PPRISM

PPRISM ‑ People, Processes, Results and Improvement in Sales and Management

Sales and Marketing are two key functions in virtually all organisations. Without sales, organisations die. "An organisation with a revenue problem, has a serious problem - all other problems are luxuries of success". While the client quote perhaps slightly oversells the importance of sales, generating income is crucial. For all the importance, many organisations treat sales either too gingerly or too heavy-handedly. Sales can appear a mysterious process to outsiders. In truth, because only people sell to people, many aspects of sales are only partially analysable. On the other hand, expenditure on sales can be treated as any other investment. PPRISM is our proven method of improving sales force effectiveness through looking at the total system.

PPRISM’s starting point is to look at sales and marketing as a system. Analysing the system shows that the key systems cycle – input, process, output, measurement – applies in sales and marketing as in other business systems. PPRISM consists of:

An ISO9000 compliant approach to sales and marketing.
Six key sales stages, with key information reporting based on probabilities:
1. suspect, "green": market analysis and identification;
2. prospect, "yellow": early contact, expression of interest;
3. lead, "white": stated requirement;
4. commitment, "purple" : organisational deployment;
5. bid, "blue" : proposal or tender;
6. agreement, "red" : negotiation and award;

A management information system (in Access and Excel) for tracking and reporting.
Infrastructure – filing, reporting, contact management.
Training and support – draft documentation and worked examples.
Links to contact and knowledge management systems (e.g. Maximiser and intranets).
Links to project management systems for larger stages (e.g. big tenders).

PPRISM has been applied in a number of sectors. Traditional product sales methodologies work best where clients are similar and many, pricelists hold firm, content knowledge is a minimal and the client need is directly satisfied by the product. PPRISM’s flexible approach works best in business to business service environments which need to solve a client’s unique problem, not push a product – consulting (of many forms), professional services, outsourcing, facilities management, distribution and finance, to name a few.

One PPRISM client was a large outsourcing supplier who needed to provide much better reporting of the true state of sales and organise sales forces working centrally and locally. As their sales were a mix of very large and very small assignments, PPRISM’s probabilistic based reporting provided them with a step change improvement and led to the board understanding much better the dynamics of sales. Another PPRISM user was a large distribution company which had had several false starts in new markets and wanted the rigour PPRISM provides to allow them to treat sales opportunities as client problem solving projects without getting out of control.

Z/Yen, as the developer (and a user) of PPRISM, is ideally placed to help clients with specification, design, customisation and installation. Z/Yen delivers strategic, systems, people and organisational improvement – PPRISM improves the processes, results and personal effectiveness of the sales and marketing organisation. Where needed, Z/Yen works to provide ongoing support for PPRISM information systems.

PPRISM Pipeline Values by Month for All Stages (Except Agreement)

PPRISM Pipeline Trend Chart

PPRISM Pipeline Probability Chart

PPRISM Weighted Expected Revenue by Month

PPRISM Product by Weighted Expected Value

PPRISM

PPRISM ‑ People, Processes, Results and Improvement in Sales and Management

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