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There is at least one, and sometimes two, extraordinary buy-ins needed in a Theory of Constraints implementation.
The first of these, and sometimes the only one, is the internal buy-in of managers and employees to the Theory of Constraints concepts, in the early stages of an implementation (or earlier - during the decision processes to go ahead with an implementation).
The second of these is for use by sales people when either their standard sales approach is not winning sales at a good enough rate, or when the company is using the TOC marketing solution and has constructed an "Unrefusable Offer."
In both cases, there is a need for a very formal and very effective process. It must be methodical, because it must be teach-able, and the process itself must be one that can be monitored and adjusted for maximum effectiveness.
In fact, the necessary buy-in process that is adapted for use internally and externally follows EXACTLY the sequence of the so-called "Thinking Processes" of the Theory of Constraints. These "Thinking Processes" are a set of tools developed by Eli Goldratt and his partners and associates in the early 90's, and they remain the single most powerful set of tools for attacking a problem that I've encountered. We rarely teach them, but we use them ALL the time.
Note: If you want to take a side-trip to review the Buy-In procedures there's a link at the end of this article, when it makes the most sense.
The most appealing use of the buy-in processes at first glance is of course for increased sales.
But the internal application should not be under-estimated. In our experience very, very few managers actually have ANY formal approach to gaining buy-in whatsoever – buy-in from their boss or their peers or their direct reports for a new idea, for example. The consequences to a manager of failing to get a buy-in for a new idea or process are often company-wide and years in duration, and cost a company millions of dollars over time.
So when a manager understands the Theory of Constraints buy-in steps, they make so much sense and explain so many buy-in problems in the past that many managers consider them almost as powerful as the TOC applications themselves.
Used internally, the techniques create both a logical and emotional buy-in to a solution, creating a force of ownership of the solution that glues a workforce together through its implementation.
We notice this most when we chat with colleagues, consultants in non-TOC but often competing fields who do not have our background of formal buy-in procedures used in every implementation.
The common lament from these people is just how resistant to change most companies are, how the people never seem to buy-in, and either simply carry-on doing what they were doing before or even seem to work to defy the consultants' plans and ideas the split second their back is turned or the on-site visit is over.
We just never encounter this. In fact, sometimes we'll conduct anonymous surveys following our education, and we typically get 98% to 100% consensus that a) the concepts make sense and b) they apply to the company in question.
Especially for TOC consultants of my generation, the buy-in processes are second nature, embedded in our psyche; after all, we worked with Eli Goldratt on the team that developed these techniques in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
In terms of the application to Sales, having a formal buy-in process is crucial when the client is selling an Unrefusable Offer to their prospects – and valuable when they're just presenting the regular "offer" to prospects, too.
The development of the Unrefusable Offer (URO, also known as Mafia Offer or the Market Solution) as a tool to break market constraints created a major sales challenge.
In an URO a salesman is selling value, not the product or service; and despite the sales profession's claims to teach salesmen to do just that, it's quickly evident that the majority of sales people simply do not understand the concept of selling value, or of selling a business solution (versus selling a product).
If it wasn't so damaging, it can be almost amusing to observe sometimes.
For example: At the close of a presentation showing a customer how the client's offer will save them millions in inventory, AND give them an unprecedented level of immediate component availability. And pointing out how that availability will give them a major competitive advantage towards winning millions of dollars of new opportunity business as a result of their flexibility. In the thoughtful silence that follows, the conventional salesman, silent until then to watch and learn the new selling approach and presentation will jump in with "and you know, we only use the best steel in our products and ... they've all been through the magic box treatment twice and ..."
As I say, amusing if not so damaging.
Moreover, even those sales people that do have a good instinct towards selling a solution, selling value, have to rely on their natural ability because there are no tools to turn to for help. There are a lot of sales "techniques" out there ... but very few sales processes.
So the internal buy-in processes were examined from a perspective of their application to gain external buy-in (i.e. make a sale) and the variation that has emerged is extraordinarily powerful. The TOC Sales Process is a genuine process, one that can be trained, followed, and monitored, and where process failures can provide a meaningful analysis for improvement.
In addition to its sheer effectiveness, the TOC Sales approach offers other advantages over traditional selling:
First, there is a formal methodology so that even technical specialists reluctantly placed into a sales role (as is often the case with certain products) can literally, just follow documented procedures.
Also, the procedure is such that an internal manager at a customer of our client, someone who has just been at the receiving end of a TOC-style sales presentation, is left well equipped to sell the offer internally to his or her peers or boss.
This is essential in almost any sale of consequence but more so when you're selling a business solution with characteristics that might be best appreciated by someone not involved in the face-to-face purchase.
For example, if the Unrefusable Offer takes the shape of an annual-quantity buy price but with weekly deliveries that guarantee a 60% reduction in client on-site inventories of their product along with 99% availability at threat of payment of a voluntary penalty ... that's an offer that needs to be understood by more people than just the buyer, in order to appreciate its full value. And while our sales process aims to reach all the key people face-to-face - decision-makers and influencers - there are always occasions where we cannot, and have to rely on the customer being able to sell internally. Our process supports this.
For an explanation of the steps involved in gaining a buy-in, internal or external, check out the buy-in procedures.
Or, return home: Fast, massive performance improvements
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