From My Journey as a CEO & Sales Leader
Over the years of leading sales organisations — from startups trying to find their first customers to mature enterprises chasing scale — one lesson has stayed constant: Sales performance is never an accident.
It is built deliberately — one call, one review, one coaching moment at a time. I have seen teams with great products struggle because they lacked process, and others with perfect systems falter because they didn’t believe. And I have also witnessed remarkable turnarounds when leadership chose to invest not just in targets, but in people, process, and conviction.
That is the foundation of what I now call Decoding Sales Productivity — understanding the three true levers that drive sustainable performance: Effort, Process, and Belief.
Performance is equal to what your team does × how they do it × how much they believe in it.
That is the real formula for sales success. P = Effort × Process × Belief.
Most sales organisations spend a lifetime improving effort — increasing call rates, tightening pipelines, or hiring more people. Fewer invest in improving process. Almost none measure belief.
Yet, as every sales leader discovers, performance leaks start not in activity levels but in the gaps between effort, process discipline, and conviction.
1️⃣ Effort — What your team does
Effort is visible. Calls made, leads converted, demos delivered, visits done. But sheer effort without direction can just lead to motion, not progress. High-performing teams define what “effective effort” looks like through clear KRAs, productivity norms, and structured on-the-job reviews.
You can’t control outcomes — but you can absolutely measure effort quality.
Example (B2C): A leading FMCG dairy brand once tracked its salespeople only on outlet coverage. Once they added effective effort metrics — such as lines sold per call and call conversion ratios — they discovered that 20% of the salesforce drove 60% of repeat sales. Effort wasn’t the issue; focused effort was. After redefining daily activity goals, productivity rose by 25% without adding headcount.
2️⃣ Process — How they do it
Processes make sales repeatable and scalable. Without defined sales processes — from lead qualification to closure — you are running a lottery, not a sales operation.
Think of it this way: Finance has accounting standards. Manufacturing has operating standards. Why shouldn’t sales have Generally Accepted Sales Principles (GASP®) — the toolkit of structured steps that drive predictability?
In the GASP® model, process covers four building blocks:
- Customer Management
- Sales Partner Management
- Sales Team Management
- Sales Operations Management
When your team executes these consistently, sales excellence moves from being an art to a science.
Example (B2B): An industrial automation company selling to OEMs had long depended on senior engineers to “wing it” with customers. After adopting a structured 8-Stage Sales Process — moving from Raw Lead → Qualified Lead → Prospect → Opportunity → Closed Won — they discovered that 70% of their deals were stalling at the Evaluation stage due to unclear ownership. By redesigning accountability and review cadence, their sales cycle time reduced by 30%, and close rates improved sharply.
3️⃣ Belief — Why they do it
This is the invisible multiplier. Belief is what turns average effort and good processes into extraordinary performance. It stems from two key forces:
- Willingness — the desire to perform
- Conviction — the confidence that the product, company, and leadership are worth believing in
If willingness is low, people work mechanically. If conviction is low, they hesitate to sell. But when both are high, you create a self-propelled sales culture.
You don’t need to push people who believe — they pull themselves toward results.
Example (Services): A financial advisory firm found that even their most skilled consultants underperformed after a product portfolio change. On probing, they realised conviction had dropped — advisors weren’t sure the new offerings truly benefited clients. A two-day immersion workshop with live client testimonials rebuilt belief. Within a quarter, conversion ratios improved by 18%, and cross-selling doubled.
4️⃣ The CoreX Model — Decoding the Science of Sales Performance
At GASP® Sales Academy, we use a simple but powerful model to decode performance:
Performance = Willingness × Conviction × Capability
We call this the CoreX Model — because it goes to the core of every salesperson’s output.
- Willingness is the heart — the drive, hunger, and discipline to take action every day.
- Conviction is the soul — the belief in the product, the brand, and the organisation’s purpose.
- Capability is the mind and muscle — the skills, process understanding, and execution ability built through continuous development.
If any of these three multipliers is weak, performance collapses — because multiplication amplifies both strength and weakness.
Example: A mid-sized SaaS company realised that despite excellent sales enablement tools, their conversion rate was stagnant. The issue wasn’t capability — it was conviction. The team didn’t fully trust that their solution delivered measurable ROI. Through internal case studies and customer success storytelling, leadership rebuilt conviction. The same team that had flatlined suddenly began outperforming previous quarters — without a single new hire.
When leaders strengthen all three simultaneously, they create not just productive teams, but predictably productive teams.
5️⃣ Leadership — The Real Multiplier Behind the Multipliers
To truly decode these levers of Effort, Process, and Belief — and sustain their impact — Sales Leadership becomes the make-or-break factor.
Sales leaders must actively work with their teams both on and off the field — mentoring, coaching, and enabling them to perform at their highest potential. They must step out of their cabins and step into the markets — not to monitor, but to model.
This demands a servant-leadership mindset — where the leader’s role is not to command but to empower. A leader who listens, guides, and clears roadblocks builds far more than performance — they build belief.
Great sales leaders don’t just create achievers — they create believers.
When the frontline team feels supported, coached, and genuinely invested in, they rise above themselves — in their delivery, customer service, and commitment to sales excellence. That’s how organisations shift from target chasing to mission building.
6️⃣ Closing Thought
Sales productivity is not about doing more — it’s about doing what matters most, in a consistent, belief-driven way. When Effort, Process, and Belief move in sync — powered by Willingness, Conviction, and Capability — and when leaders enable, not enforce — your sales organisation doesn’t just achieve. It inspires, endures, and excels.
About GASP Sales Academy
We work with Founders, CEOs, and Sales Leaders to: ✅ Build structured, process-led sales systems that deliver predictable results ✅ Strengthen sales teams through clarity, measurement, and coaching ✅ Create conviction-driven cultures where execution is consistent and scalable
If your sales team is busy but not productive, it’s time to rebuild the engine — not just push the accelerator.
📩 Contact GASP® Sales Academy: https://bit.ly/4kk0LQO I dinkar@gaspsalesacademy.com
Dinkar Suri I Founder & UnConsultant I GASP Sales Academy
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