As developers and builders, we live in a world of logic, optimization, and continuous improvement. We refactor legacy code, debug complex systems, and instrument everything to monitor performance. But when it comes to sales—especially in founder-led or early-stage tech companies—we often run un-optimized, buggy processes.
Your B2B sales process isn't a mysterious art; it's a system. And like any system, it can be debugged, tested, and improved. Let's treat common sales mistakes like bugs in our code and deploy some patches for the next quarter.
1. The 'Feature Creep' Pitch: Selling Your Stack, Not the Solution
The Bug: You're excited about your tech. You start a demo by diving into your beautiful React components, your efficient Go backend, or your elegant API design. The prospect's eyes glaze over. You're talking about how it works, not what problem it solves for them.
The Patch: Translate features into benefits and outcomes. Map every technical feature to a tangible business result. Think of it like documenting an API—you don't just list the endpoints; you explain what they enable.
// Before: Feature-focused
const pitchV1 = {
feature: "Real-time data synchronization via WebSockets",
explanation: "We use a persistent, bi-directional communication channel..."
};
// After: Solution-focused
const pitchV2 = {
feature: "Real-time data synchronization",
benefit: "Your team always works with the most current data, eliminating costly errors from outdated information.",
outcome: "Reduces sync-related support tickets by 90% and saves each user 3 hours a week."
};
Always lead with the benefit and outcome. Your stack is the implementation detail, not the value proposition.
2. Null Pointer Exception: No Defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
The Bug: You're trying to sell to everyone. Your marketing is generic, your outreach is broad, and your pipeline is full of leads that will never close. You're getting a TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'budget') because you're targeting prospects who aren't a fit.
The Patch: Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This is a spec sheet for the perfect company to sell to. It includes firmographics (industry, company size, revenue) and qualitative data (tech stack they use, common pain points, business goals). A clear ICP is the linter for your sales process—it immediately flags bad-fit leads.
3. Coding Without Logs: Ignoring Sales Data
The Bug: You operate on "gut feel." You think you know which deals are likely to close and why you're losing others, but you have no data to back it up. It's like trying to debug a production issue without access to logs or metrics.
The Patch: Instrument your sales process. Use a CRM (even a simple one) as your single source of truth and track key metrics. At a minimum, monitor:
- Lead-to-Opportunity Conversion Rate: How many leads are actually qualified?
- Sales Cycle Length: How long does it take to close a deal?
- Average Deal Size: What's the typical value of a closed deal?
- Win/Loss Rate: What percentage of opportunities do you win?
function calculateWinRate(opportunities, dealsWon) {
if (opportunities === 0) {
return "No opportunities to analyze.";
}
const rate = (dealsWon / opportunities) * 100;
return `Win Rate: ${rate.toFixed(2)}%`;
}
const qualifiedOpportunities = 50;
const dealsWonLastQuarter = 12;
console.log(calculateWinRate(qualifiedOpportunities, dealsWonLastQuarter));
// Output: Win Rate: 24.00%
Data shows you where the real bugs are in your pipeline.
4. The ANY Type Lead: Treating All Prospects the Same
The Bug: A lead from a Fortune 500 CTO who requested a demo gets the same automated email sequence as a student who downloaded a whitepaper. This is the sales equivalent of using any everywhere in TypeScript—it's easy, but it leads to errors and missed opportunities.
The Patch: Implement a basic lead scoring model. Assign points to leads based on their fit (do they match your ICP?) and their engagement (did they visit the pricing page? request a demo?). This allows you to prioritize your most valuable resource: time.
function scoreLead(lead) {
let score = 0;
// Profile fit scoring (ICP)
if (lead.companySize > 100 && lead.industry === 'SaaS') score += 40;
if (['CTO', 'VP of Engineering'].includes(lead.title)) score += 30;
// Engagement scoring
if (lead.actions.includes('demo_request')) score += 50;
if (lead.actions.includes('pricing_page_view')) score += 20;
return score;
}
const hotLead = {
companySize: 250,
industry: 'SaaS',
title: 'CTO',
actions: ['demo_request', 'pricing_page_view']
};
const leadScore = scoreLead(hotLead);
// leadScore will be 140. High score = high priority!
5. The Monolithic Demo: Talking More Than Listening
The Bug: You launch into a 45-minute, one-size-fits-all demo, clicking through every feature of your product. You're so busy broadcasting that you're not receiving any input. It's a monologue, not a dialogue.
The Patch: Structure your calls like an API: request and response. Your goal in the first half of a call is to listen. Ask probing, open-ended questions to understand their specific workflow, challenges, and goals. Then, tailor the second half of the demo to show only the features that solve the problems they just told you about. Rule of thumb: aim to listen 70% of the time and talk 30%.
6. The Leaky Funnel: Undefined Pipeline Stages
The Bug: Your sales pipeline is a vague list of companies. You have no clear, objective criteria for moving a deal from one stage to the next. Deals get stuck, forecasts are unreliable, and you have memory leaks in your funnel—leads that are going nowhere but still consuming resources.
The Patch: Define your pipeline stages with clear entry and exit criteria. Treat it like a CI/CD pipeline: a deal can't move to the next stage until it passes specific tests.
Sample B2B Sales Pipeline Stages
- Stage 1: Qualified Lead - Exit Criteria: Confirmed they match ICP and have a relevant need.
- Stage 2: Discovery Call - Exit Criteria: Spoke with a decision-maker, confirmed pain points, budget, and timeline (BANT).
- Stage 3: Solution Demo - Exit Criteria: Delivered a tailored demo, prospect confirmed it solves their core problem.
- Stage 4: Proposal - Exit Criteria: Sent a formal proposal, verbal agreement on terms.
- Stage 5: Closed Won/Lost - It's done.
7. Unhandled Promises: The Folly of No Follow-Up
The Bug: You have a great call, send a follow-up email, and then... nothing. You wait for them to get back to you. This is an unhandled promise; you're hoping it will resolve on its own, but it probably won't.
The Patch: Always own the follow-up process. Use a structured, multi-touch cadence (a sequence of emails, calls, and LinkedIn messages) over several weeks. A single email is not enough—studies show it often takes 8-12 touches to get a response. Automate where possible, but personalize where it counts.
8. Exiting Without a Return Value: No Clear Next Steps
The Bug: The call ends with a vague, "This was great, we'll be in touch!" No one knows what's supposed to happen next, who is responsible for it, or when it's due. The function exited without returning a value, and the program doesn't know what to do.
The Patch: End every single interaction with a clear, mutually agreed-upon next step. This is your return value. It could be, "I will send over the proposal and a calendar invite for a review call on Thursday at 10 AM. Does that work for you?" Always be scheduling the next event.
9. The Premature try...catch: Giving Up Too Soon
The Bug: A prospect says, "We don't have the budget right now," and you immediately move them to Closed Lost. You've handled the objection by exiting the process entirely.
The Patch: Differentiate between a hard "no" and an objection. An objection is often a request for more information or a constraint to be solved. Dig deeper. "I understand budget is tight. Could you help me understand how you're solving this problem today and what that's costing you?" B2B sales cycles are long; "not now" often means "when the next budget cycle starts." Nurture these leads instead of abandoning them.
10. The Silo Branch: No Feedback Loop with Product/Marketing
The Bug: The sales team is on a detached head branch. They hear valuable feedback from the market—feature requests, objections, competitor insights—but that information never gets merged back into the main branch (product and marketing).
The Patch: Create a formal process for logging and communicating market feedback. A shared Slack channel, a recurring meeting, or a dedicated CRM module can work. This feedback is gold. It tells your product team what to build next and your marketing team what messaging resonates. Sales is your most powerful user research tool—use it!
Fixing your sales process is an iterative journey. You don't have to tackle all 10 of these bugs at once. Pick one or two that are causing the most drag on your system, write the patch, and deploy it this quarter. Then, check your metrics, learn, and refactor again.
Originally published at https://getmichaelai.com/blog/10-common-b2b-sales-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them-in-your-nex
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