Monthly Archives: July 2025

A Systems Thinking Approach to Achieving Sales Excellence That Actually Sticks

Turnover is the Rule, Not the Exception

The role of the sales leader may be the most volatile seat in the C-suite. According to recent research, the average tenure for a B2B VP of Sales is just 19 months. For CROs, turnover has climbed nearly 50% in recent years, often ending in involuntary exits. Why? Because hitting a number isn’t the same as building a system. It’s easy to assume the problem lies with the people. But what if the problem is actually the system—or lack thereof?

Survival Requires More Than Hitting the Number

Short-term results might win you the role. But keeping it requires delivering sustained performance, predictable outcomes, and team-wide effectiveness. In Axiom’s work across industries, one message is consistent: sales excellence isn’t luck, it’s the output of a well-designed system. That’s why newly appointed sales VPs must take a pause before repeating the same playbook that landed them the job. Instead, they should step back and assess their organization through the lens of system health.

Ask: – Do we have clearly defined models for how we qualify, present, and manage deals? – Are our sales managers truly coaching, or just managing numbers? – Can we predict performance based on leading indicators, not lagging results? This is where systems thinking becomes a career-saving skill. Sales leaders who engineer results don’t guess—they evaluate their system across five core dimensions, from methodology to continuous improvement. (More on that in a future article.)

Case in Point: CommScope

CommScope, a $3.8B network infrastructure provider, faced exactly this challenge. Following multiple acquisitions, they had 1,100 sellers and managers spread across three distinct divisions—none of which shared a common language, process, or methodology. Their Chief Sales Officer recognized that the patchwork approach couldn’t scale. Rather than doubling down on more training events or funnel reviews, CommScope implemented a comprehensive selling and coaching system. – Unified methodology embedded across divisions – Coaching cadence standardized through manager tools – Opportunity dashboards adopted at all levels, including CEO prep The result? A 16% increase in revenue per rep over two years. Perhaps more tellingly, 75% of reps adopted the methodology, according to an independent study by Western Michigan University.

Don’t Just Drive Results—Engineer Them

At Axiom, we define Sales Excellence as performance that is: – Superior (better than the average competitor), – Predictable (driven by leading indicators and coaching), and – Repeatable (based on a scalable process, not heroic effort). New VPs who embrace this approach won’t just survive. They’ll thrive.

The Call to Action

If you’re a new or soon-to-be sales leader, now is the time to trade instincts for insight. Map your current execution model. Identify systemic gaps. Align your frontline managers around real coaching, not just deal inspection. And remember: making the number might earn you the seat. But building a system is what will let you keep it. Need help defining your Sales Execution Model? Axiom’s SEM framework and coaching systems are trusted by leaders who want to embed sales excellence across the team. Reach out to learn more at http://www.axiomsaleskinetics.com

When sales teams underperform, the default response is often more training, tighter inspection, or new incentive plans. But none of these interventions will create sustained excellence unless the sales manager instills the right habits in the team. The most effective sales organizations, according to a growing body of research, are not the ones with the most aggressive quotas or biggest budgets—they are the ones where frontline managers build a culture of learning, practice, and coaching. These three keystone habits are foundational patterns that transform individual potential into team-wide sales proficiency.

Habit #1: Learning as a Lifestyle

Too many organizations confuse exposure with development. Just because a rep has attended training doesn’t mean they can execute in the field. In high-performing sales teams, learning is not an event—it’s a habit. Sales managers must create a cadence of continuous learning: structured time each week to deepen knowledge, review successful deals, revisit key models, and adapt to evolving buyer expectations. Research Insight: According to CSO Insights’ “Sales Enablement Study,” organizations with a dynamic, ongoing learning approach to sales training had win rates that were 14% higher than those using a one-time event-based model. (https://www.csoinsights.com/blog/ongoing-sales-training-boosts-win-rates)

Habit #2: Practice Like a Pro

Most teams don’t role-play until a major presentation is looming or a new hire needs onboarding. But in any performance discipline—sports, music, public speaking—the professionals practice more than they perform. Sales should be no different. Weekly practice sessions led by managers build muscle memory for key conversations: uncovering business gaps, shaping criteria, presenting with impact, and handling objections collaboratively. Research Insight: Gartner research shows that sales reps who engage in deliberate practice are up to 40% more likely to hit quota than those who do not.                                        (https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-06-25-gartner-says-sales-practice-correlates-with-quota-attainment)

Habit #3: Coaching that Drives Behavior Change

Most managers give feedback. Few deliver real coaching. The difference? Feedback is reactive and often superficial. Coaching is proactive, root-cause driven, and focused on behavior change. Effective sales managers don’t just ask if the rep made the call—they explore how the rep navigated the call and why certain results were (or weren’t) achieved. They assign learning and practice activities based on observed gaps, and they inspect for progress. Research Insight: Sales Management Association found that companies with formal sales coaching processes have 16.7% higher revenue growth than those without. (https://salesmanagement.org/resource/formal-sales-coaching-drives-revenue-growth/)

Building the Foundation for Sales Excellence

While there are dozens of sales tactics and techniques to master, none will scale without these three keystone habits. Sales managers are uniquely positioned to embed them into the daily rhythm of the team. When they do, the results are transformational: not just in sales numbers, but in culture, confidence, and consistency. Sales excellence isn’t a mystery—it’s a discipline of habit.

Call to Action

Which of these habits is strongest on your team? Which one needs work? Use that insight to shape your next team meeting or coaching session—and start building the habits that lead to high performance.

Want to learn more? Axiom provides a unique alternative to traditional sales training. Unlike traditional sales training events, we embed our methodology into your sales cadence, delivering dramatically better sales results. To learn more about our Mindful Selling Methodology, Kinetics Sales Effectiveness Platform, or our unique, guaranteed approach, please visit us at http://www.axiomsaleskinetics.com.

In sports, the best athletes aren’t winning because they’ve discovered a secret move no one else knows. They win because they’ve put in the work to become more proficient   with the same fundamental skills everyone else has access to. The skills themselves are not rare—but mastery is. 

This truth should shape how we think about sales training. Yet too often, organizations treat sales development as a box to check. They host a workshop, deliver a playbook, run a quick enablement session—and expect lasting results. That’s like putting someone through a weekend basketball clinic and assuming they’ll be ready for the NBA. 

Let’s be clear: one-and-done training doesn’t create champions. 

It creates amateurs. People who saw the landscape, took some notes, maybe tried a few things—but never stayed long enough to develop real skill. They understood the rules, played the game, but stayed at the level of amateurs—good enough to participate, never enough to compete for real stakes. 

And just as dangerous is the constant search for “new” techniques. While experimentation can be useful, experimenting is not the same as executing with excellence. Trying out different methods without a foundation is like a golfer swapping clubs every hole while still figuring out how to grip the club properly. They’re not innovating—they’re guessing. 

The core skills of selling haven’t changed. Asking the right questions. Uncovering business pain. Connecting value to impact. Gaining commitment. These skills—like the fundamentals in any sport—require consistent practice, coaching, feedback, and refinement. And they require a methodology that connects them, so they reinforce one another instead of pulling your sellers in different directions. 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most sellers aren’t underperforming because they don’t know what  to do. They’re underperforming because they haven’t practiced how  to do it with enough frequency or feedback to become proficient. 

If you want a high-performing sales team, the goal isn’t to give them more content or different tools. The goal is to build skill depth. That only happens when: 

• The methodology is clear, consistent, and embedded in daily sales behavior 
• Practice isn’t reserved for roleplay days—it’s continuous 
• Coaching is structured and focused on reinforcing what matters 
• Learning isn’t an event—it’s a rhythm 

Think about how athletes train. The drills may not change much from week to week. But they get sharper, faster, and more effective because they do them over and over with purpose, feedback, and pressure. That’s how muscle memory is built. That’s how confidence is earned. 

Selling is no different. 

So, if you’re serious about building a team of sales professionals—not dabblers, not guessers—commit to the long game. Invest in structured development. Create a rhythm of practice and coaching. Reinforce the fundamentals until they become second nature. 

Because champions aren’t made by what they know.
They’re made by what they can do, over and over, under pressure. 

And that kind of performance doesn’t come from a workshop.
It comes from a system. A rhythm. A commitment to excellence. 

Want to learn more? Axiom provides a unique alternative to traditional sales training. Unlike traditional sales training events, we embed our methodology into your sales cadence, delivering dramatically better sales results. To learn more about our Mindful Selling Methodology, Kinetics Sales Effectiveness Platform, or our unique, guaranteed approach, please visit us at www.axiomsaleskinetics.com.