Finally it’s necessary to focus attention on the logistic component of a plan. The successful execution of a plan always depends on the ability to supply a variety of goods and manpower regularly and on time: fuel, ammunition, spare parts and qualified men. Likewise, when a company introduces a new product, it must have ensured beforehand that it can deliver on time and to specification. When the company fails to do so, not only can the reputation of a company be severely damaged but prospective customers will turn to substitute products or brands and, consequently, these prospective customers will be lost forever. Just as with every part of a plan, the logistics component must have an inherent flexibility in it to be able to cope with the reality of the battlefield (the market), positive or negative.

Case I:

Insurance Company and marketing success

An insurance company did not believe in the possible success of a marketing campaign for the introduction of a new, innovative car insurance policy. When the campaign was launched, it was overwhelmed by the unexpectedly high number of applications for the new policy. Although warned beforehand by its marketing manager, it had abstained from taking adequate organizational preparations to be able to scale the processing of new applications. Many aspiring policy holders had to wait such a long time that they were forced to go to other insurance companies, just to get their car insured in time.

Case II:

Senseo Crema

Logistics problems also beset Philips in 2001 when they introduced their unique “Senseo Crema” coffee machine, as a consequence of its great success. In the beginning buyers had to wait 2 to 3 months before they received their coffee machine. Luckily at that moment there were no competitors offering the same kind of machines.

In the art of war good logistics has always played a decisive role. That is why actions to disrupt the supply lines of the opponents were often a strategic goal in itself. The importance of logistics has to be given due attention in every aspect of planning and decision-making, in the ‘grand strategy’, in the local strategy, as well as in the tactics.

Case III:

Anti shipping war

The submarine warfare conducted by the German Navy in the Second World War was a war ofattrition aimed at the sea routes from the USA to Britain. The supply of Britain, both to keep the bridgehead as well as to prepare for the invasion, was a logistic grand-strategy that was eventually won by the Allies by the introduction of the convoy-system, the development of technical innovations like sonar, radar and by the introduction of the “baby-flattop”65 that would protect the convoys by providing continuous air support.

Case IV:

Afrika Korps (1941/42)

After his victory at Gazala and after the conquest of Tobruk, when the German Marshal Erwin Rommel in June 1942 resumed his march to invade Egypt and reach Alexandria and the Nile, his supply lines became so long (around 900 km) that he suffered great fuel and ammunition shortages. Without this vital fuel, his technically superior tanks became immobile. Moreover, the British successfully disrupted his supply lines over sea from Italy. Finally Rommel, the ‘Desert fox’, was forced to halt his invasion within sight of his ultimate goal.

In the military context logistics influence the functioning of a military organization in several ways:

It influences the “fighting power”;
It influences the resilience of the forces;
It influences the flexibility.
Similar effects can be seen in the industrial enterprise.
To satisfy the logistical demands, armies have stimulated innovation from which we still
profit today.
To name a few:

Napoleon introduced tinned food;
The American Army popularized instant coffee;
The Germans invented the “Jerry can” (strong and leak free fuel containers);
The American Army, to realize its fantastic amphibian operations in the Pacific, developed a series of innovations like the roll-on-and-off-ship, refuelling on the high sea etc.;
Several kinds of mathematical models were developed during World War II to predict required supplies, calculate the loading of ships, etc. (e.g. sequential analysis,queuing algorithms).
In short, the science of war has provided modern management with all kinds of logistic tools that help to manage the supply and delivery requirements of a company more efficiently.
Case V:

The container

The logistic invention with probably the greatest impact on present day logistics is the ‘Container’ -invented after the war (1956). Malcolm Mc Lean (USA) can reasonably claim to be the man who conceived the idea of container shipping to replace the traditional break bulk method of handling dry goods. Containers produced a huge reduction in port handling costs, contributing significantly to lower freight charges and, in turn, boosting trade flows. Almost every manufactured product humans consume spends some time in a container. The container is now of course also intensively employed by the military.

When you are hosting a webinar, which means a live presentation, a lot of people tend to forget about the ending. They just care about what happens at the beginning and the middle part, but not the end. What people don’t know is that the end part of the presentation is the most important part of all, as the end allows you to get your audience to do something. If you are presenting a pitch, your aim should be to get people to buy the product from you. Regardless if you are just giving the audience a training that is for free, the end of the webinar should tell the audience what action they should take. The webinar pitch, that is either for training purposes or to get them to buy something, should guide them to what action they need to take next.

There are ways to know if your viewers will follow through on what they have seen. You can do this by giving them a pitch after the training session, in a way that is not pushy, in other words it should be a smooth transition between the two. Make sure the action they take, will only is from one offer you give them. Having a smooth transition means, that there shouldn’t be a pause in following what you have just discussed before leading into your pitch.

If you can pitch what you are selling to your customers in a seamless way, they may not even realize that you are pitching, and from there you will have their attention. When you transition you shouldn’t say goodbye before your pitch, you need to say it at the end.

People tend to get anxious about the pitch, and slip up and say their goodbyes and pause followed by the pitch. There is no need for it to be like that. The session should feel like it is an entire training session, even when you are pitching. It should give the audience the idea that you are helping them with a problem, because they have done this and to help solve this problem you should go here and this is why you need to go to this website.

What will help you with your pitch, is giving someone only one place where they need to go. Giving the audience too many suggestions on where they can get the information, leaves them confused and uninterested. Just getting the audience to go to one web address is difficult enough, without having them go to more than five. Pitch them where they should go next, following the training. This allows them to do the action right then and there.

These are the ways to keep people on the webinar, when you are pitching or on the final close: You need to create a seamless transition, and don’t say goodbye until the end of the kind of action you have given them to do.