Code Brain | Sales Strategy Workshop: Product Features Aren't the Only Reason Customers Choose You

Against this year's domestic and global backdrop, "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" is the universal challenge every company faces — and sales is the critical lifeline for not just surviving, but thriving.

In January 2023, Code Brain organized a two-day Sales Strategy Workshop in Shanghai, where CEOs from six portfolio companies brought nearly 40 senior executives to develop and break down their 2023 sales targets under expert guidance. This November, we launched another sales-focused workshop series, zeroing in on more hands-on pain points for B2B companies: sales planning and strategy formulation, customer needs assessment and guidance, opportunity management, and sales team alignment and incentives.

Over two days and one evening, Min Jin — former head of IBM Global Sales School for Greater China with over two decades of sales experience — built on IBM's scientific sales methodology. Using "opportunity-driven selling" as the entry point, she led nearly 50 CEOs and executives from eight Source Code Capital portfolio companies through how to uncover opportunities, shape customer needs, influence buying decisions, and set competitive strategy. Through framework presentations, case studies, and group discussions, the workshop helped clarify confusion around the front-end of the sales cycle: opportunity generation. Given the density of material, we've distilled some standout quotes from the session:

1. Sales is the intersection of science and art. You need scientific methodology, but you also need to create unique value for customers in the field.

2. Sales is the largest cross-functional initiative in any organization. High performance requires shared goals, scientific methods, unified thinking and language, and persistent execution tracking.

3. Systematically solving organizational sales problems requires a systematic methodology: strategic business planning, customer cultivation and development, win-strategy formulation and value delivery, and professional, efficient execution of every customer-facing action.

4. Sales teams must deeply understand and guide customer needs, use professional insights to influence key decision-makers to see your unique value, and respond proactively to competition.

5. Everything in sales starts with understanding the customer's business and environment. The key is anticipating their problems, solving those problems, and bringing them opportunities they may not even know exist.

6. What factors do customers weigh when choosing products and vendors? How do these factors relate to each other? Don't obsess over product features — they're never the sole reason a customer chooses you.

7. Beyond tracking performance metrics, managers need to pay attention to what strategies, methods, and actions salespeople use to close deals. Encourage and support employees in using positive, constructive approaches — this builds talent for both the present and future of the organization.

8. Value is context-dependent. Focus on the specific value elements that address a customer's particular needs.

9. Strengthen end-to-end sales management processes to drive a high-output sales engine and bring your full capabilities to the customer.