Nothing Happens until someone sells something: Why Sales must come first

A Story As Old As Time

A few weeks ago, I had a discovery call with a business owner that stuck with me. It wasn't the first time I'd heard a story like this, and it won't be the last. This call perfectly highlighted a mindset that holds back countless founders and small business owners.

This person had been building their company for several years. They had a useful service, some early infrastructure and and a decent idea of the market they wanted to serve. But when I asked about revenue, I heard something I didn't expect: "I'm still working on getting my first client, but I think I'm close."

Four tears in, and still no revenue! This company either really needs my help or they're not taking this business seriously.

When I asked how long this could continue, I was even more shocked. The response was, "I can probably go another 3 years before I need to decide if this is viable." This answered my question about how important this problem was to them, but we were out of time and I wanted to confirm my suspicion so we booked a second call to fully qualify (or likely disqualify) this prospect.

When we spoke again a week later this person told me that they were going to hold off on considering sales coaching or training for the moment. This was because they found a lead generation option they wanted to try and they wanted to get their messaging right. After a short back and fourth exchange I disqualified the prospect and ended the call.

I walked away shaking my head at the misalignment of priority I had witnessed.

This wasn't an isolated case. I've seen it with pre-revenue startups and with businesses already doing a few million in annual sales. Leaders hit a plateau, panic about growth and then redirect their focus anywhere but where is should be - sales.

Here's the core truth: nothing happens in business until someone sells something.

Sales Before Everything Else

Marketing is important, business development matters, strategic partnerships can be game-changing. But none of these directly put money in the bank.

Sales does!

If your sales aren't where they need to be and you find yourself obsessing over another area of the business, your focus is misplaced. You can have the best brand, the sharpest messaging and a killer product; but if nobody is actually converting prospects into paying clients, it won't matter.

Sales strategy must come first. Sales skills must be built and coached. Sales training must be ongoing. Without this foundation, everything else is running ahead of schedule.

I often see founders who treat sales like a dirty word, or something they'll "get around to" once the rest of the business is polished. That's putting the cart before the horse. The order matters. You need a sales system that produces revenue before you invest in scaling it through marketing, partnerships or expansion.

The "Out of Order" Trap

So why do so many business owners fall into this trap?

Because focusing on sales is hard.

It requires putting yourself in uncomfortable conversations, risking rejection and building discipline around activity and follow-through. It's much easier to hide behind marketing projects, branding exercises or lead-gen funnels. Those things feel productive but they don't create clients on their own.

When business leaders skip over sales, they fall into what I call the "out of order" trap. They're working on downstream growth levers without first proving the business can consistently sell.

The consequences are predictable:

• Stalled growth. Marketing brings in leads, but they don't convert.

• Wasted spend. Money gets thrown into campaigns without the sales skills to capture ROI.

• Frustration. Owners wonder why competitors are closing deals while they keep "almost" landing clients.

The sequence matters. First, build sales strength they use marketing and partnerships to pour fuel on the fire.

Nothing Scales Without Sales

Here's a simple question for every founder and small business owner: When growth slows down, where do you look first?

Too many leaders glance at the wrong dashboard. They immediately check marketing metrics, partnership pipelines or product updates, but the first place you should always looks if your sales team; or, if you're the one selling, your own sales process and skills.

Why? Because sales is the engine. If the engine isn't working, nothing else will move the business forward.

• Marketing scales sales. It doesn't replace it.

• Partnerships enhance reach. They don't create revenue by themselves.

• Product strength supports retention. It doesn't close deals.

You can't skip the hard work of building a competent, consistent sales function.

What Strong Sales Looks Like

So what does "getting sales right" actually mean? It's not about natural charisma or being a smooth talker. Strong sales comes down to a few key components:

1. Clear Sales Strategy

A sales strategy isn't just "make more calls" or "book more demos." It's a deliberate plan that answers:

• Who are we targeting?

• What problems do we solve for them?

• How do we differentiate ourselves?

• What activity levels do we need to hit our numbers?

Without this clarity, sales activity is scattered and inconsistent.

2. Process That Guides Conversations

Every successful business has a process that guides how sales conversations unfold. It doesn't need to be overly complex, but it does need to be consistent. Build brilliance in the basics, prospect, discover, qualify, propose and close. Every sales person should know what comes next and how to move the buyer forward without pressure or gimmicks.

3. Sales Skills Backed by Training

Even the best process fails without skilled execution. Sales skills like questioning, listening, uncovering needs, handling objections and closing are learned and practiced; not inherited. That means investing in sales training and coaching isn't optional. It's the fuel that keeps the process working.

4. Leadership That Holds Accountability

Founders and business owners must hold themselves and their teams accountable to sales activity. Numbers don't lie. If calls aren't being made, deals won't close. If coaching isn't happening, skills won't improve. Accountability is what turns strategy into execution.

Recognizing Misplaced Focus

It's easy to drift away from sales. Marketing is shinier, partnerships feel exciting and branding feels like progress.

But here are some signs you've misplaced your focus:

• You're talking about redesigning the website while your sales pipeline is empty.

• You're planning a networking event, but you haven't reached out to last month's leads.

• You're debating marketing spend, but you haven't reviewed sales activity reports.

• You're chasing partnerships, but you don't have a repeatable process for closing direct deals.

If any of these hit close to home, it's time to pause and ask: "Are sales really as strong as they need to be?"

Applying This Lesson Beyond Startups

It's tempting to think this is only a startup problem, but I've seen the same pattern in established businesses.

A company hist $2M, $5M even $10M in revenue, then plateaus. The leadership team panics and hires a marketing firm, rebrands the website or launches new products, but they rarely stop to ask whether the sales team has what it needs to succeed. More often than not, the plateau isn't caused by marketing. It's caused by sales teams that are under-skilled, under-coached or simply not held accountable.

The same principle applies: if sales aren't where they should be, look there first. Strengthen the foundation, then pour gas on the fire with marketing and expansion.

The Takeaway

The lesson from that discovery call, and from many conversations like it, is simple: sales must come first. If sales aren't happening, nothing else matters. Not branding. Not marketing. Not partnerships. Not product tweaks.

When your sales strategy is clear, your process is strong and your people are trained and accountable, then and only then do the other levers of growth create meaningful impact.

So here's the lesson I hope you take away: if you aren't seeing the growth you want, stop looking everywhere else and start with sales. Because nothing happens in business until someone sells something.