Quick question: How confident are you in your sales engine right now?
If revenue is flat, growth has stalled, or sales feels like a constant stress crack in your business, you’re not alone. Most entrepreneurs feel it first in the tension: missed targets, friction between Sales and Operations, and that nagging sense that something isn’t working the way it should.
That’s not a failure. It’s a signal.
And EOS already has a simple tool designed to help you diagnose exactly what’s going on.
It’s called the Sales Department Checkup.
When you use it purely, it helps you quickly determine whether sales is healthy, or whether it’s the stress crack holding growth back.
Where This Tool Came From
Across thousands of entrepreneurial companies, we’ve seen two very different realities:
In some businesses, sales is strong and the rest of the organization is scrambling to keep up with demand.
In others, sales is the constraint. Growth is flat. The leadership team is frustrated. Fingers start pointing. And no one is quite sure where the real problem is.
The difference comes down to a few fundamentals.
High-functioning sales departments consistently get eight things right. When any one of them is weak, sales becomes unstable, and the business feels it.
The Sales Department Checkup was built to surface those gaps quickly and clearly.
When to USE the sales department checkup
This is the right EOS Tool when:
- Your company isn’t growing
- You want to grow faster
- Revenue targets are being missed
- The person accountable for sales looks uncomfortable every time numbers are reviewed
- Sales and Operations are blaming each other
- The market, the economy, or the competition is getting the blame
That’s your cue to stop debating symptoms and run the checkup.
The Eight Elements That Matter
A high-functioning sales department has:
- One accountable sales leader who GWCs the seat (Gets It, Wants It, Capacity to Do It)
- A clear Marketing Strategy (Target Market, 3 Uniques, Proven Process, Guarantee)
- A documented, simplified sales process
- A defined sales culture and approach
- Measurables managed with a Scorecard
- The Right People in the Right Seats
- Minimum standards that are crystal clear to everyone
- Absolute consistency in process, message, materials, and The Meeting Pulse
These are not opinions. They’re yes-or-no realities.
Here’s how the checkup works
Run the checkup with your leadership team. For each of the eight elements:
- Go around the table
- Get a clear yes or no from each leader
If there’s a no:
- Allow brief clarification
- Drop it straight onto your Issues List
By the end of the exercise, you’ll have one of two outcomes:
- Confirmation that you have a healthy, high-functioning sales department
- Or a short, clear Issues List showing exactly what’s holding growth back
Either way, you get clarity.
The Real Problem Usually Isn’t “Sales”
When sales struggles, most leadership teams immediately IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) the obvious stuff: leads, close rate, pipeline, pricing, performance.
But that’s often the surface.
This checkup forces you to confront what’s underneath: accountability, clarity, process, standards, people, and consistency.
And once you see it clearly, you can solve it clearly.
Related Reading: Don’t Duct Tape Your Issues, Solve Them
Run the Checkup in Your Next Leadership Meeting
If sales feels off, don’t wait for another quarter. Don’t spend the next 90 days debating symptoms.
Pull the tool out. Walk the eight elements. Build a clean Issues List. Then, IDS what matters most.
This is how EOS helps leadership teams get what they want from their business.
Want to Go Deeper?
If you want to truly understand how tools like the Sales Department Checkup fit into the bigger picture, the EOS Academy is the best place to start.
EOS Academy gives you clear, practical training on the EOS Tools, the thinking behind them, and how they work together to help you gain traction, build a stronger leadership team, and grow a healthier business. Get started for free.
