The packaging machinery market grew just 2.2% in 2025, the slowest rate since the pandemic, as tariff uncertainty and $1.4 billion in additional import costs froze capital equipment decisions. According to PMMI’s Q2 2025 How’s Business report, quoting activity remained steady, but conversions stalled as buyers delayed commitments amid what respondents described as “tariff-driven cost dynamics.”
If you’re competing in this environment, every sales conversation matters more than ever. Yet most OEMs are sitting on one of their most underutilized competitive assets: the institutional knowledge captured in those conversations.
The new buyer reality
As I shared at PMMI’s Annual Meeting, procurement teams are now using AI to:
- Generate RFQs in minutes
- Screen eight vendors down to two before human conversations begin
- Identify exactly where each bidder is strong, and where they’re bluffing
When capital budgets are frozen, and every purchase requires CFO approval, buyers are using AI to de-risk decisions faster than ever.
So why are some OEMs still winning deals? They’re training their teams and their AI on what actually works in their own sales calls.
When your technical sales engineer explains why servo-driven changeovers solve throughput problems, that’s institutional knowledge. When your service rep overcomes total cost of ownership objections, that’s your competitive playbook. When your top seller navigates a seven-person buying committee to close a $2.3 million line, that’s your blueprint.
Most companies let that knowledge walk out the door. Elite OEMs capture it, analyze it, and scale it.
Tools high performers use
After recommending this approach to dozens of PMMI members, the results have been remarkably consistent.
High-performing OEMs are using AI meeting intelligence platforms, such as Fathom, to turn sales conversations into actionable intelligence. These platforms deliver three measurable outcomes:
1. Preserve What Wins
After successful closes, teams review meeting recordings to identify:
- Which technical points resonated
- How ROI was articulated during budget freezes
- What objection-handling actually worked
That insight becomes training material, not theoretical role-plays, but real conversations that closed six- and seven-figure deals in a difficult market. When reps replicate success, similar opportunities move through the pipeline faster.
2. Improve What’s Not Working
Lost deals are just as valuable. Recordings show exactly where conversations went sideways:
- A missed technical requirement
- An unaddressed budget concern
- A sustainability benefit that was never clearly articulated
For OEMs with 6–12 month sales cycles and multiple stakeholders, improving a single discovery call can save an entire pipeline.
3. Scale Expertise Across Teams
PMMI’s 2025 State of the Industry confirms that hiring and retention remain “key concerns.” You cannot afford to lose institutional knowledge when top technical sellers retire or move on.
With AI meeting platforms, new hires can search phrases like “sustainability objections” or “pharmaceutical compliance questions” and hear exactly how veterans handled them even after they’re gone.
The Sandler integration
While there are a variety of AI sales intelligence tools, for teams trained in Sandler methodology through PMMI’s sales and tradeshow programs, Fathom offers a free Sandler integration that scores sales calls on execution:
- Did you build rapport?
- Uncover pain?
- Qualify budget and timeline?
- Secure next-step commitments?
In packaging machinery sales, where technical complexity often derails methodology, this keeps teams disciplined without slowing them down.
Won’t clients mind being recorded?
In practice, no. Most AI meeting intelligence platforms request participant permission before recording; it’s built into the process. The value to the customer is immediate: summarized meeting notes and action items delivered right after the call, saving time and reducing miscommunication.
Most platforms also include a pause feature. If something needs to be discussed off the record, simply say, “Let me pause the recording for a moment so we can speak more candidly.”
In the rare case where a client has a policy against recording—roughly 1% of situations in my research—don’t use it. Take detailed notes instead.
The bigger risk isn’t offending clients. It’s losing the institutional knowledge that could help you win the next deal.
Companies winning in 2026 aren’t just selling better equipment. They’re building systems where every customer conversation makes the entire sales organization smarter.
While competitors rely on individual talent—and lose knowledge when people leave—elite OEMs and components, materials, services, and integration providers create institutional intelligence that compounds over time.
With market growth hovering near 2.2%, every deal counts. Your buyer’s AI is already analyzing your proposals. Shouldn’t your AI be learning from your best conversations?
