Hi everyone, thank you for the music—it's Happy Friday! It’s wonderful to have some music before we start. Let me share my screen—just a second. I have something like a presentation, but I’m not sure if it’s really a presentation.
Today, we are going to talk about Agile in sales. This is my main passion in life—Agile and sales. I come from the sales world, with more than 10 years of experience. I worked as the Head of Sales in a big bank. Then, I transitioned to the Agile world when I started working in an IT company. That’s where I was introduced to Agile, and after that, I fell deeply in love with Agile values. I decided to share this knowledge with sales teams around the world.
For the last six years, I have helped many companies in different industries—healthcare, hospitality, brokerage firms—and now I am working with a TV company in the United States. What makes Agile in sales interesting is that every company has sales, so it’s easy to apply Agile principles because sales exist everywhere.
Understanding the Audience
On this slide, you see a lot of numbers. That’s because salespeople speak in numbers—they always ask, "How much money?" "How many clients?" "How many hours?" This is our language.
Before we dive into Agile in sales, I’d love to learn a little about you. We are going to work in small teams. You’ll have 10 minutes because, as you know, time is money! In your groups, please introduce yourself: What is your name? What do you do? Why did you decide to join this webinar? Why are you interested in Agile in sales, which is not a common topic? Also, discuss any questions you have about Agile in sales. Choose one speaker from your group to present a summary of your discussion.
Team Introductions
Team 1: We had three people from different parts of the world—Gian from Switzerland, Moon Y from Silicon Valley, and myself from Minneapolis, Twin Cities area. Gian's organization is fairly new to agility and is exploring the business side of it. Moon Y works in product development and wanted to get a perspective on the sales dynamic. Our discussion focused on obstacles faced when bringing agility into a sales organization, particularly around sales incentives and how they create friction.
Team 2: We covered four countries and three time zones, so we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner during our conversation! We all have experience in sales and Agile, though at different levels. Christian seemed to have more experience bringing Agile into sales. Our questions focused on how Agile in sales works and what challenges to expect.
Team 3: Our team had a broad global representation as well. Renuka is from Ottawa, Canada, and Anna is from Russia. Renuka is exploring Agile in sales for the first time, while Anna has 15 years of sales experience. Our main question was about how to start with sales agility—where do we begin?
Classic Sales vs. Agile Sales
The main difference between classic sales and Agile sales is this:
- In classic sales, the goal is simply to sell.
- In Agile sales, we focus on understanding the needs of our customers. We take this information to different departments—logistics, IT, marketing—explain what our customers need, and improve our products or services accordingly. Then, we return to our customers with a solution that truly meets their needs.
This shift requires a new way of thinking, working, and collaborating.
Applying Agile to Sales
Six years ago, when I was introduced to Scrum, I applied it to sales. The challenge was that sales do not have a tangible product, so I adapted Agile values and Scrum to create the Sway System. You can download the guide for free in different languages to see how it works.
Here are the key steps:
1. Create Cross-Functional Teams
One of my clients, a TV company, had 12 live shows per day. Before Agile, different departments handled different parts of the process—production, sales, marketing, and hosting—leading to silos and miscommunication. We introduced pilot teams that included members from all relevant departments. This improved collaboration and efficiency.
2. Implement Agile Roles and Sprints
We introduced:
- Cross-functional teams with sales, marketing, and sometimes IT.
- Business owners (leaders for each team).
- Short sprints of 5–7 days with planning, daily stand-ups, demos, and retrospectives.
3. Shift from Individual to Team Incentives
Initially, we kept individual incentives, but after six months, we introduced common team incentives. This helped align motivation with team goals rather than individual competition.
4. Sales Backlog and Transparency
Teams created a backlog that included:
- Sales goals (e.g., revenue targets, customer satisfaction metrics).
- Strategic clients for the month.
- Value propositions—what problems we are solving for customers.
- Marketing strategies and budgets.
- Innovations and new technologies.
5. Collaboration with IT and Marketing
Sales and IT teams often have conflicts because salespeople overpromise and IT teams struggle to deliver. By integrating sales into Agile teams and retrospectives, they started understanding each other's challenges and working together effectively.
Challenges in Agile Sales
Applying Agile in sales is not without challenges:
- Changing financial motivation: Salespeople are heavily incentivized by commissions. Transitioning to team-based incentives can be difficult.
- Changing mindset: Salespeople are traditionally independent and self-driven. It takes months to shift their mindset to team collaboration.
- Executive buy-in: Leadership may resist Agile transformations if they feel they are losing control. Demonstrating success in sales first helps get their support.
Why Agile in Sales?
We returned to our groups to discuss why Agile is needed in sales. Here are some key takeaways:
- Sales teams often work in silos, overpromising to close deals without considering delivery constraints.
- Aligning sales with Agile helps improve collaboration, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
- Business agility requires sales agility—if sales teams operate with outdated mindsets, they slow down the entire organization.
- Agile methods help sales adapt to rapidly changing markets and customer needs.
Final Thoughts
Agile salespeople often become the best advocates for Agile transformations across the organization. They sell the Agile mindset internally, making it easier to expand Agile to other departments.
However, true business agility requires structural changes, not just mindset shifts. Middle management must evolve into servant leadership roles, supporting Agile teams rather than controlling them.
Closing and Feedback
Thank you for your participation! Please rate this session from 1 to 10 in the chat. Your feedback helps us improve.
Maybe next time, we can discuss how to turn managers into Agile servant leaders!