The CEO Forum Group Magazine Business 2023 (1) - Flipbook - Page 20
Expert Advice
Who’s coaching the coaches?
By: Michael St Lawrence, CEO SalesGym
In 2017 and 2018, our company did a research project that
included interviews with 350 C-Suite level sales executives
and CEOs, most from companies with over 1,000 employees.
The first question in all 350 interviews was:
How high does “increasing sales” rank on your priorities
as an executive in your company?
With all 350 senior executives, this was one of their top three
priorities. The next question in the interview was:
What, more than any other factor, causes poor results
18 The CEO Forum www.theceoforumgroup.com
on the sales team, expensive turnover and missed
opportunity when it comes to face-to-face or voice-tovoice interactions with prospects or customers?
Nearly every executive responded quickly with answers that
fit into four common mistakes:
• Talking too much
• Not asking the right questions at the
right time in the sales cycle
• Inability to communicate compelling differentiating factors
• Ineffective closing strategies