UK sales advice, no made-up numbers
Sales advice that shows its working
Practical guides, free calculators and honest opinion for people who sell for a living. Most sales content is built on stats nobody can trace. Ours isn't: every figure is sourced, or clearly labelled as an example.
- No invented statistics or fake case studies
- Written for UK law, tax and buyers
- Free tools, no signup, nothing leaves your browser
every number on this site has a source, or says it's an example
We never invent a number
If a figure has a source, we link it. If it's an example, we say so. If we can't back it up, it doesn't go in.
Written for the UK
UK GDPR and PECR, VAT, public-sector frameworks and pounds, not dollars. Most sales advice is American; ours isn't.
Do the maths yourself
Free calculators for the numbers that matter, from pipeline value to what a discount really costs. Your inputs stay in your browser.
Myths, busted
All mythsWe trace the sales stats everyone quotes back to their source, and report what we actually find.
Unsourced
Myth: "Only 3% of your market is buying right now" — a good idea with a borrowed number
Chet Holmes's buyer pyramid says 3% of any market is buying now. We looked for the data behind it and found show-of-hands polls, not published research.
Partly true
Myth: "B2B buyers are 57% through before they talk to sales" — a real study, stretched
The 57% stat comes from a real 2011 CEB survey of 1,500 buyers at big B2B suppliers. What it measured, what it did not, and what newer research says.
Misapplied
Myth: "A new customer costs five times more than keeping one" — the car-maker sum behind the slogan
The "5x" retention stat traces back to one US car maker's sums in the early 1980s. Here is what the source said and why the ratio will not fit your business.
Latest guides
All guides
Sales Coaching: Feedback That Changes Behaviour
How to run sales coaching that actually changes what reps do: a call review structure, a one-to-one agenda, feedback wording, and what to skip on a small team.
How to Onboard a New Sales Rep: A 30/60/90 Plan
A week-by-week 30/60/90 onboarding plan for a new sales hire, with checklists, certification gates, ramp expectations and what to prepare before day one.
Sales KPIs That Actually Matter
A short list of sales KPIs worth tracking, how to calculate each one, which to review weekly or quarterly, and the metrics that cause bad behaviour.
How to Run a Sales Pipeline Review Meeting
A copyable agenda, the questions to ask about each deal, the rules that keep the meeting short, and how pipeline review differs from forecasting and coaching.
Sales Velocity: The Metric Most Teams Ignore
What sales velocity is, how to calculate it with a worked example in pounds, which of the four inputs to attack first, and where the formula misleads you.
Sales Forecasting Methods Compared
Compare stage-weighted, category, run-rate and capacity forecasting, with worked examples in pounds and an honest look at where each method breaks.
Free tools
All toolsMeeting Cost Calculator
Work out what a meeting costs in salary time, from attendees, average salary and length, plus the annual bill if it repeats every week.
Sales Velocity Calculator
Work out how much revenue your pipeline produces per day, month and quarter from opportunities, deal value, win rate and cycle length.
Sales Conversion Rate Calculator
Work out conversion between up to four funnel stages and your overall lead-to-sale rate, so you can see which stage is leaking. Free UK tool.
UK VAT Calculator
Add VAT to a net price or take VAT out of a gross price at 20%, 5%, 0% or a rate you set. Shows the working, and runs in your browser.
Profit Margin and Markup Calculator
Work out gross margin and markup from the same cost and price, see why the two figures differ, and price back from a target margin. Free UK tool.
Break-Even Calculator
Work out how many units you need to sell to cover your fixed costs, plus the revenue that represents. Free, UK pounds, runs in your browser.
From the blog
All posts
Why Your Best Rep Might Be a Bad Manager
Promoting the top performer is the default move in many sales teams, and it costs you twice when it goes wrong. What to check first.
Sales Advice That Has Aged Badly
Some classic sales wisdom no longer survives contact with how buyers actually behave. Four pieces of advice worth retiring.
The Danger of One Big Deal in Your Pipeline
A single deal worth more than the rest combined distorts your forecast, your behaviour and your pricing. Here is how to handle one.