Brent Adamson

Matthew Dixon

Nick Toman

Sales leaders have long fixated on process discipline. They have created opportunity scorecards, qualification criteria, and activity metrics—all part of a formal sales process designed to help their team members replicate the approaches of star performers. This is the world of the sales machine, built to outsell less focused, less disciplined competitors through brute efficiency and world-class tools and training.

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Reprint: R1311H
Sales leaders have long fixated on process discipline, monitoring reps&#8217; conformance to &#8220;optimal&#8221; behaviors and their performance of specified activities. Recently, however, this sales machine has stalled. The approaches that once led to predictable progress in a sale do not work with today&#8217;s customers, who are empowered with more information than ever before.
The new environment favors creative and adaptable sellers who challenge customers with disruptive insights into their business&#8212;and offer unexpected solutions. Such &#8220;insight selling&#8221; gives reps latitude to discover what the customer has already concluded about its needs and the available solutions, determine who the decision makers are, look for signals that the customer is receptive to a new insight about its business, and then figure out how best to proceed.
A study of 2,500 B2B sales professionals found that most organizations, despite faltering sales performance, still have a climate that emphasizes compliance rather than judgment.
To create a judgment-oriented sales climate, managers must serve as connectors within and beyond their teams, providing a continual flow of information that supports reps as they exercise their judgment on individual deals. These managers must also focus on the long term, monitoring customers&#8217; behaviors and directing reps&#8217; creativity and critical thinking to the most-promising opportunities. And they need to hire professionals&#8212;not necessarily those with sales backgrounds&#8212;who can thrive in the new climate.

Dismantling the Sales Machine

Reprint: R1311H Sales leaders have long fixated on process discipline, monitoring reps’ conformance to “optimal” behaviors and their performance of specified activities. Recently, however, this sales machine has stalled. The approaches that once led to predictable progress in a sale do not work with today’s customers, who are empowered with more information than ever before. The new environment favors creative and adaptable sellers who challenge customers with disruptive insights into their business—and offer unexpected solutions. Such “insight selling” gives reps latitude to discover what the customer has already concluded about its needs and the available solutions, determine who the decision makers are, look for signals that the customer is receptive to a new insight about its business, and then figure out how best to proceed. A study of 2,500 B2B sales professionals found that most organizations, despite faltering sales performance, still have a climate that emphasizes compliance rather than judgment. To create a judgment-oriented sales climate, managers must serve as connectors within and beyond their teams, providing a continual flow of information that supports reps as they exercise their judgment on individual deals. These managers must also focus on the long term, monitoring customers’ behaviors and directing reps’ creativity and critical thinking to the most-promising opportunities. And they need to hire professionals—not necessarily those with sales backgrounds—who can thrive in the new climate.

Dismantling the Sales Machine

Summary.

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