The Art and Science of Building a Lean Sales Organization

I never thought I’d end up in sales. I was hired 20 years ago by accident, thanks to a two-question behavioral assessment. That’s right, The Predictive Index! Apparently, the results told the company I was interviewing with that I was naturally wired to be good at sales. It wasn’t anything I had planned for, but I figured, why not give it a shot?

That company had a rock-solid sales process, with training and onboarding that could turn anyone into a salesperson, even someone like me with zero experience. They weren’t just throwing you into the deep end; they had a method to their madness. After three months of what I thought was pretty generous training at $10 an hour, I received my first commission check—$18,000. I couldn’t believe it. I spent $4,000 on a dog and the rest in Vegas in 48 hours. And that’s how my sales career started! (No, I didn’t make $18,000 every month, but boy, did I chase that high!)

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Lean Sales Organization

Fast forward to 2008, when the market crashed, and everything changed. The company I was with decided to take a bold step and transform into a Lean Sales Organization. Lean is a term you usually hear in manufacturing, right? It was developed by Toyota and focused on eliminating waste and improving efficiency. Applying Lean principles to a sales organization was unheard of back then. But we did it, and it changed everything.

We flipped our entire approach on its head, focusing on the people doing the work and making their jobs easier and more efficient. Thanks to the guidance of Mike Martyn from SISU Consulting Group, we adopted the motto “improving the work is the work.” It wasn’t just a catchy phrase—it was the driving force behind everything we did. And guess what? It worked. Our organization grew from $40 million to $70 million in just four years, without adding a single new location or increasing our headcount. We simply standardized our sales processes.

Sales is 50% art and 50% science

If you had asked me before then whether sales was an art or a science, I would have confidently said it was 100% art. I thought you just needed to be good at eating and drinking with strangers to succeed. But after going through that Lean transformation, I can wholeheartedly say that sales is 50% art and 50% science. And here’s the kicker—anyone can be a good salesperson when given the right roadmap.

So, what does this mean for you and your sales organization? It means you don’t have to rely solely on the natural-born salespeople. You can create a lean, efficient sales process that turns anyone into a sales rockstar.

Lean Sales Process Standardization

Here are a few questions to get you started:

Which of your sales processes can you standardize?

Take a close look at what’s working in your sales process. What steps are consistently delivering results? Those are the ones you want to standardize. Once you identify them, make sure everyone on your team is following the same process.

What are you doing well, and what can be repeated?

Success leaves clues. If something is working well for your team, figure out how to replicate it across the board. It’s all about finding those repeatable actions that can be scaled to improve overall performance.

How can you eliminate waste, aka, time?

Time is one of the most valuable resources in sales. Look for areas where your team is spending unnecessary time and find ways to streamline those processes. This could mean automating certain tasks, cutting out redundant steps, or simply being more intentional with your time.

Who is doing sales well that you can go into “Gemba” with and observe?

“Gemba” is a Lean term that means going to the place where the work is done. Find someone who is excelling in sales and spend time with them. Observe their process, ask questions, and learn from their success.

Who can you “Kaizen” with, aka, huddle with daily to talk about it?

Kaizen is all about continuous improvement through small, incremental changes. Create a culture where your team is constantly talking about what’s working and what’s not. Daily huddles are a great way to keep everyone on the same page and focused on improvement.

Getting Results

Embracing Lean principles in sales might seem a bit out there, but I can tell you from experience that it works. It’s not about reinventing the wheel—it’s about making the wheel spin faster and more efficiently. And when you do that, the results will speak for themselves.

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Need some help?

The Middle Six is here to help! Don’t miss your chance to attend our next Sales Boot Camp where you can learn more about the art and science of sales from our very own Lisa Proeber.