Your VP of Sales says, “2025 looks strong.”

Your VP of Sales says, “2025 looks strong.”

I recently spoke with a CEO hearing the same, but his gut told him something was off.

So, I told him:

“Ask your Sales VP to pull up the last 7-14 days of real sales activity. No reports. No dashboards. Just the raw data.”

The reality? There was a lot less happening than anyone he been led to believe. Most were already decorating Christmas Cookies and picking out their ugly sweaters.

Here’s what I’ve seen after working with dozens of companies gearing up for the New Year:

Most execs think they have a pulse on the business. But in reality? They’re often flying blind.

Here are 3 questions every CEO should be asking their Sales Manager right now:

1. “Who ghosted you recently?”

I’m not talking about lost deals—those are obvious. This is about prospects who suddenly went dark.

The truth? It’s not them, it’s you. If leads are continually ghosting you, it’s because you're missing something critical.

2. “Where are last year’s loyal customers doing?”

If top clients from last year aren’t placing orders now, they’re already slipping away.

(One client I worked with discovered that 35% of their repeat buyers hadn’t engaged in months, but the reports were still showing ‘active clients.’)

3. “Show me the sales activity over the last 7-14-30 days.”

Not filtered reports or curated dashboards. Just the real numbers, right now.

(I’ve seen CEOs realize that their supposedly ‘healthy’ pipeline was nothing more than check-ins and fluff, with no real movement.)

Here’s the bottom line:

Your CRM isn’t broken.

Your team isn’t slacking off.

But most sales teams are measuring what’s easy, not what matters.

The market is shifting, and if you’re not digging deeper, you’ll be caught flat-footed in 2025.

Ask these questions today. The answers might make you uncomfortable, but they’ll also reveal where you need to focus before it’s too late.

-Noah

P.S. If you’re a mid-market CEO ready to cut through the noise and end the year strong, DM me “Reality Check.”