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A Letter to the CEO
Dear Chief Exec,
You are leading a team in a world that no longer rewards the habits that once made you successful.
This is not a criticism. It is an observation.
Most commercial organisations did not choose this moment. It arrived quietly. Buyers changed how they gather information. They changed when they respond. They changed what they value. And often, they did so without announcing it.
Your team still works hard. Pipelines are still reviewed. Activity is still measured. Forecasts are still discussed. Yet something feels heavier than it used to. Deals take longer. Trust feels thinner. Buyers seem less patient, less forgiving, and harder to read.
The danger is not that sales has become harder.
The danger is pretending it has not changed.
For years, strong sales leadership meant driving activity, sharpening negotiation, and keeping teams accountable. Those skills still matter. But they are no longer sufficient on their own.
Buyers now do much of their thinking before they ever meet your people.
They arrive informed, cautious, and time-poor.
They do not want to be convinced.
They want to be understood.
This is where leadership matters most.
Not in the enthusiasm of the sales meeting.
Not in the pressure of the end-of-quarter call.
But in the standards you quietly set and the behaviours you consistently reward.
Buyers notice patterns long before leaders do.
They notice when emails are answered quickly but without thought.
They notice when meetings are well-intentioned but poorly prepared.
They notice when confidence masks uncertainty.
They notice when speed replaces substance.
And when they notice these things, they make decisions. Often silently. Often early.
Loyalty does not disappear overnight.
It erodes through small moments that feel insignificant internally but feel telling to the buyer.
As a Sales Director, your real influence is not what you say your team should do.
It is what your system allows them to get away with.
If responsiveness is praised but relevance is not coached, speed will win over value.
If CRM captures activity but not insight, activity will increase while understanding declines.
If leaders are always available internally but slow externally, priorities become clear to the buyer.
None of this is about blame.
It is about responsibility.
The Salesperson of the Future is not a different personality.
They are the product of clearer expectations.
They know when to respond fast and when to pause.
They respect the buyer’s time because leadership respects preparation.
They build trust because trust is modelled, not demanded.
Your role is no longer to push your team harder.
It is to remove the friction between what buyers value and how your organisation behaves.
This requires courage.
Courage to challenge long-held beliefs.
Courage to admit that effort does not always equal value.
Courage to lead with clarity rather than comfort.
Buyers are already telling you what they want.
Not loudly.
But consistently.
The question is whether your leadership system is listening.
With respect,
Plan Grow Do
P.S.
If you’re noticing longer sales cycles, lower hit rates, fewer meaningful conversations with customers, or more deals that quietly stall without clear feedback, you’re not alone. Many leadership teams are seeing strong effort from their people, yet diminishing returns from the same approaches that once worked. Activity is high, forecasts are discussed, and pipelines are full, but progress feels slower and harder to predict. These are not performance issues. They are signals. Signals that buyer behaviour has shifted, and that commercial systems, expectations, and leadership standards need to catch up.
If this resonates, you may find it useful to explore the supporting articles below, which unpack the buyer behaviours driving these changes in more detail. Or, if you’d prefer a conversation, we’re always open to discussing what this looks like in your world and whether our Buyer Revolution work could help bring clarity.
Either way, the first step is simply paying attention to what buyers are already telling you.
https://orange-dunlin-317451.hostingersite.com/buyer-revolution/from-volume-to-value/
