Middle Market Smart – Episode 5
In this episode of Middle Market Smart, we sit down with Ken Powell, who shares how middle-market sales leaders can build a healthier pipeline, qualify the right opportunities, and create forecasts they can actually trust.
August 3, 2026
Authors
The Habits of Great Sales Athletes | Ken Powell
The Habits of Great Sales Athletes | Ken Powell (CXO Partners)
The sales performance gap was never a technology problem. More CRM, more AI, and slicker enablement tools have not moved win rates, forecast accuracy, or deal velocity. In this episode, enterprise sales veteran Ken Powell makes the case that world-class selling is not a personality you are born with, but a set of habits and disciplines that can be taught, coached, and measured.
In this episode of Middle Market Smart, we sit down with Ken Powell, who shares how middle-market sales leaders can build a healthier pipeline, qualify the right opportunities, and create forecasts they can actually trust. Drawing on a 40-year career selling at the highest levels of Apple, SAP, Oracle, and Honeywell, Ken breaks down his “Why 4” framework for knowing whether a deal is real and winnable, the joint execution plan that rebuilds forecast accuracy, and why call planning is the single highest-leverage habit almost no one does consistently. It is a practical playbook for founders, CEOs, and sales leaders who want a disciplined process that closes more deals.
