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The Qualified Sales Leader: Proven Lessons from a Five Time CRO
"The Qualified Sales Proven Lessons from a Five Time CRO" shares valuable lessons for sales leaders and sales reps selling enterprise software solutions. In a conversational and easy to read narrative style, this must-read book provides learnings on how sales leaders can help their reps sell more for higher average deal sizes to executive level buyers. Written by the top sales leader at five public software companies, this is a powerful book that helps optimize sales and business performance.
The learnings in "The Qualified Sales Leader" will help you and your sales team sell more, make more money, and grow your career in enterprise sales. This is a practical sales leadership book that offers solutions to common place problems. Far too few sales leaders align skillsets with account complexity. Most reps can't find a champion to help them control the process. Top sales leaders face problems like this every day, and they will find the answers to these issues and more in "The Qualified Sales Leader".
The learnings in "The Qualified Sales Leader" will help you and your sales team sell more, make more money, and grow your career in enterprise sales. This is a practical sales leadership book that offers solutions to common place problems. Far too few sales leaders align skillsets with account complexity. Most reps can't find a champion to help them control the process. Top sales leaders face problems like this every day, and they will find the answers to these issues and more in "The Qualified Sales Leader".
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Published May 5, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
August 26, 2022
I'll let you know at the end of next quarter 😉
May 22, 2021
As a software sales professional for 3 decades, one learns about McMahon and the process / framework he pioneered. The process has become a de facto industry standard. But I've never seen it so well depicted as in this book. The lessons are well illustrated, concepts explained in succinct, direct fashion. Very approachable, relatable and readable book.
April 12, 2021
“Simplicity becomes a limitless gift presented to individuals that master the fundamentals.”
This book is the core fundamentals of enterprise sales leadership in its simplest form. A must-read for any sales leader.
This book is the core fundamentals of enterprise sales leadership in its simplest form. A must-read for any sales leader.
March 2, 2022
This could have been written as a straightforward business book. Instead, the takeaways are woven into some incredulous narrative. The audience reading this book is intelligent human beings seeking out sales leadership advice to improve upon or enhance current skills. I just couldn’t get through the forced descriptors. It felt fake and diluted the rest of the content.
July 22, 2021
Топовая книга по софтверным продажам. Поможет и в любых сложных продажах. Основное внимание на работу продажников и их менеджеров - прогнозы, методология, переговоры, работа с покупателями
June 15, 2022
Must read for every sales person.
You’ll find:
- sales process basics,
- b2b sales process,
- target customers,
- 3 why’s for targeting and qualifying accounts and more.
Great energy, easy read and very useful. Highly recomended!
You’ll find:
- sales process basics,
- b2b sales process,
- target customers,
- 3 why’s for targeting and qualifying accounts and more.
Great energy, easy read and very useful. Highly recomended!
April 11, 2023
I never thought I would be a salesperson but here we are, learning how to be an effective one.
I thought I was reading a novel! I totally didn’t expect a how-to book to be narrated in this way. It’s more like reading a story instead of a textbook which makes it more relatable in working life. As my company also has a business selling SaaS (Software as a service), it’s even more suitable for me! I am THE people in the story!! Definitely no problem in adapting what I learnt from the book to real life! I think people who are in B2B business will also benefit from it.
Although there is some culture difference I need to consider when applying western view to Asian business environment, the main sales process steps is still universal and the ultimate goal is the same, helping customers solving their business problems. Those steps are essential to me as a person who is not good at “just wing it.”
I don’t have anyone who I could learn about sales from so this book is a sales guidebook to me that I know I will always come back to whenever I face difficulty understanding customers’ needs.
I thought I was reading a novel! I totally didn’t expect a how-to book to be narrated in this way. It’s more like reading a story instead of a textbook which makes it more relatable in working life. As my company also has a business selling SaaS (Software as a service), it’s even more suitable for me! I am THE people in the story!! Definitely no problem in adapting what I learnt from the book to real life! I think people who are in B2B business will also benefit from it.
Although there is some culture difference I need to consider when applying western view to Asian business environment, the main sales process steps is still universal and the ultimate goal is the same, helping customers solving their business problems. Those steps are essential to me as a person who is not good at “just wing it.”
I don’t have anyone who I could learn about sales from so this book is a sales guidebook to me that I know I will always come back to whenever I face difficulty understanding customers’ needs.
August 19, 2021
I really wanted to find some silver bullets here. But this book was just another version of a classic sales process course told in story form. The approach is solid but there’s nothing innovative about the methodology he outlines from chapter to chapter.
June 5, 2023
It was an eye-opener for me. Covering the 0 to 1 of the complete sales process. How do you qualify deals, how to target an account, MEDDPIC and so much more.
The most important idea I picked up is to be slow in the early stages is good. Do the work, do the discovery, scope out and quantify the users pains.
Anecdotally, It has always been innefective and slow when a POC goes forward without any proper decision criteria.
The most important idea I picked up is to be slow in the early stages is good. Do the work, do the discovery, scope out and quantify the users pains.
Anecdotally, It has always been innefective and slow when a POC goes forward without any proper decision criteria.
May 7, 2023
Very informative in an interesting, digestible story. I learned a lot!
December 28, 2022
Must read for any software sales professional.
April 30, 2025
Another must read/better listened book for anyone in sales at any level.
October 12, 2021
“The Qualified Sales Leader” is a must-read for sales reps and leaders alike, especially those in the Enterprise SaaS space. John McMahon artfully weaved sales fundamentals, creative coaching, and personal analogies into a book I read in one night (I rarely ever read books in one night)! Moreover, McMahon made his key points clearly. For instance, he demonstrated the difference between the “glorified scorekeeper” role of the typical sales manager and the listening, curious, critical sales leader. McMahon’s deep dive into MEDDPICC and how it surpasses BANT when qualifying deals was enlightening. I was disappointed by numerous grammatical errors and several cliched topics that seemed thrown in to increase the word count (see: control what you can control, you get delegated to whom you sound like, etc.). Additionally, McMahon did not cite a single source other than his own stories, so while his book has great ideas, it lacks the credibility of supporting research. Still, I recommend The Qualified Sales Leader for its focus on the fundamentals and actionable insights to transform sales teams’ careers and lives for the better.
April 16, 2021
Excellent, a must read for any sales professional
John is a gifted sales leader and coach. Through his sales experiences and sales process knowledge he is able to reflect on many sales habits that we all adopted somewhere along the way and provide tools to reflect what’s effective and what’s not, and how to truly lead a strategic sale effort with confidence through a thoughtful and proven playbook.
John is a gifted sales leader and coach. Through his sales experiences and sales process knowledge he is able to reflect on many sales habits that we all adopted somewhere along the way and provide tools to reflect what’s effective and what’s not, and how to truly lead a strategic sale effort with confidence through a thoughtful and proven playbook.
March 20, 2022
The most important business book I’ve ever read.
Want to read
October 20, 2025It’s interesting to consider which professions obsess over “lineages.” For instance an academic philosopher and a Brazilian Ju-Jitsu fighter may not have much in common, but they can both tell you not just who their teacher/mentor was, but who that guy’s teacher/mentor was, and so on, sometimes going back centuries.1 This is not true in most fields, but you may be surprised to learn that it is true in B2B enterprise software sales. Talk to a successful sales guy, and he will find a way to slip into the conversation that he came up under so-and-so, and that so-and-so worked for the legendary Mark Cranney (Ben Horowitz’s head of sales). But talk to enough of them, and you will start to notice that a huge proportion of their lineages all converge back on a single guy named John McMahon.
You may never have heard of John McMahon, but he’s one of the most influential people alive today (there are many such people, because the world is fractally interesting). American economic growth is increasingly dominated by a handful of companies that sell software subscriptions at eye-watering margins to other large companies, and most such companies are run by John McMahon’s disciples. All enterprise software sellers today speak a common vocabulary, and that vocabulary was invented by John McMahon. Enterprise software sellers, like all professions, have weird feuds and religious disputes about what exactly the letters in various acronyms should stand for, but the acronyms were invented by John McMahon. The rival factions and schools in enterprise software sales mostly argue about the correct way to interpret John McMahon’s thought, because he is the great teacher and systematizer who laid down the laws of their world.
The reason certain fields care about lineages is that they are dominated by process knowledge that cannot be written down, so the best signal of quality is not some credential, but rather which master you trained under. Imagine how silly it would be to think that you could read a book about martial arts, and then you would know as much as the person who had written it. Some things can only be learned through grueling practice, preferably grueling practice under the observation of somebody who notices all the tiny little indescribable things you get wrong, and shows you how to do them right instead. For my favorite allegory on this topic, go to this post and Ctrl+F “wheelwright pian”.
Selling software (really, selling anything) is another such activity. And while John McMahon is the guy who has done the most to change it from an art into a science, he is acutely aware that nothing he writes down in a book can help you unless you already understand the thing that he is trying to say. So like all good religious teachers, he speaks mostly in koans and riddles and parables. It worked for the Zen masters, it worked for Nietzsche, it worked for Jesus Christ, so why wouldn’t it work for John McMahon? The whole book is an extended allegory in which John McMahon is called in to advise a failing software sales team, notices the defects in their technique, and says or does something, at which point they are enlightened. No really, all of these stories are structurally identical to the koan of Gutei’s finger:
Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When a visitor asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy raised his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief, seized him and cut off his finger with a knife. As the boy screamed and ran out of the room, Gutei called to him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened.
You may never have heard of John McMahon, but he’s one of the most influential people alive today (there are many such people, because the world is fractally interesting). American economic growth is increasingly dominated by a handful of companies that sell software subscriptions at eye-watering margins to other large companies, and most such companies are run by John McMahon’s disciples. All enterprise software sellers today speak a common vocabulary, and that vocabulary was invented by John McMahon. Enterprise software sellers, like all professions, have weird feuds and religious disputes about what exactly the letters in various acronyms should stand for, but the acronyms were invented by John McMahon. The rival factions and schools in enterprise software sales mostly argue about the correct way to interpret John McMahon’s thought, because he is the great teacher and systematizer who laid down the laws of their world.
The reason certain fields care about lineages is that they are dominated by process knowledge that cannot be written down, so the best signal of quality is not some credential, but rather which master you trained under. Imagine how silly it would be to think that you could read a book about martial arts, and then you would know as much as the person who had written it. Some things can only be learned through grueling practice, preferably grueling practice under the observation of somebody who notices all the tiny little indescribable things you get wrong, and shows you how to do them right instead. For my favorite allegory on this topic, go to this post and Ctrl+F “wheelwright pian”.
Selling software (really, selling anything) is another such activity. And while John McMahon is the guy who has done the most to change it from an art into a science, he is acutely aware that nothing he writes down in a book can help you unless you already understand the thing that he is trying to say. So like all good religious teachers, he speaks mostly in koans and riddles and parables. It worked for the Zen masters, it worked for Nietzsche, it worked for Jesus Christ, so why wouldn’t it work for John McMahon? The whole book is an extended allegory in which John McMahon is called in to advise a failing software sales team, notices the defects in their technique, and says or does something, at which point they are enlightened. No really, all of these stories are structurally identical to the koan of Gutei’s finger:
Gutei raised his finger whenever he was asked a question about Zen. A boy attendant began to imitate him in this way. When a visitor asked the boy what his master had preached about, the boy raised his finger. Gutei heard about the boy's mischief, seized him and cut off his finger with a knife. As the boy screamed and ran out of the room, Gutei called to him. When the boy turned his head to Gutei, Gutei raised up his own finger. In that instant the boy was enlightened.
June 25, 2025
The Qualified Sales Leader by John McMahon isn’t just another sales book—it’s the blueprint for mastering enterprise tech sales. I gave it five stars because it earned every one of them. McMahon distills decades of hard-won experience into a clear, actionable framework that’s as strategic as it is brutally honest.
What sets this book apart is that it’s not fluff. It’s not about hype or hustle—it’s about execution. It walks you through how to qualify opportunities deeply, coach reps effectively, and build a culture of accountability and grit. McMahon introduces a no-excuses mindset that any serious sales leader—or aspiring one—needs to embrace.
I’ve applied lessons from this book directly in my own sales process, and the impact was immediate. The MEDDICC qualification framework alone is worth the read, but the true value lies in how McMahon connects everything—from deal inspection to pipeline health to executive selling.
If you’re in tech sales and serious about getting better, The Qualified Sales Leader is non-negotiable. Whether you’re closing your first six-figure deal or running a multi-million dollar team, this book gives you the playbook—and the mentality—to win.
Tech sales requires grit and a great framework. This book gives you both.
What sets this book apart is that it’s not fluff. It’s not about hype or hustle—it’s about execution. It walks you through how to qualify opportunities deeply, coach reps effectively, and build a culture of accountability and grit. McMahon introduces a no-excuses mindset that any serious sales leader—or aspiring one—needs to embrace.
I’ve applied lessons from this book directly in my own sales process, and the impact was immediate. The MEDDICC qualification framework alone is worth the read, but the true value lies in how McMahon connects everything—from deal inspection to pipeline health to executive selling.
If you’re in tech sales and serious about getting better, The Qualified Sales Leader is non-negotiable. Whether you’re closing your first six-figure deal or running a multi-million dollar team, this book gives you the playbook—and the mentality—to win.
Tech sales requires grit and a great framework. This book gives you both.
August 23, 2021
Smart thoughts and an easy read
This book is written by a 5-time CRO in the B2B tech space, so he knows his stuff. The purpose of the book is to teach a sales methodology to the reader, which he cleverly does by chronicling one of his consulting engagements. The company has no sales process, small deal sizes, and all the usual issues. He peels these things back layer by layer, and coaches them to reform their ways.
I enjoyed the story because it infused life into what could have been dry material. He shares real anecdotes and proof points, and you feel like you understand why you need the methodology and how to apply it.
All in all, this was well worth the time and I feel smarter for having read it. The material jolted me out of some bad habits in how I approach things.
This book is written by a 5-time CRO in the B2B tech space, so he knows his stuff. The purpose of the book is to teach a sales methodology to the reader, which he cleverly does by chronicling one of his consulting engagements. The company has no sales process, small deal sizes, and all the usual issues. He peels these things back layer by layer, and coaches them to reform their ways.
I enjoyed the story because it infused life into what could have been dry material. He shares real anecdotes and proof points, and you feel like you understand why you need the methodology and how to apply it.
All in all, this was well worth the time and I feel smarter for having read it. The material jolted me out of some bad habits in how I approach things.
August 29, 2021
This a great book for sales leader, as well as eager-to-improve sales professionals like me.
For leaders, a learnings from the book including sticking to fundamentals and mentoring people under you. Sales is straightforward in terms of metrics and handling people is where it becomes a bit more challenging
For budding professionals like me in around the world or in the Philippines, we can improve on not just being "pushy" salesman and really undergoing the process especially for bigger companies.
Although since I come from the Philippines, some facts are irrelevant since a lot of sales still happens from politicking and connections.
I would like to appropriate the lessons here in the book in a Asian/Philippine context
For leaders, a learnings from the book including sticking to fundamentals and mentoring people under you. Sales is straightforward in terms of metrics and handling people is where it becomes a bit more challenging
For budding professionals like me in around the world or in the Philippines, we can improve on not just being "pushy" salesman and really undergoing the process especially for bigger companies.
Although since I come from the Philippines, some facts are irrelevant since a lot of sales still happens from politicking and connections.
I would like to appropriate the lessons here in the book in a Asian/Philippine context
August 19, 2023
Super dry read. The author adds far too much unnecessary “personality” stating everything he hates from airports to office coffee. If you know how to sell you typically don’t go into management and if you can’t sell, you manage - a huge disconnect in the industry as these managers will never hire properly or mentor well and will always blame the sales reps. Good reminders of sales lingo for interviews as it’s apparently the book of the moment. A big problem in the industry over the last 25 years has been promoting within the boys club whether you’re qualified or not and it’s left the industry with a lot of poor leadership at the manager, director & VP levels in the tech sector.
Take it or leave it book.
Take it or leave it book.
June 5, 2025
This is an easy read and the definitive text for the MEDDPICC sales methodology. It’s a must read for anyone wanting to understand how to really qualify a sale and generate better results, but it’s usefulness goes far beyond a strict sales audience. Anyone who is in a supportive role for sales (and who isn’t) should learn to speak this language so they can collaborate better with sales professionals and hold them accountable to this discipline to yield better results for the whole company. It’s easy reading even if you have never done sales (the first 2/3rds are a novelization) make it incredibly approachable.
To that end, it would be nice to draw some of those lines out (i.e. how does Deal Desk, Customer Success, Customer Marketing, etc. benefit), but perhaps that is another book.
To that end, it would be nice to draw some of those lines out (i.e. how does Deal Desk, Customer Success, Customer Marketing, etc. benefit), but perhaps that is another book.
October 2, 2025
Really good book. I work in commercial ops (and RevOps before that) and never having been someone who's done actual selling before -- other than a short stint selling/raising funds for university endowment fund -- this book gave a really good, unique perspective on what it feels like to be on the other, non-selling side of RevOps.
There's tons of key takeaways, and even if you don't necessarily agree with all of it, you'll probably find that most of it is superb advice from a perspective you don't really find in plenty of other books. As I was getting ready for my own QBR, reading this book allowed me to play different scenarios in my mind, and provided me with the right words to use to play it out/simulate on AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini.
There's tons of key takeaways, and even if you don't necessarily agree with all of it, you'll probably find that most of it is superb advice from a perspective you don't really find in plenty of other books. As I was getting ready for my own QBR, reading this book allowed me to play different scenarios in my mind, and provided me with the right words to use to play it out/simulate on AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini.
January 7, 2022
This was an excellent read for someone who works with the sales team as a cross-functional partner but without deep visibility into their process (product management). It goes a lot into depth about how sales leaders tackle an e2e deal, forecasts, and making the most out of customer meetings. It has certainly taught me how to better engage in customer meetings that are sales-led and positively influence them.
June 29, 2024
8.5/10
Even though I work everyday with the process and concepts in this book, it acts as a great refresher and reminds me to put more persistence & heart to the process I thought I’ve known thoroughly. I can imagine this being incredibly eye-opening to people new to sales, or for people not familiar with sales frameworks.
The approach is very structural, yet down-to-earth with just the right amount of practical tactics. Toward the end, for entertainment’s sake I felt like he played up the impact he had for this company, but it’s not a major issue.
Highly recommended read for those interested in sales ✨
Even though I work everyday with the process and concepts in this book, it acts as a great refresher and reminds me to put more persistence & heart to the process I thought I’ve known thoroughly. I can imagine this being incredibly eye-opening to people new to sales, or for people not familiar with sales frameworks.
The approach is very structural, yet down-to-earth with just the right amount of practical tactics. Toward the end, for entertainment’s sake I felt like he played up the impact he had for this company, but it’s not a major issue.
Highly recommended read for those interested in sales ✨
August 14, 2021
I have read quite a few really boring books about sales and sales management. This is the first one in a long time that had me making notes and underlining passages. He writes with some energy, not just declaring process steps, but telling stories about it. I will recommend this to sales managers in my org,
December 1, 2021
Appreciate the examples of QBRs and how many reps adhere to the Dunning-Kruger effect. As a 'founder' of MEDDPICC it's a bit pedantic on why everyone should follow this philosophy but overall it falls into the list of other sales books that are good to read on occasion to have examples to bring up in team meetings and cross reference with current sales principles.
January 3, 2022
Excellent read for any sales leader. Reinforcement of keys to leading sales, having a common language for all sellers and holding everyone to the same standards. If Sellers can't outline the opportunity and give leadership comfort level the opportunity is solid.
For any and all Sales Leaders it is worth the read to reinforce the keys (MEDDPICC) to the sales process.
For any and all Sales Leaders it is worth the read to reinforce the keys (MEDDPICC) to the sales process.
May 4, 2022
This book is great for software sales reps like myself. The first 200 pages sounded exactly like the company I am at and the challenges we and I are facing daily related to qualifying accounts, common vocabulary, defined sales process and getting to the economic buyer. Really good insight and tips. I will say though that the last 100 pages are a little slow and repetitive.
December 4, 2022
interesting
Same concepts work with selling ideas. We should all take a lesson.
Most times for big deals like John describes Product Development is involved.
How does a rep help PD adapt the product to the market need? Everyone has to work together to make sure that everyone understands product capability or the “forecast” to develop that capability.
Same concepts work with selling ideas. We should all take a lesson.
Most times for big deals like John describes Product Development is involved.
How does a rep help PD adapt the product to the market need? Everyone has to work together to make sure that everyone understands product capability or the “forecast” to develop that capability.
October 29, 2023
Only when you conquer the fundamentals of an enterprise sales process can you achieve the elegance of simplicity. This author is somewhat “old school”, but the fundamentals cannot be denied. Sales leadership defines the trajectory of revenue and thus a company. Great refresher a bit cringy as I still make some of these mistakes repeatedly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews