Sales process is the key

A winning smile and a killer suit. That’s all it takes to close a deal, right?

If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard that from someone not in sales—usually from finance—I’d probably have a yacht by now and be writing this from the Bahamas. Or at the very least, I’d be wearing a cracking bespoke suit.

Yes, I’ve owned some great suits. And my smile? Borderline dazzling.

But not once have either landed me a signed contract.

Because here’s the truth:

Sales isn’t theatre. It’s not performance. It’s process.

I’ve spent over two decades leading sales teams, growing revenue, fixing broken funnels, and coaching individuals from “average” to “high performing.”

When people ask me what makes a top-tier salesperson, I don’t say charisma or charm. I say:

“An intuitive, emotionally intelligent, articulate individual who can follow a process, spot obstacles early, and bulldoze through them at pace.”

So, why focus on process?

Because when deals start slipping, when pipelines dry up, when targets start to feel like wishful thinking… the process is where you start looking, it’s the anchor of all successful sales.

I once worked with a team that had a solid product and a six-month sales cycle. The culture was great, the people were switched on, and the pipeline was healthy. Lead generation wasn’t the issue—but close rates were painfully low.

The CEO thought the problem was pricing.

The Head of Marketing blamed lazy salespeople.

Spoiler: it was neither.

There was no structured process for stakeholder mapping. No methodology to uncover real business pain.

They were pitching solutions before truly understanding the problems.

We rebuilt the process from scratch—discovery, qualification, stakeholder alignment, objection handling.

Within a quarter, close rates were up 40%.

Same team. Same market. Just a better system.

Here’s what I always ask during deal reviews (won or lost):

- Do we understand the full buying centre?

- Have we mapped decision-makers, influencers, blockers?

- Are we solving surface-level symptoms—or real business pain?

- Have we identified and handled objections?

- Are we selling outcomes, or just listing features?

There’s a phrase I use often:

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

The “luckiest” salespeople I know?

They’re simply the most disciplined.

They repeat what works, refine what doesn’t, and trust the process.

Now here’s the uncomfortable bit:

If your sales function is underperforming, it’s rarely a talent or motivation issue.

It’s almost always the system that’s broken.

And if it doesn’t get fixed, the talent will leave—one way or another.

💸 Deals stall

🕒 Time gets wasted

📉 Morale takes a hit

🎯 Targets get missed

💷 Revenue is lost

This is where sales consultancy stops being a nice-to-have and starts being a revenue safeguard.

If you’re a CEO, CCO, CRO, HR Director and your sales team isn’t where it needs to be—chances are, it’s not the people.

It’s the process.

Owen Clements

With over 20 years of experience building and leading high-performing sales teams, I help businesses unlock revenue, scale sustainably, and fix what's broken in their commercial engine.

I’ve worked with start-ups, scale-ups, and established businesses across B2B and B2C. What they all had in common? Ambition, pressure, and a need to make their sales efforts more efficient, more effective, and more profitable.