The Compass Essays

Grow Revenue. Not Headcount.

The Sales Strategy System for the Capital-Efficient Business. Built for Human and AI-Powered Markets.

The era of overbuilt sales teams is over. Revenue per employee is the new benchmark, and Boards now require capital-efficient growth.

The challenge is that traditional sales models and methodologies were not designed for capital efficiency. Their tactical focus on how you sell requires heavy lifting, even with AI applied. Plus, they were designed for traditional sales approaches focused on human-to-human selling only. Traditional sales models were not built for today's sales environments, where you’re selling to both humans and AI Buyer Agents.

The Compass scales with the focus on strategy which creates power through leverage. It was designed for developing strategies for selling on multiple paths simultaneously including human-to-human, human-to-AI and AI-to-AI.

I've spent 30+ years building and field-testing the structure and processes of the Compass sales strategy system. It was designed for capital-efficient growth in competitive, rapidly shifting and now AI-powered markets.

Book a Deal Workout →
Trusted by VC and PE backed growth companies who closed $1B+ in LTV using our system.

Why

B2B sales needs a new system built for the markets we operate in today. Rapid change, constantly shifting markets, 1B+ companies run by a dozen people and AI impacting the buyer-seller relationship leave no room for static and slow moving sales models. Here's what I believe about B2B sales and what The Compass System was built to support:

  • It is no longer a math problem solved with sales funnels. It's a physics exercise. It's about time, velocity, and position.
    • Time: How quickly can we move this deal?
    • Velocity: What's creating or slowing momentum?
    • Position: How strong is our competitive advantage?
  • The focus on automating sales tactics or how you sell no longer give you scale. All it gives you is speed when you need velocity. Even with AI, tactics still require a heavy lift.
  • Strategy gives you scale as you shift your execution from how to who, what, when, where & why.
  • Strategy is the discipline of creating the power to achieve your objectives in competitive, rapidly shifting and AI-powered markets. It's knowing precisely how to outmaneuver a billion-dollar competitor to secure your ideal outcome.
  • Business leaders don't need more salespeople. You need better strategy.
  • We will soon be selling to both humans and AI Buying Agents and you will need a system designed to navigate both now. Like today.

If you believe this too, we should talk. If not—that's okay. This isn't for everyone.

The Valuation Shift

The way technology companies grow is changing. Valuations used to reward blitzscaling. Raise capital, grow at all costs, build big sales teams, burn capital.

Not anymore.

Now, valuations are based on revenue per employee. Markets are rewarding capital-efficient growth. Leaders are under pressure to do more with leaner teams and tighter budgets.

You can't compete without a capital-efficient sales model. If you don't, you'll lose to teams who do.

The Compass System and our AI Agents were built for this shift. They're designed to help you grow revenue without growing headcount, out position your competition and to protect your valuation.

Who

You're a Founder, CEO, or business leader at a growing technology company. You don't need more salespeople. You need your deals to close.

If you're here, you're probably experiencing this:

  • You have some pipeline, but deals keep stalling or slipping away.
  • You're losing deals you know you should be winning.
  • Your sales team isn't closing—or you're still doing most of the selling yourself.
  • PLG is working, but some deals need human-led strategy.
  • It feels like your sales process is broken—or maybe it was never really built.

I've seen this before. I've lived it. I built the Compass System for exactly this.

How

We Focus on Your Live Sales Opportunities First

We evaluate your current sales opportunities to see how we can help you close them. Revenue first. Real deals, real results. You work directly with me—and with the Compass AI Agent—in real time. We act as your deal coaches to help you move business now.

I Can Train You and Your Team on The Compass System

If you want to build this capability inside your company, I'll train you and your team on The Compass Sales Strategy System. You'll learn how to run a deal strategy independently—with or without me.

I Can Train Your AI on The Compass System

If you want your own AI Agent, I can help you train your LLM to run The Compass inside your business. This is a capital-efficient investment that will help you scale without adding sales headcount. Training your own LLM on The Compass doesn't just scale strategy—it creates a proprietary knowledge asset you control. It compounds your advantage over time.

Pricing

Fees start at $5,000 per month and scale depending on company size and scope of work. The fee includes a combination of a retainer and a success-based fee on closed deals. We succeed when you succeed.

Proof in Action

These aren't stories about adding more reps or cranking out more calls. These are precision strategies that compressed time, improved position, and accelerated momentum—closing enterprise deals efficiently.

Pre-Revenue to $4.3M Deal

A pre-revenue startup closed a transformative deal  - worth 4.3 million - by shifting from efficiency to risk mitigation value prop. The competition was 4 companies each with over 1B in revs.

Multi-Threaded, Full-Price Deal

A tech company secured a multi-million-dollar contract without discounts by elevating the sale to a strategic necessity.

Deal Velocity

A software client closed an $80K MRR deal in 10 weeks from 1st meeting to a contract.

The Compass was designed with 8 proven strategies with the ability to innovate more. It can evaluate thousands of deal variables to select the optimal strategy to execute based on your current position, velocity level and time required to close in under a minute.

Investment Model for Capital-Efficient Growth

We have enough confidence in The Compass System's ability to accelerate your team's output that we'll prove it on your toughest deal. No charge.

I am not a consultant selling advice. I deliver a system powered by your team, your deals, and your AI.

We work your deals with Compass AI co-pilot in real time. Bring your toughest deal. Let's see if we can move it. 

  • 45-minute strategy session
  • No slides. No fluff. Just Compass in action
  • Walk away with actionable strategies you can use immediately
  • No risk. No commitment. Just results

The Compass System gets stronger as deals get bigger, more challenging, and more competitive. The more critical the opportunity, the more strategic advantage and revenue leverage you gain. In your Deal Workout Session, we'll use Compass to compress time, improve position, and accelerate velocity to help you close your deals. You'll walk away with:

  • Strategic analysis of your most important deals
  • Clear, actionable strategies you can execute immediately
  • Highlights of your current deal risks. We'll identify them early before your buyer or your competitors do—and help you move decisively.
  • A demonstration of how smart teams can outmaneuver competitors with Compass
Book a Deal Workout →

No need to share specific names if you prefer not to. A high-level overview of the opportunity, key stakeholders (without names), and current status suffice for an effective deal workout.

Architecting Sales Strategy for Capital-Efficient Teams

About Me

With three decades closing competitive deals from $10K to $45M, I recognized that winning in AI-powered markets required more than tactical execution. It demanded systematic, scalable strategy.

John Stopper

Connect with me on LinkedIn to see my track record. Client references available upon request for qualified opportunities.

The Compass Origin Story

Born from necessity when I was juggling dozens of enterprise deals with hundreds of variables. Traditional tools couldn't handle the complexity, so I systematized my approach into Compass - a framework to quickly orientate and effectively navigate any deal and identify winning strategies.

I spent the last year training AI to think strategically using the Compass framework. What began years ago as spreadsheets has evolved into an AI-powered system that analyzes thousands of deal variables in minutes.

Compass strategies work across all modern sales scenarios—human-to-human, human-to-AI, and eventually AI-to-AI.

Most importantly, it enables smart teams to multiply revenue per employee by closing more deals without adding headcount.

What

When you work with us, you get:

  • The Compass Sales Strategy System - a fully structured, field-tested, AI-integrated
  • A trained SAM AI Co-Pilot that helps you build and execute strategies in real time
  • Real-time deal strategy sessions. We work your live deals, not just advise
  • Compass training for your team
  • AI enablement - we can help you train your own LLM to run The Compass
  • A capital-efficient growth model with shared success fees
  • A system built to win in human-to-human, human-to-AI, and AI-to-AI selling environments

Frequently Asked Questions

Your Strategic Advantage Awaits

Experience Strategic Navigation on Your Toughest Deal

The Compass System gets stronger as deals get more competitive. Bring your biggest, most strategic opportunity to the session. We'll show you exactly how physics-based strategy beats tactical execution.

Where the Compass System shines:

  • • Complex B2B Deals - Multi-stakeholder environments where strategic positioning becomes critical.
  • • Competitive Situations - Differentiate on strategy against established rather than focusing on price and features.
  • • Stalled Opportunities - Accelerate stuck deals by understanding deal dynamics.
  • • High-Value Expansions - Grow existing relationships through strategic positioning and value demonstration.
Book Your Deal Workout →

45-minute strategic session. No slides. Just insights that close deals.