Today’s definition of 'benchmarking' has become the process of identifying "best practices", in relation to both products/services and the processes by which those products/services are created and delivered, and of comparing a company's business processes and performance measurements to that considered the industry's best.

And while it is good to know how you’re performing in comparison to your competition, using these benchmarks as a business standard can lead to conformity and a lack of innovation, according to Abe WalkingBear Sanchez and Eugenè Joubert.

Experts in the field of B2B Credit Sales and A/R Management, Sanchez and Joubert combine their expertise in their article, "Benchmarking"...Good In Boot-Making and Not So Good in a Competitive Business Environment.

Sanchez and Joubert discuss how companies have gotten away from being learning organizations to those that gather information for benchmarking purposes, which necessitates that you play in someone else's sandpit – with their rules and their yardsticks.

They argue that for a transformation to take place from "benching" to "greatness", there must first be an acceptance by all that perfection has not yet been achieved, nor is achievable. There is always room for improvement.

Secondly there must be a commitment to ongoing improvement that is found in the first line of everyone's job description - Seek ways to increase revenue and reduce the total costs of doing business.

Sanchez and Joubert outline why benchmarking is not the way to achieve innovation and long term profitability and delineate methods to become a leader in your industry. To read the informative article in full, click here.

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez, the founder and president of www.armg-usa.com, is an International Speaker/Trainer/Consultant on the subject of cash flow/sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and is a contributing columnist to The Wholesaler and Progressive Distribution Magazine.

Eugenè Joubert is a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Management in the United Kingdom and South Africa and group chairman of the Corporate Rebels, hosts of the 2013 World Credit and Collections Congress.