The Growth Notes

Useful ideas.
No business theatre.

Short reads on sales, marketing, leadership and revenue systems. Written for owners with a business to run and approximately no time for waffle.

See the conversation on LinkedIn
A dusty museum of old sales opportunities
The deal is still in the pipeline. It has also grown a beard.
Sales systems 3 min

Your pipeline is not a storage unit

A simple Friday check that stops dead deals pretending they will pay you.

Some pipelines are less ‘forecast’ and more ‘museum of conversations we had once.’
Read the useful bit
A salesperson hovering while a prospect hides behind a plant
Just checking in… for the seventh and final final time.
Sales 3 min

Follow up without becoming a pest

A human follow-up structure for leads that went quiet without sounding needy or robotic.

Following up is not annoying. Sending ‘just checking in’ seven times is.
Read the useful bit
A megaphone missing the ideal customer who is waving nearby
Excellent reach. Unfortunately, the customer is over there.
Marketing 3 min

Marketing should start sales conversations

Why useful content beats random posting—and how it can lead to real customer conversations.

Likes are pleasant. They are not legal tender.
Read the useful bit
A strategy bouncer keeping shiny distractions outside
Strategy is partly choosing what does not enter the building.
Strategy 3 min

Your strategy needs a not-doing list

A practical way to turn a crowded growth plan into three decisions your team can execute.

If everything is a priority, congratulations: nothing is.
Read the useful bit
A salesperson presenting a vague weather forecast to a sales team
The forecast is promising, with scattered next steps.
Leadership 3 min

Sales meetings should not be weather reports

Turn weekly sales meetings from status theatre into decisions, coaching and clear commitments.

‘Things are looking promising’ is not a sales update. It is a weather forecast.
Read the useful bit
An office robot tangled in a confused sales process
The robot has automated the confusion. It now arrives faster.
Systems 3 min

AI will not fix a confused sales process

Where AI genuinely helps sales teams—and where it simply makes confusion move faster.

Automating chaos is still chaos. It just sends reminders now.
Read the useful bit
A price tag cutting itself while a profit piggy bank faints
Good news: we won the deal. Bad news: we donated the profit.
Revenue 3 min

Discounting is not a sales strategy

How to protect margin by improving fit, value and commercial confidence before cutting price.

A discount is very generous when it comes out of someone else’s spreadsheet.
Read the useful bit
A founder juggling every sales task while the team waits
The team has a sales process. His name is the owner.
Leadership 3 min

The owner cannot be the sales process

Five signals that growth still depends too heavily on the founder—and the first system to build.

If every deal needs your blessing, memory and WhatsApp, you do not have a sales process. You have a talented bottleneck.
Read the useful bit
A noisy dashboard distracts from an obvious leaking pipe
Forty-seven charts. One leaking pipe. Nobody look down.
Revenue strategy 3 min

Measure the leak, not the noise

The five revenue numbers an SME should review weekly before adding another dashboard.

A dashboard with 47 charts is often a very expensive way to avoid one decision.
Read the useful bit

Find your first move

Not sure which problem is actually the problem?

Take the free 360° diagnostic. Twenty-five honest answers. One clear place to start.

Run the diagnostic →