This article sounds like a beast, but it’s one of the shortest I’ve ever written. My backup title was Adventures in Account Management, but I didn’t want to get too cute. Here we go! I was at the optometrist’s office, waiting for my broken glasses to be fixed, when SHE walked in. She approached the receptionist and said, “I’m the new rep for [an eyeglass frame company], and I stopped by to introduce myself.” She handed over her business card and bolted out the door.

As a founder, you start your business with a bold vision, a breakthrough product, and tremendous industry expertise — but most founders don't have a background in sales. Yet, selling is the lifeblood of any startup or small business. So, how do you go from avoiding sales conversations to confidently closing deals and driving growth? This article will provide a practical, no-fluff guide for founders who need to sell but don't see themselves as "salespeople." It will introduce strategies founders can use to build stronger client relationships, better sales outcomes, and increased productivity.

Economic uncertainty, supply chain issues and changing customer expectations have had a significant impact on sales teams, making it more difficult for reps to meet their quotas. In fact, studies show that the majority of sales reps have struggled to meet or completely missed their quotas in recent years. To meet the needs of today’s market, training professionals are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to train, coach and enable their sales teams.

Some days, it can feel like your spirit is slowly being chipped away. You second-guess your instincts, overthink your emails, and start bracing yourself before every meeting. When you’re working under an authoritarian boss, even simple tasks can become emotionally exhausting. Their need to control, criticise, and micromanage can drain your energy and cloud your sense of purpose or even identity.

In an age that prizes specialization, we’re often encouraged to distill our identities into a singular narrative—your specialization, your personal brand, a streamlined profile that fits neatly into a predefined box. Yet while the world rewards narrow expertise, it simultaneously demands multidimensional thinking. Innovation and resilience don’t emerge from narrowing down; they arise from exploring intersections and embracing contradictions.

Do you have a hard time making big decisions? I certainly do. If a decision seems important, I will typically spend quite a lot of time learning as much as I can, carefully weighing the pros and cons, and figuring out a contingency plan in case I change my mind. And after all that, I might still second-guess myself. If you’re an entrepreneur or business leader, taking too long over big decisions can be a very bad idea. It can mean missed opportunities. Worse, it can leave your team in limbo while they wait for you to make up your mind.

I met a guy on the plane who was an area director for a major shoe store chain. “Suppose I went into your store and the shoe I wanted was out of stock in my size – what would happen,” I queried.

“Well, that shoe store has the capability of finding those shoes in our other stores — and then asks (tells) the customer to go to the other store to pick them up.” “Can’t you just ship them to my home?” I wondered. “No,” he said matter of factly. “We’re not set up to do it that way.”

You probably have heard of those special dates on the business calendar. Think National Fun at Work Day, Employee Appreciation Day, National Bike to Work Day, or even National Salesperson Day. While you’re unlikely to get a day off on these dates, unless you dip into your vacation leave, at least you won’t have to buy anyone a present. There’s a new day that you should consider putting on your work calendar, and it’s fast approaching: Customer Experience Day.

It's one thing to have an idea of who your customers are. But it's quite another to actually know them. The more companies learn about their target audience — whether through purchase data, reviews, focus groups or other methods — the better they'll be positioned to unlock growth. Thanks to AI adoption in marketing and the availability of more industry and consumer-level data than ever before, companies have never been in a better position to know their customers in a way that drives smarter growth and higher profits.

On paper, it seems there’s no reason why Greg has hit a wall in his career. As an executive in a consumer products company, Greg is passionate about the company and its customers. He consistently delivers results, knows the ins and outs of the business, and has a strong executive presence. So why has he not gotten promoted in more than five years? The answer is two simple words: emotional intelligence.

There are many forms of leadership. A customer-focused organization requires a leader who understands the importance of customer experience and, just as important, if not more so, the importance of employee experience. If you’ve ever stayed in a hotel where the experience was excellent, you’re probably experiencing the results of a leader/general manager who understands the importance of both. That’s why, for years, I’ve preached the hospitality mentality. Hotel and restaurant managers know how to motivate employees to deliver an excellent experience.

Change is a constant in leadership, and leading others is a significant responsibility. Having to lead others through change? That’s a whole other level that requires intentionality, humility, and trust. In order to do it well, effective leaders don’t go it alone… they empower other leaders to join them on the journey.

So how can we develop other leaders while experiencing change? I think there are three ways to do it.

As a youngster who grew up poor, on the streets, and in scarcity, I used to think winning a deal meant “winner take all.” The goal was to end up with the most money and walk away with the best terms. If I didn’t crush someone and make them a loser, then I wasn’t a winner. Crushing people in deals made me happy—for a while. Until the people I beat in deals wouldn’t work with me again. That’s the zero-sum-game trap. And wow, did I fall into it.

It is common knowledge that delivering superior digital customer experience and maximizing customer lifetime value of customers’ needs to be the primary goal for any business that wants to grow in a digital age. Today, the vast majority (90%) of business leaders are making CX a primary focus. There are almost three million customer service representatives working in the US according to the Department of Labor, and almost every (95%) technology and Software as a Service (SaaS) firm has a Customer Success function according to Gainsight research.

Need More Wins? Try a Culture Shift in Your Sales Team. You’ve probably tried many different ways to improve the performance of your sales teams, with varying success. But there’s one way that has been proven to work and yet is often ignored by sales leaders—improving your sales team’s culture. Culture is hard to characterize, hard to measure, and hard to change. So it gets ignored on the list of levers to pull when transforming a sales organization plan.

Artificial intelligence: it’s not just for tech experts anymore. Instead, a heaping helping of free online resources has emerged. These classes are specifically designed to welcome beginners into the world of AI, even if they possess little or no prior technical background.
I selected these Coursera courses for their beginner-friendly approach, high ratings, and comprehensive coverage of foundational concepts and key AI domains.

You know that moment when someone says the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time? It’s not just awkward—it’s costly. Because as, communication expert and Exactly What to Say author Phil M. Jones wrote, “The worst time to think about what you’re going to say is in the moment you’re saying it.”
That’s not just about rehearsing the right words. It’s about something deeper: intentionally preparing for the moments that matter most. Jones and I recently spoke about what it really takes to become a more influential communicator, and it starts way before you open your mouth.

Years ago, I went to work for a women-owned and women-led company, whose employees were composed of 80-90% white women. It had a fantastic culture that was all about trust and high expectations, one of the best I had ever seen as a consultant on organizational culture.

And then in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. That event triggered global protests over racism and police brutality. And like many other companies at that time, mine had a reckoning.

We’re facing a career confidence crisis. Work is changing fast, yet many employees feel stuck. At LinkedIn, our data shows workforce confidence has dropped to a five-year low, and only 15% of employees say their manager has supported them with career planning in the past six months.

Managers can play a big role in righting the ship—helping employees build the new skills they need to stay relevant and develop into future leaders. But this requires a fundamental shift: transforming them from task-overseers to coaches developing talent and sparking the best ideas from their teams.

Today’s top-performing teams blend proven strategies with innovative approaches and stay ahead by keeping an eye on emerging trends. The B2B sales landscape of 2025 demands that teams be on their toes to stand out from the competition and convert prospects into loyal customers. Let's explore some ways to excel in this environment.

Proven Sales Methodologies In 2025. Establishing a strong foundation is essential for successful B2B sales. These sales methodologies can help teams improve win rates, boost efficiency, ensure consistency and offer a clear framework to track and analyze sales performance.