Selling Through Someone Else: How to Use Agile Sales Networks and Partners to Sell More

Chapter 3

The Agile Sales and Distribution Ecosystem

Mike Heald and Paul Neumann

 

Chapter Summary

• The new sales ecosystem contains many of the old elements, but with dramatically different execution speed, measurements, and especially, collaboration with partners outside the traditional sales force.
• Sales leaders need to first understand where they are with respect to having the sales capabilities for Agile Selling and then focus on three key areas to begin the transformation.

Manufacturers, distributors, resellers, competitors, service providers, and customers—the new B2B ecosystem has many different players that operate in anything but a static environment. Customers are now actively involved with their providers in coproduction and delivery of products and services; vendors and partners are embracing new forms of B2B collaboration; and companies that are competitors in certain areas are teaming together in other, well-defined areas that can drive mutual growth—these are only a few examples of how the world of selling and distribution is changing. The boundaries of markets, competition, and value chains are all fluid, and relationships are constantly being redefined (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 The New Sales and Distribution Ecosystem

With this changing dynamic, companies are finding ways to collaborate with ecosystem partners they never imagined before. For example, Accenture ...