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 »
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 »
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
If you want to know why so many SMB deals stall after “good” conversations, it usually comes down to one thing: nobody owns the next step. The prospect is interested, the salesperson feels optimistic, and the opportunity gets advanced. Then the deal just sits there while everyone waits for the buyer to magically reappear with
Sales Qualification Next Steps: Why Deals Stall When Nobody Owns the Process Read More »
If you want a blunt explanation for why so many sales pipelines look “healthy” but revenue still comes in light, here it is: your team is calling deals qualified before they’ve earned the right to be called qualified. And one of the biggest reasons that happens is weak discovery. Most SMB salespeople are not intentionally
Sales Qualification Criteria: Why Discovery That Feels Like Small Talk Kills Deals Read More »
