Scrum in Sales: How to Improve Account Management and Sales Processes

Like most client service units, the sales and account management teams at iSense accepted that sales are a random, reactive process. After all, customers, not sales managers, decide whether or not to buy. Then, after deciding to learn more about a certain offering, Scrum training, the teams found a way to take more control over this process. In the fall of 2010, the iSense sales and account management teams decided to adopt Scrum internally as their best practice. Scrum transformed the random process, revealing early indicators related to final sales results, and showed that the direct causes for closing a deal could be detected and controlled. Once it became possible to predict and influence final order intake and sales numbers, the sales teams used early predictive indicators to proactively control their work. With the sales processes under better control, the teams could improve continuously and have more fun at work. Strategically implementing Scrum into sales and account management has lead to escalating revenue and a sustainable competitive advantage.