When the Owner Is Still the Sales Process, Growth Stalls In many small and mid sized businesses, the owner believes there is a sales process. If you ask about it, they will often say, “We have a process. I know how we sell.” And to be fair, they probably do. They know how to qualify […]
When the Owner Is Still the Sales Process, Growth Stalls Read More »
Introverts vs Extroverts in Sales: Why Ambiverts in Sales Often Win For years, sales has been stereotyped as an extrovert’s game. Talkative. Charismatic. Always on. The kind of person who can work a room, handle rejection without blinking, and keep a conversation moving no matter what. That image has been around a long time, and
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Stop Setting Sales Goals. Start Building Sales Systems. Every year around this time, I watch the same movie play out with small and mid-sized businesses. The leadership team gets in a room, looks at last year’s revenue, adds a percentage on top, and calls it a “sales plan.” “Let’s grow 15% next year.”“Let’s double new
Stop Setting Sales Goals. Start Building Sales Systems. Read More »
Private Equity Sales Due Diligence: How to Evaluate a Sales Team When private equity firms evaluate a business, they usually spend a great deal of time on financial performance, operations, and leadership. They should. But one area that often does not get enough real scrutiny is the sales team. That is a mistake. A company
Private Equity Sales Due Diligence: What to Look for Before You Buy the Revenue Read More »
The Hidden Cost When You Are Lacking Sales Process Consistency A lot of business owners and CEOs think they are giving their sales team freedom when they let each salesperson handle the job in their own way. On the surface, that can feel reasonable. After all, every salesperson has a different style. One is more
Why Sales Process Consistency Matters More Than Sales Personality Read More »
End of the First Quarter: What the Numbers Are Really Telling You The first quarter is over. The optimism of January is gone. The fresh-start energy has worn off. By now, the plans you made at the beginning of the year have had time to run into reality, and reality always tells the truth. This
The First Quarter Is Over. Now Tell the Truth About Your Sales Team Read More »
Your Pipeline Problem Might Actually Be an ICP Problem A lot of small and midsize businesses think they have a sales activity problem. They think the team needs to make more calls, send more emails, attend more networking events, or load more leads into the CRM. Sometimes that is true. But not always. In many
Ideal Customer Profile: Why ICP Matters for Sales Growth Read More »
If you have ever looked at your pipeline and thought, “We should be fine,” only to watch the month close light, you are not alone. I hear some version of that all the time from CEOs and business owners in small and midsize businesses. The CRM stages says there is plenty in the pipeline. The
Sales Qualification and CRM Stages: Why Your Pipeline Is Lying to You Read More »
For many salespeople, sending the proposal feels like the final step before closing a deal. Discovery is complete, the solution has been presented, pricing is prepared, and everything appears to be moving toward a decision. Then the deal slows down. A few days pass. The salesperson follows up. The response is vague: “We’re reviewing internally.”
Sales Qualification and Decision Criteria: Why Deals Die After the Proposal Read More »
If you’re a CEO and you feel like your team is constantly losing deals on price, I’m going to challenge the assumption that price is the real problem. Sometimes it is. Many times it isn’t. In most SMB sales environments, “too expensive” is the symptom you hear at the end of the process, but the
