Many firms see little point investing time, energy and resources into teaching business acumen to non-financial people, such as sales professionals or human resource managers.
Quoting Robert A. Heinlien, they will say, "Never attempt to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."
Quoting Robert A. Heinlien, they will say, "Never attempt to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig."
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” Sir Winston Churchill
We beg to differ! We think all animals should sing - and as importantly - can sing. Whether they are sales animals, or people who think they are "not a numbers person."
We sometimes observe a sort of sour grapes logic at work: people think "learning to work with financial information is really hard," which then leads to "it's not important to everyone anyway."
"No, no, no," we say. "Wrong on both counts. It's important for everyone - and it's easy."
Case in point: We recently held a tailored Color Accounting workshop with the sales team of a huge international insurance company, to rave reviews.
The salespeople loved seeing the impact of their efforts in top line revenues - and understanding their clients' businesses better. This new perspective led them to see how they could change certain sales practices to improve bottom-line profitability for both parties.
They were not the least bit annoyed and, in fact, were in much better harmony with their firm and their clients going forward.
What about your organization? Which department would you like to offer singing lessons to first?
Best regards, Peter
We sometimes observe a sort of sour grapes logic at work: people think "learning to work with financial information is really hard," which then leads to "it's not important to everyone anyway."
"No, no, no," we say. "Wrong on both counts. It's important for everyone - and it's easy."
Case in point: We recently held a tailored Color Accounting workshop with the sales team of a huge international insurance company, to rave reviews.
The salespeople loved seeing the impact of their efforts in top line revenues - and understanding their clients' businesses better. This new perspective led them to see how they could change certain sales practices to improve bottom-line profitability for both parties.
They were not the least bit annoyed and, in fact, were in much better harmony with their firm and their clients going forward.
What about your organization? Which department would you like to offer singing lessons to first?
Best regards, Peter
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