What Josh Heupel taught me about sales
NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD
When Josh Heupel arrived at Tennessee in 2021, he inherited a program that had been struggling for over a decade.
Players, fans, and even some coaches were skeptical of yet another “system” change. After all, they’d seen multiple coaches come and go, each promising their approach would be different.
But Heupel did something the others hadn’t: He made everyone commit to the process completely. No exceptions. No “but we’ve always done it this way.”
The resistance was immediate.
Some players transferred because they didn’t want to learn a new system. Fans complained it wouldn’t work in the SEC. Critics said it was too simple, too fast, wouldn’t work against elite defenses.
But Heupel knew something his predecessors missed: The system isn’t what makes you great. Commitment to the system is what makes you great.
By Year 2, Tennessee went 11-2 and beat Alabama for the first time in 15 years. Same players (mostly), same facilities, same conference. Different commitment to the process.
This is exactly what I see when I walk into struggling sales organizations.
I recently sent this email to a sales team I was managing (edited to protect the people involved):
The biggest obstacle to getting better isn’t lack of talent. It’s the belief that experience alone makes you better.
When I coached football, I met with other coaches who’d been coaching for 30+ years. The best ones had a scheme they were committed to. That scheme enabled them to improve as coaches: they knew how to adjust in-game and between games.
I met with Bill Ballard, a high school coach in Georgia who’d been running the same defense for 25 years. He’d won hundreds of games doing the same thing, even as offenses changed and adjusted. When I asked him why he stuck with it, he said, “It’s what I know. I know how to adjust with this. It works.”
When we started using his defense, we’d call him mid-season to ask how to adjust. He always had the answer because he’d been systematically improving within his framework for 25 years.
In 2008, I met with Gilmer (Texas) High School’s staff. They’d won multiple state championships under Jeff Traylor, now the head coach at UTSA. They ran a version of a 50 defense, and when asked why, the coordinator said, “It’s what I know. I’m good at this, so I can teach it.” He knew the strengths and weaknesses of this system and how to maximize or minimize them, given the situation.
The same principle applies to sales.
We all need a system to follow. Accountants have one. Project managers have one. Attorneys have one (followed by a hefty hourly rate).
Here’s our simple sales process:
Suspect: We’ve found someone with an issue who wants to meet with us.
Prospect: They have a need for our service, a compelling issue they’ve quantified, and they’ve defined what success looks like.
Qualified: They’re committed to doing something (status quo isn’t an option), we’re with the decision maker, we’ve agreed on investment level, and we have a timeline for decision.
Closable: They’ve promised to give us a decision within a definite timeframe upon presentation of our solution.
Any sales process worth its salt covers these elements. Miller Heiman, SPIN, Sandler, MEDDIC… all of them.
Our process doesn’t dictate how you get that information, but gives you freedom there. I’ll gladly coach anyone on a methodology to get that information as effectively and efficiently as possible. But the process tells us what we need.
If we lose a deal, it’s because we didn’t cover one of the above. Think about it. We either didn’t really know what the real issues were, so we couldn’t speak to and sell to those; we didn’t know what a successful outcome was; we didn’t have access to the right people or understand their decision process; they weren’t fully committed to solving the problem; or we didn’t get on the same page early about investment level.
Following the process gives us something to measure our performance against. We have a way of determining if we missed something, or how we can get better. It’s deliberate practice.
But here’s where most salespeople resist, just like those Tennessee players who transferred:
“I’ve been doing this a long time.”
“My way works fine.”
“This seems too simple.”
“I don’t need to change what’s working.”
The lie is that we automatically get better just by showing up. We don’t. We just make the same mistakes repeatedly if we don’t have a process for developing our abilities.
Following a process gives us something to measure our performance against. When I lose a deal, I can review the call and ask: “Where did I veer off the process? What element did I miss? What could I have done differently?”
Without a framework, you’re just hoping experience will eventually make you better. Spoiler alert: it won’t.
Josh Heupel’s players who bought into the system got dramatically better results. Those who didn’t commit were left behind.
The same thing happens in sales organizations.
I’ve seen veteran reps with 20+ years of experience get outperformed by newer reps who simply followed the process more consistently. Experience without framework is just repeated mistakes.
The breakthrough comes when you stop relying on instinct and start relying on systematic improvement.
Because here’s the truth about commoditized markets (which most of us operate in):
Others do what we do. The product doesn’t just sell itself. Which is why we have to be great at the process of selling.
Great selling is having a conversation where we deeply understand the prospect and build a case for our service being the right solution. It’s 80% listening, 20% talking.
Because we’re in a commoditized space, that selling is key to getting our price on our terms. There are exceptions, but we note those are exceptions, agree on it, and move on.
Think about pricing for a moment. It is a component of how and why people buy. As is ROI at this level. But there are other elements prospects are seeking:
- Confidence in our abilities
- Regular, effective, and professional communication
- Relationship with us
- Conviction that we can deliver
- Our team’s experience (which reduces risk)
- Accurate data
- The future value of the incremental revenue we help them get
- Their experience with others in our space
- The cost of trying to do this internally
If someone believes two companies are entirely the same on all those fronts, then it would come down to price. But how often do they really believe two companies are exactly the same?
If they do, we missed something in how we listened to them, understood them, and focused on their biggest concerns.
A higher price is often a signal that indicates more value. When I can’t decide between two service providers, I have a heuristic that says, “Pay more. It’s safer.” If we run great sales calls, people will not just suspect it, but feel that greater value.
The process gives you the framework to have those conversations systematically, not accidentally.
Whether you’re the salesperson and owner, or you work for someone who doesn’t provide process … get one. Commit to it. Adhere to it.
Just like Heupel’s system at Tennessee, you’ll see your performance increase along with your effectiveness and confidence.
The choice is yours: Keep hoping experience will eventually make you better, or commit to a system that actually works.
Businesses need processes and systems to run. Sales is no different. The big differentiator is that other functions like legal and accounting come with built-in processes for the people hired to do those jobs – it’s part of their training.
For salespeople, most don’t come with a process in their training. (They were often liberal arts majors, by the way.) If they had training. You have to provide it.
