The Sales Evangelist

A year ago, I thought AI was mostly a research tool. That assumption didn't age well. In this solo episode, I walk through the four places AI actually earns a spot in my sales process today and where I still insist on doing the work myself.Finding the Right Prospects Without GuessingI use a tool called Zenith to research prospects on LinkedIn through Sales Navigator, pull up what they've recently posted, and queue up a relevant comment or connection request based on that content.A human still has to approve every message before it goes out. I'm not letting this run unsupervised, and I edit plenty of what it drafts before it reaches anyone.This process alone books around three appointments a week for me, and the difference comes from how relevant the outreach is, not just how much of it there is.Building Sharper Prospect Lists With AI ResearchI connect Claude to data platforms like Apollo and Lusha to build and enrich prospect lists for email campaigns with a level of precision that used to take hours of manual digging.A real example is finding publishers in a specific state who have a set number of books releasing this year and a newly hired director over content. That's the kind of narrow, specific research AI handles well.AI can find better prospects, but it isn't sending the emails or doing the relationship work on its own. The research has to be precise and relevant, and that precision is what actually moves the needle.Meeting Recaps, Follow-Ups, and Prep EmailsFathom joins my calls and takes the notes, then Claude turns those notes into a meeting recap with clear next steps that I can send straight to the prospect.That same process updates our in-house CRM automatically, logging notes and creating follow-up tasks on the account without me touching a keyboard.Before the next call, I can also get a prep email drafted that references the last meeting's action items and asks the prospect to confirm or add to the agenda, which saves a meaningful chunk of prep time.Drafting Proposals From Discovery Call NotesI can take the notes and conversation from a discovery call and have our AI agent draft a full proposal based on what was actually discussed, following our standard template.AI drafts it, then my team or I review and refine it before anything goes out, since it isn't perfect every time and can misstate an address or an offering if the original prompt wasn't clear enough.Human judgment is still required on scope and pricing specifically. AI has helped me think through pricing structures for different types of clients, but I'm the one making the final call.Keeping the CRM HonestAI logs my activity and updates CRM records and pipeline stages automatically, which keeps the data current without me manually entering it after every call.The accuracy still has to be mine to own. Whatever the pipeline shows is what I'm reporting up to leadership, so I double-check that it reflects reality rather than trusting the automation blindly.Dictation tools like Wispr Flow are pushing this even further, letting reps update records and direct their AI agents by talking instead of typing, which is only going to get more common.What AI Still Doesn't ReplaceAI doesn't replace the relationship, the judgment calls, or the actual conversation with a prospect, and that's exactly where I want to be spending more of my time.Research has shown reps spend a large share of their time, somewhere around 60%, on administrative work instead of actual selling, and that's the gap AI is closing for me.Some teams are taking this even further with inbound lead bots that hold full conversations and book meetings directly onto a calendar, with zero human touch until the call itself."AI handles the admin so that I can spend more time actually selling." — Donald C. KellyLeadership Advice, Books, and QuotesMy challenge for you is: Write out or dictate your entire sales process to Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to identify exactly where AI or an agent could take something off your plate. Most reps underestimate what's possible here, mainly because it feels unfamiliar, not because the tools can't handle it.ResourcesTell me what AI tools you're using, or why you're holding off, on LinkedIn.Check out Zenith for LinkedIn-based prospecting and outreach.Check out Fathom for automated meeting notes and recaps.Check out Wispr Flow for voice dictation that updates your tools directly.Check out Apollo and Lusha for prospect data and list enrichment.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

The phone rings, they pick up, and before you've said a single word, you've already decided how this call is going to go. In this solo episode, I break down a pattern I see constantly in sales reps, including myself in the past. We walk into calls expecting rejection, and that expectation changes our behavior enough to actually cause it.The Prospect Isn't Reacting to Your Offer; They're Reacting to YouSociologist Robert K. Merton gave this phenomenon a name, "the self-fulfilling prophecy," a false belief that causes the exact behavior that makes the belief come true.Your expectation shapes how you act, and the other person responds to how you act, not to your actual intention or your offer.When a rep assumes a prospect is annoyed or uninterested based on nothing more than a hunch, that assumption changes their tone, their pace, and their confidence, and the prospect picks up on all of it.Where This Shows Up Most in a Sales CallPricing is a major one. A rep starts offering a discount before the buyer has said a word about cost, which quietly signals the product isn't worth the full price in the first place.Email openers are another. Starting with "sorry to bother you" or "I know you're busy" trains the prospect to treat you like an interruption instead of someone trying to solve a real problem for them.Discovery calls suffer the same way. Reps skip the deeper questions because they assume the buyer won't want to answer them, and those deeper questions are usually exactly where the real insight lives.Follow-Up and Demos Take the Hit TooSome reps don't even book the follow-up call because they've already decided the prospect is going to ghost them, which kills the deal before it ever had a real chance.During demos, the same fear shows up as rushing through slides because a rep assumes the buyer is bored, when in most cases that assumption is just wrong.I had this happen recently on a client call. I assumed the prospects weren't engaged, but they were actually just muting themselves out of courtesy while discussing something privately on their end.Why We Do This to OurselvesPredicting rejection in advance is a defense mechanism. It hurts less when the rejection actually happens because some part of you already expected it.A bad call or two can quietly overgeneralize onto every prospect after it, even when the next person has nothing to do with what happened before.A lack of preparation makes this worse. Showing up to a call without enough research or practice leaves a rep feeling shaky, and that shakiness gets mistaken for a sign the call is doomed.How to Break the PatternSeparate the data from the story. Ask yourself what the prospect has actually said or done so far, and if the honest answer is "nothing yet," you're reacting to a story you made up, not to reality.If a prospect sounds off on the call, don't assume the worst. You can simply ask whether now is a bad time and offer a short version of your pitch instead, which hands control of the conversation back to you.Slow down on purpose. A calm opener earns far more attention than a rushed one, because rushing signals inexperience, while a steady pace signals quiet confidence.Prepare Like the Outcome Depends on It, Because It DoesKnow your opener and your first two questions so well that nerves never get the chance to take over, and practice them out loud until they feel automatic.Walk into every call expecting the best-case scenario instead of the worst, treating each prospect like they could become your best client, because that energy is genuinely palpable through the phone.Your prospect will often meet you at your own level of confidence, so the energy you bring into the call tends to come right back at you.The Five-Call ChallengeOn your next five calls, write down the negative outcome you're expecting before you dial, then write down what actually happens afterward.Most reps who try this find the gap between what they feared and what actually happened is much bigger than they expected.Once you can see that gap clearly, it gets a lot harder to keep walking into calls assuming the worst."Stop writing the rejection, and start writing the progress." — Donald C. KellyResourcesHave a story about catching yourself in this pattern? Send me a message on LinkedIn and let me know how it worked out.Want coaching on building a repeatable opener and call process? Check out our Sales Mastermind.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

You did everything right, or at least you thought you did, and the deal still fell apart anyway. This one is coming from the archives, and the principles hold up just as well today as they did when we first recorded it.George Brontén, founder and CEO of Membrain and author of Stop Killing Deals, broke down the three deadly assumptions that quietly sink B2B sales deals, and how to catch them before they cost you the close.The Three Assumptions That Quietly Kill DealsDeals rarely fall apart because of one dramatic mistake, they fall apart because of small, invisible assumptions that go unchecked from the first call all the way to the close.The first flawed assumption is believing salespeople are simply born with the right traits, which leads to hiring extroverted, competitive people regardless of whether those traits actually fit the sales environment being sold into.A transactional sale and a complex, multi-year B2B sale call for completely different skill sets, so hiring for one generic "salesy" personality type instead of the specific environment is a mistake that shows up later in lost deals.Why Buyers Don't Decide RationallyThe second assumption is believing buyers will act rationally once they're shown a logical case for the product, when in reality people buy with emotion first and rationalize the decision with logic afterward.Proving a product is the better choice on paper doesn't guarantee a rational decision back, because the buyer's hesitation is usually tied to internal risk, politics, or past experience that logic alone can't resolve.Understanding that gap between what buyers say and how they actually decide changes how a rep should run a sales conversation, shifting it from a pitch toward a genuine discussion about what's really driving the decision.The Myth of the Naturally Disciplined SellerThe third assumption is expecting salespeople to be naturally disciplined enough to do whatever it takes to hit a number, when discipline is actually a set of habits that has to be built deliberately, not a trait people are simply born with.A lack of discipline shows up in small, specific gaps, like failing to identify every stakeholder in a deal or skipping a promised follow-up, and those small gaps are what let a deal quietly stall.The fix isn't willpower, it's building daily habits and structure into the sales process itself, so discipline becomes the default instead of something a rep has to summon on a hard day.The Number One Deal Killer: Not Knowing How the Decision Gets MadeThe single biggest issue killing B2B deals is not understanding how the buying decision will actually be made, or who besides the friendly first contact needs to be involved before anything moves forward.A rep can have a great conversation with an enthusiastic champion and still lose the deal entirely, because that champion was never the one with the authority or budget to make the final call.The fix is asking directly, early in the first call, how this kind of decision typically gets made and who else needs to weigh in, instead of assuming the friendly voice on the phone speaks for the whole organization.Why Discipline Determines Whether Deals SurviveA lack of discipline often shows up as avoidance, like a rep who knows there are more stakeholders to loop in but skips that step because the conversation feels uncomfortable.One real example was a sales team that avoided engaging technical stakeholders because those conversations felt intimidating, so those technical buyers later torpedoed the deal out of fear the product would automate away their jobs.Once that sales team was coached to have those uncomfortable technical conversations directly, framing the product as freeing people up for better work instead of threatening their jobs, their win rates tripled."If you can always identify all the right stakeholders in every deal, and if you have a sales team and you just focus on that for one year, you're going to improve your results massively." — George BronténLeadership Advice, Books, and QuotesGeorge Brontén is the author of Stop Killing Deals: How to Avoid Deadly Assumptions and Achieve Sales Excellence, which breaks down the three assumptions covered in this episode in more depth, along with practical ways to diagnose which one is hurting your own pipeline.ResourcesConnect with Brontén on LinkedIn.Learn more about Membrain, the sales enablement CRM built to guide, coach, and support B2B sales teams through the selling process.Grab a copy of Stop Killing Deals.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

“It’s too expensive” may be the answer a prospect gives you, but it may not be the reason they are saying no.The real issue could be that they do not see the value, they already have another solution, or they have another concern they have not told you yet.In this objection-handling conversation, I break down two ways to get past the surface response, find the real reason behind an objection, and connect your solution to what the prospect actually values.The Real Reason Behind a Price ObjectionA prospect who says a $100 water bottle is too expensive may not really have a problem with the $100. They may simply be comparing it to a $10 bottle and not seeing what makes the more expensive option worth it.The value changes based on the buyer. For someone working outside in South Florida, a bottle that keeps water cold all day, has a built-in filter, and reduces trips away from a job site can solve problems that a cheaper bottle does not.That is why dropping the price is not always the answer. If the prospect does not see the value at $100, they may still not see it at a lower price.The salesperson's job is to find out what matters to that specific buyer and connect the solution to that need.Use the Socratic Method to Get to the Root IssueThe Socratic method uses questions to help prospects think through their own problems and understand why a solution may be in their best interest.The questions should not be random. They should focus on the prospect's challenge and help uncover what is behind the first objection.A prospect may start with “I can get a water bottle for $10.” Keep asking questions and you may discover that the cheaper bottle means buying more water, buying ice, leaving the job site, and losing time that could have been spent quoting more work.Thank the Prospect Before You Challenge the ObjectionThe first step is to thank the prospect for raising the concern and show genuine empathy. A $100 purchase is a bigger decision than a $10 water bottle, so the concern deserves to be taken seriously.From there, ask what they mean when they say it is expensive. Are they comparing it with another product? Have they never paid that much for a water bottle? Or do they simply believe the product is not worth $100?Those questions help reveal what the prospect is really thinking instead of forcing the salesperson to guess.Once the real concern is clear, the salesperson can educate the prospect around the value they were not seeing.Turn Lost Time Into a Business CaseThe water bottle example becomes more valuable when the conversation moves from the product itself to the time it can save. A construction worker who has to leave a job site for water or ice is losing working time.If that person can get even 30 minutes back in the day, that time could be used to quote more jobs. When one new job is worth thousands of dollars, the value of the solution looks very different.The salesperson is no longer selling a water bottle. They are selling convenience, time, and the chance to create more revenue.The same principle applies to other products and services: find the business problem behind the feature and show the prospect what solving it is worth.The Menu Method Gives You a ShortcutThe second approach is the Menu method. Instead of asking a long series of questions, give the prospect a few common reasons other buyers have raised the same objection and ask if one applies to them.The options should come from real sales conversations. For example, the prospect may think the product is too expensive because it will not last, because they already have another solution, or because they are not interested in working with the company.This gives the prospect an easier way to explain what is really stopping them without having to come up with the answer from scratch.If none of the options apply, that is useful too. Ask them to explain what the real issue is and keep digging.Make the Prospect Empty Out Every ObjectionA prospect may have more than one concern. They might start with price and then reveal that they also think the product is fragile.That is why asking, “Is there anything else?” matters before moving into the solution. The goal is to get every concern on the table.Once the prospect has explained everything, you can address each issue instead of solving one objection and discovering another later.The approach is simple: find the root cause, explain how your solution addresses it, and then give the prospect a clear reason to believe the result is possible.Use Proof Before You Ask for the SaleAfter uncovering the objection, the next step is to educate the prospect and use a testimonial or case study from someone with a similar problem.One example in the conversation involves a company that bought the bottles for its team because employees were leaving job sites to get water. Those trips were linked to accidents, lost time, and other problems.The company saw roughly $300,000 in value from keeping its team on site, reducing accidents, getting more work done, and dealing with fewer health-related problems.That kind of proof can change the way a prospect sees the purchase because the conversation is now tied to a result they care about, not just the features of the product.Start Small Instead of Asking for the Whole DealOnce the value has been established, there is no need to ask the prospect to make the biggest possible commitment immediately.Instead of asking a company to buy 50 bottles for its entire team, start with one or two and let them see what happens. If the solution produces the result discussed, there is a clear reason to expand the purchase.The same approach can work with software, licenses, professional services, and other offers. Give the prospect a way to test the solution instead of asking them to take a large risk.The smaller commitment can make it easier for the prospect to move forward while giving you a chance to prove the value."You don't need to talk about all the features. If you could just get help them with understand the one feature or one offering, one solution that can best help them, then money in the bank all day long." — Donald C. KellySponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Selling a must-have product sounds easier than selling a nice-to-have. But even when your solution is critical to a customer’s business, you still have competitors fighting for the same deal. So, what makes a buyer choose you?In this episode, I talk with Mark van Oppen, CRO of SecureAuth, to talk about what it takes to sell a must-have solution in a competitive market.Selling a Must-Have vs. a Nice-to-HaveMark explains why sellers should first identify whether their solution is truly critical to their ideal customer.A product should solve a real business problem rather than forcing urgency where none exists.Finding the right Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) can determine whether a product becomes a must-have.Mark prefers selling solutions that are foundational to the customer’s business because they create stronger customer relationships.Why Buyers Ultimately Buy TrustHaving a must-have solution does not automatically mean a buyer will choose you.When multiple companies can solve the same critical problem, trust becomes a major differentiator.Sellers build trust by doing what they say they will do.Trust also comes from demonstrating expertise and understanding the customer’s specific business problem.Every interaction should reinforce the buyer’s confidence that you can solve the problem.Understand the Customer's Business, Not Just the IndustrySellers need to understand how a problem appears inside a specific customer’s business.Different companies can experience the same technical problem in very different ways.Instead of using the same presentation for every prospect, sellers should tailor their conversations to the customer.Deep research helps sellers speak directly to the customer’s situation instead of making the customer explain everything from scratch.This level of preparation can demonstrate expertise and build credibility.Use AI Without Losing the Human Side of SellingIt's possible that AI-powered sales tools would simply hide lazy sales behavior.He later became a supporter of tools such as Gong, call recording, automated notes, and follow-up summaries.These tools can help strong sellers increase their effectiveness while reducing missed details.AI should support good selling habits, not replace attention, preparation, or customer empathy.Manual note-taking still matters when automated tools are unavailable.The Three E's: Energy, Excellence, and ExperienceThe three qualities Mark considers when hiring:Energy: The enthusiasm and commitment someone brings to the work.Excellence: A demonstrated history of committing to and delivering high-quality work.Experience: Knowledge gained through time and exposure to a specific role or industry.Mark puts them in that order because he believes experience can be developed, while energy and a demonstrated commitment to excellence are harder to teach.The "Say-Do-Say" ApproachAccording to Mark, the phrase “say-do-say” describes another way of building trust.First, clearly explain what you are going to do.Then, actually do it.Finally, show the customer what you accomplished.This creates a clear connection between the customer’s expectations and the outcome you delivered.It also helps sellers reinforce their credibility throughout the sales process.Using a Mutual Action PlanMark’s team uses a Mutual Action Plan (MAP) during complex sales.The MAP includes:The customer's problem statement and pain points.A list of tasks that need to be completed.Stakeholders responsible for each task.Specific delivery dates.Progress updates as tasks are completed.A commercial review covering the business side of the deal.The goal is to create a shared plan where both the buyer and seller understand their responsibilities and can track progress together.Building Trust Through ExecutionA seller's job does not stop after making a promise.Following through on commitments gives the customer evidence that they can depend on you.Documenting agreements makes expectations clear and reduces confusion.Consistent execution becomes especially important when your product sits in the customer's critical path.Popular Quote:"The buyer ultimately buys trust from their vendor." — Mark van OppenResourcesLearn more about SecureAuth: secureauth.comReach Mark van Oppen: [email protected]

AI is changing sales fast. But is it actually replacing salespeople, or is it exposing the sellers who never developed real strategy skills? That’s the question I explore in this conversation with John Stopper.John and I get into the difference between sales tactics and sales strategy, why AI can sometimes give sellers the wrong picture of a buyer, and why getting closer to the people involved in a deal can make the difference between winning and losing. We also talk about how sales teams can use AI to identify deal risks instead of simply using it to write more emails.Why AI Makes Sales Strategy More ImportantAI can teach people sales tactics, but strategy requires a deeper understanding of the situation.Tactics focus on how to sell, while strategy focuses on who, what, when, where, and why.AI can help sellers execute many tactical tasks, but sellers still need to decide which approach fits the buyer and the situation.Strong sales strategy starts with understanding customers and what will actually compel them to buy.The goal is to choose the right strategy based on the conditions of the deal.Tactics vs. Strategy: The Baseball Analogy — 03:38Knowing how to throw every pitch does not mean you know which pitch to throw.A baseball pitcher may have four or five pitches available.The right pitch depends on the batter, pitch count, runners on base, and inning.Sales works the same way. The skill is not just knowing the sales playbook but knowing which strategy to use in the moment.Choosing the right strategy can improve your position, accelerate velocity, and compress time.The Principle of Reality: Don't Trust Every AI Answer AI can give both buyers and sellers information that does not accurately reflect the current situation.Buyers can use AI to research a salesperson or company before the first conversation.Sellers can also build their account research around outdated or incomplete information.A polished AI summary can create false confidence if it does not reflect what is actually happening.Sellers should verify their assumptions instead of treating AI research as unquestionable fact.How to Surface Reality With Better Questions The first sales conversation is an opportunity to check whether both sides are working from the right information.Ask the buyer what their AI research has shown them about your company, product, or you.Share what your research has shown you about their company and ask whether you have it right.Use the conversation to identify what is missing from your research.Verify the situation before choosing your sales strategy.Different Buyers Require Different StrategiesThe right message depends on the person you are selling to.End users often care about doing their jobs faster, better, or cheaper.Managers may care more about how a solution affects their team and the risks involved.Executives are more likely to focus on strategic growth and business outcomes.Sellers need to understand the buyer's role before deciding what value to emphasize.The Principle of Proximity: Get Closer to the Buyer “Proximity sells” because sellers need to understand the buyer's world deeply enough to bring useful insight.Proximity is not about becoming the buyer's friend.It means understanding the buyer's business and seeing things from both inside and outside perspectives.Sellers should get close to the people who can influence the deal, not only the person who can approve it.Outside experience can help sellers bring insights the buyer may not have considered.Find the People Who Can Say No A deal can have strong champions and still fail because someone else inside the organization has the power to stop it.Identify the people who may resist the purchase.Ask your champion who in the organization could have concerns about the solution.Reach out to those people directly instead of waiting for their objections to appear later.Address potential resistance before it becomes a deal-ending problem.Use AI to Identify Deal Risk AI can be useful when it helps sellers think through what could go wrong.Ask AI to research the people and roles that may resist a purchase.Identify possible objections and resistance points before they appear.Continue updating the research as the deal progresses because new risks can emerge.Use AI to help build a deal strategy around what could prevent the deal from closing.Bridging Strategy: Build Relationships Across the Account One salesperson should not have to carry every relationship in a complex B2B deal.Sales managers can connect with the buyer's manager.Product leaders can connect with the buyer's technical leaders.CEOs can connect with other executives when the situation calls for it.Each person can carry a message that matches their role and expertise.Multiple relationships can help both companies become more familiar with each other.Why Executives Still Have a Role in Selling Executive involvement can be part of the sales process, especially when selling complex solutions.Executives have revenue responsibilities too.A salesperson can prepare an executive with the person's profile, the situation, the message to communicate, and the information to bring back.AI can take more operational work off the team's plate.That creates more room for leaders to spend time with customers and support revenue-generating conversations.Salespeople Need to Become Strategists As AI makes more sales information and tactics available, the ability to create useful insight becomes more important.AI has reduced the advantage that once came from simply knowing sales tactics.Sellers need to know how to use information, not just access it.The goal is to tell buyers something they do not already know.Strategy determines what insight to deliver, when to deliver it, and who should deliver it.Human-to-Human Selling Still Matters AI and digital tools should not replace direct conversations with buyers.At minimum, sellers should use video calls when meeting in person is not possible.Direct conversations can help uncover what digital research misses.Meeting a buyer in person can build trust and show a willingness to make an effort.Sales still depends on human relationships, especially when decisions are complex.Key Quote from the Episode“AI has commoditized a lot of that advantage. So now to me, selling and strategy is about how can I tell them something they don't know?” — John StopperResources:John Stopper: johnstopper.comJohn's website also offers a free, no-obligation deal strategy report. Submit a company you are trying to sell to, and he will run it through his COMPASS system and provide a deal strategy report.Email: J Stopper at Northstore.com LinkedIn: John StopperSponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, <a...

Sometimes the best way to close more deals isn't by adding new people to your pipeline (though that's always a good thing.) Instead, the best thing is to address the issues that make a deal fail before they fail.In today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, I joined the CEO of Challenger, Andee Harris, to get her take on failed deals and how to address those issues directly with our prospects.Challenger is a sales training company:The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson explains many of the principles Challenger uses in their training.Early sellers might be timid, which usually leads to a failure to recognize when a deal isn't moving in the right direction.In Andee's experience, continuous feedback is a great way to course-correct throughout the sales process to tailor the experience and selling strategy to the specific prospect.Passive selling isn't the best form of selling for either party. Taking control of the purchase and helping the buyer buy the product is your job.Three ways to notify deals before they go south:Integrate an avenue for continuous feedback. If a buyer likes you as a sales rep, they'll want to share methods to improve their experience.Realize that one size doesn't fit all. What works for one client might not work for another.Constantly be learning. Be curious, and look to understand and be self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses.Andee's final takeaway? Understand that we're in a complex selling environment. Multiple factors influence the selling process, but it isn't impossible to create wins and do phenomenally well. To get in touch with Andee, visit challengerinc.com or connect with Andee on LinkedIn.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

37 reps who got the least recognition on one 153-person sales team averaged 62 percent quota attainment. The team average was 107 percent. That gap is the whole argument Sindre Haaland, CEO and founder of SalesScreen, makes for why comp plans alone don't explain sales performance.Why Identical Comp Plans Produce Wildly Different ResultsSindre's core observation: two reps can work under the exact same comp plan and produce completely different results, which means money alone isn't the daily driver of performance.Comp plans set the structure and tell a rep what they need to do to get paid, but engagement is what determines whether they actually do it consistently.An engaged rep will outperform a disengaged one with the identical incentive on the table, every time.Know Your Sales MathSindre's first question to any rep: have you actually broken your quota down into what you need to do today, not just what you need to hit by year end?Reps who treat sales as a series of repeatable, data-driven daily activities have a far more predictable path to their number than those relying on charisma alone.Even with a full pipeline of data, the numbers only matter if a rep has the motivation to actually execute the plan. That's the gap gamification is built to close.The Four Player Types on Every Sales TeamSindre borrows a framework from game theory to describe four types of sales reps: killers, achievers, explorers, and socialites.Killers are driven by being number one and seeing their name at the top of the leaderboard. Achievers care about personal bests, regardless of where they rank against everyone else.Explorers enjoy the process itself, testing new tools and new angles. Socialites, the majority of most sales teams, are driven by recognition, visibility, and feeling like their effort is seen.The TV and Music Moment That Changed Sindre's CareerSindre described watching a sales floor the first time his team replaced a whiteboard with TVs that played music and visuals every time a rep closed a deal.People were jumping on their desks. That reaction is what convinced him sales motivation itself, not another feature, was the real business to build.A rep's win becoming a shared, visible, celebrated moment does something a quiet bank deposit never will.Three Rules for Running a Contest That Moves the NeedleTiming matters more than most leaders assume. Contests started on a Wednesday consistently outperform ones started on a Monday, since early-week motivation has usually faded by midweek.Shorter is better. Month-long contests tend to create a "valley of disengagement," with excitement in week one, a dead middle, and a scramble at the end. One-day sprints create urgency without the letdown.Change the format so more than the top performer has a real shot. A lottery-style contest, where every meeting booked or deal closed earns a ticket, gives the middle of the pack a genuine "I might actually win this time" feeling.Get Creative: Pairing, Envelopes, and the White Elephant GamePairing a high performer with a lower performer on a team-based contest naturally creates coaching and mentorship, without ever calling it that.Simple physical mechanics work too: envelopes on a wall that reps can pick from after hitting an activity, some holding a dollar, some holding a bigger prize.Sindre's favorite: a white elephant style game where prizes range from real rewards to silly forfeits, and reps can steal from each other until the contest ends, creating genuinely memorable moments on the floor.The Recognition Stat That Proves the PointSindre shared data from a 153-person sales team where they measured how often each rep received recognition in a month.The 37 reps who received the least recognition averaged 62 percent quota attainment. The team average was 107 percent.Recognition and quota attainment move together closely enough that Sindre treats recognition frequency as a leading indicator, not just a nice-to-have.Where to Start as a New Sales LeaderSindre's starting point for anyone new to this: interview your top performers and find out what they actually do every day, not just what the official process says they should do.Frequently, top performers are doing things nobody explicitly asked them to do, or doing an already-known behavior far more consistently than everyone else.Cross-check those behaviors against the rest of the team. Wherever the gap is real, that's where a leader's next contest or incentive should be aimed."A motivated person will do better than a disengaged one, even with the same comp plan." — Sindre HaalandResourcesConnect with Sindre Haaland on LinkedIn.Visit SalesScreen, the world's leading sales gamification platform.Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Imagine doubling your close rate and cutting your sales cycle in half. That's not a hypothetical. It's exactly what Pieter Leenhouts and his team did at Tax Guard, a Cogency Global company that sells to banks and financial institutions.Pieter walked me through exactly how they pulled it off, and it wasn't magic. It was math, structure, and a relentless focus on the front end of the pipeline.Why Their Sales Cycle Was So Long To Begin WithTax Guard's solution was new to the financial institutions they sold to, so reps had to spend real time educating buyers before those buyers even understood why they needed it.That education requirement, combined with deals that stalled out with the wrong contacts, created a long sales cycle and a lower close rate.Fixing it started with the pipeline itself, not with pushing reps to work harder.Give Every Rep the Right Size Pipeline, Not Just More DealsPieter's team found that around 120 opportunities was the right pipeline size for most of their account executives, though the number flexes based on how efficient a rep is.Instead of leaving reps to self source every opportunity, the team loads a portion of that pipeline for them, so reps spend more time working real opportunities and less time hunting for net new business.Their market of five to ten thousand financial institutions is well defined, which makes it possible to plan pipeline size with real precision instead of guessing.Split the Pipeline: 70 Percent Pre-Handraiser, 30 Percent Post-HandraiserOf those 120 opportunities, about 70 percent sit in the pre-handraiser stage, where reps are still working to connect with people.The remaining 30 percent sit in the post-handraiser stage, where there's already an active, ongoing conversation with the customer.That split keeps reps focused on outreach without starving the deals that are already moving.Marketing and Sales Load the Pipeline TogetherPieter is careful to point out that loading the pipeline isn't a sales-only effort. It's a collaboration between sales leadership and marketing leadership.Marketing helps identify and prioritize which accounts and departments actually fit where Tax Guard's solution applies.That partnership is part of why the team can hand reps a healthier mix of fast cycle and slow cycle opportunities instead of leaving it to chance.Why They Kept AEs on the Full Buyer Journey Instead of Handing Off to BDRsBecause their solution requires ongoing education, Pieter's team decided against using BDRs or SDRs to book appointments and hand off to AEs.The same person a buyer starts talking to needs to stay with them as a trusted advisor through the entire education process.Pieter is clear that this only makes sense because of how complex and unfamiliar their solution is. A more transactional sale can absolutely work with a BDR handoff.The Cadence: 17 Touches Over 70 DaysEach opportunity in the pipeline follows a defined cadence, roughly 17 touches over 70 days, with three to five contacts tied to each account.That structure turns follow-up into a math exercise. Once you know the number of opportunities, steps, and contacts, you know almost exactly how many activities a rep needs to complete each day.The cadence isn't automated. Reps still show up and do the work themselves, which keeps the process personal instead of robotic.Personalization Is What Makes the Math WorkPieter gets five to six hundred pitches a day himself, so he knows exactly what gets ignored: generic, unpersonalized outreach.His team uses AI to gather background information quickly, but the personal touch, referencing where someone went to school or what they care about, still has to come from the rep.That combination of structure and personalization is what actually breaks through the noise instead of just adding to it.How They Catch Reps Who Are Gaming Activity NumbersTo catch reps who rack up huge activity numbers without real substance, like hanging up before voicemail or blasting the same email to everyone, Pieter's team looks past raw activity totals.They review call recordings and email engagement to see whether real conversations are actually happening, not just whether the activity got logged.The goal isn't to catch people doing something wrong. It's to find the reps who are getting real engagement and figure out what they're doing differently so the whole team can replicate it.Weekly and Monthly Rhythms Keep the Team AccountableEvery rep gets a weekly one on one that covers both big strategic issues, like what's happening in the market or with competitors, and specific opportunities that need a plan to close.Once a month, Pieter's team reviews the front end metrics as a group: how many people are in cadence, how many emails are opening, how many real conversations are happening.They also track Net Promoter Score to measure how the sales experience actually felt to the buyer, not just whether a deal closed.Their Tech Stack: Salesforce, Gong, Gong Flows, and DelightedSalesforce is their core CRM, and Pieter says most of what makes it powerful is what gets plugged into it.Gong records and analyzes sales conversations, which lets the team track things like how often pricing objections come up and coach reps faster than they could otherwise.Gong Flows adds structured outreach sequences with AI built in, and Delighted measures NPS so the team can see how the buying experience felt from the customer's side.The Numbers Pieter's Team Watches Every WeekClose rate and pipeline velocity are the two headline numbers Pieter checks first, since they show whether the whole system is working.Underneath those, his team tracks how long deals sit in each of their seven pipeline stages, with alerts when something sits too long.They also watch the quality of the opportunities reps are given and how well each rep prospects into the right people, since strong activity numbers mean nothing if they aren't pointed at the right accounts."Activities create opportunities, opportunities create sales. The only thing we control is our activity level." — Pieter LeenhoutsResourcesConnect with Pieter Leenhouts on LinkedIn.Learn more about Tax Guard, a Cogency Global company.Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, <a...

An architect plans every brick before laying one. An archaeologist starts digging and adjusts based on what turns up. Adam Mark Louther says most sales reps try to sell like architects when the job actually calls for an archaeologist's mindset.Adam built his first sales skills knocking on doors selling exterior cleaning services, and today he coaches founders and sales teams on turning conversations into paying clients.We talked about why overthinking kills deals, how the first five minutes of a call sets the frame for everything after, and the two-call process he uses to close more business.Stop Overthinking and Take ActionAdam's biggest message: sales gets overcomplicated. Most people already have enough information to move, but they stall out gathering more instead of acting on what they have.People stuck in analysis paralysis are the ones who need every detail mapped out before they'll take a single step, and that costs them in a fast moving environment like sales.The reps and leaders who win aren't the ones with the perfect plan. They're the ones who execute, look at the results, and adjust from there.Think Like an Archaeologist, Not an ArchitectAdam's framework, borrowed from his mentor: an architect needs total certainty before building, since every measurement has to be right before anything gets built.An archaeologist works the opposite way. They dig in one spot, see what's there, and adjust based on what they find, since nobody knows exactly what's underground until they start.Sales works like archaeology, not architecture. You have a general idea of where to focus, then you test, learn, and adjust instead of waiting for certainty that never comes.There's No One Right Sales ProcessAdam pushes back on the idea that there's a single correct sales methodology to follow, whether that's MEDDIC, Challenger, or anything else.What matters is consistently doing the fundamentals: finding the real issue, talking to the right person, and building enough value that price stops being the objection.Getting stuck choosing the "perfect" framework is its own form of analysis paralysis, and it keeps people from ever getting real reps in.The First Five Minutes Sets the FrameA call handled poorly in the first few minutes can cost the entire sale, because that's when the frame and the agenda get set.Whoever asks the questions controls the call. Without setting that frame early, a buyer with a strong personality will take over the conversation entirely.Adam learned this the hard way early in his career, watching experienced buyers steer his calls before he had a structure in place to prevent it.Three Parts of Opening a Call: Icebreaker, Frame, AgendaThe icebreaker is genuine, unscripted small talk. It should feel like a normal conversation, not a routine, and it should be dropped if the other person clearly isn't in the mood for it.The frame reminds the buyer why the call is happening and how they got connected in the first place, since a call booked weeks ago often gets attended on autopilot without that context.The agenda tells the buyer exactly how the call will run, before a single discovery question gets asked. Adam explicitly tells prospects he'll ask questions first, then invite them to a second call if it's a genuine fit.Always Book the Next Meeting From the MeetingAdam uses what he calls BAMFAM, book a meeting from a meeting. If a prospect says they'll "arrange something" later, that call almost never happens.The second call needs to get booked on the calendar before the first call ends, since people get busy and forget otherwise.This is a small habit that protects momentum on every deal in the pipeline.Build a Personalized Game Plan Before the Second CallBetween the two calls, Adam reviews the discovery call transcript and notes, then builds a plan using the prospect's own language and specific pain points.On the second call, he walks through that plan, framed as free coaching rather than a pitch, which is what makes prospects want to see more detail instead of feeling pitched to.The transition into the actual offer is simple: he tells them the plan isn't quite as simple as the summary, offers to show them more detail if they want it, and lets the prospect self-select into hearing the pitch.How to Actually Start Taking ActionAdam's advice for anyone stuck in analysis paralysis: first figure out what's actually driving the hesitation, whether it's fear of rejection or something else, since you can't fix what you haven't named.After that, find the smallest possible action you can take today, not the biggest.Small wins build confidence, and that confidence compounds until the actions that felt out of reach start to feel normal."Think about what is the smallest action you can take today. Gain confidence from every action you take, and it compounds." — Adam Mark LoutherResourcesConnect with Adam on Instagram: @adammarklouther. He offers a free 45-minute discovery call to talk through where your sales process may be losing deals.Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Less than ten percent. That's how many highly targeted emails actually get opened. In this archive episode, pulled from an old Sales From the Street segment, I'm breaking down exactly what I look for in a cold email before I'll even open it, let alone reply. If email opens are a struggle for you right now, this one still holds up.Why Most Cold Emails Never Get OpenedPeople are buried in email. I was already at 67 messages by mid-morning when I recorded this, and I expected to hit 100 by the end of the day. Executives at bigger companies get even more.Less than ten percent of even a highly targeted email actually gets opened.If you want to land in that ten percent, everything starts with standing out immediately, not with writing a longer pitch.Your Subject Line Has to Earn the OpenThe subject line is the first thing anyone sees, so it has to catch attention completely on its own.A common mistake, according to MailChimp, is a subject line that doesn't actually reflect what's in the email. Whatever you promise in the subject line has to match the message inside.The subject line also needs to spark curiosity instead of pitching outright. It should raise a question in the reader's mind that makes them want to open it.Personalize the Subject Line With Real ResearchI referenced an example from Sales Hacker where a rep researched a prospect's Twitter, found out he was a Manchester United fan, and wrote the subject line, "Why a Man U fan is the best fit for sales enablement?"That kind of specific, researched detail makes a prospect stop and think the email is actually about them, not a mass blast.The goal is to find something real about the person, then build a question around it that gets them thinking before they've even opened the email.Your Opening Line Has to Deliver on the Subject Line's PromiseOnce someone opens the email because of the subject line, the first sentence has to immediately pay that off.In the Manchester United example, the email opened by comparing Manchester United fans to sales enablement leaders, tying the personal hook directly into the pitch.Whatever personal detail earned the open needs to connect naturally to the product or service being pitched, right from the start.Write Your Email Like the Letter FI picked this up from The Sales Development Playbook: structure the email so it looks like the letter F. A longer first line, a shorter second line, and lines that keep tapering down after that.Long emails are one of my biggest pet peeves, especially when people pitch me to be a podcast guest. I'm upfront about it: I won't read a long email, and it's likely to get deleted or ignored.Keeping an email close to the length of a text message makes it far more likely the prospect actually replies.Keep the Call to Action Simple and DirectEvery email needs a clear call to action that asks for a specific response, not something vague.Simple questions work best, like asking which day works best or whether the topic is something they'd be interested in.The easier the ask, the easier it is for the prospect to just hit reply, which is the entire goal of a cold email in the first place.Skip the Fake PersonalizationI can spot a scraped, auto-generated email immediately. My LinkedIn profile reads "Donald C. Kelly," so any email that uses that exact version instead of how I'd actually be addressed gives itself away.Prospects notice the same thing. Sending "Hi Barbara S. Smith" instead of "Hi Barbara" is an instant tell that the email isn't personalized.Real personalization means using the way someone would actually be addressed, then tying the rest of the email back to something specific about them.Tie Your Pitch to What Actually Matters to ThemThe best cold emails connect directly to whatever the recipient actually cares about. For me, that's downloads and value for my audience, so a strong podcast pitch speaks directly to that.Figure out the real business driver for the person you're emailing, then show how what you're offering moves that number, instead of just describing your product.Combine that with the F-shaped structure and a simple call to action, and the email does its one job: move the person to reply and take the next step."Keep it simple. The simpler it is, the better. The easier it is for me to hit reply and give you a quick answer, I'm game, and I'm all in it." — Donald C. KellyResourcesCheck out The Sales Development Playbook by Trish Bertuzzi, the book behind the F-shaped email structure.Join TSE Hustlers League this semester to improve your win rate and move deals through your pipeline.Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Most salespeople treat follow-up like an afterthought: a quick check-in email, then nothing. I sat down with Corrie George, founder of YESA and Canada First, and former president of Grant Cardone Canada, to talk about the follow-up system that's actually helped him close hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.Most Sales Are Won After the Fifth ContactAccording to Salesforce, less than 20 percent of sales happen in the first few points of contact.82 percent of sales happen between the fifth and twelfth point of contact.Most sales reps stop following up long before they reach that window, which means they're walking away from the majority of their pipeline.Know Where Your Buyer Really Is in the Buying CycleBefore you follow up, figure out where the buyer actually is. Some people aren't even aware they have the problem you solve yet.Corrie says salespeople often compete with a purchase in a completely different category, not just a direct competitor.Understanding that stage changes how, and how often, you should be reaching out.The Four Types of Follow-Up: Information, Education, Entertainment, and ServiceCorrie breaks follow-up into four categories, and they have to happen in order: information, education, entertainment, then service.Skipping the order, especially jumping to entertainment before you've built credibility, makes a rep look unprofessional instead of likable.Information Follow-Up Covers Your Product and CompanyThis is the follow-up most reps already do: spec sheets, product comparisons, and warranty details.Corrie also uses this stage to introduce the buyer to the service team they'll work with after the sale, so promises made during the pitch feel real.Education Follow-Up Turns You Into an AdvisorEducation follow-up gives the buyer something useful whether they buy from you or not, like an honest guide to navigating your industry.Corrie points to the movie Air, where Nike won over the Jordan family by telling them exactly what to expect from competitors before ever pitching a shoe.This step also means telling buyers the hard questions they should ask your competitors, even when it makes your own company look more exposed.Entertainment Comes After You've Earned TrustEntertainment, things like memes, a pizza delivery, or a Rubik's Cube with a clever note, only works once you've already built credibility.Trying to build rapport before trust exists makes a buyer more suspicious, not less.Service Follow-Up Closes the LoopService follow-up means offering something small and free, like a low cost version of your product, a free workshop, or a discounted service, to prove your competence before the big ask.It comes last because you don't want to give away value to buyers who are still early in the process.Physical Follow-Up Beats DigitalEvery digital follow-up competes with hundreds of unread emails and notifications already on a buyer's phone.A physical card, book, or package sits on someone's desk with no competition, and Corrie treats that as one of the most underused tools in follow-up.Play the Long Game With Every ProspectSome deals will close this month, some in three months, and some won't close for a year. Reps need to plan follow-up around that reality instead of giving up early.Corrie's rule: do something today that your future self will thank you for."Don't expect him to spend fifty grand with you if you won't spend fifty dollars on him." — Corrie GeorgeResourcesLearn more about Corrie's sales trade school, YESA.Learn more about Corrie's home security company, Canada First.Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Every sales leader wants to go upstream. Bigger logos, bigger checks, bigger deals. But most of what determines whether that move actually works has nothing to do with the sales team. I sat down with Alison Disken, an expert in executive alignment, to talk about the one thing most companies miss when they decide to go upmarket.Why Going Upmarket Takes More Than A New Sales PitchEveryone wants to go upstream because that's where the bigger checks are.But most of what determines success in that move has nothing to do with the sales team specifically.The nuance that gets missed is making sure the entire company is aligned before sales even starts prospecting.Get The Full C-Suite Aligned On What Upmarket MeansExecutive alignment is one of the most overlooked pieces of any strategic pivot.Allie shared an example of a European tech company acquired by a US private equity firm. They were winning in mid market, but got pushed to chase enterprise names without ever redefining their tech stack, competitive positioning, or pricing for that new buyer.Alignment starts with reassessing the ideal customer profile, setting clear timelines, and agreeing on sales goals across the entire executive team, not just sales and marketing.How To Start The Alignment ConversationSit down with every executive individually and ask them to walk through their view of the strategy, the priorities, and what they'd sacrifice to hit the top priority.Comparing those individual answers is what surfaces the alignment gaps.These gaps aren't a sign that someone doesn't understand the business. They show up naturally as a company grows.Build The Internal Narrative Before You MoveOnce the executive team is aligned, someone needs to pull all of that input together into a clear story: why now, what this means for the business, and where the company expects to be in six, twelve, and eighteen months.Every function needs a clear answer to what they will start doing, stop doing, and continue doing to support the shift.What Changes Across The Company When You Go UpmarketOperations often need a new delivery and onboarding model, since enterprise buyers expect dedicated implementation, service level agreements, and stronger security and compliance.HR has to rethink hiring and compensation to attract account executives with enterprise level experience.Finance has to shift pricing from mid market volume discounts to value based enterprise pricing, and plan for margin drag from longer sales cycles and bigger discounts.Why Passive Agreement Kills The ShiftLeaders often nod along when a strategy shift gets presented, but never work out the specific details for their own function.Allie calls this passive agreement. Everyone agrees at the 30,000 foot level, but nobody has actually mapped out their piece of the work.Companies without full alignment still make progress. It just takes longer and feels less cohesive.Build The Roadmap And Reinforce It ConstantlyThe roadmap breaks the strategy down into specific actions for each function, plus a communication plan for cascading the message through every level of the company.One message or one town hall is not enough. Allie points to research showing it can take twenty to twenty five repetitions for people to grasp a more complex concept.Consistency is what keeps people on track. The message people hear today should be the same message they hear next week and two months from now.How To Spot An Alignment Gap On Your Own TeamAsk your team what the strategy is and what goals you're working toward.If everyone gives close to the same answer, your team is aligned.If the answers are vague or different, you've found your alignment gap, and that's exactly where to focus next."If everybody gives you the exact same answer, you have your alignment. If you're getting vague or varied answers, you've unearthed your alignment gap." — Allie DiskenResourcesConnect with Allie Disken on LinkedIn. She shares her free alignment diagnostic and productivity drag calculator there.Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.Sponsorship OffersThis episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.