Subject areaRevenue and sales
Lean Sales (also lean selling) is the application of lean to the sales process: you map the path from first contact to signed contract, and remove the steps that lengthen the deal without raising its chance of closing.
Typical wastes are the waits between one contact and the next, proposals written from scratch every time, weak leads worked as if they were qualified, information asked of the customer twice.
Lean Sales grew out of the practice of sales teams, without a recognised founding text like those of the other entries in the lean family: that is why the term circulates with close and sometimes different meanings. The fixed point is the yardstick, which stays the lean one: every step is worth the value it has for the buyer.
An example
The sales team of a construction chemicals company measures the time between a request for a quote and sending it. Most of it goes into searching price lists and data sheets across different folders: a single quote template, with the data already linked, shortens the deal without touching the price.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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