Why Sales Keeps Missing the Strategy Memo with DeAnn Petersson

What happens when your sales team is operating on instinct while leadership is planning for the long haul? In this episode, Meghan Lynch talks with DeAnn Petersson, founder of Sunburst Sales Innovation and author of The SunBurst Effect, about one of the biggest growth challenges in mid-market companies: the disconnect between strategy and execution. With 30 years of commercial leadership experience across the food, beverage, and ingredients industries, DeAnn explains what it takes to build a go-to-market system that sales teams can actually use, and why legacy-driven businesses often get stuck defending what they’ve built instead of building what comes next.

Key Topics Discussed

• Why sales strategy often gets left out of leadership planning and how to fix it
• How to recognize when your sales team is reacting instead of advancing
• Why internal segmentation can solve legacy customer challenges
• The hidden costs of compensation structures that reward the wrong behaviors
• How to reframe CRM as a strategic tool, not just a tracker
• A single diagnostic question leaders can ask to assess alignment gaps

Connect with DeAnn Petersson on LinkedIn

Building Unbreakable Brands is hosted by Meghan Lynch
Produced by Six-Point Strategy