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A breakthrough (?) approach to the management of dealers (and other reseller relationships)

When we work with those manufacturers that sell via resellers of various types, we often encounter an instance of the Drunkard’s Search problem within the sales department. This article describes the problem, as well as a solution we devised around 15 years ago—but abandoned because we believed it was too complex to be practical. Our“A breakthrough (?) approach to the management of dealers (and other reseller relationships)”

The secret life of revenue within industrial organizations (and why salespeople don’t generate it)

I’m not joking. The following is precisely how most executives within industrial organizations conceptualize revenue. Q. Where does revenue come from? A. From salespeople. Q. How do salespeople generate revenue? A. Um. From relationships. This conception of revenue is not even vaguely correct. And, unfortunately, this fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of revenue leads to“The secret life of revenue within industrial organizations (and why salespeople don’t generate it)”

Mistruths, salespeople’s personal relationships and crashing the schedule

Sales is not about personal relationships Salespeople (and other folks who should know better) accept it as a given that sales is all about personal relationships. The problem with this position is that: It’s not generally true. It’s a default assumption that informs the design of most sales environments. However, because it sounds reasonable enough,“Mistruths, salespeople’s personal relationships and crashing the schedule”

You are probably making a lot more money than you realize!

A common problem our silent revolutionaries face is that they don’t know how to calculate if their new (or reengineered) sales functions are making them money. A worse problem is that they think they know but end up massively under-estimating their performance. Consider this scenario. It’s the end of your calendar year. This year, you started work building a“You are probably making a lot more money than you realize!”

A simple growth formula (for folks who’re tired of needless complexity)

You know, there are two types of people in the world. Those who tolerate complexity, in pursuit of simplicity. And those who revel in complexity, having long forgotten what it is that they’re actually pursuing. I write this a little exhausted, after spending countless hours debating technology, terminology, definitions and process with a parade of“A simple growth formula (for folks who’re tired of needless complexity)”

Celebrating SPE

I’ve noticed an interesting trend. I’m seeing organizations starting to celebrate the fact that they’re implementing SPE—inside the organization, and even outside! I’m thinking, maybe the popularity of The Machine is empowering executives to be a little bolder. Or maybe we’re just doing a better job of selling the end-state. Either way, it’s a nice trend.“Celebrating SPE”