Topic IV · Founder-led Sales & Leadership

Entrepreneurship

The owner as salesperson: founder-led sales, delegating sales, leading a team, and deciding by the numbers.

Note before the decision

I expect: that a second salesperson will bring in more revenue than they cost within a year.
Because: we are turning down inquiries today that we can't handle.
I would change my mind: if inquiries drop over the next three months.

What it’s about

101 articles · Article, Guide, Comparison, Analysis

In the beginning, nobody sells better than the owner. Later, that is exactly what becomes the limit. This section brings together articles and food for thought on publicly documented founder journeys and on one question: how does sales knowledge get out of the founder's head and into the team?

White windmill under a blue sky — Photo: Michael Burridge / WordPress Photo Directory

Founder-led sales
Why owners should sell themselves and what they should write down while doing it.
Delegating sales
How you can tell that sales has to work without you.
Leading a sales team
Goals, fixed meetings, and coaching as a leadership system for small teams.
Decisions by the numbers
Deciding better with a few key metrics than by gut feeling.

Articles on entrepreneurship

Go to the archive

Deserted canal between tall brick warehouses in Hamburg's Speicherstadt district

IVEntrepreneurshipArticle

Founder-Led Sales: Why the Owner Sells Best at the Start

Nobody knows the product and the customers as well as the owner. That is an advantage at the start and the ceiling on growth later. What matters is what you write down in between.

November 5, 202611 min read

IVEntrepreneurshipArticle

Deciding Under Uncertainty: When Nobody Knows the Answer

The most important business decisions are made without sufficient data. Three thinking tools help you decide quickly and cleanly anyway.

November 3, 202611 min read

IVEntrepreneurshipArticle

From Founder to Business Owner: Letting Go as a Leadership Task

The founder solves problems personally. The business owner builds an organization that solves them. In between lies the hardest role change in an owner's life.

October 9, 202610 min read

Also worth reading from other topics

IGrowthGuide

Optimize Your Sales Process: The Gaps Between First Contact, Quote, and Close

Most businesses do not fail for lack of leads. They lose revenue at the handoffs: between inquiry and callback, conversation and quote, quote and follow-up.

November 13, 202613 min read

Bookshelves along a gallery with wooden railing

IIMarketingGuide

Aligning Marketing and Sales: Where Leads Get Lost Before the First Call

Between the campaign and the sales conversation sits a handoff that nobody has written down in many companies. That is where inquiries you have already paid for drain away.

November 9, 202611 min read

Close-up of wooden card catalog drawers with labels and brass handles

IIIOrganizationComparison

Project Management Tools Compared: What Really Matters When You Choose

Five criteria that matter more than any feature list, and how to find out in two weeks which tool your team will actually use.

November 10, 202611 min read

Row of marble busts in front of tall bookshelves in an old library

VBackgroundAnalysis

Chronicle of an Accounting Scandal: One Week in June 2020

How a blue-chip company became an insolvency case within seven days, which warning signs had been public for years, and what you can take from it for your own business.

November 12, 202613 min read

Frequently asked questions

Are the articles personal first-hand accounts?

No. The articles rely on publicly documented sources and are reviewed editorially. We do not publish first-hand accounts that cannot be verified.

What are the articles on founder journeys based on?

On publicly documented milestones: interviews, biographies, company announcements. Where something is interpretation, we say so.

Why a separate section for the owner?

Because in most businesses the owner is the first one to sell. How they pass on that knowledge determines whether sales works without them.

When should I hand off sales?

When you can no longer answer inquiries promptly or sales is crowding out your other work. Before that, it pays to write down how you sell so someone else can take it over.

How do I decide with numbers instead of gut feeling?

Before the decision, write down what you expect and how you would notice that you were wrong. A few key figures, reviewed regularly, are enough for that.

Next topic VBackground & Analysis