Make More Donuts!. Greg Bennett
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Make More Donuts!
How One Sales Manager Learned the Secrets to Creating More Dough
by
Greg Bennett
Copyright 2011 Greg Bennett,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0059-4
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Intro to the Story (..and yes, you have to read this)
This is the story about a fictitious donut factory where all they do is make donuts. The production manager, a curious fellow with an even curious-er name –Mr. Sales Manager, is in charge of collecting the donuts and taking them to his regional manager, who then passes them on to the factory owner.
One day Sales Manager’s boss came to him with a direct order – “Sales…you have to make more donuts!” In fact they wanted Sales to make twice as many donuts, without adding staff or any other support (sound familiar?).
Well like most people, Sales Manager was stressed about how this was going to happen. But like a good soldier he went to work trying to make it happen, but nothing worked. Until one day a savior arrived with a different approach to making more donuts.
This is the story of that stranger and how his unique and simple ideas transformed the life of one Sales Manager, and helped him achieve his goals!
Perhaps you know a Sales Manager in your life who could use the same ideas to create more dough!
Chapter 1: The Order From On High
My name is Sales Manager. Yes, it’s a strange name I know, but my parents had a sense of humor. And with the last name of Manager you can imagine what fun they had: I have a sister named Department (Deppy for short) and a brother named Assistant (uh...you can guess what we called him).
Anyway, when your last name is Manager you pretty much know what you’re going to end up doing for a living. You’re going to be managing something or someone. In my case it was donuts. I’m what’s called a production manager for a large donut factory. Yes, a donut factory.
I don't know if you've ever heard of something called a donut factory before, but it's where all those wonderfully round, deliciously sweet dough circles are made and shipped all over the world. Oh you may think your local baker is back there churning out dough, and putting them on trays, and dropping them into the oil... well, that's all for show. The actual donuts are made in factories like the one I work at in a little ski town called Steamboat Springs, Colorado (real donuts have to be made at elevations over 6,000 ft).
Inside a donut factory there are giant silos, about 10 of them, that hang from the ceiling. There are people who sit up near the top of each silo and all they do all day is load the ingredients to make the donuts into the silos...their official title is "donut maker"...but we call 'em cute names like "Little dough boys"...or "Flower Children". Anyway, they crawl up the ladders everyday to the top of the silos where they sit in their own little cubicle surrounded by the ingredients that go into making the donuts. Everyday when I blow my whistle, those crazy "Dough-doughs" (another pet name), get busy shoveling the stuff into the top of the silos.
My job as production manager is pretty basic...I collect whatever donuts come out the bottom of those silos. Then I take them and drop them in the office of the big boss, our regional manager. Her job is to then take them to our factory owner. It's that simple. But it's not always easy. The donuts don’t always flow smoothly, sometimes the donut makers get lazy, or cut corners. And sometimes there are clogs in the pipeline and things get backed up. All in all, what comes out of those silos is a crap shoot, and I’m responsible for making it all happen.
And then there are extraordinary situations that come along, like the one that happened a few months ago when my regional manager walked into my office and dropped a bomb in my lap. Here’s what happened:
“Hey Sales…guess what? I just heard from the owners that we have to increase production…we need to make more donuts. A LOT more donuts.”
“Oh? What do you mean by a LOT more?” I asked.
“I mean like twice as much as what the donut makers have been making!”
“What? Double production? Where did this order come from?”
“From on high,” my regional manager said.
“Well…someone had to be high to want that….I’m assuming we can add a few new donut makers?”
“Uh…no. No new people…no new anything. You got a find a way to make it happen with what you got,” she said with a smile.
“But…double? How are we going to do that? We’re already working hard…no one is slacking off…how can we possibly…”
“Look Sales…I don’t make the rules…I was given a number, and now I’m giving that number to you. It’s your job to make it happen. Now…before you freak out…while I can’t allow you to hire anyone new, I can get you some help.”
“What kind of help?” I couldn’t imagine where she was going with this.
“I’m going to send you one of the top donut making consultants in the world who will work with you and your team. His name is Fran Chise…ever heard of him?”
“Fran Chise? No…who is he?”
“He’s a very interesting fellow. Very subtle, non-assuming…kind of quiet, but he’s going to have you making more donuts than you ever thought possible. He’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes…so I’d suggest you gather your donut makers and let them know what is going on…okay? Great.” With that my regional manager smiled curtly, spun on her heels and left.
Double production? And the only help I was going to get was from a consultant? Really? Most of the consultants I’d met didn’t do much more than point out your obvious mistakes and make a motivational speech or two.
Nonetheless, I was stuck with this and I knew I had to let my donut makers know what was coming. So I called a meeting and oh what a meeting it would turn out to be!
Chapter 2: The Brutal Production Meeting
I called the donut makers into an emergency meeting just after 4 p.m. Emergency meetings were a rarity around our company so everyone was anxious about what the meeting was about. And I must say I was a bit nervous too. Rolling out the news about the new production expectations wasn’t going to be easy. My donut makers were already under a lot of pressure and this could send them over the top.
After everyone was seated, I dove right in. “Folks…thanks for coming in. Listen…I got the word today from the regional manager, who got it directly from the owner, that they’re looking for us to step up our donut production quite a bit.”
A few seconds passed before someone spoke. “What do you mean ‘a bit’, Sales?” It was from one of my most experienced donut makers.
“Well…I’m not totally certain yet…but they’re talking like, um…” I lowered my voice and tried to spit it out with a slight cough. “…uh doubling it.”
“What?” The same donut maker asked. “Doubling what we’re supposed to produce…are they crazy? Are YOU crazy?”
Soon the whole group was chiming in with comments and angry looks.
“Sales...” another donut maker spoke up.