Revenue & Sales Leadership

Build people.
Fix systems.
Create predictable revenue.

I have spent my career building teams, developing managers, improving underperforming revenue motions, and turning activity into real opportunity. The Revenue Leadership System is how I think about the whole business, not just the sales number.

“I cannot be successful unless you are successful.”
Explore the system Read the Executive Preview
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$500K+new business closed in six months while building a sales and marketing function from scratch
35%annual revenue growth at AMCS, plus 15% market-share expansion
$5M+pipeline generated through the DHL PowerSellers channel program
18%lead-conversion improvement at Quest through coaching and process discipline

Leadership

The number matters. The people create the number.

I do not believe leadership is standing over a dashboard asking why somebody missed quota. I want to understand what is happening, what the rep is being asked to do, what the system rewards, and what I can do to help the person improve.

When I inherit a team, I hand them my resume because they did not get to interview me. Then I turn the conversation around. I want to know where they came from, what they do well, where they need help, what motivates them, and where they want to go next.

The first job of a new leader is not to arrive with answers. It is to make sure the team is solving the right problem.

How I lead

  • Listen before changing the organization.
  • Use data to validate perception.
  • Coach top performers as intentionally as struggling reps.
  • Develop managers before promoting them.
  • Tie compensation to the behavior the business actually wants.
  • Career-path people across Sales, Customer Success, Marketing and leadership.
  • Fight for the right thing, even when the conversation is uncomfortable.

The Revenue Operating System

Most companies do not have one sales problem.
They have a system of connected problems.

A CRM cannot fix a bad sales process. A methodology cannot fix inconsistent coaching. A compensation plan can create exactly the wrong behavior. A forecast is only as good as the definitions underneath it. The operating system connects the pieces.

01

People

Hiring, coaching, career pathing, manager development and culture.

02

Opportunity

Discovery, qualification, multi-threading and meaningful next steps.

03

Process

Clear stages, entry criteria, exit criteria and handoffs.

04

Coaching

1:1s, call reviews, role-play and behavior change that can be measured.

05

Alignment

Sales, Marketing, CS, Finance and Operations working from common priorities.

06

Measurement

Inspect what matters, not activity for activity's sake.

07

Technology

CRM and AI supporting the process instead of becoming the process.

08

Leadership

Listen. Validate. Decide. Communicate. Revalidate.

“Diagnose first. Prescribe second.”

I will not force MEDDPICC, Challenger, or any other methodology on a company simply because I used it somewhere else.

Executive Operating View

One business. One view.

A useful executive dashboard should not only tell leadership what happened. It should show what is coming, what is at risk, and where action is needed.

Where are we? Where should we be? What's coming? What's at risk? What needs action?

Marketing

Calendar, campaigns, events, ICP focus and what other teams need to know next.

Sales

Pipeline by stage, last activity, notes, next steps, stalled deals and forecast risk.

Implementation

Project stage, schedule, budget, next milestone and red flags.

Customer Support

Tickets opened and closed, resolution time, backlog and outstanding issues.

Customer Success

Last account activity, renewals, training needs, expansion signals and advocacy.

Finance

Department budget vs. actual, upcoming spend and unbudgeted impact.

People

Morale, performance, PTO, burnout risk, key-player coverage and recognition.

Stories that shaped the system

Real lessons. Not management theory.

Mike Conrad and Jeff Hoyland together after Jeff returned to work

The Battle Helmet

When the number was not the most important thing in the room.

Jeff Hoyland worked his way off a performance improvement plan and earned a promotion to Senior BDR. Months later, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Before treatment, he asked when he should schedule it so his absence would not hurt the team's quota.

I told him to get treated immediately. When he returned, I shaved my head, put on our "battle helmet," and surprised him in front of the team. Later, when the cancer returned, the team organized a transportation schedule to get him to treatments.

Leadership lesson: your people will remember what you did when the number was not the most important thing in the room.

Compensation

The 5 / 5 / 20 problem

A quarterly goal of 30 meetings produced five in month one, five in month two, and 20 lower-quality meetings in month three.

I moved the plan to 10 meetings per month and shifted more commission to proposal and closed-won outcomes.

If you pay people to set meetings, do not be surprised when they become meeting setters.

Pipeline

An 80% opportunity with no activity is not an 80% opportunity.

Last activity, notes and real next steps belong beside stage and value. "Checking in" emails with no response do not make a forecast real.

A field in CRM is not automatically the truth.

MEDDPICC at Quest

“How do you know?”

On a $125K opportunity, the rep's Decision Criteria turned out to be her interpretation, not the customer's criteria. One coaching question changed the deal strategy.

The problem was not MEDDPICC. It was using MEDDPICC as an afterthought.

Account Strategy

$250K became $750K at Hewlett-Packard.

I thought I owned the account until I discovered another buyer doing similar volume with a competitor.

One simple question changed my account-management philosophy: “Is there anyone else in your company who would buy something like this?”

Selected career impact

Built in different environments. Same operating philosophy.

2025

Madison Ave Consulting

Built Sales and Marketing from scratch for a Salesforce consulting and OEM/ISV business. Closed $500K+ in new business in six months and improved lead-to-opportunity conversion by approximately 40%.

2022–23

AMCS Group

Led five regional full-cycle sales teams across multiple segments, delivering 35% annual revenue growth and 15% market-share expansion.

2021–22

Quest Software

Led global inside sales across North America, EMEA and APAC. Improved lead conversion by 18% and strengthened pipeline and forecasting discipline across Salesforce, Clari and Xant.

2018–21

Resilience360 / DHL

Built the DHL PowerSellers channel program, generating $5M+ in pipeline while training hundreds of sellers on a newly independent risk-analytics business.

2011–18

Innoveer → Cloud Sherpas → Accenture

Built and scaled inside-sales and BDR operations across acquisitions, supporting $45M+ in annual revenue and developing U.S. and U.K. teams in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Executive Preview

Want the thinking behind the website?

The Executive Preview is a short introduction to the larger Revenue Operating System manuscript. It includes the leadership philosophy, the Battle Helmet story, compensation design, pipeline integrity, methodology, discovery, and the Executive Operating View.

Open Executive Preview View Resume
Revenue Operating System The Executive System for Predictable Revenue

Private Executive Preview

“I cannot be successful unless you are successful.”
Mike Conrad

Let's talk

Leadership role, advisory conversation, or a revenue system that needs work?

I am interested in conversations where my experience building teams, developing managers and improving revenue operations can make an immediate and lasting impact.

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