How I Sell This

In this solo episode of the How I Sell This podcast, Christina continues the conversation about sales process, exploring why a healthy-looking pipeline doesn’t always translate into an accurate sales forecast.

While many organisations track opportunity values and close dates in their CRM, Christina explains why those numbers can be misleading without meaningful stage weightings, clear qualification criteria and reliable data.

Drawing on the work Sellabilities® does with organisations, this episode unpacks how probability of success should change as opportunities progress, why losing opportunities is a normal part of selling, and what low proposal conversion rates can reveal about the selling work happening earlier in the process.

Christina also explains why cleaning up your pipeline often makes it smaller, and how that clearer picture helps sales leaders identify gaps and direct their team’s time and effort.

If your pipeline looks promising but your results keep falling short, this episode will help you understand what’s sitting underneath the numbers.

In This Episode

• The relationship between sales process and sales pipeline
• What stage weightings mean and how they support forecasting
• How a $100,000 opportunity contributes differently to your forecast as it progresses
• Why losing opportunities is a normal part of the sales process
• What proposal conversion rates reveal about discovery and qualification
• How outdated close dates, incorrect stages and inaccurate values undermine forecasting
• Why cleaning up your pipeline can make it smaller but more useful
• How a clearer forecast helps leaders identify gaps and focus sales activity
• Where to start when reviewing probability weightings in your business

Resources Mentioned

• Part 1: The sales process mistake costing teams more than they realise

About Sellabilities®

Sellabilities® helps B2B sales teams improve pipeline performance, sales capability and customer conversations through practical sales training, pipeline development and sales process optimisation across Australia and APAC.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this solo episode of the How I Sell This podcast, Christina Bruce dives into one of the most overlooked drivers of sales performance: the end-to-end sales process. 

While many organisations invest heavily in CRM platforms and sales training, Christina explains why so many teams still struggle with inconsistent forecasting, poor CRM adoption, low proposal conversion rates and salespeople jumping to quotes, demos or pricing far too early. 

Drawing on real examples from the work Sellabilities does with organisations every week, this episode explores why sales process clarity matters, how pipeline stages should actually function, and why most CRMs become expensive record management systems instead of meaningful coaching and sales enablement tools. 

If your team is struggling with pipeline visibility, inconsistent qualification, proposal-heavy selling, or CRM frustration, this episode unpacks the operational gaps sitting underneath those challenges. 

In This Episode 

• Why sales training alone often fails to create long-term behaviour change  
• The connection between sales conversations and sales process  
• Common CRM mistakes organisations make  
• Why pipeline stages need meaning, not just labels  
• How salespeople accidentally “jump selling work”  
• How proposal win rates reveal deeper sales process problems  
• Why CRM adoption breaks down inside organisations  
• The difference between tracking activity and enabling sales performance  
• Why pipeline reviews are one of the most important things sales leaders can do 

Resources Mentioned 

• Pipeline Power eBook by Sellabilities  
• Contact: [email protected] 

About Sellabilities 

Sellabilities helps B2B sales teams improve pipeline performance, sales capability and customer conversations through practical sales training, pipeline development and sales process optimisation across Australia. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Description 

Today we’re joined by Trish McLachlan, founder of Catch Me Marketing and a fractional Chief Marketing Officer who blends strategic leadership with hands-on execution. 

With 25 years in marketing and deep experience across brand strategy, digital growth and campaign leadership, Trish shares why she walked away from agency life, what she saw behind the curtain in the digital marketing world, and why transparency has become a non-negotiable in the way she works. 

We talk about the blurred line between marketing and sales, why Trish doesn’t identify as a “salesperson” (even though she absolutely sells), and how her customer-first “investigation” approach has helped her build a high-converting pipeline through referrals and trust. 

You’ll also hear practical insights on what business owners should focus on first when marketing feels overwhelming, plus honest reflections on confidence, values, and backing yourself in as a woman building something on your own. 

In this episode, Trish shares: 

• The real cost of “cowboys” in digital marketing, and how business owners can protect themselves 

• Why she believes marketing and selling should feel like one consistent journey, not a baton handover 

• Her sales approach: curiosity, clarity, and solving the real problem before talking solutions 

• What to focus on first when marketing feels like a beast: audience behaviour, touchpoints, and where your buyers actually validate trust 

• The process she uses after an enquiry: conversation, investigation, recap email, then proposal 

• Why she sends a meeting summary every time, and how it builds trust and lifts proposal conversion 

• Advice for women starting out: know your worth, find your voice, and back yourself sooner 

Key Quotes: 

“The digital space really sucks because the industry has built itself a horrible reputation.” 

“I don’t actually consider myself to be a salesperson, but I see that sales is an absolute essential function of what I do.” 

“I almost think they’re one in the same. The lines are really blurred between marketing and sales.” 

“I don’t see that as selling. I see that as investigating.” 

“What is the problem that you’ve got and can I solve the problem for you?” 

“There’s no thrill in winning the job for me. That’s just the start.” 

“Back yourself in.” 

“Women supporting women is an incredibly powerful space.” 

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What a high-performing sales training approach looks like: https://sellabilities.com.au/b2b-sales-training-approach/

You can get involved with the podcast online:  

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://www.sellabilities.com.au/ 

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities_sisterhood 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/ 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Description 

Today we sit down with Katie, co founder of Structured Creative, whose career has moved from elite triathlon to big firm consulting to building an evidence based product for high performing teams.  

In this conversation, Katie reflects on how elite sport shaped her approach to discipline and performance, why she describes leaders as cognitive athletes, and what her research has revealed about what truly drives team effectiveness. 

We explore what happened when the referral tap suddenly switched off and she gets really vulnerable as she talks about the physical stress of an empty pipeline and the reality of relearning how to sell after years of work arriving with ease. 

We also discuss the shift from a big brand name to a small business, the mindset required to sell your own IP, and the uncomfortable but necessary work of outbound business development. 

In this episode, Katie shares: 

• How a triathlon on a whim turned into a decade racing professionally and shaped her approach to leadership and performance 
• The science behind her Body Brain Reset program and why leaders need to think of themselves as cognitive athletes 
• What happened when hundreds of thousands of dollars of work disappeared overnight and what the emotional and physical impact was 
• How uncomfortable business development felt and the reframe she used to overcome the aversion to go outbound 
• The mistake of sending proposals too early and why meaningful sales conversations usually take more than one meeting 

Key Quotes: 

“Leaders are cognitive athletes. Our ability to think clearly, communicate effectively and stay calm under pressure is everything.” 

“Between November and February all of that work stopped. All of it. Not one thing that we had sold actually went ahead.” 

“We started thinking about do we need to apply for jobs… how many months have we got left.” 

“Sitting here doing nothing is not going to get us anywhere. We have got to do something.” 

“You have to get comfortable with the no thank yous. Sitting still and hoping is not a strategy.” 

“I can put down my thoughts on what I think would work for you… but I am actually not going to send a proposal anymore after a half hour phone call.” 

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What a high-performing sales training approach looks like: https://sellabilities.com.au/b2b-sales-training-approach/

You can get involved with the podcast online:  

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://www.sellabilities.com.au/ 

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities_sisterhood 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/ 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Description 

Today we sit down with Adele Anthony, who runs not one but two businesses, Adele M Anthony Legal and The Queen of Evolution. In her legal practice, Adele specialises in wills, estate planning, business succession, and small business legals. Through her second business, she helps women over 40 transition into entrepreneurship, guiding them as they build freedom-based businesses using the skills they’ve already developed. 

With decades of experience across law and business ownership, Adele brings a rare combination of practical wisdom, empathy, and strategic thinking. In this conversation, she shares how niching down built her credibility, why education is her most powerful sales tool, and how helping clients see the real consequences of inaction creates trust and urgency without ever feeling “salesy.” 

We also discuss what drives women to start over later in life, the link between problem-awareness and pricing confidence, and why perfectionism holds so many women back from taking the leap. 

In this episode, Adele shares: 

• How she built two thriving businesses by combining law, strategy, and heart 
• Why niching deeply created trust and an ongoing referral network 
• The mindset shift required to sell your own services with confidence 
• Why identifying and articulating the problem is the foundation of effective selling 
• How she uses AI (and her custom “Goldie GPT”) to streamline creativity and content 

Key Quotes 

“There’s always selling if you’re a business owner. And no different for me, when those clients walk in that door, I am selling. I have my selling hat on but it’s not like salesy, it’s just education.”  

“There’s got to be a problem, you’re selling to the right people, you’re solving their problem, and they become raving fans.” 

“It’s not salesy or sleazy or a hard push. It’s: here’s the problem, and I can solve it for you right now.” 

“Women 40 plus seem to have all those things, imposter syndrome, anxiety… I just want them to know there are people who will help you.” 

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What is B2B sales training and what drives results

https://sellabilities.com.au/what-is-b2b-sales-training/

You can get involved with the podcast online:  

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://www.sellabilities.com.au/ 

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities_sisterhood 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/ 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Description 

Today we sit down with Sam McFarlane, founder of Sam Says, a digital marketing agency specialising in social media, content creation, and email marketing for service-based business owners. With more than 13 years in business and a background in corporate marketing, Sam has built a reputation for thoughtful, consistent digital support for coaches, consultants, and small professional services who need help staying visible online. 

In this conversation, Sam opens up about the real journey of growing a service-based business from juggling school drop-offs to managing client load and the surprising truth about what’s actually holding her back from the next level of growth. We explore why so many women find selling cringe, the emotional and psychological blocks around asking for money, and how simple tweaks to your sales journey can turn more conversations into clients. 

In this episode, we explore: 

• How networking and referrals built her entire client base 
• Her honest reaction to the “cringe factor” of sales and how to reframe it 
• The juggling act of working in the business vs. working on the business 
• Why so many women feel uncomfortable with selling and asking for money 
• The hidden gap in her sales process (and why 50% of proposals were going silent) 
• The importance of mapping the client journey so you know where things break down 

Key Quotes 

“The proposal goes out and then you sit and wait. Sometimes I only follow up once. I know the fortune is in the follow-up — I just don’t do it.” 

“Absolutely not. I'm terrible. The thought of selling just makes me cringe. I don't want to be that really slimy, salesy person that people see coming.” 

“That's probably why I'm at that point where I can't break through to that next level. I hate it. Just, the thought of it just makes me just cringe.” 

“You can’t help but take it personally. They say business isn’t personal, but when it’s your own business, how can it not be?” 

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What a high-performing sales training approach looks like: https://sellabilities.com.au/b2b-sales-training-approach/

You can get involved with the podcast online:  

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://www.sellabilities.com.au/ 

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities_sisterhood 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/ 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we sit down with Kimberley Marshall from Konica Minolta, a consistent top performer in print and technology solutions, specialising in the private and tertiary education sector. Kimberley’s track record speaks for itself, she’s been recognised multiple times for excellence in sales, including Honours Club Top Ten, Salesperson of the Year two years running, and several other prestigious awards. Starting in telemarketing straight out of school, she moved quickly into account management and now partners with private schools, universities, and TAFEs across WA. 

In this conversation, Kimberley shares how she wins long, complex deals in a market that’s constantly modernising, why consistency and likability still matter, and how reading the room and knowing when to walk away protects your time. We explore territory planning with five-year sales cycles, using your CRM properly, building bespoke proposals that map to real client drivers, and how to lose with grace so you can win the account next time. 

In this episode, Kimberley shares: 

• How a telemarketing start built thick skin, resilience and call discipline 
• Using competitor insight and real client examples to dig into true drivers 
• Building proposals that address clearly defined customer problems 
• Territory planning with five-year cycles, coffee touchpoints and relationship compounding 
• The role of the CRM for recall, cadence and prioritisation 
• Losing with grace and staying present so you can win the next cycle 
• The hard lesson: knowing when to walk away from low-probability or high-headache opportunities 

Key Quotes 

12:43 – 13:10: “People buy from people they like… I always try and keep my conversations very natural and just try and build a natural friendship with the customer.” 

14:56 – 15:24: “Use experience from similar clients. It carries weight when you can say, here’s how a school like yours solved this.” 

25:34: “I think losing with grace is also incredibly important… I think a lot of the new business that I'm winning now is business that I was unsuccessful with four to five years ago, but because I’ve stuck it out…” 

29:40: “You have to be willing to walk away from some opportunities.” 

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What is B2B sales training and what drives results

https://sellabilities.com.au/what-is-b2b-sales-training/

You can get involved with the podcast online:  

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://www.sellabilities.com.au/ 

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities_sisterhood 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/ g

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are speaking with Giles Cunningham, a Senior Sales Specialist & Infield Trainer for the Endo Therapy Division at Olympus Australia.

Giles has over 20 years of sales experience and he has a very long list of sales achievements to his name. But really interesting about Giles is that he's made this amazing leap from selling wine to selling pharmaceutical products in the healthcare industry and then medical devices, which he still does today with Olympus Australia.

Giles has extensive experience in not just changing fields, but also in selling in what is arguably one of the hardest industries when it comes to accessing the people you need to, to make a sale.

In this episode he shares:

-      Why the conversations you have with customers, have to bring value to the customer

-      The power of working hard to learn what you need to know if you are moving across industries

-      Why you need to focus on the first 3-5 months of each financial year

-      How to have a clearly defined sales process

-      Why a call to action for customers is essential

-      The need to identify the different stakeholders and how doing so can ensure a sale

Key Quotes

“Because if that conversation has no value for them and it doesn’t have a call to action afterwards, it goes nowhere.”

“The selling of products hasn’t changed that much, but the environment we are selling in has changed dramatically.”

“It's about looking at it and finding out what’s important from the customers perspective.”

More about Giles Cunningham

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giles-cunningham-37828114

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What a high-performing sales training approach looks like: https://sellabilities.com.au/b2b-sales-training-approach/

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://sellabilities.com.au/

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities/

Follow us on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are joined by Craig Mundy, the owner and managing director at Snap Print Solutions in Albury/Wodonga.

Craig has a really unique and long career in sales and marketing and it has resulted in an interesting outlook and philosophy when it comes to sales.

With his diverse experience and the combination of skills and knowledge he has he is one of the stand out franchisee’s of Snap PrintSolutions.

In this episode he shares:

-      How he started in the building industry as a draftsman, transitioning to insurance sales and outdoor advertising before owning a Snap Print franchise.

-      The importance of being adaptable and persistent in the face of challenges.

-      Why strong rapport with customers leads to referrals

-      Why he believes providing meaningful, personalised solutions rather than just selling products leads to long term growth.

-      Why marketing is essentially an evolution of sales

-      The importance of understanding and responding to others' needs effectively.

Key Quotes

“I love the thrill of the chase of achieving what you've set out to do or working towards that achievement.”

“You can present what you do in the strongest case, but ultimately, it’s a short-term solution if what you're providing for them isn't what they need and want.”

“Be more comfortable and confident within yourself. Know that you have more to offer than you think you do. Confidence is something that's gained.”

More about Craig

Craigs linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-mundy-0b5908228

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What is B2B sales training and what drives results

https://sellabilities.com.au/what-is-b2b-sales-training/

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://sellabilities.com.au/

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities/

Follow us on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are speaking with Greg Sampson, the Vice President, US Field Sales at Coopervision.

He has extensive experience across both Australia and internationally in senior management roles across a variety of technologies and industries.

Not only does he have wisdom to share on how he first made himself a successful salesperson, but also knowledge gained from managing top sales professionals.

He has such rich, powerful takeaway tips and I know everyone will benefit from hearing what he has to say.

In this episode he shares:

-      How her started at Coopervision

-      What his role involves now

-      Why he finds being out with the customer to be freeing

-      The hardest thing to do when he started in sales

-      What helped him figure out he was selling wrong

-      Why having experience in marketing and sales made him better in both roles

-      The 3 things that made him successful at sales

-      Why he doesn’t consider clients his friends

-      Some of the challenges he is seeing post covid with salespeople

-      Why he recruits for skill and capability

-      How they do all their training and preparation at Coopervision

-      The words of wisdom he would share to other salespeople

-      His perspective on AI in sales

Key Quotes

“If you forget where you come from, if you forget that everything happens during a face to face interaction, then your sales leadership suffers quite badly.”

“I never feel more invigorated in my job than after I spend a day in the field with my sales team.”

“You need to understand the perspective of the person to whom you are speaking before you start speaking in great volumes.”

More about

Follow him on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregsamp

Learn more about how we support B2B sales teams

👉 Sales training programs for B2B teams: https://sellabilities.com.au/sales-training-programs/

👉 What a high-performing sales training approach looks like: https://sellabilities.com.au/b2b-sales-training-approach/

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find out more about Sellabilities and the podcast on our website: https://sellabilities.com.au/

Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/sellabilities/

Follow us on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellabilities/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.