Ep.10: Continuous Improvement on the Sales Process. An interview with Greg Jacobson and Mark Graban

This SalesCast is brought to you by, well, SalesQualia. Improve Sales Performance with:

1. Self-learning resources, including books on Amazon.comand self-paced online courses.
2. Workshops & Training, hosted at venues across Silicon Valley and the US.
3. 1:1 Coaching & Consulting for company founders and sales professionals that want a personalized plan.

In this episode, Scott hosts Greg Jacobson and Mark Graban from KaiNexus, a software company that serves hospitals and health systems. Greg and Mark speak about how they built a successful startup utilizing the LEAN methodology and understanding the importance of LISTENING to customers. Key areas covered are:

• How Greg founded KaiNexus as an ER doctor who thought there could be a better way and the lessons he learned when building out a product and taking it to market.
• How Mark came on board to help build the go-to-market strategies for KaiNexus and bring on board the first customers while establishing KaiNexus in the “lean healthcare” community.
• How a company can implement the method of Identify, Act, Resolve, and Recognize to their day-to-day process to improve the team and company in all aspects of the company.
• Recognizing the difference between a know-it-all salesperson versus a learn-it-all, and realizing the valuable information to be learned during the sales process.
• Identifying and understanding a customer’s needs and how to position your products different features to meet those needs.

We hope you enjoy the podcast and would greatly appreciate feedback! Any suggestions on future topics you would like to hear covered and/or podcast guests you’d like to hear would be great! Enjoy!

Podcast Notes

02:45 – How KaiNexus was started.

05:35 – The potential of what could be done in Healthcare.

06:45 – What underpins the feeling of Mark and Greg are on a crusade for continuous improvement.

09:40 – How a company can apply the four steps, Identify, Act, Resolve, Recognize to their process.

13:10 – How someone can take 5% or 10% out of a day to make sure they’re improving.

16:50 – How to build habits.

18:45 – The continuous improvement principle, the idea of a small test of change.

20:30 – The know-it-all versus the learn-it-all. What is the learn-it-all and what it means.

22:50 – What could be learnt in the sales process and how you could apply it.

25:45 – Understanding a customer’s need and knowing what part of the product is the right fit.

28:15 – Time is the most precious thing for an entrepreneur, how to choose to use that time.

30:05 – Identifying customers that believe in your “why” statements.

35:25 – The more narrow you set your focus, the greater chance that a small company is able to solve that problem better.

37:30 – Early versions of KaiNexus, did it feel like consulting when Mark and Greg were starting up?

38:40 – Focusing on your customers and their success.

39:40 – The organizational behavior and psychology aspect is critically important to the implementation.

41:20 – Churn rate is important to think about when you’re developing a SaaS enterprise.

42:55 – Recommendation to a small team to go about their own Seven-Day, 30-Day or 100-Day challenge to permanently improve their company.

45:06 – How to implement the 100-Day challenge in your company.

Resources mentioned or related to this podcast

• Lean Startup Conference, official place for learning Lean Startup methodology and modern management techniques.

• “The Power of Habit, Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg.

• Cases of Technology “Solutions” Looking for a Problem? by Mark Graban.

• The KaiNexus WorkOut, is an adaptation of a proven three month improvement model that originated at GE.

• KaiNexus, a continuous improvement software platform empowers and engages your employees to make a meaningful impact on your organization in a culture of continuous improvement.