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5 Common Gaps Exposed: Sales Process Audit Insights

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

Behind every underperforming sales team, there’s usually a broken process. Without structure and clarity, even the best teams struggle to build momentum and scale.

When done properly, a sales process audit reveals the hidden gaps holding back sales performance. From the hundreds of sales process audits we’ve delivered, five clear gaps appear time and time again:

1. Sales Conversations That Lack Structure

Too many salespeople are left to ‘freestyle’ their conversations, particularly in discovery calls. Without structure, messaging drifts, qualification suffers, and deals stall later in the process because the groundwork was never properly laid.

In every sales process audit, we assess how your team runs their conversations: the questions they ask, how they position value, and how well those conversations align with modern buying journeys.

2. No One’s Quite Sure What the Official Process Is

If your process isn’t clearly defined and documented, it doesn’t really exist. All too often, we find sales process documentation is outdated, inconsistent, or simply ignored. That leaves reps interpreting stages differently, pipeline reviews becoming subjective, and deals moving at uneven speeds.

A sales process audit digs into whether your documented process truly reflects what’s happening in real sales conversations – and, importantly, whether your team actually follows it.

3. Collateral That Doesn’t Close Deals

Outdated decks. Generic case studies. Content that speaks more to you than to your buyers. We see it all the time. Even worse, reps often don’t know what resources they have, or they’re forced to create materials on the fly.

We evaluate the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of your sales collateral. The right tools should equip your team to have more impactful conversations – not hold them back.

4. Data That Can’t Be Trusted

If you can’t trust your data, you can’t forecast, coach, or scale effectively. We frequently uncover reporting issues: pipeline stages that don’t reflect reality, fields left incomplete, or inconsistent logging that makes conversion rates impossible to track accurately.

We dig into whether your data reflects true pipeline health, where deals are being lost, and which behaviours are driving wins. Without reliable data, decision-making is just guesswork.

5. Tech That Slows You Down

Sales technology should be an accelerator – but more often than not, it becomes a drag. We regularly find stacks bloated with overlapping platforms, poor integration, and underused features. The result? Reps spend more time managing systems than selling.

A sales process audit evaluates your stack from top to bottom: adoption, automation, and efficiency. The goal is to streamline and optimise – so tech becomes a genuine enabler of sales success.

Conclusion

If any of these gaps sound familiar, you’re not alone – most organisations experience at least one (if not all five). The difference lies in identifying them early and putting in place the structures, tools, and processes to fix them.

Sales Process Assessment & Audit Artwork Featuring Shaun Weston at Air Marketing

Ready to uncover the gaps in your sales process?

At Air, we specialise in helping businesses optimise sales performance through our Sales Process Audit.

This detailed assessment highlights strengths, uncovers gaps, and identifies opportunities for improvement – helping you increase conversion rates, shorten sales cycles, and drive sustainable growth.

LEARN MORE

Outsourcing Sales: The Smarter Play in 2025’s UK Job Market

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

The UK jobs market in 2025 is sending mixed messages. On one hand, businesses are still chasing ambitious growth targets. On the other, hiring confidence has dipped to its lowest levels since 2009. With higher interest rates, rising employer National Insurance contributions, and increased scrutiny from finance teams, the cost of adding permanent headcount has never been higher.

For Sales Directors and Commercial leaders, this creates a dilemma: the board still expects revenue, but the traditional lever of building out a sales team feels riskier and more expensive than ever.

So how do you continue driving growth when permanent hiring slows down? More businesses are finding the answer in outsourced sales.

The Hidden Cost of Permanent Sales Hires

On paper, a new salesperson might look like a straightforward investment: salary, commission, tools. But the reality is very different.

📊 CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook shows hiring confidence at its weakest since 2009, with redundancy plans at a ten-year high.

  • Employer costs are rising: NI contributions increased from 13.8% to 15% this year, inflating the true cost of every hire.

  • Interest rates remain stubbornly high: the Bank of England’s base rate sits above 4%, making CFOs wary of fixed-cost commitments.

  • Recruitment and ramp-up take time: months can pass before a new hire is delivering meaningful revenue.

“Permanent headcount isn’t just expensive – it’s slow. And in today’s economy, slow growth is high risk.”

Why Outsourced Sales Is Winning Support

Revenue targets don’t pause just because hiring gets tougher. Boards still demand pipeline, meetings, and opportunities – and that’s where outsourced sales comes in.

📊 REC/KPMG’s June 2025 Report on Jobs recorded the steepest fall in permanent placements for nearly two years; while demand for temporary roles remained far more resilient.

An outsourced model gives you:

  • Variable cost instead of fixed overheads – easier to flex up or down with your budget.

  • Immediate access to experienced sales professionals – no lengthy recruitment cycles.

  • Proven processes, technology and data – already tested and optimised to deliver results.

  • Clear ROI – measurable outcomes you can take straight to your CFO.

A CFO-Proof Approach to Sales Growth

Sales and Commercial Directors need solutions that satisfy both growth ambitions and finance scrutiny. Outsourced sales offers exactly that: a lean, flexible model that reduces headcount risk while still delivering results.

📊 With UK redundancy intentions at a ten-year high (CIPD, 2025), finance leaders are prioritising variable-cost levers over permanent expansion.

“The strongest sales strategies in 2025 are the ones that keep the board confident and the balance sheet under control.”

The Air Marketing Approach

At Air, we partner with B2B businesses who need to strengthen sales performance without the burden of permanent headcount. Whether you need extra capacity to support your team, or a fully outsourced engine to drive pipeline, we deliver measurable results that prove value fast.

We build pipeline. You see meetings, opportunities and revenue.

Talk to us about your goals.

Why Your AEs Are Failing at Prospecting – And What to Do About It

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

For many sales leaders, it’s an uncomfortable truth: your Account Executives (AEs) are great at closing deals but terrible at filling their own pipeline.

It’s not that they can’t prospect – it’s that in most organisations, the structure, priorities and culture set them up to fail. The result? A reliance on a handful of inbound leads, sporadic outreach and a dangerously thin pipeline.

Inconsistent prospecting is one of the most common and costly AE prospecting challenges we see. If your team’s success is heavily weighted on closing skills but the top of your funnel is weak, you’re building a revenue engine on a shaky foundation…

…the kind we break down and rebuild in our guide →  How to Fix Your Sales Pipeline Before It’s Too Late

Why AEs Struggle with Prospecting

Let’s get clear on the reasons first – and spoiler alert: it’s rarely just about “lack of effort”.

  • Conflicting priorities: AEs are judged on hitting monthly or quarterly targets, so they naturally focus on late-stage deals that are closest to closing. Prospecting gets pushed down the list until it’s too late.

  • Wrong skill focus: Closing requires a different skill set from opening. AEs who are brilliant negotiators might not have the same persistence, tone and timing needed for cold outreach.

  • Poor data quality: If they don’t have access to clean, segmented and targeted data, prospecting turns into a slow, frustrating slog. Take a look at → How To Increase Qualified B2B Sales Leads for insights on sharpening lead quality and pre-call readiness.

  • No consistent process: Without a structured cadence and clear metrics, prospecting efforts become sporadic and inconsistent.

  • Lack of accountability: If prospecting activity isn’t measured and coached, it becomes invisible – and invisible work rarely gets done.

The Impact on Revenue

When AEs aren’t consistently prospecting, the pipeline becomes dangerously dependent on marketing, referrals or luck. That’s not a strategy – it’s a gamble.

The lag effect is the real killer: a dry pipeline today is the result of prospecting gaps months ago. By the time you notice, the problem is already baked into your next quarter’s numbers.

What to Do About It: Effective Prospecting Strategies for AEs

The solution isn’t to simply tell AEs to “do more outreach”. It’s about creating the right structure, providing the right tools and instilling consistent habits that make prospecting part of the sales culture.

Here’s how to make it happen:

  • Separate responsibilities where possible: If resources allow, split sales into SDRs/BDRs for outbound and AEs for closing. If not, ringfence daily prospecting time that can’t be interrupted.

  • Block dedicated prospecting hours: 1–2 hours each day, protected from internal meetings or other distractions, ensures prospecting doesn’t get sidelined.

  • Create a repeatable cadence: Use a clear, multi-touch process that combines email, phone, LinkedIn and even voice notes to improve connection rates.

  • Lead with relevance: Personalise outreach with industry insights, role-specific challenges or trigger events such as funding rounds, leadership changes or product launches.

  • Follow up relentlessly: Build persistence into the cadence – most prospects need several touchpoints before they respond.

  • Measure activity and outcomes: Track calls, emails, meetings booked and conversion rates. Use this data for coaching, not just reporting.

  • Invest in skills training: Prospecting is different from closing. Equip AEs with tested messaging, objection handling techniques and the confidence to start high-value conversations.

  • Refine through testing: Experiment with subject lines, call openers and value propositions, and double down on what works.

  • Use tech to scale smartly: Sales engagement platforms can automate parts of the process without losing the personal touch, freeing AEs to focus on meaningful interactions.

The Bottom Line

If your AEs are failing at prospecting, it’s not just their problem, it’s a leadership problem. You can either keep asking closers to also be openers (and watch the pipeline yo-yo) or you can focus on managing AE prospecting performance in a way that builds consistency.

That means building a high-performing prospecting process that’s embedded in your sales culture, supported by training, and measured with the same rigour as closing performance.

A strong pipeline isn’t built in the last week of the quarter – it’s built every single day.

Written by: Ricky Hopwood, Head of Business Development at Air Marketing
Take Control of Your Sales Pipeline

Need to transform your sales performance?

At Air, we help businesses reignite growth by designing and executing outbound strategies that work in the real world. We uncover where opportunity is being missed — whether that’s in targeting, messaging, cadence or conversion — and build outbound engines that generate consistent, qualified pipeline.

Our approach surfaces what’s holding you back and unlocks faster, more predictable revenue.

TALK TO US TODAY

Inbound Plateaued? Here’s How Outbound Can Restart Your Growth Curve

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

Inbound has had a good run.

It’s consistent, measurable, and when it works, it works well. But for many B2B businesses, especially in competitive markets, the growth curve eventually starts to flatten. Content takes longer to convert. SEO rankings stabilise. Paid campaigns become less efficient. And despite best efforts, pipeline momentum begins to stall.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. We speak to growth-focused leaders every week who tell us, “We’ve hit a ceiling with inbound.”

So what’s the next move?

It might be time to take outbound seriously.

Why outbound — and why now?

Outbound today is a different beast. It’s not about scripted calls or generic outreach. When done properly, it’s a scalable, insight-led growth channel that drives proactive pipeline. It targets the right personas at the right time with the right message.

Crucially, outbound doesn’t replace inbound. It enhances it. When layered into your demand engine, it turns inconsistent interest into consistent opportunity.

1. Outbound gives you control

Inbound relies on timing. Buyers need to be looking for your solution when they find you. Outbound changes that. It lets you choose who to target and when, based on strategic priorities rather than search traffic.

You’re not waiting for the right leads to come to you. You’re going to them.

2. It builds predictable pipeline

With outbound, you can model volumes, track conversions, and forecast with far greater precision. This makes it much easier to report with confidence, plan with clarity, and justify investment.

It also speeds up pipeline generation. You’re not reliant on how well a blog performs or whether this month’s paid campaign hits.

3. It complements inbound, not competes with it

Some of your best-fit prospects may never engage with inbound. They’re not searching for your solution. They’re not reading your whitepapers. Outbound lets you reach these audiences directly and spark commercial conversations earlier.

In many cases, outbound turns passive prospects into active pipeline.

4. When it’s informed by insight, it works

Modern outbound is powered by data — intent signals, firmographics, technographics, and buyer behaviour. This allows for highly relevant messaging that feels timely rather than intrusive.

When it lands well, it doesn’t feel like a cold outreach. It feels like you’ve read the room.

5. It tightens the sales and marketing loop

Outbound brings marketing and sales closer together. Sales teams benefit from the awareness marketing has already built. Marketing gets real-time feedback on what messages are landing with decision-makers.

This insight makes every part of your demand strategy sharper.

Time to restart your growth curve?

If your inbound activity is no longer moving the needle, outbound can help you break the plateau. It brings structure, accountability, and commercial urgency into your pipeline strategy.

But outbound only works when it’s done properly:

  • Dedicated, experienced resource

  • Accurate, segmented data

  • Sharp, pain-led messaging

  • Consistent, multi-touch follow-up

  • Continuous testing and refinement

That’s exactly what we deliver at Air.

If your current approach isn’t cutting it, let’s build one that does. Talk to us today.

Take Control of Your Sales Pipeline

Your pipeline shouldn’t depend on who finds you.

At Air, we help businesses reignite growth by designing and executing outbound strategies that work in the real world. We uncover where opportunity is being missed — whether that’s in targeting, messaging, cadence or conversion — and build outbound engines that generate consistent, qualified pipeline.

Our approach surfaces what’s holding you back and unlocks faster, more predictable revenue.

TALK TO US TODAY

Is Your Sales Process Quietly Costing You Revenue?

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

Your sales team might be putting in the hours. The effort might be there. But if your sales process is misaligned, outdated, or poorly defined, that effort could be going to waste—and costing you serious revenue.

Misfires in the sales process rarely make noise. They don’t show up as flashing red alerts. Instead, they creep in: through inconsistent deal progression, disjointed messaging, underused tech, or a growing reliance on top performers just to hit target. Left unchecked, they compound into missed opportunities, inefficiencies, and eventually, stagnation.

So how do you spot the silent killers, and what can you do to fix them?

The Hidden Ways Your Sales Process Is Undermining Performance

Let’s start with the telltale signs we see most often in underperforming or plateaued sales teams.

1. Reps Are Working Hard, But Not Effectively

Without a clear, modern framework to follow, reps default to personal preference. Some chase leads aggressively, others take a consultative approach—neither necessarily wrong, but without structure, it’s inconsistent. Messaging varies. Follow-up slips. Deal cycles stretch out unnecessarily.

2. Deals Stall—And No One Knows Why

A process without well-defined stages, exit criteria or qualification standards leads to unpredictable pipelines. Opportunities linger indefinitely. Forecasting becomes guesswork. Leadership loses visibility, and the business pays the price.

3. Your Tech Stack Isn’t Working For You

You may have invested in CRM, automation, and sales enablement tools, but if they’re not fully embedded into your process, they’ll be underused or misused. Reps avoid clunky systems. Data becomes patchy. And automation? That becomes an opportunity missed, not maximised.

4. Discovery Is Shallow—and It Shows

Great discovery should uncover pain points, motivations, buying dynamics and urgency. But too often, teams still run through surface-level questions and lead with features. This results in generic proposals that fail to resonate, and a much higher likelihood of deals going cold.

5. No One Can Define What ‘Good’ Looks Like

If high performance in your team is anecdotal rather than systematic, you have a scalability problem. Without a shared understanding of best practice—supported by data, benchmarks, and coaching—you’re relying on a handful of stars, rather than building a strong, repeatable machine.

6. Sales and Marketing Aren’t Pulling in the Same Direction

A misaligned sales process can disconnect your GTM engine. If marketing is generating leads that sales doesn’t know how to convert, you’ll see friction, finger-pointing, and funnel leakage. The buyer experiences inconsistency, and conversion suffers.

7. Top Reps Are Getting Frustrated

If your strongest performers are weighed down by admin, inefficient processes, or inflexible tools, they’ll disengage. Worse, they might leave altogether. Talent retention isn’t just about culture, it’s about whether they can do their best work.

8. Coaching Becomes Firefighting

When there’s no clarity or visibility into what’s working (and what’s not), managers are left reacting to missed targets, rather than proactively supporting their teams. Coaching becomes inconsistent. Underperformance becomes harder to diagnose, and even harder to turn around.

How to Know If Your Sales Process Needs an Intervention

You don’t need a full-blown pipeline collapse to know something’s wrong. Look for these early indicators:

  • Inconsistent win rates across reps or teams

  • Low adoption of CRM or sales tools

  • Too many prospects ending in “no decision”

  • Stalled deals with unclear next steps

  • Difficulty forecasting or hitting targets

  • High rep turnover or disengagement

  • A vague understanding of your ICP or sales playbook

  • A culture of ‘gut feel’ over data-driven decisions

The Fix: Clarity, Consistency and Commercial Focus

At Air Marketing, we work with B2B sales leaders to remove the guesswork. Our Sales Process Assessment & Audit gives you a clear picture of how your sales process is performing: what’s working, what’s not, and what’s costing you deals.

We analyse:

  • Process design and deal stages

  • Sales-to-marketing alignment

  • Discovery and qualification techniques

  • CRM structure and adoption

  • Use (and misuse) of sales tools

  • Rep productivity and coaching cadence

Then we deliver practical recommendations to help you build a sales operation that works at scale—grounded in data, driven by best practice, and built to convert.

Sales Process Assessment & Audit Artwork Featuring Shaun Weston at Air Marketing

Ready to stop the silent revenue drain?

At Air, we specialise in helping businesses optimise their sales performance through a detailed review of their sales and marketing processes.

Our assessment highlights strengths, uncovers gaps, and identifies opportunities for improvement, enhancing conversion rates, shortening sales cycles, and driving sustainable growth. 

 

LEARN MORE

Your MQLs Aren’t the Problem – Your Follow-Up Is

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

It’s a common gripe between sales and marketing teams: “The leads aren’t good enough.” But let’s get one thing straight — most of the time, the problem isn’t the leads. It’s what happens next.

Marketers are measured on MQLs. Sales teams are measured on revenue. The disconnect between the two creates friction, but what’s often overlooked is this: the leads you’re generating *are* qualified — they’re just not being followed up in a way that converts.

Here’s what’s really going wrong:

Slow response times

Responding to leads within the first five minutes makes you *21x more likely* to qualify them — yet only 7% of companies respond within that window. Most B2B teams take hours, if not days.

Source: Lead Response Management Study

One-and-done outreach

It takes an average of *8 touches* to get a response from a prospect. Many sales reps stop after just 2.

Source: Rain Group – “Top Performance in Sales Prospecting”

Generic follow-ups

72% of buyers expect B2B companies to personalise outreach based on their previous interactions. Templated, non-contextual follow-ups simply don’t make the cut.

Source: Salesforce – State of the Connected Customer, 5th Edition

Poor sales/marketing alignment

Only 46% of B2B organisations report having a formal definition of an MQL agreed upon by both teams. When there’s no shared understanding, the follow-up is inconsistent and ineffective.

Source: Demand Gen Report – 2023 Lead Nurturing & Acceleration Benchmark Survey

So what does good MQL follow-up look like?

🔹 Fast and personalised: Respond while intent is high and reference the specific asset or page they engaged with.

🔹 Multi-channel: Don’t rely on just email. Use LinkedIn, phone, and remarketing to stay top of mind.

🔹 Structured and consistent: Build follow-up cadences that include a minimum of 6-8 touches across 10+ days.

🔹 Context-rich: Arm your sales team with the right messaging, content hooks, and background on the lead’s journey.

🔹 Shared accountability: MQLs should be a shared metric. If marketing delivers them, sales should be ready to follow through — and vice versa.

👉 Here are 5 key marketing metrics every team should be monitoring to connect activity to actual pipeline impact.

Don’t let good leads go cold

At Air Marketing, we work with B2B teams who are tired of the blame game. We don’t just generate MQLs — we help our clients build intelligent follow-up frameworks that turn those leads into real pipeline. Whether it’s implementing structured nurture workflows, training BDRs to follow up effectively, or taking on the outreach ourselves, we help bridge the gap between interest and impact.

So before you question the quality of your leads — ask yourself: what happens after the form is filled?

📞 Book a quick call and learn how we can help.

How To Increase Qualified B2B Sales Leads

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

In B2B sales, the real challenge isn’t generating leads—it’s generating the right leads.

If you’re looking to improve your sales pipeline quality and increase conversion rates, the solution lies in strategic preparation, not just volume. At Air Marketing, we’ve seen time and again that the single most effective tactic for boosting lead qualification is pre-call research.

By understanding the prospect before you ever pick up the phone, you equip yourself with the insights needed to have meaningful, relevant conversations that open doors—not shut them.

These insights were originally explored in our Calling Masters webinar – watch the full session here.

Why Pre-Call Research Is Key to Better Lead Quality

Cold calling, when done without context, is often met with indifference. When done with insight, it becomes a powerful tool for starting qualified sales conversations.

Pre-call research helps shift your approach from generic outreach to tailored messaging. It increases credibility, improves rapport, and ensures you’re targeting people and businesses with the highest potential to convert.

Start with a Clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

High-performing sales teams don’t treat every prospect equally—they prioritise the ones that match their Ideal Customer Profile.

Understanding your ICP allows you to filter by relevant industry sectors, company size, and decision-making roles. That clarity ensures you’re speaking to organisations that not only need what you offer, but are structurally and strategically aligned to act on it.

This is a fundamental step in every outbound campaign we run at Air. It keeps messaging sharp, outreach relevant, and lead qualification rates high.

For a deeper dive into defining and leveraging your ICP, read our guide: Swipe Right: How to Match with Your Ideal Customer Profile.

Solve Specific Problems, Don’t Deliver Generic Pitches

The most successful sales calls start with a solution-focused mindset. But you can’t offer a solution if you don’t understand the problem.

By taking a few minutes to explore recent company activity, sector trends, and likely challenges, you’re better positioned to demonstrate value. That preparation allows you to speak directly to the pain points that matter most, making your proposition immediately more compelling.

Use Insight to Build Trust

Tailored calls that reference specific details about the prospect’s business stand out. Whether it’s a recent funding round, industry recognition, or a strategic initiative—they signal that you’ve done your homework.

This builds trust early in the call and positions you as someone who respects the prospect’s time. In a crowded market, that kind of credibility makes all the difference in moving a lead from cold to qualified.

What to Research Before You Call

Here’s how to prepare efficiently and effectively:

1. Company Information

  • Industry trends and challenges

  • Company size and structure

  • Press coverage, funding, partnerships

  • Website content and service lines

2. Decision-Maker Context

  • Job title and responsibilities

  • LinkedIn activity and content

  • Career milestones or professional interests

It’s about surfacing the information that can enrich the conversation—not overwhelming the prospect with a data dump.

3. Business Triggers

  • Expansion into new markets

  • Hiring trends or leadership changes

  • Regulatory pressures or sector innovation

  • ISO or ESG ambitions

These are often signs that an organisation is navigating change—and may be more receptive to new solutions.

4. Tools to Make It Easier

Our team leverages tools that cut through the noise, including:

  • BuiltWith – to assess technology stacks

  • Google News – for timely updates

  • LinkedIn – for individual signals and social proof

  • CRM history and intent data – for deeper context across previous interactions

Stay Focused: Efficient Research Yields Faster Results

Pre-call research doesn’t need to take hours. When done with discipline, it can take just 5–10 minutes and yield much higher-quality conversations.

The key is to find the balance: not so much research that it delays outreach, but not so little that it results in unqualified leads.

To maintain momentum, set clear time limits per prospect, segment your research by persona or vertical, and focus only on details that will genuinely support your conversation.

Putting Research Into Action

Research is only useful when it’s applied. Here’s how to bring it into the conversation without overwhelming the prospect:

Start With Relevance

Mention a recent update or known challenge to demonstrate that you’ve prepared. Then link that insight directly to how your solution can help.

Avoid Information Overload

Use just enough detail to demonstrate understanding. The goal is to create a sense of familiarity and relevance, not to show off how much you know.

Ask Smarter Questions

Guide the conversation by referencing industry context or common pain points. Asking “Is that something you’re seeing as well?” opens the door to discussion and deepens the prospect’s engagement.

Common Cold Calling Challenges – and How Research Helps

Cold Call Anxiety

Preparation builds confidence. Knowing your value proposition, understanding the audience, and being ready for objections makes each call more manageable.

Staying grounded in facts and insights also keeps the call professional, even when a prospect isn’t receptive.

Engaging Senior Stakeholders

Executives expect relevance and impact. Research allows you to cut to what matters—commercial results, risk mitigation, or strategic growth.

By speaking their language and demonstrating domain knowledge, you elevate the conversation and increase your chances of success.

Research + Relevance = Better Leads

If your goal is to increase qualified B2B sales leads, pre-call research is one of the most impactful habits you can adopt.

It improves call quality. It raises conversion rates. It helps you stop wasting time on the wrong leads and start focusing on the right ones.

At Air Marketing, we embed this thinking into every sales campaign we deliver—because preparation isn’t a luxury in outbound sales. It’s a performance advantage.

Ready to Improve Your Lead Quality?

Air Marketing helps businesses generate more qualified B2B leads through targeted, insight-led outbound sales campaigns. From strategy and messaging to SDR execution and reporting, we manage the full process—so you get results without guesswork.

📞 Request a quick discovery call and learn how our outsourced SDR teams can build your pipeline with precision.

How to Fix Your Reactive Pipeline Before It’s Too Late

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

Sales leaders often don’t realise their pipeline is reactive until it’s already hurting performance. Deals start slipping, forecasts become fiction, and the team is stuck in a cycle of chasing rather than closing.

By the time most sales teams acknowledge there’s a problem, it’s already critical. And while quick fixes might keep things afloat in the short term, they won’t build predictable revenue.

If your pipeline relies on luck, last-minute heroics, or one or two key accounts coming in ‘just in time’, you’re already at risk.

The good news? It’s fixable – if you act fast.

First: Do you have a reactive pipeline?

Here are five warning signs:

  1. Peaks and troughs in monthly pipeline value

  2. Inbound-heavy strategies with minimal outbound activity

  3. Late-stage pressure to “find” deals before quarter-end

  4. No structured prospecting rhythm across the team

  5. Sales forecasts based on gut feel, not verified data

If any of these feel familiar, your pipeline isn’t futureproof – and it’s time to take control.

Why reactive pipelines happen

Most reactive pipelines are the result of one thing: neglecting top-of-funnel activity. When prospecting is inconsistent or deprioritised, pipeline coverage becomes patchy. Add in over-reliance on marketing or referrals, and you’ve got a pipeline vulnerable to external market shifts.

There’s also a cultural factor. Sales teams often fall into ‘delivery mode’ – focused on closing or servicing existing deals, rather than fuelling the funnel for future months. By the time attention returns to new business generation, it’s already too late.

Fixing it: A practical playbook for regaining control

Diagnose the gaps

  • Analyse your pipeline by source, stage, and age.
  • Look for bottlenecks, drop-offs, or channels delivering diminishing returns.

Reset the prospecting culture

  • Daily outbound activity must be non-negotiable, not optional.
  • Equip the team with clear messaging, targeted data, and accountability frameworks.

Build an outbound motion that scales

  • Relying on individual effort alone won’t cut it.
  • Invest in a systematic outbound engine combining automation, personalisation, and multi-channel outreach.

Rebuild forecasting from the ground up

  • Start with pipeline coverage and conversion rates – not wishful thinking.
  • Hold regular, realistic pipeline reviews that focus on progression, not just volume.

Align sales and marketing on pipeline goals

  • Marketing should be focused on generating demand, not just leads.
  • Shared ownership over pipeline health drives consistency across channels.

The mindset shift: from reactive to repeatable

Fixing a reactive pipeline isn’t about finding a silver bullet. It’s about building a machine – one that prioritises daily pipeline activity, empowers your team with the right tools and insight, and aligns every effort to a consistent revenue rhythm.

Don’t wait for the next dry month to take action. The earlier you fix the foundation, the sooner you gain predictability – and the confidence that comes with it.

Ready to futureproof your pipeline?

Discover how Air Marketing helps sales leaders build sustainable, repeatable outbound strategies that deliver results.

Explore our sales services.

Sales team working on strategy to fix sales pipeline

How to Sell EV Charging to Businesses That Don’t See the Financial Benefits (Yet)

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

It’s easy to assume that selling EV charging into businesses should be straightforward. The market’s growing. The need is rising. The future is electric. But here’s the reality: if the financial case isn’t immediately obvious, most businesses won’t move.

And for many, it still isn’t.

That’s the challenge sales teams are up against. You’re not selling an EV charger. You’re selling future value – in a market where short-term pressures dominate decision-making. So how do you get through to a business that doesn’t yet see EV charging as commercially viable?

Reframing the Conversation

The problem isn’t that they don’t care. It’s that they’re not connecting the dots between EV charging and business impact. Your job is to reframe the narrative – from a ‘green tick box’ to a commercial lever. That starts with repositioning the value in ways that resonate with your buyer’s priorities.

🔹 Talk in commercial language, not carbon
If your buyer is measured on cost, revenue, or operational efficiency, lead with that – not emissions. Show how EV charging can reduce fleet fuel costs, increase footfall, or open new revenue streams.

🔹 Make the intangible, tangible
Sustainability might not sit on a P&L, but reputation does. Position EV charging as a signal of innovation and leadership that attracts top talent, investors, and customers alike.

🔹 Anchor to data, not hype
Generic trends won’t cut it. Use sector-specific stats, real case studies, and ROI models tailored to their environment. Help them see themselves in the opportunity.

🔹 Get ahead of regulation
If they’re not feeling pressure now, they will. Build urgency by highlighting upcoming legislation and market shifts – then position them as a first mover, not a late adopter.

🔹 Sell simplicity, not complexity
The tech might be clever, but your pitch shouldn’t be. Break down the operational lift, make the rollout feel doable, and remove any perceived barriers.

Sales is About Translating Vision Into Value

At its core, this is about connecting future-facing solutions with present-day business pressures. That requires empathy, commercial insight, and the confidence to challenge assumptions.

You don’t need your prospect to become an EV evangelist overnight. You just need them to see that this isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s an investment – in efficiency, differentiation, and future readiness.

And with the right approach, that’s a far easier sell than it looks.

Need support converting cautious prospects into confident buyers?

At Air Marketing, we help growth-focused EV brands build high-performance sales strategies that cut through hesitation and accelerate adoption.

Get in touch and let’s talk about your sales goals.

Why Traditional Sales Approaches No Longer Work in Utilities – And What to Do Instead

Posted on by Hannah Sanders

“The best salespeople today act more like consultants than traditional reps.”

For years, the utilities sector has been powered by tried-and-tested sales tactics: cold calls, bulk mailers, and lengthy procurement cycles that move at the speed of a slow-charging EV battery. But times have changed. Customers are savvier, markets are evolving, and the old-school playbook is no longer fit for purpose.

So, if traditional sales approaches no longer work, what should utilities companies do instead? Let’s take a closer look at why the shift is happening – and how forward-thinking firms can adapt.

The Problem with Traditional Sales in Utilities

  1. Customers Have More Control

Once upon a time, utilities companies could dictate terms. Now, digital platforms have put power (literally and figuratively) in the hands of customers. Whether it’s comparing energy providers or choosing a new smart home solution, today’s buyers expect transparency, speed, and self-service options. If they have to jump through hoops to get information, they’ll simply go elsewhere.

  1. Procurement is No Longer a Slow Game

Historically, sales in the utilities sector involved long RFPs (Request for Proposal), multiple stakeholder approvals, and decisions that took months, if not years. But automation and AI-powered procurement tools have sped things up. Customers don’t have time for drawn-out pitches and old-school sales cycles.

  1. The “Push” Model is Dead

Hard-selling tactics and aggressive pitches feel out of place in today’s utilities market. Customers don’t want to be “sold to” – they want to be educated, advised, and empowered to make their own choices. The companies that focus on value, rather than just selling, will win the race.

The New Sales Playbook: What to Do Instead

  1. Shift to a Consultative Approach

Modern sales isn’t about convincing someone to buy; it’s about guiding them to the right decision. Utilities firms should act as advisors, helping customers navigate options, regulatory changes, and emerging technologies. Whether it’s sustainability, efficiency, or cost-saving strategies, the best salespeople today act more like consultants than traditional reps.

  1. Embrace Digital-First Sales

If customers are searching for solutions online, why are so many sales teams still relying on cold calls alone? Digital marketing, content strategies, and self-service portals allow buyers to do their own research before ever speaking to a salesperson. However, a well-timed, strategic cold call can still be an effective tool to engage decision-makers, clarify needs, and drive meaningful conversations. Companies that integrate digital-first sales strategies alongside personalised outreach will be the ones capturing demand, rather than chasing it.

  1. Focus on Personalisation

No one wants a one-size-fits-all pitch. With AI-driven insights and customer data analytics, utilities companies can personalise their outreach, ensuring customers receive relevant recommendations based on their specific needs. Whether it’s a tailored energy efficiency report or a predictive maintenance schedule, personalisation makes sales efforts more effective.

  1. Build Trust, Not Just Pipelines

The utilities sector is built on trust. Customers aren’t just buying a service – they’re making a long-term commitment. Sales teams need to focus on credibility, transparency, and customer education rather than quick wins. By offering valuable insights, engaging in thought leadership, and being upfront about costs and benefits, utilities firms can foster stronger, longer-lasting relationships.

The Bottom Line

Traditional sales methods in utilities are fading fast. Customers now expect seamless, digital-first interactions, personalised recommendations, and value-driven conversations. Utilities companies that shift away from outdated sales tactics and embrace a more consultative, tech-enabled approach will be the ones that thrive.

The future of sales in utilities isn’t about pushing harder – it’s about making it easier for customers to buy.

Now, who’s ready to rethink their sales strategy? Our sales and marketing experts can help. Speak to us on 07884 185911, or enquire here.

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