Agile is much more than just a way to increase profits. It’s a whole new way of thinking. In this talk, Marina will examine why Agile in sales is important and describe seven steps to building an agile sales team. Throughout she will be sharing her personal experiences.
Today, we will try to answer one question: Why do you need Agile in your sales? I will also share some steps on how to apply Agile in your sales process.
On this slide, you will see some information about me. I have many certifications, but I think the most important and interesting thing is that I worked in sales for ten years. After that, I started working with Agile, and I love them both. I truly believe that Agile is the best thing that could happen to your sales. I have applied Agile in more than 170 different teams across various industries, including medicine, and I am convinced that Agile can transform sales.
Why Do You Need Agile in Your Company?
I have a question for all of you: Why do you need Agile in your company? Think carefully about it. While you ponder your answer, let me share a story.
This story is about a distribution company with around 1,000 employees. Their sales were plummeting, and they had only completed 43% of their sales target. Then, in just six months, the company reached 127% of their target—three times more than before. Can you imagine this? When I was negotiating my contract, the company owner said, "I need Agile to involve my staff and achieve 100% of our sales target." And that is just one of many ways to answer this question.
I hope you have your own reasons. I have heard different answers from various organizations:
- Company owners say they want their business to survive and keep up with market changes.
- Middle management wants their direct reports to take on responsibilities and minimize staff turnover.
- Ordinary staff want to be trusted and given more freedom by their leadership.
Whether you are a business owner, a manager, or an employee, you want things to go well. But things only go well when sales are thriving.
Agile in Sales: A Measurable Transformation
As an Agile coach, my work is often difficult to measure, especially when it comes to engagement or corporate culture changes. However, when launching Agile in sales, the results are clear—we can measure success through sales numbers.
Now, I will tell you how to implement Agile in sales. Feel free to take notes as I outline seven steps that can lead to a tripling of sales.
Step 1: Appoint an Agile Transformation Leader
Changing people’s habits is hard. Changing company culture is even harder. That’s why it is crucial to have a staff member experienced in Agile transformations—a person with a positive presence who enjoys people’s trust. This individual should speak the language of sales, be a leader, and drive change.
Life hack: Get company management to promise their full support and active participation in the transformation for at least three months. Have them confirm this promise in writing. Employees watch their leaders, and when leaders change, others follow. This will accelerate the Agile transformation.
Step 2: Choose the Pilot Team
Gather all company employees together. If it’s a large company, bring together the sales and marketing departments. I usually start by briefly explaining Agile, while the company owner shares the reason for bringing in Agile coaches and the goals of the transformation.
The pilot team can be selected in one of three ways:
- Volunteers: Salespeople are asked to volunteer for the pilot team. Those with the most courage are chosen.
- Mandatory Selection: Management selects a department and informs them that, starting next Monday, they will be Agile.
- The "Losers" Approach (My Favorite): The worst-performing sales team is chosen. This team gets a chance to turn things around and prove themselves. The whole company will be watching, and the team will be motivated to show they can be the best.
Additional tip: Create a cross-functional team that includes both sales and marketing. Marketing plays a crucial role in a company’s profitability, yet there is often tension between sales and marketing teams. Agile helps create a unified system that increases profitability and keeps up with market changes.
Step 3: Train the Pilot Team
Before launching the pilot team, I conduct a three-day training. This training includes Agile games, simulations, and an introduction to Scrum frameworks. The team learns to work together and defines its roles. The Sales Director must participate in this training.
The training covers:
- Teamwork and Agile methodologies
- Defining Scrum roles
- Creating a three-month backlog
- Establishing Agile sales transformation goals
Step 4: Define Roles in the Agile Sales Team
Different frameworks may be used in sales, such as Scrum or Enterprise Scrum. Regardless of the framework, the key roles are:
- Scrum Master (or Coach): A servant leader who facilitates team events, removes obstacles, and ensures high performance.
- Product Owner: Typically the Sales Director, this person provides strategic vision and is responsible for decision-making.
- The Sales Team: Traditionally, sales managers work independently, each handling their own clients. In Agile, the team works together to support all clients as a unified group.
Step 5: Launch the Pilot Team and Monitor Progress
The pilot sales team operates using one-week sprints. Each week, the team identifies obstacles to sales growth, such as outdated regulations or poor interdepartmental communication. By the second month, the team begins to see improvements, and once these issues are addressed, sales skyrocket.
Step 6: The Point of No Return
Three months after launching the pilot team, top management should hold a retrospective and a strategic session. This meeting will help determine whether Agile culture is needed across the company.
If the answer is yes, managers create a plan to scale Agile to other departments. If not, this is the last opportunity to stop the transformation.
A cautionary tale: One company decided to abandon Agile sales transformation after five months and revert to strict control methods. However, their employees had already embraced the Agile mindset. As a result, over 70% of sales managers resigned, including their best performers. The company entered its darkest period. This is why, after three months, leadership must decide firmly whether to continue.
Step 7: Establish an Agile Coaching School
If the company decides to scale Agile, it should create an internal Agile coaching school to train Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Agile coaches. This ensures self-sustainability, lowers the need for external Agile consultants, and helps complete the transformation.
When Agile is implemented across all sales departments, financial indicators can grow three to four times within a year.
Final Thoughts
Sales managers thrive when they switch to Agile. They become more creative, engaged, and accountable. A great life hack is to create a Facebook group or another online community where sales managers can share their experiences with Agile frameworks. This accelerates adoption and transformation.
Agile in sales is a long journey, but it is worth it. In companies that undergo this transformation, sales targets are exceeded by three to four times annually. The question now is: Why do you need Agile in sales? Think carefully—only you can answer this.
That’s everything I wanted to share today. If you have questions, feel free to write to me. Thank you!