Inbound Organization

Chapter 7Inbound Decision Making

Inbound organizations solve problems with an emphasis on enterprise value (EV), which means acting in the best interest of the company as a whole and accepting decisions that help the company mission, even if it makes your job harder. EV means solving for the long-term success of the organization so it delivers value to customers.

What does solving for EV mean in real terms? Let's say you are a direct sales rep working on a target account and you are forecasting a deal close date by the end of the quarter. In the final weeks before signing the contract, the prospect decides that they would like to have a partner do some of the services associated with the installation. As the partner gets involved in the deal, they realize that it is in the prospect's best interest to delay the sale. Solving for EV means that the direct rep works with the partner in the best interest of the customer, which is in the best interest of the company. Even if it takes the salesperson longer to close the deal and she makes less commission, she does it because that decision solves for EV.

Another example would be a product manager that is looking to add functionality to the next generation of an existing product. The new functionality will attract a lot of new customers, who have been delaying their purchase until this new feature is available. But the new feature is immature. If the company deploys the functionality in the next product release, the support organization ...