Consultants > Dan Mahony
Dan Mahony
Empowering businesses to achieve sustainable growth through strategic sales solutions and expert guidance
As the founder of Transcendent Sales Solutions, I bring over 25 years of experience in sales leadership roles across multiple industries. Throughout my career, I have driven revenue growth and profitability for companies by leading high-performing teams and implementing strategic sales solutions.
I hold a BS in Marketing from Elmhurst University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. I am also a certified sales leader (CSL) and a certified facilitator for the Level 5 Sales Coaching Platform. My expertise lies in empowering businesses to achieve sustainable growth through customized sales strategies and expert guidance.
Areas of Expertise
SALES
- Analysis and SKU Management
- Business Development
- Strategy Implementation
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Leadership Coaching
- Sales Coaching
- Aerospace & Defense
- Distributors
- Health Care Equipment & Supplies
- Health Care Providers & Services
- Health Care Technology
- IT Services
- Professional Services
- Software
- Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals
Testimonials
“Working with Dan Mahony and the Transcendent Sales team has been a game changer for our company. He was able to lay the infrastructure we needed to radically alter the course of our sales organization. He aided everything from developing personas and a sales playbook, building a sale forecasting tool, and getting us in HubSpot CRM and into the 21st century. All of these activities and efforts will allow our firm to recruit additional business development talent and take our sales organization to the next level. We suggest our valuation clients use Dan and we’d highly recommend you do too.” David H
“Dan has worked with our company in training sales leaders, modifying sales processes, consolidating price books, the voice of customer interviews, and as a fractional VP of Sales. During his time with us, we saw great improvements in leadership, accountability, communication, and general processes. We implemented key tools for reviewing and improving rep behavior. Ultimately, Dan took the load off me and set our team up for success. I highly recommend Transcendent Sales Solutions to any leader looking for quick and positive results for their sales teams.” Attly A
“Dan worked with our company to identify processes and personnel that were just not getting results. He quickly assessed and implemented a plan of action that immediately changed our efficiency and capabilities. The outstanding consequences were of such great success that we’ve now exceeded every sales goal we’ve ever set. Thank you Dan for helping us!" Brett B
My Content
When Should You Hire a Fractional Sales Leader?
As a top executive, you know that sales are critical to your company’s success. If you are the person leading your sales team then you know how much time and energy it takes, not to mention that you still have other critical aspects of the business to...
When Should You Hire a Fractional Sales Leader?
As a top executive, you know that sales are critical to your company’s success. If you are the person leading your sales team then you know how much time and energy it takes, not to mention that you still have other critical aspects of the business to oversee.
You might be wondering if it’s time to hire a sales manager – but how do you know if you’re ready?
Many of my clients find me at this crossroad in their business. As a Fractional Sales Leader, part of my expertise is to be helpful in a variety of ways that include creating strategies to help your business achieve optimal growth. So you may be asking, what can I do differently as a fractional sales leader, to set you up for long-term success when you are considering hiring full-time sales manager instead.
Let’s take a look:
• I’m here to serve as a sounding board while you assess what your salespeople need to perform at a higher level.
• Once you are ready to bring in a full-time sales manager let me help you source, screen, and secure the right person.
• Most importantly, you can trust that with my expertise and guidance you will be guided to better understand your company’s readiness to make the most out of investing in a dedicated sales manager.
So, before you have HR set-up a job posting to start looking for your new head of sales, take a moment to review the scenarios below.
My objective in this article is to shed light on settings I commonly see that justify hiring an executive-level Fractional Sales Leader before a long-term Sales Manager. Preparing your company’s growth structure while you undergo what can be a lengthy search process for one of the most important hires you are going to make pays off ten-fold.
SCENARIO 1: You need to free up your time immediately.
Managing a sales team and running your company are two different roles. Even so, it’s common that the owner or top executive wear both hats during a business’ various growth stages.
If you’re starting to feel spread too thin, it’s important not to rush when establishing the right staffing plan to take the sales load off your shoulders.
The stakes are too high.
Adhering to a diligent hiring process takes time. For a high impact hire like a sales manager in the currently compressed employment market, it is not uncommon that it could take 6-12 months to get the right candidate on board.
This involves a series of pre-hire, hiring, and pre-start activities to avoid a ton of lost time, money, and internal distraction. Not to mention the objective of getting your new candidate off on the right foot to not only grow revenue but reduce the risk of them not working out.
If your company’s growth demands require you to be freed up quickly to work “on the business”, my Fractional Sales Leader model is a viable solution. To gain an understanding of how it works, review my previous articled called, “How Much of My Time Is Needed If I Hire a Fractional Sales Leader?”.
SCENARIO 2: You don’t have a proven sales platform in place
You know when activity in your sales department hits the point that it needs a dedicated resource to drive results to the next level. What isn’t clear is whether your company is ready for a full-time sales manager to make the right impact.
A common misstep is not recognizing the differing strategic vs. tactical sales leadership skills that are needed to set up a company for scalable success.
Hiring a full-time executive level sales leader with the full gamut of experience is costly and unnecessary for most small and mid-sized businesses. Creating an effective sales platform requires the full breadth of strategic and tactical skills, but you don’t necessarily need all of those skills to be an effective sales manager.
This is why “the right fit” is almost always two different resources, at different times.
An interim sales leader with an executive-level background can be your secret weapon to establish strategic positioning, proven sales methodology, and structure/systems essential in taking your business to the next level. Utilizing the skills and expertise of a seasoned expert early on can be crucial for success and quickly establish the reliable foundation needed to fuel sustained, long-term growth.
After that, a dedicated sales manager with exceptional tactical skills becomes a high-impact resource to drive sales growth long-term.
No matter who runs your sales team, you need an established sales process and methodology to scale your sales team and results.
By establishing this fundamental framework before you add a full-time sales manager to your staff structure, you shorten their ramp time and enable them to hit the ground running. This alone can save several months of sub-par sales productivity which impacts the entire sales team.
SCENARIO 3: You're not sure how to structure for growth
Growing and structuring your sales team can be challenging, especially in competitive markets. There are some key signs to look for that may indicate it’s time to make changes.
For instance, slowing revenue can be a sign that you need to rethink your sales strategy and its associated selling roles.
Or, perhaps you’ve noticed an increase in competition — this could mean more resources and staff are needed to increase, or even hold on to, your market share.
Just as in other areas of your business, “Right People, Right Seats” will need to continually evolve in the sales department as strategy is adjusted to reach next level growth goals.
How you organize your sales team depends on a myriad of factors. First you must consider the unique make-up of your sales environment.
Start by asking yourself these foundational questions:
• Does my product fit into multiple verticals?
• What is the level of complexity of my product and sales process?
• Which industries will my new accounts come from?
• What percentage of my business is coming from returning customers vs new?
• How broad are the geographic regions or territories my team focuses on?
• …and many more!
Establishing sales organization structure and how it needs to evolve to support growth is an executive level sales leadership function. I have helped businesses for decades find the alignment they needed to meet their sales growth goals while keeping their current customers secured.
It is critical to have all aspects of sales strategy nailed down before hiring a sales manager whose background is traditionally centered in executing on established plans, not developing them.
Key Takeaways
If any of these scenarios resonate with you, it may be time to consider hiring a Fractional Sales Leader to pave the way to readiness for a full-time sales manager over time.
Hiring the wrong sales leader or plugging them into an environment that is not ready to scale is an expensive and risky situation that I can help you avoid.
5 Keys to Leading Sales During Uncertain Times
It’s no secret that the pandemic has had a major impact on the economy. In 2020, the world was brought to a halt as people were quarantined at home and many workplaces transitioned to remote work. This sudden change caused a rapid decrease in demand, and...
5 Keys to Leading Sales During Uncertain Times
It’s no secret that the pandemic has had a major impact on the economy. In 2020, the world was brought to a halt as people were quarantined at home and many workplaces transitioned to remote work. This sudden change caused a rapid decrease in demand, and many industries saw their sales numbers plummet. However, now that things are returning to “normal”, we’re seeing a lot of industries recover. Many businesses have been able to adapt to the new landscape and are seeing their sales numbers return to pre-pandemic levels. It’s clear that the pandemic has been a major disruption, but it’s also clear that the economy is resilient and can bounce back from hardship.
I am no economist, but it seems that some of the recent problems – worker shortage, supply issues, etc.- just took longer to reveal themselves and the recent interest rate hikes are an attempt to correct things.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that your business will always face both good and bad times. You’ll celebrate record growth and stare down stunning losses. The key is to always stay professional and informative, regardless of the situation. If you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to weathering any storm that comes your way.
Leading your team to weather the storm in uncertain times
To help you build a resilient sales organization, I’ve outlined 5 keys areas where you need to be on solid ground. The concepts discussed below are covered in greater detail in prior blogs but the summaries here will allow you to critically assess if you are well positioned to succeed in uncertain times.
Do I have the Right People in Place?
• Leadership: Leadership is one of the most important aspects in any business. Are your leaders holding their direct reports accountable to their sales targets and the leading indicator activities that assure productivity is on course? Do they own the team’s success and work to find solutions? Make sure you have someone in place who knows how to get the most out of their people through coaching and development.
• Sales Team : Are your salespeople hitting their goals consistently? Do they generate enough revenue and efficiently move prospects through your defined sales process? We all have bad streaks, but if your team is putting in the right activities, sales pipelines should reflect progress that gives you confidence the deals will follow. Sticking to the fundamentals of the sales process and continually working on deal positioning are essential. If your people aren’t doing that, then it’s time to assess if they are the right people on your team.
• Platform for Success : Do you have your sales organization set up for optimum performance? For your team to succeed, roles and responsibilities need to be clearly outlined, target markets must be defined, your value proposition needs to enable your go-to market strategy, etc.
Drive the Right Sales Behavior
• Align with Company Objectives :The most important step in establishing a strong framework for growth is understanding what your business needs and wants from you. This serves as a compass to guide your sales plan and ensures strategic growth in establishing a strong framework for growth is understanding what your business needs and wants from you.
• Design The Right Sales Compensation Plan: Incentivize your salespeople to perform not only every quarter but each and every day. Make sure they know what they are being measured on and how they can meet expectations. Create a sales environment where they can excel. The Best Efforts Will Be Rewarded With success.
• Create Score Card Visibility : One of the most important aspects of sales success is having visibility into the key sales activity data. create a dashboard that shines a spotlight on the dials and levers that control sales success. This visibility gives you and your team the actionable insight to course correct as needed to ensure goals are met.
How to build an accountable sales culture
• Keep Stats and Track Performance : Make sure you identify the ‘right’ metrics. As a simple example, conversion metrics are much more valuable than counting sales calls because they tell us howSuccessful our operations have been over time! Don’t bog down your team with useless data entry–instead capture vital info that measures success in order to improve future efforts.
• Own the Process :Your sales team needs to know that their success depends on their own actions. They must follow the steps you outline for them in a proven sales process and work to improve their results. They need to understand that their results are driven by the effort they put in.
• Be the Coach: Clear communication is the key to success for any team. The best way you can help your sales leaders be successful, it’s by providing them with consistent one-on-one meetings where they’ll get feedback on what needs work and how their performance will directly impact whether or not bonuses are given out at year end. A coach typically has very open dialogue about strategy in order create an environment that encourages collaboration among teammates; this allows everyone involved — from top performers down through those who aren’t hitting numbers—to focus more efficiently than ever before
How Should I Structure My Sales Team to Meet Growth Goals?
• The Ideal Sales Structure : It’s easy to think there is one way of organizing a successful sales team, but every industry has its own unique framework for success. There are still some key roles you must fill no matter what your product or service offerings.
• Hunter vs. Farmer Selling Roles : There are two basic functions of a sales team: bring in new customers and retain/grow current accounts. You need the right people for these roles to succeed.
• Proper Support for Sales Teams : The modern salesperson is a busy person. They’re constantly being pulled away from their important work to answer phones, track down missing shipments or complaints from customers who want things resolved right away so they can go on with life as if nothing happened – which happens all too often! To help combat this problem it’s best that you create structures in your company where certain tasks are delegated instead of having everyone do everything under one roof- especially when some jobs require more expertise than others does.
How Long Does It Take to Fix a Sales Team?
The process of rewiring sales performance can take time, but it is not impossible. As a Fractional Sales Leader, I have taken an analytical approach and developed plans that improve revenue generation for our entire organization as well as specific departments within the business empire where needed most urgently such like Marketing or Creative Services.
• Discovery & Assessment : The first step is identifying the moving parts of your organization and highlighting the large gaps and large successes your team is experiencing.
• Design & Implement: I design processes, tools and systems to fit each business’s individual needs in this crucial stage.
• Adoption: This is where we see the fruits of our labors. At this point, we’ve gone through the stage of rewiring how your sales organization operates, implemented multiple processes, and are starting to see the revenue goals take off. This is an ongoing phase – you will continue to iterate and improve.
While you can’t control the environment you live in, you can decide what your response will be.
As a Fractional Sales Leader, I have helped companies when they were down and looking for answers. I’ve helped other companies that were growing so fast they struggled to scale effectively. The constant thing I have seen is that sticking to the fundamentals and holding your team accountable is the rock your team should be built upon.
Project History
Transcendent Sales Solutions, LLC
Tuesday December 20, 2022
With a track record of driving sales growth and profitability, I've worked with a range of companies to develop and implement effective sales strategies. From start-ups to established businesses, I've helped clients across various industries achieve their goals and drive success through tailored solutions and expert guidance.
Assisted a manufacturing company in restructuring their sales team and designing a new compensation plan, leading to a 30% increase in sales productivity.
Guided a healthcare organization in building a successful sales culture, resulting in a 25% increase in new business.
Developed a comprehensive sales playbook for a professional services firm, leading to a 40% increase in deal closure rates.
Successfully guided a 20-year-old software company in transitioning to a SaaS model, ultimately helping them plan for a more valued exit.