Do you really have a sales problem?

Step 0. Confirm that there's a real problem

Many managers react to a bad month or a few lost deals. That doesn't necessarily mean there is a sales problem.

Start by asking:

1. Are we missing our objectives?

Compare actual results against plan.

Examples include:

• Revenue
• Gross margin
• New customer acquisition
• Renewal rate
• EBITDA contribution
• Pipeline growth

If you're meeting your objectives, you probably don't have a sales problem.

2. Is the decline statistically meaningful?

One slow month may simply be noise.

Look at:

• Last 12–24 months
• Seasonal trends
• Year-over-year comparisons
• Rolling 3-month averages

In C&I energy, weather, commodity prices, and procurement cycles create large fluctuations.

3. Is the problem company-wide or isolated?

Compare:

• Individual salespeople
• Regions
• Industry verticals
• Products
• Customer segments

If everyone is down, it's unlikely to be one salesperson.

If one salesperson is down while everyone else is succeeding, coaching may be appropriate.

4. Is the entire industry experiencing the same thing?

Benchmark against competitors.

Questions include:

• Are competitors hiring or laying off?
• Are industry sales slowing?
• Have procurement cycles lengthened?
• Are customers delaying decisions because of market uncertainty?

Sometimes the market—not your organization—is the problem.

5. Is the pipeline supporting future revenue?

Revenue lags pipeline.

For example:

January prospecting may not produce revenue until June.

If bookings decline today, examine prospecting activity six months ago.

6. Are we seeing leading indicators deteriorate?

Revenue is a lagging indicator.

Leading indicators include:

• New prospect meetings
• Discovery calls
• Executive introductions
• RFP invitations
• Proposal requests
• Contract renewals entering decision windows

These usually decline before revenue does.

7. Is profitability declining even if revenue isn't?

Many organizations maintain sales volume by discounting.

Questions:

• Are margins shrinking?
• Are commissions increasing?
• Is customer acquisition cost rising?
• Is deal size falling?

Revenue alone can hide significant problems.

THEN..if you think you have a sales problem, move to analysis.

Diagnosing Sales Problems in C&I Energy Sales

1. Is it a market problem?

Before looking at the salesperson, determine whether the market has changed.

Questions include:

Has pricing become less competitive?

Has the market become saturated?

Are competitors offering broader energy management services?

Has regulatory change altered customer priorities?

Are fewer customers actively shopping electricity or gas?

2. Is it a target-market problem?

Many organizations continue calling on accounts that no longer fit.

Evaluate:

Company size

Industry vertical

Geographic market

Load profile

Contract timing

Existing supplier relationships

Sometimes the best salesperson struggles because the prospect list is wrong.

3. Is it a value proposition problem?

Customers buy solutions, not commodities.

Ask:

Why should a CFO change suppliers?

Why should an energy manager risk switching?

Are you selling price when customers care about risk?

Are you discussing operational improvements instead of simply electricity?

4. Is it a sales process problem?

Large C&I sales typically involve multiple stakeholders.

Review:

Prospecting

Qualification

Discovery

Financial analysis

Proposal development

Executive presentation

Contract negotiation

Determine where opportunities stall.

5. Is it a pipeline problem?

Many "closing problems" are actually prospecting problems.

Measure:

New accounts contacted

Discovery meetings

Qualified opportunities

RFP invitations

Proposals

Final negotiations

Small deficiencies early become major deficiencies later.

6. Is it a messaging problem?

Can the salesperson clearly explain:

Why change?

Why now?

Why your company?

Why this solution?

Many experienced sellers still rely on feature lists instead of business outcomes.

7. Is it an organizational problem?

Salespeople cannot overcome poor internal support.

Common issues include:

Slow pricing turnaround

Weak proposal support

Poor CRM data

Delayed contracts

Lack of technical specialists

Inadequate marketing support

8. Is it a management problem?

Managers often inspect results rather than activities.

Effective managers coach:

Discovery conversations

Opportunity strategy

Account planning

Competitive positioning

Executive presentations

9. Is it a skills problem?

Only after eliminating the previous causes should management conclude the salesperson lacks capability.

Typical skill gaps include:

Financial selling

Executive conversations

Negotiation

Opportunity qualification

Asking deeper business questions

Managing complex buying committees

A Diagnostic Matrix

A useful way to organize the analysis is to ask five questions:

  Market

Has the market changed?

  Strategy

 Are we pursuing the right customers?

   Process

 Are opportunities moving through the funnel?

  Execution

 Are salespeople executing effectively?

   Organization

 Is the company enabling success?

  Why This Matters in sales to Mid-large C&I Accounts

Selling electricity, natural gas, demand response, renewable energy, or energy management services to a large commercial customer is rarely a one-person sale. Decisions often involve finance, procurement, operations, sustainability, facilities, legal, and executive leadership. A sales problem may reflect weaknesses in product positioning, pricing strategy, organizational support, or market selection as much as individual selling ability.

The best sales leaders resist the temptation to immediately coach or replace a salesperson. Instead, they systematically diagnose whether the root cause lies in the market, the strategy, the sales process, the organization, or the individual's skills. Only after identifying the true cause can they prescribe the right solution.

More Information….A reading list in priority order.

1. SPIN Selling — Neil Rackham

Why read it: Probably the single most important book ever written on complex B2B sales. Rackham's research analyzed over 35,000 sales calls and showed that large, consultative sales require a fundamentally different approach than transactional selling. (juststartwith.com)

What's Relevant:

Symptoms vs. root causes

Discovery questions

Implication questions

Buying process vs. selling process

2. The Challenger Sale — Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson

Instead of merely uncovering needs, top salespeople teach customers something they didn't know about their own business.

Examples:

"You're focusing on commodity price when your larger risk is capacity."

"Your sustainability goals and procurement process are actually working against each other."

This book is less about relationships and more about commercial insight. (Zeliq)

3. Strategic Selling — Robert Miller & Stephen Heiman



Although older, it remains one of the best books on navigating complex buying organizations.

Its strengths include:

Mapping decision makers

Identifying blockers

Understanding political influence