By Chip Carlson
Candid perspectives on sales leadership, management development, and executive performance from Chip Carlson, an executive advisor with more than thirty years of operating experience.
Read the articlesPublished Articles
There is a number that should bother every sales leader in distribution, and it rarely gets the attention it deserves. According to Salesforce's 2025 State of Sales Report, which surveyed thousands of sales pro...
Read articleResearch conducted by CEB, now part of Gartner, found that 60 percent of new managers fail within their first two years after being promoted. The finding has been cited by Wharton Executive Education and in Har...
Read articleThe research on international executive assignment failure has been consistent for decades, and the numbers have not improved much despite the volume of literature written about them. Depending on the study, so...
Read articleThe logic seems airtight. You have a sales rep who has led the board for three consecutive years, who knows the product cold, who understands the customer base better than anyone in the building, and who has de...
Read articleResearch published in September 2026 by Distribution Strategy Group, in an article titled "Three Years, No Progress: Why Distributor Sales Skills Haven't Moved Since 2023" at distributionstrategy.com, documente...
Read articleAsk the VP of Sales at most distribution companies how the team is doing and the first word you hear is "busy." Busy is not a sales outcome. It is a description of how the day feels, and in distribution sales r...
Read articleAbout the Author
Chip Carlson is an executive advisor and sales trainer with more than thirty years of experience in distribution, manufacturing, and Latin American operations. He is the President of CIMA International and the founder of Talk with Chip, an executive leadership development platform.
He has advised more than forty companies on sales performance, channel strategy, and executive development across the United States, Mexico, and Latin America.