Move beyond the traditional sales funnel. The "Bow Tie Funnel" visualizes the post-sale journey with conversion at the center. It forces focus on onboarding, retention, expansion, and advocacy, turning a single sale into a self-perpetuating revenue engine fueled by referrals from happy clients.

Don't wait for a formal QBR to discuss expansion. The immediate post-sale period is a golden window for additional sales. The customer's excitement and trust are at their peak. With their most urgent need solved, they are highly receptive to addressing other business challenges.

Relying on inbound deal flow is like buying a house in a competitive market. The best deals, like off-market real estate, are found through proactive, direct outreach. This "hard work" of building relationships and creating opportunities leads to better terms and less competition.

Salespeople often disengage after a deal closes. However, since they built the initial trust, they must stay involved during onboarding. This maintains customer momentum and ensures the relationship transitions smoothly, which directly impacts renewals, referrals, and future sales.

View each customer interaction not as a transaction, but as a public indicator of your value. A positive experience becomes a review that directly impacts your ability to secure future sales, effectively turning value creation into a form of lead generation.

If you've successfully established buyer pull in the first call, the selling is over. Your role then shifts from salesperson to project manager. Your job is to help the buyer navigate their internal hurdles (procurement, security, etc.) to get the deal done, not to keep convincing them.

True cold calling is ineffective because the prospect has no context. Outbound works when it's integrated with marketing's brand-building efforts. By focusing on "mindshare" first, marketing "warms" the audience, making them more receptive when a BDR eventually reaches out.

Never give expensive, company-generated inbound leads to the same team doing cold outbound. Outbound should be the training ground. Only the top outbound performers graduate to the inbound team, ensuring your best closers are on your most valuable leads.

Closing isn't a singular event at the end of a sales process. Instead, it's the natural outcome of a successful discovery phase. By asking the right questions and building a relationship, top salespeople guide the prospect to their own conclusion, making the final commitment a simple, logical next step.