Articles
Articles and field notes from the programme
Shorter writing from the Future of Selling research programme. Observations from interviews, patterns surfacing across workshops, and fragments of longer arguments in development. Published as the research produces them.
For the full body of work, see past trends (the co-creation wave), emerging trends (value engineering), or publications.
Field notes
Recent observations
Written after interviews and fieldwork. Newest first.
20 May 2026 · Field note
One Customer, Three Conversations
Two long research conversations with Lien Byttebier at Accent surface a sales model built around three levels of the customer, three propositions, and three languages — and the recognition that selling into large industrial accounts has become an act of coordinated change management. Read →
20 May 2026 · Field note
The Supply Chain Has Become the Sales Conversation
An afternoon with a senior supply chain leader at Kaneka Belgium reveals how industrial supply chains under pressure are reorganising around trust, intelligence, judgement, and integration — and what this means for the suppliers across the table. Read →
A foundational series
The current wave in five articles
A five-article reading sequence distilled from the working paper From Value Selling to Value Engineering. For readers who want an introduction to the current wave of the research without committing to the full paper. Read in order, they trace the diagnosis, the framework, the structural device, the operational method, and the historical context.
19 May 2026 · Article 1 of 5
Why ROI alone no longer carries the deal
For three decades, value-based selling has rested on a single equation: ROI minus price equals customer value. The model served well — because the other consequences of the purchase mostly sat outside the invoice. They no longer do. Read →
19 May 2026 · Article 2 of 5
The six dimensions of customer value — a working diagnostic
B2B buyers now evaluate value across six dimensions — ROI, Risk and Resilience, Life-Cycle and Circular, Strategic, People, and Planet and Societal. A working guide to what each dimension asks the supplier to argue. Read →
19 May 2026 · Article 3 of 5
What the Layered Business Case actually does
A modern B2B purchase is decided by a coalition of stakeholders, each weighting a different dimension. The Layered Business Case is the structural device that lets one decision be defended in multiple registers. Read →
19 May 2026 · Article 4 of 5
The four stages of Systemic Value Selling — Discover, Design, Justify, Align
A framework is not a method. Systemic Value Selling is the method that fills the gap. Read →
19 May 2026 · Article 5 of 5
Why traceability arrived — a short history of hidden costs returning to the invoice
Twenty years ago, the costs of opaque sourcing were paid by communities, ecosystems, and labourers, never by the buyer. Today they show up in CSRD, CSDDD, and EUDR. A short history of how those hidden costs returned to the invoice. Read →
More articles will be added as the research produces them. For the longer-form outputs — the working paper, the book, the HBR article, and the TEDx talk — see the publications page.
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