The End-of-Quarter Review: A "Start, Stop, Continue" Framework for Your Sales Process
By Shawn Hamilton, M.S., DBA(c) Shawn Hamilton is a leading sales leadership advisor and doctoral researcher at the University of Houston, specializing in Sales Leadership.
The End-of-Quarter Review: A "Start, Stop, Continue" Framework for Your Sales Process
We're at the end of the first quarter. For most sales leaders, this is a moment of intense pressure. The Q1 numbers are in, the Q2 forecast is daunting, and the pressure to "do something" is immense.
This is where most leaders make a critical error. They either do nothing, simply telling the team to "sell harder," or they make knee-jerk, top-down changes to the comp plan, the territory, or the CRM. The team, sensing panic, becomes confused and demoralized.
The problem isn't a lack of effort; it's a buildup of friction. Over the last three months, your sales process has accumulated dozens of tiny, invisible roadblocks: a redundant CRM field, a broken handoff from Marketing, an outdated pitch deck.
You don't need a revolution. You need a structured conversation. You need to run a "Start, Stop, Continue" review.
From "Waterfall" to "Agile" Sales Leadership
This framework is borrowed directly from the "agile" methodologies that revolutionized software development. As researchers in the Harvard Business Review (like Rigby, Sutherland, & Takeuchi) have noted, agile isn't just for tech—it's a management mindset focused on rapid, iterative feedback loops to adapt to change.
A "Waterfall" sales leader (the old model) sets an annual plan and runs it off a cliff, hoping it survives.
An "Agile" sales leader (the new model) treats their plan as a hypothesis. They check in with their team—the people on the front lines—every few weeks to find and fix friction.
The "Start, Stop, Continue" exercise is the simplest, most powerful tool for this. It's a structured retrospective that gives your entire team a voice in fixing the process they are forced to live in every day.
Last week, we built the "Smarketing" pact. This framework is how you ensure that pact (and every other process) doesn't just become another forgotten document.
Actionable Takeaways: How to Run Your End-of-Quarter "Start, Stop, Continue" Review
Book 90 Minutes (and Set the Stage). Schedule a 90-minute, all-hands team meeting. The only agenda item is "End-of-Quarter Process Review." Send the three-question prompt 48 hours in advance so your team can prepare thoughtful answers.
Use a "Blameless" Virtual Whiteboard. The rules are simple: all ideas are valid, and there is no blame. Create three columns on a virtual whiteboard (like Miro or a shared Google Doc): START, STOP, and CONTINUE.
Facilitate the Three Questions. Go column by column. Ask every person on the team to contribute at least one idea (either verbally or by adding a sticky note) for each.
START: What is something we are not doing that we should be? (e.g., "START a weekly 'deal-desk' call for complex pricing," or "START multi-threading into the IT department on every enterprise deal.")
STOP: What are we doing that is wasting time or adding no value? (e.g., "STOP requiring the 3-page internal 'account review' doc before a call," or "STOP using the outdated competitor battlecards.")
CONTINUE: What is working so well that we must protect it? (e.g., "CONTINUE the 10-minute daily huddle," or "CONTINUE the new 'Smarketing' lead definition; it's saving us 5 hours a week.")
Assign Ownership (This is the Most Critical Step). This meeting is useless without action. Review the "Start" and "Stop" columns. For every item you agree to as a team, assign a single "owner" and a 30-day check-in date. This turns complaints into a concrete action plan.
Stop guessing what's wrong with your sales process. Just ask the people who live in it. This simple, structured review will give you a data-driven, team-endorsed plan to eliminate friction and accelerate your next quarter.
References
Rigby, D. K., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2016). Embracing Agile. Harvard Business Review, 94(5), 40–50.
