Customer Reviews

The Cash Machine: Using the Theory of Constraints for Sales Management

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this book as it teaches sales management in an easy to understand way, including a novel story line, and highlighting new methods such as:
- Theory of Constraint around the Ten Steps of Sale, thereby highlighting a systematic way to look at sales, and improve them by lifting 'bottlenecks'
- Specific steps to deal with the End-of-Quarter Syndrome and basically change the tempo of internal activities
- The fact that any activity in a company needs to be looked at from a broader perspective, rather than a narrow one, with the 'Prospect-to-Order Chain'.

I particulary enjoyed reading about the student syndrome and how to manager buffer time for any project. This will be helpful for any work or leisure activity.

Good insight!

The authors clearly understand how Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints can be applied to sales management. However, they do a poor job of imitating the novelization that Goldratt engagingly offered in "The Goal".
The authors have constructed a plot that provides an adequate expositional framework, but the main character's facile, unexplored results may not prove persuasive to the uninitiated. Coupled with abrupt story transitions, uneven pacing and sloppy editing (missing verbs, oddly-constructed quotes), the result demonstrates that authors can understand their subject without having the tools to explain it well.
Get "The Cash Machine" for the useful information it contains, but don't expect "The Goal".

When reading The Goal, It's Not Luck and Dettmer's tome on TOC more than a decade ago, it was obvious that while TOC books in the time were mostly applied to manufacturing, it was clear it could be applicable in other aspects of business, and life. The tools were just as good as the concept.

Still, it is extremely refreshing and a relief to see TOC explicitly applied to a sales setting, as is done in The Cash Machine.

The book focuses on sales, but acknowledges how the processes for for other areas as well (engineering, customer service, etc.) and how they are all inter-related. It also shows how what would normally have been conceptually difficult to determine and apply could be eloquently formulized as the problem and henceforth solutions are made, particularly using the concepts of TOC and its related tools and concepts (Critical Chain comes into play with significant attention).

It would be ideal if the reader were already familiar with TOC (particularly having read The Goal and one of its succeeding books such as Critical Chain), though not necessary (even though the concepts may be a tad challenging to grasp for the uninitiated, it's not an absolute necessity).

I was concerned at first because of one of the reviews noting the storyline being bland, but that isn't the case at all, and though it may not be as gripping a story as the likes of the Borne Identity, that is absolutely not its point, and the story only complements the concepts in a way that the reader can appreciate its application in real life (albeit from a fictional story), and it succeeds in stellar fashion.

I had long wished for such a book for the various functions of a business, and this one is a splendidly executed, insightful teacher.

Great book!, a novel that show a practical way to use a TOC strategy in MKT & Sales. If you are on TOC, you know its effects on operations, now this books guide you in an approach in SALES.

As I have written in other reviews I enjoy reading the business novels to learn new concepts. The Cash Machine is a book that incorporates the Theory of Constraints with Sales Management. The company CGS, is incorporating the Theory of Constraints to improve their processes as they have a TOC consultant already.

I found their ten steps to Steps of Sale (SOS) helpful as they used a funnel metaphor to describe qualified prospects to closed orders. As they work with sales, they also tie in the marketing function as marketing is partially responsible for "bringing in as many relevant people or companies to the stage of becoming a lead or "hot" prospect."

As I work in administration and support sales I enjoyed the chapter called "End of the Quarter Syndrome". We deal constantly with the backlog and push at the end of the quarter to get the payout. TOC may be helpful to many companies, especially in sales and admin in releasing end of month and quarter burdens.

Great practical presentation of Goldratt's method. Plan to use this to manage our sales process going forward.

This book is one of the best on TOC and it's applications for business- yes THE GOAL is still the best in my eyes, but check out Goldratt's new book THE CHOICE, it's quite good. THE CASH MACHINE is written in the novelization format pioneered by Dr. Goldratt, and is a pleasant and informative read. If you like Dr. Goldratt's writing style, and are considering using TOC for sales management this is the book for you and your team. The author does a phenomenal job of addressing `end of the quarter syndrome' problem; our main reason salespeople don't properly pace their efforts. Don't miss this book.

Best book on Theory of Constraints since "The Goal." I bought a copy for each of my managers and made this the topic of our last meeting.