Straight Talk About What Holds Companies Back from Getting Better Sales Results

CEOs, Sales Leaders, and Enablement Professionals: Today, I want to talk about something that may be a bit uncomfortable and may even upset some of you. But the title of this article includes “Straight Talk” so I’m going on the record about things I see that hold companies back from getting better sales results.

Buckle up and let’s dig in.

Introduction

Let’s Talk About Results!

First, is it possible to significantly improve the performance of a sales force? Can you really move the needle through sales and management training, sales/revenue enablement, sales effectiveness practices, process and methodology discipline, and other commercial excellence and performance improvement initiatives?

I don’t know why this sometimes surprises people, but the answer to that question is a resounding yes!

You really can move the needle through sales and management training, sales/revenue enablement, sales effectiveness practices, process and methodology discipline, and other commercial excellence and performance improvement initiatives.

I’m sure it’s hard to believe if you’ve never seen it happen, but that doesn’t change the facts. And I’m not talking about a 1-2 % lift, either. I’m talking about a major lift… 12%, 25%, 35%, or more.

How can this be achieved? I’m sure there are other ways but the one I can vouch for from personal experience over many years is The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement framework and the supporting Sales Systems. Click the image below to view a larger version.

The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement and Systems by Mike Kunkle
[Click the image to view a larger version.]

There are 12 core building blocks supported by cross-functional communication, sales support services, and systems thinking. The systems I’ve worked with include Sales Hiring, Sales Readiness, Sales Training (with the 5 Stages of Sales Mastery & Behavior Change), Sales Management, and the Sales Coaching System (expanded out from the Sales Management Operating System). This interconnectedness is exactly how systems and systems thinking works.

To go one-level deeper, the Teachable Elements of Sales Effectiveness are embedded in the Sales Readiness System and the Sales Training, Sales Process, and Sales Methodology blocks.

[Click the image to view a larger version.]

That’s a lot of images, but what kinds of results have I seen when the building blocks and systems are implemented? Here is a sampling over a 23-year period, in a variety of company sizes, in multiple vertical industries, in sales forces ranging from 25 to 6,000.

The Results

  • Achieved a $398MM revenue increase and a $9.96MM net ROI in one year with the full implementation of my Building Blocks of Sales Enablement.
  • Increased sales per rep by 47% through changes in territory management, sales methodology, and sales coaching.
  • Improved average profitability per sales rep by 11% in 4 months.
  • Aligned hiring, training, compensation, coaching, and performance management practices to increase new hire sales performance. Result: Newly trained 4-month sales reps outperformed a control group of 5-year employees.
  • Increased sales per employee in the 3-month period after sales training by 2.3 per month (average revenue increase of $183K per class of 12, or over $36.6MM over 12 months).
  • Led $8MM sales office, achieved goals in every category, exceeded quota, increased sales results 600% over previous year, decreased net operating expenses by 21%.
  • Guided clients to achieve significant top-line sales growth through effective sales methodology, sales coaching, and sales management practices. Result examples: 12%, 12.6%, 19.1%, 25%, and 34% increases, as well as a 16.8% reduction in discounting and a 2.3% increase in margins.

Please note that the building blocks framework is not a one-trick pony, and it isn’t one of those things that worked once, in one company, in one scenario, with one product set or one vertical industry. This is a tested and proven-effective framework and set of systems.

  • I have seen it work at a very late-stage start-up, middle market firms, and Fortune 500 corporations, up to the Fortune 10.
  • Training and performance improvement concepts are universal, not industry specific. I have worked or consulted in a variety of industries, including entertainment, pharmaceutical, advertising specialties, financial services (consumer lending, mortgage lending, and various insurances), hospitality (luxury hotels), meetings & conventions, technology (SaaS), healthcare IT, manufacturing, document management, packaging and assembly, telecommunications, office equipment industries, and industrial B2B (manufacturing and wholesale distribution, especially motion control, fluid power, and electrical).
  • I have also seen it work in various sales nuances: B2B/B2C, tangible/intangible products, with both products and services, long-cycle/short-cycle, high-ticket/low-ticket, inside sales/outside sales, from territory to strategic account management, and direct/channel sales.

And, interestingly, not all of those results shared above required a full implementation of all the blocks and systems.

Oddly, though, it’s also a double-edged sword sharing these results. Why? Let me explain.

I’ve proven over these past 20+ years (and even earlier, before the building blocks were formalized) that it’s possible for almost any client to get those kinds of results. Going into businesses as a new employee or consultant, I’ve often seen the potential to double sales without adding any headcount. Unfortunately, that potential is rarely realized.

Many companies have the potential to double their sales results without adding headcount. That potential is rarely realized.

The double-edged sword is believability and skepticism. If you haven’t seen it work, it can be hard to believe. Many company leaders hold themselves back or get in their own way (the Sales Prevention Business, as I call it). But for anyone who genuinely wants to get those results and is willing to do what it takes to get them, it is possible.

I’ve often joked that the bane of my otherwise fun and rewarding career has been trying to get those responsible for revenue growth to actually do the things that will grow revenue. Go figure. It’s a funny world. I still see a lot of what I call the “Harder, Faster, Longer, Louder” approach to GTM and sales management.

What’s Holding Companies Back from Better Sales Results?

Now that we’ve established that it is possible to significantly improve sales performance—and I’ve shared real-world results to prove it—let’s talk about why so many companies don’t achieve those results.

This is where things get uncomfortable. Because the truth is, most company leaders hold themselves back. They get in their own way. As mentioned above, they operate in what I’ve long called the Sales Prevention Business.

So, what’s going on?

Let’s start with the Solutions Chart that I use in my coaching course. It’s designed to point out why employees don’t do what they’re supposed to do, but it works equally well for this purpose. Take a look:

[Click the image to see Fournies’ books]

In my experience, the top two conditions (don’t know something and incorrect thinking) are common. They either don’t know what, why, or how to approach improving sales performance, or their thinking is incorrect (their mindset or self-limiting beliefs).

  • They think their way is better.
  • They think your way won’t work.
  • They believe something else is more important.
  • Or they think they are doing it.

Cognitive biases are real. Sometimes there are real constraints, too. For our topic today, it’s most often the top three in that bucket in the chart:

  • Obstacles beyond their control.
  • Personal limits (incapacity – perhaps even The Peter Principle).
  • Fear (anticipating failure).

I’ll call out a few of these more deeply and suggest a few others as well. Let’s continue.

Low Buyer Acumen

Article content

The number of salespeople who contact me for things I don’t buy and never have is stunning. It shows no understanding of the market or the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for their business. Buyer Acumen is foundational to sales effectiveness and is the first thing I’d address in most organizations. It touches so many other things and informs your GTM approach. The above Buyer Acumen Wheel shows some examples of the many touchpoints.

I’ll include this in the Resources section as well, but for this topic, I’ll direct you to an article that I wrote for Hard Skill Exchange (HSE) back in January 2022: Buyer Acumen is the Best GTM Foundation

Get your Buyer Acumen straight and follow-through to let it inform everything on the wheel.

Disbelief That It’s Possible

“I don’t believe in astrology. I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.”
– Arthur C. Clarke

Some leaders simply don’t believe that meaningful improvement is achievable. They’ve never seen it done, or they’ve tried and failed—often due to poor implementation. That skepticism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you don’t believe it’s possible, you won’t do what’s necessary to make it happen. (“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
– Wayne Gretsky).

Stubbornness and Ego

Sometimes it’s a matter of NIH or “Not Invented Here” syndrome.

There’s also a pervasive mindset in some organizations that “our way is better” (or my way) or “Those methods won’t work here,” and the classic, “We tried that before, and it didn’t work.” This resistance to proven practices—especially those that challenge the status quo—can be deeply ingrained. Leaders cling to legacy systems, outdated methodologies, or gut-feel hiring practices, even when data shows they’re ineffective.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen the exact right solution implemented so poorly that it didn’t produce results. At that point, it’s an uphill battle to convince leaders to try the same thing again, but to do it differently and better.

Busyness and Distraction

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Executives and sales leaders are often overwhelmed. The day-to-day whirlwind of meetings, firefighting, and chasing short-term goals leaves little time for strategic thinking or performance improvement.

  • Enablement initiatives get deprioritized.
  • Improvement projects are rushed, skipped, or not reinforced.
  • Coaching becomes an afterthought.

And the cycle continues.

Misdiagnosed Problems

As just one prominent example, training is frequently used as a band-aid for deeper systemic issues. If the root cause is poor hiring, misaligned incentives, lack of coaching, or broken processes, then training alone won’t fix it. Without proper diagnosis, companies waste time and money on solutions that don’t address the real, root-cause problem. And that certainly doesn’t move the needle.

Poor Sales Hiring Practices

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Hiring based on intuition or “chemistry” instead of structured, evidence-based processes leads to costly misfires. A bad hire doesn’t just miss quota—it damages morale, wastes ramp time, and erodes customer trust. By the way, interviewing alone ranges from 15-35% in terms of being predictive of success on-the-job, based on how well it’s done. Think about that. You’d have better luck with a coin toss.

Untrained or Ill-Prepared Sales Managers

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Promoting top reps into management without training is a common mistake. These new managers often lack the skills to hire, train, coach, manage sales, lead a team, and drive performance. Without a structured sales management system or sales management operating system (smOS) even the best reps can flounder in leadership roles.

Lack of Sales Process and Sales Methodology Discipline

[Click the image to view a larger version.]

Many organizations operate without a formal sales process or methodology—or worse, they have one that nobody follows. This leads to inconsistent execution, missed opportunities, and poor forecasting.

It’s been proven in multiple studies that companies with high levels of adoption of a formal sales process with a formal sales methodology far outperform others.

The sales process should be aligned with the buyer’s journey (buying process), and the sales methodology should be aligned to both. For B2B sales, the methodology should be buyer- and customer-centric, consultative, value-focused, and outcome-oriented. It should also cover the entire customer lifecycle. Click the image above to see a larger version of how Modern Sales Foundations’ sales methodology fits into a sales process that is aligned to the larger customer lifecycle and the buying process.

Companies that align their process with the buyer’s journey and enforce adoption consistently outperform their peers.

Sales and Marketing Misalignment

When sales and marketing aren’t aligned, messaging becomes disjointed, leads are low quality, internal friction rises, and there are usually disconnects with customers, as well. This misalignment undermines trust and collaboration, ultimately hurting the customer experience and sales outcomes.

For years I’ve thought that a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) should rival the CEO, President, CFO, and COO roles, with both sales and marketing reporting to the CCO, to guide (force?) alignment around the customer. Maybe someday, but we’ll probably see them report to the Chief AI Officer (sarcasm; I think). But I digress. Let’s continue.

No Coaching Culture

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Without a structured coaching system, reps don’t develop. They plateau. It’s the difference between 5 years of experience and 1 year of experience 5 times. Managers may be great sellers but are often poor coaches. Not because they’re bad people, but because they aren’t trained and tend to repeat the past (how they were coached poorly, or not at all). Coaching isn’t just a nice-to-have—done well, it’s a performance multiplier. Creating a coaching culture and getting into a cadence of continuous improvement can radically improve organizational sales performance. The lack of it holds you back.

To get the best results, don’t apply an overly simple model like GROW. It’s a great model for generalized coaching (if implemented well), but it is not specific enough for sales, nor for truly guiding behavior change. You need a system and framework with inputs, a process, root-cause diagnostics, guidance on choosing the right solution (the type of solution and the content to close the gaps), and models for training, coaching, counseling, and feedback, and guidance for how to lead the coaching meeting. In over 16 years of documenting what the very best frontline sales managers and coaches do differently, this is it. Do less; get less.

Fear of Change or Failure

Even when leaders know what needs to be done, fear can paralyze action.

  • Fear of disrupting the status quo.
  • Fear of investing in something that might not work.
  • Fear of exposing weaknesses (especially theirs).

This fear leads to inertia—and inertia kills growth.

Closing Thoughts

As I wrap up this article, I hope you walk away with some important things to consider.

I’ve seen the potential to double sales without adding headcount. I’ve seen companies achieve remarkable results with the right systems, frameworks, and discipline. But I’ve also seen many fall far short of their potential—not because they couldn’t have done it, but because they wouldn’t do what’s proven to work even when they were shown the way.

If you truly want better sales results, you have to believe it’s possible, be willing to change, commit to doing the work, and stick with it.

The barriers are real—but they’re not insurmountable.

So, here’s my challenge for you: Take a hard look at yourself, how your sales force operates, and what you’ve done to improve performance. Compare your situation to what I’ve described in this newsletter edition.

If you see gaps in your approach – and most teams have them – or you see yourself in the reasons for not doing what works – don’t go it alone. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or use the contact form at the bottom of mikekunkle.com/services. Let’s talk about how The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement implemented with a modern, buyer-centric sales methodology, supported by coaching excellence, with sales management best practices, along with the advice from this article, can help you close those gaps and drive real results.

Resources

Buyer Acumen

Sales Enablement Straight Talk Newsletter Archive

Explore past editions for insights on sales effectiveness, enablement systems, hiring, training, coaching, management, and more:

The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement

A foundational framework for driving sales performance through systems thinking and enablement discipline.

Articles:

The CoNavigator Method

The CoNavigator Method™ empowers modern organizations to build trust-based partnerships, create shared value, and achieve meaningful outcomes across every part of the commercial journey. I’m working on the first book in the series, The CoNavigator Method for B2B Selling now and it will be available in 2026. Courses are available now for B2B selling, sales coaching, and frontline sales management via virtual live workshops. The website is a work-in-progress but is visible at The CoNavigator Method – Navigating Success Together.

Performance Consulting & Enablement Evolution

Resources for leaders who are ready to evolve their enablement function toward performance consulting practices:

[NOTE: This article was originally published in my Sales Enablement Straight Talk newsletter on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/straight-talk-what-holds-companies-back-from-getting-better-kunkle-1loke/]

Follow my work, connect, and/or work with me:

About Mike

Mike Kunkle is an internationally recognized expert on sales training, sales effectiveness, and sales enablement. He’s spent over 30 years helping companies drive dramatic revenue growth through best-in-class enablement strategies and proven-effective sales systems – and he’s delivered impressive results for both employers and clients. Mike is the founder of Transforming Sales Results, LLC, where he designs sales training, delivers workshops, and helps clients improve sales results through a variety of sales effectiveness practices, sales systems, and advisory services. Mike collaborated with Doug Wyatt to develop SPARXiQ’s Modern Sales Foundations™ curriculum and also authored their Sales Coaching Excellence™ and Sales Management Foundations™ courses. His book, The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement, is available on Amazon, and The CoNavigator Method for B2B Selling is coming soon.

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Mike Kunkle