I will never forget that sentence.
It was actually a perfectly ordinary meeting at Luzi. The brief sounded simple: two units, software and #PowerPickSystem—a classic product sale.
Senior management, quality, IT and sales were seated around the table, each with their own perspective on the project.
While the details of the quotation were still being discussed upstairs, I was having coffee downstairs with the Head of IT, whom I already knew.
Then came the sentence:
“By the way, who actually controls the robot?”
For a moment, everything went quiet. My colleague gave me a firm kick under the table because he knew that all my alarm bells were now ringing.
Suddenly, the discussion was no longer just about equipment. The quality manager showed me an older brochure featuring a robot next to our units.
The idea was clear: order picking should be automated so that employees could focus on their core tasks.
What initially seemed like a passing wish became the true key to the project. Together, we rethought interfaces, adapted processes and developed a robot integration that changed operations for the long term.
For me, this remains a prime example of systems sales: not merely delivering what is on the shopping list, but listening, recognising connections and involving every stakeholder—especially those who are not at the very top of the organisational chart.
💡 A project often begins not with the tender, but with a single sentence at the right moment.
👉 Have you ever seen a project suddenly take a completely new direction because of a single sentence?
#Kardex #SystemsSales #SystemsThinking #ProcessInnovation