Why Great Salespeople Focus on Decisions, Not Deals

About this episode

In this episode, Alex Smith and Mark Kosoglow discuss how great salespeople focus on helping others make confident decisions rather than just closing deals.

When was the last time a salesperson helped you make a truly confident decision? In this episode of the Sell by Being Human podcast, Alex Smith sits down with Mark Kosoglow, Chief Revenue Officer at Deutsche Bank and former CRO at Catalyst Software, to talk about what selling actually looks like when you strip away the scripts. From selling shoes as a teenager to helping scale Outreach to $250M, Mark’s journey is anything but typical, but his core idea has stayed the same: great salespeople help others make confident decisions. They get into what that looks like in practice. Mark shares why letting passion lead often creates better conversations than trying to sound polished, how his early experience with consultative selling shaped the way he works today, and why honesty and vulnerability matter more than most people think, especially when you’re asking teams or customers to embrace change. They also dive into storytelling, the role of metaphors in making ideas stick, and the problems that come from unclear expectations. Throughout the conversation, Mark makes a strong case for being yourself, not as a slogan, but as a real advantage in both sales and leadership. If you’ve ever…

People in this episode

Host: Alex Smith

Guest: Mark Kosoglow

Topics covered

• sales
• decision making
• consultative selling
• storytelling
• honesty
• vulnerability

Keywords

• sales
• decision making
• consultative selling
• storytelling
• vulnerability
• passion
• leadership

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Deutsche Bank, Catalyst Software, Outreach

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