Melanie French

Is your sales team struggling to scale, missing targets, or overly reliant on a few key accounts?

Many CEOs and sales leaders face challenges that hold back long-term growth:

✔️ Unclear, inconsistent sales processes leading to unpredictable results.

✔️ Overstretched sales leadership stuck in day-to-day operations with no time for strategy.

✔️ Compensation plans that don’t drive the right behaviors or attract top talent.

✔️ CRM systems that aren’t fully operationalized, leading to poor visibility.

✔️ Hiring, onboarding, and retention gaps, making it hard to build a high-performing team.

✔️ Inconsistent tracking of key metrics (KPIs), leaving leadership blind to performance trends.

If any of these sound familiar, you’re not alone. The good news? They’re solvable.

At French Sales Solutions, I help companies modernize and optimize their sales motion by diagnosing the root causes of underperformance and implementing proven, scalable solutions.

Imagine a sales organization with:

🚀 A repeatable, scalable sales process.

📊 Data-driven decision-making with clear KPIs.

💡 A high-impact sales strategy designed for long-term growth.

🎯 Accountability frameworks that drive consistent execution.


About Me

I founded French Sales Solutions in 2020 after spending over a decade helping a company grow from $50M to $230M, eventually leading 75+ sales and service professionals as Vice President of Sales.

My expertise includes:

✅ Evaluating and assessing current systems, processes, and teams.

✅ Scaling sales processes for sustainable revenue growth.

✅ Building high-performing teams through hiring, onboarding, and accountability.

✅ Operationalizing CRMs for better pipeline management and forecasting.

✅ Implementing Sandler sales training methodologies to drive performance.

When CEOs bring me in, it’s because they need an outside perspective to break through sales plateaus, fix inefficiencies, and position their company for long-term success.

If you're ready to transform your sales team, let's talk. Book a clarity call: https://calendly.com/frenchsalessolutions/claritycall

Fractional VP of Sales and Sales Consultant | Founder & CEO

Are you a B2B business owner/CEO with a sales team of 10+ and need to upskill your sales systems and processes?

There’s 2 ways I can help:

1. Book a free consultation session.
2. Subscribe to my newsletter. It’s free.

Links to both in my featured section or on frenchsalessolutions.com

"It's lonely at the top."

My old CEO used to say this all the time.

If you're not lonely at the top, you're doing it wrong.

As a CEO, your job is to lead. Not to be liked. Not to make everyone comfortable. To lead.

That means making decisions people won't always agree with. Holding people accountable when they'd rather you didn't. Pushing for change when they'd prefer status quo.

I talked to a VP last week whose CEO wants to make changes. But wants everyone to feel good about the changes first.

Those two things are incompatible.

You can't grow a business and keep everyone comfortable at the same time.

Here's the trap: Many CEOs confuse being a good leader with being well-liked.

They avoid difficult conversations because they don't want conflict. They delay decisions because they want consensus. They accept mediocre performance because firing someone would be "harsh."

But being liked isn't the same as being respected.

I've seen this in family businesses especially. The CEO has known these people for 15 years. Now they need to restructure territories or change comp plans.

And they can't pull the trigger because "we're like family here."

Business isn't family.

Families don't have performance expectations. Families don't fire underperformers. Families tolerate dysfunction because blood is thicker than water.

Businesses can't operate that way.

You have stakeholders. Employees who depend on the company's success. Customers who need you to deliver.

If you prioritize making one person comfortable over doing what's right for all those stakeholders, you're not leading. You're avoiding.

Here's what good leadership actually looks like:

You make decisions that benefit the business, even when they're uncomfortable. You hold people accountable, even when it strains relationships. You push for change, even when people resist.

And yes, sometimes people don't like you for it. That's the lonely part.
But here's what happens when you do it right:

High performers respect you. They see that standards matter. The business gets healthier. Results follow.

The people who were uncomfortable? Most of them adjust. Some even thank you later.

Not all of them. Some will leave. Some will complain. That's the cost of leadership.

One CEO I worked with put it this way: "I'd rather be respected than liked. Being liked is temporary. Being respected builds something that lasts."

If you're trying to keep everyone happy, you're not leading.

The job is to make decisions that move the business forward. Even when people don't like them.

So yes, it's lonely at the top. But that's how you know you're actually leading.

Get my complete guide to building systematic sales processes: https://lnkd.in/e-9ryqJd

I’ve been in sales for over 15 years with leadership roles in a number of other business areas. 

By the time I was 35, I was the VP of Sales of a $200M company.

My biggest corporate accomplishment was creating a sales infrastructure that ultimately allowed that company to expand and diversify their customer base, to the tune of more than $50M in annual sales.

While working in corporate America, I worked my way up to the role of Vice President of Sales where I managed over 75 sales and service employees across 5 teams and the attainment of over $230M in sales in my first VP role.  My experience has given me the opportunity to do more than I would have ever imagined, including business development and scaling of sales processes, people processes (the hiring and the firing), and the operational sales and business practices. I have obtained over 10 years of experience with Sandler sales training while also being able to build and manage revenue and expense budgets.

Drawing on my experiences, I founded French Sales Solutions, a consulting company that's been contracted by founder led small businesses to revamp and elevate sales operations to transition them out of the day-to-day weeds and into the CEO role.

Are you ready to move your sales structure from reactive to proactive and have confidence in your ability to move the business forward and get to the next level?

🎯 Check out www.frenchsalessolutions.com to see if my products and services are a fit for you.

Your Sales Team Isn’t Broken Your System Is | Strategy + Execution to Build the Team, Systems & Processes Behind a High-Performing B2B Sales Org

Your CRM implementation failed.

Not because you bought the wrong software. Because you hired the wrong person to set it up.

Most companies hire a technical consultant. Someone who knows Salesforce or HubSpot inside and out.

They assume that person will figure out what the business needs.

They won't.

Here's why CRM implementations fail:

There's a three-person knowledge problem.

Person 1️⃣: Business knowledge

What should your sales process look like? What metrics actually matter? What defines a qualified opportunity?

This is strategic. This is about your business model.

Person 2️⃣: User knowledge

What do salespeople need day-to-day? What will make them actually use the system? What creates friction vs. what helps?

This is practical. This is about workflow.

Person 3️⃣: Technical knowledge

How do you configure the system to support all of that? What automations make sense? How do you build the reports?

This is execution. This is about the tool.

Most companies hire Person 3 and expect them to be all three.

Doesn't work.

The technical consultant can build whatever you want. But they can't tell you what you should want.

That's your job.

You need to answer the business questions before you hire the technical person.

What does our sales process actually look like? What needs to be tracked for accurate forecasting? What criteria move a deal from stage to stage?

Once you know that, then you hire someone to build it. Not before.

One client came to me after a failed Salesforce implementation. Spent over $100K. System was a disaster.

I asked: "What's your sales process?"

They couldn't answer.

But they expected the consultant to figure that out while building the CRM.

Of course it failed.

We spent 30 days mapping their actual process. Not what they wished it was. What actually happened.

Then we rebuilt the CRM around that. Night and day difference.

Get my complete guide to building systematic sales processes: https://lnkd.in/e-9ryqJd

Your 30 day forecast is 57% below target.

The math doesn't work.

I sat with a CEO last week who showed me this exact problem.

"But they all said they updated the CRM," the CEO told me.

I pulled up the actual pipeline. Deals everywhere. Hundreds of thousands in opportunities.

Every single close date was in the past.

Deals that were supposed to close in October. Still sitting there in December. Never moved. Never updated.

"Yes, I updated Pipedrive" they reported weekly.

Technically true. They opened the record. Looked at it. Closed it. They just didn't change anything.

Here's what broke my heart: This CEO said "I'm demoralized. I can't make this any easier."

Two things to update per deal:
1. Stage
2. Expected close date

That's it. Still didn't happen.

The CEO came down hard on this a month ago. Borderline inappropriately firm. Really laid into the team about accurate forecasting.

Worked for two weeks. Then right back to the same behavior.

Here's what most CEOs don't realize: You can't fix a people problem with a process solution.

Pipeline hygiene isn't a CRM issue. It's a discipline issue. And discipline requires consequences.

I've seen companies try everything. Better platforms. Simpler processes. More training. Weekly reminders.

None of it works without accountability.
The only thing that works: If your pipeline isn't updated, your commission gets docked.

Harsh? Maybe.

But here's the alternative: You make hiring decisions, budget commitments, and board projections based on fiction. Then you're surprised when you miss by 60%.

That CEO is stuck right now. Can't forecast. Can't plan. Can't see what's real.

All because the team won't do two simple updates per deal.

This week, they're putting every salesperson's pipeline on a screen in the sales meeting. Name. Deals. Forecast amounts. For everyone to see.

Public accountability.

Will it work? We'll see.

But here's what I know: If you're not willing to create real consequences, don't expect different behavior.

Your team already knows your MO. They know you'll push, they'll resist, you'll back down.

If you want it to end differently, you have to do something different.

Not a new CRM. Not a simpler process. A consequence that actually matters.

Want weekly insights on building sales systems that work? Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eY2b9NyX

Most consultants tell you what you want to hear. 

The right ones help you see the hard truths and actually fix what is broken.

"We just need to hire more salespeople."

That's the default answer when growth stalls.

But here's what I've found. Most companies don't have a headcount problem. They have a deployment problem.

One company I worked with had plenty of salespeople. Good people. Experienced. Knew the industry.

But they were all farmers.

Great at maintaining relationships with existing accounts. Responsive. Reliable. Customers loved them.

Terrible at hunting new business.

The company wanted to grow 30% in two years. They were flat.

The knee-jerk reaction was to hire hunters. Fair enough. But the real question was different:

Are the people we have in the right roles?

Some of those farmers were covering accounts that didn't need that level of attention. Others were spread across too many small accounts to be effective anywhere.

Meanwhile, a whole segment of potential customers got zero coverage because nobody was assigned to go after them.

Before you hire, ask:

Do we have the right people in the right seats? Are they focused on the right accounts? Is anyone actually hunting, or is everyone farming?

Sometimes the answer is still "hire more people." But often it's "redeploy the people we have."

That's cheaper. Faster. And it forces you to think about your sales structure instead of just throwing bodies at the problem.

Want weekly insights on building sales systems that work? Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/ePVRN5U9

Your sales dashboard might say seven figures are closing this month, but what if none of it is real?

Accountability without consequences is just noise.

You can set goals. You can publish metrics. You can have weekly sales meetings where everyone reports their numbers.

But if nothing happens when people miss, none of it matters.

I've seen it play out the same way in company after company.

Leadership sets expectations. Everyone knows the targets. The scorecard goes up on the wall.

Someone misses. 

Repeatedly. 

Nothing happens.

Now everyone knows the rules don't apply equally.

The high performers get frustrated. The underperformers get comfortable. The middle group figures out exactly how little they can do without consequences.

You get maybe two chances to set expectations and not follow through. After that, nobody believes anything you say.

And here's what makes it hard. Following through means having difficult conversations. It means treating everyone equally, even the person who's been there 15 years. It means sometimes losing people.

Most leaders don't want to do that. So they set expectations but don't enforce them.

That's worse than having no expectations at all.

Because now you've told everyone what matters. And then you've shown them it actually doesn't.

Accountability is simple: clear expectations plus real consequences.
Simple doesn't mean easy.

Get my complete guide to building systematic sales processes: https://lnkd.in/e-9ryqJd

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