Have you ever wanted to implement a maintenance improvement program or project only to have management vote it down or shelve it? Sadly, many great ideas, even if they make great economic sense, never receive sponsorship unless presented to management in the correct manner.
Why Great Maintenance Ideas Fail Without Proper Presentation
In the early years of my career as a design engineer, I quickly discovered that presenting a great idea or design itself was never enough to sell the concept to management. Although my design vision would make perfect sense, permission to proceed with it could only be obtained when I viewed and sold the project from my sponsor’s perspective (in this case, management’s perspective).
For example, if management was looking for cost reduction, I sold the project based on efficiency; if management was looking for market leadership, I sold the idea based on innovation (first to market); and so on.
Most importantly, I also realized management favored projects that reduced the buy-in risk by breaking the project into a series of phased “stand-alone” deliverables.
By linking each phase deliverable to management’s goals and objectives, I made it easy for them to say yes, one phase at a time.
Achieving success and moving to the next phase meant setting achievable tangible goals for each phase, measuring and achieving those goals, and capitalizing on that success to sell the next phase of the implementation. I recognized that successfully selling an idea, design, or project requires an engineered approach to both the deliverable and its implementation.
Strategies For Getting ‘The Sale’
From those early experiences. I could dissect and catalog strategies and techniques that succeeded and those that failed. In doing so, I recognized the formula for successfully selling any idea, process, or initiative is based on the following basic, common-sense principles:
Principle #1: Choose A Winning Project
The fact you have to sell your project to management means that you have autonomously chosen that project. Every maintenance department is brimming with improvement opportunities.
Performing a simple Maintenance Operation Effectiveness Review (MOER) will help determine departmental strengths and areas of immediate opportunity by pointing to the present state of maintenance and a direction to move toward (future state) within a defined timeframe.
By establishing the corporate direction and various department directions, you can align your direction and better develop your first or next winning project.
Selling your project successfully in a world of limited capital requires you to work with business partners (other departments) to prioritize your projects. Remember that understanding and helping them meet their needs will help you meet yours.
Winning projects bring sustainable benefits. Look for projects that require minimal capital outlay, such as waste reduction/elimination initiatives. In your proposal, remember to note that you want to reinvest any savings into a subsequent phase. Management is more likely to buy into a sustainable savings project than a one-time savings project.
Choosing a winning project means choosing one that you not only know and believe in but that others also will believe in; one that meets an immediate need with which you can set achievable goals; one that doesn’t require complex project management; one that you can confidently bring to a successful conclusion.
Remember, your future credibility lies in your project’s success or failure.
Principle #2: Understand Management’s Needs
In preparing your project proposal, you must build and present it in a way that appeals to the people who will approve and sponsor the project. You must know if they are detail-oriented or “big picture” managers and prepare your presentation accordingly.
Be sure to have all the details ready, in case they’re needed. Search for ways to organize your justification argument based not only on your needs and requirements but also on management’s. Marry your goals with theirs to make it easy for them to defend their “yes” decision. Finally, anticipate objections and have a ready response for them.
Be advised that you may have to sell the project to numerous members and levels of management and, thus, present your proposal in different ways according to your audience at a given time. Therefore, you’ll want to prepare your proposal information in whatever language they best understand.
For example, presenting to a controller requires a particular emphasis on budget spending, i.e., costs vs. savings. However, presenting to plant or production managers requires a special focus on the value of the maintenance project through performance and its economic impact on asset availability, production throughput, and quality.
Principle #3: Build Your MAP
Once you’ve chosen a winning project, you must carefully prepare your business case, detailing how you intend to manage the project. Implementation success will depend on developing a solid Management Action Plan (MAP). The MAP is a project plan detailing your W5/How strategy:
- WHY are you proposing this project? List project benefits and include clearly defined, tangible goals and objectives. Use applicable performance measurements to help the buyer understand the current state; set tangible goal measures, and trend the project’s success rate as implementation progresses.
- WHAT will your project entail? Detail the scope of work, and include a listing of special tools, permits, and considerations required for the project.
- WHERE will the project take place? Detail the project’s geography.
- WHO will you use to complete the project? Detail expected internal and external human-resource requirements (contractors, consultants, etc.).
- WHEN will you commence and complete the project? A detailed project timeline (usually a Gantt chart) with milestone achievement points.
- HOW much will it cost, and how will you pay for this project? A detailed Cost/Benefit-Analysis budget must accompany any project proposal. No project budget is complete without a Return On Investment (ROI) statement spelling out the direct and indirect expected savings and how long it will take to recuperate the project cost. Choosing a sustainable-benefit type of project allows you to amortize costs and project savings over a more extended period.
NOTE: Many corporations already have a pre-set formula for project approvals based on ROI. Before pitching your idea, do your homework: Find out if and what your corporation requires to move a project forward, and make sure your first phase is tailored to the formula requirements. Be sure to back up your ROI statement with realistic figures that you can defend, not “best guess” efforts.
Preparing a MAP takes practice, though. Don’t be afraid to solicit help. Understand that you don’t have to be knowledgeable in all areas. A third party can often bring an unclouded perspective and the motivation to move a project forward.
Utilizing a third party to help develop your proposal adds credibility to the project due to the verification process that an independent resource provides. If you need extra help implementing the project or phase, ask an appropriate consultant or contractor to prepare a proposal outlining projected benefits and savings. Use that information in your presentation.
Principle #4: Commit To Success
You have to feel good and believe in your proposal. Part of that “feeling good” is knowing you can successfully achieve the targets set out in your proposal. By doing your homework, you have earned the right to use positive language to sell your proposal (such as “we will achieve these targets by this date,” NOT “we think”). Setting goals and a tangible measurement method displays confidence and a genuine commitment to success.
Principle #5: Present Your Proposal in A Professional Manner
All preparation work has been done, and you are ready to present your proposal. Most successful presentations are simple, concise, and supported with facts.
If you intend to solicit outside assistance to perform the work, the consultant or contractor may be able to assist with the presentation material. Again, be prepared to answer questions and possibly overcome objections. Speak plainly and confidently. Be patient. Keep your cool.
Nobody will tell you that selling maintenance to management is easy. However, taking an engineered approach that meets both corporate and departmental needs, believing in your project proposal, and mapping a well-thought-out strategy backed up by a fact-based ROI statement will make a compelling case for moving forward. This professionally delivered business case can make it difficult for management to say “no.”
Ken Bannister has 40+ years of experience in the lubrication industry. For the past 30, he’s been a Managing Partner and Principal Asset Management Consultant with Engtech Industries Inc., where he has specialized in helping clients implement best-practice asset-management programs worldwide. Ken is currently on the ICML Board of Directors and is a founding member and past director of the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Association of Canada. He has written several books about lubrication, predictive maintenance, and energy reduction strategies.
