B2B Sales
Sales Activity Metrics That Predict Revenue
A CEO asked his top rep in a pipeline review last quarter how she planned to hit her number. She gave him a story. A big deal she was working. A renewal that was coming up. A few accounts she felt good about. He nodded. Wrote it down. Closed his notebook. By the end of…
Read MoreThe Operating Rhythm Behind Real Forecasts
A CEO called me a while back frustrated with his forecast. Same story I’ve heard a hundred times. The number in the CRM said one thing in the last week of the quarter. The number that actually closed was 20% lower. The board was unhappy. The CRO was rebuilding the dashboard to figure out what…
Read MoreBuilding a Sales Engine to Double Revenue by 2028
Len Naumovich built Primo Designs from a basement screen press into a mid seven figure branded apparel and promotional products company operating across the Midwest. The operations were dialed in. The reputation was strong. The team was lean and efficient. The only thing missing was a sales engine to feed the machine he’d built. After…
Read MoreWhen Not to Hire a VP of Sales
A CEO called one of our consultants last month ready to hire a VP of Sales. Budget approved. Board pressure mounting. Job description already drafted. Our consultant’s answer surprised him. “You don’t need to hire yet.” Most recruiters never say this. The reason is simple. Most recruiters get paid a percentage of the salary on…
Read MoreBuild A Stages-Based Sales Pipeline
Last month I ran an exercise with a sales team. I put a grid of one hundred numbers on the screen, scrambled randomly. I gave them fifteen seconds to find numbers one, two, three, four, in order, going as high as they could. Most of them got fewer than five. Then I had them draw…
Read MoreA Baylor Strength Coach Taught Me Something About Sales
Years ago I was looking at the max lift numbers for the strength program at the Baylor School in Chattanooga (the high school, not the university in Waco, Tx). This school is now one of the top 25 high school football programs in the country, routinely visited by SEC coaches for the players they turn…
Read MoreWhen The Sales Consultant Pitches The CEO
Imagine a sales consultant walks into a CEO’s office. The slide deck is forty pages. The logos in the case studies are impressive. The methodology is their proprietary 12 stage framework. The CEO hasn’t said a word yet. By the end of the pitch, the CEO knows three things about the consulting firm. The methodology.…
Read MoreIndustry Experience Is The Most Overrated Line On A Sales Resume
A client of ours hired a guy for a sales role in an industry he’d never worked in. Zero experience in the space. None. Nada. Zilch. He’d been selling something completely different. The hiring committee wasn’t sure about him. The other finalists had ten years in the industry, the right contacts, the right vocabulary. He…
Read MoreCain And Abel Showed Up In My Last Pipeline Review
I sit in pipeline reviews with CEOs/VPs/CROs all the time. Two of them stick in my head because they happened a week apart at the same company, with the same CRO. One was real. The other was a story the CRO was telling himself. The Abel Review “Why does the Abel account want to buy?”…
Read MoreMastering Sales Call Openings: The Critical First 3 Minutes
I asked a rep recently how he planned to open his first meeting with a new prospect. He said he’d introduce himself, build some rapport, and then get into questions. I told him that wasn’t a plan that works. The first three minutes of a meeting set the conditions for everything that comes after. Who…
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