Strategic Selling

We all have to learn our professions and hopefully we all continue learning  throughout our careers.  During the process of planning out what I was going to blog about I thought back to how I learned the process of sales and business development.

I can say without hesitation that the best piece of learning that I have ever had is “Strategic Selling” by Miller Heiman. This type of training may not be applicable to all types of selling but it has been very worthwhile in my career.

What is Strategic Selling and why is it strategic? Strategy is defined as the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions. The word originated in ancient Greece with a clear military context but it is applicable in business today three millennia later.

Like a general in a military campaign, a sales leader or organization never has enough time, sales people and other resources to be able to engage with every possible customer. It is therefore much more important to be very focused in your business development activities. You need to be able to weed out prospects who will never buy anything, prospects who for whatever reason will not be receptive to your solution.

The key concept that I took from the Strategic Selling training is understanding that the process is about putting you in the right place, with the right people at the right time. Once you have done this, the process becomes tactical rather than strategic.

I firmly believe that creating the right strategy for you and your organization is the most important thing that you can do to lay the groundwork for future success. Future posts will continue to explore the process of strategic selling, how to do it properly and how it can apply to your particular sales situation.


Dave Speed

Welcome to Nothing Happens Until Somebody Sells Something

Hi, my name is Dave Speed and I have been involved in business development and the process of selling for over 25 years. I am a mechanical engineer by training and, with one exception, over my career have been involved with companies who have developed and sold some type of technology, including mechanical process equipment, specialty chemical water treatment programs and design-build infrastructure services.

When I graduated from engineering school in the early 1980s becoming involved in sales was not part of my career plan. My goal was to become involved in cool engineering design work and write technical papers. However, I quickly realized that the most interesting part of the company I was working with was not doing the actual engineering work but going out and getting the projects for the company to work on. I quickly decided this is where I wanted to work, so I quit my engineering job and embarked on what has turned out to be an unconventional but successful career in making things happen, building long-term relationships and solving customer problems.


Since embarking on my sales career in the mid 1980s I have recruited and led sales teams; sold personal services; developed an alumni outreach and fundraising program for a major university; and, worked for a manufacturer’s representative firm selling mechanical process equipment.  I have sold ongoing technical service programs at large industrial accounts such as paper mills and petrochemical plants, and municipal accounts such as large water and wastewater treatment facilities. Finally, I created a business unit at a utility company, from the vision stage to a successful operating unit with over $50 million in revenue and over a dozen team members reporting directly to me.

Over my career I have seen just about every sales situation possible and learned the right way and the wrong way of generating profitable new business. I’ve started this blog to share some of my insights about the sales process. Future posts will walk you through the sales process using my personal experiences and stories. Regardless of your experience and knowledge of sales I hope that you will find this blog thought provoking and interesting.

Nothing Happens Until Somebody Sells Something!


Dave Speed