Nine out of ten new clients come from one person. Who’s your backup?
You sell to ecommerce and direct-to-consumer brands, and you win on relationships.
But trust doesn’t scale on its own. Right now your growth runs on one calendar: the next trade show, the next intro, the next “hey, you should talk to…”
When that person is busy, out, or gone…
… so is your deal flow.
For over a decade, we ran business development, partnerships, and sales at ClickBank: the teams behind over $3.8 billion in sales to ecommerce and DTC brands.
The One Door.
Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s your best sales person. Either way, nearly every new client walks through them. And it’s working, until it isn’t.
Are these questions bouncing around in your head?
Do I…
You don’t need a closer. You need more doors, and more people who can open them.
Setters and closers work for some offers. Not when your buyers are brand owners who see each other at every event, mastermind, and group chat.
In this industry, your reputation is your pipeline.
Here’s the thing about scaling relationship sales…
Bolt on a sales machine
Calls go up. Fit goes down.
Clients sign who shouldn’t, then churn in 90 days.
Your name gets passed around for the wrong reasons.
Every important deal still routes back to your one person.
Build a business development engine
New clients come from several channels, not one calendar.
Your team can say "this isn't a fit," so their "it is a fit" means something.
Clients stay, grow, and refer.
Your best person spends their time on the biggest deals, not every ping.
We learned this the hard way
We were the one door.
At ClickBank, nearly all new business ran through one person. Here’s how we fixed it, without hiring a single closer.
Thomas McMahon
Then: top Business Development Manager at ClickBank
“All of it ran through me.”
Over 90% of the new business coming onto ClickBank came through my portfolio. I was sourcing leads at events, on stages, and on podcasts. Then qualifying, onboarding, selling internally, and growing accounts before handing them to account management.
When I traveled to an event, onboarding stalled. Every ping from a smaller lead pulled me away from the biggest deals. And if I only chased the big deals, my reputation and pipeline suffered.
I couldn’t bring on more business because I was drowning in the business I already had.
Dom Keenan
Then: Thomas’s manager at ClickBank
“The business had one door, and he was standing in it.”
Then we almost lost him. Another company offered Thomas back-office support and a comp plan built around how he actually worked. If he’d left, most of our new business would have left with him.
So we didn’t go looking for a closer. We hired a courthouse clerk with zero sales experience and made him Thomas’s assistant. He went on every call and to every event, and his first project was making onboarding run without Thomas.
By the time he did, he knew our business well enough to do what Thomas did.
Then he did it better.
$800K+
In commission earned by the former courthouse clerk, who went on to outsell Thomas
1 → All
2021(?), one rep above plan. 2025-26 80-100% of the bizdev team above quarterly quotas.
How we build it
A business development strategy that doesn’t live in one person’s head.
We don’t hand you a script or a playbook. We map how your business actually comes in today, then build what’s missing with you.
01
Map
Trace every client from the last two years to the person, channel, and relationship that brought them in. Most vendors are surprised by what they find.
02
Diversify
Open more doors: partnerships, referral programs, platform integrations, events that pay back, and content that earns intros.
03
Develop
Hire and train consultative sales people who can do what your best person does. Not closers: people who can qualify, onboard, and grow accounts.
04
Align
Roles and comp plans that reward the right deals at the right margin, and keep your best people from getting poached.
05
Free up
Your time (or your star’s) goes back to the biggest relationships, not every ping from every lead.
25+
Years of combined experience in performance marketing and B2B sales
Over $3.8B
In sales — and the insight behind what actually drives it
1,000s
Of brands, and the vendors who serve them, worked alongside
Is this a fit?
We’re not for everyone. Here’s who we’re for.
Not the right fit
If you want an outsourced SDR team, an appointment-setting script, or a list of leads, we’re not it.
We don’t sell for you, and we won’t build you a closer. We help you build a team the market trusts.
It’s not just your pipeline…
It’s not just your people…
It’s not just your comp plan…
It’s how they all work together.
You’re a great fit if you’re:
A B2B company serving ecommerce or DTC brands
Doing $20M+ a year in revenue
Winning most new business through relationships, yours or a key person’s
Ready to commit to building a team for the long term
And you’re looking for:
A business development strategy that doesn’t depend on one person
New channels that fit how your buyers actually buy
Help hiring, training, and paying salespeople the right way
Your time back for the deals that matter most
Sound like you?
Here’s what happens next.
No pitch deck, no script. Just a straight conversation about where your new business comes from, and where it could.
01
Tell us how you sell today
A few quick questions about your business, your buyers, and who’s bringing in the deals.
02
Talk it through
A short discovery call to map your pipeline and find the single points of failure.
03
Get a clear path forward
If we’re a fit, we scope the engagement. If we’re not, you’ll still leave knowing which door to open next.
FAQ
Questions B2B founders ask us
Do you do the selling or outbound for us?
No. We build the strategy, the team, and the system with you. Your people do the selling, and they’ll be better at it than any hired gun because they know your business.
How does an engagement start?
What do you actually do, week to week?
We hired a salesperson before and it didn’t work. Why would this be different?
Our sale is too relationship-driven to hand off.
Do you only work with vendors serving ecommerce and DTC?
How long does this take?
What’s the minimum commitment?
How is this different from your DTC Founder Advising?
B2B Business Development
If your pipeline still runs through one person…
The best time to build your business development team was years ago. The second-best time is now.
— Thomas McMahon & Dom Keenan
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