With everything going on right now – AI, economic uncertainty, political noise – the temptation is to move fast and react.
But what if the smarter move is to pause?
Not check out. Just pause. Get rational. And ask – how does this truly affect my business? Where’s the opportunity?
That’s one of the threads that ran through my conversation with Nick and Jeni Clift on the Smart Business Growth podcast. Over the last 25years they built, grew and sold a successful IT business – and they had a lot to say about what it really takes.
Here are the key takeaways on building an autonomous, high-performing sales team. One that doesn’t run through the business owner.
The Business Owner Who Became the Bottleneck
For 15 years, Nick was the salesperson in the business. The relationships, the deals, the client calls – all of it ran through him.
He loved it. That’s the thing people don’t always say. He genuinely loved the work – the problem solving, the consultative conversations, seeing a client’s face when a solution landed. But he couldn’t be everywhere at once.
He even looked at chartering planes to visit rural clients. Flying from one end of Victoria to the other. Not the most cost-effective solution.
Sound familiar?
Why Letting Go Is Harder Than It Looks
Knowing you need to step back and doing it are two very different things.
Nick was honest about what held him back. There’s the ego piece – the belief (and often the reality) that no one else can do it as well. The dopamine hit of winning a deal. The identity that came with being the person the business depended on.
And then there’s the quiet sabotage. Being overly strategic about which deals to pass to the team and which ones to keep to yourself. Because you’ve got more chance of converting, right?
Here’s what Nick learned: you can’t go cold turkey. You have to replace the behaviour with something that gives you that same sense of winning. For Nick, that became coaching his team to win. Helping them close the deals.
When you have a 95% chance of closing versus your team member’s 75% – you have to be able to let that 20% gap go. Because that’s how you build them to your skill level. The investment in their upskilling is what changes everything.
The moment that made it worth it? Nick and Jeni came back from five weeks away to find the team had smashed their targets. New clients onboarded. No owner involvement. The risk of sales reliance had been removed – and the freedom that came with it was a game changer.
What the Transformation Was Built On
When Nick and Jeni made the shift, three things underpinned it:
- A culture of openness and trust – people knew they could try things, make mistakes and not be punished for it.
- A documented client journey – because when Nick was asked what his process was, the honest answer was “I don’t know, I just go in and it happens.” That doesn’t scale.
- Clear roles and accountability – knowing who owns what and making sure people had the skills to carry it.
What They Wish They’d Known Sooner
Nick’s answer was blunt: get over yourself.
You are not irreplaceable. The world will not end if you have a bad day. Good clients are sticky – you’d have to do something consistently, spectacularly wrong to lose 10% of them in a year. The pressure you’re carrying? A lot of it is self-imposed.
Jeni’s answer: stop trying to do everything yourself. Don’t wait 15 years to bring in expertise. What got you here will not get you to your next growth point.
And the hardest thing business owners are still too afraid to do? Let go. And have the tough conversations.
Your Mini Action
Find one thing in the next 24 hours you can let go of – something that makes you a little uncomfortable but carries low risk. Delegate it.
That’s where it starts.
You can watch the full episode on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.