Working Smarter : Business Graphics

How Org Charts Will Help All Departments in Your Business

Rich — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:22:00 GMT

In most organizations, org charts are used for a single purpose – to give new employees a visual representation of the company’s hierarchy. Beyond that, most companies don’t utilize the power of org charts for much else.

Most companies view org charts for simply that purpose and that purpose only. But did you know that you can use org charts to improve virtually every area of your organization? Using org charts can lead to sales proposals closing more quickly, marketing initiatives producing augmented results, and the enhancement of the overall business intelligence and management of the company.

Here are three org chart tactics that will help you improve your organization’s productivity.

Using Org Charts in the Sales Department

Sales people are in a constant state of flux. Data turns to leads, leads to opportunities, opportunities to deals. Along the way sales teams and agents are collecting additional data to help close the sale. Although every prospect has different needs that the sales agent must attend to, the sales agent’s most important piece of information is to know who the decision makers are within the organization. An org chart is a simple way of tracking that information for better, smarter results.

During the sales qualification process any sales person involved should create and update an org chart for a visual representation of the customer’s organization in order to better understand who needs to be persuaded in order for the sale to actually go through. By building an org chart with this information on it the agent now becomes better equipped to find and contact the appropriate person for decision making and future return sales opportunities.

Org charts also have the added benefit of being able to help sales people rapidly communicate all of the information they’ve gathered during the communication process to each other should multiple sales people need to be involved. An org chart should be part of every client file you open.

For example, say you are a sales agent for a company that sells web analytics tools to track web traffic on websites. Your primary client relationships that you forge within various organizations would be the Marketing Director. But if the Marketing Director, Bill Jones, of one of your biggest clients named ABC Company leaves, will your relationship with the company remain intact? You may find that transitioning the client relationship to the next Marketing Director might be far less turbulent if you have an org chart of the entire marketing department and have developed relationships with some people on the team. In fact, one of those people may be the eventual person who assumes the role now left vacant (see below).

Using Org Charts in the Marketing Department

The marketing department of your organization should employ a similar tactic as the sales department using org charts to track the hierarchy and organizational structure of clients. Marketing departments are constantly challenged with communicating the benefits of the company’s products and services in order to create a pipeline of leads and opportunities for the sales department.

One of the ways to achieve this is to look for additional opportunities among your existing pool of clients. So, why not create a clear picture of your clients’ organizational structure by creating org charts to identify other cross-selling and undeveloped relationship opportunities?

Again, these client org charts provide terrific business intelligence to understanding your clients more thoroughly, how each one functions, what roles the individuals play, and, what opportunities have yet to be realized.

For example, say you are an intellectual property attorney at a large full service law firm and one of your clients is a new video game maker. Currently, as the attorney for the company you are the only one that serves their legal needs, but your firm marketing director creates an org chart (below) and together you realize that the company has grown in size in a short period of time and may have some employment and labor law needs like employee handbooks and policies that your firm could handle on their behalf. Because of the org chart, you now have a possible cross-selling opportunity to pitch and potentially have a larger scale client than previously though.

Click to see a larger version of this image.

Using Org Charts in Executive Management

As previously mentioned, org charts provide a unique source of business intelligence which is the crux of the decision making process for members of the executive management team in a company. While the sales and marketing teams are tracking prospects and clients with org charts, the executive management team can plan organizational change of the business with org charts.

This is expanded in greater detail in two previous Working Smarter articles entitled “Playing ‘What If?’ with Your Organization” and “What Do You Do When There Are Not Enough People to Get the Work Done”. The executive management team of a company benefits from knowing the hierarchical structure of the business and the functional relationship with each member. Org charts allow them to look into how lean the organization is or not, and how to plan for growth. Bloated departments may be trimmed, and other departments that may be under realized can be bulked up for the betterment of the organization.

In summary, if you begin using org charts for more than the hierarchy of your own company, your business will augment the overall intelligence regarding prospects, clients, competitors and strategic partners.

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Did Visio kill the business graphics market?

Laurence — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:18:00 GMT

If computers are the powerful productivity tool we think they are, why is it that only graphic designers and hardcore technical users, with their mystical knowledge of Photoshop and Visio can create decent looking business graphics? It's not as if they possess special powers of visual communication. You may have never gotten past the stick figure stage in art class, but what really separates the average person from these "creative geniuses" is practice. Practice means time, which for most of us is our most valuable commodity. When confronted with a presentation, project, or process that would benefit greatly from graphical representation, a typical response is "I don't have the time to learn [insert name of graphics program here]". The underlying goal of business graphics, and its associated software, is to increase efficiency and save time. If this doesn't hold true for a majority of business and home users, then the business graphics industry has failed.

If your boss asked you to diagram your network or document your sales pipeline, what would you say? Unfortunately, many of us would stick our fingers in our ears and yell "la la la I can't hear you!" I applaud those brave souls, the do-it-yourselfers, who enjoy taking on this sort of challenge. For some, their first experience with Visio was so harrowing, so torturous that they vowed to never build another flowchart. Seen as preoccupied with the advanced technical user, Microsoft's Visio remains the standard in the field and has transmitted that stigma to the whole industry. Personal computers have been used to create these kinds of graphics for more than 20 years and people are still scared of making a basic sales map.

I encourage people to try business graphics again. Not being an artist is never an excuse. The majority of current business graphics users don't even show their graphics to more than 3 people. Nobody is showing off their flowchart to critical artistic acclaim (although don't let that discourage you). That being said, you might be surprised at just how good programs have gotten these days.

Why don't you use business graphics regularly*? Let us know! Leave a comment.

*I've seen your presentations...

Introduction: What is ‘business graphics’?

Laurence — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:05:00 GMT

Welcome! The Business Graphics Blog will focus on how to use business graphics to save time, increase efficiency, and improve communication using proven, real-world advice from both in-house and real-world experts. But what exactly are business graphics and what do they mean?

Let's first take a look at data graphics:

The unique combination of writing, mathematics, and drawing that comprise data graphics represent an evolutionary step in human expression (or at the very least, better PowerPoint presentations). We'll do better to think of them simply as an effective visual communication tool. The term "data graphics" refers to any visual representation of data. Maps, charts, and timelines are all examples of data graphics while signs, logos, and illustrations are not. Generally speaking, any data graphic can be represented in table form.

Business graphics are those data graphics that apply in a business context. SmartDraw is a business oriented company and by extension, this is a business oriented blog. While this blog will focus on methodology and communication, good layout and design is critical in creating the all-important first impression. Aesthetically pleasing visualizations may not display any extra information but their effectiveness should not be downplayed. How you present your information often makes the difference between catching your target's eye...

(You just earned $5 million in VC funding!)

...or presenting yet another bland chart no one remembers.

What we offer:

Activity-based recommendations: Whether you're in sales and marketing, education, finance, or any other profession that must present complex ideas to others, this blog will help guide you on industry specific practices that will save/make you money.
Articles on the principles of business graphics: How do we process information? What can we learn from cognitive psychology and how does that apply to your next presentation?
Effective and easily understood graphics: As much as possible, each entry will be accompanied by graphics that illustrate its basic idea. Think of this blog as a business graphics picture book. If you don't get it by looking at the pictures, we've done a poor job.

What you won't find:

Overly esoteric and dry information: We'll provide plenty of links to outside resources, white papers, and best practices while keeping the main content easily digestible. No math or business degrees required

To learn much more about business graphics, spend some time browsing The Encyclopedia of Business Graphics.

For more comprehensive information on the theory behind data graphics, Edward Tufte's books do a wonderful job explaining the field.