What you'll get
- 5 copy-ready blocks
- Spreadsheet-ready
- 2 tables
- 7 min read
- The minimum week
- Account picking rules
- Week sheet (tab-separated, paste into a sheet)
- Friday count
- Stop doing list
How to use it
- Step 1: Put the five blocks from Part 1 in your diary for the next four weeks. Treat them as meetings with a customer.
- Step 2: Pick your accounts for week one using Part 2. Ten is enough.
- Step 3: Run the week. Do the Part 3 count on Friday, before you leave.
- Step 4: Write the stop doing list in Part 4. Review it once a month.
- Step 5: After four weeks, read your four counts together and change one thing.
Most founders sell in the gaps. A call between meetings, a late email, a promise to follow up that slips. This routine gives selling five fixed blocks in a week, a smaller version for the weeks when everything else is on fire, and a count on Friday that tells you what moved. It assumes you have a list of companies you want to work with. If you do not, start with the target account list template first.
Part 1: The five blocks
Five hours in total. Block lengths are suggestions. Keep the order.
| Day | Minutes | Block | What you have at the end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 30 | Choose the week's accounts | A list of 10 named accounts, each with a next action |
| Tuesday | 90 | Research and write | Three accounts researched, each with two people named and one message drafted |
| Wednesday | 90 | Reach out | The drafts sent or called, to at least two people in each of the three accounts |
| Thursday | 60 | Conversations and follow up | Replies answered, follow ups sent, next steps in the diary |
| Friday | 30 | Count and note | The five numbers in Part 3 and a note to yourself |
If you can only keep one block, keep Wednesday. Research without outreach, or outreach without research, is wasted effort.
The minimum week
For a week when you can spare 90 minutes in all:
Monday, 15 minutes: pick three accounts from the list.
Wednesday, 60 minutes: one message each to two people in those accounts.
Friday, 15 minutes: write down the five numbers.A minimum week keeps the habit. Do not run it for more than two weeks in a row. After that, the list is going cold.
Part 2: Choosing the week's accounts
You need a list of accounts you want. Each week, choose 10 from it using these rules, in order.
Account picking rules
1. Any account with a conversation open and a next step due this week.
2. Any account where something changed (a new head, a launch, a hire, a result).
3. Any account where only one person at the company knows us.
4. New accounts from the list, starting at the top.Rules 1 to 3 come before rule 4 on purpose. New names are tempting. The accounts you are already working are where the next conversation is most likely to come from.
Write each account in one row:
Week sheet (tab-separated, paste into a sheet)
Account People known (names and roles) What changed Next action Due Done (yes or no)Part 3: The Friday count
Five numbers. Write them down every Friday. You do not need a dashboard.
Friday count
Week of: [date]
1. Accounts reached this week (a message or call to anyone): [number]
2. Accounts where we know two or more people: [number]
3. Conversations held (calls or meetings): [number]
4. Next steps in the diary: [number]
5. Accounts moved forward, and what the buyer did: [account, action]
One thing that worked: [ ]
One thing I will change: [ ]Number 5 is the one to take seriously. "Moved forward" means a buyer did something: replied, named someone, asked a question, booked a call. It does not mean you sent something.
Look at four weeks together. A flat number 2 means you are talking to one person in each account. That is the usual reason founder led sales stalls.
Part 4: The stop doing list
A part time seller has to stop doing something else. Write three things you will not do during your five hours, and one thing you will hand to someone else.
Stop doing list
During selling blocks, I will not:
1. [for example, check email outside the Thursday block]
2. [for example, edit the pitch deck]
3. [for example, answer messages from existing customers]
I will hand to [name]: [one task, for example, finding email addresses or updating the sheet]The hand off is the first step towards a team. A founder who cannot hand off the research will not be able to hand off the selling.
Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
Fernlake Systems builds scheduling software for hospitals. Meera Nair, the founder, spends five hours a week selling. All names are invented.
| Week | What happened | The count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chose 10 accounts. Two were already in conversation. Wrote to two people at three accounts | Reached 3. Knew two or more people at 0 |
| 2 | A minimum week. Hospital inspection took her time | Reached 2. Knew two or more people at 0 |
| 3 | Back to the full week. Wrote to a second person at two accounts | Reached 3. Two or more people at 2 |
| 4 | One account answered from the second person after silence from the first | Two or more people at 3. One next step in the diary |
After four weeks Meera's note says: the second person got the answer. She changes one thing: every account in the sheet gets a second name before she writes to anyone.
Five mistakes to avoid
- Selling when there is time. There is never time. Put the blocks in the diary.
- Skipping the research block. Messages written without it read like every other message the buyer gets.
- Counting messages sent. Count accounts reached and people known. Effort is not progress.
- Working the whole list at once. Ten accounts a week is enough. A long list written to thinly goes nowhere.
- Never handing anything off. If every task stays with you, the routine stops when you are ill or travelling.
Why this works on named accounts
Common questions
How much time should a founder spend on sales?
There is no right number. Five hours is a starting point that most founders can protect. If you are the only person selling and the company needs new accounts, you will need more. The routine works at any size, because the blocks stay in the same order.
When should a founder stop selling?
When the work is written down well enough for someone else to do it, and when you have time to manage them. The first sales hire or outsource decision sheet helps you choose. Many founders stay involved in the largest accounts long after they hand off the rest.
Does this work for a founder with no list?
Not yet. Write the list first. Ten named companies is enough to begin, and the target account list template shows how to add to it.
More from the Academy
First Sales Hire or Outsource Decision Sheet
For founders doing all the selling and running out of week.
You leave with a two-line job split, eight scored questions, a cost sum in your own figures and a first-90-days plan for either path.
Target Account List Template
For founders and sales heads who have chosen their accounts and need one place to work them.
You leave with a 25-row sheet, a rule for how many accounts to keep and a weekly review in five questions.
Sales Pipeline Template by Account (Sheets)
For sellers who work a list of named accounts and find a deal by deal pipeline hides the stuck ones.
You leave with a paste in sheet, six buyer led stages, a people count per account and a summary tab that shows where each account stands.
Account Scoring Tool
Score target accounts on fit, timing and access, and sort them into Tier 1, 2 and 3. Runs in your browser.
Pipeline Coverage Calculator
Work out how much pipeline, and how many accounts, your target needs. Uses only your own numbers. Runs in your browser.
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