B2B Sales : Why discipline alone isn’t enough
A strong pipeline matters. So do human relationships. At The POD’s first Sales Circle, Tiphaine Barras and Pierre De Nayer explored how B2B companies can combine both to build a stronger sales culture.
A great product doesn’t automatically make a successful business. And even the most structured sales process can’t predict every opportunity.
At The POD’s first Sales Circle, held on September 22 in Louvain-la-Neuve, Tiphaine Barras (Medscape Education Global) and Pierre De Nayer (WebMD Global) challenged three common assumptions about B2B sales: that success comes down to discipline, that selling is solely the sales team’s responsibility, and that product expertise is enough to convince a customer.
Here are three lessons worth taking back to your business.
1. Sales is a contact sport. But relationships alone won’t build your pipeline.
Some of the best commercial opportunities don’t start with a sales pitch.
During the discussion, Pierre shared an unusual story: a customer service issue at Monsieur Bricolage eventually led to a series of introductions and a major commercial opportunity with Carrefour.
It’s a reminder that networking isn’t simply about collecting contacts. It’s about building relationships that may create opportunities long after the first conversation.
But there’s a catch.
You can’t build a predictable business by relying on unexpected opportunities alone.
From revenue targets to daily sales activities
To illustrate the importance of discipline, the speakers worked backwards from an ambitious sales target.
Imagine a company aiming for €5 million in annual revenue, with an average deal value of €250,000.
| Metric | Illustrative target |
|---|---|
| Revenue target | €5,000,000 |
| Average deal size | €250,000 |
| Deals needed | 20 |
| Proposals needed (30% conversion) | ~67 |
| Meetings needed (4 per proposal) | ~267 |
| Contacts needed (20% meeting conversion) | ~1,335 |
| Emails needed (4 per contact) | ~5,340 |
That’s approximately 24 emails per working day, assuming 220 working days a year.
The figures are illustrative, and every business will have different conversion rates. But the exercise makes an important point: a revenue objective only becomes actionable when you understand the activities required to reach it.
It also gives sales leaders a way to identify where their pipeline might be falling short.
Is the problem insufficient prospecting? Too few meetings? Poor proposal conversion? Or an unrealistic average deal size?
Without those numbers, it’s difficult to know.
The takeaway: Use discipline to create consistency, while continuing to invest in the relationships that open unexpected doors.
2. Your best salespeople might not be salespeople
One of the most interesting stories came from Tiphaine’s own career.
She didn’t originally set out to work in sales. She was working as a project manager when her management recognised her commercial potential and encouraged her to move into a sales role.
It’s a useful reminder for founders struggling to recruit the right sales profiles: commercial talent doesn’t always come with a sales job title.
People who understand customers, enjoy solving problems and know how to build trust may already exist within the organisation.
Sales shouldn’t be isolated from the rest of the company
The discussion went beyond recruitment.
In many tech businesses, engineers develop the product, marketing generates leads and salespeople are expected to close deals.
But what happens when these teams don’t understand each other’s challenges?
A salesperson may promise something the product can’t deliver. An engineering team may prioritise features that customers don’t value. Finance may introduce friction into an otherwise successful customer relationship.
Pierre and Tiphaine argued for a more customer-oriented organisation, where sales isn’t treated as a separate department fighting to get things done internally.
That means giving product managers, developers and other teams more opportunities to hear directly from customers.
It also means recognising that sales conversations can generate ideas for new products and services.
After all, the people speaking to customers every day are often among the first to notice changing needs.
A question for tech founders
When was the last time someone from your product, engineering or finance team joined a customer meeting?
Not to solve a technical issue, but simply to understand how customers use your product, what frustrates them and what they actually value.
The takeaway: Building a sales culture isn’t about turning everyone into a salesperson. It’s about making customer understanding part of everyone’s job.
3. Stop pitching too early. Listen before demonstrating your expertise.
Tech companies are often very good at explaining their products.
They know the features, the architecture, the integrations and the technical advantages.
But that knowledge can become a disadvantage when it takes over the conversation.
During the Sales Circle, the speakers explored the tension between consultative selling and product expertise.
Their conclusion wasn’t that one matters more than the other. It was that the order matters.
First, understand the customer. Then bring in your expertise.
The person you’re speaking to might not be the decision-maker
In complex B2B sales, convincing your direct contact is rarely enough.
That person may still need approval from their manager, finance department or another business unit.
And sometimes, the department initially interested in your solution isn’t the one that benefits most from it.
One example discussed during the session involved a circular economy solution. While sustainability teams seemed like the obvious audience, the operational value was actually more relevant to logistics.
Identifying the team that would benefit most from the solution changed the commercial conversation.
The lesson is simple: understanding who captures the value can be just as important as understanding who signs the contract.
Help your customer make the case internally
Another point raised during the discussion was the importance of helping your contact succeed within their organisation.
Can they clearly explain the business case to their manager?
Do they have the information needed to convince finance?
Have you understood what success would mean for them personally and professionally?
This is where consultative selling becomes particularly valuable.
Instead of immediately demonstrating everything your product can do, ask questions, listen and identify the obstacles that might prevent a deal from moving forward.
Once those challenges are clear, your expertise becomes much more relevant.
And if the conversation requires deeper technical knowledge, involve the right people from your team.
The takeaway: Don’t start by showing customers everything you know. Start by understanding what they need to know to make a decision.
What can tech founders and sales leaders put into practice?
Three questions are worth asking after this first Sales Circle:
- Do we really understand our sales pipeline? Can we connect our revenue targets to realistic conversion rates and commercial activities?
- Is our company genuinely customer-oriented? Do teams beyond sales understand the people buying and using our products?
- Are we listening enough? Do we understand the customer’s business challenges, decision-making process and internal stakeholders before presenting our solution?
Strong B2B sales performance doesn’t come from choosing between relationships and discipline, or between listening and expertise.
It comes from knowing how to combine them.
Join the next Sales Circle at The POD
Our Sales Circles bring together founders, sales leaders and experienced professionals to discuss real commercial challenges and share practical insights.
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