#89: Building Repeatable Processes That Scale

Read Time: 3 min

Today we are diving into a critical concept for startup founders and sales leaders aiming to build a scalable sales engine: the sales flywheel.

The framework I will share with you has transformed countless founder-led sales teams into fully operational and scalable salesforces. The secret lies in anchoring your processes to the flywheel concept, a model that drives sustainable growth and puts your customers at the center of everything.

Why this matters is many early-stage startups rely on sales tactics that work initially but break down as the team grows. While it is necessary to use unscalable methods to land your first few customers, the long-term focus should be on processes that are repeatable and predictable. This is where the flywheel concept comes in.

The flywheel model works because success creates more success. Momentum builds on itself.

~Jeff Bezos

The flywheel concept was popularized by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great and frequently referenced by Jeff Bezos in his letters to shareholders. It is a model that describes how interconnected systems of activities reinforce one another to create exponential growth and competitive advantage.

Here’s an example.

• The more sellers that come onto the platform, the bigger the selection.

• The bigger the selection, the better the experience

• The better the experience, the more traffic it drives

• The more traffic, the lower the cost structure

• The lower the cost structure, the lower the price of goods.

When applied to sales, the flywheel works in a similar way

• The better the processes, the better the training.

• The better the training, the faster the ramp up.

• The faster the ramp, the higher the return on investment for each salesperson.

• The higher the ROI for a salesperson, the lower the customer acquisition cost.

• The stronger your sales team, the stronger the talent you attract.

The number one reason sales reps fail is shitty training. If you onboard a salesperson without solid processes in place and expect them to figure it out, it almost never works. They burn out, leave, and you are back at square one. To avoid this, focus on building and implementing effective processes.

When sales reps are properly trained on processes, they naturally gain confidence. That confidence translates to competence in the eyes of prospects, which is what closes deals.

When you have processes dialed in, salespeople ramp up faster. Faster ramp times lead to higher ROI for each rep. The way I like to measure this ROI is through the Sales-to-Cost Ratio, which compares the revenue generated by a salesperson to the cost of acquiring and maintaining customers. A higher Sales-to-Cost Ratio means your sales team is operating efficiently and driving significant revenue relative to costs.

A well-trained salesperson does more than drive revenue. They attract other top-performing sales professionals. A players know and recruit other A players, strengthening your talent pool, improving overall ROI, and lowering customer acquisition costs.

Key Takeaways

Using the flywheel method to build your sales playbook will result in:

• Faster ramp times

• Higher ROI for sales rep

• Lower customer acquisition costs

• Access to stronger talent

That’s it for today!

See you all next week.

Darren

P.S. If you’re a venture-backed SaaS company interested in coaching, book a call here.

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