Posted on 

 by 

 in ,

The Real ROI

Accountability is an almost obsessive objective for most businesses. If I put this in, what can I get out? The metrics of return are hard: sales, turnover, margins, profits. Peter Drucker said that the single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that results exist only on the outside. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. Satisfied customers get you more satisfied customers. And that applies now, more than ever. Worth remembering next time you're looking at a spreadsheet with lots of numbers on it.

8 responses to “The Real ROI”

  1. Rob Dock Avatar
    Rob Dock

    Its interesting that you often have to look at Real ROI from two different perspectives:
    1) from the sales side – trying to understand how your products/services can benefit your potential customer – so really trying to put yourself in their shoes – which leads to:
    2) as the business owner – trying to establish where best to invest your (frequently) limited budget.
    In my experience delivering Real ROI is therefore about listening to what your customers are looking to acheive – not necessarily about what you can offer! My pennies worth!

  2. Rob Dock Avatar
    Rob Dock

    Its interesting that you often have to look at Real ROI from two different perspectives:
    1) from the sales side – trying to understand how your products/services can benefit your potential customer – so really trying to put yourself in their shoes – which leads to:
    2) as the business owner – trying to establish where best to invest your (frequently) limited budget.
    In my experience delivering Real ROI is therefore about listening to what your customers are looking to acheive – not necessarily about what you can offer! My pennies worth!

  3. Process Management Training Avatar
    Process Management Training

    Very interesting… thanks for sharing

  4. Process Management Training Avatar
    Process Management Training

    Very interesting… thanks for sharing

  5. Rob Dock Avatar
    Rob Dock

    Listening is a key skill in any sale process, but it goes deeper as you really have look at the project and what are the drivers behind the project?
    Quite often you will find that the people you are talking to – unless you are speaking with the CEO – have their own agenda’s or are being pressured behind the scenes by specific parts of the business.
    In most projects, it is therefore essential that you build up a clear understanding of the powerbase within the company – so as to ensure you are involving and gaining agreement to your proposals from the real drivers behind the project!

  6. Rob Dock Avatar
    Rob Dock

    Listening is a key skill in any sale process, but it goes deeper as you really have look at the project and what are the drivers behind the project?
    Quite often you will find that the people you are talking to – unless you are speaking with the CEO – have their own agenda’s or are being pressured behind the scenes by specific parts of the business.
    In most projects, it is therefore essential that you build up a clear understanding of the powerbase within the company – so as to ensure you are involving and gaining agreement to your proposals from the real drivers behind the project!

  7. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Of course, ROI is much easier to calculate when sticking to financials. But, arguably, the non-financial costs and benefits are just as imporant – internal motivation/reward and external branding/positioning

  8. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Of course, ROI is much easier to calculate when sticking to financials. But, arguably, the non-financial costs and benefits are just as imporant – internal motivation/reward and external branding/positioning

Leave a Reply