From Joe
On 4 Nov, Chris and I put our new branding live on LinkedIn.
Our old line was "We run the engine. You keep the clients."
Our new one is simple: "New business, without the sales hire."
The thinking behind that change is the exact topic of this issue. Over 15 years in sales, I've watched so many founders assume their revenue problem is a people problem. They think their reps don't work hard enough.
It's almost never a people problem. It's nearly always a sales process problem.
Fix the process and you have good salespeople, a winning business and some great new customers.
Here is how to spot the difference before you waste another hire.
The lesson
Here are the 7 signs your sales issue is the process, and what to put in place instead:
01Told to target anyone and everyone
When management tells reps to go after anyone with a budget, nobody knows who they are talking to.
The fix: Lock down an airtight Ideal Customer Profile. Look at your best five customers, find the common thread, and tell your team they aren't allowed to reach out to anyone outside that box.
02Several reps hitting identical accounts
At one place I worked, the same 200 accounts complained at how much outreach they were getting from several of us. It looks amateur and burns your reputation.
The fix: Clear territory and account ownership. Enforce strict CRM checks before any cold touch goes out.
03Handed a target with no plan
Giving a rep a target without showing them how many meetings or proposals it takes to get there is setting them up to fail.
The fix: Build a transparent conversion model. Show them the exact pipeline numbers required every week to hit that quota.
04No onboarding and no coaching time
Reps get a laptop, a login, and are told to make things happen. When managers don't have time to coach, reps develop bad habits and burn through accounts.
The fix: Weekly, non-negotiable call reviews.
05All the tools, nobody uses them
We had all the tools, but nobody used them. Tools don't create consistency.
The fix: Strip away the clutter. You need good contact data, a simple way to send outreach, and a clean CRM. Build the habit before buying software.
06The boss's friends get the leads
Nothing destroys a sales floor faster than inbound leads quietly being handed to favourite reps. It creates resentment and hides who can actually sell.
The fix: A public, documented lead routing system. Inbound leads get distributed transparently based on capacity and speed to lead.
07High churn answered with another hire
I've seen funded businesses hire lots of AEs and SDRs with no process. When a team has high staff turnover and nobody hits target, the instinct is often to hire two more reps. It never works.
The fix: Stop recruiting until your current reps have a predictable, working process.
Steal this
Five questions to ask before you take a sales job
1. "How do you define the exact target accounts we go after, and what prevents multiple reps contacting the same company?" 2. "What does the first 30 days of onboarding look like, and how often will we do 1-on-1 call reviews?" 3. "Which tools in your sales stack are mandatory, and what does daily adoption look like across the team?" 4. "How are inbound leads qualified and distributed between reps?" 5. "What percentage of the current sales team hit their target last quarter?"
Why it works
- Leaders with a solid process will answer these instantly with specific numbers and workflows.
- Leaders who rely on luck will give vague answers about hustle and culture.
Use it when you're in the final interview stage and they ask if you have any questions for them.
The red pen
We red-penned our own LinkedIn presence this week.
We went back through the notes and transcripts of our September and October sales calls: 29 buyer and client conversations across 16 companies.
Not a single person said "GTM", "done-for-you", "sales engine" or "outsourced sales".
Instead, they said "sales process", "pipeline", "new business" and "head of sales".
So the word "engine" had to go.
We also stripped back my profile. It used to have four different links and asks competing for attention. Now it has two, ranked in order: our free playbook, then booking a call. We even put our starting price directly on the page, from £4,000 a month.
The lesson for your business: stop using clever agency words that buyers never say out loud. Use their exact phrases, and give them one clear step to take next.
Your move
Pick one part of your sales process this week that relies entirely on a rep's memory or improvisation. Write down the exact three steps required to do it properly, and make that the standard for the entire desk.
How we can help
Some businesses need a jump-start. Some need someone in the driver's seat.
If you're a founder or revenue leader who wants to fix your sales process and build predictable pipeline without hiring another salesperson into a broken setup, book a free 30-minute call with Chris or me: jumplead.io/review (opens in a new tab)
Joe StoneCo-founder, JumpLead
I Love Sales
Read the rest of this issue.
One free sign-up opens every issue and The JumpLead Resources Vault, every guide, tool and prompt in it.
