Target nearly broke itself with a series of perfectly logical decisions.

Target didn't lose customers because of Amazon or Walmart they lost them because leadership made a series of perfectly logical decisions that completely ignored how customers actually experience the business.

And it almost broke a $100B company.

For two straight years, sales were declining. Customers were leaving. Stores were deteriorating. And internally? Everything made sense.

Lock products reduce theft. Change positioning adapt to the market. Cut here optimize margins.

All smart decisions. On paper.

In reality, you walk into a store and your basic items are locked behind glass. You can't find what you need. The place feels neglected. So you leave. And you don't come back.

That's how companies lose customers. Not because they're stupid, but because they're making decisions too far away from reality.

Then Michael Fiddelke steps in. Not with a big vision. Not with atransformational strategy. He does something much simpler and much harder.

He goes back to basics.

Fixes pricing. Fixes stores. Fixes experience.

The things leadership usually dismisses as operational details. They're not. They're the business.

Now, if you're a CEO or founder reading this this is probably happening in your company too. Just not in a store. In your sales.

Your pipeline looks fine. Your team is active. Your messaging sounds sharp. Your forecasts arereasonable.

But deals don't close. Revenue doesn't follow.

And the explanations? They all make sense.

That's your version of locking shampoo behind glass. Logical. Defensible. Completely disconnected from how buyers actually experience you.

Most companies don't have a sales problem. They have a reality problem.

That's where I come in. I go into the deals, the conversations, the pipeline and separate what's real from what just sounds good internally. Then we rebuild from there.

If your numbers are off, but everything stillmakes sense? that's exactly when you should worry. And that's when to reach out.