Bunes & Ferenczi

At Bunes & Ferenczi we believe in today’s uncertain and ever-changing environment there is a smarter and faster way for B2B Tech companies to acquire new customers than only by increasing sales capacity​.

We work with early-stage companies, companies looking to geographically expand, or someone looking to expand their solution portfolio to:
* Co-create their Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) in which their value creation is the highest
* Build a Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) which is prioritized order of all the ICPs
* Audit and recommend data/analytics tools for sales and marketing to support the acquisition of customers
* Provide interim CMO/CRO support for expansion

| Co-founder |  B2B Tech Growth Strategist | 

GrowthMentor

I am grateful for the opportunity to support NEXT GEN entrepreneurs with some of my experience through specific conversations about their challenges. The best part of this? I learn so much myself every time,

Growth Mentor

GlobalGrowth Consulting (GG Consulting AB)

Experienced hands-on business executive with strong focus on teamwork and managing multi-cultural teams thrives at driving global or local growth or profitability-focused change initiatives

AREAS OF EXPERTISE
* Development and advice on Sales and Marking programmes, Business Strategy and Planning
* Design and implementation of organisational change including providing interim management  
* Deep industrial knowledge of IT and telecoms, both B2B and B2C
* Set up and management of new international businesses including creation of company structures

| Principal Consultant | Business Owner |

Bisnode

Advising Bisnode B2B Marketing Steering council with GTM plans for new offers.

B2B Sales and Marketing GTM Advisor

Vendemore

Enabling global companies to implement Account Based Marketing as a part of their marketing mix.

Developing internal sales and marketing strategies at Vendemore.

Global Account Director

GlobalGrowth Consulting & Investment LLC

Vision: 
Grow local small businesses to International medium-sized businesses

We are: 
Senior practicioners with experience from both small businesses to  Fortune 20, including experience in sales, marketing, business development, business management, and Management Consulting.  Proven track record of developing international businesses

Our approach: 
Focus on technology firms (Internet, SW, and HW) with base in Scandinavia looking for international expansion or businesses looking to expand to Scandinavia. We look for 1-4 year exclusive partnerships focusing on profitable new business. Our model can be tailored to each engagement. In some cases, we may make a significant investment in the business. However, we exclusively engage in businesses with a buy-out plan

Founder, Majority Partner, and Chairman

Libendo Education

Member of Board for holding company in Luxemburg (Avaros SA)

Member of Board

Managing the Libendo Group business across all markets

Managing Director

Member of Board Libendo Norway AS

Member of Board Libendo UK&I Ltd (Dormant)

Member of Board Libendo Sweden AB

Driving the expansion of Libendo from Sweden to UK and Norway.  In charge of all expansion work in addition to hosting the management structure, business planning, and overall sales results for the business

Global Sales Director

SPConsulting

Consultant in Change Management Practise at SPConsulting: Boutique global consulting firm based in Stockholm, Sweden

Consultant

Build HP's Direct Online sales in EMEA; employee number 1

Our team took an existing business from $35m to $105m over two years.

Consumer Online Business Development Manager EMEA

Managed a product line E2E, turning around $5m loss to $3m in profit in two years and order book grew by 30%.

Member of management board, and numerous project steering committee chairman roles as well as sponsor.

Business Line Manager EMEA

Provided country representation to EMEA based organisation for support experience and delivery models. Included business development of support services (fee based). Also included deployment of retail channel support programmes.

Consumer Support Country Manager Nordics

European Product Manager for the HP ScanJet line of products. Core focus on all 4 Ps

Product Manager EMEA

Provided final level support for WW contact centres for HP ScanJet products. Would drive current engineering for updates of current products and ensure fixes were transferred to the development of next generation products.

Escalation Manager

I help B2B Tech companies to grow by focusing on the right customers.

I am passionate about B2B tech, but more passionate about the customer value deriving from deploying the right technology. 

It’s always about the customer, and it’s always about the value they get from technology.

The rest are just means to an end.

I am your international businessman of mystery! 

I have lived and worked in Norway, US, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden.

I am like the business equivalent of the Swiss Army knife, a utility you can use to solve many a challenge. 

I have done sales, marketing, financial management, management consulting, P&L ownership, product management, customer support/operations, escalation management, Account Based Marketing, EdTech, AdTech, MarTech, B2B, B2C, B2B2C. You name it, I have done it!

I have worked for myself, in an organization with four people, in an organization with +300,000 employees and anything in between.

Hans Bunes

Christopher Engman

💢 Author Megadeals, investor and large deal advisor in sustainability scale-ups

A typical Njord client has complexities in the deal making such as…
Cross hierarchical decision making on the customer side (often higher up than most people realise)
Cross functional decision making
A complex offering that takes a long time for new people to handle on their own
The environment on the customer side is a blend of processes and interfacing technologies

These 4 complexities lead to another key trait of our clients, which is a very high dependency on key people in the deal making. Often a CEO, a CTO and a Head of sales. We call it the rainmaker dependency. Hiring more and more sales people only makes the matter worse as your rainmakers have to hold the new sales peoples’ hands, which they don't have time for. We often see companies making the mistake of recruiting too many new sales people and then ending up in the calendar problem. They find themselves having to support everyone else and then experiencing lower sales as a consequence.

Most of our clients aim at becoming the leader in their category and in their core customer segment. It is also quite common that a Njord client is trying to establish or grow a new solution category which has its own list of challenges and special moves.

Looking forward to talking more about your exciting potential to dominate your finite market and category.

Author co-founder managing partner

Many of the most successful B2B companies in the world have a high concentration of revenue coming from a few top accounts. Often less than 50 accounts represent 80% of the total revenue even though the entire customer base can consist of many thousand accounts. 

Often the biggest accounts have very extensive contracts and big amounts associated. Very often each top client of the biggest companies in the world can have individual revenues beyond one billion USD per year each. In the world of Megadeals, the literature is very weak. There is a long list of books about B2B complex selling but the difference between a 100.000 USD deal and a multi BUSD deal is substantial. 
The book is a mix of theories and models blended with interviews with 60 of the top Megadeal sales people in the world. 

Megadeals advisory is assisting scaleups and Fortune 500 companies doing more and bigger Megadeals

Stop selling products. Start selling perspective.

The gap between a "Vendor" and a "Strategic Partner" usually comes down to one thing: Deep Domain Expertise.

In complex B2B sales, buyers aren't looking for specs. They are looking for business outcomes. If you don't understand their world better than they do, you are just another commodity.

Here is why deep expertise wins every time:
1. Instant Credibility. C-level executives guard their time fiercely. If they have to educate you on their industry, you’ve already lost. When you speak their language (acronyms, regulations, trends), you earn the right to be in the room.
2. Diagnosing "Latent" Pain. Average sellers solve known problems ("We need cheaper software"). Experts uncover problems the client didn't even know they had because they’ve seen the pattern 50 times before.
3. De-risking the Decision. Buyers aren't afraid of paying too much; they are afraid of making a career-damaging mistake. An expert maps the path through compliance, implementation, and politics.
4. Best references. The top commercial people know exactly which references to use when conducting the sale. Same industry, same county, and/or same business logic. We call it concentric marketing.

The Difference in Action:
❌ The Generalist sells a medical device by talking about the ergonomic grip and titanium build. 
✅ The Expert explains that while the device costs more, it shaves 15 mins off surgery time—allowing the hospital to fit in one extra procedure a day, increasing revenue by $2M/year.

The takeaway: Your product is secondary. Your primary product is your perspective.

Founder Njord aka Megadeals | Deal Orchestration Platform for high complexity B2B scaleups

Stop confusing your Champions with your Trojan Horses. They are NOT the same. 

In our research, we found that most sales teams rely too heavily on one loud voice inside the buying organization. But to win complexity 5 and 6 deals, you need a different kind of ally.

We call them Trojan Horses. 
Here is the distinction that saves deals:

The Champion
Traits: Has authority, influence, and power.
Role: They act as an "egg-breaker." They openly fight for you and push the decision through.

The Trojan Horse
Traits: Often lacks authority. Usually found lower in the hierarchy (technicians, assistants, managers).

Role: They act as your GPS. They operate in the dark to help you navigate the political landscape.

Why you need a Trojan Horse: Champions can get the deal signed, but Trojan Horses prevent you from crashing before you get there. They whisper the "unspoken truths" you will never find in an RFP:
Who is really blocking you? 
Is your competitor actually ahead? 
When will the decision actually happen? 

Pro Tip: Never call them a Trojan Horse to their face. Treat them as a valued partner. Give them industry insights in return for their intelligence.

Who is guiding your navigation in your biggest deal right now? Have you worked with Trojan Horses or acted as one?

#Megadeals #Njord #EnterpriseSales #B2B #SalesStrategy #TrojanHorse

Jag har precis avslutat en härlig podd-inspelning med Malin Nilsson och Filip Laurin från BDO. Tack båda för ett trevligt samtal i er soffa. 😍 

Vi pratade utförligt om både framgångsfaktorer bakom att orkestrera större affärer och även insikter från framgångsrika och misslyckade erfarenheter.

Höjdpunkter:
Skillnader mellan större och mindre affärer
Skillnader mellan att sälja innovation kontra etablerade kategorier
Skillnader mellan sekventiell affärsskapande och parallell eller "multithreaded" affärsskapande
Likheterna mellan världens ledande idrottslag och vart B2B är på väg
Att lära sig snabbt är viktigare än kortsiktig prestige
Den röda Fiaten och hur man nyttjar konceptet för att snabbt komma in på stora bolag
Hur man gör deal-stödet från världens största affärer tillgängligt för medelstora företag med hög komplexitet
"Rainmaker Dependency" (beroendet av nyckelpersoner som drar in affärer) och vad man kan göra åt det
AI i större affärer
Namnbytet från Megadeals till Njord

...och mer

Jag återkommer när detta avsnitt släpps. Tack igen Malin och Fiilip.

San Francisco, recorded Keynote from the Usage Based Economy Summit

Watch the recorded keynote here https://lnkd.in/dgcXc_EB

Theme: How to Market, Sell and Price Innovation to Large Companies

Scaling Rainmakers by Njord!

Lever 1 IMPACT: Create a bigger impact / influence per hour -> Stakeholder maps, Hyper targeted media, Content
 
Lever 2 PRIORITY: Make sure Rainmakers use every hour in the best possible way -> Signals from the web, social platforms, ads, meeting notes, email, calendar and CRM aggregated and contextualised

Lever 3 PRODUCTIVITY: Take things off the plate for the Rainmakers

See this video about Lever 1, IMPACT, illustrated with a metaphor with me meeting a potential client in a gym.

Why your "perfect" solution is stuck in Pilot Purgatory.

We’ve all been there. You have a superior product. The champions love it. The ROI calculation is undeniable. Yet, the deal stalls. Weeks turn into months, and eventually, the project quietly dies.

In our research for Megadeals and other high complexity deals, we found the root cause is rarely about your product’s features. It is almost always because you failed to map your solution to a Key Initiative.

The Hard Truth: Large enterprises don't buy "solutions" to small problems. They invest in strategic outcomes.

Every mid sized and large company has 3–5 "Key Initiatives" at any given time (e.g., "Carbon Neutrality by 2030," "Digitizing the Customer Journey," or "Supply Chain Resilience").

These initiatives have Board-level visibility.

These initiatives have ring-fenced budgets.

These initiatives have clear deadlines.

If your solution is not directly attached to one of these trains, you are standing on the platform. You are fighting for scraps of discretionary budget—a dangerous place to be.

My advice? If you cannot clearly articulate which Key Initiative your offer supports, you shouldn't be forecasting the deal. You should be disqualifying it or working harder to find the link.

Stop pitching "features." Start reading their Annual Report. Listen to the CEO’s latest earnings call. Find the initiative that keeps them up at night, and re-engineer your entire narrative to show how YOU help them execute THAT specific promise to the market.

Don't just sell a tool. Sell the bridge to their strategic destination.

How often do you check a prospect's Annual Report before the first meeting? 

#Megadeals #EnterpriseSales #KeyInitiatives #SalesStrategy #B2B

The "linear sales process" is a myth when it comes to complexity 5 (multiple stakeholder groups) and 6 (multiple organisations) deals. Instead, it is a multithreaded game of chess.

Here is why high-complexity deals are more like a chess match than a checklist:

1. The Board is Bigger Than You Think (The Ecosystem)
In a simple sale, you might have a linear path: Lead -> Meeting -> Proposal -> Close. In a complexity 5 or 6 deal, the "board" is a vast ecosystem.

Multiple Players: You aren't just playing against one buyer. You are navigating 50-100+ stakeholders including internal departments (IT, Finance, Legal), external consultants, third party vendors, and even competitors.

Interconnected Pieces: Just like moving a knight affects the potential moves of a bishop, a decision in one department (e.g., IT) can completely block or enable a decision in another (e.g., Operations).

2. You Need to Anticipate Moves (Strategy & Foresight)
You cannot just react; you must predict.

Looking Ahead: Deal orchestrators are "ecosystem architects." They don't just see the current state of the board; they see where the industry is moving (macro-trends) and position their pieces to be relevant in that future state.

Defensive Play: Just as a chess player protects their King, a deal orchestrator must obsessively mitigate risk. Large organizations are risk-averse; they prioritize not losing over winning. Your strategy must focus on defending against their fears (perceived risks) as much as attacking with your value proposition.

3. It’s Not About One "Checkmate" (Consensus)
You rarely win with a single, dramatic move.

Incremental Wins: You have to win "votes" across the entire ecosystem. You need to build consensus piece by piece, aligning the interests of disparate groups who often have conflicting agendas.

The "Trojan Horse" Strategy: Sometimes the most powerful move isn't a direct attack with your Queen (Champion), but a subtle maneuver with a Pawn (Trojan Horse). You need hidden allies inside the organization to feed you intelligence on the real game being played behind closed doors.

4. The Game is Non-Linear
Loops and Detours: A complexity 5 and 6 deal doesn't follow a straight line. You might move forward with a Champion, get blocked by a detractor in Legal, have to retreat, build consensus elsewhere, and then approach again from a different angle. It is a dynamic, fluid battle for influence, not a step-by-step funnel.

This is where Njord comes in. The deal orchestration platform for complexity 5 and 6. www.njord.io

Industry-specific AI robots are autonomous machines designed to perform specialized tasks within a particular sector. Unlike general-purpose robots, they are purpose-built with AI models and hardware tailored for a specific vertical, such as healthcare, logistics, or manufacturing. Their AI is trained on unique, domain-specific data, allowing them to handle complex, nuanced tasks with high precision and efficiency.

Key Trends in Vertical AI Robotics
From Fixed to Flexible Automation: The industry is moving away from rigid, pre-programmed robotic arms to AI-driven, adaptable robots that can handle a wider range of tasks in dynamic, unstructured environments.

Physical AI and Digital Twins: A major trend is the use of digital twins, or virtual replicas, to train AI robots in a simulated environment. This "physical AI" approach allows robots to learn skills in a risk-free, accelerated manner, significantly reducing deployment time and cost.

Agentic and Multi-Modal AI: The latest AI robots are being integrated with multi-modal AI models that combine vision, language, and action. This allows them to perceive their environment, understand natural language commands, and perform complex, multi-step tasks without constant human oversight.

Human-Robot Collaboration (Cobots): AI is making collaborative robots (cobots) safer and more effective. Advanced sensors and AI allow these robots to work seamlessly alongside human employees, taking over repetitive or physically demanding tasks while humans focus on more complex, strategic work.
 
See 33 leading industry specific robot companies in the article. Who should I add to the list?

Industry-specific AI robots are autonomous machines designed to perform specialized tasks within a particular sector. Unlike general-purpose robots, t

Open article: Industry-specific AI robots by Christopher Engman • 4 min read

Njord is excited to meet with deep tech founders in Rotterdam for the Deep Tech GTM Executive Roundtable. 

Event Details:
- Date: Wednesday, November 26th
- Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Hosted by: InnovationQuarter & Njord (formerly Megadeals)

John Lindsay from Njord and I will lead a workshop tailored for deep tech companies facing high deal complexity and rainmaker dependency. We will focus on:

- GTM design
- Case studies
- Interactive exercises

Participants will learn how to leverage AI-powered deal orchestration to accelerate and enhance deep tech commercialization.

WAREHOUSE ROBOTS: Stop building warehouses for peak capacity. Start building them for flexibility.

One of the biggest CAPEX traps in logistics is over-engineering a facility for "Day 100" volumes on Day 1.

This is where Exotec (the French robotics unicorn) is changing the industrial logic.

Their AI-driven Skypod system decouples storage from throughput.
Need more storage? Extend the racks.
Need more speed? Add more robots.

It turns fixed infrastructure costs into a flexible, scalable model.
In a world of volatile consumer demand, the "heavy metal" approach to automation (conveyor belts and cranes) is becoming a risk. The agility provided by 3D mobile robotics is the new hedge against uncertainty.

Kudos to Romain Moulin and the team in France for redefining what "agile fulfillment" actually looks like.

Question: Is flexibility now more valuable than pure speed in your supply chain?

See more here https://www.exotec.com/

#Logistics #Strategy #TechTrends #Exotec #Automation #SupplyChainManagement

The "5-7 Stakeholder" rule is wrong (at least for Complexity 5 and 6 deals).

If you are trying to close a complexity 5 or 6 deal using the same playbook you use for a standard contract, you are going to lose.

In standard complex B2B sales (Complexity 3 or 4), the goal is often simple lead generation. and then a very sequential sales process. You identify a buying committee of roughly 5 to 7 key people, sell the features, and close the deal.

But when you hit Complexity 5 and 6, that math doesn’t work.

We are seeing a fundamental shift from simple lead generation and a sequential sales process to complex, multi-threaded orchestration.

Complexity 5 Deals: You aren't just dealing with a few contacts; you are navigating multiple stakeholder groups within one large organization—IT, Finance, Legal, and Operations—all with competing agendas.

Complexity 6 Deals: This is where it gets truly massive. The deal extends beyond the client to encompass multiple organizations, including partners, consultants, and third-party vendors.

This is often an extensive ecosystem.

If you ignore this web of dependencies, you leave the door open for risk. Deals at this level aren't won by selling features; they are won by mitigating risk and building broad alignment across that ecosystem.

The Top 1% of Sellers are "Ecosystem Architects."

They don’t just map the terrain; they reshape it. They have the vision to see where the industry is moving and the ability to align every layer—from internal finance teams to third party vendors—behind that vision.

They act like what Ray Dalio calls "Shapers"—independent thinkers who let nothing stand in the way of the goal.

Our njord.io platform mission is "Scaling Rainmakers in Complexity 5 and 6 deals".

#B2B #SalesStrategy #Complexity5 #Complexity6 #Ecosystems #Orchestration #DealOrchestration

Risk Mitigation in complexity 5 and 6 deals

Large organizations are inherently risk-averse.

The Priority of Risk Over Upside
We often present a scenario in our seminars where we ask attendees to choose between two alternatives. Alternative A offers a modest ROI with very low risk, while Alternative B offers a massive ROI but comes with a significant risk of failure. In a complexity 5 and 6 context, organizations almost always choose Alternative A, modest ROI with very low risk.

Why? Because, as the old saying goes, "You'll never get fired for buying from IBM". Large organizations prioritize reliability over high performance.

This behavior is rooted in human psychology. Daniel Kahneman’s Nobel Prize-winning research on loss aversion, found that humans have a 2.5 times stronger drive to avoid pain than to achieve pleasure. In a complexity 5 and 6 deal, where decision-makers are putting their careers on the line, avoiding a mistake is often more important than hitting a home run.

Real vs. Perceived Risks
To master this cornerstone, you must distinguish between two types of risk:
- Real Risks: These are tangible threats, such as a machine having a specific probability of downtime or a project failing to meet technical specifications.
- Perceived Risks: These are intangible but equally deadly. For example, a client might worry that your brand isn't stable enough for a long-term partnership or simply doesn't trust you personally.

Trust is the Antidote to Risk
We believe that risk mitigation is inextricably linked to trust. If you can lower the real and perceived risks for the client, you increase their trust, which in turn allows you to charge a premium.

We break trust down into four key aspects relevant to megadeals:
1. Capability: Do you have the team and resources to deliver? 
2. Vision: Do you have a clear view of the future that assures the client it is safe to stay with you long-term? 
3. Honesty: Can they trust you to tell the truth, especially when things go wrong? 
4. Consistency: Can you deliver results repeatedly over time? 

Stephen M. R. Covey’s framework of trust, emphasizing that you must demonstrate both character (Integrity and Intent) and competency (Capabilities and Results).

Proactive Risk Management
The biggest mistake you can make is avoiding the topic of risk because it feels uncomfortable. If you don't speak about risks with your client, they will discuss them without you—and that is a far worse scenario.

By introducing risk mitigation proactively into your sales process, you control the narrative and build immense credibility. We advise creating a risk checklist and building mitigation strategies directly into your offering, whether through insurance, guarantees, or transparent governance structures.

Ultimately, winning a Complexity 5 or 6 deal isn't just about maximizing the upside; it is about proving that you are the safest pair of hands for their most critical initiatives.

This anonymous superstar that I can recommend is looking for the next marketing leader position:
- Senior Marketing Leader with 14+ years of international experience across B2C and B2B industries, including streaming services.
- Driving accelerated growth through 360° marketing strategies
- Brand & brand performance, digital, performance, communications, partnerships, and customer life cycle
- Data-driven insights and AI-powered execution.
- Build and scale in-house marketing teams with strong trust building profile
- Developing integrated go-to-market plans, partnerships, and optimising ROI across channels.
- Passionate about behavioural insights to simplify journeys, elevate customer experience, and scale operations in global markets.

Ping below or drop a DM to me and I will connect you.

...or tag someone below that you think would want to talk to this person.

taplio

The Battle

Hans Bunes

Christopher Engman

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