Why Sales Teams Struggle to Scale: Insights from Jacqueline van Rooijen
The perennial question in boardrooms across industries remains: “Why isn’t our sales team closing more?”
Jacqueline van Rooijen, the Founder of Ycagel and creator of the Elite Edge, challenges the conventional solutions of hiring more reps, upgrading CRMs, or sending teams on motivation courses. She believes that the key to scaling sales teams lies in leadership clarity, strategic systems, and real execution support.
Van Rooijen identifies five common pain points that hinder sales teams from reaching their full potential:
1. Lack of Clear Direction: Without a cohesive execution plan, even top performers resort to guesswork.
2. Reactive Management: Managers often focus on activity management rather than leading performance.
3. Outdated Sales Processes: Using obsolete scripts and disjointed customer journeys results in lower conversion rates.
4. Accountability Issues: Without a supportive structure, accountability can feel like pressure rather than guidance.
5. Weak Performance Culture: If the organizational culture fails to reinforce high performance, momentum stagnates.
Van Rooijen emphasizes the need for leaders to focus on designing effective systems that activate existing team members rather than just adding more reps.
She offers practical advice for driving real change within sales teams:
1. Coach Managers Effectively: Monthly leadership check-ins should prioritize coaching strategies over mere reporting.
2. Establish Clarity with Scorecards: Consistently track leading metrics like activity, conversion, and pipeline, and review them weekly.
3. Implement Standardized Coaching Practices: Create a structured approach for 1:1 sessions, call reviews, and sales drills across all teams.
4. Conduct Monthly Strategy Sessions: Proactively address sales challenges and align leaders with key objectives to avoid managing in emergencies.
5. Foster a High-Performance Culture: Incorporate rituals like “Win of the Week” and public acknowledgments to embed success habits into the team’s DNA.
Van Rooijen concludes that sustainable sales team growth is achieved through structured leadership, purposeful coaching, and a culture that champions performance. By prioritizing these elements, organizations can overcome stagnation and drive consistent scalability.
About Jacqueline van Rooijen
Jacqueline van Rooijen is a strategic leadership advisor and high-performance sales coach, known for her program, The Elite Edge™, designed to help CEOs and sales leaders scale effectively. With a background in leadership development and sales activation, she focuses on building sustainable growth engines aligned with organizational values.
“I don’t just coach — I help leaders build growth engines that scale with their values, not against them.” – Jacqueline van Rooijen
