Effort is not the same as progress
Effort is not the same as progress. Sales teams often increase activity when performance dips, but without MEDDIC discipline—clear economic buyers, defined decision processes, and quantified pain—deals aren’t actually advancing. More effort doesn’t fix that; it just creates the illusion of progress.
Carter Cathey
4/3/20261 min read
Effort is not the same as progress.
Effort feels productive.
Progress actually is.
I’ve seen sales teams increase activity across the board—more calls, more emails, more meetings—and still miss targets.
Not because they aren’t working hard.
Because they aren’t working inside a system that creates progress.
That’s where something like MEDDIC changes everything.
It forces clarity:
Do we have a real economic buyer?
Is there a defined decision process?
Are we solving a quantified problem?
Without that…
you’re not progressing a deal.
You’re just spending time on it.
More effort doesn’t fix that.
It just creates the illusion that something is happening.
Because progress isn’t activity.
It’s movement toward a qualified outcome.
About Carter Cathey
Carter Cathey is a sales and revenue leader with more than 20 years of experience helping market research, technology, and private-equity-backed businesses scale revenue, improve operations, and build predictable growth systems.
Throughout his career, he has led sales transformation initiatives, pricing strategy projects, subscription business model transitions, operational redesign efforts, and commercial growth programs.
He writes about leadership, organizational design, business systems, data-driven decision making, and the challenges companies face as they scale.
Learn more about Carter Cathey
