There Is No Second Place in Sales
In the early 2000s, I was offered a great opportunity as Vice President of Sales for Eastern North America at a company known for its complex, customizable semiconductor products. The company had been a pioneer but had fallen behind, losing significant market share to its main competitor and falling behind by a factor of 2.5.
With a new CEO and Senior VP of Sales, the company aimed to regain its top position. But I quickly realized the road ahead would be steep. Our competitor had more than double the field resources and was firmly embedded in the accounts we needed to win.
A Focused Strategy Over Force
We knew we couldn’t win by trying to match our competitor’s scale. They had more people, more presence, and more momentum. So instead of fighting a resource war, we played to our strengths.
We deployed a customer-centric strategy that allowed us to deliver laser-like focus on the accounts we needed to win while building a sales organization that was more efficient and effective. We embedded a strategic sales process into both our sales and marketing organizations. Over time, this led to a higher win rate and larger deal sizes.
It didn’t happen overnight, but through consistent execution, we gradually caught up to our competitor in market share.
Why The Strategy Worked
Strategic sales processes are not new. Companies globally spend over $5B annually on sales training.
So, what made ours stick?
It came down to two critical factors most companies overlook:
- Sales and Marketing Alignment: We didn’t let sales and marketing operate in silos. We trained both teams in the same strategic sales framework, allowing them to work as one cohesive team with a common approach and goal. It was collaborative.
- A Culture Shift in Sales Leadership: We quickly learned that just implementing a new sales process without changing the sales culture would never stick.
Research shows that even though implementing a strategic sales process can increase win rates by up to 20% and the value of those wins by 25% or more, 70% of these processes die within six months of training.
To avoid becoming part of that statistic, we made a deliberate shift from a command-and-control leadership style to a coaching approach. This change enabled frontline leaders to work side-by-side with their teams, reinforcing the new process, modeling the right behaviors, and helping reps apply their new skills in real-time.
This turned the process from something teams had to use into something they wanted to use because it worked.
Turning Experience into a Proven Framework
To help companies develop and implement their own customer-centric strategy, I started Dan Sheehy Consulting. Drawing on 35 years in sales and leadership, I developed the Results-Based Selling Framework: a collaborative, customer-focused system that integrates sales and marketing with leadership coaching.
This framework ensures leaders are equipped to drive cultural change and sustain the process over time.
At Anion Marketing
Now with Anion Marketing, we help organizations elevate their go-to-market strategies. By combining the Results-Based Selling Framework with the team’s collective expertise in brand building and demand generation, we offer a powerful blend of strategy, execution, and measurable impact.
We also work closely with client sales and marketing leadership teams to provide the coaching and support needed for lasting cultural transformation, so the changes not only stick, but thrive.
Contact us for a free consultation and to discuss your specific goals.
About Author
Follow us for more updates
