A champion in the deal meant an 82% win.
A challenger drinks brand grew on the founder's instinct for a sale. Tribe built the system that turned it into a playbook and provided the data to prove it.
The Problem
It all ran on one person being in the room.
- 01
The conversion lived in the founder's head and only worked when he was there.
- 02
Drink samples went out with no qualification and no follow-up. Incurring costs with no real system to track ROI.
- 03
Nobody could explain why more sampling wasn't producing more customers.
The brand grew incredibly well on the founder's field sales. Underneath, the pipeline leaked: samples went out with no qualification and follow-up was not properly scheduled. The company had plans to grow revenue but their CRM couldn't give them any insight as to where sales growth was happening already.
The Audit
82% win rate with a champion inside the account. 19% without.
A 4× swing hiding in the data. The single biggest predictor of revenue.
The audit started with establishing baseline metrics from their CRM and Xero. A full source-to-close map to see exactly where deals were entering and leaving the pipeline. The leaks became visible immediately.
The win wasn't coming from their original theory that it was all about the sample. It was coming from finding the person inside who already wanted the product and would push for it. The CRM hadn't been tracking the field that mattered most.
The Implement
An enforced pipeline and data-led leadership.
Structured Audit Implementation
We set about helping the company start to track the established baselines.
- B2B revenue share, AOV, and average cycle length benchmarked from live data.
- Full source to close pipeline to identify leaks by stage.
- Deal amounts could now have realistic estimates attached based on information captured.
Pipeline Architecture
Stages defined and built, reporting functionality and custom views built.
- 7-stage pipeline with qualification gates.
- Custom views and lists built for each team role.
- Required fields block progression until criteria are met.
Leadership + Data
Ongoing sales leadership calls during and after the implementation, then a pipeline-health analysis that quantified the leaks. The data provided evidence where it had previously been instinct.
- Sales leader calls run alongside and after the build to coach on process, not just tools.
- Pipeline-health analysis surfaced win-rate variance by deal attribute.
- Champion tracking identified as the single highest-leverage behaviour change
The Measure
Instinct became an enforceable rule. And the dead pipeline finally cleared.
Dependency, named
After a "yes" from a prospect, closing the deal moved to the office team so the founder's time stayed in the field. Where buyers deferred, internal champions were actively looked for before deals advanced and unnecessary samples were given out.
Champion, a rule
Champion is now a required field. A deal cannot advance past qualification without them. The behaviour is architectural, the whole team ensure it is enforced.
The rot, measured
Due to the previous unqualified samples going out 39% of deals sat inactive for more than 30 days, We immediately unblocked ~£28,500 in stalled pipeline. A 30-day sunset rule now routes stale deals to a nurture sequence automatically.
Outcomes
The winning behaviour stopped depending on who was in the room.
Win rate made visible
The pipeline-health analysis surfaced what instinct had never quantified: deals with an identified champion closed at 82%. Without one, 19%. The data turned a felt sense into an evidence-based rule.
Champion made structural
Champion and economic buyer became required CRM fields. A deal cannot advance past a certain stage without them. The highest-leverage behaviour is now architectural.
Zombie pipeline cleared
A 30-day sunset rule now routes stale deals to a nurture sequence automatically, so the active pipeline reflects reality.
Founder freed from the close
Contracts, onboarding, paperwork all moved to head office so the founder's time stayed in the field. The process no longer required the same person to both close and administer the deal.
Sampling cost attached to return
Qualification criteria introduced before samples go out means cost now has a return attached to it. The team can see which sampling activity is generating pipeline and which is not.
Click a stage to explore it
