Why Every CEO Must Master Sales — Yes, Even You
If you’re a CEO reading this, chances are you already know sales matters. You’ve likely been involved in selling your vision, your offer, and your company since day one. You may even be pretty damn good at it.
So this isn’t a lecture. This is an invitation.
It’s not about becoming a “sales bro” or spending your days cold-calling strangers. It’s about recognizing that sales mastery—at this stage of your business—is the most powerful lever you have to create growth, freedom, and predictability.
So I invite you to:
Level up, instead of starting from scratch.
Build the systems and support to make sales easier, more productive, and more enjoyable.
Realize that this is the most important thing you, personally, can be doing to move the needle in your business.
Definitions of Money, Sales, and Mastering Sales
Let’s start by grounding in some shared definitions.
What is Sales? Sales is the exchange of something—typically goods, services, or value—for money. It’s a transaction, yes, but when done right, it’s also a form of service.
What is Money? Money is a tool. A medium of exchange. It’s not emotional, evil, or elusive. It’s a resource that flows to and through us.
What is Sales Mastery? Sales mastery is the ability to create the money you want, when you want it. It’s showing up in service, genuinely excited about helping someone, unhooked from needing their approval or decision. It’s simple, powerful conversations—not manipulation. It’s not avoiding, resisting, or being afraid of it — both selling and being sold do. And it’s a mindset: seeing money as flow and sales as an act of leadership and love.
Sales isn’t something you do to someone. It’s something you do for someone.
So if this is what sales really is, and you already get that it’s key to growing your business, why aren’t more CEOs all-in?
Why You (the CEO) are Avoiding Doing Sales Work
Here are the real reasons CEOs pull away from sales:
You think it’s “not your zone,” or somehow beneath you.
It feels uncomfortable or icky, like something manipulative that you do to people.
You’ve tried before and didn’t get results.
It’s inconsistent because you’re distracted by all of your other tasks/roles.
Hey, I get it. You’ve got fires to put out, dogs to walk, and a thousand other things that feel more urgent than picking up the phone or writing that follow-up email.
But here’s the hard truth: when you neglect your sales, even for a day, you lose momentum. And the consequences add up fast.
The Problems That Arise When CEOs Avoid Sales
When you try to build your business without being directly involved in sales, you risk building strategies from fear or fantasy instead of grounded Cause & Effect.
You get disconnected from the market, so your offers miss.
You settle for wrong-fit clients, causing your team to burn out.
You tolerate long sales cycles and your cash flow suffers.
You spin in doubt, worry, and fear, which leaks into every part of your company.
Worst of all, you might build a culture where sales is “someone else’s job.” And when that culture sets in? No one takes ownership. And you lose the very thing that fuels the entire business: revenue.
The 4 Cases for Why a CEO Should Do Their Own Sales
Let’s flip the script.
Here are four compelling reasons why you—the CEO—should lean into sales, not out.
1. It’s the Fastest Way to Add Revenue: You’re already positioned to sell. You don’t need to onboard or train yourself. You can start today and see results now. No hiring. No ramp time. Just cash in the door.
2. It Keeps You in Touch With the Market: When you’re selling, you’re learning. You’re hearing real objections, desires, and trends. That insight makes your messaging sharper, your offers stronger, and your decisions better.
3. It Builds Confidence and Mastery: Selling builds emotional resilience. It clears out fear and rewires your relationship with money, value, rejection, and people. It’s not about grinding—it’s about growing.
4. It Solves the “Salesperson Problem”: Hiring a salesperson is often the go-to solution—and it’s usually the wrong one.
Which brings us to…
The Salesperson Problem
You’ve likely been trying to solve your sales gap for a while—probably by following the typical growth playbook that says: “Hire a salesperson.”
Every CEO-Founder I’ve worked with has tried this. Most of them have tried it multiple times. And yet? It almost never works.
Instead, it leads to years of frustration, wasted time, and unrealized potential. Because hiring a salesperson isn’t a strategy — it’s a shortcut that usually backfires.
I’ve worked with and studied hundreds of Founder CEOs about their sales struggles and here’s what I found:
Businesses that have hired salespeople: 100%
Businesses that have fired salespeople: 78%
Average number of salespeople fired per firm: 3.25
Average cost of a failed sales hire: $381,883+
Let that sink in.
Hiring and firing salespeople is not just emotionally draining—it’s expensive. And it’s the inevitable outcome of using the wrong strategy and expecting a different result.
You end up building sales teams without clear process or leadership, expecting them to generate consistent results in a system that doesn’t yet exist or has major gaps. You’re trying to offload a function that you yourself haven’t mastered yet.
And you don’t have the time, clarity, or structure to fix what’s broken—because you’re spread thin across the rest of the business.
The path forward, out of this conundrum, involves a sales team made up of a Founder CEO supported with one-on-one coaching, a Sales Ready Organization, and daily selling support to quickly add revenue and grow the business. This creates a Force Multiplier to maximize what’s working and helps you create results in the shortest amount of time.
You can absolutely build a successful sales team — and at some point you may want to do that. But your own mastery and involvement in sales comes first.
What Are a CEO’s Responsibilities Within a Business, Anyway?
Let’s be real: What’s at the top of your to-do list? Strategy? Team? Operations?
What should be at the top is simple: driving growth of revenue and profit. Yes, vision, marketing, and culture matter. But without cash, none of it works. The CEOs I coach (many running $10M, $50M, even $200M companies) revisit this constantly.
Growth isn't something to hope for; it’s something you cause.
You don’t need to work all day on sales. What you need is consistency, structure, and a system that matches your strengths. The CEOs I support are adding six to seven figures in revenue through daily actions that take less time than most people spend on Slack.
A Final Thought: Mastering Sales = Creating Safety in Life
The real gift of mastering sales isn’t just more revenue — it’s peace of mind.
It’s knowing that no matter what happens, you can create what you want, when you want it. That you can provide for your family, fund your vision, and seize opportunity. That you don’t need to fear slow months, recessions, or market changes.
Because you have the skill to create.
Mastering sales doesn’t mean going it alone. But it does mean making a commitment to be at the center of the sales engine of your business. To shifting your mindset from fear to loving service. To embracing sales as a powerful way forward for both your company and yourself.
Want to add millions in revenue without hiring a salesperson?
You’re the one.
It’s time. Let’s Go!
