In 1970 a different kind of business book rose to the top of bestseller lists. Written by the man credited with reinventing the Avis rent-a-car company, Up the Organization was the polar opposite of dry business-school texts or professional symposia.
It taught simple lessons in a concise and memorable way, and became a popular guide for many future business professionals, including Canada’s Laird Comber.
Author Robert Townsend’s success was based on out-of-the-box thinking. To this day, many in advertising and business remember his pitch-perfect slogan that turned Avis around: “We try harder.” The idea was so compelling that millions of buttons imprinted with the whimsical tagline were created, and proudly worn.
Robert Townsend had strong views on corporations, processes and the effective management of people. In fact, the cover’s subtitle read: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits.
Among his trenchant observations:
“The controller’s job is to see that all future surprises are pleasant.”
“Most people in big companies today are administered, not led. They are treated as personnel, not people.”
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enhancement of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last.”
“I used to keep a sign opposite my desk where I couldn’t miss it. … Is what I’m doing or about to do getting us closer to our objectives?”
“Anyone that makes over $150 a week should be allowed to set his own office hours.” (1970 dollars, of course.)
“Policy manuals. If they’re general, they’re useless. If they’re specific, they’re how-to manuals – expensive to prepare and revise. If you have to have a policy manual, publish the Ten Commandments.”
As a young commerce student at McMaster University, Laird Comber encountered this high-impact book early on. A voracious reader, Comber has implemented Townsend’s worldview alongside lessons he has learned from hundreds of books on business, management, sales, marketing and consumer psychology.
“It’s important to empower your team members by giving them responsibility and autonomy to boost productivity,” Comber says, echoing one of Townsend’s central themes. “Let your leaders lead. Trusting your team to make decisions and having them take ownership of their work is key.”
If Laird Comber sported his own version of an Avis button, it would surely read: “People, products, process and customers.” Those are the key elements of sales success, he believes. And by “people,” he includes his colleagues and every member of the sales teams that he leads.
Comber embraces “process” as a way to regularize achievements and illuminate the way to success for every team member. He’s worked hard over the years to refine the optimal process for making sales and closing deals at the highest levels in business. Comber believes that an effective process constructs guardrails that provide structure while also clearing the way for high-velocity, open-road creativity.
Technology plays an important role. Writing more than a half century ago, Robert Townsend was somewhat dismissive of the utility of computers, which at the time were expensive, high-maintenance machines that took up whole floors at a company headquarters. One of his chapters was titled, “Computers and Their Priests.”
Today, computer-driven content management, customer relationship management, scheduling processes and other technological aids are essential tools.
“Sales needs to own the CRM,” says Comber. “This helps improve customer interactions and should be the backbone for all data utilized to make decisions, drive behaviors and ultimately help manage the business. The next step is to really have an effective data analytics process and system. This needs to be leveraged to gain insights into buying practices, seasonal frequencies, preferences, trends and other salient variables.”
The twin foundations for a well-tuned process are accountability and clear communication, Comber says. With freedom comes responsibility. To maximize productivity and creativity, it is important to allow team members a wide berth when it comes to aligning means and ends.
That flexibility must be paired with accountability, accurately measured and fairly assessed. In addition, “From both the written and in-person perspectives, effective communication is central to developing relationships, on a team and especially with customers,” he says.
“Success is an ongoing process that requires a fair amount of strategic thought, patience and dedication,” Comber advises. “You can’t make your sales goal in one day, so ensuring you have the right process and believing that you are doing the right things daily will result in achieving winning results.”
