Consilium B2B Growth Blog

Enterprise Sales Objections, Philosophy & Absolute Truth

em@cgbadv.com (Ed Marsh) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:30:00 GMT

When You and Your Buyer Simultaneously Hold Different Truths....

Why can't successful industrial leaders change - even when they know they should? It's not stubbornness. It's not bias. It's something deeper: their beliefs aren't opinions - they're truths. And you can't argue with truth. How often is that dissonance the real source of buyer objections? Understanding epistemological truths - and how to work with them instead of against them - is the key to unlocking change in your company and in your buyers.

Host Ed Marsh explores why middle-market industrial companies struggle to adapt, even when the evidence for change is overwhelming, and lays out five practical strategies for navigating buyers' deeply held beliefs.

Connect with me for more podcast episodes and periodic provocative ideas.

Website | | | |

Understanding Buyers' Truths....that Just Ain't True

Show Transcript

Episode Recap

Summary

How to adapt the industrial sales process to compete in 2026

em@cgbadv.com (admin) — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:59:59 GMT

A modern industrial sales process for 2026 is an engineered, buyer-centric system, not a relationship-based art form. It requires a defined sales process with rigorous qualification, funnel modeling with operational discipline, and a sales team hired and trained to sell business outcomes to executive buyers, not just product specs to engineers.

What are the best GTM levers to increase EBITDA without M&A?

em@cgbadv.com (admin) — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:00:00 GMT

In today's rate and valuation environment, cost-cutting doesn't create successful exits. The fastest path to EBITDA growth for industrial portfolio companies is disciplined go-to-market execution. This means focusing on new logo acquisition, pricing optimization, and building a sales engine that can predictably create and win new business, rather than just managing existing accounts.

How to Perform Due Diligence on an Acquisition Target's Sales Team

em@cgbadv.com (admin) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:00:01 GMT

When acquiring a middle-market industrial company, most private equity deal teams run a standard diligence playbook. They analyze financials, operations, and market position with precision. They look at pipelines, concentration risk, and recurring revenue. But when it comes to the sales team and sales function, that rigor often evaporates, replaced by a superficial review of lagging indicators that fails to predict the team's realistic likelihood of achieving the target IRR.

How PE Firms Can Accelerate Organic Growth in Portfolio Companies

em@cgbadv.com (admin) — Fri, 29 May 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Stop the two-year sales leader churn cycle. Apply operational rigor to revenue growth by building sales infrastructure (process, methodology, management) before hiring. Model the funnel, define what "good" looks like, and hire for the competencies required to win new logos, not just manage existing accounts.

Sales Training, B2B Sales Tips & Industrial Sales Myths

em@cgbadv.com (Ed Marsh) — Thu, 28 May 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Industrial Sales Effectiveness is Built on Rigor and Technique

For years, companies like IBM and Xerox invested massively in sales training. Year-long introductory training programs were expensive and effective. That set the tone for much of the B2B world - sales training was as natural and expected as having a shipping and receiving department.

That changed.

And today, countless misconceptions, myths, lies and misunderstandings limit companies' ability to drive consistent organic sales growth.

Want to understand the potential impact of great sales training? Connect with Derek.

Meet Derek |

Understanding the Industrial Sales Force with Derek Baer

Show Transcript

Episode Recap

Summary

How to Build a Sales Hiring Process for an Industrial Company

em@cgbadv.com (admin) — Wed, 27 May 2026 10:59:59 GMT

First, model your sales funnel to define the role’s requirements in terms of activity, conversion rates, deal velocity, activity expectations, transaction size, travel expectations, quota size, brand recognition, etc.. Then, build a structured evaluation process that assesses candidates for the competencies that matter: business acumen, infrastructure-building skills, and a "create projects" prospecting philosophy, not just industry experience.