.

Some of you are incredibly diligent about having this information available and often share with management the benefits you and your team provide to the organization. But some aren't able to truly make that argument to keep work in vs. sending it out. I've met some folks who are flat out not interested in being able to make the case.

I don't know about you, but if you can't justify why you're employed…why should someone employ you at all? Keeping a job is one thing, but being able to make the case has raise-making potential. If you can show your organization how to be even more successful—beyond cost savings alone—more people want to hear about those things.

This brings me to an interesting fork in the road. There are two main needs here: the plan that shows the past, present and future of your group as it pertains to why you should be there; and your ability to go out and get the work. Yup…I mean how you sell.

My pharmaceutical friend and I discussed the outline of his get-out-of-scope plan. It looked a lot like a business plan with a marketing plan. Just Google "business plan" and also "marketing plan" and you will find plenty of outlines to get you started. The devil—and the opportunity—is in the details, especially the costs and the overall return on investment of the department. If you can prove to your organization that you provide a valued service that affects not only the bottom line but also the top line, you've got yourself the start of a great argument.

Wait, Look or Create?

But how do you "get" the business? What do you lead with when it comes to selling what you do? I'd like you to consider the following three approaches:

Wait: If you use the wait approach to new business (and existing business too), you literally are waiting for business to show up. You may spend your time preparing for the work you will get or maybe you are busy working on work you already have. There's not much effort in this method, but there is often time spent hoping for more work, praying for more work or complaining that no work is coming in. Last time I checked, there are very few investments that don't require some amount of up-front work, effort or capital before you can enjoy a return.

Look: I believe this method is not only the most popular, but it has also worked for many up to this point. You know the core product or service you offer and you spend time going out and looking for people in the organization who need what you do. This approach often leads to asking the potential customer, "Do you need what I'm offering?" Or asking an existing customer, "I know you used us in the past, do you want to use us again soon?"

Some people are incredible at this method. The number of calls they make in a day, people they see, e-mails they send are all part of their ROI factor of "looking." They measure the effort by how many things they did to sell, rather than the return they got from their selling efforts. People who use this method would try to find people who need what is being offered. When people are buying or need what you offer this is a great method. But it's not such a good method when people aren't buying.

Create: This is often the least used method to lead with. But as of late, the few who do use it are enjoying deeper and more valuable relationships with particular customers. This method can deepen an already existing relationship or it can help you get the attention of someone you've never done business with.

In this method you spend time thinking creatively about ways to help your customers. Perhaps it's about helping them make money instead of just saving it, or maybe saving some of their time or making them look good to a new type of customer they are trying to go after. The difference is that you're not asking, "Do you need what I do?" You're leading with a developed set of ideas you created to help that customer do his or her job.

The "create" approach can sound something like, "I've done the best I can to understand you, your department and your customer, and I believe I have some ideas that can help you beyond cost savings alone." It may take more time to understand the customer's department or their relationships with their customers, but it's an easy way for you to differentiate yourself by putting the customer's needs in the middle of your efforts and showing them how to grow and go further, enabled by your ideas.

It sets you apart from your competition (both inside and outside), and the potential to have a long-term relationship is not based on price, quality or turnaround time only. Individuals who lead with this method may not win all the business, and it may take more time, but the practice in developing the ideas and sharing them with others makes for a more knowledgeable, creative and experienced salesperson. I consider this a business development mind-set.

You can argue with me that these three approaches sound very "salesy," but I will share that the "Create" method is being used by some commercial print sales reps to get into organizations that never let them in before; some of them even have in-plants.

Right now the manager of the in-plant at the pharmaceutical company is building a plan and developing new ways to approach customers to win more business and increase his shop's strategic relevance in the company. That kind of effort may not get the shop out of scope, but those efforts will be priceless skills that can be applied in any organization. IPG

Peter Muir, president of Bizucate Inc., is a business analyst, educator and motivator who constantly challenges himself to learn best practices and passionately shares those lessons with others. You can contact Peter at: pmuir@bizucate.com