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The Power of True Differentiation in Sales.



Most businesses think they’re differentiated, until they try to explain why.

Ask someone what makes their business different, and you’ll usually hear some version of the same answers: we care about our clients, we go the extra mile, we deliver great service.

All true, but none of that separates you from the next business saying the exact same thing.

The truth is, differentiation doesn’t start with what you do, it starts with the problem you solve, and even more importantly, the problem you want to be known for solving. …


I see it all the time.

A business invests in a CRM, sets up the pipeline stages, and rolls it out across the team. For a while, it looks like everything is in one place. Deals are tracked, activities are logged, and reports can be generated at the click of a button.

But fast forward, and leadership is back to where they started. Instead of trusting the CRM, they’re firing off emails:

  • “What’s actually closing this month?”
  • “What’s the real number for next week?”
  • “Which deals are genuine, and which ones are just wishful thinking?”


The irony? The CRM is supposed to answer those exact questions.

So why doesn’t it? …


Getting clear on who you serve best

When I ask a business who their ideal customer is, I usually get broad answers like:

  • “Small to mid-sized businesses.”
  • “Anyone who needs what we do.”
  • “We can work with anyone.”


The problem is, those kinds of answers don’t help.

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn’t about describing everyone you could work with. It’s about getting clear on the businesses that feel the problems you solve the most and what those businesses actually look like.

When you have that clarity, you stop spreading yourself thin. You know who to focus on, what to say to them, and where to find them.

Here’s a simple way to get started. …


Most businesses don’t struggle because people aren’t working hard.

They struggle because effort isn’t translating into the right outcomes.

It’s an easy trap to fall into. Leaders want accountability, so they start measuring activity: number of calls made, meetings booked, proposals sent, tasks ticked off. Soon, the business becomes obsessed with being busy.

The problem? Activity alone doesn’t guarantee progress. …


Why This Matters



Every week I speak with business owners who are doing great work in their field, but who quietly admit something isn’t right in how they’re converting enquiries into paying clients.

They’re investing in marketing. Leads are coming in. The phones are ringing. But the numbers don’t quite add up. Too many conversations end without a commitment. Too many quotes never go anywhere. Growth feels harder than it should.

When you dig deeper, the issue often isn’t “demand.” It’s the sales process itself. …


Most startups are built on intention.

The intention to change how something is done.
The intention to grow fast and win a market.
The intention to create something valuable enough to attract customers and investors.

But intention is not momentum.

Momentum is what happens when good ideas meet repeatable systems. It’s what keeps revenue flowing when the founder isn’t on every call. It’s what sustains confidence through funding cycles and market shifts.

And momentum, in sales especially, is where many startups stall. …


Most business owners I speak with want the same thing: consistent, predictable, revenue and growth.

Not just a few good months here and there. Not just a streak of referrals. But steady, reliable growth you can plan around. The problem? Getting there isn’t straightforward. Most leaders end up asking themselves two questions on repeat:

  • How do we make what’s already working more reliable?
  • Where else can we grow without wasting time and money on the wrong things?
They’re important questions, but they can also keep you stuck in “we know we need to fix this, but where do we even start?”
 …


When business feels good, it’s tempting to think you’ve cracked the code. Work is flowing in, quoting feels smooth, clients are happy, and you’re winning more than you’re losing.

It’s a great place to be, but it’s also one of the most important times to take a closer look. Because while success today is encouraging, sustained success tomorrow requires more than riding a good wave.

The businesses that scale consistently don’t just wait for things to dip before they adapt, they use the good times to build the structure that makes growth predictable. …


You know the drill.

A lead comes in. They ask for a quote. You send it.

Next thing you know, it’s ghost town, or worse, you get told “someone else can do it cheaper.”

And you start doing the maths in your head:

👉 “Should I shave a bit off to win the job?”
👉 “Maybe I’ll throw in a little extra, just this once.”
👉 “That’s just how it is these days, right?”

But what if that is the reason you’re?

Not the economy.
Not the competition.
Not the market.

The way you’re framing your value is what’s keeping you in the grind. …


Most businesses can tell you what they do.

The good ones can tell you how they do it differently.

But the ones that grow sustainably, win better clients, and stand out, they understand something deeper:

It’s not just the problem you solve. It’s what that problem really means for the person living with it.

That’s the layer most businesses skip and it’s the one that matters most when it comes to growth, sales, and why someone chooses you over someone else. …


If you’re running a business, chances are you didn’t start it because you love sales. You started it because you were good at your trade, passionate about your craft, or saw a better way of doing things in your industry.

But here you are, leading the business and suddenly responsible for keeping the work flowing in. And when sales isn’t your first language, that part can feel like a grind. …


Walk into almost any business today, and you’ll find a CRM at the centre of its sales operations.

The promise is always the same: visibility, accountability, and growth.

But somewhere along the way, many CRMs lose their purpose.
Instead of being tools that help salespeople sell better, they morph into admin-heavy reporting hubs, built more for leadership dashboards than for frontline sales conversations.

And that’s a problem. Because when the CRM becomes about activity management instead of sales enablement, businesses stop seeing the outcomes they hoped for. …


When it comes to sales, not all approaches are created equal or equally suited to your business.

Too often, businesses try to apply a transactional model to the way they sell, even when their product or service isn’t a simple, one-off decision. This mistake can cost far more than lost revenue. It can affect how customers experience your business, reduce lifetime value, and make it harder to protect your margins over time.

So let’s unpack it. …


Most businesses are sitting on a goldmine and don’t even realise it.

While chasing new logos often feels like the way to scale, the most immediate and profitable growth opportunities often lie with the clients you already have. The question is: are you truly leveraging your client data, or are you leaving opportunity on the table?

This article explores how to mine insights from your existing client base, identify patterns of success, and use that clarity to drive smarter cross-sell, upsell, and expansion strategies, all while refining your ideal client profile (ICP). …


In the early days of a business, sales success is often fuelled by passion, product knowledge, and hustle, usually led by the founder. Deals are won through instinct, relationships, and a deep understanding of the problem you solve.

And that works — until it doesn’t.

As you start to grow, the very thing that made you successful can become your biggest constraint. The founder becomes the bottleneck. Sales becomes inconsistent. New hires struggle to sell like you do. And scaling revenue feels harder than it should.

This is what we call the Founder-Led Sales Trap. …


For most businesses, sales growth isn’t just about adding headcount, it’s about building a sales organisation that matches your goals, supports your strategy, and can evolve as you grow.

But here’s the problem: Too often, sales teams are built reactively, based on what’s urgent, who’s available, or what’s worked before. Not based on where the business is going or what the market demands now.

Whether you’re hiring your first rep, scaling up a team, or adjusting after a growth spurt, here’s what you should be thinking about when it comes to building and structuring your sales function for real performance. …


Sales leaders often tell their teams to “sell the value.” But too often, reps translate that into vague ROI promises or benefit-heavy talk tracks that don’t quite land.

True value-based selling isn’t about saying your product helps teams "work faster" or "save money."

It’s about demonstrating that you understand what that actually means, for that person, in that role, in that business context.

That’s where Commercial Empathy comes in. …


If you're reading this, chances are you're one of the rare ones.

The ones who wake up thinking about how to close the gap, not just the deal.

The ones who carry a number, a team, and sometimes the weight of the whole commercial engine on their shoulders. And still show up the next day asking: What can I do better?

That mindset? It’s rare. And it's exactly why I love working in this world. …


When most businesses think about improving sales performance, they instinctively look to the frontline,  the reps, the scripts, the tools, and the process. While these elements are undeniably important, there’s one crucial piece that often goes overlooked:

Sales effectiveness starts at the top.

If you want a consistent, high-performing sales engine, coaching your reps isn’t enough. You need to coach your leaders because they’re the ones setting the tone, building the culture, and driving the rhythm of performance across the team. …


For SaaS & Tech Startups, Effectiveness Beats Headcount Every Time

In fast-growing SaaS businesses, it’s easy to assume the fastest way to hit your revenue targets is to grow the team. More reps = more pipeline = more deals — right?

Not quite.

In reality, adding more people to a broken or inconsistent sales function doesn’t scale results — it magnifies problems. If you don’t have the right structure, process, or coaching in place, all you’re doing is expanding the mess.

And in high-burn environments, that’s a mistake you can’t afford to make. …


Tech startups don’t fail because they run out of money.

They fail because they run out of momentum, usually right after founder-led sales hit a wall.

Venture capital bets on potential. A product with promise. A market with urgency. A team with energy.

But too often, the engine built to deliver on that potential, the sales function, never scales.

And the result? Most startups stall long before they ever become profitable, putting unnecessary drag on entire portfolios.

So what’s going wrong? …


No matter your industry — whether you're in SaaS, manufacturing, construction, professional services, wholesale, or something niche — the reality is this:

Sales is rarely simple.

We often think our challenges are unique, but in truth, most businesses are wrestling with the same core issues. The good news? Once you identify them, you can start solving them.

Here are the top sales effectiveness challenges I see across businesses of all shapes and sizes: …


When most business leaders think about improving sales, their first thought is usually:
“We just need more leads.”

But here’s the truth: more leads won’t help if your sales process is messy, your team isn’t aligned, or no one is really sure what’s happening in the pipeline.

That’s where a Sales Effectiveness Audit comes in. …

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