A business owner creates an Accidental Growth Lid when they won't let go of the sales function in their business. This is an all-too-common entrepreneurial mistake. It not only affects the growth and valuation of their business, it often creates some personal challenges as well.

I have had far too many conversations with business owners about their lack of margin and time for the things and people they love. There is a lot of frustration about it to be sure. However, most entrepreneurs I've talked to simply consider it an acceptable cost of building a new business.

A seasoned sales professional (me) was once asked, “Why are you so successful at sales?”

The question, coming from the President, and Co-Founder of the company that had employed me for five years caught me off-guard. I hadn’t really given it much thought. I had been in sales for most of my life, and to me, just did what came naturally.

The Discovery Call is the most important conversation in almost any sales process and yet so many salespeople and business leaders are missing the boat. If you take this part of the sales process seriously, the wins will come far more frequently. If not, you will constantly struggle to obtain a healthy close rate

As I have led sales teams and we have assessed sales operating systems at Altezza, here are the 7 most common mistakes we see over and over.