Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

Even concepts of insight based selling are repackaging of consultative, solution, customer focused selling programs of the 60s, 70s, 90s. Even concepts of insight based selling are repackaging of consultative, solution, customer focused selling programs of the 60s, 70s, 90s. But there are limitations to this.

Sell 114

Sell Objection handling Assembly Line Territory 114

Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

We are creating massive sales assembly lines optimizing the order taking process. We differentiate our offerings through nuances of product differences, hoping we can make one feature/function important to the customer, but mostly we win through pricing. Rather than becoming value creators, we are becoming order takers.

Assembly Line 143

Assembly Line Sales Price Trust 143

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 12, 2023

There seems to be an arrogance or conceit in so many of the conversations I see about the future of selling. My feeds are filled with new technologies, new selling models, new engagement strategies, new organizational structures. Sellers have, blindly, applied “manufacturing” technique to managing their selling process.

Assembly Line 125

Assembly Line Customers Tradeshows Manufacturing 125

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 21, 2017

We seem to be approaching or passing the tipping point where leading sales practitioners view successful selling as a disciplined, focused, engineered approach to engaging and creating value for customers. Stated differently, moving more toward selling as a science. We’ve focused more on the mechanics and less on the people.

Sell 87

Sell Assembly Line Manufacturing Up-sell 87

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 10, 2018

At the end, Brent Adamson pulled me to the side asking, “Dave, you seem to have a pretty dark outlook about selling, what’s up?” Am I contributing to it’s improvement and the ability of sales to contribute to our customers and the companies we sell for?” Sales people change jobs, every 20-22 months.

Sell 92

Sell Assembly Line Up-sell Cold Call 92

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 27, 2024

For some reason, there’s a huge attraction to applying “manufacturing techniques” to selling. Second, it always produces the same outcome (manufacturing experts will quibble, but we do design manufacturing lines to produce zero defects.) There is no sense manufacturing a product unless it meets the customer needs.

Manufacturing 62

Manufacturing Assembly Line Sell Up-sell 62

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 29, 2023

For years, I’ve been writing about the mechanization of selling. Customers have become depersonalized widgets that we move along our selling assembly lines. We don’t seem to recognize that while people are working longer hours, productivity is declining.

Assembly Line 147

Assembly Line Trust Clients Technology 147

ClickFunnels

JUNE 18, 2021

A sales funnel is the journey that a person takes from first hearing about your product to purchasing that product and subsequent products. You get that person interested in your products or services. You persuade that person to purchase your products or services. Here’s how it looks like: It has four stages: Bait.

Minimum Viable Product 229

Minimum Viable Product Assembly Line Niche Sales 229

Partners in Excellence

MAY 25, 2021

My earliest experience of specialization was product/solution focused specialists. When I started selling, I had the responsibility for growing a very large banking account. While I had good knowledge of the customer and good knowledge of our core products, I wouldn’t have been successful without the help of specialists.

Assembly Line 133

Assembly Line Account management Education Sell 133

Partners in Excellence

MAY 23, 2024

Since the target customers, initially, for these tools were individuals and small teams, the methods others had used in consumer product selling were adapted. Materials explaining the capabilities of the products, demos, 30 day free trials were heavily leveraged. And assembly line process started to emerge.

Assembly Line 77

Assembly Line GTM Minimum Viable Product Non-Profits 77

Partners in Excellence

MAY 25, 2024

Perhaps the product hasn’t been built or shipped, perhaps it was contracted to be delivered at a certain time. Or embedded product organizations have supply contracts, representing the amount and schedule for delivery, invoicing and payment. This represents contracted orders for future delivery.

Assembly Line 77

Assembly Line Manufacturing Contract Represent 77

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 30, 2020

. “We are looking to buy electronic components to use in a new consumer product we are developing. ” “We are expanding our factory capacity and need to add a new assembly line, can we talk about your products as a potential solution?” Don’t they know I don’t sell that stuff?

Prospecting 113

Prospecting Customers Assembly Line Education 113

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 5, 2023

I just listened to an outstanding webcast on the future of selling, conducted by four close friends. I am a student of their work, they are among the smartest thinkers about selling I’ve ever met. It seemed, unconsciously, the conversation around selling gravitates to SaaS selling.

Conversion 71

Conversion Sell Manufacturing Healthcare 71

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 18, 2017

The focus in much of our discussions on selling is about us–sales people. We see discussions focused on increasing specialization in sales–actually adaptations of the Toyota Production System. I sit through entire presentations on new trends in selling, where the word customer or buyer may never be mentioned.

Assembly Line 69

Assembly Line Sell Customers Up-sell 69

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 15, 2021

” We look at, how do we reduce onboarding time, how do we maximize productivity during that time? We redesign knowledge work, emulating the principles of the industrial assembly lines of the past. them passing the work to the next person in the knowledge worker assembly line. The problem is at the top!

Assembly Line 77

Assembly Line Manufacturing Government Up-sell 77

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

We’re also brought to you by Vidyard — the best way to sell in a virtual world, whether you need to connect with more leads, qualify more opportunities, or close more deals. Make prospecting videos, follow-ups, product demos, and other communications that drive virtual selling. Why prospecting sits apart from sales [6:59].

Commission 103

Commission Quota Assembly Line Sales 103

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 6, 2017

I’ve always been biased more to the science side of selling than the art side. I believe that selling is a disciplined process, that we can “engineer” those processes to increase our impact, customer engagement, and our effectiveness. I find myself in an unusual position. Much of this seems to be a R 3.0

Assembly Line 80

Assembly Line SQL Trust Sales 80

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 31, 2017

We design our organizations to be lean mean selling machines. Prospectors prospect, account managers account manage, product line specialists are expert in their product lines, and on and on… Each role is precisely defined, we have the metrics to by which we constantly measure performance.

Assembly Line 79

Assembly Line Manufacturing Account management B2B 79

Highspot

JULY 31, 2020

How you organize your sales team will be determined by the regions you serve, the number of products and services you offer, the size of your sales team, and the size and industry of your customers. Your sales organization is in charge of generating revenue for your business by convincing buyers to purchase a product or service.

Assembly Line 72

Assembly Line Territory Strategize Sales 72

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 12, 2023

So much of what our focus in “modern selling,” seems to be the adaptation of Lean Manufacturing techniques into selling. We’ve created “assembly lines” with specialized functions, passing our customers from one station to the next. One of the biggest areas of waste is the product itself.

Manufacturing 71

Manufacturing Assembly Line Technique Quota 71

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 4, 2016

I believe selling is a set of disciplined processes, many of which can be “engineered” to optimize our ability to engage the right customers/prospects, with the right conversations, at the right time. One begins to see images of assembly lines with customers on a conveyor belt moving from station to station.

Assembly Line 59

Assembly Line Customers Manufacturing Objectives and Key Results 59

Sales Hacker

MARCH 17, 2021

Second-stage startups are companies that have already established proof of concept, product-market fit, pricing strategy, and initial clientele to achieve their beginning growth goals. Having a goal of selling more is great, but what will actually allow you to sell more? What is a second-stage startup? The problem?

Growth 114

Growth Assembly Line Cross-sell Engineering 114

PandaDoc

OCTOBER 14, 2020

If all salespeople could focus on selling, then they would sell more. Instead, they need to source testimonials, balance pricing, and learn their way around new products. Your legal teams, product managers, and marketers aren’t employed to contribute towards your RFP. Use centralized RFP software to streamline your team.

Process 139

Process Teamwork Assembly Line Transportation 139

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 22, 2017

I read an article in which the position was put forth, “Inside sales does not have the responsibility for creating pipeline, only the responsibility for selling. The speaker was clearly smart and had been very successful in selling, perhaps there was something I misunderstood. A terrific strategy for driving product line growth.

Sell 56

Sell Territory Assembly Line Manufacturing 56

Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 8, 2019

But the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in a bit of a dark place on the “state of selling.” Sadly, too many sales executives, too many clueless corporate executives; all supported by vendors and consultants trying to sell them something are in a mad rush in exactly the opposite direction.

Assembly Line 87

Assembly Line Trust Consult Up-sell 87

Martech

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

The assembly line. The same applies to touchscreen technology and many other processes and products that came together to allow something new to exist. Can you outcompete others in your industry by developing and launching innovative products or services before they do and with other competitive advantages? The airplane.

Assembly Line 119

Assembly Line Launch Real Estate Electricity 119

Salesforce

AUGUST 20, 2021

It means that we need to explore opportunities for ourselves and our teams to humanize the future of work to complement and even enhance AI, automation, and productivity. The best way to differentiate yourself is through your humanity and creativity, not your productivity. But that doesn’t mean we’re all out of a job.

Assembly Line 98

Assembly Line Healthcare Education Technology 98

Hubspot

JANUARY 31, 2018

I’ve been selling for over 30 years, and it’s been a blast. Although it’s arguably more difficult to sell effectively in 2018, it’s easier for top performers to differentiate themselves. If you’re still cold calling prospects and think it’s a great way to generate new opportunities, stop selling now. Overselling the product.

Cold Call 101

Cold Call Assembly Line Inside sales Sales 101

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

But something has changed in selling. As I look at quotas and targets qualitatively, as I look at general sales production, I don’t see changes that are unexpected or abnormal. Yes, quotas go up, but we expect people to improve and become more productive. We are headed to the Zombie Apocalypse of selling.

Assembly Line 78

Assembly Line Quota Sales Construction 78

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 24, 2021

Let’s start: This email is from a company that purports to have expertise in leveraging LinkedIn for selling. One wonders what hurdles Don (and others) might have to go through to offer money to this company to buy their products. Looks like Don is just another widget on their sales assembly line.

Assembly Line 88

Assembly Line Objection handling Appointment Prospecting 88

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 4, 2017

What’s killing sales is sales people and leaders unwilling to do the work of selling! Yet sales people constantly focus on pitching their products. We know people buy from people, yet we create assembly line/transactional processes. If there is buying, there will always be a need for selling!

Assembly Line 67

Assembly Line Sales Education Pitch 67

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 6, 2017

This post continues on the foundation of Toyota Production System’s 4 P’s, by diving into the 14 principles. As you have already seen, the foundation is “the right process will product the right results.” They would build the wrong products–wasting resource and money on product that couldn’t be sold.

Manufacturing 83

Manufacturing Assembly Line Sales Process 83

Salesforce

JULY 28, 2022

Any disruption to an assembly line or a delivery fleet can bring operations to a standstill, putting pressure on manufacturers to fix the issue as soon as possible. Watch this video, featuring Salesforce’s Andy Peebler, to learn how manufacturers can benefit from creating a parts business: Why sell parts online?

Original Equipment Manufacturer 52

Original Equipment Manufacturer Manufacturing Sell Assembly Line 52

Hubspot

MAY 9, 2022

The Assembly Line — a model where reps work on designated responsibilities, specific to a certain pipeline stage. There's a fine line between productively competitive and toxically confrontational, and crossing it can take a massive toll on morale. But competition can be fickle. Acquaint your team with other departments.

Assembly Line 81

Assembly Line Objectives and Key Results Construction Commission 81

Sales Hacker

MARCH 4, 2025

Your go to market motion has to be driven by the product. It has to be driven by what the product can do and the value that the product drives for the customer. And the reason we had very strong PLG motions was that the, is that the product is incredibly intuitive and delightful. Scott Barker: Yeah.

GTM 75

GTM X-functional Start-ups Campaign 75

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 5, 2019

We pitch our products, we manage customers to fit into our selling process, we move customers through our sales assembly line because it is more efficient for us, though perhaps not helpful to what the customer is trying to do. But everything we do is targeted to exactly the opposite. We have to do the whole job.

Assembly Line 76

Assembly Line Territory High impact Technology 76

Gong.io

APRIL 28, 2021

Our solution can save your reps 30% in admin time, so they’ll have more time to sell (really?), will sell more (really??), a factory assembly line). Here’s what an overcomplicated value story with unreasonable value attribution looks like: . and will get your revenue up by 30% (really???). . Mission accomplished.

Assembly Line 71

Assembly Line Manufacturing Drivers/motivators Strategize 71