It’s a Process – Where’s Yours Stuck?

Independent business owners typically don’t think about Six Sigma or other big business management practices. And for good reason: they often don’t apply.

But one application that’s useful is The Theory of Constraints. It goes like this: a process is only as good as its weakest point.

So if you’re making cars, and the painting robot moves at 1/3 the speed of every other assembly point, your process will take 3x more time than it could otherwise.

One place where the Theory of Constraints applies to us freelancers is in the sales process. We forget that it has steps and stages. If one stage is compromised or (more often) broken, the whole thing has problems.

We won’t get the result we want if those problems aren’t addressed.

I think of a freelancer’s or independent consultant’s sales process as having seven separate parts: prospecting; engaging leads; discovery; pitch; close; recovery.

I’m curious: which step presents the biggest challenge for you?