Revenue at Risk: Why Broken Sales Processes Drive Up CAC and Tank Conversion

Image credit: © Marvel(©)Executive Pain

Every Senior and Executive leader I talk to is facing similar frustrations:

• 📉 Conversion rates that aren’t improving

• 📉 Contact rates stuck or dropping (Thanks Apple for that new call screening feature... I love it personally; however, without a strategy it is going to a big topic in the near term)

• 📈 Rising cost-per-lead (CPL) and customer acquisition cost (CAC)

When the CEO/Board asks “Why aren’t we closing more with the leads we already have?” the answer often lies in the sales process itself. Without clarity and discipline, you’re leaving money on the table. Your scale might be thousands, millions, or billions - the concept applies the same.

As a mentor of mine used to say - "No Rain, No Flowers" - Stephen Luigi Piazza. The weather will pass, how you come out the other side depends on how you prepare.

Some of these strategies are simple to implement on your own, others will deliver value faster with an experienced partner. Proksel Consulting is here to help you achieve outcomes - not just talk about it, we aim to be about it.

Problem 1: Low Conversion Rates (CRO’s headache)

• Everyone selling their “own way” → impossible to coach and scale.

• Lacking Sales stages or reps are skipping/making them up → Missed forecasts.

• Each lead type requires changes to scripts and process → Context switching has reps fumbling and missing layups.

Paths to solution:

• Define stage entry/exit criteria in Salesforce so every opportunity is tracked consistently.

• Require dispositions for every lead outcome so conversion math is real. Automate where possible inside the workflow.

• Measure stage-to-stage conversion weekly to identify leaks and coach with data.

• Objection handling trainings can build repeatable coaching plans for common objections for reps, based on data not anecdotes.

• Specialize reps to become masters of the art and science of persuasion.

  
  

Problem 2: Weak Contact Rates (Sales/Rev Ops and CFO heartache)

• Leads go untouched for hours or days → interest fades fast.

• No SLA on dials/emails → inconsistent effort across the team.

• Too few attempts → reps stop after 2–3 touches, but success often takes 6–8.

• Duplicates in the system → two reps calling the same prospect, confusing them.

Paths to solution:

• Set SLAs for speed-to-lead (measured in minutes, not hours).

• Set cadence expectations and hold folks accountable, with visibility to reps and leaders (B2B vs B2C appropriate).

• Automate task reminders and lead escalations/re-queues so no lead goes stale.

• Implement deduplication as far up funnel as possible, while still recognizing when they 'raise their hand' again ensures you understand attribution without making a mess of your lead pool.

• Integrate a dialer. If it is not inside salesforce, it did not happen - make it easy for reps.

Problem 3: Rising CPL and CAC (CMO & CFO’s heartburn)

Marketing leaders are pouring millions into demand gen. Cost per lead (CPL) is climbing every quarter, and the CAC math only works if Sales maximizes every lead. But:

• Reps might be creating their own leads from Google or ZoomInfo → messy data, no attribution, poor ROI tracking.

• Leads are distributed by geography alone, not by capacity → too many go cold.

• Lack of prioritization means top-tier leads get buried under low-value accounts.

Paths to solution:

• Marketing owns sourcing rules and enrichment to protect lead quality.

• Prioritization logic ensures the right rep calls the right lead first

• Capacity-based routing + lead redistribution keeps hot leads moving, protecting CAC efficiency.

• Intentional and focused Gen AI voice and chat applications keeps sales team selling, and less time prospecting on low intent leads/opportunities.

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👉 For CMOs, this means proving that marketing dollars actually drive revenue instead of disappearing into Salesforce black holes.

Problem 4: Bad Lead Assignment (CRO & Sales/Rev Ops migraine)

Even with great leads, assignment rules can make or break conversion.

• Some reps hoard hundreds of accounts, leaving too many untouched. Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered.

• Geography-based rules ignore rep capacity.

• Leads that aren’t contacted quickly or effectively die on the vine.

Paths to solution:

• Lower the max leads a rep can own at once. Conversion rises when opportunity shrinks - taking care to not swing pendulum too far too quickly.

• Provide incentives to gain higher capacity tiers, to prevent tears.

• Redistribute underworked leads regularly (no touches, low wallet share, poor follow-up).

• Route based on capacity, skill, or performance — not just geography.

When assignment reflects capacity + accountability, contact rates rise, and both CROs and CMOs see conversion gains.

Problem 5: Forecasts You Can’t Trust (Finger pointing)

• Pipeline is a guessing game when stages mean different things to different people.

• Execs can’t plan spend or hiring when forecasts swing wildly.

Spidermen pointing fingers at each other. Image Credit: © Marvel

Paths to solution:

• Define and enforce stage criteria, automate where possible.

• Audit “stuck” deals on a cadence. Get in the trenches with your people.

• Coach to data, not anecdotes.

The Transformation Story

I saw this firsthand. At a major FinTech company, we went from ~$7B in annual loan volume (~$120M in revenue) to over $150B in originations (~$2B in revenue) in two years by overhauling sales process, accountability, and data.

The levers:

• Removed lead creation from reps, provided clean, accurate, enriched leads.

• Removed geographical lead distribution while adding in capacity strategies, including lowering max leads per rep.

• Expanded inside sales to support (and eventually outperform) outside sales

• Redistributing leads regularly when contact rates lagged or wallet share was low, with crystal clear visibility and expectations

• Focusing reps on consultative selling helping partners grow their business, not just take business

• Driving consistency in stage definitions, conversion measurement, and accountability

• There was more to this story, that I may write about in more detail in the future.

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The result? Higher contact rates, higher conversion, predictable forecasts — and exponential revenue growth.

Bottom Line: Art + Science

The science is the rails: SLAs, cadences, routing, reporting. The art is the craft: discovery, trial closes, foreshadowing, bucket plays.

You need both. Too much science and your reps sound robotic. Too much art and you can’t scale.

When you balance both, you protect your conversion, contact rate, and CAC — the levers executives care about most.

👉 Ready to stop losing revenue to broken process? Book a free Sales Process Readiness Consult: https://tfft.io/aRtS3tN

Why Work With Us

At Proksel Consulting, our leadership team has spent decades leading Salesforce-driven transformation across sales, service, product, engineering, and operations.

We’ve negotiated major Salesforce contracts, designed workflows handling millions of cases and leads per year, and delivered outcomes at both startup and enterprise scale.

Now, we bring that experience directly to our clients — helping organizations unlock the full potential of Salesforce with a focus on outcome-based delivery.

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