TrustPointMO

TrustPointMO Owners, Presidents, & CEOs rely on us to increase revenue while compressing the sales cycle.

I sat in on a pipeline review last week where two reps were working the exact same list, same product, same training. On...
09/02/2026

I sat in on a pipeline review last week where two reps were working the exact same list, same product, same training. One had a strong quarter. The other didn't.

It wasn't talent. It wasn't effort. It was the story each of them was telling themselves before they ever picked up the phone.

I use something called the Success Triangle with just about every client I coach: Behavior, Attitude, Technique. All three hold each other up. You can hand someone a better script (technique), but if their attitude is off, it won't stick. The thinking has to shift first.

If your team has plateaued, don't reach for a new script just yet. Sit in on a few calls and listen to the story your people are telling themselves before they dial.

What do you expect to hear?

I have some version of this conversation with a Springfield business owner almost every week: "My team works hard, so wh...
08/26/2026

I have some version of this conversation with a Springfield business owner almost every week: "My team works hard, so why aren't the numbers where they should be?"

Usually it comes down to one or two of the same handful of gaps: not enough qualified opportunities in the pipeline, deals that stall out mid-decision, discounts that eat the margin, or turnover that keeps resetting progress.

I don't treat those as separate problems anymore. They're usually symptoms of the same root cause, which is why I don't look at them one at a time. Better prospecting supports a stronger close rate. Better sales management supports better conversion. It's a system.

Which of these sounds like your Monday morning?

Genuine question for the sales leaders and owners I talk to:What's the one word a prospect says that tells you, instantl...
08/24/2026

Genuine question for the sales leaders and owners I talk to:
What's the one word a prospect says that tells you, instantly, a deal is in trouble?
For me it's "interesting." You know the tone.

What's yours?

Your pipeline is constantly sending signals.Deals sitting in the same stage for weeks. Forecasts that seem too good to b...
08/21/2026

Your pipeline is constantly sending signals.

Deals sitting in the same stage for weeks. Forecasts that seem too good to be true. Too many late-stage opportunities and not enough early-stage activity.

The question is whether we're paying attention.

Our upcoming webinar will help sales leaders and sales professionals identify warning signs, uncover hidden gaps, and develop a more objective view of pipeline health.

Join us on September 1 at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT. Register here: https://info.sandler.com/the-sales-pipeline-reality-check?nbcrefid=f44668740

Labor Day's coming up fast, which means Q4 planning season is too.Before your team sets next quarter's number, I'd ask a...
08/19/2026

Labor Day's coming up fast, which means Q4 planning season is too.

Before your team sets next quarter's number, I'd ask a harder question first: are you planning to hit a target, or planning to fix the habits that got you this year's number?

A bigger goal without a behavior change just means working harder at the same approach and hoping for a different outcome. The real gains usually come from finding the one or two habits, in prospecting, discovery, or closing, that quietly held the team back all year.

Which habit cost your team the most this year?

Quick gut check for the owners I work with: if you shut your phone off for two weeks, what happens to your pipeline?For ...
08/17/2026

Quick gut check for the owners I work with: if you shut your phone off for two weeks, what happens to your pipeline?

For most, the honest answer is it stalls. Deals don't move because the owner is still the one building the relationship, handling the pushback, closing the deal. That's not really a business at that point. It's a demanding job with a company name on the door.

I don't tell owners to sell harder. I help them build something repeatable enough that growth doesn't depend on their calendar.

If you're the bottleneck in your own sales process, that's fixable, but only if you're willing to look at it honestly.

What would actually break first if you shut your phone off tomorrow?

08/14/2026

Finding a good salesperson is hard. Keeping one is harder, and I watch owners get this wrong the same way over and over.

They finally land someone with real potential, spend months getting them ramped up, and then watch them either quietly underperform or leave for "more opportunity" somewhere else.

In my experience it's rarely about money. It's development. Good salespeople stay where they're growing. Without real coaching or a visible path forward, even a great hire eventually starts looking elsewhere.

When's the last time someone on your team asked what's next for them?

08/10/2026

"Can you do any better on price?"

I hear this quoted back to me by frustrated owners more than almost anything else. Their instinct is to defend the number. I usually ask a different question first: did anyone actually help this prospect understand what the problem is costing them?

Because if price is the only thing on the table, that's usually the tell. Discounting doesn't close that gap. It just proves the prospect was right to ask.

The fix isn't a better negotiating tactic at the end. It's a better conversation near the beginning.
How much margin did your team give away last month just to keep a deal alive?

08/07/2026

I was having coffee with a business owner the other day when he said something that stuck with me.

'I knew I should have dealt with that six months ago.'

He was talking about a leadership decision he had delayed.

Most of us have been there. It's the employee whose performance has been slipping. The process everyone knows is broken. The expectation that was never clarified. The difficult conversation that keeps getting pushed to next week.

At first, delaying the decision feels harmless. Then weeks turn into months and what started as a small issue becomes a bigger one.

I've started thinking of this as the leadership tax. Every decision we avoid eventually charges interest.

What's one decision or conversation you've been putting off that probably deserves your attention now?

Vacations wind down. Quotas don't.If your pipeline feels a little thinner than it did in June, you're not alone — and ra...
08/05/2026

Vacations wind down. Quotas don't.

If your pipeline feels a little thinner than it did in June, you're not alone — and rallying the team with a pep talk isn't the fix.

The sales leaders who walk into January with a strong Q4 behind them do five things differently starting right now: they diagnose before they motivate, shrink big goals into weekly wins, run a deliberate pass on cold deals, protect their team's focus from Q4 chaos, and set the emotional tone themselves.

I break down exactly how, including the Sandler-style coaching questions that make the biggest difference. Read it here 👇
https://go.sandler.com/trustpoint/insights/blog/categories/coaching/the-summer-slump-is-over-heres-how-sales-leaders/

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