X-Teams, Revised and Updated

3 X-Team Principle 1 Out before In: Engage in External Activity

BellCo, a telecommunications company that sells equipment to businesses, was undergoing a major reorganization. From now on, rather than offering products to a general market, the firm would sell sophisticated systems that bundled several products and had specialized features for specific customer needs. The shift was intended to help sell higher-margin products through industry specialization, thus improving profitability and hopefully increasing market share. As part of this change, the sales force was being reconfigured into teams to serve particular industry segments, like banking, software, and pharmaceuticals. One such team was called Big Bank (not its real name).

Big ...