For decades, salespeople have been told they have one job. Win the business. Meet quota.
But there’s a huge flaw.
In their pursuit of winning the business, too many salespeople skip the part where investment outcomes are sufficiently well defined.
There are lots of reasons. Leading conversations about outcomes is hard. Many sellers lack the writing skills to capture the discussion effectively.
But suddenly, AI can play a huge role. Sellers can use AI to prepare for conversations more effectively. AI Transcripts can capture every key discussion point. It’s now so much easier to create and share specific, documented success criteria that everyone understands and agrees to.
Too many sales conversations focus solely on what the salesperson is selling. With the help of AI, the focus can now be on helping stakeholders to define the outcomes they’re seeking much more explicitly. Then, sellers can connect these outcomes to their solutions.
For the first time, it’s possible for sellers to become accountable for both achieving quota AND defining outcomes effectively.
I'm Peter Button. I've spent four decades training and coaching other people’s B2B sales teams. I've seen a fundamental misalignment: salespeople are accountable for winning orders, while their operational colleagues inherit the consequences of poorly defined expectations.
Should salespeople be accountable for outcomes?
Let me be clear. I'm not suggesting salespeople become accountable for whether customers achieve outcomes. That depends on many factors beyond their control. I'm talking about accountability for ensuring that customers and their stakeholders clearly define what success looks like in measurable terms.
This distinction matters. When salespeople facilitate proper outcome definition with all key stakeholders, implementation teams know exactly what to deliver. Customer Success has clear targets to track. And customers have realistic expectations based on documented agreements, not optimistic assumptions.
AI makes this suddenly achievable. Transcript repurposing transforms every customer conversation into professional documentation. What was once impossible due to salespeople's varying writing and administration skills is now systematic and scalable.
Every issue of Outcome Accountable Selling will bring senior leaders:
Hard truths about why traditional sales approaches are failing in the AI era
Clear recommendations about changes that are available now
Examples from current client projects
After 40 years in this field, I'm sharing what actually works - not theory, but practical approaches that align sales success with customer success.
What's Coming
In upcoming issues, we'll explore:
How outcome definition conversations transform win rates and customer retention
Why AI transcript repurposing is the breakthrough
Why your COO might be your best transformation ally
Building accountability systems that drive the right behaviours
The Transformation Opportunity
For four decades, I've watched sales organisations struggle with misaligned incentives and disappointed customers. Now, for the first time, AI enables a different approach.
When salespeople become accountable for helping customers articulate clear, measurable outcomes, everything changes. Win rates improve. Implementations succeed. Customers expand rather than churn. Your sales team becomes a competitive advantage rather than a necessary evil.
Subscribe to receive insights from four decades of sales transformation experience, now enhanced by AI's breakthrough capabilities.
The future of B2B sales is outcome accountability. Let's build it together.
