From Bottleneck to Growth Engine: How Founders Can Step Back Without Sales Falling Apart

Jo Stimson

In this blog, Fractional Sales Director Jo Stimson shares her insights on one of the most common challenges founders face: how to step back from sales without growth grinding to a halt.

A lot of founder-led businesses grow quickly at the start, then hit a wall.

It’s rarely because there’s no demand, and It’s often because the founder has become the bottleneck in sales.

In the early days, it makes sense that you lead sales.

You know the product better than anyone.

You know the customer.

You know how to close.

The problem is, this works brilliantly at the start . . . and then stops working as the business grows.

Suddenly every big deal needs your approval.

Pricing conversations bounce back to you.

The team waits for you to make the call before moving forward.

Sales only move as fast as you can.

I can so empathise as I've been there.

Back when I was both Managing Director and Sales Director rolled into one, in my previous business, every major deal seemed to land on my desk. Not because the team weren’t capable, but because we hadn’t built the structure that allowed them to move big opportunities forward without me.

My way of selling was instinctive. I’d been doing it for years, I knew the product inside out, BUT instinct isn’t a handover plan.

I had to take what was in my head and turn it into a clear, repeatable process the team could follow so they could progress deals confidently without me being pulled in every time.

Once that was in place, I wasn’t the pinch point anymore, and the business could grow without everything bottlenecking at my desk.

If this sounds familiar, here’s the thing: stepping back doesn’t mean stepping away.

It means creating a sales function that works at a high standard with or without you in the middle of it.

That usually looks like:

• A defined sales process everyone follows.

• Clear targets and pricing the team can work from.

• Leadership in place to coach and keep things moving.

• A live pipeline you can see without constant updates.

When you’re not stuck in the role of “hero closer” every day, you get the headspace to work on strategy, open new markets, and scale the business beyond the sales team’s daily activity.

Plus the bonus is you get a sales function that runs without you adds serious value to the business.

If you’re wondering whether you might be the bottleneck, I’ve created a free tool that helps you find out.

It’s called obviously Are You The Bottleneck?

It’ll show you where you might be slowing down your sales and where to focus first to free things up.