The 2025 Sales Performance Scorecard Study Key Trends Analysis is out, and the industry news is not (all) good. While more than half of sales organizations report that frontline managers are holding one-on-one meetings, salespeople continue to report not “feeling coached.” This reflects a persistent problem in the industry, rooted in the fact that we don’t treat coaching as the critical multiplier that it is, especially in complex sales.
In this episode of The Art and Science of Complex Sales, Paul Fuller is joined by Adam Boyd, CEO of The Northwood Group.
Drawing on a career in sales training and leadership development, Adam brings a rare combination of humility, practical wisdom, and candid storytelling. In this conversation, they explore what truly drives performance in sales and leadership and reveal why chasing someone else’s path often leads to frustration rather than fulfillment.
In any kind of coaching, whether it’s weight loss, fitness, or complex sales, follow-up is key to success. If you hire a coach to help you lose weight, you expect them to follow up. You tell them how much weight you want to lose, and agree on a plan. When you come in for your coaching appointment the next time, you expect them to ask whether you followed the plan. If you hire a trainer to help you get in shape, same thing. You expect to collaborate on a plan and then report back to them at each session.
We are firmly in the age of AI now, with all its exciting sales tools and supports. At Membrain, we’ve got our own take on it that we’re excited to be unfolding for you. And here I am, as I often am, reminding us that yes, we need the technologies to support complex sales. But we also need our humanity.
Several years ago, I wrote about how the mental state of flow can help your teams perform better. Flow state is when you are operating at the peak of your capability, with just enough challenge to fully engage your brain but still within the limits of your level of mastery. It gets all your synapses firing in tandem, aligned toward one purpose. The result? It feels great and it yields extraordinary performance.
I was interested recently to read a study in Nature Human Behavior showing that about 75% of social media shares are made without reading past the headline or even clicking through. Though this is horrifying, it doesn’t surprise me. After all, it happens in complex sales all the time.
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