SALES LEADERSHIP

A Question That Took Over 20 Years to Answer

Over 20 years ago, a Sales VP asked me a question I couldn’t answer: How do you get your team in on deals first — before the competition sets the parameters?

I spent the next 20+ years watching equipment companies lose deals in the silence between conversations. The answer wasn’t what I expected.

It wasn’t a people problem. It was a math problem.

Your reps can only reach a fraction of their customers each week. The rest are still buying but from whoever gets there first. Your techs, parts counter, and rental desk are already in front of those customers. They just aren’t connected to your pipeline. Three numbers tell you exactly how big that gap is.

THREE NUMBERS. That's all it takes to see your Pipeline Recovery gap.

THE MATH:

Your rep manages 150 to 250 accounts. With only 28% of their time available for actual selling (Salesforce State of Sales, 2024), they’re having roughly 22 quality conversations a week. That means roughly 128 to 228 accounts get zero proactive contact this week. Not because your rep doesn’t care — because there aren’t enough hours in the day.

What Happens in the Silence:

Those 125 customers still have needs. Leases are expiring and they’re researching replacements. Fleets are aging and they’re comparing new vs. used. A warehouse is expanding and they need additional units. But your rep didn’t call this week. So the customer does what everyone does now — they pull out their phone. They Google the problem. They ask AI. They see multiple solutions. They pick one. Maybe yours. Maybe not. You can’t control that.

The Answer:

What if one of the things on that customer’s phone — before Google, before AI — was YOUR branded app? Not a generic vendor tool. YOUR company’s name. YOUR brand. When they have a need, you’re already there. And when they’re ready to act, your rep gets a Customer Intent signal. Not a guess from scraped internet data. A real signal from a real customer, raising their hand, telling you what they want through their actions. Your rep is now first. Before the customer Googles. Before they ask AI. Before your competitor even knows there’s a deal. That’s how you set the parameters.