The Bottleneck Breakthrough Podcast

This episode is actually a presentation I gave in April 2025 at Perry Marshall's "Equity Summit" and focuses on my Sustainable Scale Framework. To access the slides from the presentation, you can download them at https://bbg.li/equity-slides

Without knowing the inner workings of how your staff are wired, you're just flying blind on how to manage them and who to develop and promote. In this episode, Josh walks through the assessment tool he uses to evaluate sales teams, as well as the rest of the leadership team, and how it leads to recruiting better talent every time, too. Listen to the end for a special offer only for podcast subscribers.

Every once in a while there's a client that excites me enough to jump in with both feet to help them unlock massive growth. Since Brandon Turner is a good friend, I did everything I could to help his new BetterLife Tribe get to profitability. We give you a behind-the-scenes of what it took to pull it off in the end.

Managing sales reps feels like a necessary evil for so many business owners. They just want to hand off the responsibility of following up with and closing leads, but there are so many opportunity costs you pay for when you don't have top sales talent. In this episode I walk through what I look for when assessing sales teams and how I start uncovering the opportunity costs associated with mediocre performers.

As the market gets more uncertain, there's more and more opportunity to waver and freeze. In this episode I go over the antidote to this and why it's the number one trait of great leaders that I see in action every day.

In this episode, I walk through my counter-intuitive approach to improving your sales team and getting more deals closed as fast as possible. You'll get some clear takeaways you can go implement today that will move the needle immediately.

Whether you get too involved in every little detail, or are too hands off, both extremes are recipes for disaster in any small business. I walk you through the effective strategies for identifying what to delegate and what to hold onto as you grow through various revenue plateaus. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, and regularly re-evaluating your role is the best path to finding the right balance.

The primary focus of this discussion is the comprehensive recruiting system that I have developed, a methodology that has proven to outperform traditional recruiting agencies in sourcing top-tier talent for my clients. Throughout this episode, I meticulously walk through each phase of the recruiting process. I cover what sets apart exceptional recruiters from their average counterparts, with particular emphasis on the practices adopted by Fortune 500 companies which invest significantly in human resources and talent acquisition. Takeaways: In this episode, I meticulously outline my comprehensive recruiting system that surpasses traditional recruiting agencies. We delve into the essential steps required to effectively identify and attract top-performing talent for any business. Understanding the specific role and responsibilities of a new hire is critical for successful recruitment. Effective job advertisements should prioritize what makes the company unique and appealing to prospective candidates.

Matt Coffman, owner of Therapy Practice Accelerator, shares his transformative journey in enhancing the sales process for his agency serving mental health professionals. After collaborating with Josh Long, he discovered that raising prices and recruiting experienced salespeople significantly boosted his business's performance, leading to a remarkable 33% increase in revenue from July to December 2023. Matt reflects on his initial struggles with sales and the misalignment in his previous approaches, which often didn't suit his unique market. The discussion highlights the importance of finding the right talent and adopting a consultative sales approach, akin to that of a surgeon, to establish trust and clarity with clients. Ultimately, the episode emphasizes the power of systematic diagnosis and tailored solutions in driving business growth.

Josh explores the often misunderstood realm of sales training, emphasizing that a strategic approach is far more effective than traditional training sessions. He highlights the importance of assessing a sales team's current performance and identifying the top 20% that generate the majority of results. Instead of generic training, he advocates for a tailored strategy that focuses on leveraging the strengths of top performers while addressing specific market opportunities. Through real-life examples, Josh illustrates how companies can benefit from strategic conversations that prioritize meaningful outcomes over chaos. By aligning sales efforts with clear growth objectives, businesses can create a more focused and efficient sales process that drives lasting success.

Consulting for small businesses is evolving, and a holistic approach is becoming increasingly vital for sustainable growth. Josh discusses the limitations of traditional consulting methods, which often lack thorough diagnostics and fail to consider the broader picture essential for unlocking a company's true potential. While many consultants focus on specific tactics—like marketing or sales—Josh asserts that these tactics are only part of the equation. He emphasizes the need to address the mindset of business owners, identifying it as the ultimate bottleneck that can hinder growth. Through his decades of experience, he has learned that tackling emotional barriers and limiting beliefs can lead to significant breakthroughs, which is a crucial aspect of his approach. Takeaways:Josh emphasizes a holistic approach to consulting that addresses both business challenges and the mindset of the owner. Effective consulting for small businesses requires deep diagnostics to uncover underlying issues and opportunities for growth. The bottleneck to business growth often lies in the mindset of the owner, which must be addressed for sustained success. Consultants should avoid being one-trick ponies and instead provide comprehensive solutions that align with business needs. A successful consulting model aligns performance-based compensation with specific outcomes, fostering mutual success for both consultants and clients. Josh believes that addressing personal growth alongside business development leads to better results and fulfillment in both areas.

Here are some strategies you can use to follow up with prospects that have stalled out due to the election chaos. 

Tony DeQuick, owner of Entropy Radiator, shares his transformative journey in upgrading his sales team and shop manager, resulting in significant growth for his business. After struggling with sales performance, Tony realized the need for capable salespeople who could effectively communicate with customers about their custom cooling products for high-performance vehicles. Over time, he realized he needed to upgrade his sales team and shop manager, which ultimately led to significant revenue increases. Tony recounts the challenges faced during the pandemic, especially concerning supply chain issues and how those tribulations shaped his approach to sales and team management. After experiencing stagnation in sales due to underperforming team members, he reached out for expert guidance, resulting in the hiring of a new sales rep, whose presence revitalized sales and grew revenue to their best month's ever. Takeaways: Tony DeQuick experienced a significant revenue increase after upgrading his lowest performing sales rep. The importance of hiring salespeople who can inspire and drive growth in a business. Tony's journey illustrates how upgrading team members can lead to unexpected operational improvements.

Which end of the spectrum do you fall on and how do you better lead your company? On this episode, I discuss the age old question of working on vs. in your business, but more importantly, how to figure out what’s right for your business right now. 

“A business will only grow to the skill or belief level of the owner, whichever is lower.” — Joshua LongThe first of the three fundamentals of business success is luck, commonly masquerading as good timing. By getting into a business or market at the right time, the market factors act like a rising tide that lifts all businesses.

“The reactionary owner earns a salary, while the proactive owner builds assets.” — Joshua LongCongratulations! You have invested more effort than many of your peers to get to this point of the book. I hope you found useful insights and strategies throughout that will make you a better business owner and help you unlock new growth by finding and fixing your bottlenecks.My goal with this chapter is to reward you for the hard work of getting here.

“Cat: Where are you going?Alice: Which way should I go?Cat: That depends on where you are going.Alice: I don’t know.Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“Delegation requires the willingness to pay for short-term failures in order to gain long-term competency.” — Dave RamseyIf you’re like most business owners, you suffer at times from Commonsense-itis. It’s a sneaky disease that labels so much of what you know and believe as common sense, expecting everyone you interact with to make the same decisions you would in any situation. The higher your intelligence, the higher the odds you are afflicted with it.

“Systems permit ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results predictably.” — Michael GerberAs I’ve mentioned earlier in this book, nearly every one of my clients came to me with a marketing need, typically focused on generating more leads to help grow their company. In roughly half the cases, they actually had a systems problem or, better stated, they didn’t have anything documented to keep from having to reinvent the wheel every day.

“Your success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have.” — Tim FerrissIf you’re anything like me, you’ve grown up with a healthy dose of altruism burned into your subconscious. We’re taught that putting others’ needs before our own is a worthy character trait, and I don’t disagree with that. I just think it gets severely distorted, especially when used as a method of control or manipulation.