Keeping It Simple
The fastest, simplest ways to grow your business - no jargon, no fluff. Practical strategies that actually work for SME owners in the USA, New Zealand, and worldwide.
Monday, October 05, 2026
There is no single best business coach in the USA. Here are five criteria for choosing one, a fair look at the main formats, and why an outside perspective can change what you see in your own business.
As the year winds down, salespeople quietly change their standards. A lead that would have been waved through in March suddenly looks worth chasing in November, because any deal feels better than an empty pipeline going into the new year. That instinct is exactly what fills a business with its worst customers - the late payers, the scope-creepers, the ones who were never really going to be happy. After building and running sales teams across nine companies, I can tell you the fix is not working harder on every lead. It is asking one sharp question early enough to let the bad ones walk away before you have spent real time on them.
The Chase-Everything Trap
Here is the named enemy: the belief that a proper salesperson qualifies less and pushes harder as the quarter tightens. Industry research on lead qualification, compiled by LeadResponse, found that 67 percent of lost sales come directly from reps failing to properly qualify a lead before investing time in it, and that properly qualified leads convert at around 40 percent compared with just 11 percent for leads that were never filtered at all. Chasing everything does not fill the pipeline. It fills the pipeline with the deals least likely to close and most likely to go wrong if they do.
The Right-Fit Filter
You do not need a long discovery call to catch a bad-fit deal. Three questions, asked early and listened to carefully, do almost all of the work.
- The constraint question - ask what happens if this problem is not solved in the next six months. A real, prioritised pain gets a specific answer. Mild curiosity gets a shrug.
- The budget-reality question - do not ask what their budget is, ask what they have already tried and what it cost them. This reveals whether they have actually paid to solve the problem before, which tells you far more than a number they will guess to sound reasonable.
- The decision question - ask who else needs to agree before they can say yes. This surfaces hidden stakeholders before you have spent hours building a proposal for someone who was never going to be the final decision maker.
"Kevin doesn't just present, he electrifies the room and drives massive, real-world value! He drops game-changing insights and actionable shortcuts that show businesses exactly how to turn everyday customers into raving, loyal fans, and acquire new ones faster than ever thought possible."
— Gareth Bayliss, Sales Manager, The Icehouse
Why Reps Skip the Filter
Asking these questions feels like it risks talking a prospect out of a deal, and under pressure to hit a number that feels like the last thing anyone wants to do. But a deal you talk yourself out of in week one costs you a wasted proposal. A deal you do not filter and win anyway can cost you months of delivery pain, a damaged team, and a customer who was always going to churn. The businesses Kevin coaches through year end learn to treat the filter as a discipline, not an optional extra reserved for quiet months.
Quick Wins
- Add the three filter questions to your next five sales calls this week and note how many prospects give vague or shifting answers.
- Agree with your team on what an honest walk-away answer looks like for each question, before the pressure of a quiet pipeline changes everyone's standards.
- Review your last five lost or troubled deals and check whether the filter would have flagged them earlier.
Key Takeaways
- Remember chasing every lead late in the year fills your pipeline with the deals least likely to close well.
- Ask what happens if the problem stays unsolved, not do you have a budget, to find the real pain.
- Find out what they have already tried and what it cost, since that predicts real intent better than a stated budget.
- Surface every decision maker with one direct question, before you build a proposal for the wrong person.
If your pipeline is full of deals you are chasing rather than deals that are chasing you, the filter is where we start.
Kevin D’Ambros-Smith
Kevin is the founder of Simple-Growth and a business growth coach with experience at DDB, Ogilvy, and Saatchi & Saatchi. He has co-founded 9 companies, coached 200+ business owners one-on-one, and holds a 9.5/10 NPS. Every article on this blog reflects real-world experience - no theory, no fluff.
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Monday, October 05, 2026
There is no single best business coach in the USA. Here are five criteria for choosing one, a fair look at the main formats, and why an outside perspective can change what you see in your own business.
Monday, October 05, 2026
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Monday, October 05, 2026
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Monday, October 05, 2026
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The biggest sales research study ever run found the best reps ask, they don't tell. Here is the SPIN method, and the four questions that come before any pitch.