Results

What changed,and what it was worth.

Nine results from one field sales organisation of more than 1,100 reps, between 2017 and 2021. Three of the four people at Cornerpost were there.

37%

Lift in close rate, in 30 days, when ten reps in one region moved every sales tool into one application.

The catalyst. The organisation then roughly doubled in size every year as the application scaled from around 60 reps to over 1,100.

Pilot · 2017
Sales Sucks, ch. 6

8→14%

All-in lead-to-close rate, counting every lead — not just the ones that sat.

Marketing dollars went roughly 60–75% further. Reached in territories with full adoption and engaged managers, over four years.

2017 – 2021
Internal field data

15→20%+

Sit-to-close rate where the local managers were trained and bought in.

One in five appointments closed instead of one in six — a third more revenue from the same appointments. Technology alone did not do this; managers did.

2017 – 2021
Internal comparison

~2mo

For a new territory to cover its costs on sales booked. Profitable in under four months once that revenue came through.

Revenue there was recognised about two months after a sale was booked, so the sales behind month-four profitability were made by about month two. Hiring, training and the application, together.

Expansion · 2017 – 2021
Sales Sucks, ch. 6 · Company financials

30%

Of all sales came from customer referrals, sustained while the company doubled every year.

Nearly one sale in three at a fraction of the acquisition cost — from a structured ask built into the appointment, coaching, and a team to follow up.

2017 – 2021
Sales Sucks, ch. 6

3×

Roofing jobs sold alongside solar, once roofing was built into the proposal and reps were trained to offer it.

A 200% increase in an add-on reps had been avoiding. Larger deals from the same customers.

Cross-sell
Sales Sucks, ch. 6

Zero

Major pricing or configuration errors reaching a customer once the guardrails were in, across more than 1,100 reps.

The application enforced approved pricing, lender rules and product combinations. No unauthorised discounts, no unfinanceable deals, one consistent proposal in every market.

At scale
Internal operations

$32M

A year in retained margin, from cutting dealer fees 19% — about 21% to about 17% — on $802 million of revenue.

A financing engine routed each sale to the best lender in real time and retried on a decline. New reps became 20–40% more likely to get an approval; second-chance approvals went from about 10% to 30–50%.

2021
Company financials

85%

Faster to a new rep’s first sale. New reps were closing within a couple of weeks of starting.

A structured onboarding, one sales call to learn, and an application that carried the appointment: a rep could be trained in about a week and sent out.

New reps · 2017 – 2021
Sales Sucks, intro and ch. 6

All nine are from Sunpro, a residential solar company that roughly doubled revenue every year from 2017 to 2021, sold more than $1 billion over that period and was acquired by ADT in 2021. Mike Latch, Jerry Carpenter and Gregg Murphy worked there. Results are stated as measured at the time; each is a specific outcome under specific conditions, not a promise.