Welcome to issue #94! Did someone forward this to you? If so, Subscribe here!

I was on a coaching call this week with a founder who has a great problem.

She already has seven contracts signed for 2027. Buyers understand the value right away and her close rate is better than most.

But, despite all of that, she told me she had to pump the brakes on selling.

Because every deal runs through her. Every follow-up, every proposal, every next step is on her to manage. And she knows that can’t last.

And even worse, despite her knowing “how to sell” she couldn’t easily articulate exactly the steps that happen from start to finish.

It sort of “just happens”, to quote her directly.

Which sparked her to ask me a question I hear from a lot of founders.

“Do I hire someone and let them build the sales process, or do I build it first so they have a guide?”

Build it first. Every. Single. Time.

You know the nuances. You know who always ends up on the call, where deals slow down, and what objections you hear most often.

A new hire doesn’t know any of that yet. Hand them a half-baked process and you end up paying someone to relearn everything you already figured out the hard way.

The catch is most founders don’t actually know their own process.

They run it from memory. They have a discovery call but no plan. They are supposed to talk about pricing but nothing is prepared. Or, someone actually wants to buy but they can’t walk them through how the onboarding process works without fumbling words.

Today’s newsletter is about the simple way I walked her through fixing that.

There are three levels, and each one builds on the one before it.

This is where you get a bit of nostalgia! Close the laptop or phone and grab an actual pen or pencil and an actual piece of paper. That’s all you need.

Set a timer for 15 minutes and write down every step you can think of from lead to first contact to signed contract, in the order you’d want it to flow.

Who do you reach out to first? The decision maker, or the assistant who actually runs their calendar? How many calls do you typically have in your sales process? What happens between them?

It won’t be perfect. It can’t be. And, you’ll likely find gaps or be unsure. No worries, that’s a benefit of doing this, too!

Remember, not all deals are equal.

Some will throw you a curveball. Someone new pops onto the call, a committee wants a look, or budget gets pushed. Those are exceptions. There’s still a foundation underneath every deal.

That’s Level 1.

→ You just need to get it out of your head and somewhere you can see it.

Now look at what you wrote in Level 1 and ask one question.

What happens almost every time?

This is where you find what repeats.

In most B2B deals, there’s someone beyond the first person you talk to. A VP who signs off. Finance who controls the budget. Legal who wants to redline your contract for six weeks. (No shade to the legal folks out there 😊)

If you don’t know where all of the players are, you can’t build the playbook.

And here’s where you can really miss if you’re not careful.

Your buyer has probably never bought something like what you sell. They don’t know who needs to be in the room or what the steps are.

You do. And if you don’t, everyone’s running around with no idea what happens next.

So you have to lead them.

Let’s say every deal you’ve closed eventually needed IT to be involved. Don’t wait three weeks to find that out from this deal. Bring it up on the first call.

“Typically when we find an early fit like this, we set up a second conversation and bring in IT to the conversation to make sure address any security or compliance concerns from the beginning. Who from your side would be appropriate to have on that call?”

Same goes for legal.

Doesn’t matter if it takes a week or six. If it shows up on most deals, it’s a step in your process and your buyer should hear about it from you early so you can build the plan together. (I covered how to have these conversations in issue #70)

Timing is part of the pattern too.

When I first started selling into local and state government, I had no clue how much fiscal cycles were a part of the process. Budgets get built months before the money gets approved. If you’re showing up after the budget is set, you’re almost always waiting another year to have any chance at a partnership or you lost out to the other vendor who was there first.

→ Once you know the players, you can lead the buyer instead of following them

This is the thing everyone needs but nobody has.

Telling a new hire to “go run a discovery call” is like telling a receiver to “go get open.” Sure, they may somehow get through this one but what will they do the next time?

For every stage you mapped, write down three things.

These are the questions to ask or the insights to share.

How you confirm there’s a real need and whether budget exists. They could also involve customer “wins” and the framework around structuring the call.

→ Basically, what to do to qualify a deal and how you build value throughout. (the more specific, the better!)

These could be the red flags that typically appear or the signals that say it’s ready to move forward. If you can’t define what has to be true before a deal can move to the next stage, all you’ve built is a list of meaningless meetings with no real outcomes.

→ Avoid the “happy ears” (hearing what you want to hear instead of what they’re actually saying)

This is the glue that holds it all together.

Just because you have a great call and everyone’s excited doesn’t mean anything until you can build momentum.

There is an elephant graveyard of deals where the call ended with “let’s connect in a few weeks”.

→ Know what happens next, who owns it and when.

Pro Tip: Put the next step on the calendar before the call ends. Then write down what needs to happen before that meeting so nobody’s left guessing. (Check out my issues on Next Steps and writing a Control email.)

Every player on a football field knows where to line up and what to do when the ball is snapped. They practice it hundreds of times to get it right.

That’s what you’re handing your first hire. But, before you can do that you have to make sure you know it cold.

The founders who make that jump smoothly built the playbook before they needed it.

Paper gets it out of your head. Pattern shows you where the players are. Playbook lets someone else run it without calling you every 20 minutes.

And even if you never hire, you’ll run a tighter process yourself.

The positive effect of it all? Your buyers will feel that organization and leadership and you’ll close more deals because of it.

ICYMI: Want a starting point for stages and exit criteria? Read this issue that dives into sales process.

Block 15 minutes today. Find that pen and paper and put away the tech.

Write down every step from first contact to signed contract.

That’s Level 1. Don’t jump to Level 2 until it’s done.

Then hit reply and send me a picture of it. I read every one.

Need to get a quick W?

I offer one-time sessions to go deep into the specifics of whats happening today.

→ Set up a deal review audit: It’s deep-dive into active deals and how to get them over the finish line.

→ Get a sales call roasted: I review a real sales call and provide an in-depth, tactical overview for immediate improvement.

Want to build a repeatable sales foundation?

These help you build the skills and systems for the long-haul and a foundation to accelerate growth.

→ 90 Day Sales Accelerator: Hands-on coaching built around your pipeline and growth objectives.

→ Team Workshops: Live team training built around real friction points in your sales process.

→ Fractional Sales Leadership: Ongoing leadership for startups growing out of founder-led sales