Sales isn’t magic and it isn’t as hard as it looks when you install the right process, hire for the right stage, and coach consistently. Apprento co-founded Alex McNaughten shares a practical playbook to turn founder-led sales into a repeatable, scalable revenue machine: document your process, tighten discovery, measure the funnel, hire deliberately, onboard with purpose, and manage through cadence, clarity and coaching.
Key themes include:
Process before people
Document the end-to-end sales process, define stage entry/exit criteria, actions and time limits; keep the pipeline clean.Discovery wins deals
Use a framework, constantly re‑validate stakeholders, budget and timeline; map collateral to stages and tailor proposals.Measure the funnel
Track conversion rates between stages (discovery→demo→proposal→close) and fix the weakest link first.Hire for stage and fit
Prove founder‑led sales first; avoid “too senior” first hires and clearly define roles.Onboard and coach
Provide a 30/60/90 day plan, a playbook, regular cadence (team, pipeline, 1:1s), and psychological safety; celebrate wins and pay fairly.Enterprise and remote nuance
Enterprise = more stakeholders and longer cycles; remote/overseas requires narrow target customer profile and tighter meeting rhythm.
Key takeaways
Always book a meeting; never send proposals without a scheduled next step.
Instrument your funnel and act: measure stage conversions weekly and address the biggest bottleneck.
Keep compensation simple with over‑attainment multipliers; don’t cap or claw back commissions.
Hire deliberately: validate with founder-led sales, then add role‑appropriate sellers and a structured onboarding plan.
Tune in to the full session to learn how to apply these insights.
Tune in to the full session to learn how to apply these insights.