Chapter 1
Why It's Time to Change Selling
Your Sales Model Is Broken
Chapter Summary
- Four powerful forces are driving sales improvement programs today—and they affect virtually every company in mature and developing markets.
- Uncertainty, complexity, and operational complications are blocking most ambitious growth plans, but companies can't put off dealing with them any longer.
- Companies are struggling with profitable growth, often because they are using outdated and ineffective sales channel models, which do not reflect recent major changes in markets.
Butch Cassidy: What's the matter with you?
Sundance Kid: I can't swim.
Butch Cassidy: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.
—Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Universal Studios, 1969
Forced to the edge of a cliff by forces out of their control, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid utter these classic lines when facing the reality that they will need to jump for a chance to survive. It also illustrates the challenge facing sales leaders today. Forced to the edge of a cliff by market forces beyond their control—low-cost competitors, rising costs, and declining margins—today's sales leaders find themselves focused on areas where their capabilities are not strong (Figure 1.1).
Source: Innovation & Growth Survey, March 2006; The Economist Intelligence Unit.
The problem, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is that they are worried ...
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