A Brief History of Lean Methodology in Sales

Among manufacturers, the concept of Lean is well established and practically universal in its application. Along with Six Sigma and Just In Time (JIT), these approaches have transformed the manufacturing world so profoundly that it’s no longer possible to compete in manufacturing without some version of these practices in place.

When an approach is as successful in an industry as Lean has been in manufacturing, it’s inevitable that it will find its way into other industries. It took nearly 80 years for Lean to reach the sales industry in a documented way, and now that it’s here, it’s becoming very valuable for those companies that embrace it.

Here is a brief history of Lean, how it impacts sales, and why it matters.

What Is Lean Methodology?

According to the Lean Enterprise Institute, “Lean is a way of thinking about creating needed value with fewer resources and less waste.” People make the mistake of equating “Lean” with reducing staff and resources, and investing less. But true Lean is a much more robust and valuable framework than simply trying to reduce inputs.

It focuses on process and product development to create value in the most effective way possible. According to The Lean Way, its principles include:

• Define value 
  Understand what the value is to the customer
• Map the value stream
  Understand the activities that contribute to value for the customer
• Create flow
  Remove wastes and barriers from the value stream and ensure that the process runs smoothly without interruptions or delays
• Establish pull
  Reduce the amount of inventory and work in process by creating a system that produces in response to customer needs
• Pursue perfection
  Continually seek improvements in the process, by learning every day and striving toward the optimal system to achieve desired outcomes

A Brief Timeline of Lean in Sales

1920s through 1950s: The Birth of Lean Concepts in Manufacturing ⁽¹⁾

The roots of Lean can be traced back as far as the birth of industry, when a craftsperson first looked for a more effective and efficient way to produce a high quality product for a customer. However, its more recent origins can be traced to Henry Ford and the production assembly lines at the Ford Motor Plant in the 1920s. Then, in the 1950s, these approaches were further and famously improved upon by the Toyota company where it was formalized and scaled via a framework called The Toyota Way.

1980s: Six Sigma Enters the Picture ⁽²⁾

In the mid- to late 80s, Motorola set a “six sigma” goal for its manufacturing business, and in 1991 registered Six Sigma as a service mark. The Six Sigma framework establishes standards and processes for reducing waste, errors, and downtime in production. The Six Sigma methodology plays well with Lean approaches, and quickly became adopted as its partner in improving manufacturing processes.

1990s: The Term “Lean” is Coined and Popularized ⁽³⁾

John Kafcik toured 20 different countries and 90 different manufacturing plants from 1986 to 1990 as part of a research and consulting position with the International Motor Vehicle Program. He coined and popularized the use of the term “Lean” while contributing to academic work begun by David Womack in the book The Machine That Changed the World.

Other people who contributed to the expansion and growth of the term Lean and its methodologies included Jack Walsh at GE in the 1990s, and James Womack and Daniel Jones in their book Lean Thinking which was published in 1996.

2000s: Lean Enters the Service Industry ⁽⁴⁾

In 2004, Wipro, a digital, technology, and business solutions provider embraced Lean methodology and attempted to apply its concepts to their service-based business. Bradley Staats and David Upton in their working paper “Lean Principles and Software Production: Evidence from Indian Software Services” describe how a small group of managers from Wipro visited Lean manufacturing companies and created a framework for applying the principles in their company. The framework was then selectively applied to specific services within the company. “8 out of 10 showed greater than 10 percent improvement in efficiency,” according to the paper.

2008 to 2013: Sales Leaders Begins to Explore Lean

Several major companies began applying Lean principles in their sales departments, and achieving noticeable results. Tapio Nissilä published Lean Sales in 2013, based on 20 case studies of these companies, and presenting an analytical approach to sales implementation promising to make (according to the book’s Amazon description) “dramatic improvements in terms of productivity, effectiveness, quality, and cost.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Klump, a certified Lean process “sensei,” began applying Lean principles to every aspect of company operations, from IT to marketing–and including sales.

2016: “Lean Selling Insider Secrets” Publishes on the Membrain CEO Blog

In the 2010s, I became interested in the application of Lean principles in sales. It was resonant with what we were doing at Membrain, focusing on process and continual improvement. So when I learned that Klump claimed that 85% of the average sales process is pure waste, I paid attention. In 2016, I published Lean Selling Insider Secrets for Increased Sales Effectiveness to help sales professionals begin applying the most critical aspects of Lean to their sales systems.

2020s and Beyond: Lean Continues to Grow and Expand in the Sales Industry

Today, there are countless organizations dedicated to helping sales teams apply the principles of Lean to their sales processes. Thinkers like Klump, Richard Pryor, and many others continue to expand and improve on the application of Lean in selling. Tools like Membrain help companies execute on their Lean principles, reinforcing sales process and providing analytics for continual improvement. Sales consultants bring the principles of Lean to strategy, process development, training, and coaching.

While Lean is still not widely practiced within the sales industry, it has made great strides in the past two decades and continues to be an area for companies to differentiate themselves and improve both customer experience and profitability.