Think You’re Ready to Make A Sales Hire?

by Bill Poole | Aug 6, 2025 | Sales

Hiring a salesperson can feel like a milestone — a sign your business has “made it” and is ready to grow to the next level.

But here’s the truth: hire too early, and you could end up with less growth, more headaches, and a big hit to your bottom line.

It’s a bit like hiring a chef before you’ve stocked the kitchen. Sure, they might be talented, but without the ingredients, equipment, and menu, they’re going to spend more time standing around than serving up results.

It’s not about hiring sooner or later — it’s about hiring when you’re truly ready.

The All‑Too‑Common Scenario

There are lots of reasons that prompt the need for a sales hire.

At the top of the list? Building the value of your business for the day you eventually exit.
Every business owner exits — either by selling, passing it on, or closing the doors. A more valuable, transferable business gives you more options and a better outcome when that day comes.

Other common growth drivers include:

• Wanting more predictable revenue to smooth out the ups and downs.

• Expanding into new markets or launching new offerings.

• Increasing profits to reinvest in people, equipment, or marketing.

• Freeing up your own time from day‑to‑day selling so you can focus on strategy.

These are all smart, strategic goals.

The trouble starts when the next thought is:

“I’ll just hire a salesperson. Problem solved.”

On paper, it seems like the quickest path — bring in someone to take sales off your plate, and watch revenue grow.

But without the right foundations in place, that hire often walks into a game with no playbook, no warm‑up, and no scorecard. They spend most of their time figuring things out (or waiting for direction), and before long…

• You’re frustrated they’re not bringing in deals.

• They’re frustrated because they don’t know where to focus.

• And you’re still in the middle of sales anyway — now with a payroll burden.

Risks & Implications of Hiring Too Early

Hiring a salesperson before your business is ready can feel like a quick win — until you realize you’ve just taken on a big expense without a clear path to results.

Here’s what often happens:

• Financial Drain – You’re paying salary, benefits, and onboarding costs long before the hire is producing enough revenue to cover their seat.

• Frustrated Sales Hire – Even talented salespeople struggle without clear targets, tools, and leads. Good ones often leave quickly.

• Lost Time – It can take months to realize the hire isn’t working, setting back your growth goals.

• Founder Still in Sales – Instead of freeing you up, you end up juggling your normal workload plus managing an under‑equipped rep.

• Confusing Clients and Prospects – Failed sales hires can leave your market wondering who they’re supposed to talk to and whether you have your act together.

The reality is simple: a salesperson isn’t a silver bullet. Without the right foundations in place, you’re setting them — and your business — up for frustration.

What Needs to Be in Place Before You Hire

Before you bring a salesperson into your business, there are four key areas that need to be solid. Think of these as a self‑diagnosis — if you can’t check these boxes, hiring now may do more harm than good.

1. Revenue Predictability & Market Fit – Is sales really the problem?

Before you assume sales is the issue, take a hard look at whether your business is truly aligned around a clear Ideal Client Profile — and whether your offering delivers proven, differentiated value in the market. If your product or service isn’t consistently winning, no salesperson can fix that.

Why it matters: Predictable revenue starts with knowing who you’re selling to and why they buy. When you have strong market fit, sales efforts are amplified. When you don’t, adding a salesperson just accelerates the frustration.

2. Scalable Message – Can someone else tell your story?

Your business needs a repeatable, non‑founder‑dependent way to start conversations with ideal clients and referral sources. This includes your value story, client journey, and a compelling “first step” offer.

Why it matters: If your sales message lives only in your head, scaling is impossible. A clear, shared story empowers others to confidently represent your business.

3. Transferable Sales System – Can someone else run the process?

A defined infrastructure to generate, track, and convert opportunities — without relying on ad hoc hustle. This includes your top‑of‑funnel processes, CRM usage, and a documented sales process that supports your growth goals.

Why it matters: Buyers want to know how future revenue will be created. Regardless of whether or not exiting is on your mind, a solid sales system makes your business more scalable and less risky. 

4. Sales Execution Transferability – Can you step out of the sales seat?

Clear sales roles, effective onboarding, and a system to manage and develop sales contributors — all without the founder being the primary driver of revenue.

Why it matters: The more dependent your business is on you to close deals, the lower your valuation. Transferable execution creates freedom for you — and confidence for any future owner.

Want to Know If You’re Ready?

Before you invest in a sales hire, it’s worth taking a quick, objective look at your readiness. Our Scalable Sales Readiness Checkup will show you where you’re strong, where you have gaps, and what to tackle first so your next sales hire succeeds.

In just a few minutes, you’ll have a clearer picture of whether now’s the right time or if you should make a few key moves first to protect your investment and accelerate results.

Before You Make That Hire…

Hiring a salesperson too soon can cost you time, money, and momentum — and in some cases, it can even damage your relationships with clients and prospects.

If your ultimate goal is to build a more valuable business for your eventual exit, getting this hire right is non‑negotiable.

So before you post that job ad, take five minutes for our Scalable Sales Readiness Checkup.

You’ll see where you’re ready, where you’re not, and exactly what to do about it.

Your Business Is Worth Less If You’re Still Doing the Selling

by Bill Poole | Jul 24, 2025 | Sales

Picture this: You’re the founder of a thriving business, the one who bravely took the leap, left stability behind, and convinced others—family, friends, investors, and employees—to trust this magical thing called your Vision. But now, you’re still the one closing every big deal. It might feel like a badge of honor, but let’s be real: it’s actually a shackle holding your business back.

Why? Because if the sales process depends solely on you, your business isn’t truly scalable. Whether you’re dreaming of growing exponentially, preparing to exit someday, or simply wanting your life back, your presence in every sale is lowering your company’s potential—and its value.

Let’s face it. Your business needs you to get out of your own way.

Why Founders Struggle to Let Go of Sales

It’s not just you—this struggle is real for almost every founder. You might hear yourself saying things like:

• “My clients only want to talk to me.”
• “Honestly, I’m the best salesperson we’ve got.”
• “I can just get it done faster myself.”
• “I’ll step back once I find the perfect salesperson…”

These statements are understandable, but they trap you in a loop that limits your company’s value.

The Harsh Truth: Founder-Driven Sales Hurt Your Valuation

Imagine tomorrow a buyer walks through your door, ready to acquire your business. The first question they’ll ask:

“What happens to sales if you leave tomorrow?”

If your answer is a shrug or uncomfortable silence, that deal either evaporates or your valuation plummets.

Research from the Exit Planning Institute underscores the urgency:

• 80-90% of a business owner’s net worth is usually tied up in their company, yet fewer than 20% of businesses actually sell when listed—largely because of over-dependence on the founder.
• Buyers apply discounts of 10%-30% or more to companies reliant on founders, especially when the founder holds key customer relationships.
• Businesses with clearly documented, transferable sales systems are twice as likely to attract strategic buyers and command premium valuations.

Additionally, a study by the Value Builder System found that businesses where the owner is involved in day-to-day sales tasks are significantly less scalable and have a Value Builder Score 25% lower than companies where the owner isn’t entrenched in sales operations.

Founder-Led Sales: A Bottleneck for Growth

Even if selling your company isn’t on the horizon, think about what happens when you’re stuck handling every deal:

• Your strategic vision gets sidelined because your time is consumed by sales.
• Your sales team never truly develops—they’re stuck in your shadow.
• You unintentionally build a culture dependent on you instead of nurturing a self-sufficient team.

What Buyers (and Successful Operators) Really Want

Whether a potential buyer or your future executive team is looking under the hood, they’ll be impressed by:

• A predictable pipeline that doesn’t hinge on one person (you!).
• Clearly documented sales processes that anyone on your team can pick up and run with.
• A sales team empowered to build relationships, nurture leads, and close deals independently.
• Strong systems and tools that track performance, improve coaching, and maintain visibility.

Simply put, your business must be capable of thriving without you personally handling every deal.

Your Path Out of the Sales Seat

We get it—letting go isn’t easy. It’s not about vanishing overnight; it’s about thoughtfully transitioning your role. That’s exactly why we created the Convergo Scalable Sales Readiness Assessment: a simple, powerful tool to help you see clearly how prepared you are to pass the baton.

You’ll get clarity on essential areas:

• Predictable revenue and market alignment
• Clear, scalable messaging
• A documented and repeatable sales system
• Your team’s capability to succeed independently in sales

This is your first step toward creating a more valuable and transferable business.

Life After Letting Go

Imagine stepping back from daily sales. You reclaim time to focus on high-level strategies, your team grows confident and accountable, and your business finally achieves genuine scalability.

Most importantly, your business is now more valuable because it thrives independently of you.

And remember those people who believed in you and trusted your Vision when you first took the leap? Beyond just boosting valuation, you’re now honoring the trust and commitment of everyone who supported you along the way. The sacrifices made and faith shown will finally pay off in the form of a sustainable, resilient, and successful business.

Awareness is Your Starting Point

If you’re still the central sales figure, your business isn’t scaling fully and won’t command its best valuation.

Start your journey with clarity today and discover how prepared you are to build real, lasting value.

Take the Convergo Scalable Sales Readiness Assessment to start paving the way to a more valuable business—and a more balanced life.

Stop Letting Referrals Be Random: Why B2B Services Need a Proactive Referral System

by Bill Poole | Jun 4, 2025 | Sales

Is Your Referral System Random or Intentional?

Referrals are a HUGE source of sales for B2B services businesses that provide high-trust services – and have been for a very long time. Here are some powerful stats to back that up:

• 84% of B2B sales start with a referral – Harvard Business Review

• 65% of new business opportunities come from referrals – Firework

• 78% of marketers say referral programs generate good or excellent leads – DemandSage

If you want some numbers that hit home even more, do the math on your own business. Look at the last 3 years. How much of your business came from referrals?

Most businesses rely heavily on word of mouth but never build a system to support it. Others are going all in on AI with the hope that it will replace the need to develop and maintain relationships with trusted partners.

AI doesn’t directly build trust. It can’t replace the work of nurturing and managing the right relationships. So, what’s the answer?

Let’s look at a couple of scenarios for context. One approach is passive, one is intentional.

The Problem: Most Referral Strategies Are Passive

A few months ago, I sat down with the founder of a successful consulting firm. Let’s call him Dave.

Dave had built a great business. His clients loved him, his team was solid, and his calendar stayed full. When I asked him where most of his clients came from, he smiled and said, “Referrals, mostly. We’ve been lucky.”

But when I pressed a little further – Who are your best referral sources? How often do you connect with them? What do you do to help them send you more of the right kind of leads? – the smile faded.

He shrugged.
“We don’t really have a system. It just kind of happens. People know us. They send folks our way.”

Here’s the truth: Dave’s situation is incredibly common. He’s not doing anything wrong – but he’s also not doing anything intentional.

Referrals are his biggest source of new business, yet he treats them like a side effect instead of a strategy. There’s no plan, no process, and no consistent effort to grow or optimize what’s already working.

And that’s the problem.

The Shift: From Passive to Intentional

Now, let me tell you about another business owner – Sarah.

Sarah runs a boutique HR consultancy. Like Dave, she built her business on reputation and relationships. Referrals came in steadily, but it felt unpredictable. Even worse, many of the referred clients weren’t quite right – they needed different services, or they weren’t a great cultural fit.

That changed when Sarah decided to take a more intentional approach.

She started by getting crystal clear on her Ideal Client Profile – not just the industry, but values, mindset, and readiness to engage. Then she mapped out a list of Strategic Connectors – professionals who already served her ideal clients and shared her high-trust, client-first mindset.

Instead of waiting, she reached out. She didn’t pitch – she added value. She shared insights, offered introductions, and created resources her connectors could easily pass along. She made it easy for her connectors to refer her with ready-to-go language and short emails they could forward.

But Sarah didn’t stop there. She also started using AI to make her referral strategy more effective and efficient. With the help of AI tools, she:

• Identified untapped potential connectors from her CRM and LinkedIn network.

• Validated what truly matters to her ideal clients.

• Drafted templates for customized follow-up messages and thank you notes.

• Tracked referral activity and surfaced patterns she hadn’t noticed before.

The result?
Her referral volume increased, but even more importantly, the quality of the clients improved dramatically. Her sales process became smoother, her team stayed in their zone of genius, and her business grew more predictably – all because she stopped treating referrals like luck and started treating them like strategy.

Want to Know Where You Stand?

If referrals are a key part of your business – but your system is mostly based on hope and habit – it might be time for a self-check.

We’ve created a quick Referral System Self-Assessment to help you evaluate how intentional and effective your current approach really is. It only takes a few minutes, and it might just show you what’s missing.

Take the Self-Assessment Now!

Final Thought

If 65% of your business is coming from referrals, but you’re only putting 5% of your energy into generating them, that’s a disconnect.

You already have the relationships. You already do great work. Now it’s time to put a system in place that helps your network help you – consistently, efficiently, and with the right clients.

Horror Story: How a Sales Pipeline Killed a Meeting with Potential Investors

by Bill Poole | May 22, 2025 | Sales

The Story

John, the founder of a land asset services company, had built something truly special.

His business held a unique position in the market, combining software and services to help clients manage land assets more effectively. With a 95% client retention rate and a well-structured local and offshore team backed by an AI-enabled delivery model, everything pointed to a business ready to scale.

When John decided to explore outside funding to fuel this next stage of growth, he was optimistic. He met with a group of potential investors, and the meeting started strong. They were clearly impressed with the company’s value proposition, traction, and team.

Then came a question that changed the tone in the room:
“What is the value of your sales pipeline?”

John hadn’t prepared for that one.

He opened his CRM, hoping it would speak for itself. But as the screen loaded, the mood shifted. The data was stale. The deal stages were vague and inconsistent. Some opportunities hadn’t been touched in weeks. Forecasts didn’t inspire confidence – they looked more like guesses than projections.

John tried to explain. He scrolled. He fumbled. And while he managed to get through the meeting, he could feel it – something important had been lost in the eyes of the investors, and the moment had passed.

Your Pipeline Sends a Signal

Like John, many entrepreneurial business owners focus so much on delivering excellent service that the sales engine falls behind. But here’s the truth: your pipeline is one of the most important indicators of your business’s value, especially to potential investors, buyers, or partners.

A healthy, well-structured pipeline shows that:

• You know who your ideal client is.

• You’re engaging with them consistently.

• Your team is aligned around a repeatable process.

• Your growth isn’t just aspirational – it’s operationalized.

If your pipeline doesn’t reflect this, it’s not just a missed opportunity. It may be actively reducing the perceived value of your business.

The Good News: It’s Fixable

After the investor meeting, John worked with our team at Convergo to ensure this didn’t happen again.

Working together, they created a clear growth strategy, and the first step was to optimize the current pipeline.

They focused on:

• Updating and clarifying deal stages

• Establishing prospect-verifiable milestones

• Cleaning up data to reflect active, real opportunities

• Creating a system for regular pipeline reviews

The result? John now has a pipeline that tells the right story to investors. More importantly, it helps his team focus on the right activities to generate consistent, high-quality growth.

How a Messy Pipeline Shows Up in Real Life

The pipeline affects the value of your business, but there are also many other ways that a messy pipeline might affect your team. Here are 8 signs that your pipeline might be quietly hurting you, too:

1. Inconsistent Revenue and Cash Flow

One month’s great, the next is a desert. You can’t confidently plan hiring, marketing, or delivery because you cannot predict your revenue.

2. Leads “Disappear” or Go Cold

You’d be shocked to know how many potential deals go untouched for weeks. Without a follow-up system, you’re basically ghosting opportunities.

3. Wasted Time on Unqualified Leads

Your team’s spending time chasing bad fits – people who were never going to buy. That’s time you don’t get back.

4. Deals Get Stuck in “Maybe”

You’ve got a graveyard of deals sitting in limbo. They aren’t moving forward or out, and no one’s really sure what’s next.

5. Poor Forecasting

You think a strong quarter is coming…until the numbers don’t show up. Your pipeline is bloated with wishful thinking, not real deals.

6. Misaligned Sales and Marketing

Sales says the leads are junk. Marketing says Sales isn’t following up. The truth? Neither side is speaking the same language.

7. Lack of Insight Into What’s Working

You’re making decisions based on gut feelings instead of data. There’s no clarity on what’s actually converting or why.

8. Difficulty Onboarding New Sales Reps

New hires flounder because there’s no clear process. Results vary wildly, and success becomes dependent on whoever’s winging it best.

If any of these signs sound familiar, you’re not alone. But you can fix it.

Take Action! Know What a Tight Pipeline Actually Looks Like

Whether or not you’re planning to engage investors, your pipeline should be an asset, not a liability. It should serve as a growth engine and a reflection of your ability to create predictable revenue.

If you’re unsure what story your pipeline is telling, you’re not the only one – and there’s a simple way to find out.

Click here to see how your current pipeline stacks up and what to do about it:
Download Our Pipeline Optimization Checklist

What Does Your Pipeline Say About Your Business?

Don’t want to go it alone? We’re here to help!
Let’s take a look at your pipeline together.