Building Scalable Sales Processes Through Shared Experiences

Scaling a B2B business is rarely a straightforward journey. As founders and sales leaders, we all encounter challenges that test our strategies, resilience, and adaptability. While there’s no single formula for success, there are patterns—recurring challenges, insights, and breakthroughs—that can guide us toward more predictable and sustainable growth.

At LCO, we’ve been on this journey ourselves. We’ve faced the same hurdles you’re likely grappling with now: unstructured sales processes, inconsistent revenue streams, and the pressures of scaling in a competitive market. Through these experiences, we’ve developed an approach to sales that’s grounded in practical, real-world learnings. This paper isn’t just about what we do; it’s about what we’ve learned along the way, and how those lessons can help you navigate your own path to growth.

The Journey to LCO’s Approach

LCO’s methodology is the product of lived experiences—trials, errors, and hard-won successes in the B2B space. Our journey began much like yours, with a mix of ambition, uncertainty, and the determination to make our ventures succeed against the odds.

Early Challenges and Discoveries

Our founder, Levi, started in the trenches of business psychology and organizational innovation. These fields offered valuable frameworks, but it wasn’t until he launched his own SaaS startup that the theories were truly put to the test. Like many of you, Levi faced the daunting task of turning a great product into a thriving business—a challenge made even more complex by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this time, as budgets froze and traditional sales channels dried up, it became clear that the existing sales strategies weren’t enough. The startup, focused on the university sector, saw sales evaporate almost overnight. But this wasn’t just a personal setback; it was a shared struggle among many startups and established companies alike. Sales processes were often chaotic, unstructured, and heavily reliant on external factors like market conditions or the whims of a few large clients.

This period of uncertainty revealed a crucial insight: the problem wasn’t just external—it was internal. The lack of a robust, scalable sales structure was the common thread among many struggling companies. It became evident that the key to overcoming sales unpredictability wasn’t found in external fixes but in building a strong, adaptable internal sales engine.

Pivoting to a New Sales Philosophy

In response to these challenges, Levi pivoted from his initial startup to focus on helping other companies navigate similar issues. Through consulting work, he quickly recognized a recurring pattern: businesses were often too quick to look for external solutions—like hiring a head of sales or outsourcing lead generation—without first building a solid internal foundation. This often led to disappointment when the hired experts couldn’t deliver the expected results, and it highlighted the need for a different approach.

One consulting experience stood out. A promising tech startup was struggling to close new clients and secure its next funding round. They had outsourced their sales efforts, but the results were underwhelming, and they were no closer to their funding goals. The problem wasn’t with the external help—it was that the company hadn’t taken the time to develop its own sales processes first. This experience reinforced a key principle: founders and early leaders must first master the sales process themselves before bringing in external help.

Core Learnings and Principles

From these experiences, four guiding principles emerged. These principles have shaped how we approach sales at LCO and how we help our clients build their own scalable sales engines.

1. The Founder Does It First: Setting the Benchmark for Success

The unique insight here is that the initial success of any sales organization depends on the founder or early leadership team mastering the sales process themselves before hiring or outsourcing. Too often, companies rush to bring in a head of sales or external help without fully understanding their own sales dynamics. This leads to frustration and failure when these new hires or agencies don’t deliver as expected.

At LCO, we’ve learned that the founder or early leadership team must be the first to engage with the sales process. This hands-on approach allows them to "fool-proof" the system, set clear benchmarks, and deeply understand what drives success. Once the founder has mastered this process, they can create a solid foundation for others to follow, ensuring that future SDRs and heads of sales have a clear roadmap. This involvement reduces the risk of early missteps and builds a scalable, repeatable sales system.

2. Plug-and-Play Lead Engine: Own the Process to Understand It

The unique insight behind our Plug-and-Play Lead Engine is that lead generation must be part of your internal infrastructure to be truly effective. Outsourcing lead generation can obscure the process, making it difficult to understand where and why it breaks down. Furthermore, many companies have untapped leads within their existing environment—be it LinkedIn, website traffic, or outbound emails—that they struggle to convert.

We’ve learned that you need to own your lead generation engine to fully understand and optimize it. This engine must be standardized to convert leads from the interest stage into meetings, regardless of the source. Our Plug-and-Play Lead Engine is designed to be an internal, systematic approach that consistently generates qualified meetings, eliminating the guesswork and reducing reliance on external sources.

For instance, a B2B software company we worked with was initially struggling with a fragmented lead generation process. By implementing our Plug-and-Play Lead Engine, they streamlined their approach, leading to a 40% increase in lead-to-conversion ratios within six months. This standardized method allowed them to efficiently convert interested prospects into actual sales meetings, creating a more predictable and effective sales pipeline.

3. Sales Process Fit: Aligning Sales Cycles with Ticket Size for Scalability

The unique insight here is that a sales process is truly scalable only when the length of the sales cycle fits the ticket size of the product or service. Many companies face elongated sales cycles or unpredictable revenue because their sales process isn’t properly aligned with their offering. Without this alignment, adding more leads or hires doesn’t scale the process—it only adds complexity and inefficiency.

At LCO, we focus on achieving Sales Process Fit by aligning the sales process with the product’s value, market dynamics, and customer buying behavior. This alignment ensures that the sales cycle is optimized, making it ready for scaling. We saw this in action with an established manufacturing company trying to break into the tech sector. By reengineering their sales process to better fit the tech market’s faster buying cycle, we helped them reduce their sales cycle by 30% and significantly increase their win rate.

This experience taught us that Sales Process Fit isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about creating a foundation that can scale. Once the sales process fits the product and market, you can confidently add new hires, leads, and channels, knowing that they will contribute to growth rather than strain the system.

4. Tech-Enabled Sales Structures: Scaling with Stability and Efficiency

The unique insight behind Tech-Enabled Sales Structures is that technology isn’t just a tool—it’s the backbone of a scalable sales organization. However, technology must be integrated early and used consistently to enhance efficiency and support growth. Many companies struggle because they either lack the necessary technological infrastructure or use it in a disjointed way, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

At LCO, we emphasize building tech-enabled sales structures from the ground up. This means integrating the right tools and technologies early in the process to automate routine tasks, provide actionable insights, and support the sales team in focusing on high-value activities. A case in point is a growing SaaS company we worked with, where sales were bogged down with manual tasks. By introducing sales automation tools, we doubled their revenue within a year without requiring a proportional increase in sales staff.

This case reinforced our belief that technology is critical for scaling effectively. By embedding the right tech-enabled structures, companies can grow more efficiently, with their sales infrastructure expanding in tandem with their business, ensuring long-term stability and success.

Shared Successes and Long-Term Impact

The implementation of LCO’s methodology has led to profound transformations in the businesses we’ve worked with. These transformations are not just about immediate revenue gains; they are about fundamentally changing how these businesses approach sales.

One of the most rewarding aspects of our journey has been seeing the long-term impact of our approach. For instance, a client who was initially struggling to secure their first few clients was able to generate over €300,000 in new revenue within six months after implementing LCO’s methodology. This success gave them the confidence and momentum to attract further investment and scale their business.

Another client, a well-established B2B company, revitalized their stagnant sales operation by adopting our sales process framework. They saw a 50% increase in their win rate and a new level of predictability in their revenue, which allowed them to confidently invest in further expansion.

These stories aren’t just about numbers; they’re about the journey. They reflect the broader impact of LCO’s approach—turning sales from a chaotic, unpredictable process into a structured, scalable engine for growth. The businesses we work with aren’t just seeing immediate improvements; they’re building a foundation for sustained, long-term success.

Looking Forward

The journey to building a successful B2B sales organization is filled with challenges, but it’s also filled with opportunities to learn, adapt, and grow. At LCO, our approach to sales is the result of years of experience, learning from both successes and setbacks. Our methodology is rooted in the belief that sales should be predictable, scalable, and sustainable, even in the face of external challenges.

By focusing on the principles of Founder Does It First, Plug-and-Play Lead Engine, Sales Process Fit, and Tech-Enabled Sales Structures, we provide businesses with the tools and frameworks they need to take control of their sales operations and drive consistent growth.

This paper serves as both a reflection on our journey and a guide for businesses looking to achieve similar transformations. 

We believe that with the right approach, any business can unlock its full potential and achieve sustained, scalable growth.