First time Sales Leader / Director Business Development

100-150 employees, $2.4m revenue, founder-led

Challenge:

This B2B Service company had grown rapidly under a highly driven, hands-on founder–CEO who still led many large deals personally. The newly promoted Director of BD had stepped up from a top-performing AE role but inherited a founder-led, relationship-driven sales motion with no consistent process, limited HubSpot use, and ad hoc hiring. The CEO wanted predictable, scalable revenue without losing control of key relationships, while the Director of BD needed to build a proper sales organisation, improve forecasting, and align BDRs, AEs and Client Success around a clear way of working.

Solution:

Over 12 months, Volker partnered with the Director of BD to professionalise and scale the commercial engine while respecting the founder-led strengths:

  • Sales Process & HubSpot Build: Translated the founder’s intuitive way of selling into a clear, documented sales process and implemented it in HubSpot, with defined stages, entry/exit criteria and dashboards for pipeline, win rates and cycle length.
  • BDR, AE & CS Structure: Clarified ownership between founder, Head of Sales, BDRs, AEs and Client Success; designed handover points; and supported structured hiring for BDRs and AEs to reduce dependence on the founder.
  • Reporting & Forecasting Cadence: Introduced weekly pipeline reviews, standardised deal notes, and a simple but robust forecasting rhythm (quarterly) so the CEO and board could see risk, upside and expected revenue at a glance.
  • Commission & Incentives: Created a transparent commission plan aligned to new business, expansion and retention, reinforcing the shift from founder-led heroics to team-based performance.
  • Leadership Coaching: Coached the Head of Sales on stepping out of “super AE mode” into true leadership, including prioritisation, delegation, managing up to the founder, and building a healthy performance culture.

Results:

  • 💰 Revenue Growth: Turnover increased from $1.3m to $2.4m within 12 months, with the company on track for $5m-$7m the following year based on improved pipeline quality and forecast accuracy.
  • 📊 Predictable Founder-Led to Scalable: The CEO retained involvement in a small number of strategic deals, but 90+% of new business now flowed through a repeatable team process in HubSpot, reducing key-person risk.
  • 👥 Stronger Hiring & Team Structure: The Head of Sales built a functioning BDR and AE layer, improved hiring decisions, and created clear expectations and progression paths across the sales and CS teams.
  • 🧭 Professionalised Revenue Engine: The business shifted from reactive, founder-driven selling to a data-informed, scalable sales operation, giving investors and the board greater confidence in hitting future growth targets.

Start-Up CTO climbing the corporate ladder, feeling lost

Challenge:

This executive had climbed the corporate ladder but had never paused to reflect on why he wanted to get there or what truly fulfilled him in life and work. Like many high achievers, he had focused on career progression without defining his personal and professional purpose. He needed to reset, gain clarity, and find a sustainable way to lead while maintaining balance.

Solution:

Volker guided the coachee through a structured self-discovery and leadership recalibration process, ensuring he could align his career and life with what truly mattered:

  • Values & Purpose Discovery: Used the Wheel of Life framework to map out his priorities, core values, and long-term aspirations.
  • Work-Life Balance & Prioritisation: Implemented time-blocking strategies to ensure he could balance professional leadership with personal fulfillment.
  • Strategic Leadership & Team Structuring: Helped him restructure his department, ensuring his team operated more effectively without requiring constant hands-on involvement.
  • Stress Reduction & Sustainable Leadership: Provided techniques to step back, delegate more effectively, and reduce stress, ensuring long-term career sustainability.

Results:

  • 📈 Career Clarity & Leadership Growth – Gained a clear sense of direction in his career, knowing what truly mattered.
  • 🚀 More Effective Team & Department Structure – Learned how to lead strategically, giving his team more autonomy while improving performance.
  • 🎯 Improved Work-Life Balance & Reduced Stress – Took deliberate steps to balance personal and professional life, leading to greater fulfillment and mental well-being.
  • 🔥 Sustainable Success & Purpose-Driven Leadership – Became more intentional in decision-making, ensuring he stayed aligned with his values while achieving results.

Head of Sales in tech/SaaS Scale-Up (Confidence, Sales Performance)

Challenge:

This coachee struggled with self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and a need for reassurance, which affected both confidence and performance. While he was already working with a therapist, he needed deeper coaching sessions to uncover his core motivation and stabilise his sales performance. At the same time, he was navigating major personal life changes, adding further pressure to his ability to focus and achieve targets.

Solution:

Volker applied a compassionate yet strategic coaching approach, integrating therapeutic and NLP-based techniques to break through self-limiting beliefs and rebuild confidence:

  • Identifying & Eliminating Limiting Beliefs: Used NLP and mindset reframing techniques to help the coachee recognise and dismantle deep-seated self-doubt.
  • Energy & Focus Realignment: Developed daily alignment strategies, ensuring he focused on the tasks and mindset shifts that truly mattered.
  • Confidence Rebuilding & Performance Focus: Shifted the coachee from a reactive to a proactive mindset, helping him regain control over his sales process and personal well-being.
  • Balancing Personal & Professional Pressures: Provided structured support to help him navigate personal challenges without compromising his professional growth.

Results:

  • 📈 Confidence Fully Rebuilt – The coachee regained self-belief, motivation, and clarity, enabling him to perform at his best.
  • 🚀 Sales Performance Restabilised – After an initial dip, he started hitting targets again, proving that mindset shifts lead to tangible business results.
  • 🎯 Better Work-Life Balance & Energy Alignment – Learned to prioritise what truly matters, reducing stress and maximising daily effectiveness.
  • 🔥 Sustainable Personal & Professional Growth – With resilience and confidence restored, he made long-term progress toward achieving his goals.

VP Engineering (Investment Bank), Personal Alignment

Challenge:

This coachee felt disconnected from his work and life situation, struggling with misalignment between his personal values and career direction. Without this alignment, he lacked clarity, confidence, and fulfilment, making it difficult to move forward with conviction.

Solution:

Volker guided the coachee through a structured values discovery process, ensuring his career and life choices aligned with what truly mattered to him:

  • Values Identification & Alignment: Mapped out his core personal values and assessed where they fit (or didn’t) in his career.
  • Work-Life Situation Analysis: Examined his current role, responsibilities, and daily routines, identifying gaps in fulfillment and energy-draining areas.
  • Clarity & Boundaries for Sustainable Growth: Defined clear professional and personal boundaries, allowing him to make decisions that served both his well-being and ambitions.
  • Future-Focused Career Planning: Built a strategic path forward, ensuring he could step into his career with authenticity and confidence.

Results:

  • 📈 Massive Clarity & Self-Confidence – Gained a clearer understanding of what truly drives him, allowing him to bring his full self to work.
  • 🚀 Career Direction Aligned with Personal Values – Created a work-life balance that fit his priorities, increasing fulfilment and motivation.
  • 🎯 Stronger Boundaries & Decision-Making – Learned how to say no to misaligned opportunities while confidently pursuing the right path.
  • 🔥 Authentic, Future-Driven Mindset – No longer feeling stuck or conflicted, he moved forward with purpose and conviction in his career plan.

Start-Up Founder (Personal Challenges, Self-Belief)

Challenge:

A business founder was struggling with deep-rooted personal challenges—his relationship with his father was affecting both his self-worth and ambition. At the same time, he lacked clarity on where to focus his career next, leaving him stuck in indecision and self-doubt.

Solution:

Volker took a blended approach, integrating coaching and therapeutic techniques to help him reframe his past and build a future with confidence:

  • Unpacking & Reframing Personal Baggage: Used structured therapy-based reflection techniques to clear limiting beliefs tied to childhood experiences.
  • Perspective Shift & Emotional Reconciliation: Helped him see his relationship with his father as a potential support system rather than a barrier.
  • Future-Focused Visioning: Mapped out what his future could look like, creating clarity on his next career steps.
  • Confidence & Decision-Making Strengthening: Developed self-belief and resilience-building exercises, ensuring he moved forward with certainty and assurance.

Results:

  • 📈 Stronger Self-Belief & Confidence – He reclaimed his personal power, stepping into decision-making with assurance.
  • 🚀 Emotional Clarity & Freedom – Released emotional baggage that was subconsciously holding him back, allowing him to focus on the future rather than the past.
  • 🎯 Clear Career Direction – Gained a well-defined vision for his career, knowing exactly where to focus his energy.
  • 🔥 Empowered, Purpose-Driven Mindset – Shifted from self-doubt to confidence, taking bold steps toward the future he truly wanted.

Fractional CTO – Career Transition after Exit

Challenge:

After a successful business exit, this fractional CTO, business owner, and advisor wasn’t struggling with income, but rather with designing a life that aligned with his family, career ambitions, and financial goals. The challenge wasn’t about finding work—it was about choosing the right work while maintaining personal fulfillment and balance.

Solution:

Volker provided strategic coaching focused on clarity, boundaries, and intentional decision-making, ensuring the coachee could align work with purpose without sacrificing personal priorities:

  • Defining Priorities & Boundaries: Used mapping exercises to clarify what truly mattered in both professional and personal life.
  • Work-Life Balance & Focus Strategy: Designed a clear framework for balancing family time and business ambitions without overcommitting.
  • Visualisation & Ikigai Model Implementation: Leveraged the Ikigai framework to pinpoint what brings joy, what generates income, and where his impact could be greatest.
  • Strategic Positioning & Business Focus: Helped him refine his value proposition, ensuring he focused on the right opportunities while confidently saying no to distractions.

Results:

  • 📈 Achieved Clarity & Focus – Gained a deep understanding of where to invest time and energy, avoiding distractions that didn’t align with his goals.
  • 🚀 Stronger Work-Life Balance – Successfully built a career structure that maximised income and fulfillment while protecting family time.
  • 🎯 Defined a Purpose-Driven Career Path – Developed a clear personal and professional roadmap that aligned with his passions, skills, and long-term goals.
  • 🔥 More Intentional, Meaningful Work – Focused exclusively on high-value, fulfilling opportunities, reducing stress and increasing personal satisfaction.

VP Sales, Data/DaaS (ADHD/Neurodiversity)

Challenge:

This coachee was a consistent top performer, a President’s Club member for multiple years, and well-respected within his company. His reward? A promotion to VP of Sales, leading a large team while juggling internal politics and administrative responsibilities, tasks he disliked and found draining. While he still loved selling and being hands-on, he struggled to balance strategic leadership with his natural instinct to be in the trenches closing deals.

Solution:

Volker provided leadership coaching to help the coachee set priorities, manage leadership responsibilities, and maintain high performance without burnout:

  • Strategic Priority Setting & Confidence Building: Shifted focus from day-to-day firefighting to long-term sales leadership, allowing him to be proactive rather than reactive.
  • Sales Strategy & Hiring Plan Refinement: Reviewed hiring strategies, redundancy decisions, and succession planning, ensuring the team was built for long-term success.
  • Leadership & Emotional Resilience Coaching: Helped him navigate internal politics, manage promotions, and handle the emotional setbacks of tough leadership decisions (letting people go, restructuring, and managing up).
  • Balancing Leadership & Hands-On Selling: Developed a structured approach to selectively engaging in deals, allowing him to support sales efforts without neglecting leadership duties.

Results:

  • 📈 More Strategic & Balanced Leadership Approach – He became less reactive, more structured, and managed his workload with clarity.
  • 🚀 Improved ADHD & Work-Life Balance Management – Learned how to prioritise tasks effectively, reducing stress and improving overall well-being.
  • 🎯 Team Overachieved Sales Targets by 75% – With focused leadership and strategic account support, the sales team outperformed expectations.
  • 🔥 Retained President’s Club Status – Maintained his elite performance while successfully leading a high-performing team.

Creative Partner (Big Media/Creative Agency)

Challenge:

A Creative Partner at a major media agency suddenly found himself without his longtime pitching partner, leaving him feeling overwhelmed and under pressure to perform solo. The fear of standing alone in high-stakes pitches impacted his confidence, delivery, and ability to own the room.

Solution:

Volker designed a confidence-boosting strategy, incorporating proven performance psychology techniques to rebuild self-assurance and stage presence:

  • Power Posing & Physiological Confidence Boosting: Introduced Amy Cuddy’s power pose technique to enhance presence and reduce anxiety before pitches.
  • NLP Circle of Excellence: Trained the coachee to mentally step into a state of peak confidence and control using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.
  • Mindset Reframing & Pitch Practice: Shifted internal narratives from self-doubt to self-mastery, reinforcing a sense of ownership and control over his performance.
  • Strategic Career Growth Focus: Helped him identify the right creative partner fit for the future while ensuring he could hold his own in solo presentations.

Results:

  • 📈 Confident, Solo Pitching Success – Successfully delivered high-stakes pitches alone, demonstrating stronger self-belief and composure.
  • 🚀 Career Progression with Self-Assurance – Moved his career forward with a renewed sense of control and presence.
  • 🎯 Took Ownership of His Leadership & Influence – Rather than relying on a partner, he became independent and self-reliant in his pitch delivery.
  • 🔥 Proactively Searched for the Right Creative Partner – No longer out of necessity, but to enhance his vision rather than depend on support.

Senior Development Manager – enhancing leadership capabilities (Energy sector)

Challenge:

A Senior Development Manager wanted to enhance his leadership capabilities, improve listening, time management, and emotional intelligence, and expand his influence beyond his day job. He aimed to become a more effective, compassionate leader while also exploring advisory and volunteer opportunities to broaden his impact.

Solution:

Volker provided a structured leadership development program, focusing on personal efficiency, emotional intelligence, and external influence:

  • Mindfulness & Focus Training: Introduced simple yet powerful techniques like the Wheel of Life exercise and eliminating digital distractions (turning notifications off) to increase focus and deep work capacity.
  • Leadership & Emotional Intelligence Coaching: Developed action plans to strengthen team leadership, active listening, and empathy, ensuring he led with compassion and emotional intelligence.
  • Personal Branding & Influence Growth: Worked on public profile-building, helping him position himself for advisory roles and external leadership opportunities.
  • Productivity & Prioritisation Frameworks: Implemented structured time management techniques, enabling him to get more done with fewer interruptions while maintaining work-life balance.

Results:

  • 📈 Recognised as a More Emotionally Intelligent Leader – Became a more respected and empathetic leader, significantly improving team trust and engagement.
  • 🚀 Secured an Advisory Role – Raised his professional visibility, leading to new leadership and advisory opportunities outside of his current role.
  • 🎯 Improved Productivity & Time Management – Learned how to prioritise effectively, reduce distractions, and execute high-impact work without burnout.
  • 🔥 Gained Confidence as a Compassionate, Inspirational Leader – Successfully stepped out of his comfort zone, becoming a well-rounded senior leader whom others look up to.

VP Sales to CRO Transition (Biopharma)

Series A Scale Up

Challenge:

A VP of Sales was preparing for promotion to CRO, tasked with expanding marketing, revenue operations, and sales functions across Europe and the US. With long sales cycles and high-stakes commercial decisions, he needed strategic clarity, stronger leadership positioning, and alignment with investors and the board. Volker was brought in to help refine objectives, structure growth, and sharpen his leadership approach.

Solution:

Volker provided leadership coaching and strategic advisory support, focusing on commercial clarity, leadership positioning, and high-impact decision-making:

  • Objective-Setting & Leadership Alignment: Defined clear strategic goals, ensuring alignment with board expectations and future funding rounds.
  • Board & Investor Communication Mastery: Coached on creating compelling board reports, enhancing his influence with stakeholders.
  • Sales Process & Team Performance Review: Evaluated current sales operations and team dynamics, refining processes to boost efficiency and long-term revenue growth.
  • Strategic Sounding Board for Commercial Decisions: Served as a trusted advisor, helping navigate complex revenue strategies and cross-functional leadership expansion.

Results:

  • 📈 Multi-Million-Pound Pipeline Growth – His team’s improved performance and strategic execution directly resulted in several million pounds of additional pipeline revenue.
  • 🚀 Stronger Board & Investor Recognition – More compelling board reports and commercial clarity led to increased credibility and influence within the company.
  • 🎯 Enhanced Leadership Impact – With a more assertive, goal-driven leadership style, he positioned himself as the clear choice for the CRO role.
  • 🔥 Company-Wide Strategic Growth – Improved alignment between sales, marketing, and revenue operations, setting up long-term scalability across global markets.