How a strategic account sales team increased selling time 63% Case Study
Background A large company offering water filtration systems to the foodservice industry struggled to maintain its growth and accurately predict revenue trends. Over several years, the division general manager tried many approaches to maintain the growth rate. He was unsuccessful. The general manager had seen repeated successes with the firm’s production operations using Lean methods. […]
How to Revolutionize B2B Sales Results
(Part 2 of Is Your Sales Qualification Criteria Doing Its Job?) In “Is Your Sales Qualification Criteria Doing Its Job?” I ranted about how traditional approaches to sales qualification are myopic, remedial, and static. In reality, your market is like an ever changing magnetic field. What B2B companies need instead is the opposite of myopic, […]
Field Sales Case Study in a Global Chemical Firm
Field Sales Case Study Background A division of global chemical company provided collision repair products to automobile dealers and collision repair shops. They employed 210 field salespeople in 18 district offices. The division was experiencing flat revenue growth and declining market share. A European competitor’s foothold in North America was making it difficult to capitalize […]
New Self-Assessment Creates a Sturdy Foundation for Improvement
More often than not, the term “sales process” creates more problems than it solves. Over the years, I’ll bet you’ve heard plenty of people use it to talk past each other. They use the term to means things like:
Sales Problems Are Probably Not Caused By Your Sales VP
Through the grapevine I heard that the CEO at a company I’ll call “Blunder, Inc.,” wanted to fire his Sales VP. Why? He missed his sales forecast. Now this might not be politically correct, yet someone has to say it. Based on that information alone, the CEO should be fired, not the Sales VP. Senior […]
The Five Most Critical Sales Process Problems, and How Management by Process Can Solve Them For Good
As the pace and complexity of the business world accelerates, more companies are struggling to improve their sales and marketing performance. Many sales VPs of companies who are leaders in their markets face a similar concern: “Our sales managers intuitively know our sales process. However, our business is getting more complex and I think there […]
How to Create an Environment that Rewards Improving
By Michael Webb Does a new sales process, sales training, or CRM software, improve a company’s sales productivity? Often, it does not. Why? Because the behaviors of sales or marketing people tend to return to the status quo. Productivity remains stubbornly unchanged. You might think you are improving something when you set out on the […]
How to Spread Sales Process Excellence to Multiple Sales Offices
Michael Balle recently wrote a wonderful answer to the question: “HOW DO YOU SPREAD A LEAN TRANSFORMATION FROM ONE SITE TO MANY?” His answer is that you basically have two choices: Roll Out, or Enroll This applies equally to sales and marketing as well as to manufacturing production.
Lean Strategy Integrates Manufacturing and Sales
Michael Ballé is one of the best writers in the Lean movement. In a recent column, he answered a fascinating question: “Is there a Lean strategy?” Amazingly, his answer went right to the sales and marketing perspective. I couldn’t resist pointing out why the “strategy” inherent in Lean is under appreciated.
Sales Process Excellence Submitted for Shingo Prize
Submission for Shingo Prize™ Research Award Application (Sales Process Excellence, by Michael Webb) My new book has not yet won the Shingo Prize. However, you might like reading the application. I say that because my answers to the questions in the Shingo Prize application do a good job of characterizing operational excellence. It is not about […]
