The case
“We need someone who can close.”
Maya Lindqvist called in February. Kestrel had grown from 40 to 140 people in two years, new revenue had stalled for three quarters, and the board wanted a VP of Sales by summer. She wanted a second opinion on the job description.
What we found
In twelve interviews, five people told me they could approve a discount. None of them thought pricing was their job. Sales reps had learned that the fastest way to close was to ask whoever was online. The average discount had crept from 9% to 31% without anyone deciding it should.
Five people could say yes to a discount. Nobody could say no.
A new VP would have inherited the same habit, with a bigger budget.
What we changed
We gave pricing one owner: Kestrel’s head of finance, who had been asking for it for a year. We wrote three rules on one page: the list price, the two discounts any rep can give, and the one person who decides anything else, within four working hours. The sales team helped write the rules, which is why they kept them.
What happened next
The VP search was cancelled in week two. Two quarters later the average discount was 12%, and new revenue was growing again. Kestrel hired a VP of Sales the following year, for a team that already knew its prices.
