From the NSC Stage 🎤 | The ‘Invisible Sale’: 3 Lessons from Simon Hazeldine

At the National Sales Conference (NSC), international performance coach Simon Hazeldine issued a challenge to every seller in the room: Stop waiting for the economy to change and start changing your behaviours. Simon’s talk wasn’t just about motivation. It was a blueprint for building what he calls a High-Performance Sales Ecosystem. Here are three of the most important sales lessons from Simon Hazeldine that you can apply to your desk today.

Sales Lesson 1: Stop Chasing RFPs; Start Shaping Them

If your first interaction with a prospect is an RFP (Request for Proposal) hitting your inbox, you’ve likely already lost. Simon calls this “making up the numbers.”

The Advice: Aim for the “Invisible Sale.” This happens when you engage the customer before they’ve even formalised their problem.

The Action: Don’t wait for the tender. Elite sellers are those who help the customer realise they have a problem in the first place. If you shape the decision criteria, the deal is yours to lose before the competition even knows it exists.

Sales Lesson 2: Engage the ‘Economic Buyer’ Early (The 489% Rule)

One of the most staggering data points Simon shared was about power dynamics. Elite performers are 489% (yes, 489) more likely to have the economic buyer engaged before the solution stage.

The Advice: Stop “hustling” at quarter-end to get a signature from someone you’ve never met.

The Action: Map your Decision-Making Unit (DMU) early. If you’re only talking to “champions” or “influencers” and haven’t secured time with the person who actually releases the funds, your forecast is a work of fiction.

Sales Lesson 3: Audit Your Pipe for ‘CHS’

Simon’s “North Star” for a healthy desk is a pipeline that is Clean, Healthy, and Sufficient. He suggests that sales get better only when salespeople get better at these three metrics:

Clean: Are you using a rigorous qualification methodology like MEDDIC or SPICED? Elite sellers are 588% more likely to use one. If it’s not qualified, remove it.

Healthy: Does every single deal have a “Reverse Close Plan” or a clear next action? If an opportunity is sitting still, it’s a liability, not an asset.

Sufficient: Do you have “Pipeline Coverage”? If your target is £1m and your close rate is 25%, you need £4m in the pipe. Anything less is a mathematical failure.

Simon’s closing thought was a reminder that sales excellence isn’t a solo sport, it’s an environment. To move from “average” to “elite,” you must move away from reactive selling (responding to tenders) and toward proactive ecosystem building (shaping problems and engaging power early).