Find Rocky Lalvani @ www.ProfitComesFirst.com  or email him at [email protected]

Make more, work less video: https://youtu.be/

You've fired the driver three times. New salesperson, new promise, same three months later, and then the same conversation with yourself about whether it's time to fire another one.

Steve Heroux has sat across the table from companies at every size having this exact problem, including a $500 million construction company whose entire leadership team could not answer one basic question: who owns sales? Not who sells the most. Who owns it. They couldn't answer who owns onboarding either, or coaching. Five hundred million dollars, running on hope.

Steve is the founder of The Sales Collective and creator of the System of Selling, an operating system built specifically for sales, something most business operating systems leave out entirely. He talks with Rocky about why revenue gets inconsistent even at seven and eight figures, and why the fix almost never starts with the person you're about to hire.

In This Episode:

• Why "hope-based selling" is the real reason revenue is inconsistent, not the salesperson
• The go-kart and race car analogies that explain why companies keep replacing drivers instead of building the car
• Why a $500 million company couldn't answer who owns sales, onboarding, or coaching
• The difference between a lagging indicator (a closed deal) and a leading indicator (a quality at-bat)
• Why almost 90 percent of top performing salespeople are intrinsically motivated, and what that means for your comp plan
• How to hire for "will to sell" instead of training for it
• The single best current use of AI in sales coaching

Key Takeaways:

• Consistent revenue requires defined entrance and exit criteria for every sales stage, not talented people improvising.
• Track the inputs (prep, calls made, roleplay done) instead of only the outcome (the closed deal).
• Comp plans should match how the individual salesperson is actually motivated, not a single default structure.
• Will to sell can't be trained. Skill can. Hire for the first, train the second.
• Building the sales system is the owner's job. It doesn't happen by accident, and it doesn't happen because you hired someone new.

About Steve Heroux:

Steve Heroux is the founder of The Sales Collective, author of The Sales Contrarian, and the creator of the System of Selling, an operating system built for sales that helps companies replace inconsistent, hope-based selling with a structured, repeatable process that drives predictable revenue. His core belief is that most companies do not have a salesperson problem. They have a system problem. And until that system gets fixed, no amount of training, hiring, or motivation will move the needle. He's also the founder of The Million Veteran Mission; a nonprofit committed to teaching one million veterans how to sell the right way as they transition into new careers, and all veterans get access to Steve's content for free, for life.

Links:

The System of Selling Website: https://www.thesystemofselling.com/

The System of Selling Overview: https://proposals.thesalescollective.com/The-System-of-Selling-Engagement-Overview-D9uGscqqTHCO

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveheroux1/

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Music provided by Junan from Junan Podcast

Any financial advice is for educational purposes only and you should consult with an expert for your specific needs.