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The Machine: A Radical Approach to the Design of the Sales Function
A silent revolution in sales In The Machine , Justin Roff-Marsh shows readers how to follow the intrepid executives on three continents who have implemented his ideas over the last 15 years, building ridiculously efficient sales functions--and market-dominating enterprises--as a consequence.
Roff-Marsh calls these executives his silent revolutionaries .
This revolution has been brewing for a long time. For the last 20 years, organizations' ability to produce has overtaken their ability to sell, and, for at least as long, customers have unfailingly embraced every opportunity to avoid interacting with traditional field salespeople.
Applying the division of labor to sales might not seem controversial, but this innocent-sounding idea decimates the sales management orthodoxy and replaces it with a strange new world where sales is primarily an inside activity, where salespeople earn fixed salaries and focus their attention exclusively on selling conversations, where regional sales offices become redundant, and where marketing and engineering become seamlessly integrated with sales.
The Machine is a field guide for the executive who's prepared to wrestle sales away from autonomous field-based artisans in favor of a tightly synchronized team of specialists. Readers will embrace The Machine either to exploit the new sales order or to avoid falling victim to it.
Roff-Marsh calls these executives his silent revolutionaries .
This revolution has been brewing for a long time. For the last 20 years, organizations' ability to produce has overtaken their ability to sell, and, for at least as long, customers have unfailingly embraced every opportunity to avoid interacting with traditional field salespeople.
Applying the division of labor to sales might not seem controversial, but this innocent-sounding idea decimates the sales management orthodoxy and replaces it with a strange new world where sales is primarily an inside activity, where salespeople earn fixed salaries and focus their attention exclusively on selling conversations, where regional sales offices become redundant, and where marketing and engineering become seamlessly integrated with sales.
The Machine is a field guide for the executive who's prepared to wrestle sales away from autonomous field-based artisans in favor of a tightly synchronized team of specialists. Readers will embrace The Machine either to exploit the new sales order or to avoid falling victim to it.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
251 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2015
245 people are currently reading
374 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 16, 2018
The book about how the sales should be organized and how sales and other departments should cooperate.
If we want to compare it against sales bibles like "Predictable Revenue", "From impossible to inevitable" or "The sales acceleration formula" those books focus mostly on sales and marketing, but in the more attractive way. When you read "Predictable revenue" you feel your profession is the most exciting job in the world. "The Machine" sometimes is boring and full of strange names of positions. It isn't balanced by the additional knowledge.
The biggest advantage of "The Machine" is the explanation of how sales influence other parts of the company and what the expected outcome should be.
If we want to compare it against sales bibles like "Predictable Revenue", "From impossible to inevitable" or "The sales acceleration formula" those books focus mostly on sales and marketing, but in the more attractive way. When you read "Predictable revenue" you feel your profession is the most exciting job in the world. "The Machine" sometimes is boring and full of strange names of positions. It isn't balanced by the additional knowledge.
The biggest advantage of "The Machine" is the explanation of how sales influence other parts of the company and what the expected outcome should be.
December 6, 2015
This book is sub-titled “a radical approach to the design of the sales function” and in many ways it clearly does what it promises. It shares the insights and observations of executives who have implemented the author’s idea about building “ridiculously efficient sales functions” around the world which lead to “market-dominating enterprises.”
The author has came up with some interesting analysis and perspective, noting that, for example, in the past couple of decades companies are producing far more than what they can sell and, at the same time, customers are becoming more and more resistant to traditional field sales representatives. The solution is to change the whole sales dynamic, letting salespeople earn fixed salaries and change their focus to sell conversations and solutions, mixed in with marketing and the engineering function. Heretical?
How about this extract to shock management? “Why is sales underperforming? One reason is that salespeople aren’t selling. A typical field salesperson performs just two business-development meetings a week. You read it right. Less than 10 per cent of a typical salesperson’s capacity is allocated to selling. And that figure is pretty standard across industries and across continents. The majority of a salesperson’s day is dedicated to customer service and administrative activities, to solution design and proposal generation, and to prospecting and fulfilment-related tasks.”
The book’s title is based on a metaphor to the author’s grand design, since sales would become the consequence of a number of interrelated processes rather than the output of a person. Salespeople become a component in a much larger machine (albeit an important component) in other words. Through the book the author will help the reader create their “smoothly functioning sales machine” as well as implement it within their organisation.
Often books like this can be difficult to evaluate; yet even if you don’t seize everything the book offers, there is a good chance that you’ll get some good takeaway points or discover an alternative perspective. It can be a bit of a heavy read due to its content and message, but a worthy read. Even if you don’t immediately get sold on the idea and reasons for change, maybe something will stick anyway that can be beneficial to your company’s sales efforts. It might be a case of revisiting the book on many occasions but one day you might be inspired to start and change things.
This review cannot state whether this programme would work for you, even though it makes a compelling argument to investigate change. It is worthy of a read and some consideration in any case. It is a lot better than many sales boosting-type books out there.
Autamme.com
The author has came up with some interesting analysis and perspective, noting that, for example, in the past couple of decades companies are producing far more than what they can sell and, at the same time, customers are becoming more and more resistant to traditional field sales representatives. The solution is to change the whole sales dynamic, letting salespeople earn fixed salaries and change their focus to sell conversations and solutions, mixed in with marketing and the engineering function. Heretical?
How about this extract to shock management? “Why is sales underperforming? One reason is that salespeople aren’t selling. A typical field salesperson performs just two business-development meetings a week. You read it right. Less than 10 per cent of a typical salesperson’s capacity is allocated to selling. And that figure is pretty standard across industries and across continents. The majority of a salesperson’s day is dedicated to customer service and administrative activities, to solution design and proposal generation, and to prospecting and fulfilment-related tasks.”
The book’s title is based on a metaphor to the author’s grand design, since sales would become the consequence of a number of interrelated processes rather than the output of a person. Salespeople become a component in a much larger machine (albeit an important component) in other words. Through the book the author will help the reader create their “smoothly functioning sales machine” as well as implement it within their organisation.
Often books like this can be difficult to evaluate; yet even if you don’t seize everything the book offers, there is a good chance that you’ll get some good takeaway points or discover an alternative perspective. It can be a bit of a heavy read due to its content and message, but a worthy read. Even if you don’t immediately get sold on the idea and reasons for change, maybe something will stick anyway that can be beneficial to your company’s sales efforts. It might be a case of revisiting the book on many occasions but one day you might be inspired to start and change things.
This review cannot state whether this programme would work for you, even though it makes a compelling argument to investigate change. It is worthy of a read and some consideration in any case. It is a lot better than many sales boosting-type books out there.
Autamme.com
March 12, 2022
I really liked the concepts of this book and took a bunch of notes. I want to build up a sales team and found the concepts really helpful.
I have two l reason for rating this book 3 stars:
#1. The book needs to be updated for life post-pandemic. A lot of “face-to-face” sales meetings can be done over Zoom. The book was written prior to the pandemic, so this part didn’t age very well. It would be good to see an updated edition.
#2. The various roles in sales that were mentioned in the book but they were not well defined. It would have been so beneficial to see a list of duties and metrics for each role.
For example, the book shows graphs of “inside sales” and “BDC” and “BDM”, with arrows connecting them. But the book does not exactly list what each role does. After reading the book and reading the author’s supplemental resources on his website, I’m still confused.
Therefore I think this book is more theory-based. If this sales structure is used in more than a dozen other businesses, then the author could have shown more examples.
I get the concept that the author presents, and will loosely use this as I build out my own sales team. You cannot use this book as a template for building a sales team because it’s too abstract.
I have two l reason for rating this book 3 stars:
#1. The book needs to be updated for life post-pandemic. A lot of “face-to-face” sales meetings can be done over Zoom. The book was written prior to the pandemic, so this part didn’t age very well. It would be good to see an updated edition.
#2. The various roles in sales that were mentioned in the book but they were not well defined. It would have been so beneficial to see a list of duties and metrics for each role.
For example, the book shows graphs of “inside sales” and “BDC” and “BDM”, with arrows connecting them. But the book does not exactly list what each role does. After reading the book and reading the author’s supplemental resources on his website, I’m still confused.
Therefore I think this book is more theory-based. If this sales structure is used in more than a dozen other businesses, then the author could have shown more examples.
I get the concept that the author presents, and will loosely use this as I build out my own sales team. You cannot use this book as a template for building a sales team because it’s too abstract.
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November 10, 2024Not going to rate this one (I had to read it for work)
February 15, 2023
Interesting approach. A few years ago I was told that my largely coordinating /marketing job was being upgraded to include sales. I was very resistant, mainly because I knew where my strengths were and though I could do sales, I knew there were better suited persons than I for the job. However, with limited resources, I would have to be the defacto sales lead. I reluctantly took it on but declared that I would not be a traditional sales person because I did not come from that background. In any case, I took the attitude that this was a new challenge and that I would definitely learn something. I also knew that I need not follow the normal conventions of someone in a sales role. Fast forward to today and based on my experience as the lead sales person, this book's principles resonate with me as someone who has come from an outside the sales function that's now on the inside.
All the things that he talks about as impeding the actual sales function are what I've been trying to communicate to my company since I've taken on the role. The book has given solutions that make sense to me and are things that I have been trying to implement but didn't have the proper framework to fully support it. We get the large sales because when the nearly similar mechanisms we have in place work together, we get results.
There are a few things that might not apply to our organization but the overarching idea is really about organization and getting the functionality of your staff at optimal quality and capacity. This is sort of applying manufacturing principles to your sales. A person becomes an expert not by generalized knowledge but focusing on specific tasks thus improving your overall efficiency.
It's really a very interesting read and will be a tough sell for those in very traditional sales roles and think of themselves as full fledged sales people. The process of converting to this approach will be long as not everyone will be on board. However, it is possible that if you have a more flexible team that is not yet set in their ways, this approach may be implemented faster.
I will update as we hopefully will apply this process to our business.
Update 2021
Pandemic hit, the scenario that they use as a case study happened. Technically, it works but only in a perfect world /catastrophe scenario as you are required to change mindset and be disciplined to make people operate in their own function. Unfortunately, human behaviour, bad habits and lack of adoption results in failure to maintain this organizational restructuring. It worked well for me and I found myself accomplishing more/getting results but then eventually, I had to pick up the slack of others and it fell apart from there.
All the things that he talks about as impeding the actual sales function are what I've been trying to communicate to my company since I've taken on the role. The book has given solutions that make sense to me and are things that I have been trying to implement but didn't have the proper framework to fully support it. We get the large sales because when the nearly similar mechanisms we have in place work together, we get results.
There are a few things that might not apply to our organization but the overarching idea is really about organization and getting the functionality of your staff at optimal quality and capacity. This is sort of applying manufacturing principles to your sales. A person becomes an expert not by generalized knowledge but focusing on specific tasks thus improving your overall efficiency.
It's really a very interesting read and will be a tough sell for those in very traditional sales roles and think of themselves as full fledged sales people. The process of converting to this approach will be long as not everyone will be on board. However, it is possible that if you have a more flexible team that is not yet set in their ways, this approach may be implemented faster.
I will update as we hopefully will apply this process to our business.
Update 2021
Pandemic hit, the scenario that they use as a case study happened. Technically, it works but only in a perfect world /catastrophe scenario as you are required to change mindset and be disciplined to make people operate in their own function. Unfortunately, human behaviour, bad habits and lack of adoption results in failure to maintain this organizational restructuring. It worked well for me and I found myself accomplishing more/getting results but then eventually, I had to pick up the slack of others and it fell apart from there.
November 30, 2015
A fantastic book and a very nice way to learn more on new ways to organize sales and marketing teams to create a well oiled selling machine in a high growth organization. The author applies many Lean and Critical Chain methods to define his methodology. It's not usual (especially the part where sales reps doesn't receive performance bonuses) but will make you think a lot.
September 18, 2019
A great explanation of a game changing approach that I have seen work in real life.
The writing felt clear and he appeared to have a good understanding of the traditional mindset of sales teams. This allowed him to anticipate the objections/obstacles they would raise to implementing sales process engineering. He would go on to fully explain how these challenges could be overcome and SPE could be made a success.
The writing felt clear and he appeared to have a good understanding of the traditional mindset of sales teams. This allowed him to anticipate the objections/obstacles they would raise to implementing sales process engineering. He would go on to fully explain how these challenges could be overcome and SPE could be made a success.
April 30, 2020
First half of the book has a solid concept on structure of sales teams and there is true logic. The second half which looks at practical implementation is weak and lacks clarity. Additionally I know two organizations that have implemented it in its entirety and are really struggling to work to its principles.
Like any decent business book, pick out the best bits but don’t use it as a bible, there are some useful suggestions but no more.
Like any decent business book, pick out the best bits but don’t use it as a bible, there are some useful suggestions but no more.
August 12, 2017
Realistic change to the sales process
This book really helped me understand the process to convert my company from a group of sales individuals into a true sales team. The process forces the team to involve a greater number of people in your organization bringing more transparency to the activities that generate sales.
This book really helped me understand the process to convert my company from a group of sales individuals into a true sales team. The process forces the team to involve a greater number of people in your organization bringing more transparency to the activities that generate sales.
April 18, 2020
I wanted to like this book more. I fundamentally agree with the concept of this book, but like some other readers, I just found it boring at times. The writing is missing something and just could not keep my focus. There were too many sections which didn't apply to me or my business and left me looking for more.
April 15, 2019
Mumbo jumbo
He started his career selling insurance. And has done things the same way ever since apparently learning absolutely nothing in the process. He doesn’t get to tell me how to sell.
He started his career selling insurance. And has done things the same way ever since apparently learning absolutely nothing in the process. He doesn’t get to tell me how to sell.
April 26, 2021
You might say that I am hard-headed.
It took me a whole of arguing with Justin why his model had holes in it... until it hit me like a ton of bricks. The large, cement block type! I was wrong.
This is a landmark book. When you are ready for its message.
It took me a whole of arguing with Justin why his model had holes in it... until it hit me like a ton of bricks. The large, cement block type! I was wrong.
This is a landmark book. When you are ready for its message.
May 3, 2021
Structure Creates Freedom
Great book! I am a structured person so this approach to structure in a sales environment resonances with me. I am planning to implement as much as I can into my company.
Great book! I am a structured person so this approach to structure in a sales environment resonances with me. I am planning to implement as much as I can into my company.
July 10, 2018
A must read books for those who want to reform the sales and business development processes in a manner that is fit to the modern requirements of customers in B2B environment.
June 15, 2019
Really good source of ideas for the Sales function
Impressed at the amount of ideas and resources this book gave me. Definitely will be reviewing my highlights in the future.
Impressed at the amount of ideas and resources this book gave me. Definitely will be reviewing my highlights in the future.
March 17, 2022
Great book. Radical for my world but has some great perspective and thoughts on modern sales structure, for many industries (but not all).
December 10, 2023
He shares practical action steps for improving sales function and results. A good one to have as reference.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews