Years ago, I walked into this startup. First week vibes, coffee in hand, ready to help the team and crush it.
Then I saw it.
The leadership team – CSO, CMO, three directors – huddled in a war room, frantically debating slide 94 of their MEDDPICC sales approach deck.
SLIDE. NINETY. FOUR.
Of one-hundred and twenty-seven slides.
Plus the “supplemental” 78-slide deck explaining all stages of the sales funnel.
Listen people, I’m not against sales methodology. I love a good framework. MEDDIC, SPIN, Challenger – they’re like comfortable jeans for your sales process. They work.
But if your sales approach requires the same page count as “The Wolf of Wall Street,” you’ve lost the plot.
Your reps aren’t NASA engineers launching rockets. They’re humans trying to sell stuff to other humans.
Your 20-slide explanation of “Discovery Stage Practices” is why your team is making TikToks in the bathroom instead of calls.
Here’s a methodology for you:
- Keep it simple
- No really, simpler than that
- Can a sleep-deprived rep remember it at 8am?
- If not, go back to step 1
The best sales frameworks fit on a Post-it note. The rest is just corporate PowerPoint theater or startup hype chasing hypergrowth.
And for the love of all things sacred, if your “quick overview” of the sales funnel takes 25 slides, your funnel isn’t a funnel – it’s a labyrinth designed by a sadistic bureaucrat.
Remember: Complexity is the enemy of execution.
Your reps need guardrails, not a doctoral thesis on why the Champion isn’t always the Economic Buyer.
