Imagine that you’re so angry about a business deal gone wrong that you grab a chisel, find a slab of stone, and spend hours carving your complaint. That’s exactly what a Mesopotamian merchant did in 1750 and made sales history. 

The merchant was furious because he’d been promised high-grade copper, but the final product was subpar. That angry customer complaint is now sitting in the British Museum, 4,000 years later. The tablet reads: “What do you take me for? That you treat someone like me with such contempt?”

If you think dealing with issues in the sales process is a modern problem, you’re off by about four millennia.

Sales Hustle Is Ancient

We talk about sales like it’s a modern corporate invention. CRMs and automated sequences are new, but the art of the deal and dealing with angry customers? That’s been around since humans started trading.

The copper merchant in 1750 BCE wasn’t just selling copper. He was managing client expectations, handling logistics, and clearly failing at quality control. The core practices of B2B sales—promise, delivery, and relationship management—haven’t changed.

1600s: Sales Becomes a Profession

Fast forward to 1600, and you see the founding of the East India Trading Companies. They were some of the first corporations that allowed people to buy shares in a business.

One of the East India Trading Companies was owned by “the 17 gentlemen”—a group of wealthy investors who funded global trade expeditions. They kept spices like nutmeg, pepper, and cinnamon flowing across continents. The spices were so valuable that they were practically currency.

This was B2B sales at scale. Shareholders’ expected returns. Merchants negotiated deals across continents. The stakes were massive, and so were the profits.

This era established something critical to modern sellers: the separation between ownership and operation. The 17 gentlemen didn’t sail the ships or negotiate every spice deal. They hired people to do it. Sales stopped being a personal trade and became a repeatable profession with accountability structures built in.

1851: Visibility and Competition Arrive

The Great Exhibition in London in 1851 was the world’s first massive B2B trade show in sales history. Thousands of exhibitors. Hundreds of thousands of attendees. A giant glass building called the Crystal Palace.

Nearly 200 years later, sales pros still pack convention centers, set up booths, and fight to stand out in a sea of competitors.

This is where B2B sales became visible. You weren’t just competing against one or two local merchants anymore. You were standing next to dozens of alternatives, all promising similar value. Differentiation became mandatory.

Following up meant writing a letter and waiting weeks for a response. Today, if you’re not following up within 24 hours, you’re losing to competitors who are.

1957: Reach and Leverage Scale Up

The first inside sales team was formed at a company called Dial America in 1957. Before that, if you wanted to sell, you hit the road. Door-to-door, city-to-city, face-to-face. Every single deal required physical presence.

The telephone changed everything. Suddenly, salespeople could work virtually, reach more prospects, and close deals without leaving the office. One seller could now have 20 conversations in a day instead of three. The math of sales productivity fundamentally shifted.

Fast forward to today, and inside sales is the dominant model. The tools have evolved—Zoom calls, screen shares, digital demos—but the core principle remains: you don’t need to be in the same room to build trust and close deals.

From Stone Tablets to Instant Messages: Why Speed Matters Now

Think about the effort that the merchant put into carving his complaint into stone. He didn’t fire off a quick email. He didn’t leave a one-star Google review. He created a permanent record that would outlive both him and the seller by thousands of years.

Today, complaints are easy. Maybe too easy. A customer can blast you on LinkedIn, tank your review scores, or CC your entire executive team on an email thread—all before lunch. 

Every major shift in B2B sales increased speed. Trade shows multiplied visibility. Telephones let sellers reach 20 prospects a day instead of three. Email collapsed follow-up from weeks to hours. Social media made reputation instant and permanent.

In 1750 BCE, you had time to respond. Now, you have hours—maybe minutes. Each acceleration rewarded the sellers who could execute fast without sacrificing quality. The ones who couldn’t keep up disappeared.

Why This Timeline Matters More Than You Think

We’re in another massive shift in sales history. AI, automation, predictive analytics—the pace is relentless. It’s easy to think everything has changed. Zoom out 4,000 years, and the pattern emerges: speed accelerates, but the core practices stay the same.

So the next time you get a harsh email from a customer, remember that stone tablet. You don’t have to worry about your failure being displayed in a museum 4,000 years from now. But you do have to worry about your reputation spreading across the internet in hours.

The tools change, the pace accelerates, but the rule is simple: earn trust, deliver value, and handle problems before they handle you.

You just saw how history teaches that speed and execution have always mattered — and now AI is the biggest shift we’ve seen yet. If you want to turn the disruption into an advantage, download The FREE AI Edge Book Club Guide.

Here’s a question that’ll frustrate every salesperson reading this: What do you do when you prospect, set the meeting, block the time on your calendar, and then… your prospect no-shows?

That’s the challenge Emily Weissmueller faces every single day. Emily is a former elementary school teacher who pivoted into K-12 edtech sales eleven years ago. She works with special education administrators, and like so many salespeople in 2026, her meetings are primarily virtual.

She’s doing everything right: prospecting consistently, securing appointments, sending calendar invites. But when it’s time for the meeting? Hit or miss. Sometimes they show up. Sometimes she’s sitting there waiting while nobody logs on.

If you’ve ever stared at a Zoom room alone wondering if your prospect forgot about you, you know exactly how this feels. And if you’re wondering whether confirmation emails help or hurt, you’re asking the wrong question entirely.

The Virtual Meeting Paradox

Let’s be honest about something: Virtual meetings are throwaway appointments for both sides.

When you had to drive four hours to meet someone in person, both parties had serious skin in the game. You invested time, gas money, and effort. Your prospect blocked their calendar knowing you were making the trip. Neither of you would casually blow that off.

But virtual meetings? They’re low commitment on both ends. No one’s driving anywhere. It’s just a calendar block that can easily get bumped by the next urgent thing that pops up. And when you’re selling into education like Emily is, where everything moves infinitely slow and decision-makers are incredibly risk-averse, you’ve got even more working against you.

The question isn’t whether to send a confirmation email. The real question is: How do you stack the deck so heavily in your favor that prospects feel obligated to show up?

The Commitment and Consistency Framework

There’s a principle in human behavior called commitment and consistency. When people commit to something, they typically feel compelled to follow through. Otherwise, they feel guilty. And guilt is actually useful because you can leverage it to reschedule when someone doesn’t show.

But the goal isn’t to make prospects feel guilty after they no-show. The goal is to engineer so many small commitments throughout the process that they show up in the first place.

Here’s the system that works:

Step 1: Confirm Verbally When You Set the Meeting

When your prospect agrees to meet, always repeat it back: “Okay, so I’ve got you on Thursday, January 26th at 2:00 PM. Did I get that right?”

When they say yes, that’s commitment number one. You’re putting it in their brain. You’re making it real.

Then say this: “Let me grab your email and I’ll send you a meeting invite for your calendar just to make it convenient for you.”

This does two things. First, it confirms you have the right email. Second, it gets another yes. That’s commitment number two.

Step 2: Send a Meeting Invite That Actually Helps

Most meeting invites are useless. They say “Meeting with Jeb Blount” or “Sales Call” and include seventeen different international dial-in numbers that nobody needs.

Here’s what your meeting invite should look like:

Title: Emily Weissmueller (Company Name) + Prospect Name (School Name) – Why We’re Meeting

Location: Virtual Meeting (then paste the meeting link, nothing else)

Notes: Keep it simple. Here’s the meeting link. If it’s a phone option, include just that number. Then add: “If anything changes, here’s my direct number and email.”

When your prospect looks at their calendar the morning of the meeting and sees this, they know exactly who you are, why you’re meeting, and how to join. You own the moral high ground.

Step 3: Send a Video (This Is Non-Negotiable)

The next morning after you set the meeting, pull out your phone and record a 20-30 second video. Look at the camera. Smile. Sound excited.

“Emily, this is Jeb at Sales Gravy. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me. I’m so excited to spend time learning about you and your mission for helping these kids. Just want to confirm our meeting is on January 26th at 2:00 PM. The invite is on your calendar. I can’t wait to see you.”

Send that via email.

Now think about what you’ve just done. You’ve made it personal. You’ve shown effort. You’ve demonstrated that you actually care about this conversation. It’s exponentially harder for them to no-show because they can see you’re a real human who invested time in this relationship.

This philosophy is about going the extra mile to demonstrate that you’re different, that you care, and that this matters.

Step 4: Leave a Voicemail the Day Before

The afternoon before your meeting, when you know your prospect is likely gone for the day, call and leave a voicemail.

“Hey Emily, this is Jeb. I’m so excited to meet with you tomorrow. I’ve been thinking about your school and the ways we might be able to help. I can’t wait to learn more about what you’re trying to accomplish for these kids. Just a reminder, our meeting is at 2:00 PM tomorrow. All the info is in your calendar. If anything changes, give me a call.”

You’re doing the heavy lifting. You’re reminding them. You’re expressing genuine interest in their world, not just your sale.

Step 5: The Morning-Of Email (Optional)

Here’s where the A/B testing comes in. Some salespeople swear by the morning-of confirmation email. Others think it gives prospects an easy out.

My take? Test both approaches and track your show rates. Do half your appointments with the morning email, half without it, and see which converts better. Even a 2-3% improvement in show rate compounds significantly over a year.

If you do send the morning email, make it about them: “Emily, I’m really looking forward to our conversation today at 2:00 PM. I can’t wait to learn more about your mission and see if there’s a way we can support what you’re building.”

Play to their heartstrings. People love talking about themselves and their work. Make it easy for them to want to show up.

What to Do When You Send a Confirmation Email

Now, if you’re going to send a confirmation email, there are specific scenarios where it’s absolutely required:

• You’re driving four hours to meet someone in person
• You’re bringing executives or your boss to the meeting
• It’s a final presentation or closing meeting with a major opportunity
• Multiple stakeholders are coordinating calendars

In those cases, you’re not just confirming—you’re protecting your time and theirs. You’re making sure you don’t waste an executive’s schedule or drive across the state for nothing.

But for a standard first appointment? The video and voicemail sequence will outperform a confirmation email every single time.

The Real Problem: Systems, Not People

No-shows aren’t a people problem. They’re a systems problem.

When you build a repeatable prospecting system that includes verbal confirmation, calendar invites with clear details, personal video, and day-before voicemail, you engineer commitment at every stage.

You’re not hoping prospects remember. You’re not relying on their calendar notifications. You’re building a runway that allows them to land in the meeting because you’ve made it nearly impossible for them to forget or blow you off.

And when someone does no-show after all that effort? You own the moral high ground. You can call back with confidence: “Hey, I know things come up. I sent the video, left the voicemail, and had everything on your calendar. Let’s get this rescheduled because I’m genuinely excited to learn about what you’re working on.”

That conversation is dramatically different than calling back after sending one email and hoping for the best.

The Efficiency Multiplier

Think about what happens when your show rate improves by even 10%. If you were setting ten appointments per week and six were showing up, that’s a 60% show rate. Bump that to seven showing up, and you’re at 70%.

That’s one extra conversation per week. Four extra conversations per month. Forty-eight extra conversations per year.

If your close rate is 20%, that’s nearly ten additional deals per year just from improving your meeting show rate. That’s the power of sales execution at the highest level.

Your Action Plan

If you’re struggling with no-shows, implement this system immediately:

For every appointment you set:

1. Confirm it verbally when you schedule it
2. Send a detailed calendar invite with clean formatting
3. Record and send a personal video the next day
4. Leave an enthusiastic voicemail the day before
5. A/B test the morning-of email and track results

Track these metrics:

• Total appointments set
• Show rate percentage
• No-show rate
• Reschedule success rate

After 30 days, analyze what’s working and double down on it.

The Bottom Line

Virtual meetings are easy to ignore. That’s just reality in 2026. Your prospects are busy, distracted, and constantly reprioritizing.

Your job isn’t to guilt them into showing up. Your job is to build a system that makes showing up feel like the obvious, natural choice because you’ve demonstrated care, invested effort, and made it personal.

Stop sending one confirmation email and hoping for the best. Start building commitment through repetition, personalization, and genuine interest in your prospect’s world.

That’s how you fill your calendar with meetings that actually happen. That’s how you stop wasting time staring at empty Zoom rooms. And that’s how you build a sales career based on systems, not hope.

Meetings happen by design, not by luck. Build the runway. Land the meeting. Close the deal.

Ready to Master the Complete Prospecting System?

The tactics in this article are just the beginning. If you want to learn the complete methodology for filling your pipeline with qualified appointments that actually show up, join us at an upcoming Sales Gravy Live Event. You’ll get hands-on training in prospecting, qualification, objection handling, and closing from Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy team. Don’t leave your sales success to chance—invest in the skills that separate top performers from everyone else.

Here’s a question that’ll make your head spin: You just inherited 50 neglected accounts, and your customers feel taken for granted. How do you reposition yourself as a high-value partner instead of just another transactional vendor who’s about to disappoint them?

That’s the question posed by Scott Northway, and it’s one of the most common challenges I see in sales today. A new account manager takes over, inherits a book of business that’s been ignored, and now has to figure out how to rebuild relationships with customers who’ve been collecting dust.

If you’re nodding your head right now, you’re not alone. Poor account management is quietly bleeding companies dry, and most leaders have no idea how much revenue they’re leaving on the table.

The Brutal Truth About Why Customers Leave

When we survey customers through our consulting projects with clients who are hemorrhaging accounts, here’s what we find: About 70 percent of the time, customers don’t leave because of price. They don’t leave because of product quality or service issues.

They leave because they feel taken for granted.

Let me give you a real example. I pay six figures annually for a software program that’s critical to my business. Every time my contract comes up for renewal, it’s like a circus. They fly people in. They wine and dine me. They promise the moon about how they’re going to support us and be our partner.

Then once the contract is signed? Crickets.

My account manager disappears for three years. If I don’t call them, they don’t call me. And here’s the thing: I actually like my account manager. I genuinely want to work with them. There are products I could buy, optimizations we could make, but I have to do all the work to make it happen.

This is insane. And it’s costing companies millions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CtOft34tTA What Won’t Work: The Rookie Mistakes

So you’ve inherited these neglected accounts. Here’s what you absolutely cannot do: Show up on their doorstep apropos of nothing and try to sell them something.

If I’m an existing customer doing business with your company, and you show up trying to pitch me without acknowledging the elephant in the room, we’re probably done. It’s rude. It’s bad behavior. And it tells me you’re just like every other transactional vendor who doesn’t actually care about my business.

The second mistake is spreading yourself too thin across all 50 accounts without any strategy. You’ll burn out, deliver mediocre service to everyone, and end up losing accounts you could have saved.

The Human-to-Human Approach That Actually Works

Here’s what does work: Be honest. Be human. Name the problem.

Pick up the phone and say something like this: “Hey, I’m your new account manager. I recognize that no one’s contacted you in a while, and I’m sorry about that. I apologize. I’d like to do a fresh start. Would you give me the opportunity to get to know you better and learn about what’s important to you?”

That’s it. Simple. Direct. Human.

Now here’s the hard part: When you have that conversation, some customers are going to unload on you. If they really have felt taken for granted, they’re going to say some nasty things. They might complain about the last account manager. They might air grievances about problems that have been festering for months.

And the most important thing you can do in that moment is shut up and listen.

Don’t try to defend the past. Don’t talk over them. Don’t promise you’re going to be so much better than the last person. Just let them get it all off their chest. Let them talk it out, because people like people who listen to them.

Then, if there’s something specific you can help them with, don’t make promises you can’t keep. Commit to one thing. Take care of that commitment. Honor it. Build trust slowly. That’s how you become a high-value partner through fanatical prospecting discipline applied to account management.

The Smart Way to Triage 50 Accounts

You can’t effectively manage 50 accounts with equal attention, so you need to segment fast. Use a simple A, B, C ranking by revenue and risk:

A Accounts: Your largest customers or those at highest risk of churn. These get weekly or bi-weekly touchpoints.

B Accounts: Solid mid-tier customers with growth potential. These get monthly check-ins.

C Accounts: Smaller accounts that are stable. These get quarterly touchpoints.

But here’s the secret weapon most account managers miss: Use AI and your CRM data to find the low-hanging fruit. Look for patterns like former buyers who’ve moved to new companies in your territory, customers who mentioned specific challenges in past conversations, or accounts showing signs of expansion readiness.

One of the smartest things you can do is ask your AI tools: “Did anyone on this account ever mention their favorite sports team? Do they like to cook? What matters to them personally?” Those human details are gold for building real relationships in sales.

The Retention Secret Nobody Talks About

Here’s what kills me about account management: Retention is actually easy. If you’re just nice to people, for the most part, they’re going to be nice to you.

It doesn’t take grand gestures. It takes consistency.

A random text message: “Hey, just thinking about you. How’s everything going?”

A quick video message once a quarter checking in.

Remembering to ask how their kids’ soccer season went.

Sending them an article relevant to their business with a note: “Saw this and thought of you.”

Human beings at the core just want to be understood and they want to feel important, like they matter. That’s it. That’s the whole game.

Your 30-60-90 Day Stabilization Plan

If you’re inheriting neglected accounts, here’s your action plan:

Days 1-30: Triage and stabilize. Reach out to every A account with your honest, human approach. Listen more than you talk. Identify immediate fires to put out.

Days 31-60: Earn the right to advise. Deliver on your initial commitments. Start providing value without asking for anything in return. Build familiarity and trust through effective sales communication.

Days 61-90: Focus on expansion. Now that you’ve proven yourself, you can start identifying opportunities to grow these accounts. But not before.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Build familiarity, then trust, then earn the opportunity to expand the business.

The Bottom Line

Stop treating your existing customers like an afterthought. They’re your easiest path to revenue growth, but only if you actually treat them like they matter.

Account management isn’t complicated. It’s about being human, being consistent, and actually caring about the people who are already paying you money.

So pick up the phone. Send that text. Schedule that coffee. Make the small investments in relationships that compound into massive retention and expansion wins.

That’s how you turn neglected accounts into your most profitable relationships. That’s how you build a book of business that actually grows. And that’s how you stop losing customers you already have.

Ready to master the prospecting and relationship-building skills that drive account growth? Join us at Sales Gravy Live: Fanatical Prospecting Bootcamp. Two days of intensive training that will transform how you approach every customer conversation.

If you are spending more time staring at your windshield instead of looking into your customers’ eyes, you are doing field sales wrong. 

Over the past couple of years, there’s been a resurgence in field sales. Businesses everywhere are adding field salespeople and sending representatives out into the territory to meet with customers face-to-face. 

And for good reason—human beings buy from human beings. The most powerful way to anchor relationships, solve problems, and sell more is to get in front of your customers.

With AI creating so much noise in the system, it’s getting harder to prospect via email and social media. Going out and knocking on doors has become an easier way to connect with people, build relationships, and open up opportunities in your pipeline. 

And the good news, at least for now, is that prospects are happy to see field sales pros and inviting them in to their businesses and homes. 

But with the resurgence of outside sales comes an age-old problem: Field salespeople have got to travel to get to customers. And here’s the brutal reality—the single greatest waste of time for field sales professionals is staring at a windshield.

On this Money Monday segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast I’m going to teach you exactly how to minimize windshield time and maximize face time. Because at the end of the day, you don’t get paid to drive. You get paid to sell.

The Windshield Time Delusion

Too many reps delude themselves into believing that driving from one place to another is “working.”

Let’s get something straight: Driving is not an accomplishment. I don’t care if you put 100 miles on your vehicle in a day. That doesn’t mean you accomplished anything meaningful. It just means you drove from one place to the next, burning dinosaurs and wasting time.

I see this all the time. Reps will drive to one customer, then drive all the way across their territory to another customer, instead of concentrating their work in a single geographic area. 

They’ll dead-head out to an appointment, then drive all the way back to the office, passing up dozens of prospects they could have walked into along the way.

Don’t confuse activity with productivity.  Just because you drove all over creation, that doesn’t mean you had a productive day. 

Your job is to be in front of customers, not behind a steering wheel. Every minute you spend staring at your windshield is a minute you’re not building relationships, solving problems, putting new opportunities in the pipe or closing deals.

The Mathematics of Effective Field Sales Territory Management 

Let me put this in perspective with some simple math that will blow your mind.

Let’s say you’re a typical field sales rep working in a moderate-sized territory. You make 5 customer visits per day, and between poor route planning and territory management, you spend an average of 45 minutes driving between each appointment. That’s 3 hours and 45 minutes of windshield time daily.

Over a 5-day work week, that’s 18 hours and 45 minutes of non-productive driving time. That’s nearly half of your work week spent accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Now, let’s say you tighten up your territory management and reduce that drive time to 20 minutes between appointments through better planning. You’re now down to 1 hour and 40 minutes of windshield time daily, or 8 hours and 20 minutes weekly.

You just freed up more than 10 hours per week. That’s enough time for 15 to 20 additional customer visits or prospect calls. Over a month, that’s 60-80 more customer touchpoints. Over a year, that’s 720-960 additional opportunities to build relationships and generate revenue.

The reps who figure out how to minimize windshield time don’t just have better work-life balance—they absolutely dominate their territories and blow past their quotas while their competitors are still driving around wastefully.

Map Your Territory Into Quadrants

This is why the first rule of field sales is getting your territory mapped, segmented, and planned to reduce drive time. 

I remember when I started out in field sales that the first thing my sales manager, a guy named Bob Blackwell, did was sit down with me and help me map my territory into daily quadrants where I’d be working on specific days of the week. 

He said if it’s Monday and you are in your Thursday quadrant, you better have a damn good reason. 

At the time, I didn’t understand exactly what we were doing but soon it made sense. By concentrating my focus each day in a tighter geographic area I wasted less time and made a lot more money. It was a lesson I never forgot. 

Start by printing out a map and grabbing a sharpie. 

Monday might be the northeast quadrant. Tuesday, the southeast. Wednesday, the southwest. Thursday, the northwest. Friday could be your flex day for special situations or your highest-priority accounts regardless of location.

Keep that map visible where you can see it. 

The tighter your route planning, the more selling time you create and the less windshield time you waste.

Yes, you will get off track from time to time. That’s the real world. But because you have built a set of tracks, when you get off, you’ll know where to get back on. 

The Hub-and-Spoke Model

Then use the hub-and-spoke model to maximize your time in each geographic area.

It works like this: Once you have an appointment booked on your calendar, use your CRM and mapping tools to pre-plan and route five additional drop-ins or door swings around that appointment. 

This will both increase the number of prospecting calls you make each day, and help you avoid the temptation to just head back to the office after your appointment.  

The T-Calling Technique to Boost Prospecting Activity

You’ll increase your productivity further with the practice of T-Calling. 

As you walk into or out of those pre-planned prospecting calls, look to your left, look to your right, and look behind you, then knock on those doors, too. 

Walk in. Introduce yourself. Build relationships. You’re already ther—you’ve already invested the windshield time to get to that location. Maximize your return on that investment.

Think about it, with this methodology you can easily make an additional 10 to 15 additional prospecting touches after each scheduled appointment. It’s how you squeeze every ounce of productivity out of your sales day. 

Stay on Track With Better Decisions

Territory planning also helps you make better decisions about responding to customer requests. 

If a customer calls on Tuesday needing help, rather than dropping everything and driving all the way to their location, assess whether it’s truly an emergency or if it can wait until you’re in that part of your territory on Thursday.

Learn to say, “I’ll be in your area Thursday morning. Can I schedule some time with you then?” Most requests that feel urgent really aren’t. Don’t let poor planning by others derail your territory strategy.

When you do need to leave one part of your territory to handle a high-priority customer, don’t dead-head straight back to your office or home base. Look left, look right, and look behind you to make additional calls in that immediate area before you leave.

Make Drive Time Learning Time 

No matter how well you plan, you’re still going to spend time behind the wheel. So here’s the critical question: When you’re driving between accounts, what’s coming through your speakers?

Is it lifting you up, making you better, helping you make more money—or is it tearing you down?

Top performers attend  Automobile University. Instead of listening to news or sports radio that usually puts you in a negative mindset, they’re listening to audiobooks, training courses, and business podcasts.

The compound effect of consistently investing in yourself during windshield time is enormous. 

If you spend just 60 minutes a day listening to educational content in your car while you are driving , that’s 5 hours per week, 20 hours per month, 240 hours per year of professional development. 

That’s the equivalent of 6 full work weeks of training annually—just from your drive time. 

When you’re always learning, you improve your skills, build stronger business acumen, stay current with industry trends, and develop a competitive edge over reps who waste their windshield time listening to talk radio.

Most importantly, consistent learning maintains a stronger belief system and winning attitude. You arrive at each appointment energized and confident, instead of drained and negative.

Territory Action Plan

Here’s what I want you to do this week to transform your territory productivity:

Step 1: Audit Your Current Windshield Time: For the next week, track exactly how much time you spend driving. Calculate the total hours you spend behind the wheel. I guarantee the number will shock you.

Step 2: Map Your Territory into Quadrants: Get out a map or use Google Maps to divide your territory into logical geographic sections. Assign each section to specific days of the week and commit to staying in your designated areas except when absolutely necessary.

Step 3: Plan Routes in Advance: Every evening or first thing each morning, use your CRM and mapping tools to plan your most efficient route through your designated quadrant. No more winging it.

Step 4: Implement Hub and Spoke Planning: For every scheduled appointment, pre-plan five additional stops in that immediate area. Turn single appointments into territory blitzes.

Step 5: Create Your Learning Playlist: Download 3 audiobooks, subscribe to 5 relevant podcasts, and enroll in at least 1 audio training course. Build your Automobile University curriculum. By the way, the new re-mastered audiobook version of my international best selling book Sales EQ was just released, so perhaps that might be one of your first choices. 

Step 6: Track Your Progress Keep a log of time saved by staying in quadrants, what you’re learning during drive time, and how it’s impacting your performance. When you get off track—and you will—commit to getting right back on your plan.

In Field Sales, Time is Money

Remember, in field sales, time is literally money. Every minute you waste staring at your windshield is money out of your pocket. But every minute you invest in smart territory planning and continuous learning is an investment in your success.

The field sales professionals who master territory management don’t just sell more—they work smarter, reduce stress, and create more time for the things that matter outside of work.

Stop staring at your windshield and start looking into your customers’ eyes. That’s where the money is.

And remember, when you’ve been out in the field all day, knocking on doors, and you are ready to quit and go home, always stop and make one more call. 

Maximize drive time for learning by listening to Sales Gravy Audio Courses.

AI isn’t here to replace you; it’s here to boost your game. Used wisely, AI can be your secret weapon.

AI is everywhere: in social selling, content creation, automation, to say the least. Here’s the double-edged sword: If you’re trying to outsource everything to AI, you won’t last. If you’re stuck in the old ways, refusing to adapt, you’ll get left behind.

Top performers are integrating AI into their workflows to make their human skills even sharper. They know AI is the edge they need to rise above the competition.

Where AI Actually Delivers Value

Think about how much sales time you burn on necessary tasks that don’t drive revenue, like data entry and research. That’s where AI shines. It handles the repetitive work faster and more accurately than you ever could. Feed it your ideal customer profile, and  you can have a filtered list of prospects before you even finish your coffee.

AI can analyze thousands of LinkedIn profiles in minutes to identify prospects who match your best customers’ characteristics. It can scrape company websites, news articles, and financial reports to give you conversation starters that actually matter. While you’re having one discovery call, AI can prep intel for your next five meetings.

Consider email outreach. Instead of sending generic templates, AI can help personalize messages at scale using real company data—recent funding rounds, leadership changes, and industry challenges. All this results in open rates that don’t make you cringe and response rates that actually justify your time investment.

Be Smart About How You Integrate

The mistake most sales reps make is thinking AI means “set it and forget it.” That’s plain wrong. The winners are using AI as a research assistant, not a replacement for judgment. They’re feeding it context, reviewing its output, and adding the human insight that turns data into deals.

The best use AI to identify patterns in their closed-won deals, then apply those insights to current opportunities. They analyze which messaging resonates with different buyer personas, then craft more targeted outreach. They’re not working harder; they’re leveraging better intelligence.

Take objection handling. AI can analyze your call recordings to identify the most common pushback you’re getting, then help you develop stronger responses. It can even suggest which case studies or references would be most compelling for specific prospect types. It’s taking your experience and making it work for you at warp speed.

What’s Coming Next for AI

Wait until you see what’s on the docket for AI advancements: AI agents that anticipate what you need before you even ask. 

What if your follow-up email was already drafted after a call, incorporating specific points from the conversation? Your proposal includes ROI calculations tailored to their business model, all generated from publicly available data about their company.

AI will soon do more than respond to prompts; it will proactively support your sales process. It’ll flag when a deal is stalling based on engagement patterns. It’ll suggest the optimal time to follow up based on the prospect’s communication preferences. It’ll even coach you on your delivery by analyzing successful calls from top performers.

That’s why the time to adopt is now. Don’t let AI’s growth outpace your own knowledge of how to use it. Stay on top of new systems and improvements.

The Human Element Remains King

But here’s what AI will never recognize: the moment in a sale when a prospect’s voice changes and you know they’re really interested. It doesn’t have the ability to read between the lines of what someone isn’t saying. It lacks the intuition that tells you to pivot your pitch mid-conversation because you’ve spotted a better angle.

AI can’t build genuine rapport. It can’t adapt to the subtle cues that tell you someone’s ready to buy or needs more nurturing. It can’t handle the complex, nuanced objections that require empathy and creative problem-solving. These uniquely human skills become more valuable, not less, in an AI-enhanced world.

The most successful salespeople will be those who use AI to eliminate the mundane so they can focus entirely on these high-value human interactions. They’ll show up to every conversation better prepared, with more relevant insights, and more time to actually listen.

The Bottom Line

Look, change is uncomfortable. You might be hesitant to shift your workflow, adopt new tools, or rethink how you sell. But the market won’t wait for you to feel ready. The time to start is now.

Start small. Pick one area where you’re spending too much time on low-value tasks. Find an AI tool that addresses that specific area and test it for a month.

Don’t let AI make you less human. AI can’t replace emotional intelligence, creativity, or the gut instinct you’ve developed from years in the field. But it can help you perform at your peak. It can make you faster, more focused, and more effective.

So don’t fear it. Use it. Make AI your co-pilot. Let it handle the grunt work while you focus on the thing that actually closes deals: building genuine relationships. Stay curious; start experimenting. Keep the heart of your sales process with you, exactly where it belongs.

Want to learn more about how AI can lift you over your competition? Read Jeb Blount’s The AI Edge for more tools and tips.

If you’re in field sales, you know the reality: You spend hours every week sitting behind the windshield, staring at traffic that’s moving at the speed of molasses. Whether you’re dealing with Atlanta’s notorious I-285 parking lot or any other major city’s rush hour nightmare, that windshield time is either making you better or making you bitter.

Recently on the Ask Jeb segment of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jacob Kimrey asked about helping his field sales team maximize their productivity while stuck in traffic. But here’s the thing—this advice isn’t just for managers to give their reps. It’s for YOU, the field rep, to take control of your own success.

Let me tell you how to turn those frustrating hours in traffic into your secret weapon.

Driving Isn’t an Accomplishment

First, let’s get something straight: Driving is not an accomplishment. I don’t care if you put 200 miles on your car today—that doesn’t mean you accomplished anything meaningful for your business.

Too many field reps confuse activity with productivity. They think that because they drove all over creation, they had a productive day. Wrong.

The goal is to minimize your windshield time and maximize your face-to-face time. But when you ARE stuck in traffic, you better make damn sure you’re using that time to get better.

Smart Territory Management Saves Windshield Time

Before we talk about maximizing windshield time, let’s talk about minimizing it through smart territory planning.

Map your territory into quadrants: Monday territory, Tuesday territory, Wednesday territory, Thursday territory, and Friday territory. If you’re supposed to be in your Monday quadrant but you’re driving to your Friday area, you better have a damn good reason.

When you’re planning your field time:

• Group your appointments geographically: Don’t hopscotch all over your territory in one day.
• Plan your route in advance: Use your CRM to map out the most efficient route.
• Use the T-calling technique: When you arrive somewhere for an appointment, look left, look right, look behind you—can you make additional calls in that immediate area?

The tighter your route planning, the more selling time you create and the less windshield time you waste.

Prospecting from the Road (Safely)

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. That windshield time can actually become prospecting time—if you do it safely and legally.

There are apps and dialers that let you load phone numbers and dial hands-free while you’re stuck in traffic. You can also set up your phone so contact numbers are easily accessible with voice commands.

Safety first: Only do this when you’re completely stopped in traffic or pulled over. Never compromise safety for a sales call.

Hands-free follow-up calls: Use voice-to-text features to send follow-up messages to prospects or customers.

Planning calls: Call ahead to confirm appointments or reschedule meetings.

Customer check-ins: Those relationship-building calls that keep you top-of-mind with existing customers.

The key is preparation. Have your call lists ready, know who you’re calling and why, and keep it simple and safe.

Voice Technology Is Your Friend

Today’s smartphones have incredible voice capabilities that field reps should be leveraging:

• Voice-to-text for quick CRM updates
• Voice memos to capture important thoughts or follow-up reminders
• Hands-free scheduling and calendar management
• Voice-activated research on prospects or companies

Learn to use these tools, and you’ll be amazed how much more productive your windshield time becomes.

Welcome to Automobile University

The number one thing you should be doing while stuck in traffic is attending what the great Zig Ziglar called “Automobile University.”

When you’re sitting in your car, staring at brake lights, what’s coming through your speakers? Is it the news (which will just make you angry)? Music (which won’t make you any money)? Or are you investing in content that makes you better at your job?

Here’s your Automobile University curriculum:

Sales audiobooks: There are hundreds of excellent sales books available in audio format. Start with the classics and work your way through modern sales methodology.

Podcasts: The Sales Gravy podcast runs three days a week. That’s hours of free sales training every week. But don’t stop there—find other quality sales and business podcasts that challenge your thinking.

Audio courses: We’ve created specific audio courses on Sales Gravy University designed for people exactly like you who spend time in their cars. Push a button and learn while you drive.

Industry-specific content: Listen to podcasts and audiobooks specific to your industry. The more you understand your prospects’ world, the better conversations you’ll have.

The Compound Effect of Automobile University

Here’s what most reps don’t understand: The compound effect of consistently investing in yourself during windshield time is enormous.

If you spend just 30 minutes a day listening to sales training content, that’s 2.5 hours per week, 10 hours per month, 120 hours per year of professional development. That’s the equivalent of three full work weeks of training annually—just from your commute time.

Elite athletes in the business world constantly invest in themselves. We’re in skill positions. The better your skills, the better your results. When you’re always learning, you:

• Have better conversations with prospects
• Ask more insightful questions
• Think more strategically about your territory
• Stay current with industry trends
• Develop a competitive edge over reps who waste their windshield time

Make It a Non-Negotiable Habit

The difference between successful field reps and mediocre ones often comes down to how they use their “dead time.”

Traffic jams are going to happen. Construction zones are unavoidable. Rush hour is inevitable. You can either let these situations frustrate you, or you can turn them into opportunities to get better.

Make Automobile University a non-negotiable part of your daily routine. Every time you get in your car, something educational should be playing through those speakers.

Your Windshield Time Action Plan

Starting tomorrow:

1. Audit your current windshield time habits: What are you listening to right now? Is it making you better or just killing time?
2. Create your learning playlist: Download sales audiobooks, subscribe to relevant podcasts, sign up for audio courses.
3. Plan your territory more efficiently: Map out your weekly quadrants and commit to staying in your designated areas.
4. Set up hands-free prospecting tools: Research safe, legal ways to make calls from the road.
5. Track your progress: Keep a log of what you’re learning and how it’s impacting your performance.

Your competition is sitting in the same traffic you are, listening to music or complaining about their day. While they’re wasting time, you’ll be getting better, smarter, and more prepared for every sales conversation.

Turn that windshield time into your competitive advantage. Your future self—and your bank account—will thank you.

Ready to maximize your learning time? Check out Sales Gravy University for audio courses designed specifically for reps on the road.

Most value propositions stink. They’re boring, generic, feature-heavy garbage that make buyers’ eyes glaze over. And the worst part? Most salespeople don’t even realize their value proposition messaging is hurting them.

On this week’s Sales Gravy Podcast, Lisa Dennis breaks down her process for building value propositions that actually work—the kind that grab buyers by the heart and don’t let go. But before we get to the solution, let’s talk about why most value propositions fail miserably.

Reason #1: You’re Talking About Yourself, Not Them

Here’s the fundamental problem with 90% of value propositions: They’re all about you.

“We’re the industry leader with cutting-edge technology and award-winning customer service that delivers best-in-class solutions…”

Blah, blah, blah. 

Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of your prospect mentally checking out.

Here’s a hard truth about human nature: Nobody cares about you. They care about themselves.

Every buyer wants to talk about their problems, their challenges, their goals, and their pain points.

When you launch into your pitch about incredible features and market-leading capabilities, your buyer is silently thinking, “What does this mean for me?” And if you don’t answer that question immediately, you’ve lost them.

Your value proposition isn’t a corporate brochure. It’s not a marketing slick. It’s the value-bridge between what you do and what they need. 

If it’s a monologue about you, your company, and your product features you’ve lost the game before kickoff.

What to do instead: Make your value proposition a laser-focused spotlight on them. Start with their problem, not your solution. Lead with their pain, not your product.

Reason #2: You’re Using Generic, Meaningless Buzzwords

Most value propositions include phrases like “industry leader,” “best-in-class,” “cutting-edge,” or “world-class customer service.”

“We’re a one-stop shop with purpose-built solutions that increase efficiency and decrease costs.”

Really? And I suppose your competitors specialize in decreasing efficiency and increasing costs?

These phrases and buzzwords make you sound exactly like every other salesperson who’s ever walked through your prospect’s door: boring. 

Here’s the brutal truth: If your competitor could copy and paste your value proposition and use it for their company, it’s not a value proposition—it’s forgettable noise.

What to do instead: Get specific. Use numbers. Use their language, not yours. Instead of “increase efficiency,” say “reduce your monthly reporting time from 40 hours to 4 hours.” Instead of “industry leader,” show them exactly how you’re different and why that difference matters to them.

Reason #3: You Haven’t Done Your Homework

Most salespeople build their value propositions standing in their own shoes rather than those of their buyers.

If you don’t know what keeps your prospects awake at 3 AM, if you don’t understand their specific challenges, and if you haven’t talked to real customers about why they bought from you (or didn’t), then your value proposition is built on sand. Guesswork rather than research.

What to do instead: Talk to three groups of people and gain insight through their lens.

• Your Lovers: These are your raving fans. What do they say about you when you’re not in the room? What specific problem did you solve that made them heroes in their organization?
• Your Likers: These are satisfied customers who aren’t writing love letters about you. What almost made them choose your competitor? What reservations did they have?
• Your Haters: These are the tough conversations. The prospects who chose someone else or the customers who fired you. Why? What did they feel you were missing?

This insight helps you shape your messaging so that it connects with the buying motivators of potential customers.

How to Build a Value Prop That Actually Works

Now that we’ve covered why most value propositions fail, let’s talk about how to build one that wins deals.

Step 1: Start With Their Problem, Not Your Product

Your value proposition should begin with their problem, not your product. 

Here’s the formula:

“For [specific type of customer] who [specific problem/challenge], [your company] provides [specific solution] that [specific, measurable benefit].”

Step 2: Get Brutally Specific

Vague value propositions are worthless. Don’t say you “increase efficiency”—say you “reduce month-end close time from 15 days to 3 days.” Don’t claim you’re the “industry leader”—prove it with specific, verifiable metrics.

Step 3: Use Their Language

Stop using your internal jargon and corporate-speak. Use the exact words your prospects use to describe their problems. If they say they’re “drowning in manual processes,” don’t translate that to “seeking automation solutions.” Use their words.

Step 4: Prove It

Every claim in your value proposition should be provable. Can a third party verify what you’re saying? Do you have case studies, testimonials, or data to back it up? If not, cut it out.

Step 5: Make It Human

People buy from people. Your value proposition can’t be purely clinical and business-focused. Acknowledge the human element. What does success look like for the individual making this decision? How will solving this problem make their life better?

What Your Differentiators Should Actually Differentiate

Your differentiators are proof points that you’re uniquely qualified to solve your prospect’s specific problem.

Ask yourself:

• What can we do that competitors literally cannot do?
• Where are we measurably better than alternatives?
• What gaps do we fill that others leave open?

If your “differentiator” could apply to any company in your industry, it’s table stakes rather than a true competitive edge.

The Bottom Line

Building an effective value proposition isn’t about clever wordsmithing or marketing magic. It’s about doing the hard work of truly understanding your buyers and then articulating—in their language—exactly how you solve their unique challenges better than anyone else.

Most salespeople won’t do this work because it’s difficult and uncomfortable. They’d rather stick with generic, safe language that offends no one and excites no one.

But if you’re willing to have the tough conversations, do the real research, and build a value proposition that’s genuinely focused on your buyers’ needs, you’ll gain a massive competitive advantage.

Because while your competitors are still talking about their “industry-leading, best-in-class solutions,” you’ll be speaking your prospect’s language with a value proposition that compels them to engage and buy.

Learn how to build buyer-centric value propositions that resonate, differentiate, and drive sales, using Lisa Dennis’ proven framework that transforms your messaging into a deal-winning asset. Check out her sales training course Value Propositions That Sell

Jon Buehler from Jacksonville asks: “How do you maintain the consistency and intensity with prospecting? I find myself doing these sprints to get momentum, but struggle to keep that momentum going for long, sustained periods of time.”

Jon’s question gets to the heart of one of the most significant challenges in sales: maintaining disciplined, consistent, daily prospecting over the long haul. It’s a challenge that plagues even experienced sales professionals.

In this Ask Jeb article and Sales Gravy Podcast, I dig into why this happens and how to fix it.

The Prospecting Paradox

Prospecting is the lifeblood of sales success, yet it’s the activity most salespeople hate and avoid. This creates a dangerous pattern I call the “desperation rollercoaster”—a cycle that wreaks havoc on your results, your mental health, and ultimately your career.

Here’s how it works: You prospect hard for a while, fill your pipeline, and start closing deals. Life is good. Then you get busy servicing those new clients and tell yourself you’ve “earned a break” from prospecting. Your prospecting activity slows down or stops entirely.

Fast forward 30-90 days, and suddenly your pipeline is dry. Panic sets in. Your manager is breathing down your neck. Your commission checks shrink. Only then do you rediscover your “motivation” to prospect.

And the cycle repeats. Up and down. Feast and famine. This isn’t a strategy; it’s a recipe for burnout and inconsistent performance.

The Hidden Costs of Inconsistent Prospecting

The desperation rollercoaster creates damage far beyond just an empty pipeline. When you’re desperate for deals, everything about your sales approach deteriorates:

• You become pushy and pitchy instead of consultative
• You come across as desperate and insecure
• You focus exclusively on what YOU need, not what the PROSPECT needs
• Your discovery questions become shallow
• You skip crucial steps in your sales process
• You discount aggressively because you have no leverage
• Your negotiation and closing skills deteriorate

In short, when you’re desperate for deals, you sell terribly. Inconsistent prospecting doesn’t just hurt your pipeline—it undermines your entire sales approach.

The 30-Day Rule: Why Consistency Matters More Than Intensity

In Fanatical Prospecting, I discuss the “30-Day Rule”: The prospecting you do in this 30-day period will pay off in the next 90 days.

This rule explains why inconsistent prospecting is so dangerous. When you take even a single day off from prospecting, it creates a hole in your pipeline 30-90 days from now. Take a week off, and you create a significant gap. Take a month off, and you essentially guarantee a sales crisis in your near future.

Understanding this principle makes it crystal clear why consistency trumps intensity every time. I’d rather see you make 20 prospecting calls every day for a month than 100 calls in a single day and nothing for the rest of the month.

The Pain and Pull Method for Maintaining Motivation

So how do you maintain your prospecting discipline when motivation inevitably fades? I use the “Pain and Pull” method.

The Pain: Visualize the Consequences

When I don’t feel like prospecting (and yes, even after decades in sales, I still have those days), I vividly picture what will happen if I skip it:

• The stress of an empty pipeline 60 days from now
• The uncomfortable conversation with my team
• The hit to my income and reputation
• The desperation that will undermine my sales approach

By focusing on the pain I’ll experience in the future if I skip prospecting today, I create immediate motivation to pick up the phone.

The Pull: Connect to Your Why

My friend Victor Antonio calls this “the big pull,” connecting your daily prospecting discipline to your most important goals and aspirations.

Nobody wakes up excited to make cold calls. But many people wake up excited about buying their dream home, sending their kids to college, or achieving financial independence.

When prospecting feels hard, don’t focus on the calls. Focus on what those calls will create in your life. What’s on the other side of those dials that makes them worth doing?

• Is it the vacation you’re saving for?
• The home you want to buy?
• The financial security you’re building?
• The career advancement you’re pursuing?

As I often say, the only thing that matters in prospecting is how bad you want it. Not how bad you want to prospect (no one wants that), but how bad you want what prospecting will give you.

Building an Identity-Based Prospecting Habit

Beyond motivation, the ultimate solution is to make prospecting a non-negotiable habit—something you do automatically without requiring willpower or motivation.

James Clear’s excellent book Atomic Habits provides a framework for this approach. The key is shifting from outcome-based habits (“I need to make 20 calls today.”) to identity-based habits (“I am the kind of salesperson who prospects every day, no matter what”).

When prospecting becomes part of your identity—something you simply do because it’s who you are—consistency becomes much easier to maintain.

Here are some practical steps to build this habit:

1. Schedule prospecting blocks early in your day – before distractions and fatigue set in
2. Make it ridiculously easy to start – commit to just 5 calls to overcome initial resistance
3. Create an environment that eliminates distractions – turn off notifications, close unnecessary tabs
4. Track your activity religiously – what gets measured gets managed
5. Celebrate small wins – reward yourself for consistency, not just outcomes

The Bottom Line

Prospecting is like rent; it’s due every single day. Your income, your confidence, and your future pipeline are paid for in advance with consistent daily activity.

The next time you feel like skipping your call block, remember this: The salespeople who win are the ones who prospect when it’s inconvenient, when it’s uncomfortable, and when no one is watching.

When you’re tired, when you’ve given everything you’ve got, and when you’re tempted to call it a day, make one more call. That’s where the difference between average and extraordinary happens.

Because in the end, your success in sales isn’t determined by what you do occasionally. It’s determined by what you do consistently.

Learn the keys to developing a Fanatical Prospecting Mindset in Jeb Blount’s course: Fanatical Prospecting Essentials

On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Looking at the final scoreboard, his five-stroke victory seemed like total domination. But I was there on the ground, and what I saw wasn’t domination. It was something far more valuable for you as a sales professional and has everything to do with success.

What I witnessed was a master class in mental resilience. And in this Sales Gravy podcast and article, I’m going to break down exactly how Scheffler’s approach to adversity can transform your sales results.

The Brutal Grind

Quail Hollow is beautiful, but make no mistake—this course has teeth. It chewed up and spit out many of the world’s best golfers without an ounce of remorse.

Just ask Bryson DeChambeau, who on Saturday watched his lead evaporate on the “Green Mile” – the brutal final three holes of the course. Or ask Jon Rahm, who briefly held the lead on Sunday before plummeting to eighth place after getting absolutely bitten by those same closing holes.

If you just looked at Scheffler’s final score, you’d think he cruised through effortlessly. But that’s not even close to what happened. It was a grind—every single hole, every single shot.

Scheffler came into Sunday with a five-stroke cushion, but by the front nine, he had completely lost that lead. Let that sink in for a second. The world’s best golfer, playing his best golf all season, watched his commanding lead completely vanish.

For most players, that would have been it. Game over. The spiral begins. The tournament slips away.

But not for Scottie Scheffler.

Bounce Back Percentage – The Key to Winning

There’s one statistic from the tournament that explains everything – and it’s a metric that should become your new obsession as a sales professional. It’s called the “bounce-back percentage.”

The bounce-back percentage measures how often a player makes a birdie or better immediately following a bogey or worse. In other words, how often do you recover from failure and immediately create success?

For the entire field at Quail Hollow, the average bounce-back percentage was 17.4%.

For Scottie Scheffler? An astonishing 62.5%.

Think about what this means. When the average player faced adversity, they bounced back less than one time in five. But Scheffler? He transformed failure into immediate success more than three out of every five times.

That is massive mental resilience. It’s the difference between holding a trophy and watching someone else hold it. It’s the difference between being number one in the world and being just another talented pro. And it’s absolutely the difference between sales mediocrity and sales excellence.

Bounce-Back Matters in Sales

So why am I talking about golf statistics on a sales podcast? Because the bounce-back percentage is the perfect analogy for what makes or breaks a sales career.

I’ve got news for you—bad stuff is going to happen in your sales career. You’re going to fail, lose, and face adversity. That’s not a possibility—it’s a guarantee.

You’re going to have situations where everything seemed perfect, and then the deal falls apart. Sometimes it’s your fault. Sometimes it’s not.

Maybe the champion of your deal suddenly gets fired or leaves the company. Maybe a competitor swoops in at the last minute with a ridiculous offer. Maybe your prospect ghosts you after six months of work.

Each day you’re going to run into situations when you’re prospecting where someone slams the phone in your ear, and then you’ve got to immediately turn around and make the next call. There will be days where nothing goes right and everyone says no.

Your ability to bounce back doesn’t just influence your success – it defines who you are as a sales professional. It is the key to winning. Full stop.

The Goldfish Paradigm 

When I’m hiring salespeople, one of the things I’m measuring for is optimism. It’s essentially Ted Lasso’s goldfish paradigm—the ability to forget fast.

On the show, Lasso asks his players:“You know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish.”

Being a “goldfish” is about letting go of mistakes, setbacks, or negative moments quickly—just like a goldfish forgets almost instantly.

What You Think is What You Become

If something bad happens to a pessimistic person, rather than forgetting, they believe something bad is going to happen again. Their mind starts spinning a story: “This always happens to me.” “I knew this wouldn’t work out.” “Nobody wants to talk to me today.”

What you think is often what you become. When you dwell on negative outcomes, you invite more of them into your life. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that crushes your results.

But optimistic people? They forget fast. They get a “no” and immediately think, “Great! My next ‘yes’ must be right around the corner.” That’s the definition of optimism in sales—the unshakable belief that success is just one more attempt away.

Competitiveness is a Key Component of Bouncing Back

Competitiveness is equally crucial. When competitors get knocked down, they don’t stay down. They get back up, and when they do, they’re not defeated—they’re fired up. They use that emotion, that drive, to propel themselves to win the next time.

I see too many salespeople these days start a downward spiral after a single setback. It’s no different than what happens to amateur golfers on the course. You have one bad shot, which leads to another bad shot, which leads to a bad decision, which leads to another bad shot. Pretty soon, you’re ready to throw your clubs in the pond and call it a day.

That spiral will kill your sales career faster than any market downturn or tough competitor ever could.

How to Build Your Bounce Back Muscle

So how do you build this mental resilience? How do you develop your bounce back muscle? I’ve got several strategies that have worked for me and for the top-performing sales professionals I’ve coached.

1. Create a Bounce-Back Routine

The first key is having a specific bounce-back routine—a set of actions you take immediately after facing rejection or adversity.

My sales bounce-back routine is different from my golf bounce-back routine. In sales, when something knocks me back, I often step away briefly and read a passage from a book I keep nearby. I deliberately put something positive into my mind to redirect my thinking. Sometimes it’s listening to a specific podcast or audio clip that I know will shift my mindset.

The key is that I don’t leave my mental recovery to chance. I have a deliberate, planned response to adversity that I’ve practiced so many times it becomes automatic.

What’s your bounce-back routine? If you don’t have one, create one today. Maybe it’s taking three deep breaths, saying a specific affirmation, or reviewing your biggest sales wins. Whatever it is, make it concrete and practice it until it becomes second nature.

2. Stay in the Present Moment

One of the biggest killers of bounce-back ability is letting your mind drift away from the present moment. When something goes wrong, most people immediately do one of two things—they dwell on the past or they worry about the future.

Dwelling on the past is pointless. You can’t change what’s already happened. Getting caught up in replaying the failure, the rejection, or the mistake only ensures you’ll bring that negative energy into your next interaction.

Equally dangerous is projecting into the future, worrying about what might happen. “What if I never close another deal this month?” “What if my pipeline dries up?” “What if I miss quota again?”

The only thing that’s real is the present moment. The only thing you can control is your next action.

When I’m on the golf course and hit a bad shot, I remind myself to stay present. “This shot. This moment.” Then I refocus and execute. The same principle applies perfectly to sales.

After a tough call, don’t ruminate. Reset. Focus only on the next call, the next conversation, the next opportunity. Nothing else matters.

3. Build Obstacle Immunity Through Exposure

This is counterintuitive for many people, but the more adversity you face, the better you get at handling it. I call this “obstacle immunity.”

Top performers don’t avoid difficult situations; they seek them out, knowing that each challenge strengthens their resilience muscle. Think of it like weight training. The resistance isn’t your enemy; it’s the very thing making you stronger.

Make more prospecting calls than required. Have the tough conversations others avoid. Pursue the challenging deals others shy away from. Each time you face resistance and push through, you’re building your bounce-back capability.

The salespeople who avoid discomfort to protect their egos are the same ones who crumble when inevitable challenges arise. They haven’t built their obstacle immunity.

Scottie Scheffler hasn’t won all those tournaments because he’s never faced adversity. He’s won because he’s faced so much adversity that he’s developed immunity to its effects.

4. Master Your Self-Talk

You’re talking to yourself all day long. The question is: What are you saying?

Are you telling yourself you’re going to win or you’re going to lose? Are you feeding yourself excuses or solutions? Are you reinforcing resilience or fragility?

If you watched coverage of the PGA Championship, you saw plenty of players have emotional meltdowns after bad shots. Remember Shane Lowry’s explosion? Those emotional outbursts might feel cathartic in the moment, but they rarely improve performance.

Notice that Scheffler doesn’t have those explosions. He stays remarkably calm, even when things aren’t going his way. He’s mastered his self-talk.

After a setback, he doesn’t tell himself a story about how unfair it is or how he’s losing his edge. He tells himself he has the ability to bounce back. He teaches his mind to believe it, and then he actualizes it.

Your self-talk creates your reality in sales. Monitor it ruthlessly. Replace destructive narratives with empowering ones. Tell yourself you’re the kind of person who thrives under pressure and bounces back stronger after rejection.

The Most Important Sales Metric That You’re Not Tracking

At the end of the day, Scottie Scheffler is the PGA Champion and the number one golfer in the world not because he never faces adversity, but because he’s mastered the art of bouncing back from it.

He’s a walking example of how to manage disruptive emotions, control your actions and reactions, maintain a winning mindset, and transform setbacks into comebacks.

The sales profession will test your resilience every single day. There’s no escaping the challenges, the rejection, the unexpected obstacles. But like Scheffler, you can develop the mental toughness to not just survive those challenges, but to use them as fuel for your success.

Your bounce-back percentage might be the most important sales metric you’re not tracking. Start today. Build that mental resilience. Watch your results transform.

Remember, in both golf and sales, it’s not about avoiding the rough patches—it’s about how quickly and effectively you play your way out of them.

Want more help to build your bounce back muscle and mental resilience? Check out Perform on the X. This brilliant on-demand course, from former Navy Seal Stephen Drum, teaches you Navy Seal tactics for performing at your best, in high-stakes situations, when everything is on the line.

Sales is a trust game. Always has been; always will be. 

It’s not about features, price points, or flashy presentations. It’s about conviction. And conviction is born from trust: deep, unshakable trust across four critical fronts. 

Ignore even one, and you’re leaving deals on the table.

The First Deal You Close Every Day is YOU

Before you ever make a cold call, send an email, or walk into a meeting, you’ve got to sell you to you. 

Self-doubt is a silent killer. It creeps in, erodes confidence, and betrays you in your voice, your body language, and that split second when you hesitate to ask for the close.

Top performers don’t have fewer fears—they just trust themselves to push through them. They build self-trust the hard way: doing the reps, facing objections, pushing through rejection until they’re bulletproof.

Self-trust isn’t optional. It’s the launchpad for everything else you do.

Trust in Your Product

If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, neither will your prospect.

Prospects can smell when you’re bluffing. They pick up on the hesitations, the weasel words, the way you tiptoe around weaknesses instead of confronting them head-on.

When you know your product solves real problems—and you’ve seen it do so again and again—you sell with conviction. You don’t overpromise. You stop folding under pressure, and stop chasing price shoppers. 

Trust in your product doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It means you know where it fits, what it does well, and who it helps—and you’re not afraid to walk away when it’s not the right match.

Your Process is Your Competitive Edge

Amateurs wing it. Top performers trust their process. 

A rock-solid sales process is your roadmap to predictable success. It’s the framework that turns chaos into control. When you trust your process, you stop second-guessing yourself. You know exactly what to do next, even when prospects throw curveballs. 

Your process should cover all parts of the sales cycle: prospecting, qualifying, handling objections, closing, and follow-up. Each step should be intentional and refined through experience. 

Trust in your process gives you the courage to disqualify bad fits and the discipline to execute consistently. 

Building Trust with Prospects: Where Deals Live or Die

Prospects don’t buy from people they don’t trust. They buy from people who understand them, demonstrate competence, and follow through on every promise. 

The 7 Trust Accelerators That Actually Work

1. Prepare Like Your Career Depends On It: Before every interaction, know their business, industry challenges, and recent news. When you reference their Q3 earnings call or their CEO’s LinkedIn post, you show respect for their time and business.
2. Lead with Insight, Not Pitches: Share something valuable they don’t know about their market, competitors, or opportunities. “I noticed companies in your space are struggling with X. Here’s what the successful ones are doing differently…”
3. Ask Questions That Make Them Think: Skip the basic discovery questions. Ask: “If you could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about your current process, what would it be?” or “What’s the real cost of not solving this problem?”
4. Admit What You Don’t Know: When stumped, say: “That’s a great question. I don’t have the answer right now, but I’ll find out and get back to you by tomorrow.” Then actually do it.
5. Tell Them When You’re NOT a Fit: Nothing builds trust faster than saying: “Based on what you’ve told me, I don’t think we’re the right solution for you. Here’s who might be better…” They’ll remember your honesty.
6. Share the Whole Truth About Implementation: Don’t sugarcoat. Tell them: “Here’s where clients typically hit speedbumps. Here’s how long it really takes. Here’s what you’ll need to invest beyond the price tag.”
7. Follow Up with Value, Not Just “Checking In”: Every touch should add value. Send industry reports, introduce them to potential partners, share competitive intelligence. Make them glad they took your call.

The Trust Killers to Avoid

• Talking Too Much: When you dominate the conversation, trust dies
• Rushing the Process: Pushing for a close before earning the right
• Breaking Small Promises: Missing a callback destroys credibility
• Faking Knowledge: Pretending to know something you don’t
• Being Unavailable After the Sale: Ghosting kills referrals

How AI Influences Trust in Modern Sales

Here’s the paradox: In an AI-powered sales world, your humanity becomes your biggest competitive advantage. Used strategically, it amplifies trust. Used carelessly, it destroys it. 

AI as a Trust Builder

• Intelligent Research: AI helps you research prospects and tailor your approach. When you understand their specific challenges before the first call, you demonstrate preparation and respect.
• Consistent Follow-Through: AI ensures nothing falls through the cracks. Automated reminders, follow-up sequences, and activity tracking help you keep every promise.
• More Time for Relationships: By automating routine tasks, AI frees you to focus on meaningful conversations and strategic thinking.

AI as a Trust Destroyer

• The Automation Trap: When every touchpoint feels robotic, relationships die. Use AI to enhance personalization, not replace it.
• Losing the Human Touch: When you let AI do all the talking, you become irrelevant. AI should amplify your voice, not replace it.

Trust More, Sell More

In a world of infinite options and instant information, trust becomes your only true differentiator. It’s the foundation of your career and the legacy you leave behind.

Stop treating trust as a nice-to-have. Start treating it as your most valuable asset.

Because people don’t buy what you sell. They buy who you are and how much they trust you to deliver.

Do your customers trust you? In this 2-minute micro-bite, Cheryl Parks reveals the signs that your customer views you as a trusted advisor. 

Brian Kemski wants to know how to stop prospects from ghosting him. He asks a question that plagues salespeople everywhere: “What can I do about prospects who go through the process, seem interested, and then disappear into the witness protection program after I give them my information?”

If you’ve been in sales for more than a week, you know exactly what Brian is talking about. You have a great discovery call, you build rapport, you send over your proposal or pricing…and suddenly—radio silence.

The prospect ghosts you, leaving you frantically checking your email every five minutes and wondering what the hell happened.

In this Ask Jeb episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, I’m going to teach you how to prevent it.

You Gave Away Your Leverage for Free

During our conversation, I asked Brian to consider what he’d do if I offered him $100 to go get me a Big Mac. He wasn’t interested. When I upped it to $200, he started considering it. At $500, he was ready to make the trip.

Why? Because at $500, the value exchange made sense to him.

Your sales information works exactly the same way. Your pricing, specs, and solutions have real value. When you hand them over without getting anything in return—especially before completing your sales process—you’re essentially giving away hundred-dollar bills for free.

And once you give away all your value, the prospect has no more reason to talk to you.

Understanding Power and Leverage in Sales

In most sales situations, your prospect has more power than you do because they have more alternatives than you. They can choose your competitors or simply decide to do nothing.

The only way to level the playing field is through leverage—something you have that they want because it provides value to them.

It’s like that hurricane example I gave Brian: If there’s a hurricane in Miami, all the power is out, and you’re the only person selling ice, you have all the power because there are no other options. But in normal business situations, your prospect has plenty of options, which gives them power.

Your information is the leverage that gets prospects to “dance to your tune.” Once you give that away without getting anything in return, you’ve surrendered all your power.

Your Sales Process Should Be a Value Exchange

Here’s what your sales process should look like instead:

1. Use discovery calls to build value: Ask questions that help prospects think differently about their problems. Create insights they can’t get elsewhere.
2. Meet multiple stakeholders: Insist on speaking with everyone involved in the decision. This builds relationships across the organization and prevents ghosting.
3. Present your proposal in person: NEVER email a proposal. Your proposal meeting should be a closing meeting where you’re getting a yes or no.
4. Look for engagement at every step: If prospects aren’t willing to invest time and effort in your process, they’re showing you they aren’t serious.

Each step of your process should involve the prospect giving something (usually time and information) to get something from you. This creates what psychologists call the “investment effect”—the more effort people put into something, the more they value it.

The RFP Trap

The clearest example of giving away leverage is responding to RFPs without conditions. When you fill out all that information and send it without meeting the decision-makers, you’ll rarely hear back.

My approach? “I’m not filling out all that information until you meet with me.” If they want your solution badly enough, they’ll meet. If they don’t, you’ve saved yourself hours of wasted time.

I practice what I preach, but I’m not perfect. Just last November, I spent 12 hours on a proposal I knew had little chance of closing because I’d skipped steps in my own process. I gave away my leverage for free, and they ghosted me—exactly as I predicted they would.

I have to relearn this lesson once or twice a year. Maybe you do too.=

You Need the Power to Walk Away

For this approach to work, you need a full pipeline. Because a full pipeline gives you more alternatives allowing you to walk away from prospects who won’t engage in your process.

This is precisely why I’m so fanatical about prospecting. When your pipeline is full, you have options. You can afford to lose deals that were never going to close anyway. You can sell without selling.

Look for the Warning Signs

As you engage with prospects, watch for these warning signs of future ghosting:

• Unwillingness to introduce you to other stakeholders
• Reluctance to share budgets or timelines
• Resistance to following your sales process
• Lack of engagement in discovery conversations
• Pushing for pricing or proposals too early

When you see these signs, address them directly: “I notice you’re hesitant to introduce me to your team. For us to create the right solution, I need to understand all stakeholders’ needs. Is there a reason you’re uncomfortable with that?”

The Bottom Line on Ghosting

Prospects ghost you when they’ve gotten what they wanted without having to commit to anything. The solution is simple but requires discipline:

1. Don’t give away valuable information for free
2. Insist that prospects follow your sales process
3. Look for reciprocal investment at every stage
4. Be willing to walk away when prospects won’t engage
5. Keep your pipeline full so you can afford to lose bad deals

Remember: What are prospects willing to do for your information? Hold the line on that question, and you’ll dramatically reduce the number of people who ghost you and disappear into the “witness protection program.”

To learn more about how to avoid being ghosted take Jeb Blount’s course on Sales Gravy University: The Real Secrets to Avoiding Stalled Deals and Prospects Who Ghost You

Your quota doesn’t take a summer vacation, so your pipeline-building efforts can’t afford to either. This is a reality check. Summer is coming fast, and if you don’t get your pipeline positioned for success now, you’ll be scrambling come mid-July.

The summer sales slowdown is a documented phenomenon across almost every industry. According to data from HubSpot, prospecting response rates can drop by as much as 25% between June and August. 

Appointment conversion rates decline by similar percentages. And overall deal velocity—how quickly opportunities move through your pipeline—slows dramatically during this period.

Why does this happen? It’s simple:

• Decision-makers take vacations.
• Buying committees become fragmented with staggered time off.
• Business momentum slows as organizations shift to a summer mindset.
• And you are distracted with the pool, the beach, your kids, and fun travel. 

Salespeople Wait Until it is Too Late

That’s reality. Now, here’s the brutal truth. Each summer salespeople make the same bad mistake—they wait until they’re already in the summer slump to try to climb out of it. By the time they realize their pipeline is drying up in late June, it’s already too late to course-correct, leading to stress and anxiety as their sales numbers and income drop as the temperature rises.

If you are not focused on building your summer pipeline now, you are in big damn trouble.

First, your prospects become harder to reach, which means your connection rates drop. With lower connection rates, you get fewer meetings. Fewer meetings lead to fewer opportunities entering your pipeline. Meanwhile, your existing pipeline is moving slower than normal due to vacation schedules.

These factors don’t just add up—they multiply. 

And here’s the kicker—while you’re experiencing this slowdown, your quota isn’t taking a vacation. Your revenue targets remain unchanged. In fact, for many organizations, Q3 is when quota ramps up higher and the pressure really starts to build to hit annual targets.

The Sales Psychology of Going Into Summer Prepared to Make Quota

Beyond the pure mathematics of pipeline building, there’s a psychological advantage to preparing now. When you’re proactively filling your pipeline ahead of the summer slowdown, you operate from a position of confidence and abundance.

Sales professionals who hit the summer slump with a thin pipeline typically find themselves in panic mode. When you’re in panic mode, prospects can sense it. Your conversations become more about your needs than theirs and your willingness to discount increases. These behaviors ultimately reduce deal profitability and your income, and damage your relationships with potential customers.

Contrast this with the sales professional who’s already built a healthy summer pipeline. They can approach each conversation with genuine curiosity and patience. They can focus on value creation rather than transaction acceleration. They can maintain price integrity because they’re not desperate for the deal. And they can actually have summer fun rather than summer stress. 

Double Down on Prospecting Now

The simple reality is that connecting with prospects will get harder during summer. So you need to double your outreach volume now. If you normally make 30 prospecting calls daily, bump that to 60 for the next six weeks.

The 30-Day Rule states that the prospecting you do in this 30-day period will pay off for the next 90 days. In other words, the seeds you plant today will determine your harvest in July and August.

• Knowing your pipeline is healthy going into summer allows you to enjoy any vacation time you take without constantly checking emails.
• When you’re not scrambling for deals, you can be more selective about which opportunities you pursue, focusing on ideal customer profiles rather than anyone with a pulse.
• A well-built summer pipeline might actually allow you periods of lower activity that you can use for skill development, process refinement, or strategic planning.
• While your competitors are experiencing the summer slump, you’ll be maintaining momentum—potentially winning deals with less competitive pressure.

Take Proactive Action Now to Protect Your Summer  Quota

Summer sales slowdowns are predictable and, with the right preparation, entirely manageable. The key is taking proactive action now.

Remember these three principles:

• The best time to build your summer pipeline was last month. The second-best time is today.
• Your quota doesn’t take a summer vacation, so your pipeline-building efforts can’t afford to either.
• The confidence that comes from preparation will be evident in every customer interaction, creating a virtuous cycle that boosts your win-rate.

I challenge you to block time on your calendar today—not tomorrow, not next week, but today—to double down on prospecting. And remember, when at the end of each of those blocks, always make one more call. 

Want to make more prospecting touches, in less time, with better outcomes? Then learn Jeb Blount’s H.I.P.S. Prospecting Method. It could change everything for you.

Here’s a hard truth most salespeople never hear: The most dangerous thing you can do is think like an employee.

On this week’s episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, business consultant for entrepreneurs David Neagle says: “You’ve got to see yourself above the place that you actually want to accomplish.”

The highest-earning reps? They think like owners. They take responsibility for their number, their mindset, and their mission. They don’t wait for leads to be handed to them or settle for “good enough.” They build a pipeline like a business, because it is. 

So whether you run a company or just run your territory, these lessons from a successful entrepreneur will harden your mindset and help you sell with more purpose, more urgency, and more grit.

Making Money Isn’t Hard.

You need to come around to a simple idea: Making money isn’t the hard part. Getting over your mental baggage about making money is infinitely more difficult.

Most salespeople riding the feast-or-famine rollercoaster find themselves desperate more often than not. When that happens, they unconsciously sabotage themselves. They discount too quickly, hesitate to ask for the sale, or talk themselves out of big goals.

Here’s the truth: Money is everywhere, and opportunity is endless. But if you believe sales is a grind and success is for “those people,” you’ll work three times harder for half the reward. Don’t undersell yourself.

Entrepreneurs don’t apologize for making money—they design their lives around it. If you want to earn like a business owner, stop treating money like a taboo topic. Start treating it like a scoreboard you want to climb.

Stop Caring What People Think (Especially About You Winning)

The moment you start succeeding—wildly succeeding—is the moment people will have opinions about it.

You close a big deal or hit the top of the leaderboard? Somebody will whisper. Someone else will be resentful. That’s not your problem. It’s theirs.

You’ll never hit your peak if you can’t stomach a little hate from the nay-sayers.

Entrepreneurs learn early that approval won’t pay your bills. If you want to win in sales, stop seeking validation from people who aren’t playing game at your level.

You can’t serve your buyer and care what others think at the same time. Choose your future over fitting in.

Believe You’re Worth the Win

Most reps think their biggest problem is weak leads or tight markets. It’s not. It’s that they don’t believe they’re worthy of success.

They don’t think they deserve the close, the commission, or the praise. Instead of swinging for the fences or building consistency, they settle for mediocre wins some of the time. Instead of dealing with confidence, they let insecurity take over.

Business owners don’t have that luxury. Their livelihood depends on selling themselves—and believing in what they offer. The same should go for you.

When you believe you’re worth the success, your tone changes. Your body language shifts. Your presence becomes undeniable—and buyers feel it.

Push past doubt by honing your skills through practice and reviewing past successes. You deserve everything you’ve worked hard to gain.

Sales Isn’t About Getting—It’s About Giving

A lot of people treat sales like they’re trying to take something. That’s why they feel pushy, needy, or “icky.”

But the best sellers think like business owners—and owners know they’re in the business of solving problems. They’re giving value, outcomes, and transformation.

If your mindset is “I need to get this deal,” your buyer will feel that. But if you shift to “I’ve got something that can truly help them,” everything changes. You show up with confidence, not desperation; with curiosity, not pressure.

Sales isn’t just hunting. It’s serving. And your commission is just the reward for solving someone else’s problem.

Start thinking like a consultative seller. Listen closely to your prospect’s needs and position yourself as a trusted advisor who has the answers to their specific challenges.

You Can’t Do It All Yourself

This one hits especially hard for both entrepreneurs and lone-wolf reps: If you try to do everything on your own, you’ll burn out or stagnate.

Business owners grow when they learn to delegate. Sales pros grow when they learn to lean on their team—mentors, coaches, marketing, support, and systems.

You don’t have to be good at everything. You just have to be great at the one thing that moves the needle: selling.

Protect your time. Focus on high-value activities. Trust your support system to help you execute faster and smarter.

Think Like a CEO

You don’t need a corner office. You just need to take ownership of your attitude, activity, and outcomes.

Entrepreneurs don’t wait for permission, and neither should you. They don’t second-guess their worth, apologize for winning, or try to do it all alone—and if you want to level up your sales game, you shouldn’t either.

Own your number like it’s your business. Sell like you mean it. And remember: You are not just in sales—you are the CEO of your results.

Don’t just think like a C-suite level exec, act like a CEO.  Download our Small Business Owner’s Guide to Sales Training here.

Have you ever gone into a closing meeting, a sales presentation, or even a prospecting call with total confidence? That mindset and feeling that everything’s going to go your way, that nothing can go wrong, that you’re absolutely going to win?

I’ve been there. I know you have too. It’s one of the greatest feelings ever.

But let’s juxtapose that against going into a meeting feeling insecure, where your focus is on everything that could go wrong versus everything that could go right. And then, as soon as something does go wrong, everything starts to spiral downward.

There is absolutely nothing that can make or break a deal like confidence.

In this Sales Gravy podcast episode, we’re going to explore exactly where confidence comes from, why it matters so much in sales, and most importantly, what you can do to build the unshakeable confidence that closes deals.

The Insecurity Death Spiral

Recently, I learned a profound lesson about confidence.

I was invited to play golf with a group of businesspeople in Florida. Beautiful day, sunshine, great course. It should have been perfect.

Except I’m not a very good golfer. And these guys? They were good. Really good. The kind of golfers who carry single-digit handicaps and talk about their swing plane like it’s a science project.

So I’m standing on the first tee, watching them stripe their drives straight down the middle, and I can feel it happening. That little voice in my head starts whispering: “You don’t belong here. You’re going to embarrass yourself. Everyone’s going to see how bad you are.”

I started strong enough. Made it through the first couple of holes without humiliating myself. But then I hit a bad shot. Then another. And instead of shaking it off like I normally would, I started fixating on those bad shots.

That’s when the downward spiral began.

Every swing became an exercise in anxiety. I was so focused on not messing up that I couldn’t help but mess up. My mechanics fell apart. My rhythm disappeared.

By the end of the round, I had played one of the worst games of golf in my life. Not because I suddenly forgot how to swing a club, but because I let insecurity take over.

Now, I managed to keep a smile on my face. We were playing golf in the Florida sunshine, after all. But inside, I was frustrated because I knew what had happened. I let my insecurity about being the weakest player in the group sabotage my entire game.

And here’s what hit me on the plane home: That’s exactly what I see happen in sales all the time. One moment of uncertainty, one unexpected challenge, and suddenly, a salesperson who is perfectly capable starts spiraling. Their confidence evaporates. And with it goes their ability to perform.

Why Confidence Matters in Sales

In sales, there is nothing that sells like confidence. Nothing.

Buyers lean into confidence. They’re attracted to it. They trust it. And because of emotional contagion—your ability to transfer your emotions to another person—you basically take your confidence and hand it to the buyer, who then gains more confidence in you.

Think about it. When you walk into a meeting radiating confidence, the buyer thinks, “This person knows what they’re doing. They believe in what they’re selling. I can trust them.”

But when you walk in feeling insecure, the buyer picks up on that too. They start thinking, “Why is this person nervous? What aren’t they telling me? Maybe this isn’t the right solution.”

In sales, because we can’t always control the playing field and because we don’t always feel like we should be where we are—especially when we’re dealing with the C-suite or high-level decision makers, when we’re in super competitive situations, or when we don’t really know what we’re talking about—one thing that goes wrong can create a cascade of other problems, creating a downward insecurity spiral that is real and deadly.

The Ultimate Source of Confidence

So the question is: Where does confidence come from? Where do you get it?

Well, confidence by its very nature comes from the inside. It’s a mindset. It’s something that you believe, just like insecurity is a mindset that comes from the inside.

Confidence is mostly created by certainty.

• When you feel certain that you can control the outcome, you feel more confident.
• When you’re in situations that feel familiar, or you’re talking about a product, your service, or some part of your offering that you totally understand, you feel more confident.
• When you’ve executed the sales process perfectly and built deep relationships with your customers, you feel more confident that they’re going to buy from you.
• When you’ve practiced your presentation multiple times and know it by rote, you feel more confident.

By the way, the same thing works in reverse. Uncertainty begets insecurity.

When you walk into a situation, and you feel uncertain—and this happens to a lot of brand-new salespeople who don’t know what to say or feel like they don’t really understand the product offering, their industry, or their customer’s business—it creates a level of insecurity.

So the answer, if we want to be more confident, is to create more certainty.

Certainty Creates Confidence

Let me give you an example from my horrible, awful, terrible round of golf.

In the middle of that terrible round, I got desperate for anything that would give me confidence. So I started playing entire holes with my 7-iron because that was the one club I felt I was certain I could hit.

Except for putting, I would hit the 7-iron off the tee, on the fairway, and chip with it around the green. 150 yards at a time with my 7-iron, I could make it go straight down the fairway and hit the green.

That certainty in that particular club helped me feel more confident, and my game actually improved when I stuck with what I knew worked.

Now, in sales like golf, there is nothing you can be 100% certain about, simply because there are too many variables. We’re dealing with human beings, nasty competitors, and a shifting landscape. Even in accounts that are in our pipeline, things are always changing.

So for us as sales professionals, there’s no absolute certainty. But there are ways you can boost certainty in order to gain more confidence.

Four Ways to Create Certainty and Boost Confidence 1. Invest in Yourself Through Education

If you get insecure when you’re talking about things in your industry or about your product that you don’t understand, then go educate yourself.

Take the time to learn. Take classes. Go to your LMS and take e-learning. Read everything about your product. Become an expert—not just in your product, but in your industry.

Also, learn about business. The more you can educate yourself about business, the more you gain business acumen, which makes you feel more confident in conversations with executives.

When you know your stuff cold, understand your product inside and out, and can speak intelligently about your industry and your customer’s business challenges, uncertainty evaporates, and with it, goes insecurity.

2. Plan Every Single Call

Winging it is wickedly stupid on sales calls because when you wing it, you create uncertainty.

So sit down and think about every single call.

• What am I going to do?
• What questions am I going to ask?
• What’s my objective for being there?
• What am I going to close for at the end (targeted next step)?

Build a plan, write it down, and review it in advance of your meeting. Planning creates certainty.

3. Murder Board Your Big Meetings

Along with planning comes the concept of murder boarding, red teaming, or scenario playing. Murder boarding creates certainty around handling the unexpected.

Especially in large presentations and closing calls, you need to start pulling the thread on everything that could possibly go wrong. Every objection you could get. Every pushback. Every hard question.

Think about the different stakeholders who are going to be around the table, and the types of questions they’re going to ask, and the potential things they may say. Then find somebody on your team or somebody in your household to role-play all those scenarios with.

I’ve found that nothing gives me more confidence in big sales meetings than murder boarding. Because when I get into those situations—especially with objections or negotiations that can be super intimidating—the more I role-play those things, the better I am at them and the easier they are to deal with. In fact, they’re far less difficult in real life than they were in the role-playing.

4. Keep a Full Pipeline

This is powerful: There’s nothing that makes you more confident than being able to sell like you don’t have to sell.

When you are fanatical about prospecting and build a full pipeline, it gives you lots of options. You know you can walk away from anything. You’re detached from the outcome.

When it doesn’t make a difference if you win or lose, you gain immense confidence, which is why a full pipeline is the ultimate confidence builder.

With Confidence, Mindset Matters

When it comes to confidence, mindset matters. If you are obsessed with how you might fail or what you might do wrong, there’s a tendency to get the thing you’re focused on. It’s called target obsession. Whatever we focus on, we tend to attract and move toward. So be careful what you’re focused on.

One of the things I do—and I know this is kind of weird, but it works—is before I walk into a sales meeting, I look into the mirror and tell myself, “I’m a great salesperson.”

I actually say the words out loud. It’s a little bit cheesy. But by saying those words, changing my body language, pushing my shoulders up, my chin out—the power pose, as some would say—that actually begins to change my mindset and makes me feel more confident.

Add to that eating well, getting plenty of sleep (sleep really does wonders for your confidence), exercising, and making sure, before you go into a big presentation, that you’re not going in on an empty stomach.

How to Overcome Insecurity in the Moment

I sell every single day, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know what it’s like to walk into a meeting with a prospect or customer and feel insecure. It happens to me still. But here’s the thing: I’m very careful not to let people see me sweat because insecurity and sales make a poor mixture.

Because emotions are contagious and people have a tendency to respond in kind, I want to avoid transferring my insecurity to them, causing them to feel uncertain about me. So I’m very careful with my body language, eye contact, voice inflection, and how fast I speak.

One tactic I use when I feel insecure is to slow down, pause, and ask a question. This gives me a moment to regain my composure and manage my body language.

Build Confidence with Knowledge, Planning, Practice, and Pipeline

Confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build through preparation, knowledge, practice, and a full pipeline.

The good news is that all of these things are within your control. You can choose to educate yourself, to plan, practice, and prospect.

Here’s what I want you to do this week:

First, identify your gaps. Where do you feel uncertain in your sales process? Is it product knowledge? Industry knowledge? Objection handling? Closing? Write it down.

Second, create a learning plan. For each gap you identified, create a specific plan to fill it. What books will you read? What training will you take? Who will you shadow or learn from?

Third, plan your next three calls. Don’t wing another call this week. Sit down and plan your next three sales conversations. Write out your objectives, your questions, and your close.

Fourth, murder board your biggest opportunity. If you’ve got a major presentation or closing call coming up, spend an hour this week role-playing every possible scenario with a colleague.

Fifth, evaluate your pipeline. Is it full enough that you can sell without desperation? If not, block time this week for serious prospecting.

This is how you build the kind of unshakeable confidence that buyers respond to, competitors fear, and that feels so good.

And remember, when it’s time to go home and you’re tired and worn out, always stop and make one more call. Because that one more call gives you the confidence that you can walk in any door, anytime, stand toe to toe with any buyer, and have a winning sales conversation.

Over a million sales professionals and sales teams have become more confident prospectors with the Fanatical Prospecting system. Learn more here.

Tyler Goss, from Tampa, has two critical sales questions: 1) How do we achieve those “crazy” prospecting numbers I talk about in my books? 2) When should a lead become a pipeline opportunity?

In this podcast, I break down these answers in plain English.

When to Create a Deal: Finding the Sweet Spot

There’s no shortage of opinions on when to create a deal in your CRM. Some sales leaders will tell you to create a deal before you even make the first call (ridiculous). Others won’t let you create one until the contract is practically signed (equally absurd).

Here’s my take: Both extremes are problematic. You need a pipeline that gives you meaningful data. Here’s how we handle this at Sales Gravy:

For Inbound Leads:

We categorize inbound leads into three distinct groups:

1. List Leads
These are people who sign up for our newsletter or download basic resources where we only ask for a name and email address. They’re joining our community, and while some might become customers down the road, they’re not pipeline opportunities yet.

2. MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads)
These folks have given us more detailed information through webinars or content downloads. They’ve provided their phone number, email address, company, role, etc. There’s an implicit understanding that we might reach out, but they haven’t expressed a direct interest in buying. I don’t want these in my pipeline just yet.

3. Hot Leads
These people come to us with their hands up, saying things like: “We’ve got a team of nine and want to do sales training” or “Our SKO is in February, and we want to hire Jeb. How much does he cost?” These leads have an open buying window and go straight into the pipeline. We’ll close 95% of these because they’ve already self-identified as buyers.

For Outbound Prospecting:

When prospecting outbound we only put opportunities into the pipeline after the prospect has agreed to a first-time appointment (FTA).

Here’s why: First-time appointments are your Money Ball metric—they indicate the health of your prospecting efforts. When an FTA is in your pipeline, you can measure critical data points like:

• Show/no-show rates by rep
• Advancement rates from FTA to next stages
• Conversion rates from FTA to closed business

If I have a rep setting tons of FTAs with only a 10% show rate, I need to diagnose that problem. If another rep is advancing 50% of their FTAs to the next stage, that tells me something completely different.

The qualification point is simple: Both parties have agreed to step into the sales process. That’s when it becomes a pipeline opportunity.

Some organizations resist this approach because they only want “fully qualified“ opportunities in their pipeline. I get it, but you’re missing valuable data if you wait too long.

Consider this example: If you work in an industry where everyone’s under contract, and you know contract expiration dates, you might be tempted to automatically add prospects to your pipeline as their contract end dates approach. I wouldn’t do that. Wait until you’ve had a conversation where they agree to meet with you to discuss options. That agreement to step into the process is your trigger.

If you’re putting everything into your pipeline, you’re diluting your data. If you’re waiting until deals are practically closed, why even have a pipeline? The sweet spot is somewhere in between—and for most B2B sales organizations, it’s at the first-time appointment stage.

Maximizing Prospecting Efficiency: How We Make So Many Calls

Tyler also asked about those “crazy” prospecting numbers I mention in my books. How do my teams make hundreds of calls during designated call blocks? The answer boils down to three key principles:

1. Separate List Building from Prospecting

Research and building lists is NOT prospecting. When we’re prospecting, we’re just chopping wood. We have our lists ready in advance, and when it’s time to prospect, that’s all we do.

Too many salespeople mix research and prospecting, which kills efficiency. They take 12 minutes between calls, check email, watch cat videos, and then wonder why they can’t get anything done.

2. Use High-Intensity Prospecting Sprints

In our Fanatical Prospecting Boot Camps, we run high-intensity prospecting sprints. If I give you 15 minutes to make calls with the goal of setting one appointment, most salespeople will make at least 10 calls.

Run four of these sprints, and you’ve made 40 calls minimum. Do that three times, and you’ve made 120 calls in just three hours.

This isn’t theory. We run these events for clients all over the country. Sales teams are consistently stunned by how many calls they can make when properly focused.

3. Create the Right Conditions

The key is setting the right conditions. Use a simple dialer that lets you click and move to the next call quickly. Have your list ready. Eliminate distractions. Focus solely on making calls during your designated block.

The Hard Truth About Prospecting

Most B2B salespeople don’t need to make hundreds of cold calls daily. With one solid hour of focused prospecting every day, most will set all the meetings they need.

But here’s the kicker—almost no one actually does this. They don’t set the conditions for success. They don’t separate list building from calling. They don’t eliminate distractions. They don’t create a cadence.

Everyone is capable of hitting extraordinary prospecting numbers. They just need to decide to do it. Most people don’t make that decision.

Putting It All Together

So, when should you create a deal? When both you and the prospect agree to step into the sales process, which is typically at the first-time appointment stage.

And how do you hit those crazy prospecting numbers? By separating list building from calling, running high-intensity sprints, and creating the right conditions for success.

The beauty of these approaches is that they’re simple. No fancy technology or complex methodologies required. Just disciplined execution of the fundamentals.

What I’ve learned over decades in sales is that success isn’t about finding the magic bullet—it’s about consistently executing the basics better than everyone else. Whether that’s knowing exactly when to create a deal or understanding how to maximize your prospecting efficiency, the fundamentals will always drive results.

Got a sales question or tough challenge and need answers? Then go to https://salesgravy.com/ask and Ask Jeb!

During a practice round at a major golf tournament recently, one of the players hit an exceptionally beautiful shot. A fan in the gallery exclaimed, “Man, I wish I could hit a shot like that!” The player walked over to the fan and said, tongue-in-cheek, “No, you don’t.”

The fan looked confused. “What do you mean?”

The player replied, “You don’t want to hit a shot like that because that means hitting a thousand balls a day, every day, for the next 20 years. That’s what it takes to hit a shot like that.”

And that’s true for pretty much everything you want to accomplish life—whether it’s playing golf, the piano, selling, investing, or mastering AI. If you want to be elite, you have to do a lot of repetitions of the same thing to reach the top. 

Adopt The Mamba Mentality

You’ve got to practice constantly. And this is what a lot of people miss. See, the truth is you can have anything in life you want—pretty much within reason—as long as you’re willing to do the boring work.

You know what separates Warren Buffett, the greatest investor of our generation, from other investors? He’s read over 100,000 financial statements in his lifetime. Think about that. 100,000 financial statements. That’s not exciting work. That’s not sexy. It is sitting alone, poring over numbers, analyzing balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, day after day, year after year, decade after decade. But that boring work made him one of the richest people on the planet.

Or look at Kobe Bryant. Kobe was famous for his “Mamba Mentality” which meant showing up at 4 AM to practice, hours before his teammates. It meant shooting thousands of the same shots over and over. His trainer once said Kobe would practice one simple move 700-800 times in a single session. Not 10 times, not 50 times. 700-800 times. The same move, over and over and over again. That’s the boring work that made him a legend.

Going out to the driving range and hitting a thousand balls with your seven iron is one of the most boring things you can possibly do. Crap, hitting 50 balls with your seven iron is boring. But that’s what separates the top performers from the low performers—they’re willing to do the boring things.

Top Performers are Always Working at It

In sales, top performers are constantly studying. I meet them all the time. They show up in my seminars, read my books and listen to my podcasts. They’re taking courses on Sales Gravy University. They invest in learning and practicing every single day. 

When we run role plays, they jump right in. They recognize that, yeah, that’s boring work. But you’ve got to do the boring things, the repetitive things, to get what you want. 

Be Careful What You Wish For

So the questions you have to ask yourself when you make that wish for what you want or set a goal is:

• How bad do you want it?
• Are you willing to do the work? 
• Are you willing to make the sacrifice? 
• Are you willing to grind day in and day out? 
• Are you willing to do all of boring reps that nobody ever sees in order to reach the very top? 

Success is Paid for In Advance With Boring Work

You can accomplish anything once you accept that the price for success is paid for in advance. The price of admission to the elite levels of any profession is doing the boring work that most people aren’t willing to do. Let me give you an example from my own life.

Years ago, when I was starting out in my sales career, I made a commitment to make 100 cold calls every single day no matter what. Rain or shine. Good mood or bad mood. Whether I felt like it or not. You know first hand that cold calling is not exciting work. It’s tedious, repetitive, and rejection dense. Honestly, most people—including my boss—thought I was nuts. 

But those 100 calls a day allowed me to out perform and out earn all of my peers. It made me the top sales rep in my fortune 200 company. It bought houses, made me wealthy, and eventually gave me the platform to write books, speak on stages and build Sales Gravy.

The Michelangelo Principle 

I like to think about it as the Michelangelo Principle. You know the story—someone once asked Michelangelo how he created his masterpiece David from a block of marble. And he replied, “I just chipped away everything that didn’t look like David.”

Excellence works the same way. You chip away at your limitations through practice and repetition. Every cold call you make chips away at your fear of rejection. Every role play you participate in chips away at your awkwardness around handling objections. Every book you read chips away at your ignorance about your industry or your craft.

The Invisible Work Nobody Every Sees

It’s not glamorous. Nobody’s going to film you making your hundredth cold call of the week and post it on social media. Nobody’s going to celebrate you for doing pre-call planning on a Sunday evening. You are not going to give you a standing ovation for waking up an hour early to invest in professional development before work.

This is the invisible work that no one ever sees. The small, seemingly insignificant actions, performed consistently over time, yield massive results. This is the Law of Cumulative Impact.

Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals, trained for 5 straight years without missing a single day—even on Christmas, even on his birthdays. His coach said that by training 365 days a year, Phelps gained a 52-day advantage over competitors who took Sundays off. Those single days compounded into the most dominant swimming career in history.

The problem is, most people quit before the compound effect kicks in. They do the boring work for a week, maybe a month, don’t see immediate results, and give up. They never experience the exponential growth that comes from consistent, boring effort applied over years.

Embrace Discomfort

Look at Tom Brady. For 23 seasons, he was typically the first player to arrive at the facility and the last to leave. At 44 years old, he was still doing the same boring drills he did as a rookie. 

His former teammate once said that Brady would spend hours studying game film that most quarterbacks would skip over. While other players were enjoying their off-seasons, Brady was working with his receivers on timing routes. While they were taking vacation, he was perfecting his footwork. That commitment to uncomfortable, boring work is why he has seven Super Bowl rings.

But that discomfort? That’s where growth happens. It’s like working out. If you’ve ever done any serious physical training, you know that muscle growth happens when you push past comfort. When your muscles burn, when you feel like you can’t do one more rep—that’s precisely when you need to do one more.

Sales excellence works the same way. When you’re tired of practicing your pitch, do it five more times. When you’re dreading making another cold call, make ten more. When you think you think you’ve prepared enough, do more.

Get into the habit of Eating the Frog. “Do the thing you least want to do first thing in the morning.” That thing you’re avoiding is exactly what you need to do to move your career and income forward.

Tedious Discipline is Your Competitive Edge

Recently I was working with a sales team.There was this one rep, Mike. He was middle of the pack—not terrible, but not stellar either.

During our training, I emphasized the importance of research and reading to develop industry knowledge. Most of the team nodded along, but Mike took it to heart. He committed to spending 15 minutes each morning specifically to gain a better understanding of his industry and grow his business acumen. 

Six months later, I got an email from Mike’s sales manager. Mike was now the top performer on the team. His close rate had doubled. His average deal size had increased by 40%. All from a simple, boring discipline of spending 15 minutes learning about his industry. .

When I called Mike to congratulate him, he made a confession. He said, “Jeb, to be honest, I hated doing the research at first. It was boring and felt like a waste of time. But after about two months, I started noticing patterns and understanding my customers better. Discovery calls went deeper. I saw opportunities to help them that I would have missed before. My customers gave me a seat at the table because they viewed me as an expert.”

That’s how the boring work transforms. What starts as tedious discipline eventually becomes your competitive edge.

There is No Such Thing as Natural Talent

Before going any further, let’s address the myth of natural talent. I hear it all the time: “Oh, she’s just a natural salesperson.” “He is a born closer.” It’s pure BS. I’ve coached plenty of “naturals” who failed because they relied on charm instead of working to master the craft. 

True sales excellence isn’t about what you were born with—it’s about process and skills. And skills are built through the discipline to do the boring, repetitive work.

Take Jerry Rice, widely considered the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. Was he the most naturally gifted athlete? No. He wasn’t the fastest, strongest or the tallest. But his work ethic was legendary.

His off-season hill training program was so grueling that teammates who tried to join him would literally vomit. He would run the same routes thousands of times until they were perfect. He would catch hundreds of balls after practice when everyone else had gone home.

That’s not natural talent—that’s an unnatural commitment to doing the boring work. The truth is that repetition is the mother of skill. 

Greatness Has a Price

Before the Beatles became famous, they played over 1,200 live shows in Hamburg, Germany. They would play eight hours a night, seven days a week. That’s over 10,000 hours of practice in just a few years. That’s what made them the Beatles—not just natural musical ability, but thousands of hours of repetitive performance when nobody knew who they were.

So here’s the bottom line: Greatness has a price. And that price is paid in advance through boring, repetitive, often uncomfortable work. If you want to be elite—whether in sales, sports, music, leadership, or any other field—you must embrace the boring work. You must fall in love with the process. You must find joy in the small improvements, the tiny victories, the gradual mastery that comes from doing the same things over and over again, but doing them better each time.

There are no shortcuts. There are no hacks. There is only dedicated focus and putting in the work. 

So when it’s the end of the day and everyone else around you is packing up and going home, when that little voice inside your head tells you it’s ok to quit, shake it off and make one more call because that is the price of greatness. 

Learn how to master LinkedIn for prospecting sequences and pipeline building in Jeb’s brand new book: The LinkedIn Edge

Here’s the brutal truth: Self-awareness is the ultimate sales skill.

We obsess over skills like closing techniques, objection handling, and prospecting cadence. But self-awareness is the real make-or-break. Self-awareness is the lever that separates ethical, high-performance sellers from out-of-touch order takers.

If you’re not self-aware, you’re leaving money on the table and damaging trust.

Sales Without Self-Awareness is a Wrecking Ball

Let’s get honest. Lack of self-awareness is a deal-killer. It’s what causes reps to:

• Over-talk and under-listen
• Project their objections onto the buyer
• Miss subtle cues because they’re too focused on a static script
• Push when they should pause

This isn’t just a skill gap—it’s a blind spot. When you don’t know how best to connect with your prospect because you’re not listening—that’s a dangerous place to sell from.

Self-awareness is your internal compass. Without it, you can’t navigate objections, establish trust, or conduct a real discovery conversation. You can’t be Here’s the brutal truth: Self-awareness is the ultimate sales skill.

We obsess over skills like closing techniques, objection handling, and prospecting cadence. But self-awareness is the real make-or-break. Self-awareness is the lever that separates ethical, high-performance sellers from out-of-touch order takers.

If you’re not self-aware, you’re leaving money on the table and damaging trust.

The Ego Trap: Overconfidence Kills Awareness

It might seem counterintuitive, but your biggest blind spot in sales might be your own ego.

Close a few deals, and suddenly you stop prepping, shortcut discovery, and assume you know the buyer. That’s when self-awareness can tank.

Confidence is good until it turns into arrogance. When you stop reflecting, stop asking questions, and stop listening, you lose your edge. Sales is a what ’s-happening-today game. Yesterday’s win doesn’t guarantee today’s deal.

Top sellers stay humble enough to ask:

•  “Did I connect, or just perform?”
•  “Am I guiding, or just trying to sound impressive?”
• “Does my solution fit their problem, or am I just trying to land a quick deal?”

The most crucial part of self-awareness? Checking your mindset—and your overconfidence—before it derails a lucrative deal.

Ego says you’ve got it handled. Self-awareness asks if that’s really true.

Only one of those gets you to President’s Club.

The Two Lanes of Emotionally Intelligent Awareness

Awareness in sales isn’t just about having “emotional intelligence” and keeping arrogance in check. It’s about two critical lanes:

1. Seller Self-Awareness

You must know how your tone, presence, and mindset affect the buyer. That means recognizing when:

• You’re chasing approval instead of guiding decisions
• You’re hesitating out of fear of rejection
• You’re overexplaining because you’re insecure
• You’re emotionally reacting instead of staying neutral

Top sellers audit themselves for these moments constantly. They ask: 

• “Was I too defensive there?”
•  “Did I listen or just wait to talk?” 
• “Am I showing up with certainty or neediness?”

A self-inventory is no picnic. But this self-audit allows the elite to stay composed, curious, and in control—especially when things get tense.

2. Buyer’s State Awareness

A self-aware seller is tuned in. They’re not just listening to what is said, but why it’s being said, and what isn’t being said at all.

Consultative selling is all about sensing, so it’s:

• Knowing when a buyer’s guard is up
• Being alert to when they’re overwhelmed
• Learning when they’re intrigued but afraid to say yes
• Watching the micro-expressions
• Noticing the shift in tone

The best lead by aligning with the buyer’s state. By understanding the buyer’s motivations, emotional triggers, and decision-making pace, self-aware sellers engage in deal-making, not manipulation. 

Self-Awareness Might Be New to You

So there’s no doubt self-awareness nets meetings and closes deals. But here’s the problem: Most sellers have never been coached to insightfully reflect. 

They’re trained on scripts, not self-regulation. They’re told to “just make the calls,” but not how to manage the emotions that come with rejection, hesitation, or being ghosted.

It’s easy to understand the challenges. Not everyone is naturally wired to be self-reflective. Many think confidence means speaking first, talking fast, and sounding “impressive.” But what buyers respond to—what makes real deals happen—is slowing down, paying attention, and showing up with awareness instead of ego.

Want to change? Practice more, seek more feedback, and become coachable. Spend time reflecting on past sales and buyer needs. Most importantly, listen—to buyers, mentors, and yourself.

How to Build Awareness (Because It’s Not Optional Anymore)

If you want to become more self-aware in sales, start with these actionable items:

1. Record Your Calls – Listen back not to critique performance, but to observe how you show up. Were you tense? Rushed? Defensive? Detached?
2. Ask for Feedback Often – From your coach, your peers, even your buyers. How do people feel when they interact with you?
3. Track Emotional Triggers – What rattles you in a sales conversation? Is it a certain objection? A tone of voice? A personality type?
4. Practice Presence – Before each call, take 60 seconds to breathe and ground yourself. Think: Where are my feet? What am I doing right now? How can I be more present for my buyer?

Rainmakers are Masters of Self

The best sellers aren’t just good at tactics. They’re masters of self. They can read the room, check their own ego, and adapt in real time, because they’re paying attention to what actually matters. They’re watching their buyer, keying into clues about their mindset, and putting the prospect’s needs first.

If you want to become a consultative, trusted advisor—and sell with ethics, excellence, and compassion—start by turning inward. That’s where the real work begins.

And the best part? Self-awareness is a skill. That means it’s trainable. It simply demands intention.

So look honestly into the mirror and start turning your self-awareness blind spot into an asset.

Ready to double-down on your self-awareness and set a goal to become a more consultative seller? Download our FREE Sales Gravy Goal Planning Guide here.

If you’re doing any kind of cold calling or prospecting, you’ll eventually hear this objection: “I’m in a meeting right now.” Paul Wise, a heavy cold caller from Normandy, France, targets product managers at software companies and says that nine times out of ten when he gets a decision-maker on the phone, they claim to be “in a meeting.”

Three Ways to Handle the “I’m in a Meeting” Prospecting Objection

As I explained to Paul, how you respond in that moment can make or break your opportunity to move forward.

First, let’s acknowledge something important: If someone is genuinely in the middle of an important meeting, they typically don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. The fact that they picked up your call suggests they might not be as unavailable as they claim.

That said, they might be between meetings, heading into a meeting, or simply using this as a brush-off technique. Regardless of their true situation, you need an objection handling strategy.

Based on my conversation with Paul, here are three effective approaches to handle this common situation:

Approach #1: The Quick Pitch Strategy

This is what Paul has been doing: When he gets someone on the phone who says they’re in a meeting, he delivers his DMX (Decision Maker Express) pitch as quickly as possible, then tries to secure a meeting.

Paul mentioned this sometimes works for him. He gets the meeting scheduled, then works hard to ensure they show up by engaging with them on LinkedIn, sending follow-up emails, and basically “surrounding” them with touch points.

The upside: You’ve got them on the line, so why not take your shot? The downside: Rushing through your pitch can make you sound desperate and reduce your effectiveness.

When to use it: If you have a high-energy personality and can deliver a compelling, concise pitch without sounding rushed, this approach can work. It’s especially effective if you have a solid follow-up strategy to ensure they show up to the meeting.

Approach #2: The Acknowledge and Pivot Strategy

Instead of trying to pitch someone who’s claimed to be busy, simply acknowledge their situation and pivot directly to scheduling:

“I totally expected you to be in a meeting and not able to talk. That’s exactly why I called—to find a time that’s more convenient for you. Why don’t I send you a meeting invite for Thursday at 2:00, and then we can get together when you do have time to talk?”

This approach demonstrates respect for their time while simultaneously accomplishing your objective of setting an appointment.

What happens next reveals a lot:

• If they agree to the meeting, you’ve accomplished your goal without the rushed pitch.
• If they ask, “Who are you again?” they’re actually signaling they have more time than they initially let on.
• If they say they’re not available Thursday, they’re engaging in a scheduling conversation—which means they’re interested enough to find an alternative time.

When to use it: This works particularly well when you sense the prospect is genuinely busy, but they might be interested with the right approach. It’s respectful, professional, and surprisingly effective.

Approach #3: The Non-Complementary Behavior Strategy

This is my personal favorite because it uses psychology to your advantage.

When the prospect answers with high energy, saying they’re busy or in a meeting, don’t match their energy. Instead, deliberately slow down and use a calm, relaxed tone:

“Totally get that. I figured you would be busy. Look, I only have two questions.”

Then—and this is critical—be quiet. Let the silence do the work.

If they truly have no time, they’ll hang up. But most won’t. Instead, they’ll likely say something like, “Okay, but go fast.”

Now you need to ask a question that gets them engaged—something they can easily answer that reveals qualification information:

“How many data points are you connected to in your current configuration?”

The magic happens in what follows:

• If they answer quickly and try to end the call, say: “That’s exactly why we need to get together. Let me send you a meeting invite for Thursday at 2:00.”
• If they slow down and give you detailed information, you’ve got them talking. Ask another question and build momentum.

The key to this approach is using non-complementary behavior—when they speed up, you slow down. This pattern interrupt makes you stand out from every other salesperson they’ve encountered.

When to use it: This approach works best when you sense the prospect isn’t actually as busy as they claim, but is using “I’m in a meeting” as a reflexive defense mechanism.

Reading the Situation Matters

Regardless of which approach you choose, pay close attention to how they respond to your first question:

• If they answer slowly and thoughtfully, they likely have more time than they initially claimed
• If they’re genuinely rushing, respect that and pivot to scheduling
• If they hang up immediately, you’ve lost nothing—they weren’t going to talk anyway

The best strategy depends on several factors:

1. Your personal style: Paul has a high-energy, engaging personality that makes the quick pitch approach viable for him. Know your strengths.
2. Your results: As I told Paul, if what you’re doing is working, keep doing it. If your show rate for meetings is poor, try a different approach.
3. The prospect’s tone: Listen carefully to how they say “I’m in a meeting.” Sometimes their tone will tell you which approach is most likely to succeed.
4. Test and measure: Try all three approaches with different prospects and track your results. The data will tell you which method works best for your specific situation.

How you handle this moment separates average salespeople from top performers. The best reps have multiple strategies ready and know when to deploy each one.

Remember, in sales, objections aren’t roadblocks—they’re detours that lead to the same destination. Master these three approaches to the “I’m in a meeting” objection, and you’ll turn what most salespeople see as a dead end into a pathway to more meetings and more deals.

Want more sales tips and strategies for overcoming prospecting objections? Download Jeb Blount’s FREE Objections Book Club Guide

Self-talk, what you say to yourself internally, manifests itself in your outward attitude and actions. As any elite athlete will tell you, the mental games you play with yourself between your ears will make or break you. When all things are equal, mindset is one thing that separates winners and losers.

This is one of the reasons that I love golf so much. Once you understand the basic mechanics of the golf swing the only thing that really matters is mindset. On every shot your ability to focus, calm your mind, and remain mentally disciplined is the thin line between brilliance and disaster. Allow the wrong thoughts to creep in and before you know it you’ve shanked your shot into a water hazard. 

You Become What You Think

In golf and in sales, you cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought. 

Self-talk is crazy powerful. You become what you think. When you expect to win, you’ll win far more often than the person who believes they are going to lose. When you learn how to block out negative thoughts and inputs and remain focused on your process you’ll consistently out perform those who don’t. 

Understanding this is crucial in these crazy times full of volatility, uncertainty, negativity and divisiveness. In this environment where everything can hit the fan in an instant on any given day, it is super easy to become mired in stinking thinking. 

Beware of Stinking Thinking

Stinking thinking is the toxic inner soundtrack that loops in your head after a bad conversation with your boss, seeing a negative story on the news or social media, a lost deal, a bad quarter, or hitting five straight voicemails on cold calls. It’s every “Nobody answers the phone anymore,” “No one’s buying in this economy,” or “I’m just not cut out for sales.”line you feed yourself. It’s catastrophizing. It’s victim-talk.

Imagine the impact on your mindset when your internal conversation is constantly filled with negativity. It’s the mental equivalent of leaving a half-eaten tuna sandwich in your backpack for a week—eventually the smell becomes unbearable.

Mindset drives attitude, attitude drives behavior, and behavior drives outcomes. When stinking thinking settles in:

• Your Reticular Activating System—the brain’s spam filter—starts looking for evidence you’re doomed, and sure enough, you find it.
• Call reluctance skyrockets. You protect your fragile ego instead of filling the pipe and asking confidently for the sale.
• Every “maybe” sounds like a “no,” every objection feels personal, and every tiny setback reinforces the lie that you’re stuck.

Left unchecked, that negative monologue becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your pipeline shrinks, numbers dip, confidence tanks, and pretty soon you’re blaming the market instead of owning the mirror.

Thoughts are Just Choices

The good news is that thoughts are just choices. You control your mindset. You have the ability to flip the switch from victim to driver. From rain barrel to rainmaker. 

What you must never forget is that momentum follows mindset, not the other way around. Manage your self-talk and the results follow suit. 

When your self-talk turns negative, take control and change it. Learn to replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations and statements. Get in the habit of looking in the mirror and answering the question: “What can I control right now?” Focus on that. 

Knowing vs Doing

Now, here’s the rub, everybody knows self-talk matters. Socrates hammered on it. Marcus Aurelius journaled about it. Your grandmother probably told you to “stop being so negative.” The concept of mental discipline isn’t new, it’s universal.

But intellectual agreement and day-to-day execution are two very different zip codes. You can post quotes from every Stoic on LinkedIn and still spend the morning telling yourself, “I’ll never hit quota in this economy.” Knowledge without application is just trivia.

So flip the switch from knowing to doing. The instant a negative phrase spins in your head—“This deal is DOA,” “The client hates our price,” “I’m terrible at cold calls”—pause and label it: stinking thinking. Then replace that rotten thinking with a power statement tied to action. “I’m terrible with cold calls.” becomes “Each dial sharpens my skills and makes me stronger.”

Be ruthless about this exercise. Set an hourly chime on your phone if you have to. Negative thoughts are squatters; the longer they occupy space, the harder they are to evict. Kick them out in real time and your attitude will gain altitude.

The Trouble With Doom Scrolling 

One of the challenges you face in today’s environment is that you’re under a constant barrage of negativity from external forces on social media, in your news feed, on coming through the speakers of your car. When you are reading, watching, listening to, and scrolling through negativity it will shape your mindset and self-talk

Attention is currency. News organizations and social media platforms make money by selling your attention to advertisers. They know that the easiest way to grab your attention is with bad news. Their entire apparatus is set up to take advantage of the way your brain works. 

In the mornings you wake up and, like a moth to a flame, you are drawn to your phone. You roll over and open your news app or social media app. Instantly you are immersed in negativity. As you watch news, scroll through your news apps, and follow the chatter on social media you feel panic and fear. Your mind turns to the worst-case scenarios. Rather than focusing on what you can control, you dwell on doom and gloom.  

Perhaps the most depressing aspect of modern society is the news. Disaster is always the story of the day. As they say: “If it bleeds it leads.” Spending an hour watching a cable news channel or scrolling through a social media feed will leave you in need of an antidepressant and a therapist. And the more you watch, the more addictive it becomes. 

So stop. Turn it off. Put your phone down. Right now. Putting an end to this destructive and negative input will have an immediate, positive impact on your attitude. You will feel better and your belief system will strengthen.

8 Ways to Improve Your Mindset Right Now

Focus on what you can control. Here are eight things you can do right now to mind your mindset. 

1. Block at least 15 minutes on your calendar every day for professional reading.
2. Listen to an audiobook while you take a walk or exercise. 
3. Take an online course on Sales Gravy University.
4. Listen to motivational and professional podcasts. Podcasts are free and the content is amazing. 
5. Spend 10 minutes each day in silence for spiritual contemplation or prayer. Get focused and anchor your mindset.
6. Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes every day. It doesn’t matter what you do. Just get up, get moving, and break a sweat.
7. Eat a well-balanced diet and never skip breakfast.
8. Go to bed early and get enough sleep.

Posture is a Shortcut to Mindset

One of the fastest attitude-adjustment hacks on the planet sits right on top of your spine. Stand up and roll those shoulders back. Plant your feet like you own the ground beneath them. Lift your chin so your eyes are on the horizon, not the floor. 

Do that and—bang—your biochemistry follows orders. Cortisol (the stress hormone) drops, testosterone edges up, and your brain gets a fresh hit of confidence. Harvard research calls it “power posing.” I call it common sense. You can’t slouch like a question mark and expect to sell like an exclamation point.

The next time you’re about to dial a prospect, step out from behind the desk, stand tall, and smile so wide you can feel it in your ears. Your voice will warm up, your pace will steady, and the person on the other end will hear a pro who believes in their own value. Same thing before a big presentation or a tough negotiation—straighten up, breathe from the diaphragm, and let your body tell your mind, “We’ve got this.” Your prospects will feel the difference, and so will you.

Misery Wants You to Join the Team

It’s also crucial that you understand that misery loves company, and it desperately wants you to join the team.

Picture a lone crabber easing across the bay at dawn. He hauls up a wire trap, shakes the catch into a five-gallon bucket, and keeps working his line.

Before long, one ambitious crustacean decides he’s not sticking around for the boiling pot. Claw over claw, he inches up the plastic wall—almost free. But every time he reaches the rim, the other crabs latch on and drag him back to the bottom. No escape. No hope. Everyone loses.

These days there is plenty of misery to go around. Miserable people whine about the economy, inflation, prospects, customers, too-few leads, and that no one is buying. They complain about the company, the commission plan, and the boss. 

Negative, miserable people grab you with their claws and pull you down into the bucket with them. Pretty soon the words coming out of your mouth are negative too. You’ll start to believe that you are stuck in that bucket and there is no way out. You’ll begin to feel contempt for your company, customers, and boss. 

Proximity is Power

You and your mindset are a composite of the people you spend the most time with. Hang out with people who have a negative mindset, and they’ll destroy yours. 

Start by excusing yourself from negative conversations. Just walk away. Seek out people who build you up rather than tear you down. Connect with people who see opportunity in adversity. 

Stick close to peers who bang out their call blocks every morning, the ones that consistently hit their number, the rainmakers who accept no excuses and believe that they alone control their destiny. Their pace becomes your pace. Their standards become your standards. Your mindset will quickly shift from impossible to possible. 

Mindset and momentum have a tendency to rub off. Remember, you don’t rise to the level of your aspirations, you fall to the level of the company you keep. Proximity is power.

Stop Looking for the Easy Way

Selling during the economic uncertainty we are facing at this moment is brutal. You are going to face setbacks, frustration, failure, unending rejection, panicked customers, unscrupulous competitors, unrelenting pressure to perform, along with the massive stress that comes from worrying about your family and finances. 

It is critical that you awaken from the delusion that somehow you are going to find a way to make this easy. You are not. 

These days, nothing is easy. You’ve got to get your ass up and go out there and make it rain yourself. Don’t count on easy leads, any help or for anyone to pick up your slack. There are no days off. No lunch breaks. It’s just damn hard work. The highest earning sales professionals are skipping meals and doing deals. Which is why they win in any environment. 

So focus relentlessly on the only three things you can control. Your actions, reactions, and mindset. 

And remember, when you’ve spent your entire day grinding and your mind is telling you to pack up and go home, always make one more call because this is your way to telling the world, I am here, I am resilient, and no matter what you throw at me, I will always find a way to win!

In volatile times, it is hard to sell. Yet, you are still under the same pressure to make your sales number. In my FREE Selling in a Crisis Workbook, you’ll gain the confidence and tactics you need to win when everyone else is losing. Download Here.

Let’s kill the myth: sales coaching isn’t just for newbies or underperformers. 

It’s for closers, leaders, and the ones who want more—more pipeline, more wins, more control over their career. If you’re in sales, you need coaching. Period.

This isn’t feel-good fluff. Sales is a performance sport. Every high-performance athlete has a coach, and every inspiring performer has a mentor for a reason.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs a coach. From the elite to the desperate, everyone can benefit from guidance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCOY793fA5E 1. The Desperate: The Bottom 20%

You know who you are. You’re missing quota—again. Every call feels heavier, your confidence is tanking, and you’re out of answers.

Here’s the truth: you don’t need more time—you need better habits, tighter processes, and someone to call out your excuses. You need guidance.

Sales coaching forces you to stop guessing and start fixing. A good coach will rip the blinders off: Are you dodging the phones? Are you hesitating at the close? Are you talking too much and listening too little?

You’re not going to claw your way out of the bottom 20% by working harder. You get out by working smarter, with someone who’s done it before and won’t let you off the hook.

Find yourself a coach—do it now—before the hole you’ve dug gets any deeper.

2. The Mediocre Middle

You’re not bottom of the pack, but you’re not standing out either. You’re just … fine. Quietly average. Here you are, coasting on a couple of decent months, dodging attention, not making waves, paying your bills but treading water accomplishment-wise.

And that should scare you. This is not where you want to be.

This is where most reps stay stuck—not because they don’t care, but because they don’t change. Coaching breaks the cycle of complacency. It’s the flashlight in the dark that shows you exactly what’s holding you back. Weak discovery? Inconsistent follow-ups? Soft closes?

You don’t need a miracle. You need fresh eyes and someone who pushes you past the edge of “fine.”

Seek out a coach who’s been there and knows how to break through the ceiling you’re trapped under.

3. The Ultra High Performer

You’re already top tier. You’ve pushed your way into the 5%. President’s Club. You’ve got the trophies, the income, and the T-shirt to prove it.

So why do you need coaching?

Because the best never stop training. They don’t rest on wins—they refine, seek out marginal gains, and build muscle when others relax. Coaching helps you identify the 2mm adjustments that turn a winner into a legend.

The ultra-high performers I’ve seen who get coaching consistently shorten deal cycles, multiply referrals, and close with precision. The ego stays in check, the mindset stays sharp, and the momentum stays up. They’re breaking into enterprise-level sales on the regular.

The moment you stop chasing growth is the moment someone else starts catching up.

Your ideal coach has climbed to the top of the mountain themselves and is willing to help you scale it, too.

4. The Solopreneur

You’re running a business, selling the service, delivering the product, and following up with the clients. You’re building the plane mid-air.

But let’s be real—most solopreneurs need some help to truly master sales. With your passion, you’re the best sales rep for your product you’ll ever have—but right now, you’re winging it.

“Coaching helps you build a real sales process—consistent outreach, confident pricing, and predictable revenue. 

You can’t afford wasted time or wasted energy. A coach helps you cut distractions, stop chasing bad-fit leads, and finally build the kind of pipeline that scales with you.

If you want to play a bigger game, you’ve got to start selling like a pro—not an amateur.

Go land a coach who’s as committed to making you a top-tier sales rep as you are to your business.

5. The Sales Leader

You coach your team, run the numbers, and lead the meetings. You’re trying to hit your own number while calling all the plays. So who’s coaching you?

Sales leaders need a different kind of pressure. A coach helps you rise above the daily chaos and lead with vision. They help you recognize your blind spots, develop your people faster, and build a culture where coaching is the norm, not a rescue mission.

If you’re not growing, your team won’t grow. If you’re not learning, they’re not learning. You can’t preach growth if you’re not showing it—and that includes being coachable.

You want your reps to invest in themselves? Start by investing in yourself first.

Sales Coaching is Absolutely Necessary

If you’re in sales and you’re not getting coached, you’re leaving deals, dollars, and development on the table. Coaching is the edge that keeps you ahead—not the crutch you reach for when you’re behind.

It builds skill, confidence, and the consistency that separates the average from the elite.

If you’re still thinking, “Do I really need coaching?”—you’re already answering your own question.

You don’t need to wait until you’re struggling. You need to decide you’re worth it—because staying the same is the most expensive decision you can make.

Ready to stop winging it and start winning it? Get a coach. Get serious. Download our FREE How to Find the Right Coach guide.

Kyle, a field sales rep from British Columbia, is struggling with a common prospecting challenge: how to consistently prospect when you’re constantly on the move.

Kyle’s situation likely resonates with many of you in outside sales. He described his typical day—starting at job sites at 7:30 AM, running between appointments, sending proposals from his truck, and working from Starbucks in between meetings. Sound familiar?

He had read my book, Fanatical Prospecting, where I advocate for dedicated time blocks for prospecting. But Kyle’s reality made traditional time blocking nearly impossible. So what’s a field rep to do?

What follows is the advice I gave Kyle, cleaned up and expanded so every field seller, territory manager, and outside sales road warrior can put it to work—right now.

Focus on Activity Count, Not Time Blocks

If you’re in Kyle’s shoes (or truck), here’s my advice: Stop obsessing over time and start focusing on activity counts.

Instead of trying to carve out a rigid one- or two-hour block, set a daily activity goal. For someone in Kyle’s position, committing to 30 quality outbound touches per day is likely sufficient. In my early days, I personally made 100 dials daily, no matter what—but you need to find your number.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in small pockets of time. Got 10 minutes between appointments? You can make 10 dials. These micro-prospecting sessions add up throughout your day.

Instead of asking, “How do I find two uninterrupted hours?” ask, “How many outbound touches do I need to hit my pipeline goal?”

• Reverse-engineer your math. If 30 dials typically create two meetings—and two meetings a day keep your funnel fat—commit to 30 dials, period.
• Activity over chronology. Whether you burn those calls in one block or in six five-minute bursts between site visits doesn’t matter. Hitting the activity target does.

Prospecting is like push-ups: the muscle only cares that you completed the reps, not whether you did them all at once.

Practical Fanatical Prospecting Implementation for Field Reps

Here’s how to make this work in the field:

1. Set up your list the night before: Don’t waste precious morning energy building your call list. Have everything ready to go when you start your day. A pre-built list eliminates the mental drag of figuring out who to call while you’re juggling mud, invoices, and traffic.
2. Use the gaps: Those small windows between appointments are prospecting gold. Five minutes here, ten minutes there—use them.
3. Capture information efficiently: Most calls will go to voicemail. For the ones who answer, quickly note any important information to input into your CRM later. Don’t try to update your CRM in real-time between every call.
4. Be safe: Obviously, don’t text and drive. Pull over if you need to take notes or send follow-up messages.

What Kyle is experiencing is common for outside sales professionals. You can’t prospect the same way as an inside sales rep with a dedicated desk and phone. Your office is your vehicle. Your desk is wherever you can find a flat surface. Your schedule is dictated by customers and job sites.

Create a Mobile Prospecting Kit

Salesforce is great—when you have stable Wi-Fi and two hands on a keyboard. Field reps need something that works when the LTE bars dip to one.

1. Print or export your list with phone numbers and a skinny note column.
2. Hyperlink mobile numbers in a notes app so a single tap dials the next contact—no scrolling, no fumbling.
3. Use a hands-free auto-dial app (tons exist) if local regulations allow. Safety first; quotas second.
4. Capture notes on paper or dictate voice memos. At day’s end, batch-enter critical intel into your CRM. Perfect data hygiene is optional; capturing deal-moving facts is mandatory.

Rule of thumb: Log information, not activity. Managers love call-count metrics, but conversations and follow-up triggers win deals.

Prospect in the Micro-Moments

I built my career on a simple principle: five dials fit in five minutes.

• Waiting for the site supervisor? Dial.
• Stuck at a railroad crossing? Dial.
• Early for lunch with a GC? Dial.

If you rinse and repeat ten times a day, that’s 50 dials—without ever blocking a formal hour. Your smartphone is a Swiss Army knife; flip out the prospecting blade at every lull.

Respect the Platinum Hours—But Redefine Them

Kyle also asked about “platinum hours” for prospecting in the construction world. This is where understanding your market’s rhythm becomes crucial.

Kyle noted that contractors and builders are easier to reach in the morning, while homeowners are more accessible in the afternoon. This creates a “sandwich” with potentially lighter activity in the middle of the day.

This midday lull is your opportunity. Use this time to build lists, handle admin work, and prepare proposals. Unlike the evening when you’re exhausted from a full day in the field, these midday hours could be your most productive for planning and organizing your prospecting efforts.

Another strategy: dedicate time on Sunday evenings to build your entire week’s prospecting list. Create a master list of 100 names and work through it all week, making adjustments as needed when new leads come in.

Creating a Predictable Pipeline

Consistent prospecting—even in small chunks—creates a predictable pipeline. For field reps, this approach is actually more sustainable than trying to force traditional time blocks into an already chaotic schedule.

When you hit your daily outbound touch goal consistently, you create a steady stream of new opportunities flowing into your pipeline. This prevents the feast-or-famine cycle that plagues so many field sales professionals.

Remember, it’s not about how much time you spend prospecting—it’s about how many quality touches you make each day. Set your number, stick to it religiously, and watch your pipeline grow.

Prospect the Way Your Territory Demands

Kyle’s biggest burden wasn’t time—it was guilt. He felt like a prospecting slacker because he wasn’t doing textbook blocks. Let me settle it:

• If your role is to be on-site talking to buyers, that is high-value selling time.
• The goal of prospecting is pipeline, not calendar purity.
• Flexible, numbers-driven activity beats rigid, time-driven blocks every day of the week.

Give yourself permission to sell the way your territory demands. Outside sales is messy, chaotic, and wildly fun. You’ll spill coffee on contracts, burn through playlists, and hunt for cell service in cornfields—but none of that excuses an empty pipeline.

If you’re like Kyle—constantly on the move but committed to growth—focus on activity goals rather than time blocks. Your truck becomes your prospecting command center, and those small gaps in your day become opportunities to move your business forward.

Keep hustling. Keep prospecting. And at the end of the day, when it is time to go home, always make one more call.

Want to set more appointments from the road? Download our FREE guide 25 Ways to Ask For the Appointment on a Cold Call

On this Money Monday, we’re going back to Augusta where Rory McIlroy finally won The Masters and in doing so gave us 5 lessons for chasing and achieving dreams. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean. It was gritty, emotional, and one of the most unforgettable moments in sports history. 

Rory stepped onto the first tee looking calm, focused. Like a man who’d been here before, and this time, was ready to finish it. He was 12-under. Two shots clear. It was his tournament to lose.

Then it unraveled almost immediately. A loose drive. Bad bounce. Scrambled recovery. Double bogey. That kind of start can break a player, especially at Augusta National, especially when the stakes are this high. But this year would be different.

Here are five lessons we can learn from Rory Mcllroy’s journey to immortality at the Masters:

Lesson #1: Pressure Doesn’t Break You—It Reveals You

That double bogey on the first hole could’ve crushed him. It has crushed players before. It’s crushed him before. But this time, Rory leaned into the moment.

In sales, the pressure hits you just as fast. A lost deal, a missed number, or an impossible quarter. You don’t get to run from it. You fail to the level of your habits, your mindset, and your preparation. What shows up when you’re squeezed is your true game.

Lesson #2: Respect the Long Game

Rory didn’t panic; he recalibrated. He birdied 3, then 4. No showboating. No hero shots. Just control. He played tight through the front 9. His game wasn’t flashy—just steady. He didn’t chase. He didn’t press. Rory played smart. He trusted the process and took what the course gave him. He didn’t win with a miracle chip. He won with patience. Tempo. Smart decisions. He trusted the process.

That’s how deals close. That’s how pipeline builds. You qualify. You follow up. You show up again. And you earn the right to close when the buyer’s ready—not when you’re desperate to sell. Trust the process, be consistent, and believe in your system.

Lesson #3: How You Lose Matters More Than How You Win

But the Augusta National did what the Augusta National always does—it tightened its grip.

The 11th is long, brutal, and unforgiving. His approach caught the small bumpy hills that line the green side fairway and scuttled left. The ball screamed toward the left pond and stopped just short. Rory was able to make the save for bogey.

“Amen Corner,” he must have whispered to himself, exasperated. Rae’s Creek was, again, waiting on 13—and it got him. His 89-yard chip landed short and skipped into the water. Another bogey.

He was slipping. You could see it in his face. The sweat. The searching for focus. The doubt that has haunted his Masters’ history creeping in around the edges. The crowd got quiet. Could it be another collapse.

On the 15th, after his tee shot put him left of the fairway blocked by three Georgia Pines, Rory stood at the top of the hill—one of the last true scoring chances on the course.

He pulled a 7-iron for 220 yards. A high, arching draw that tracked perfectly, landing soft on the right side of the green and rolling to within five feet of the pin. Rory bounced down the fairway to the green, walking on clouds. The crowd enveloped him in a unified chant.

Then he landed another birdie on 17. Suddenly, he was back to 11-under—tied with Justin Rose, who was charging from behind with a 66 and had the crowd buzzing.

18 was Rory’s chance to seal it. But his second shot found the bunker. The blast out was clean, but the putt too strong. He missed. The gallery groaned. Another Masters heartbreak? Was this all too much to fight in one day? Did he have one more, two more, three more holes? 

But Rory didn’t show frustration or melt down. He reset and walked back to the tee box for the playoff with Rose. For years, Rory has taken losses on the chin. No excuses. No drama. Just class.

Grace matters. Your mindset matters. Clients see that in sales. They notice how you act when the deal doesn’t go your way. They remember how you lose. That memory could be the reason they give you another shot later.

Lesson #4: The Loudest Cheers Come From the Longest Roads

Playoff. 18, Holly. One more time. Rose struck first—a solid approach to 10 feet. Then Rory stepped up—and he flushed it. The ball hit the backstop behind the pin, checked, and rolled to four feet.

And then he made the putt! Years of pressure came off his shoulders. Sure he had won, but in that second, it felt like we all had won.

After fifteen tries, finally, Rory McIlroy was wearing the Green Jacket. Not gifted—earned. The patrons at the Augusta National erupted.

They weren’t just cheering a shot. They were releasing years of tension, releasing heartbreak, waiting and what-ifs. They’d been on this ride with him.

If you want that kind of response in sales—loyalty, referrals, reputation—you have to let people see your journey. Let them see the hard stuff: the missed quotas, the tough quarters, the grind, and they way you pick yourself up and dust yourself off when you lose. Then, when you finally win, they’ll cheer.

Lesson #5: Legacy is Earned Over Time

Rory didn’t become great on Sunday. He became great over years of showing up—through doubt, defeat, and disappointment. Sunday was just the moment that made it official.

In sales, legacy isn’t built on one quarter. It’s built on how you carry yourself through a hundred difficult conversations. It’s built on follow-ups, follow-through, late nights, and early mornings. Lean into grind and do the work. And when your moment comes it won’t feel like luck. It’ll feel like validation.

Final Thoughts

I saw Rory win The Masters. But what I really saw was what greatness looks like when it refuses to quit. You just have to keep showing up.

Now go take your swing. And remember, when you’ve been taking punches all day. When you’re tired, worn out and ready to pack it in. Pick yourself up and will yourself to make one more call, because that’s how champions win.

Every dream needs a plan. Get yours started on the right path with our FREE Goal Planning Guide.

You crushed your quota. Commission check hits the account. 

Your first instinct? Celebrate! You earned it, right?

Not quite. You’ve earned a reward, sure. But if every check disappears faster than a cold call prospect can hang up the phone, then you’re just renting a lifestyle.

Here’s the truth: Top sales pros don’t just sell like professionals—they manage their money like professionals. They know the high of a commission check can’t replace long-term financial freedom.

I’ve got the financial low-down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Da7U2PviPI 1. Don’t Spend It All in One Place—Or All at Once

When a big check hits, it’s tempting to splurge. New watch. Fancy dinner. Extra drinks on you.

But here’s the catch: commission highs come and go. Quarters fluctuate. Markets shift. Now more than ever, you can’t treat every paycheck like a lottery win.

Try this instead:

• Split your check. A solid money rule: 50% to lifestyle, 30% to savings/investments, 20% to debt.
• Set auto-transfers. Remove temptation. Have a percentage automatically move to savings or investments the minute you get paid.

Living below your means is how you avoid feeling broke—even during dry spells.

2. Build the “Oh Crap” Fund

Sales is high-risk, high-reward. One quarter, you’re crushing it, the next you’re staring down a dry pipeline and a mortgage payment.

Enter your emergency fund.

This isn’t optional—it’s survival. Ideally, you want 3–6 months of living expenses saved in a separate account, untouched unless it’s a true money emergency.

Having this cushion keeps you from making desperate decisions when things get tight—and keeps your mind clear to prospect fanatically.

3. Debt Doesn’t Care About Your Commission

Credit cards. Car payments. Student loans.

Debt is a silent killer of long-term wealth. And the more you make, the more it sneaks in. Why? Because it’s easy to think, “I’ll just pay it off with my next check.”

Then the check comes. And goes.

Start taking control:

• List your debts. Highest interest first.
• Choose a strategy. Snowball (smallest balance first) or Avalanche (highest interest first). Stick to it.
• Automate payments. No missed due dates. No excuses.
• Pay with cash. And stick to it. If you can’t afford to pay for it all now. You can’t afford it, period.

Freedom means having money that belongs to you—not a credit card company.

4. Your Future Self is Counting on You

It’s easy to feel invincible when you’re 25, 30, 35—closing deals, stacking checks.

But time moves fast. And if you don’t start investing for the long haul, future-you will be making cold calls at 70.

Start with your 401(k) if your company offers one—especially if there’s a match (that’s free money). If not, look into IRAs or Roth IRAs. Even small monthly contributions grow massively over time thanks to compounding interest.

The earlier you start, the easier it is. The later you start, the harder it gets.

5. Plan, Don’t Wing It

You wouldn’t wing a sales call with a high-value prospect, right? The same goes for your finances.

You need a plan.

• Set financial goals. Pay off $10K in debt. Save $20K this year. Max out your Roth IRA.
• Track your spending. Use an app or spreadsheet. Know where every dollar goes.
• Meet with a financial advisor. Let a pro help map the path.

Sales success without financial structure is just noise. You work too hard to have nothing to show for it in the end.

6. Discipline is Freedom

This isn’t about deprivation. It’s about choice.

When your money’s right, you can:

• Stop chasing bad deals.
• Invest in coaching, property, or your own business.
• Sleep well, knowing you’re not one missed quota away from panic.

The people who look rich often aren’t. The people who stay rich? They play the long game.

Protect the Bank Account

You already know how to grind. You already know how to win.

Now it’s time to build a life where that effort creates lasting freedom—not just fleeting dopamine hits. Take control of your finances like you take control of your pipeline.

Don’t just close deals—build wealth.

Make your financial goals part of your sales goals. If you don’t know where to start, download our FREE Goal Planning Guide!

Ross from Houston faces a common challenge in channel sales: how do you create brand preference for your product when you’re selling through distributors who carry multiple competing lines and competitors who undercut your price?

His company builds industrial dust-collection equipment and ducting, but they don’t sell direct—meaning they rely heavily on distributors, contractors, and engineers to choose their brand over cheaper alternatives.

Below, you’ll find key insights on how to drive more “pull-through” sales to your channel partners and convince every stakeholder—from designers to installers—to pick your product.

Why Pull-Through in Channel Sales Matters

When you sell through distribution, you lose a lot of direct control. Your product is on the shelf (literally or figuratively) alongside competitors, and the distributor or contractor can often steer buyers toward any brand they choose. Pull-through happens when the end user, contractor, or engineer specifically requests your brand—making your distributor the middleman who fulfills the preference you created.

Educate & Collaborate With Specifiers

Ross’ sales team already does lunch-and-learn sessions with engineering firms. Those engineers create the specs that contractors must follow, so if your product is “baked in” early, that’s a massive advantage later when the contractor goes shopping. But the real test comes when the contractor or installer sees a cheaper alternative on the distributor’s line card.

Key Steps:

• Educate engineers on the deeper value and functionality of your product, so they’ll insist on it in their specs.
• Collaborate with contractors. Even if they’re not the final decision-maker, they can heavily influence whether your premium line or a cheaper knockoff is chosen.

Brand Preference vs. Price Objections

The toughest hurdle for a premium brand is the classic price objection. If the competitor’s line undercuts you, how do you prove your extra value?

• Unearth the Real Cost of Going Cheap. Show specifiers and end users the Total Cost of Ownership—that cheaper or less-robust solutions can lead to higher maintenance, safety issues, or inefficiencies down the line.
• Highlight Success Stories. Gather testimonials or case studies from buyers who saved time, boosted reliability, or lowered total cost of ownership by choosing your brand.
• Create Tools and Guides. Develop clear documentation or ROI calculators that help buyers see beyond sticker price—especially useful if the distributor’s rep isn’t fully equipped to present your value.

Dealing with the Distributor as a Gatekeeper

You can do all the contractor or engineer training you want, but if the distributor’s inside salesperson steers a buyer to a cheaper product, you still lose. That’s why building the distributor relationship is non-negotiable.

Action Items:

• Train the Distributor’s Sales Reps. Show them exactly how to pitch your brand’s advantages, from installation ease to long-term reliability.
• Reward Them for Advocacy. If possible, offer spiffs or incentives when they successfully sell your line. In some cases, highlight how your product can reduce their support headaches and returns, making their life easier.
• Co-Sell on Big Deals. Bring major opportunities to the distributor, or volunteer to go on key calls together. When you help them close deals, they become more loyal to you.

Get Proactive and Strategic

One pitfall in channel sales is that your rep can become just a “help desk” for the distributor—always fixing problems instead of actively driving new deals. But a proactive approach can turn that support into a competitive edge:

• Offer On-Site or Virtual Coaching. Whenever the distributor or contractor hits a snag, your rep steps in, demonstrating expertise. This builds trust and brand loyalty.
• Balance Support with Hunting. While your reps should help, they also need time to create demand among engineers, contractors, and end users. If their entire day is spent resolving small issues, they’ll miss bigger opportunities.

Combine Marketing and Sales Efforts

To truly differentiate your product, marketing must work hand-in-hand with sales. You need targeted content—white papers, case studies, videos, ROI calculators—that highlight your product’s unique benefits. Ensure your sellers share these assets during lunch-and-learns, in prospecting emails, or at trade shows.

Possible Tactics:

•  Webinars. Showcase how your product solves real problems more effectively than DIY or cheaper alternatives.
• Distributor Portal. Provide easily accessible resources (FAQ sheets, training modules) that help the distributor’s reps pitch your product with confidence.
• Customer Spotlight Videos. Interview customers who switched from cheaper knockoffs to your premium brand—and never looked back.

Putting It All Together

Ultimately, it’s about controlling the narrative and making sure every stakeholder sees the bigger picture. You’ve got to hammer home: “Sure, there’s a cheaper widget over there. But ours wins on performance and total cost of ownership.” If you can get that message across in channel sales early—before anyone starts price shopping—then you’ll have a far easier time at the final point of sale.

Building pull-through demand in a channel sales environment requires a multi-pronged approach. You must:

• Educate so your product is specified from the start.
• Convince users that your brand is worth the investment and eliminates future headaches.
• Equip distributors with simple, persuasive messaging that helps them advocate for you over the competition.
• Demonstrate unwavering support and expertise whenever they need it.

When done right, this synergy creates a ripple effect. Engineers specify your line, contractors request it by name, and distributors become your ambassadors. Follow this playbook consistently, and watch how quickly “we’ll consider your product” turns into “that’s the only product we’ll consider.”

If you’re facing a sales or leadership problem and have a question for me, head over to to salesgravy.com/ask and we’ll get you on the show.

You are on slide 34 when the CFO’s phone buzzes. She glances down. The VP to her left is nodding, but you can tell he checked out ten minutes ago. You know this pitch cold. You have rehearsed it. You built the deck. You covered every feature, every capability, every objection. And still, you are dying up there.

You spent weeks on this presentation. None of it matters because everyone in that room has already sat through the same pitch from three other vendors this month.

“Pitching sucks,” says Danny Fontaine, author of Pitch, on an episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast. “It sucks for the people doing it because we get so stressed out, and we spend weeks doing mountains of work. Meanwhile, there is a whole audience who has just as bad of a time as us because they have to sit through an hour of 100 PowerPoint slides and they’re bored.”

He is right. The audience suffers just as much. They sit through identical presentations, back to back, trying to remember which vendor said what. Both sides leave exhausted. No one wins.

There is a better way. Effective sales pitch techniques don’t rely on slides. They create engagement, tell stories, and turn monologues into conversations that actually move deals forward.

Why Traditional Pitches Fail

The standard pitch follows the same predictable pattern. Company overview. Capabilities. Case studies. Pricing. Questions at the end. Every competitor uses the same structure. That means you are asking your prospect to choose between nearly identical presentations.

When everything looks the same, decision makers default to price or familiarity. Your carefully crafted message gets lost in the noise.

You are treating the pitch like a presentation when it should be a conversation. You are trying to inform when you should be persuading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h7RqBuThf0 Experience Beats Information

In 1979, a small advertising agency called Allen Brady and Marsh (ABM) competed against industry giant Saatchi & Saatchi for the British Rail account. ABM’s founder, Peter Marsh, knew he couldn’t win by playing it safe.

When the British Rail executives arrived for the pitch, no one answered the door. They rang the buzzer three times before it finally opened, with no one behind it. The receptionist ignored them while filing her nails. The waiting area was filthy. After a while of being dismissed, the chairman stood up to leave.

That is when Marsh burst through the doors and said, “Gentlemen, you have just experienced what your customers go through every single day. Shall we see what we can do to put it right?”

ABM won the account. And it worked because the executives didn’t just understand the problem. They felt it.

Most sales pitches fail because they ask buyers to care before they are emotionally engaged. Information alone doesn’t create urgency—experience does.

Start With Them, Not You

Pitches always start the same: ‘Thanks for your time. Here’s our agenda. Let me tell you about our company.’

Your prospect stops listening after the first sentence.

If you want engagement, start with a question. Ask what matters to them. Ask what would make the time valuable. Ask what problem they are trying to solve.

Before you show a single slide, say something like, “Before we start, what would make this conversation worth your time today?” Or, “What is the biggest challenge you are facing with this right now?”

Those questions do three things immediately. They show respect. They give you intelligence. And they turn the pitch into a conversation from the first minute.

This works even better over Zoom, where attention is fragile and distractions are everywhere. When you ask early questions, you pull people in instead of competing with their inbox.

Stories Create Memory

The most powerful stories aren’t pulled from case studies. They come from real life. Every meaningful achievement involves obstacles. Those obstacles contain lessons. Those lessons connect directly to the challenges your prospects are facing.

A story without relevance is just noise. A story with a clear lesson becomes a lever.

A consultant once shared a story about buying a secondhand Lego set. She started building it, only to discover key pieces were missing. After hours of searching for replacements, she had to start over. When pitching a complex implementation, she said, “That taught me something. At the beginning of any project, we have to make sure all the pieces are in the bag.”

That story worked because it made preparation tangible. It made risk visible. It connected emotionally and logically.

If the story does not clearly support the point you are making, don’t tell it.

Ask Before You Lose Them

Most salespeople cling to their script even when they can see the room drifting away. They are afraid of losing control, so they keep talking.

That is how you lose the deal.

Don’t wait until the Q&A to ask questions. Sprinkle them throughout your pitch to keep your audience engaged and the conversation alive.

Ask if you’re hitting the mark, what they want to explore deeper, and what matters most to them.

When you ask questions, you aren’t giving up control. You are gaining it. The person asking the questions is always in control of the conversation.

Emotion First, Logic Second

Buyers like to believe they are rational. They are not. Emotion drives decisions. Logic justifies them.

If you want someone to care, you have to make them feel something. Frustration. Relief. Possibility. Urgency.

That is why the British Rail experience worked. Marsh didn’t argue that customer service was bad. He made them experience it. The feeling came first. The logic followed.

Once a buyer is emotionally engaged, they start looking for reasons to say yes. They look for data to support the decision they already want to make.

This is why information-first pitches fall flat. You are asking people to care before you have given them a reason to.

Create the emotional connection first. Then give them the facts.

When the Room Goes Cold

Even the best sales pitch techniques don’t work every time. Sometimes the wrong people show up, there is a fire you didn’t know about, or your message just doesn’t land.

When that happens, don’t push harder. Pivot. Call it out. Ask what would be more valuable. Acknowledge the moment instead of pretending it is not happening.

That level of honesty builds trust. It shows you are there to solve a problem, not deliver a performance.

Why This Matters

Your prospect didn’t show up to be entertained or to be bored.

When you give them an experience they didn’t expect, you separate yourself from every competitor running the same tired deck. You become memorable. You become relevant. You become human.

The pitch that feels risky is usually the one that wins. The personal story. The direct question. The willingness to have a real conversation.

Because the alternative is being forgotten the moment you leave the room, no matter how many slides you showed.

Want to take your pitch from forgettable to unforgettable? Download the FREE A.C.E.D. Buyer Style Playbook, which shows you exactly how to read your buyers, adapt your approach, and turn every conversation into a deal-closing opportunity.

There is a big challenge in today’s marketplace that’s popping up left and right for sales professionals—Decision Deferment Objections.

If you’re running into stakeholders who say, “Let’s just hold off a bit,” “We need more time,” or “We want to wait until the market settles,” then we’re going to dive into why this is happening and, more importantly, how you can handle these sales objections with confidence and skill.

Turbulent Times Breed Buyer Fear

The market is swinging like a pendulum on steroids, and it’s making everyone skittish. You’ve got tariffs, trade wars, and a spike in economic uncertainty.

Buyers read The Wall Street Journal or check their news feeds, and the headlines scream “Turmoil!” They panic. So they defer decisions, walk away from deals, or play the “wait and see” game.

Decision deferment objections are a natural consequence of fear. People want to avoid making the wrong move. It’s easier to hit the pause button than to commit to something they’re not 100% sure about. That fear, in many ways, is irrational. But it’s a brick wall that will shut down your deal if you let it.

So how do you avoid letting hesitation, stalling, and decision deferment kill your deals during market uncertainty?

It starts with a fundamental truth: to succeed in this environment, you must sell better. Because when people are fearful, indecisive, or uncertain, how you sell matters far more than what you sell.

Why Buyers Pull Back and Defer Decisions

In uncertain and volatile times, mistakes come with severe penalties. A stakeholder who chooses the wrong vendor, invests in the wrong technology, or commits resources too soon might put their entire business or career at risk.

So they freeze. They put it off. They say, “We’ll need a little more time to think about it,” or “We need to run the numbers again,” or “Let me talk to my boss.”

If you haven’t uncovered real fears, addressed them, and methodically advanced the deal, you’ll hit a wall of deferment decision objections at maximum force. That’s why I often sound like a broken record—but repetition is the mother of skill. The basic steps to closing in an uncertain market are fundamental:

1. Execute your sales process flawlessly
2. Consistently ask for micro-commitments to advance the sale
3. Present a compelling, airtight case for change
4. Ask your stakeholders to make a decision confidently and without hesitation
5. Handle objections with empathy

Closing Is Not a Single Moment in Time

A lot of sales reps treat the close as one magic moment—like flicking a switch. But in reality, closing is a series of micro-commitments that happen throughout the sales process. Every time you get a commitment to a next step, your buyer to leans in just a bit more, and you set the stage for a final “yes.”

When times are normal, a halfway-decent rep can skip a few steps and still get deals across the finish line. But in a crisis or uncertain market, that sloppy approach falls apart.

You must consistently get micro-commitments and keep advancing—because if you let the ball drop even once, you’ll give your stakeholders an opening to stall or back out with objections like “We going to hold off,”  or “We’re just going to stick with what we have until the economy gets better.”

Tough Objections? Check Your Upstream Sales Process

For this reason, if you are getting hammered at the close with brutal objections, it usually means you made mistakes earlier in the process.

So instead of obsessing over how to wordsmith your objection rebuttals, you might need to re-examine how you qualified and sold from the get-go. Tough objections at the 11th hour are typically a symptom of an earlier problem.

So, what do you do?

1. Qualify better upfront—Are these the right prospects? Are you sure they have a budget, authority, need, and timeline? Is there a compelling reason for them to change?
2. Ensure you’re dealing with real decision makers—If you’re stuck with “influencers” who keep punting it up the chain, guess what? You’re in for a bumpy ride.
3. Surface concerns early—If you wait until the end to discover that your buyer has major financial fears, you’ve already lost.

Get the Truth on the Table Early

That brings us to one of the most important sales tactics in uncertain times like these. It is absolutely crucial that you get buyer worries, fears, and potential objections out in the open and on the table as soon as possible. That means you need deeper discovery and the courage to ask tough questions like:

• “What are you most afraid of?”
• “How do you see the current market volatility impacting your decisions?”
• “What’s your biggest concern about moving forward right now?”
• “If you don’t address this problem soon, what do you think might happen?”

It takes confidence and tact to get your stakeholders talking openly about concerns—and yes, you’ll risk hearing truths that might scare you or them. But the alternative is to bury your head in the sand and get blindsided at the last minute when they say, “We’re gonna wait till next quarter.”

The Emotional Barrier: Fear of Conflict and Rejection

Asking the hard questions is where many reps falter. Let’s be honest: nobody likes conflict. And direct questions can feel confrontational. We worry, “What if they shut me down or I push them away?” So we back off, we tiptoe around real issues, we avoid pressing them on timelines or next steps. That might keep the conversation calm, but it sets you up for a big heartbreak later.

The biggest agony in sales is pouring time, energy, and emotion into a deal—only to lose it at the finish line when a stakeholder reveals an objection that, had you known about it weeks ago, you could have handled.

This is why you must push through your own discomfort and bring hidden fears to the surface early. It’s infinitely less painful to deal with them upfront than to discover them at the worst possible moment.

Deal With Sales Objections Head On

There’s a quote I love from philosopher Julian Baggini: “If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you’re right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.”

I can’t think of a better summary of what it takes to handle decision deferment objections. If you truly believe your offering is the best path forward, it’s your duty to address your buyer’s fears, hesitations, and perceived alternatives.

You’ve got to want them to put every worry on the table so you can tackle it head-on. Sure, you’ll get your nose bloodied sometimes. But if you’re truly confident in your solution, you’ll find a way to show your buyer why moving forward makes sense—even in choppy waters.

Common Decision Deferment Objections

Most of the objections you’ll face during times of uncertainty are decision deferment objections like:

• “Give us a few days to consider your proposal.”
• “We’d like to run this by the entire team before we commit.”
• “We’re going to hold off for a month and see what happens with the economy.”
• “We want to compare a few other vendors before making a decision.”
• “We’re just not ready to make a long-term commitment right now.”
• “We decided to give our current vendor one last chance.”

The reality is that they are afraid so they’re stalling. They’re not saying “no” outright; they’re saying “maybe,” “later,” or “we’ll see.” And that’s the tricky part. Because “maybe” can feel like a small open door, but it’s actually a massive speed bump that can drag your deal out indefinitely if you accept it and walk away.

5 Steps to Overcome Decision Deferment Objections

That’s why when buyers hit you with decision deferment objections, you need a systematic approach to help them break through their fear. Use this five-step framework:

Relate

Start with empathy. This isn’t about agreeing with their reasons, but acknowledging them as a human. “I get where you’re coming from, and it’s smart to be cautious.” That’s it. No discounting their worry, no jumping into a debate. Just letting them know you’re listening.

Why? Because they’re braced for you to argue or push. By empathizing, you lower their guard and show you’re on their side. It also buys you a moment to compose yourself and think strategically before responding.

Isolate

You want to make sure there aren’t multiple hidden objections. If they say, “Let us think about it,” is that the only issue, or are they also worried about budget, timelines, or a preference for a competitor? Gently probe: “Aside from needing more time, is there anything else holding you back?” The last thing you want is to solve one problem only to be ambushed by a bigger one later.

Clarify

Never assume you know exactly what they mean. Always take a moment to clarify their objection.  When they say: “We need to run the numbers.” Maybe they really do need a cost breakdown, maybe they doubt the ROI, or maybe they’re afraid of something else. Ask open-ended questions: “When you say you need to review the math, how do you mean?” Good clarifying questions unearth the real meaning behind the words.

Minimize

Now that you know the real deal, you want to minimize their fear by reconnecting them to their desired outcomes. Remind them of the pains they wanted solved, the benefits they hoped to gain, and how your solution addresses that. Show them the math if needed, demonstrate ROI, and paint the brighter future. By focusing on what they stand to gain—and the cost of doing nothing—you shrink the size of their fear while maximizing the benefit of moving forward.

Ask

Finally, ask again. Your buyer won’t do the job for you. The key is asking with relaxed, assertive confidence because your confidence gives them confidence to push past their fear and make the right decision.

Buyers are Jumpy, Be Ready For It

Look, times are unstable. Buyers are jumpy. They’d rather punt than make a risky call. But you’re a sales professional, and that means you stand in the gap—helping them navigate doubt and find a solution that actually benefits them. Don’t shy away from the “We need more time” or “We’re going to hold off.” Expect it, be ready for it, and use it as an opening to get real issues on the table.

In volatile times, it is hard to sell. Yet, you are still under the same pressure to make your sales number. This is why you’ll want to download our FREE Selling in a Crisis workbook today.

Everybody wants the hacks.

The quick fix. The shiny new tool. The LinkedIn post that magically draws leads like moths to a flame.

But let me give it to you straight: Sales isn’t won with hacks. It’s won with habits. And the habits that win are the ones most reps abandon the minute things get uncomfortable or boring.

If you’re not hitting your number, it’s probably not because you need better leads, better tech, or better timing.

It’s because you’ve drifted from the basics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnoVAopK8U The Fancy Stuff Is Failing You

We see it all the time—salespeople hiding behind automation tools, social selling gimmicks, and relationship-building fluff. They talk a big game on Zoom, but when it’s time to dial the phone or ask for the sale, they freeze like a deer in headlights.

Let’s call this what it is: avoidance.

You’re avoiding real sales conversations because they’re uncomfortable. You’re hoping your sequence will “nurture” your prospect into buying without you having to actually sell. But automation doesn’t close deals. YOU do.

The truth? Most salespeople would rather look productive than be productive. Fancy decks, CRM tagging, and custom email flows feel like progress—but they don’t get the contract signed.

Top producers know: The tools support the basics. They don’t replace them.

What Actually Wins: The Fundamentals

If you want to win more, stop searching for better tactics and start doing the boring stuff better. Because these five basics are still undefeated:

1. Phone Calls

Cold calls. Warm calls. Follow-up calls. Call blocks. Whatever the flavor, the phone remains your fastest path to building pipeline. And yet it’s the most avoided.

Most reps send five emails and give up. Not top performers. They make the call. Because conversations close deals—period.

2. Discovery Questions

Stop pitching. Start digging. The best reps are curious, not convincing. They lead with questions that uncover pain, urgency, and decision dynamics. And they clam up long enough to actually listen.

You don’t earn trust by explaining. You earn it by understanding.

3. Objection Handling

If objections scare you, it’s because you don’t practice. It’s because you haven’t made a habit of practicing.

Objections aren’t stop signs—they’re buying signals. But if you’re caught off guard every time someone says, “I need to think about it,” you’re not preparing. You’re winging it. And amateurs who wing it get smoked.

4. Follow-Up

Here’s the truth: the sale is almost never made on the first call. Or the second. Or even the fifth. 80% of sales happen after the 5th touch, but most reps quit after two. Why? Emotion.

They feel rejected. Embarrassed. “I don’t want to bother them.” Bother them? You’re solving a problem they can’t fix alone. Follow up until they buy or you find them a better solution.

5. Asking for the Sale

Most reps are afraid to ask. Why? 

Because they’re afraid of hearing no. But here’s the thing: no is part of the process. If you’re not hearing no, you’re not asking enough.

You’re a consultant. You’re a closer. Your job isn’t to make the prospect feel warm and fuzzy—it’s to guide them to a decision. And that means asking with courage and confidence.

Why Reps Quit the Basics

Three big reasons:

1. Ego. “I’ve been selling for years—I don’t need to practice this stuff.” Wrong. The minute you think you’re too good for the basics is the minute your numbers start tanking.
2. Fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of sounding pushy. Fear of failing. So instead of doing the work, you procrastinate with busywork.
3. Laziness. The basics aren’t sexy. They’re repetitive. They take discipline. So most reps quit—and that’s why most reps are average.

Want to stand out? Don’t be like most reps.

Go Pro or Go Home

Top athletes don’t get bored of running drills. They know repetition sharpens instinct. They know that under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion—you fall to your level of training.

Same with sales.

• You don’t magically handle objections—you drill them.
• You don’t get confident on the phone—you rehearse.
• You don’t close deals consistently—you follow a process that’s been forged by reps, failure, and grit.

Pros don’t “kind of” practice. They live in the fundamentals. Over and over. Because muscle memory wins when pressure hits.

If you want to be great in sales, stop trying to be creative. Start being consistent.

Back to Basics, Back to Winning

Let’s be real—if your pipeline’s dry, your quota’s slipping, or you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, the answer isn’t out there. It’s in your calendar.

It’s in your call blocks. Your follow-ups. Your prospecting power hours. Those script reps. The boring, brutal, beautiful habits that build champions.

Because when you do the basics better than anyone else, you don’t have to be flashy. You just win.

Here’s your challenge:What habits have you been avoiding lately? Make it your priority today. Practice it. Drill it. Master it.

Because sales success isn’t about finding something new.

It’s about doing what works—relentlessly.

Steve from Portland, Oregon, faces and an all-too-common consultative selling dilemma: how to sell to prospects who claim they already know everything, have already “done the research” and question what value he can bring. In this Ask Jeb episode we break down what true consultative selling entails, how to detach from “always be closing,” and why being a genuine expert is more vital now than ever.

From Information Scarcity to Information Overload

Not long ago, salespeople had the upper hand simply by having more data or insight than their prospects. Today, everyone has a blog, video, or TikTok to help them “figure it out.” This can leave a buyer believing, “I know just as much as you—so why should I trust your approach?” That’s where consultative selling comes in, but only if you do it right.

Consultative selling isn’t about showing off your expertise. It’s about guiding the customer to understand the real nature of their problem—often one they didn’t fully realize or that’s more complex than they initially thought.

What True Consultative Selling Looks Like

Consultants by definition don’t barge in declaring, “Here’s the solution.” They start by asking informed, open-ended questions and listening for patterns. They bring a sense of curiosity—an acknowledgment that they can’t help until they deeply understand the client’s unique environment.

Four Steps of a Consultative Approach

1. Assess and Analyze: Listen, observe, and probe with specific questions. Gain clarity on how the business operates and where potential issues lie.
2. Design or Develop Solutions: Tailor ideas or strategies based on the actual problems your client is facing. No cookie-cutter templates here.
3. Integrate and Implement:Work with the client to fold your solution into their workflows. Show them the path forward, not just a list of theoretical bullet points.
4. Optimize and Operationalize: Stay engaged. Help the client refine and sustain the changes for long-term success.

The Power of Detaching from the Outcome

When you’re obsessed with “the close,” you risk pushing your own agenda rather than uncovering the client’s real challenges. Buyers can smell desperation a mile away. Detachment works with consultative selling because:

• It builds trust. You’re not rushing to pitch; you’re learning and diagnosing first.
• It reveals the real issues. Prospects open up more when they sense you’re genuinely trying to see if you can help, not just bulldoze them into a sale.
• It prevents the “sleazy” vibe. Instead of coming off like yet another sales rep bragging about your knowledge, you show you’re a collaborator ready to craft a solution if—and only if—it fits.

Being the Expert Without Acting Like a Know-It-All

In today’s age of surplus information, it isn’t enough just to learn a skill once. You have to remain curious and update your knowledge constantly. That’s especially true in fields like digital marketing, sales tech, or AI—areas that can evolve daily. You’ll be more credible when you

• Commit to ongoing learning. Read, watch, and listen to everything you can, including contrary opinions.
• Embrace nuance. Real expertise means recognizing that not every trend or hack will work for every client.
• Use informed questions. The best proof of your knowledge is the quality of the questions you ask. Clients can tell when your questions hit the root of their problem.

Addressing Distrust in Competitive Industries

In spaces like digital marketing, where so many agencies promise miracles, skepticism runs high. By entering a conversation with a consultative mindset, you set yourself apart from the noise:

• Focus on your prospect’s specific context. Don’t lump them into one-size-fits-all solutions.
• Acknowledge the client’s prior experiences. They may have been burned by poor service or overhyped promises. Show empathy for their concerns.
• Offer to walk away if it’s not the right fit. This willingness to say “no” boosts your authenticity tenfold.

When They Already “Know It All”

If a buyer has read every blog post or watched every video, your role isn’t to arm-wrestle over knowledge. Instead, demonstrate the value of personalized guidance that no quick Google search can replicate.

AI-driven search might be the buzz, but how does that apply to a real, live company’s marketing funnel? That’s where your on-the-ground insight matters. If you’ve tracked trends across dozens of client accounts, you can spot patterns or pitfalls a do-it-yourselfer misses.

The Full Pipeline Advantage

None of this is easy if your pipeline is empty. Desperation kills consultative selling because you can’t afford to walk away from a deal that isn’t a good match. That’s all the more reason to stay on top of your prospecting game—so you can approach each interaction with calm, genuine curiosity.

Key Takeaways

• Stop trying to prove you’re the expert. Prove you’re the right person to uncover their unique issues.
• Detach from the outcome. Your job is to see if you can help, not to force a close at any cost.
• Ask better questions. Use your ongoing research and pattern recognition to frame questions that reveal real pain points.
• Stay curious. The information age isn’t slowing down, so never settle for “I’m already up to speed.”
• Aim for trust, not just data. Even if a prospect has all the facts, they still need someone to interpret and guide them effectively.

Consultative selling in an information-saturated world requires humility, expertise, and the courage to say, “Maybe this isn’t right for you.” Yet when it does match, the value you provide extends far beyond what any self-guided research can deliver. If you’re ready to transform how you engage clients, let consultative selling lead the way—stepping in with curiosity, listening intently, and building solutions that align with real problems.

Got a question or challenge for me? Head over to salesgravy.com/ask to share what’s on your mind. We might feature your question next and help you refine your approach to sales—consultative or otherwise.

We are coming off of a week that can only be described as a stock market bloodbath—amping up uncertainty and making selling even harder. 

As the new tariffs imposed by the US government were announced, kicking off what is expected to devolve into a global trade war, the Dow Jones plunged by over 2,200 points, the S&P 500 lost more than 10%, the Nasdaq entered into a bear market and more than $6.6 trillion dollars were wiped from the US stock market in two days. These losses compounded in markets all across the globe.

If you were brave enough to take a peek at your 401k, I have no doubt that you felt this pain and at least a twinge of the fear that raced through business communities across the globe. 

Uncertainty and a Stream of Bad News

In an instant, everything changed.

Starting today, selling just got even harder. Your buyers are facing uncertainty and a relentless stream of bad news; and where there is uncertainty, your prospects and customers will put off making decisions and doing anything that they perceive as risky.  

The penalties for making mistakes can be severe. Mistakes can put their business, company, career, finances, or family at risk. This is why, for buyers, doing nothing–making no decision–is often the emotionally safe choice, even when staying put is illogical.

In Uncertainty Buyers Start Scrutinizing Your Sales Behaviors

In an environment of uncertainty, when buyers feel even the tiniest bit of unease about you, they will not buy from you. 

This is the human negativity bias: Negative perceptions have a greater impact than positive perceptions when it comes to decision making. 

Buyers will be scrutinizing your every behavior, word, and action. They will not be looking for what you are doing right, they will only see what you do wrong. Anything negative will stick out like a sore thumb. 

Their negative perceptions about you cause distrust. Your good intentions don’t matter because buyers are judging you based on their intentions, not yours. If they don’t trust you, they will not buy from you. 

You Must Sell Better During Times of Uncertainty

To win consistently, during times of uncertainty you must sell better. You need to bring your A-Game into every sales conversation. 

You must commit to executing the sales process as perfectly and faithfully as humanly possible. No mistakes. No shortcuts. No mediocrity. 

You must sell as if there is no margin for error. When the stakes were lower, buyers may have given you the benefit of the doubt and agreed to move forward even when they are still unsure. But not now. To close the sale, you must be perfect. 

There is No Sales Easy Button

Of course, with the suddenness of this massive economic disruption it is human nature to seek out Jedi mind tricks to make things easier.

I’ve got some harsh news for you. There isn’t anything easy about selling in a crisis of uncertainty. Nor are there mystical Jedi mind tricks that will help you set appointments on prospecting calls, handle objections, or close the deal in this environment. 

If that’s not what you wanted to hear, I’m sorry. Money Monday is a no-pander zone. Here you’ll only hear the brutal truth. 

And the truth is that no technique, no move, no play, no gambit will save you from failure should you get lax with the basics and fundamentals of selling. 

When you show up and throw up, rush headlong into sales calls without planning, pitch rather than discover, challenge before understanding, fail to build emotional connections with stakeholders, and ask for the sale without earning the right, you’ll hit the brick wall of objections at maximum force–and people will not buy from you. 

If you take shortcuts in the sales process, you will experience stalled deals, prospects will ghost you, and competitors will eat your lunch. Your income will drop along with your reputation which can put your career at risk when the stakes for failing are highest. 

Execute the Sales Process Perfectly

Sales outcomes in this environment are predictable based on how you leverage, execute, and advance opportunities through the sales process. 

When you faithfully execute each step of the sales process, you create certainty for your buyer, lower the risk of moving forward, set yourself apart from competitors and bend win probability in your favor. You will close more deals, make more money, and succeed in this uncertain economic environment. It’s the truth, and it’s a guarantee.

Read or Listen to Selling in a Crisis

Jon Kabat-Zinn once said, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”

What I want you to do right now is read my book Selling in a Crisis. It is available in hardback, kindle, and audio. I wrote and recorded this book to be your companion and help you stay motivated and sell more in moments like this.

Selling in a Crisis gives you 55 short, easy to consume lessons that will help you will find the inspiration and confidence to rise above all of this negativity, catch your wave, and take control.

Remember that no matter what’s happening in the economy you are always in control of your actions, re-actions, and mindset.

After you purchase your book, download the FREE Selling in a Crisis Workbook. It will help you navigate the lessons and put them into action.

All’s fair in love and war—and sales.

At the end of the day, what really matters is whether the deal closed or if you were left holding the bag. 

Did you make quota this quarter? Did you crush your numbers? Or did you fall short?

If you missed quota, chances are you played it too safe. You followed the so-called ‘best practices’—the ones that average reps cling to.

Top performers don’t just follow the playbook. They know when to bend the rules, take calculated risks, and do what it takes to win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTi-bw6wtU Be a Pattern Breaker

The greatest don’t stick to rules and expectations. They forge their own path in a sea of conformity.

They constantly reinvent themselves and their practices to push boundaries and find new ways to win.

What you won’t see is an elite sales rep following the same script day after day and struggling to escape mediocrity.

As venture capitalist Mike Maples Jr. put it on this week’s Sales Gravy Podcast, “People who are winning are the ones who change the rules and tell people how to think about it.”

Now’s the time to shake up your own sales routine and adopt the practices of Ultra High Performers.

Fanatically Prospect

You don’t have an option—prospect every day, or get left behind. The pipe is life. If you’re not feeding it, you’re starving.

Fanatical prospectors don’t just carve out time—they demand it. Every single day. You make calls, period. Distractions? They don’t exist. 

But too many sales reps think they need to follow traditional suggestions: Prioritize research over calls; call when you think your prospects will be available; warm leads up with social touches and emails.

These “rules” are screaming to be broken.

There’s no room in sales to avoid cold calling. The telephone is still the single most powerful weapon you have when it comes to selling.

Sure, the norm is to hate cold calling, avoid the phone, and send out dozens of emails because it’s easy. Rule breakers don’t do easy—they’re on the phone every day.

The best reps value prospecting and know that—even when they’re closing deals—they need to be watching out for tomorrow. Mediocre reps make fewer calls, qualify fewer prospects, and close fewer deals.

Don’t be mediocre. 

Ruthlessly Disqualify; Pursue Those Who Will Buy

Never waste your time on a prospect who simply won’t pull the trigger. There are lots of tire kickers out there who will intentionally or unintentionally waste your time.

Recognize early the deals that will never be done.

Most sales reps chase every lead because they’re told to ‘always be closing.’ The best reps break that rule by disqualifying early.

Be intentional in your discovery; ask all pertinent questions before spending precious time wooing a lead. 

You don’t have time to find out weeks down the road that your prospect wasn’t the decision maker or that there’s no budget for the deal.

You can even disqualify before you start prospecting.

When generating cold calling lists, zero in on a subset of your market that is most likely to buy—don’t squander energy parsing through every single business simply to tell your boss you called everyone. 

Jerome, a media rep in Texas, covered all of Austin. Instead of cold calling tens of thousands of businesses, he zeroed in on the ones most likely to be in the market for his services and who could afford them.

He weaned out businesses that weren’t strictly his target demographic and saved himself thousands of useless calls. 

Break the norm by cutting deadweight fast.

Play the Long Game 

Mediocre reps make useless calls and let the fear of annoying prospects sabotage their follow up game. 

Forget the outdated advice about not being ‘too persistent.’ Elite pros break that rule and keep showing up until they hear ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

They bend the rules of social niceties (i.e. don’t annoy your prospect) and keep calling, no matter how long it takes. Xant found that 50% of sales happen after the 5th follow-up, but most reps stop at 2. 

But it can take 20+ touches to engage a cold prospect. And great reps don’t stop there.

While most sales reps give up after a few attempts, rule breakers defy conventional wisdom by relentlessly pursuing prospects, knowing that success often comes after many touches.

I once picked up a call from a rep on the 73rd time he called. I admired the persistence. Had he stopped at 72, all he would have gotten was my voicemail and a missed opportunity for my business.

The lesson? Don’t let the rules of polite society stand in your way when prospecting or following up. Be the interrupter that you are and keep interrupting until you get in front of or back in front of your lead.

Don’t limit yourself to only calling either. 

Break out your social prospecting skills with LinkedIn connections, comments and notes. Send emails. Send snail mail. 

Find your way to a conversation—and potentially a deal.

Be Willing to Walk Away

Prospects can smell your misery. And they won’t respond when you’re overly eager, pushy or driving the deal too fast.

Top reps master the ‘takeaway,’ knowing when to make it seem like the deal might no longer be available. It’s about leveraging the fear of loss to make the prospect more eager to move forward.

If you approach a deal knowing you’re behind on your quota and lagging at the end of the quarter, you’re doomed because desperation stinks.

Sometimes ‘never take no for an answer’ and ‘always be closing’ just won’t work—rule breakers know when to execute the takeaway, forcing the prospect to make a decision and potentially flipping the deal in their favor.

Rule breakers won’t push endlessly for a deal with someone who can’t make a decision. They’ll walk away knowing it will force a choice that could land in their favor.

Strikeouts Don’t Matter

Rule breakers aren’t concerned with closing every deal. Sure, that’s the ideal. But the best reps know that strikeouts don’t matter.

You’re going to swing and miss the majority of the time in sales. That’s a fact. The best reps close just 15%-20% of the time.

It’s the grand slams that really count.

Most reps play it safe, always sticking to small deals and quota-chasing. But rule-breakers hit singles and doubles week in and week out—and go after whales.

Winners know not to let a big deal slip by just because it’s hard, going to take extra time, or might not pan out. 

Elite sales reps know when to go big at the bat. You should, too.

Keep swinging until you knock one out of the park.

Break the Rules. Win More Deals.

Sales isn’t about playing it safe—it’s about playing to win. The best reps break the rules that hold them back and push past the limits of “how it’s always been done.”.

They prospect fanatically, refuse to waste time on dead-end leads, and chase big deals without fear of striking out. They don’t let outdated processes or hesitation slow them down.

At the end of the day, the scoreboard doesn’t care how well you followed the rules—it only cares about results. So step up, take bold swings, and keep breaking the norms that don’t serve you.

There’s still time to work on your Q2 goals. Check out our Goal Planning Guide for tips on how to crush your numbers this quarter.

Dennis from Chesterfield, Missouri, wants to know if sales coaching truly moves the performance needle, especially when shifting from transactional approaches to more consultative selling.

Below are the key insights from our conversation on why coaching matters, how it boosts sales and culture, and what leaders should do right now to make it happen.

Why Sales Coaching Is Essential

Sales is a skill position. Even the best reps lose their edge if they’re left on their own for too long.

Much like elite athletes, sales professionals need ongoing input to fine-tune their mechanics, recharge their motivation, and keep small errors from turning into big problems.

Coaching can be the difference between a rep who has plateaued and one who keeps climbing—because it provides immediate, personalized feedback when it counts most.

From Knowledge Acquisition to Knowledge Application

Training is vital for learning new strategies, product details, and selling techniques, but it doesn’t guarantee that anyone will actually use those ideas. That’s where coaching comes in.

A coach helps each individual absorb and adapt those lessons to their unique style, role, or territory. Research shows that simply sending people to training without one-on-one follow-up leads to a big dip in retention and performance. But when coaching supports training, skill application soars—along with results.

Leading, Managing, and Coaching: The Three Pillars of Leadership

Sales leadership has three core pillars.

• Leading sets the emotional vision of where the team is headed. It’s getting people emotionally connected to a future state.
• Managing is driving the step by step processes that execute strategy.
• Coaching is developing your people to execute at a high level. It is the force that keeps every member of the rowing in the right direction.

Think about it this way. 90% of strategy (leading) is execution (managing) AND 90% of execution is people (coaching). Everything depends on people which is why you can’t afford not to coach.

Sales Leadership and Coaching Priorities

Leaders who prioritized weekly one-on-ones, real-time one-to-one coaching, and rigorous sales pipeline reviews consistently deliver better results and productivity.

One of my top clients reconfigured its leadership approach with inside sales reps, focusing on call-by-call coaching in real time. While the broader industry shrank, this company grew by over 20%.

The common thread? Leaders were present. They weren’t waiting for problems to surface; they intervened early and often, guiding reps through each challenge.

Why Simply Showing Up Makes a Difference

Leaders sometimes fear that sitting with their reps will feel intrusive, yet just being there raises performance.

When a coach or manager listens in on a sales call or rides along on an outside sales appointment, reps immediately sharpen their focus. They’re more likely to use proven techniques and avoid shortcuts.

Even better is when the leader offers coaching in the moment—helping the rep pivot if the call starts going sideways. Catching issues before they snowball is how reps maintain a consistently high standard of performance.

The Power of Being Side by Side

One sales organization I work with discovered, after a big dip in sales productivity, that none of its sales managers were spending time on the floor. Rather than spending time on the sales floor coaching, the leaders were in their offices, behind closed doors grading calls.

As soon as the managers started actively coaching—right next to their people, live—the entire team’s win-rates rose sharply. True coaching works best in real time, because your rep can implement what they just learned to get better on the next call.

The Culture Shift from Transactional to Consultative

When a coach is on the floor or in the car, they can see how a rep handles difficult questions, responds to objections, or frames value to a hesitant buyer. This immediate feedback helps sellers move beyond rote “scripts” to deeper conversations about the client’s real needs.

Over time, that consultative style becomes the team’s default approach. The rep’s confidence grows and the client feels genuinely heard leading to higher win-rates and a better buying experience. That shift can’t be taught in a one-off session; it must be nurtured call after call, meeting after meeting.

Effective Sales Coaching is Personalized

Ongoing coaching is the lever that prevents skills from slipping and helps each rep adopt best practices in a way that feels authentic.

Like a golf pro practicing with a swing coach at the range before a major tournament, a dedicated sales leader who invests in day-to-day coaching can bring out the absolute best in each team member—and transform the entire organization’s culture in the process.

1. Make time for real-time coaching. Recorded reviews are helpful, but nothing beats observing and intervening on the spot.
2. Remember that your physical presence boosts performance. Your reps behave differently just by knowing you’re there to guide and support them.
3. Treat each rep’s challenges as unique. Coaching is a customized process that addresses individual gaps in skill, mindset, or strategy.
4. Embed coaching into your culture with weekly one-on-ones, pipeline reviews, field visits, or inside call monitoring. Whatever your model, consistency is everything.

When you, as a leader, close your computer and get away from the dashboards and reports to spend time on the sales floor or out in the field with your people, you’re showing them that you care about them and value their growth as much as you value hitting the numbers. 

And that belief, investment, and attention, tends to come back around in the form of higher motivation, better relationships, and more wins.

Coaching also turns mistakes into momentum. You catch a slip in the moment, you fix it, and—boom—your rep is back on track for the rest of the day.  Without coaching, a single bad call or awkward client meeting can spiral into a week of self-doubt. 

So if there’s one takeaway I hope you’ll remember, it’s this: Your direct presence and real-time feedback are the secret sauce that keeps your sales engine humming, your people engaged, and your culture thriving.

If you have a question for me or want help working through a challenge or roadblock head to salesgravy.com/ask

This is a very important Monday because this is the first Monday of the second quarter, and it’s time for a major gut check and assessment of where you are against your number coming out of Q1, and what you need to adjust and think about as we move into Q2.

Start with setting aside a dedicated, focused time block of one to two hours for reviewing your:

• Q1 Results
• Current state of your pipeline
• 2025 goals & personal business plan

Evaluate Your Q1 Performance Against Your Sales Goals

Begin with an honest evaluation of your Q1 sales performance. It’s likely that your performance falls into one of three scenarios: 

• You Crushed It – You had a killer quarter, blew away your goals, and you are walking on cloud nine. 
• You Hit Quota – You’re on track and right where you are supposed to be against your number
• You are in trouble – You missed your number, are behind quota, and are feeling the pressure.

Incredible Quarter. Crushing It!

If You Crushed It, and you’re on the top of the ranking report: Congratulations, this is exactly where you want to be at the end of Q1. Being ahead of your number now is an insurance policy against unforeseen setbacks in the future. 

It also can make life much easier if your sales plan and quota gets bigger in the back half of the year as many do. 

The most important thing you can do right now is conduct a deep dive analysis of your pipeline. It’s not unusual to work hard to close so many deals at the end of the quarter that you start off in a weak position at the beginning of the quarter. 

Get your calculator out and do the math on how much you need in your pipeline to crush your Q2 number. Then get to work immediately building the pipe you need to hit that goal. 

Do not wait to do this. With a great quarter behind you, the temptation will be there to take a breather and take your foot off of the accelerator. After all, you deserve it. But be very careful because if your pipeline needs work, the failure to take immediate action will come back to bite you. 

If you feel a bit burned out from working so hard to deliver such a great quarter, it might make sense to take a few days off to rest, recover, and recommit to your goals or raise the bar with stretch goals.

You’ve set the foundation for what could be a massive year and a trip to the President’s Club. Take advantage of what you accomplished in Q1 to get even better in Q2.

On Quota. On Track.

If you hit your quota in Q1 and ended up right where you should be: Nice job! Quota isn’t easy to achieve. You’ve executed and done exactly what your company asked you to do. You’ve kept your promise. 

Your biggest challenge now is that it’s not going to get any easier as the year progresses. You’ll need to keep executing and keep grinding. 

For you, this is a good time to step back and take a look at what is working well for you, where you can improve, and where you might have gotten off track. It’s a good time to reacquaint yourself with the basics and fundamentals that create success in both sales and your industry. 

Of course, after battling it out in Q1 you may need to refill your tank. This is the perfect time to double down on investing in yourself. With so much volatility in the market place at the moment, I highly recommend listening to my book Selling in a Crisis on Audible or Spotify or taking my courses on Selling During Uncertainty on Sales Gravy University. 

I’ve always found that investing in myself and learning gives me a boost of energy and motivation when I need it the most.  

Bad Quarter, In Trouble

If you had a bad Q1 and you are behind your number, then you are likely in trouble and are feeling the pressure. You might already have been put on a plan, which is not fun. The good news is that this is survivable, if you choose to survive.

I know this isn’t where you want to be. No one tanks their sales number on purpose. But where you are now is almost always a result of small slips in discipline that added up over the course of the quarter and led to the hole you are in now. And the first rule of holes is when you are in one, stop digging. 

Take Control of Your Time & Priorities

If you are honest with yourself, over the past three months, you haven’t managed your time well or focused on the right priorities. So if you want to survive the predicament you are in, this is exactly where you want to start. 

Success in sales comes from a relentless focus on putting new opportunities into your pipeline and advancing them through it. Everything else is academic. Sadly, when salespeople get behind the eight ball, it is almost always because they are spending their time on everything else. 

Therefore, if you want to make a comeback in Q2, you need to sit down with your calendar right now. Start with creating non-negotiable time blocks on your calendar at the beginning and end of the day during which you will dedicate focus to prospecting. Every single day. 

Then continue blocking time so that every moment of your prime selling time (golden hours) is dedicated to activity that is either adding new deals to your pipeline or moving them through your pipeline. Nothing else matters. Anything else needs to be removed from your calendar or done before or after the golden hours. 

The process of re-prioritizing your calendar, day, and activities can be very challenging—especially when you are under pressure. If you struggle with this, ask your sales leader for help or seek out a coach. If you don’t have a coach, my coaches are standing by to give you a hand. Just go to SalesGravy.com/coach to schedule a free assessment and consultation. 

Avoid Shortcutting the Sales Process

As you work to pull yourself out of your hole, it is crucial that you avoid taking short cuts and skipping steps in the sales process. When you are under pressure it is natural to want to speed up and get a win. In this emotional state you come off as pushy, pitchy, insecure, and desperate to buyers—rather than relaxed and confident. 

People don’t buy from desperate salespeople. Therefore, no matter how impatient you feel, slow down and execute each step of the sales process. That’s the real key to improving your win-rate. 

Love Money Monday? Follow the Money Monday Playlist on Spotify.

Great advice is everywhere, but most of it is fluff. In sales, you don’t need clichés—you need real strategies that help you win more deals.

We’ve pulled together five of the biggest game-changing sales tips from the Sales Gravy Podcast so far this year. 

These are proven tactics from top sales pros who know what it takes to close deals, stay sharp, and dominate the competition.

If you want to crush your numbers, start here. 

https://youtu.be/gmf7YzzlPkQ?feature=shared The Grind Gets You Gold

You won’t become a sales expert overnight. 

But you can practice your way to excellence and then—one day—reach elite levels of selling.

As sales guru Tony Morris said, “You get out what you put in. … You don’t have to be the greatest; you’ve got to be the hardest [worker].”

In other words, be ready to roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches.

Everyone sees the skills of great athletes, but not everyone considers all the consistent work it took to hit that home run or make that perfect golf swing. Sales success is no different—it’s the result of countless daily reps, not just the big wins.

Top performers make it all look fluid—like a dance that should be easy to learn. But it’s not. Developing sales acumen takes time and massive effort, plus dedication to the grind.

You have to dedicate time every day to getting better—no matter what. Practice is an integral part of the grind. Drill your frameworks. Roleplay with mentors. Ask for feedback.

You have to pick up the phone and make calls no one else will—that’s how you win.

Don’t give up before you see results. 

You Must Learn to Sell

Once you’ve learned the basics, the grind perfects them. But you better start with some solid foundational skills.

Sales strategist Dawnna St. Louis puts it this way: “The first thing you need to do is learn to sell.”

Because trying to sell without knowing how to sell is an uphill climb that most never finish.

Learn to sell, or risk losing everything. It’s an ultimatum that no sales rep can afford to ignore.

Even the best subject matter experts fail without sales skills. 

Take courses and identify a mentor—a seasoned veteran who can provide feedback on your calls and negotiation techniques. Find a personal sales coach to teach you the ropes. 

Perfect Your Digital Profile

Stick to the simple; nix the jargon. As Breaking B2B Founder Sam Dunning says, “Does it pass the Caveman Grunt test?” 

Given a few seconds, could a caveman successfully grunt what you do based on your website—or your social media presence—alone?

If not, you’re in trouble. No one is going to buy from you if they don’t understand what you do or your expertise. 

A website is the online lobby of a business—the introduction to your service or product for potential digital customers. 

But take Dunning’s advice one step further and apply it to your Linkedin profile and social media accounts that are your lobby to your potential customers.

Lean into the basics: Who are you? What do you do? Why should a customer pick you?

The quality of your messaging can encourage prospects to reach out to you or establish you as a trustworthy source of business.

Create content that positions you as a thought leader and advisor. 

Otherwise? Your social presence is useless.

Wasted Time is the Enemy

Time is the one commodity that you can’t replenish. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

That’s why you must dedicate time to filling your pipeline every week. Protect your Golden Hours at all costs and then use that time wisely to make as many calls as you can.

Whether you’re in the same building or your team includes remote workers, pick a mutual time and start dialing numbers.

As best-selling author and sales expert Jeb Blount put it in a recent Ask Jeb, “Pick a period of time and say ‘We’re going to run call blocks.’ … Be ready with your list and we’re going to chop wood.” 

Eat the frog—carve out specific time to focus on your hardest task of the day. Pull out your pre-prepared call sheet and run it through without distractions. 

And always, commit to one more call.

Sell Hard—Step On Some Toes

KaTom Executive Sales Leader Charley Bible put it best: “If you’re not stepping on each other’s toes occasionally, then y’all aren’t dancing hard enough.”

Territory and prospect disputes among sales reps will happen—if you’re doing your job right.

Don’t miss out on opportunities by being too much of a stickler for territorial details. 

Sure, a rep is covering one market, but that shouldn’t stop inbound prospects from connecting with the first salesperson in line.

Healthy competition drives performance and prevents complacency. It’s the best way to stay sharp and motivated. 

If a prospect reaches out, engage immediately rather than worrying about boundaries. Challenge your teammates, but never at the expense of the customer‘s experience. 

Push harder, be more present, and win the business.

Hard Work Pays Off in Deals

Success in sales isn’t about luck—it’s about execution. 

The reps who commit to the grind, sharpen their skills, and stay disciplined will always outperform those who wing it.

If you’re not refining your approach, protecting your time, and pushing yourself to improve, someone else will—and they’ll win the deals you should have closed.

It’s time to get crystal clear on your messaging, commit to learning (and keep learning), put in the work, and go all in.

And of course, keep listening to The Sales Gravy Podcast!

The sales game rewards those who play to win.

Map out your quarter’s next steps with our FREE Goal Planning Guide 

Wes from Flower Mound, Texas, has a familiar challenge: how to attract more qualified B2B leads and convert them before they slip away. He’s already tried a variety of channels, including inside sales, social media, and email, but is struggling to ramp up both volume and quality.

Below are the key insights from our conversation, along with practical strategies to multiply your lead count and build a system that secures face-to-face meetings with the right buyers.

Why a Multi-Channel Strategy Matters

There’s rarely a single magic trick that opens the floodgates of perfect leads. In B2B lead gen often requires multiple touch points before prospects even see why they need to talk to you. A blend of outbound prospecting, inbound content marketing, and nurturing activities generally works best. The sum of these efforts can accelerate your pipeline more effectively than leaning on one channel alone.

Lead with Pain-Focused Messaging

If you expect busy decision-makers to respond, talk about their pain—not your credentials. It’s easier to draw someone in by asking a question they can’t ignore: “Is high turnover costing you millions in lost productivity?” or “Has rapid growth left your culture in shambles?” The goal is to make them nod in agreement before they realize they’re reading a marketing pitch. That’s when they self-select into your funnel and become receptive to a follow-up call.

Close the Speed-to-Lead Gap

Wes wanted advice on better leads, but high-quality leads can still go cold if your response lags. Once someone opts in or fills out a form, you have a limited window to capitalize on that interest. Even a 30-minute delay can drop contact rates dramatically.

• Set strict targets for response time and measure them.
• Make phone calls the first touch whenever possible, not a generic email.
• Remind them that prospects seeking help have a pressing trigger event—act fast, or they’ll move on.

Enhance Leads With Thought Leadership Touches

Because B2B solutions aren’t often top-of-mind until there’s an obvious buying window, thought leadership and content marketing are critical. Position your business as a problem-solver. Short webinars, white papers, or case studies can showcase real transformations you’ve facilitated.

• Offer timely webinars on pain points you see trending in your market.
• Gate them with a simple registration form to capture new leads.
• Follow up quickly, ideally within hours, to schedule a deeper conversation.

Stay Narrow on Your Ideal Customer Profile

Wes asked whether to target a handful of organizations deeply or go wide. In B2B, sales randomness is the enemy of effectiveness. Identify the types of companies—size, leadership style, growth trajectory—that consistently need your help. Zero in on those decision-makers who likely hold budget authority, whether that’s a CEO, COO, or line-of-business leader. Aim higher first and multi-thread down later, if needed.

Ace the Last Mile

It’s one thing to get leads in the door and another to turn them into appointments. That “last mile” is where your marketing spend either pays off or gets wasted. By the time leads get to you, they’re often aware of a problem. Your job is to connect that problem to a tangible path forward:

• Coach reps to identify the pain, clarify it, and propose a next step.
• Track and revisit call recordings or email exchanges to spot recurring objections.
• If you see a pattern—like pricing concerns—equip your team with a fast, concise way to handle it without sinking the opportunity.

Keep Tweaking and Testing

Even the most robust strategy will fade if you aren’t iterating. Launch new ad campaigns in short sprints, measure cost per lead, and pivot quickly if the numbers don’t add up. Tweak email subject lines and social copy. Identify high-potential communities (like certain LinkedIn groups or niche events) where your target ICP congregates. Expect to experiment regularly to keep your funnel active.

Generating better B2B leads means speaking directly to your prospects’ pain, providing a fast path to get help, and ensuring your team engages the moment an opportunity appears. Avoid random broad strokes—focus on the segment where you repeatedly succeed. Combine outbound and inbound activities for maximum coverage. Most importantly, never let leads linger. Speed and empathy on the first call often mean the difference between closing a 90% prospect and watching them vanish.

If you have a question for me, head to salesgravy.com/ask and let me know what’s on your mind.

George Foreman gave us a masterclass in resilience, on never giving up. His pivots and comebacks from defeat were legendary. He was a force of nature and one of the greatest boxers, salesmen and personalities the world has ever known. His inspirational story matters to us because one of the most critical mental disciplines for sales professionals is resilience. 

Foreman’s “In the Mud” Moment

The George Foreman most of us remember, the man with the big charismatic smile selling grills on TV, was a far cry from the young man growing up in poverty in Houston’s Fifth Ward, where lunch was often a mayonnaise sandwich. 

As a teenager, George was an angry, mean bully who stole from kids at school and was shoplifting and mugging his way through his neighborhood. He was living on the edge, one arrest away from landing in a jail cell and potentially a life behind bars.

One night, he was lying flat on his face in stinking mud, hiding from the police, when it hit him like a left hook that he was going nowhere like this. It was a moment of truth that changed the trajectory of his life.

Lying there covered in filth, he made a promise to himself to change his path. He realized that if he wanted to avoid going nowhere, he had to make a massive mindset shift. 

He enrolled in the Job Corps—a federal program that helps disadvantaged youth pick up real life skills—and soon after discovered boxing. And from that moment on, he replaced petty crime with gloves, replaced street fights with disciplined training, replaced despair with a sense of purpose. 

This type of mindset shift is exactly what resilience is about. Sometimes you’ve got to face the fact that your old excuses, old habits, or old environment aren’t working for you anymore. And when you decide to do something different—really decide—you set the stage for everything else that follows.

That stinking mud moment is where you get real about your situation. It’s where you decide that you’ve had enough and realize that the change you are looking for can only be found inside yourself because that’s where resilience comes from. 

Developing Resilience in the Face of Devastating Defeat

Once George got serious about boxing, he rocketed to stardom. He won gold in the 1968 Olympics, then tore through the heavyweight division. 

In one of his most famous fights, he defeated Joe Frazier in just two rounds, creating the iconic moment when Howard Cosell screams, “Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier!” Foreman emerged from that fight as a heavyweight wrecking ball, the unstoppable champion of the world.

Then, he ran into a wall called Muhammad Ali. Millions of people tuned in to watch Foreman and Ali battle it out in what was hyped as the “Rumble in the Jungle.” 

Going into the fight, Foreman was the overwhelming favorite. But it was his overconfidence that lulled him into Ali’s famous rope-a-dope strategy. This led to a crushing and embarrassing defeat.

Ali knocked Foreman out in the eighth round, shocking the world and pulling off the upset of the century. Foreman was humiliated on the global stage. In that moment, he went from being the hardest hitting, baddest man on the planet to an also-ran. 

Sales and life can be the same way. You might have soared for months, hitting every goal. Then the bottom falls out. The real test isn’t whether you can ride success, but whether you can respond to defeat with resilience. The real question is, will you pick yourself up and make a comeback or fold up like a cheap lawn chair and quit. Will your failure become a tattoo or temporary bruise? 

Retreat and Reinvention — The Next Pivot

After that loss to Ali, Foreman was devastated. But he continued fighting until at the age of 28, he had a near death experience in Puerto Rico following a loss to Jimmy Young. It was one more lapse into overconfidence in which Foreman failed to prepare for the fight and was taken down by yet another underdog. 

Following the fight, Foreman collapsed in the locker room suffering from exhaustion and heatstroke. There, in that pivotal moment, after being revived, he became a born-again Christian, and retired from the sport to lead a life as an ordained minister. 

But sometimes that’s what you need—a chance to heal, refocus, and reconnect with what matters. Resilience doesn’t mean plowing ahead blindly. Sometimes it means taking a step away so you can come back stronger. And that’s exactly what George Foreman did.

Resilience and Comebacks 

Twenty years after losing to Muhammed Ali, Foreman faced a new challenge. His church was struggling to pay its bills and needed money to build a youth center. 

Broke and needing money, at 38 years old, he announced what would become one of the most stunning comebacks in sports history. He was returning to the ring

At his age, he was ancient by boxing standards. People scoffed. Critics laughed, fans were skeptical, but George believed he had another act in him.

Success didn’t come right away. He fought 30 comeback fights and lost titles to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison.

But in 1994, Michael Moorer accepted a heavyweight championship bout with Foreman, seeing him as a washed up old man he could easily knockout. 

Ten rounds into the fight, Foreman—who was wearing the same boxing trunks he had worn when losing to Muhammad Ali 20 years earlier—landed a devastating blow to Moorer knocking him out to reclaim the heavyweight crown. 

Then George sank to his knees in the corner and prayed. He was 46 years old. 

It was an incredible full-circle moment of triumph and redemption that instantly made him a hero to people everywhere. The “washed-up” old man proved to millions that age is just a number. 

With hard work, faith, and unwavering perseverance, almost anything is possible. You’re never “too old” or “too washed up.” You can adapt, learn new tools, and surprise the doubters.

Young George Foreman relied on aggressiveness and raw power but overconfidence was his kryptonite. The older, wiser George Foreman flipped the script on his younger, overconfident opponents and fought smarter, pacing himself, patiently waiting for the right moment to land the knockout punch.  

Foreman’s Third Act

George Foreman’s three-decade boxing career ended with an incredible record of 76 wins, 5 losses and 68 KOs. But what is most remarkable is that’s not where the story ends.

After regaining the heavyweight title at age 46, suddenly, Foreman wasn’t just the champ—he was a beloved celebrity. He then leveraged this newfound love and trust along his trademark smile into something that transcended boxing entirely: the George Foreman grill. 

A whole generation—many who never saw him throw a single punch—came to know him only for that grill. He was on TV constantly—becoming one of the world’s most recognizable people. He even had a television sit-com. 

Over 100 million George Foreman Grills have sold worldwide, and it still outsells its competitors today. Foreman personally walked away with over $200 million from the endorsement deal (more than Tiger Woods earned from his deal with Nike). 

Get Out of the Mud

George Foreman was a onetime street kid growing up in poverty who hid in muddy filth to escape the police, a man who suffered humiliating defeats on the world stage, who came back at age 46 to reclaim the heavyweight title, and then became a household icon for healthier cooking and a beloved American hero. 

George Foreman’s amazing life is a testament to the unstoppable force of resilience.

If you’re lying in your own stinking mud, this could be your moment of truth. You might be one big pivot away from your own comeback story. But only you can make the choice to stay facedown in the mud or get up, clean up and jump back into the fight.

Always remember that when it’s time to go home, make one more call. That’s how you stay in the fight and that’s how champions are made.

Raise your game, unleash your potential, make the pivot to your next big thing with our FREE Goal Planning Guide 

Here’s a question I get asked all the time: What’s the single biggest misconception holding salespeople back?

That question came from a room full of college students at BYU-Idaho, ages 19 to 24, all exploring sales careers. And my answer is the same whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in the game for decades.

The biggest lie about selling is this: Good salespeople have the gift of gab.

You know the stereotype. The smooth talker. The fast-talking closer. The person who can talk their way into or out of anything. We’ve all seen it in movies, TV shows, and plays like Death of a Salesman. It’s been around for a century, and it’s completely wrong.

The Truth Top Performers Know

Here’s what the best salespeople actually do: They listen.

The greatest salespeople aren’t the best talkers. They’re the best listeners. They’re individuals who know how to ask the right questions and know how to ask questions in a way that create these aha moments for prospects and customers.

They understand something fundamental that average performers miss: Closing happens in the discovery process, not at some magical point where you lay the hammer down and ask for a sale.

Think about that for a second. The deal isn’t won when you deliver your polished presentation. It’s not won when you overcome the final objection. It’s won in those early conversations when you’re asking questions, uncovering pain, and building relationships.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6xiSz9dGkI Why the Stereotype Persists

The negative stereotype of salespeople has been pervasive in society for generations. Part of it’s because no one really likes to be sold. And there are salespeople who are bad. They talk at people instead of actually taking the time to listen.

But here’s the reality: Lots of professions have negative stereotypes. Lawyers. Politicians. Salespeople aren’t the worst of them.

And here’s the good side of that negative stereotype: Nobody wants to be in sales. So if you’re in sales, you’re making a whole lot more money than anybody else. That’s a good thing.

The people who look at the profession of selling and say, “I could never do that” or “I could never interrupt people or take that type of rejection,” are the same people who will never experience the income, freedom, and impact that comes with being great at sales.

The Power of Questions

When you shift your mindset from talking to listening, everything changes. Instead of thinking about what you’re going to say next, you’re focused on what your prospect is telling you.

You’re asking questions like:

• What’s driving this decision right now?
• What happens if you don’t solve this problem?
• Who else is involved in this decision?
• What does success look like for you?

These aren’t manipulative tricks. They’re genuine attempts to understand your prospect’s world, their challenges, and their goals. And when you do that well, you create trust. You build relationships. You position yourself as a partner, not a vendor.

The discovery questions you ask matter more than any pitch you could ever deliver. Handling objections starts with asking the right questions early in the process.

Who’s Really in Control

Here’s the truth: The person in control of the conversation is rarely the talker. In fact, it’s almost always the listener.

If you want to move deals, stop performing and start discovering. Build your calls around three things: smart opening questions, deep follow-ups, and crisp advances to the next step.

You’ll gain insights, not just airtime. And insights are what close deals.

Success in sales isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about being the most curious, the most engaged, and the most intentional about moving the sale forward.

What You Need to Unlearn Right Now

If you’ve been operating under the assumption that you need to be a great talker to succeed in sales, unlearn that immediately.

Replace it with this truth: You need to be a great asker and an even better listener.

Your job isn’t to convince people. Your job is to help people convince themselves by asking questions that lead them to their own conclusions. When prospects discover the solution themselves through your questioning, they own it. They believe it. And they buy.

That’s the relationship you build through asking questions. That matters the most.

The Bottom Line

Stop trying to out-talk your prospects. Stop preparing 47-slide presentations. Stop thinking that your job is to educate and inform.

Your job is to discover. To listen. To understand. To ask the questions that help your prospects see clearly what they need to do next.

The best salespeople aren’t the smooth talkers. They’re the smart listeners who know that the power of the sale is in the questions they ask, not the words they say.

If you master this one fundamental truth, you’ll close more deals than all the gift-of-gab salespeople combined. And you’ll build a career based on relationships, trust, and value instead of pressure, manipulation, and empty talk.

That’s how you win in sales. That’s how you build lasting customer relationships. And that’s how you separate yourself from everyone else who’s still chasing the lie.

Visit salesgravy.com/live to see all of our upcoming virtual and in-person events.

Wherever you are in your sales journey, you need a mentor—now. 

If you’re serious about becoming a top performer or want to stay at the top of your game, you need more than just grit and determination. You need a guide. A mentor who’s been through the fire and who can help you avoid costly mistakes. 

Sales expert Tony Morris stands behind the power of mentorship and the impact it can have on confidence in The Sales Gravy Podcast. Sales is about 80% confidence—you can’t afford to miss out.

The truth is, the best salespeople aren’t born—they’re built. And behind almost every top closer is a mentor who showed them the ropes.

https://youtu.be/QqXHY7ONs_k Mentorship Means a Better You. Period.

Let’s imagine you’re new to sales. Or you’ve got some time under your belt. Or maybe you’re a seasoned vet.

What do you all have in common? You all need a mentor.

Most salespeople fail not because they lack talent, but because they try to figure everything out on their own. They treat sales like a solo sport when it’s really a team effort.

When It’s All Going Wrong, You Need Help

Take the case of Paul—fresh out of college and hungry to make a name for himself in sales. He had the energy and the drive, but he was missing something critical: guidance. 

Paul made call after call, sent countless emails, and chased leads relentlessly. But his close rate was abysmal. 

He’d get shut down early, lose deals at the negotiation table, and get ghosted by prospects who had initially shown interest.

But sales isn’t just about following a script—it’s about reading the room. 

Timing, tone, objection handling, and reading the prospect’s emotional state. That’s where a mentor comes in.

Advice from a Veteran is Key

After months of frustration, Paul finally got paired with Mark. Mark was a legend—consistently at the top of the leaderboard, always winning deals that seemed impossible. 

Mark had also been in the trenches. He’d faced every objection and lost more deals than Paul had even pitched.

Mark didn’t give Paul a playbook—he gave him a framework. He taught Paul how to listen instead of just hearing. He showed him how to control the flow of a conversation and ask better questions. 

Mark didn’t just give Paul advice. He let him shadow his calls, debrief after tough conversations, and sharpen his approach through roleplay.

Within three months, Paul’s close rate skyrocketed. Why? Because Mark showed him what works. Paul didn’t have to figure it out through trial and error—he had a shortcut.

Ask for Feedback

Positive or negative, feedback makes you a better closer. It cuts down your learning curve and sharpens your edge.

There’s constructive criticism: how to fix your call framework, how your because statement falls flat, how your questions didn’t draw out the prospect’s pain. How your buyer wasn’t in the room

Then there’s positive feedback—every salesperson’s favorite. What you’re doing right that you can lean into, continue to hone, and repeat. 

Three Edges a Mentor Gives You

Great sales mentors aren’t a dime a dozen. But the guidance they provide is invaluable. Here’s what a mentor gives you:

• Pattern Recognition: The best mentors will point out where you’re consistently falling short—so you can fix it and move on.
• Accountability: Mentors keep you on track because they’ll check your progress—and keep you focused on specific goals. When you slip into bad habits, they’ll call you out.
• Emotional Control: Rejection stinks and it’s hard to get over—especially when you’re new to sales. A mentor helps you separate rejection from self-worth so you can bounce back faster.

Master The Game

Here’s the reality: You can figure sales out on your own. You can take your lumps, learn from failures, and eventually get better. 

Or you can bypass the struggle by finding a mentor who’s already walked that path.

Having a mentor isn’t just about getting better at sales—it’s about becoming the kind of person who wins consistently. A good mentor won’t just teach you how to close deals; they’ll teach you how to think like a closer.

That’s the difference between an average sales career and an elite one. You don’t have to go it alone. Find a mentor. Learn the process. Master the game.

Need help finding a mentor? We’ll help you develop a personalized mentoring and coaching path that fits you. Set up a free assessment here: https://salesgravy.com/coach/

Gaius, who runs an insurance brokerage in Ohio wants to know how to get his new sales agents cold calling and building pipeline earlier in their training cycle, without making them feel overwhelmed and sabotaging their confidence.

If you’ve ever hired a sales class or tried to ramp up new hires in an industry with complex products or strict guidelines, you’ll relate to Gaius’s dilemma. Below, you’ll find the key takeaways from our conversation on accelerating new rep success, establishing realistic expectations, and blending company marketing with individual agent prospecting efforts.

The Challenge: New Hires, Big Learning Curves

Gaius plans to hire new property-casualty agents in classes of four, each going through about 3–4 months of training. During that time, they have to learn multiple carriers, underwriting guidelines, and compliance rules so they don’t accidentally write poor-fit policies or lose deals over technicalities.

It’s crucial they build confidence before being “thrown to the wolves.”

But here’s the catch: If new hires only focus on product and system knowledge for months, their pipeline remains empty. By the time they’re “ready” to sell, they’ll be way behind on prospecting —and might even lose that DAy One enthusiasm for building relationships.

The question is, how soon can they start generating leads and setting up sales conversations?

Why Pipeline Activities Can’t Wait

As I shared with Gaius, I’ve seen many companies assume new reps aren’t “ready” to prospect until they’ve absorbed the entire knowledge library. Yet waiting too long to do real sales activities can backfire.

Early Wins Boost Confidence

If new hires can set even a few appointments or pass warm leads to experienced agents, it gives them a sense of accomplishment. That momentum helps them stick with the grind of more complex training.

Practical Learning Beats Textbook Learning

In industries with loads of carriers and underwriting rules, real-life sales scenarios actually teach new reps faster than purely theoretical training. Once they’ve got a potential client on the hook, the rep has motivation to find the answers.

Improved Onboarding Speed

Companies that mix early pipeline-building with supported team selling often see new hires reach quota faster—sometimes shaving weeks or months off the usual ramp-up. And yes, there’s a risk of missteps. But that’s where a collaborative culture (“sell as a team”) ensures mistakes become teachable moments, not deal-killers.

The Team-Selling Approach

When new agents don’t have full carrier knowledge, they’ll naturally hit roadblocks. How do you keep them from burning deals (and morale)?

Encourage “Hand-Raises”

If a new rep snags an interested customer, let them wave the flag: “Hey, I have a lead who needs home and auto coverage. Here’s what they’re telling me. What do I do?” Then a veteran agent or manager steps in to guide the quote or finalize the sale, with the rookie learning through an actual client scenario.

Shared Commissions

Make sure new reps see a direct benefit. If they hand off a deal, they might get a partial commission or spiff for their contribution. Over time, they’ll rely less on help—but they’re still building pipeline from Day One.

Hands-On Coaching

Each real conversation is a goldmine for coaching. The rep sees how an experienced teammate answers tricky questions, navigates underwriting guidelines, and pivots between carriers. It’s in-the-field training, not just theoretical.

Structuring Training + Prospecting

Gaius is worried that his new agents need a full 3–4 months before picking up the phone. The short answer is no. They can start small while still in training. Here’s how:

A Few Leads a Day

Instead of waiting for them to finish product modules, drip leads early. Let them call 5 or 10 leads each morning, focusing on booking appointments (rather than doing in-depth quoting). This keeps them from drowning in complexity, but still gives them “real world” prospects.

Scheduled “Ask an Expert” Blocks

Have daily or weekly times when a senior agent or manager is free for quick consults. The new hire can pop in with, “Client says they recently replaced their roof but not the plumbing—what do I do?” That immediate feedback cements knowledge better than PowerPoint slides ever could.

Clear Milestones:

Map out 3 months of onboarding with explicit checkboxes:

• Month 1: Master basic call scripting, do 5 calls/day, practice “hand-off” protocol if a lead is hot.
• Month 2: Increase calls to 10/day, conduct partial quoting for simpler cases, attend 2 coaching sessions/week.
• Month 3: Sell with minimal assistance, handle common underwriting scenarios, start building personal brand on social media.

Pairing Company Marketing with Individual Agent Efforts

The second big question: How do you blend your brokerage’s formal marketing activities (like brand campaigns or leads from your website) with each agent’s personal prospecting?

Provide Starting Leads

If you’re running ads or generating inbound leads, new hires can cut their teeth on less-coveted prospects (like “closed/lost” or older leads). Let them gain confidence responding to these, then earn the right to handle prime leads.

Build Personal Brands

In B2C insurance, it’s often about relationships. Encourage new reps to network in their communities, join local groups, and use social media responsibly (respecting all compliance rules). If your agency runs a local radio ad, for instance, your new hires can promote that talking point when they connect with neighbors or friends.

Content Library

Arm them with digital and print assets they can share on their own channels – e.g., short videos on “Top 3 Mistakes in Home Insurance,” or infographics about “Why You Need More Than Minimum Auto Coverage.” Make it easy for them to align with the company’s brand while showcasing their personal touch.

Accountability and Metrics

Set targets. For example, “Attend 2 local networking events each month, post weekly on social media about a relevant insurance tip, schedule 3 coffee meetups with new community contacts, etc.” Pair that with your marketing team’s leads to create a one-two punch.

Reaping the Benefits of Faster Pipeline Growth

When you let new agents “wait” for months before prospecting, you risk:

• Lost Momentum: They might lose confidence or develop call reluctance if they’re not used to consistent outreach.
• Zero Early Wins: Without a single success story in the first few months, new hires feel pressure, question themselves, and sometimes churn.
• Delayed Revenue: The longer it takes a new rep to start building pipeline, the fewer deals you close in that critical first year.

On the flip side, training them to prospect earlier (even if just setting appointments for someone else) provides real sales experience right away. They see how the process works end-to-end, gain incremental confidence, and bring in revenue sooner.

Final Thoughts: Onboarding for Early Success

One of the biggest challenges for sales leaders and executives is getting new salespeople ramped up faster. An unproductive sales head is costly, draining the P&L. So, getting them prospecting, filling their pipeline, and making those cold calls quickly is crucial. 

At Sales Gravy, we believe in getting new hires on the phone as soon as possible—within their first week. By starting with a few leads and gradually increasing their call volume, we build their confidence and get them productive faster. Remember, a long onboarding process delays success. So pull that band-aid off quickly and start building pipelines from day one.

If you’re serious about accelerating new rep success, don’t quarantine them in a training bubble. Integrate real-world prospecting early. Show them that pipeline building is the lifeblood of the agency—and get them excited about bridging their education with on-the-ground sales.

Likewise, unify your company marketing with each agent’s personal outreach. Give them guidelines, brand assets, and expectations around networking and social media. Encourage them to talk about your brand in everyday life, and to rely on your marketing team for ongoing support.

Because here’s the truth: In property and casualty insurance—or any complex field—a new hire can’t master everything in a few weeks. But if you wait until they’re “100% ready” before making calls, you’ll sabotage the ramp-up process and miss countless early opportunities. Let them start early, help them as a team, and watch as they transform into confident, quota-busting agents.

Need help with your new hire sales onboarding process? Download our FREE guide: The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Sales Training 

How many times have you gotten to the meeting but your pitch fell flat?

You went in guns blazing, thinking the hard part was over and you’d land the deal—but instead you face-planted.

It’s not your product or your pricing. It’s your messaging that’s failing you—and blocking you from a sale.

A Framework to Tap Into Your Prospect’s Pain

So what’s missing? 

A framework that actually speaks to your prospect’s pain, builds urgency, and moves them toward a ‘yes.’ 

As The Sales Gravy Podcast guest Mike Malloy points out, the PASTOR messaging method can solve that disconnect. You tap into your customer’s pain points and you close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkML4D0BPIU The PASTOR Method

Created by renowned copywriter Ray Edwards, the word “PASTOR’ is about guiding your prospect through the process with messaging that grabs attention and prompts action. As a salesperson, you lead your potential client toward a solution.

True sales relationships aren’t forced—it’s natural and authentic. You’re not stereotypically pushy or desperate. You have the magic answer to a customer’s problem.

Think of it like leading a prospect down a sales path where they see the problem clearly, understand the solution, and feel confident saying ‘YES’ to a deal.

P – Problem & Pain

An eventual ‘Yes’ stems from pain—pain from stalled business, lost revenue, or missed quotas.

Until you unearth the problem, there’s no need for you or your solution. Translation: No sale. Your job is to identify the pain point and get your prospect to acknowledge that, yeah, it’s ruining their business, too.

Don’t gloss over the pain—lean into it. Show you understand. Your understanding will connect with the customer and start building your relationship—a relationship that leads to closing.

A – Amplify the Consequences

Don’t be afraid to twist the knife. This isn’t just a little problem. It’s debilitating—costing the customer time and money. It’s a huge pain point.

What will the prospect’s life be next quarter, next year, if they don’t solve it this minute? How much worse will it get?

Fear of loss is a powerful motivator. Prospects need to feel the urgency to fix the problem now.

S – Story, Solution, System

This is where you offer the solution—but don’t just drop a pitch. Tell a story.

 Give your prospect an example that they can hold on to and that helps them connect. 

Tom’s sales team was floundering. They couldn’t make quota. Then they found our [your service].

Jill’s company needed a new distributor. Her current distributor was often late, goods were damaged and it was hurting her bottom line. Then she learned about [your service].

Make it clear that hiring you isn’t just smart—it’s the game-changer they’ve been looking for.

Show them you get it. Lay out a clear, systematic solution that wipes out their pain—once they see you’ve got the answer, the deal’s as good as closed.

T – Transformation & Testimony

And what does it look like when all that pain goes away? Paint the picture.

You highlighted all the real and future pain not hiring you would cause. Now, tell your prospect what life will be like after they embrace your solution.

People don’t buy products—they buy results. They need to see exactly how they’ll save time, make money, and come out ahead. Show them the win, and they’ll say yes.

This is also where you leverage testimonials to build credibility. Personal accounts from past customers who can bolster your position.

When they believe others have succeeded, they’ll trust they can too. They’ll be signing with you before you know it.

O – Offer

Your offer isn’t just about price—it’s about making the value so clear that saying ‘no’ feels like a mistake.

Remove any friction to the deal by emphasizing the ease of transition and fast onboarding.

Your offer needs to entice with solid, actionable steps to cutting out their pain points. There’s no room for waffling here. Outline the ROI clearly and make it simple, easy, and obvious to say ‘yes.’

R – Response (Call to Action)

Don’t let your offer grow cold; get them to buy. Make a crystal clear call to action—stop wasting time, commit to excellence now. 

Introduce urgency. Are spots limited? Is there an upside to signing faster?

Keep it simple. No hesitation; no confusion. Just a next step to act now.

Use PASTOR, Close More Deals

At the end of the day, the only answer that counts is ‘Yes.’

If your pitch keeps falling flat, it’s not because you’re bad at sales—it’s because your messaging isn’t cutting through. 

PASTOR gives you the blueprint to close. Stick to it, and you won’t just get meetings—you’ll start closing them.

Start winning more on cold calls with our FREE sales training guide: 25 Ways to Ask for the Appointment on Cold Calls

Cindy is struggling to set appointments and handle the “How Much Does it Cost?” objection. She recently switched from media sales to the home services industry. Suddenly, she finds herself making all her own cold calls—no marketing team, no pre-existing territory full of warm leads. And unlike her old desk-bound clients, these new prospects are likely to be on a roof or at a job site when she calls.

Not surprisingly, Cindy’s facing more objections than she’s used to: “Is this advertising?” “What’s the price?” “I’m busy—call me later.”

Below, you’ll find the strategies we discussed to help Cindy navigate these challenges, book more appointments, and build a solid pipeline in a brand-new industry.

Don’t Let Your Assumptions Become Their Objections

When Cindy began calling busy contractors who often pick up the phone on a roof, she caught herself feeling anxious or apologetic in her delivery. The lesson? Emotions are contagious. If you sound insecure or rushed, your prospects sense it.

Stop Projecting

You might worry about “bothering” them, but for the business owner, a ringing phone can mean new opportunities. Give them a chance to decide what’s important.

Own Your Value and Be Confident

If you’re convinced your call matters—because it can grow their bottom line—they’re more likely to listen, even if they’re currently juggling tasks on a job site.

Adjust Your Cold Call Timing to Their Schedule

Cindy’s used to calling people who sit behind desks from 9 to 5. But in the home-improvement industry, a prospect is often up at 6 a.m., on a ladder by 7, and swamped all day long.

In many home services sectors, the sweet spot is early morning—about 7 a.m.—because the owner is up, thinking about the day ahead, and hasn’t started the physical labor yet. Even 6:30 a.m. might work. Evening can be another window, but they’re tired. For best results, aim for early. Keep a simple log of call times vs. responses and double down on what works.

Tackle Objections with Confidence

Cindy mentioned getting quick-fire objections—like “Is this advertising?” or “How much does it cost?”—which often derail her. To handle them, remember:

Agree and Pivot

When someone uses the, “How much does it cost?” objection, respond with something like, “That’s exactly why I’m calling—you’ll want to see what we can offer first so we can tailor a solution. Let’s schedule a short meeting, so I can learn more about your business.”

Do not jump straight into an explanation of how your pricing “depends.” Instead, show them why a tailored approach matters.

Use a Stat or Benefit

If they ask, “Is this advertising?” answer “Yes, but not the kind you’re used to. We’re helping home improvement companies increase their profit margin by 25% on retail jobs.”

Immediately pivot to: “I’d love 15 minutes to show you exactly how we do that. How about we meet at your job site Thursday at 2? I’ll bring lunch.”

Emphasize Convenience

Home services pros might not have the bandwidth for a formal sit-down. Offer to meet them where they are. Show you respect their time by fitting into their schedule rather than demanding they fit into yours.

Reframe “Busy” Objections as Expected Objections

If a contractor says, “I’m swamped!” or “Call me later,” don’t take it as a hard “No.” Instead, realize that busy = normal. Of course they’re busy—that’s part of the gig. Let them know you anticipated they’d be slammed.

“I figured you’d be buried this morning—no problem. That’s exactly why I called. Let’s find a time that’s actually convenient for you. How about Friday at 7 a.m.? I’ll bring coffee.”

Offer to Meet Them Where They Are

In desk-bound industries, you can say, “Let’s meet at your office.” But in construction, a prospect’s “office” might be the bed of a work truck or the roof of a house. Get creative:

Bring Lunch, Coffee, or Donuts

If a contractor’s day starts at dawn, a quick coffee at 7 a.m. might be the perfect in-person “meeting.” Show up with an understanding of their job—maybe in boots and jeans if you’re heading to a muddy job site.

Adapt to Their Workflow

If they can’t peel away from the job, suggest walking the site with them for 10 minutes. Ask them to show you their current challenges. This not only helps build rapport but also lets you tailor your value proposition on the spot.

Move Fast, Adjust Confidently, and Meet Them Early

Cindy’s situation reveals a common scenario: you’ve switched industries, and now your prospects behave differently. They’re not behind desks—they’re on ladders or in crawl spaces. The principles, however, remain the same:

1. Don’t Project Your Insecurities: If you believe you’re intruding, your voice will betray that feeling. Own your offer; it genuinely solves their problems.
2. Call Early, Call Often: Try 7 a.m., or even 6:30, to catch decision-makers before they start their back-breaking work.
3. Handle Objections with Firm, Confident Phrasing: “Yes, it’s advertising—but not the kind you’re used to. Here’s how we’re boosting contractors’ profit margins by 25%.”
4. Make It Easy for Them to Meet: Offer to bring coffee or lunch, show up on site, and respect their time.

And always remember: When it’s late in the day, you’ve been dodging objections left and right, and you’re ready to give up, always make one more call. That extra call could be the conversation that cements your next big success in a brand-new industry.

Are you struggling to set appointments when prospecting? Download our FREE guide: 25 Ways to Set an Appointment on a Cold Call  

No matter if you’ve had a great month, closed a big deal, or made it to the winner’s circle at President’s club, winning makes you more vulnerable to losing.

A Winning Message for Sales Winners

Last week, I delivered a keynote at a large company’s President’s club event. It was fun! Great hotel. Tropical destination. People were upbeat and happy because they were celebrating success. And frankly, I love hanging out with ultra-high performers. It’s so energizing to be with winners.

The challenge though was figuring out exactly what I was going to say to them. 

Think about it. These sales professionals are the best of the best. Cream of the crop. The Bee’s Knees in the words of their VP of Sales. They’ve proven that they know what to do. They already are motivated. The last thing I wanted to do was bore them to tears or cause them to feel that I was talking down to them.

So I spent several weeks nervously working on my keynote speech for this group of winners. I went around and around in circles unable to nail down the perfect message until it hit me that these sales professionals were in a very vulnerable position for the very fact that they were winners.

Welcome to the Sales Graveyard

The sales graveyard is full of former President’s Club winners who:

• Came home with a trophy and were fired because they quit selling. 
• Were one hit wonders—winning once and never getting back into the club again. 
• Came back with so much promise and potential only to drift along in mediocrity because they stopped doing the things that got them to the podium in the first place. 

Too often when we win, we see it as an opportunity to take our foot off of the accelerator and coast for a while. It happens to President’s club winners and everyday sales reps.

Have a good month, take a break from prospecting. Close a big deal. Start taking shortcuts. Win the big trip, celebrate a little too long.

Some winners spend a little too much time reading their own press clippings. After working hard and doing all of the right things, they no longer believe that the rules of physics apply to them.

Rather than going back home and honoring the basics and fundamentals of selling that brought them to the dance in the first place, they become undisciplined—delusional that they possess some sales superpower that guarantees their success. 

Maintain your edge by taking courses on Sales Gravy University—the world’s most powerful sales training engine featuring more than 1500 hours of classes from over 40 of the world’s top sales experts and authors. plus live workshops each week and mastermind group coaching sessions. There is nothing else like it in the sales world. 

You Cannot Be Delusional and Successful at the Same Time

We’ve all been there in big and little ways. It happened to me just yesterday.

While playing golf I hit a screaming drive—one of my longest ever—right down the middle of the fairway to within 50 yards of the hole. On that drive, I’d done everything right. I slowed down, followed my routine, focused myself on the fundamentals, and executed. It was an incredible feeling. I celebrated with a big fist pump and high fives all around. 

Confident, I walked right up to my second shot—a short pitch into the green—tasting a birdie and then…I chunked it. For those of you who play golf you know exactly how this feels. It’s awful.

But what was the difference between the first shot—the winner —and the second shot—the loser?

It was me!

Instead of running through my routine and being disciplined and intentional with my approach to that crucial shot, I became lazy. Rather focusing my mind on the basics and fundamentals, I believed that after that beautiful drive, the basics no longer applied to me.

Trust me on this, gravity is a bitch. I walked away with a sad double-bogey proving once again that you cannot be delusional and successful at the same time. 

You Cannot Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought

You become what you think. When you tell yourself that you have a magic success wand, you’ll start to believe it and act like it. You become delusional.

Studies indicate that we talk to ourselves at the rate of up to 300 words a minute. That little voice inside your head jabbers away 24/7. Self-talk, what you say to yourself internally, manifests itself in your outward attitude and actions. 

Pay attention to what you are saying to yourself. When your self-talk turns lazy, when it tells you that it’s ok to rest, take your eye off of the ball, take a short cut, or skip the fundamentals—stop and change it.

Replace lazy, undisciplined self-talk with the words of a disciplined winner, because if you want to keep winning, you cannot afford the luxury of a lazy thought. 

In Sales, Boring Works

Warren Buffett said that, “only when the tide goes out do we get to see who has been swimming naked.” This is his way of saying that people who drift away from or believe that the basics and fundamentals no longer apply to them will eventually be exposed. 

It’s fascinating how often humans quit doing the very things that are working for them—especially President’s club winners. You were disciplined for a while but as soon as you saw some success, you abandoned what got you there. 

It’s natural to go looking for easy buttons because the basics are boring. But do not get drawn in by this siren song. Put your swimming suit on because, in sales, boring works.

Success in Sales is Rented

There is a saying that when you are in second place you are competing with the person in front of you. But when you are in first place, you are competing with yourself. 

What you must never forget is that success in sales is rented, and the rent is due every day, every month, every quarter.

You don’t have the luxury of resting on your laurels after a big win, because that person in second place is going to blow right past you while you are sitting on the side of the road basking in your own glory.

How you respond to winning is just as important as how you respond to losing. When you view winning as an opportunity to take your foot off of the accelerator, you will go back to losing. 

But when you shift your mindset to view winning as a reason to get even better you will become more disciplined and determined. You’ll see winning as validation that you need to double down on the activities, disciplines, and behaviors that got you there in the first place. You will stay in front of the pack and produce even bigger results.

How to Make Winning Predictable

In any endeavor, especially in sales, when the right actions are repeated consistently, winning becomes predictable. The key words here are consistent and repeated. This is the real secret to getting back on the podium next year, closing your next big deal, or sinking that elusive birdie putt. 

Never forget, when it’s time to go home, when you are tired, worn out, and your mind starts telling you that it’s ok to quit, change your self-talk and will yourself to make one more call, because that is what winners do.

Start winning more on cold calls with our FREE sales training guide: 25 Ways to Ask for the Appointment on Cold Calls

You’re stalled. You’re stuck. You’ve plateaued.

No matter how you put it, you’re seeing your sales hit a rut. And let’s face it, you’re in a rut, too.

So, how do you pull yourself out of it? The answer: invest in yourself.

https://youtu.be/odBObaiywlg?feature=shared The Power of Personal Development

In sales, it’s easy to get caught up in the grind—calls to make and deals to close. But if you don’t make time to invest in yourself, sooner or later, you’ll hit a wall and fall into a rut. 

As Sales Gravy Podcast guest Robert Herbst points out, one of the key reasons that sales people stagnate is a lack of personal development.

The reason top performers prioritize learning new skills and pushing their boundaries is because it makes them better and helps them sell more. When you choose to prioritize yourself and your professional development you are choosing a better and happier you.

Personal development isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’—it’s the backbone of sustained success. 

Cultivating a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is essential for embracing personal development.

This is the process of cultivating the belief that your abilities and talents can be improved through effort, learning, and perseverance.

Developing a growth mindset leads to higher achievement, resilience, adaptability, and a more positive approach to self-improvement. It helps you grow from setbacks and adversity, rather than being defined by them—driving you to reach further and achieve goals others might think are impossible.

Read a Book

Everything you want to know about anything can be found in a book. 

Reading isn’t just a habit—it’s a weapon that keeps you ahead of your competition.

Seriously, if you want to grow and develop, start by reading books. An author spends a lifetime accumulating knowledge that they put into a book you can buy for only $20. That’s a massive value for the investment. 

A best practice of top performers is to carve out 15-30 minutes each morning specifically for professional reading.

Listen to Learn

If you have a hard time reading or finding time, listen to an audiobook, a podcast, or an audio course. 

Many top performers listen to learn while they workout, walk the dog, or do chores around the house. It’s also a great way to turn your commute or drivetime in the field on sales calls into Automobile University. 

The point is: audio resources are so convenient you never have to stop learning. 

Take Online Courses

One of the key traits of top performers is that they invest in online training from sources like Sales Gravy University and their own company learning management systems. 

E-learning offers the opportunity to gain and sustain winning sales skills anywhere, anytime and on any device, making it easy for on-the-go sales professionals to invest in themselves.

These days, it’s easy to gain access to the top trainers and thought leaders in sales through affordable, on-demand training modules.

From virtual training to in-person workshops, there’s no greater investment than in yourself and your sales game. It’s even worth traveling to get to transformational conferences that lift you to new heights. 

In-Person Training and Conferences

Seek out every opportunity to attend in-person training. Start by reaching out to your sales leader for information on in-house training offered by your company. Then look for external training events and industry conferences that fit your professional development plan. 

Beyond the training and skill development gained from these events, you’ll spend time with peers, build your network and share best practices that will often boost your income.

Level Up Every Day — Never Stop Growing

Level up or lose out. 

Personal development doesn’t work if you don’t make time for it. This means setting time aside that’s blocked specifically for learning every single day—whether it’s an audiobook, reading, online learning or a training event. 

The cumulative impact of working on yourself every day is massive because in sales when you out learn, you out earn.

Start today. Download the 25 Ways to Ask for An Appointment On A Cold Call or sign up for a course at Sales Gravy University.

Matt from Grand Rapids says, “If I don’t make my cold calls, our pipeline will go dry.” He is juggling everything from operations to customer service escalations, all while trying to generate fresh leads through cold calls.

Sound familiar? In this Ask Jeb segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast, I walk Matt through practical strategies to carve out time for prospecting and target the right prospects, so that he can keep his sales pipeline full—even while being pulled in a dozen directions.

The Problem: Too Many Hats, Too Little Time

Matt’s role covers operations, customer support, escalations, and sales. That’s a lot of hats for one head. Between urgent issues (like system outages) and everyday distractions (Slack messages, emails, ticket follow-ups), his cold-calling efforts often get pushed to the back burner.

If urgent tasks always overshadow your pipeline-building activities, you’ll end up with a dangerously thin pipeline. Remember: “The Pipe is life.” The longer you allow other priorities to get in the way, the more your sales (and stress levels) suffer down the road.

Triage “Urgent vs. Non-Urgent” Tasks

Yes, certain crises truly are urgent. If your client’s phones are down, you can’t ignore that. But not everything that feels urgent is urgent. Often, we treat every Slack ping or email notification like a five-alarm fire.

Identify Real Emergencies:

A system outage that halts business? Absolutely that requires immediate action. A non-critical support request? Schedule it for later. Set boundaries so routine tasks don’t hijack your entire day.

Use Focus Blocks

Turn Off Notifications: Close Slack, kill your email window, silence your phone—whatever it takes to create an uninterrupted block.

Leverage High-Intensity Sprints: Prospect in short bursts (15–30 minutes) where all you do is dial. Make notes on a physical list to avoid toggling between multiple browser tabs.

Delegate

If you’re not the only one who can handle support tickets, let others take them. Own the customer relationship; let your team own the problem resolution.

The Art of Owning the Customer, Not the Problem

One of the biggest time-sucks for salespeople is diving headfirst into problem-solving. If you’re an empathetic type, you might be tempted to fix every issue yourself. But that drains your time and divides your focus.

Own the Relationship

When a customer meltdown looms, they want reassurance. You’re the friendly face they trust. Let them know you’re on it, but don’t dive into the technical fix if there’s someone else better equipped.

Set Expectations and Follow Up

Get a clear commitment from your support team: “Can you resolve this by 3 p.m.?” Check in before the deadline, not after. That way, you can give the customer a timely update.

Balance Accountability

You, as the salesperson, remain responsible for the customer’s happiness. Your support or operations team, however, is responsible for execution. Keep close tabs on them, but don’t do their job for them.

Sharpen Targeting To Build Better Prospecting Lists

Matt’s telecom company has a strong base of medical practices—mostly gained through referrals. Now he wants to proactively call into that same niche. But how do you successfully cold call a vertical you’ve never actively prospected before?

Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Look at your existing medical clients. How big are they? What specialties do they serve? Who handles IT decisions? Notice any patterns in the types of practices or roles you consistently serve.

Craft a Relevant Message

Medical offices might not realize they’re missing features that could improve patient flow. Translate “telecom upgrades” into benefits that matter—like reducing patient wait times, integrating scheduling, or enabling secure remote access. If you offer advanced AI features (like intelligent call routing or sentiment analysis), frame it around operational efficiency and cost savings.

Focus on the Conversation, Not the Sale

In the initial call, your only goal is a deeper conversation—an appointment, a demo, a chance to learn more about their practice’s pains. Don’t try to close them on the phone. Earn the right to a serious meeting by showing genuine understanding of their challenges.

High-Intensity Prospecting Sprints: Go Old-School

When you’re juggling 100 tasks, the simplest method often works best. If your CRM is a magnet for distractions, go pen and paper:

Pen, List, Phone (from Fanatical Prospecting)

Prep a physical list of 20–25 leads you plan to dial in a short block. Put the CRM away. Jot quick notes in the margins—who picked up, who didn’t, outcome of each call. After you’re done, block 10 minutes to update your CRM. No more toggling and no wasted cycles.

Front-Load Your Day

Medical offices are typically more reachable early in the morning (before they’re swamped with patients). Tackle your call block first, then switch to operations or email triage.

Stay Consistent

Even a “BTN” (Better Than Nothing) approach ensures you don’t roll a zero on any given day. Make it a habit to achieve some number of outbound calls before lunch.

You Control the Clock

Matt’s question boiled down to two points: (1) How do I make time for prospecting when operational fires pop up? and (2) How do I penetrate a new (but familiar) niche?

1. Focus Blocks: Turn off Slack and email. Give yourself short, intense windows for pure prospecting.
2. Delegate and Own: Maintain the customer relationship, but don’t let every support ticket consume your day.
3. Target Smartly: If you’ve already succeeded in a niche—like medical—mine that data to craft a strong value proposition.
4. Execute with Simple Systems: Use pen-and-paper call lists and schedule your CRM updates afterward.

When you’re tired at day’s end, battling an inbox full of escalations and half-finished tasks, remember: always make one more call. That extra push keeps your pipeline alive and your sales career thriving—even when you’re juggling a half-dozen hats.

Got a burning question about sales, leadership, or juggling multiple roles? Ask me about it. Head to https://salesgravy.com/ask. One of our producers might schedule you for an upcoming Ask Jeb episode, where we tackle your biggest challenges together!

If you’ve hung around me for longer than five minutes, you’ve heard me say that sales is about talking with people. The fact is, the more people you talk with, the more you’ll sell.

The good news is that there are lots of people to talk with to make a sale. The problem is, far too many salespeople have quit talking with people.

Email Prospecting Has Suddenly Stop Working

Instead they keep prospects and customers at arms length through asynchronous communication channels like email – especially when prospecting. 

They lean on email because it’s easier to hide behind a keyboard than pick up the phone and face rejection. But here’s the cold, hard truth: Email as a prospecting channel has suddenly stopped working. 

Recent data indicate that salespeople today are sending three to eight times more emails than they were just a couple of years ago … yet they’re getting only a tenth of the response. 

Let that sink in for a moment. Three times more email and a tenth of the response. These days you can send your prospecting emails dressed up in a pink bunny suit, riding a unicorn, tossing hundred dollar bills in the air and prospects are still going to ignore you. 

Essentially salespeople and their AI minions are banging out more and more email to make up for the lower response rates leading to a vicious cycle of diminishing returns. At this point, for all intents and purposes, email prospecting is dead. 

The Decline of Email Prospecting 

What happened? 

In the past, crafting cold email involved strategic thought and personalized messages unique to each prospect. It was a slow process which meant salespeople sent fewer but more effective prospecting emails that were at least tolerable for prospects. 

If your email didn’t connect, your prospect would just delete it and, sometimes, at least respond that they were not interested. 

Ten years ago, the slow decline of email as a prospecting channel began with the advent of sales engagement platforms like OutReach and SalesLoft. These platforms opened the door to reps to send streams of automated emails in multi-step cadences at the push of a button.

Then two years ago, AI burst onto the scene and suddenly everything changed. A legion of enterprising tech entrepreneurs promised magical prospecting engines that would “replace” salespeople altogether. Just push a button and AI does the hard work to fill the pipeline.

All Prospecting Email is Suspicious 

These AI apps churn out prospecting emails using “hyper-personalization,” scraping tokens off your LinkedIn profile, grabbing a crumb of information from your Facebook feed, and slapping that into an email to make it look human. 

But here’s the problem: buyers aren’t stupid. The second they sniff out that a robot is behind the curtain, it completely turns them off. People don’t like to be manipulated — especially by AI. Once they realize they’ve been duped by AI, they trust nothing else in their inbox. 

And because AI can send emails 24/7 — relentlessly — without taking a coffee break or a vacation, inboxes have been flooded with this shallow AI-generated drivel. 

The reality is that these platforms are basically spam machines that turned the slow decline of email prospecting into a fast moving avalanche of pain. These AI powered sales automation tools have scaled email volume to an extraordinary and unsustainable level.

The deluge of AI generated email led to a phenomenon called the Great Ignore in which all prospecting messages — good or bad, human or AI generated — are cast into the same bucket and ignored by the prospects.

Sales Prospecting Cynicism

Buyers are drained, exasperated, and exhausted with this crap. I talk to decision-makers every day who say, “I don’t open any email from someone I don’t already know anymore. I just delete it. I don’t have time for that.”

And if they do open your email and see it’s obviously AI text, rather than just deleting your email, they’ll block you permanently. 

Think about it. How often have you looked at your own inbox and found an email with an awkwardly “hyper-personalized” opener that references your dog’s name, a local restaurant, or a sports team. The minute you realize it’s not truly personal, that it’s a a cheap AI gimmick, you feel manipulated. You become cynical. You trust nothing. 

So you delete or block the sender.

Multiply that by thousands or millions of prospects doing the same thing, and you see why email as a prospecting channel has just quit working. 

The Root Cause: Why Email Prospecting Quit Working 

The root cause of this problem is that the vast majority of sales professionals rely on email as their sole prospecting channel — primarily because they fear synchronous channels like the phone and face-to-face prospecting. 

So they double down and send even more emails. As they scramble to get noticed, the consequence is paradoxical: the more they try to connect with email, the more they resort to cheesy tricks and manipulation, the more prospects shut down and ignore them. 

With thousands of sales organizations and millions of salespeople using this same approach, it’s just not sustainable. And this is exactly how we’ve ended up with three times the email volume and one-tenth the response rate. 

Pick Up the Damn Phone

For the modern salesperson, this presents a profound challenge — how to capture attention in a world that is learning to ignore you. The answer is: Pick Up the Damn Phone!

The phone is your single greatest secret weapon for breaking through the noise and getting the attention of spammed-out prospects.

The truth is nothing will ever beat a real-time, interactive, synchronous prospecting conversation. You can hear their tone of voice, address objections instantly, and actually have a conversation.

Hardly anyone calls anymore, because they’re scared of rejection or they assume that no-one answers the phone. But guess what? Prospects do answer the phone and they will talk with you.

And even if they don’t, you can leave a sincere, voicemail message in your own voice, that puts you miles ahead of the AI-generated garbage in their inbox.

Prospecting In-Person

If you’re an outside sales rep, get out in the field and swing some doors. I’ve spent a lot of time out in the field lately, going door-to-door with sales teams. Time after time, we walk in, ask to speak with a decision-maker, and we get immediate face-to-face conversations. No hostility; no one kicking us out. 

Prospects are starved for genuine human interaction. They are tired of video calls and chatbots. They’ll talk with you if you show up. 

Your Action Plan for the Week

This week, I want you to put email prospecting on pause. Instead, focus on the phone and in-person prospecting. Block an hour each morning, first thing, for telephone prospecting. Make at least 25 dials each day. 

Then, while you are out in the field, set a daily goal of five door knocks or drop-ins. Ten is better if you can pull it off.

After each appointment, look to your left, look to your right, and look behind you — then walk in those doors. You’ll be shocked at how receptive people are when you’re standing right in front of them.

Lean Into Being Human

In a world where robots are faking sincerity and spamming the universe, your best asset is your genuine, authentic, flawed-but-real human self. That’s what resonates. That’s what triggers trust. 

You have a personal brand, a vibe and style that AI can’t replicate. So show it off.

Pick up the phone, knock a door, get out there and talk with people. Because in this age of spam and robotic nonsense, human contact is the key to building a winning pipeline. 

Learn how to reduce objections and increase cold call conversions with 25 winning scripts that earn more appointments. Download our FREE guide: 25 Ways to Ask for the Appointment on a Cold Call

You nailed the pitch. The budget was there. The decision-maker was engaged. So why did the deal go cold?

The problem might not be your process. It might be you. Before a prospect buys from you, they have to buy into you. Your professional presence sets the stage for every interaction. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELR-Mhzv7eA First Impressions Matter

If you don’t make a strong first impression, it won’t matter how great your service is.

Your appearance tells a prospect what to expect before you even open your mouth. 

Well-groomed, polished, and with a professional presence? You’re perceived as credible and competent. Over the phone or through email, if you’re engaging, confident and well-spoken, then you’re going to open more doors.

Match your appearance and tone to the company you’re approaching. A simple LinkedIn search or visit to a company website will shed light on company culture. If this is a more informal environment, don’t show up in a suit. If everyone dresses sharp, then your polo and khakis aren’t going to cut it. You want to show an understanding of the work culture by doing your research and fitting in.

Confidence is Contagious

Confidence comes from preparation — knowing your client, their business, and your value. You are how you present yourself. Trust in yourself and display confidence, and your prospect will see you as confident, too. 

However, don’t fall into the trap of arrogance.  Avoid overpromising, looking to be right rather than helpful, and speaking more than you listen.

When you do speak, speak confidently. Eliminate filler words like ‘um’ and ‘ah’ from your conversation. These undermine your confident demeanor and cause your prospect to doubt your credibility. 

Instead, take intentional pauses when you’re not sure what to say or to avoid tripping over your words. A brief pause won’t make you look like you don’t know what you’re talking about — it’ll look like you’re taking a moment to choose exactly the right words.

Nonverbal Communication is Key

Your body language needs to project authority. A firm handshake and steady eye contact show confidence and can put your client at ease. They establish you as a professional presence, ready to combat a company’s issues with excellence. If you’re on a video call, speak up, introduce yourself with some key details and ask your prospect to do the same. Give them an opportunity to tell you who they are.

Smile and be open toward your prospect. This helps establish trust, and mirroring your prospect’s body language is an easy way to develop rapport. Sit up straight and lean in, showing you’re listening carefully to their pain points and issues. 

Your Online Brand Matters

In this digital age, you can’t be surprised to know that potential customers might Google you, find you on LinkedIn, or otherwise look you up online. After all, didn’t you do your research on them before you reached out? It’s your responsibility to present a professional front online as well as in person.

You’re cultivating a personal brand online the same way you’re doing with every call and email. Use your LinkedIn profile to establish yourself as an expert in your area and you’ll see that payoff in your credibility with clients. Make a practice of sharing industry insights, commenting on relevant posts, and posting your own observations on trends, challenges, or best practices.

Listening is a Superpower

The power of your professional presence isn’t limited to first impressions. It’s relevant in every step of the selling process — including how you present yourself as an engaged listener.

Stop thinking of yourself as a seller and start thinking of yourself as a solutions-provider. What you’re offering prospects is the chance to solve a problem costing them money, time or both. That starts with mastering the art of listening.

From the first phone call to the initial meeting and every touch after, establish yourself as a consultative seller who’s more interested in eliminating pain points than simply selling a product. Ask thoughtful follow-up questions and repeat key points to show you understand your prospect’s point of view and issues. 

Follow Up with Excellence

From voicemails to emails to social touches, follow up with persistence and thoughtfulness. Personalized follow-ups show you’ve paid genuine attention to the prospect’s concerns. It also reaffirms your professionalism and genuine interest in negotiating a deal that benefits both parties.

Many salespeople quit too soon. Studies show it can take up to eight touches for engagement, yet most give up after three or four. If you’re not following up 11 or 12 times, then you’re wasting your time. Don’t let impatience kill your deal. Don’t give up one touch too early.

Sell Yourself, Sell Your Product, Sell More

Sales is about influence, and the first thing you influence is how people see you. Sell yourself first, and the rest will follow.

Your professional presence is the foundation of trust and credibility in sales. Every interaction you have, from the first handshake to the final follow-up, shapes how a prospect views you—and whether they’ll buy from you.

Mastering the art of first impressions, exuding relaxed confidence, refining your nonverbal communication, and maintaining a strong digital presence aren’t just extras—they’re essential to winning deals. Sharpen your professional presence, and you’ll not only sell more but also build lasting relationships that drive long-term success.

You declined another prospecting block today, didn’t you?

That internal meeting popped up. Someone needed “just five minutes.” Your CRM screamed for attention. Before you knew it, another day passed without a single cold call, without one new connection request, without moving the needle on your pipeline. But hey, at least your calendar looked impressively full.

Here’s what nobody wants to admit: your jam-packed calendar isn’t proof that you’re too busy to prospect. It’s proof you’ve made prospecting optional. And optional activities don’t close deals or pay commissions.

The Meeting Excuse Is Killing Your Pipeline

Sales professionals love to point at their calendars as evidence of why they can’t prospect. Look at all these internal meetings. See how packed my schedule is. How could I possibly find time for outbound activity?

The real question is: when did you last decline an internal meeting to protect your prospecting time? Most salespeople never have. They treat every meeting invitation as a welcome escape from the discomfort of cold outreach. It’s the perfect alibi when your manager asks about pipeline activity.

But your calendar tells the truth about your priorities. If time blocking for prospecting isn’t on it, prospecting isn’t actually a priority. And if prospecting isn’t a priority, why exactly are you in sales?

You Don’t Need Hours—You Need 15 Minutes

The biggest lie salespeople tell themselves is that prospecting requires massive blocks of uninterrupted time. Two hours minimum. Otherwise, why bother starting?

This is the same mental trap that keeps people from reading, exercising, or learning new skills. They convince themselves that 15 minutes isn’t enough to matter, so they do nothing instead.

Consider this: reading for 15 minutes daily gets you through 20-25 books per year. Walking for 15 minutes adds nearly a mile to your day. Fifteen minutes of focused prospecting can generate six to ten cold calls, dozens of personalized connection requests, or several high-impact video messages to ghosting prospects.

The power isn’t in the duration, but in consistent, focused execution of time blocking for sales activities.

The 15-Minute Power Block Rules

These 3 rules are requirements if you want your time blocking strategy to actually work.

Rule 1: Single-task only. 

Your 15-minute prospecting block is for prospecting. Not prospecting while monitoring email. Not prospecting between Slack messages. Just prospecting. If you spend three minutes calling and twelve minutes scrolling Instagram, you didn’t prospect for 15 minutes.

Rule 2: Everything else can wait.

Yes, that includes your boss. You will not lose a customer or your job because you ignored email for 15 minutes. Responding at the end of your block is still professional. Think about it—if you were sitting face-to-face with your top client, would you stop mid-conversation to check email? Treat your power blocks with the same respect.

Rule 3: Protect the block like your commission depends on it.

Because it does. Top performers don’t ask permission to prospect. They schedule it, block it, and defend it against every interruption. The coworker who needs “just a minute” can wait sixteen minutes.

What Actually Happens in 15 Minutes

Specificity kills procrastination. You’re more likely to execute when you know exactly what you’re doing during your time blocking windows.

Eight to fifteen cold calls fit comfortably in 15 minutes. That’s enough to connect with two or three decision-makers if you’re efficient. Send ten to fifteen LinkedIn connection requests to stakeholders outside your network. Write and mail three handwritten notes to accounts you closed this month. Record personalized video messages for three prospects who’ve gone dark.

None of these activities requires elaborate preparation or perfect conditions. They require you to show up for 15 minutes and do the work. That’s it.

Schedule Your Priorities or Someone Else Will

Stephen Covey said the key isn’t prioritizing your schedule, but scheduling your priorities. Most salespeople do the opposite—they let their calendars fill with whatever lands there first, then wonder why revenue-generating work never happens.

Your calendar should reflect your income goals. If hitting quota requires consistent prospecting, your calendar should show consistent prospecting blocks. If building relationships with key accounts matters, those touchpoints should be scheduled.

When you schedule your sales priorities first, everything else fits around them. When you don’t, everything else crowds them out entirely.

Look at your calendar right now. How many prospecting blocks do you see this week? If the answer is zero, you’ve just identified why your pipeline feels thin.

How to Apply Time Blocking Starting Now

Open your calendar and block three 15-minute windows for prospecting tomorrow. Morning, midday, and late afternoon. Label them “Prospecting Power Block” and set them as busy.

Before each block, decide on one specific activity: cold calls, LinkedIn outreach, video messages, or handwritten notes. Don’t try to do multiple things. Pick one and execute for the full 15 minutes.

Close your email, silence your phone. For 15 minutes, nothing else exists except the activity you committed to. When the timer ends, return to everything else.

Track your blocks for one week. Count how many you actually protected versus how many got sacrificed to “urgent” requests. This data will reveal whether you’re serious about prospecting or just pretending to be.

Make Time or Make Excuses—You Can’t Do Both

Top performers don’t wait for the perfect time to prospect. They don’t need two-hour windows or complete silence or ideal conditions. They make the time, even when it’s just 15 minutes. Especially when it’s just 15 minutes.

That 15-minute window you’re dismissing as too small? It could be the first conversation with your biggest account next quarter. It could be the connection that leads to your highest commission check. It could be the breakthrough that turns a struggling month into a record-breaker.

But only if you actually protect it. Only if you treat time blocking for prospecting as non-negotiable. Only if you stop letting your calendar lie to you about why you’re not doing the work.

Your pipeline doesn’t care how busy you looked today. It cares about the calls you made, the emails you sent, and the relationships you built. Fifteen focused minutes at a time.

Stop letting busy work crowd out revenue-generating activities. Download our free Time Audit Log to identify exactly where your selling time is going and reclaim hours each week for actual prospecting. Track your activities for just three days and discover what’s really eating your calendar.

Caroline is dealing with a dilemma so many sales professionals face this time of year: How do you shake off a mid-winter rut and regain your momentum when it’s cold, dark, and everyone else seems to be dragging too?

On this Ask Jeb episode, I offer practical, real-world strategies to help you thaw out from the winter freeze. Whether you’re fighting the gloom of early sunsets, the aftereffects of holiday downtime, or the struggle to get your customers back in “buying mode,” these tips will help you power through and regain your momentum.

Surround Yourself with Positive Inputs

When you’re in a mid-winter sales rut—especially in cold, gray weather—your environment can either lift you up or drag you down. The content you consume and the people you interact with have a direct impact on your attitude.

Limit Negativity
Skip cable news and doom scrolling. It’s toxic and drains energy. Steer clear of co-workers who only want to complain. Instead, find colleagues or mentors who keep the conversation upbeat and productive.

Engage in “Automobile University”
Turn windshield time into learning time. Load up on podcasts, audiobooks, or uplifting content. If you’re on the road for field sales, use that dead time to sharpen your skills or motivation.

Pro Tip: Tune in to the Sales Gravy Podcast (yes, shameless plug!) or revisit classic audio programs by Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, or Jim Rohn for a quick confidence boost.

Create a “Win” File
Save glowing emails, client testimonials, or kudos from your boss in one place. On days when you feel like a zero, open that folder and remember your wins. Believing in yourself often wavers most when external results are slow. A targeted self-esteem boost can snap you out of that funk.

Read (or Listen) Your Way Out of the Slump

When you can’t rely on external circumstances (like sunny weather or a jam-packed pipeline) to motivate you, it’s time to feed your mind intentionally.

Pick Up a Book
I once pulled myself out of a rut by alternating 10 minutes of prospecting with 10 minutes of reading No Bull Selling by Hank Trisler. That pattern helped him stay focused and eventually led him to top-performer status in his region.

Audio Allies
If reading a physical book doesn’t fit your schedule, try audiobooks. Caroline mentioned she’s listening to The AI Edge on Audible. Whether you dive into James Clear’s Atomic Habits or any other self-improvement or sales guide, consistent listening can reset your mindset.

Revisit (or Set) Your Goals and Business Plan

Aimlessness often fuels a sales rut. Getting clear on why you’re putting in the work refocuses your daily efforts.

Craft a Personal Business Plan
Break your annual quota or goals into quarterly, monthly, and weekly targets. Then, identify the daily actions that lead to those targets. Write them down, review them often, and adjust as needed.

Check In with Your Plan

If you’ve already set goals: Take them out of the drawer and ask, “Am I doing what I said I would do each day?” If you haven’t set goals yet: It’s never too late to start. Use the lull to plan out the rest of your year.

Try the “BTN” (Better Than Nothing) Approach
On a recent Money Monday episode, we introduced the concept of doing something—even if it’s small—to maintain momentum. One call, one follow-up, or one networking email is better than none at all. Doing a little bit every day builds massive momentum over time. Even if you’re not closing big deals right now, small actions (e.g., 15 minutes of prospecting, 10 minutes of follow-ups) add up.

“Eat the Frog” Early in the Day

The Eat the Frog concept (mentioned in Fanatical Prospecting) is about tackling the hardest or most dreaded tasks first. If winter weather and post-holiday inertia already have you feeling sluggish, don’t let procrastination compound the problem.

Schedule Tough Calls in the Morning
If you tend to stall on prospecting, block out time when you’re freshest. Once you conquer the hardest thing on your list, everything else feels easier.

Celebrate Small Victories
Even if you only manage a handful of calls, pat yourself on the back. Remind yourself that a day with 5 calls beats a day with none.

Lean into Action and Let Momentum Build

Motion begets emotion—meaning the more you do, the more you feel like doing. Conversely, idle time often magnifies a slump.

The Power of Micro-Commitments
Promise yourself you’ll make 5 dials or send 3 targeted emails before checking social media. Then, if you’re up for more, keep going. These little commitments help you sidestep analysis paralysis.

Reap the “Sales Endorphins”
Keith Lubner, calls it “sales endorphins.” Each positive action—be it a successful call, a good conversation, or a micro-goal achieved—releases a jolt of motivation.

You Control the Thaw

Mid-winter, post-holiday ruts can feel like trudging through snow drifts in frigid temps. The key is recognizing that you have the power to pull out of this sales rut. Surround yourself with positivity, draw on small wins, and “eat the frog” before your day disappears under a cozy blanket of procrastination.

Whether you rely on motivational audio, daily micro-commitments, or a well-curated folder of glowing testimonials, do what it takes to spark the engine. And if you find yourself at the end of the day, worn down and tempted to punch out early—make one more call. That simple action can ignite momentum and get your motor running.

Got a burning sales question? Head to salesgravy.com/ask. Our producers will reach out to get you scheduled on an upcoming Ask Jeb show where we tackle your biggest sales and leadership challenges.

Three weeks ago it warmed up here in Augusta, Georgia, so I played hooky from work to take advantage of the nice weather and play a round of golf. While I was waiting for the group in front of me to clear the green my phone rang. I answered but I couldn’t hear anything on the other end so I hung up. 

Ten minutes later it rang again with a call from the same number. This time, however, I was walking up to a birdie putt, so I sent the call to voicemail. 

After finishing my round, I looked at my voice messages to see who had called, but there was no message so I didn’t give it another thought. 

Later that day, I found an email from the rep asking for a meeting. He said he had called but we’d been disconnected. 

It was at that moment that I realized I had my earbuds in when I answered the phone the first time. Sometimes calls do not automatically transfer to them. That is why I couldn’t hear him when I picked up the phone. 

I considered responding to his email at that moment, but it was dinner time, and I was getting ready to grill some steaks. So, I put his note aside for later. The next morning, life happened, priorities got in the way, and I completely forgot about it. I haven’t heard from him since. 

After three attempts (and no voice message) he gave up. The sad thing is, because of my guilt about hanging up on him, had he made one more call or email, I would have responded. 

Other than not prospecting altogether, giving up too soon is the primary reason salespeople are failing at prospecting on an epic scale. 

92% of Prospectors Give Up After Only 4 Attempts

Once after another attempt at creating a viable light bulb went down in flames, inventor Thomas Edison said that he hadn’t failed. He’d just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work. Because of his relentless persistence, he changed the world. 

Now juxtapose this against the statistics on sales prospecting persistence: 

• 44% of salespeople make only one prospecting attempt before giving up. 
• 78% make only two prospecting attempts before giving up.
• 92% never make more than four prospecting attempts.
• 94% of these attempts are lame, poorly written emails. 

Deeper into the weeds, the data tells us that it takes many prospecting touches to compel prospects to engage. 

• 4 touches to engage a hot inbound lead. 
• 5 touches to engage a prospect in a buying window who is familiar with you and your brand.
• 7 touches to engage an inactive customer or previously closed/lost deal.
• 9 touches to engage a warm inbound lead.
• 11 touches to engage a prospect in the buying window with no familiarity with you or your brand.
• 13 touches to engage a prospect with some familiarity with you or your brand but not in a buying window.
• 20+ touches to engage a cold prospect who is not familiar with you or your brand.

Keep in mind that these are averages across a wide statistical distribution. Depending on your brand recognition, geographic location, prospecting channel, product, service, sales cycle, industry vertical, and the role (CEO, Director, Manager) you might find that these numbers shift.

The point, however, is not the numbers. It is the story these numbers tell us. In most cases, it takes around 8 touches to get meaningful engagement from a prospect. But 92% of salespeople give up after no more than four attempts. 

It’s no wonder that pipelines are bone dry and last year, according to recent data, 91% of sales teams failed to achieve quota. 

Emotional Hangups in Prospecting

When I tell stories of prospecting persistence from the stage during keynotes and training sessions—for instance, the rep who contacted me 71 times before finally convincing me to buy from him—people in the audience visually squirm. 

Invariably, when I tell the true story of the time I left a voicemail for a prospective client every day for 52 days in a row before he called me back leading to a $1.2 million deal and punching my ticket to Presidents Club, there is an audible gasp of disbelief.  

This type of raw prospecting persistence carries negative connotations. People will come up to me and say things like:

“I could never do that!”

“I’d be pissed if anyone called me that many times.”

“If someone did that to me, I’d block them.”

Sometimes they attack me with:

“Anyone who would call that many times is an awful person.”

“I don’t care what you were selling or how badly I needed it, I would never buy from you!”

“That’s horrible; it’s stalking!”

I want to be clear that I am not suggesting that salespeople should engage in gratuitous stalking. That makes no sense and will not earn you meaningful engagement. 

Professional, intentional, systematic, multi-touch prospecting, is not stalking. 

Projecting is the Enemy of Persistence

Although nearly every sales professional worth their salt understands the power of persistence in prospecting, most struggle to be persistent prospectors. 

For most salespeople, the level of persistence required to grab the attention of modern buyers can feel like you’re being pushy—crossing the line, bothering, and annoying people. 

This wave of emotional hang-ups in the form of projecting is why most salespeople give up too soon.

Projecting, in a psychological context, is the act of attributing your own emotions, feelings, assumptions, experiences, or biases to your prospect. It causes you to decide what they are feeling through the lens of your own emotions rather than theirs.

Think about the rep who called me while I was on the golf course. If, in his mind’s eye, he pictured me angry at him because I hung up, he might feel that a fourth or fifth touch was “too pushy” or “annoying me,” even though those feelings couldn’t be further from the truth. 

I might have found what he was selling interesting, but we’ll never know now.

Or, if you feel anxious about interrupting people with a phone call, you might project that anxiety onto your prospect, assuming it makes them uncomfortable. However, your prospect may not feel that way at all—especially if they are in a buying window and receptive to talking with you.

Projecting Allows for an Easy Excuse to Give Up

Projecting, which is all too common for salespeople, costs you dearly and holds you back from being persistent. 

• When you project your feelings of annoyance or frustration about being interrupted onto prospects, it can cause you to give up prematurely.
• When you project your fear of rejection onto prospects, it can cause you to interpret a lack of immediate response or a vague objection as a definitive “no.”
• Projecting can also cause you to stick to a single communication channel like email, believing that it is less intrusive and aligns with how the prospect wants to be contacted. When the prospect doesn’t respond, you quit rather than reach out through different channels.

Projecting your own discomfort with prospecting persistence causes you to rationalize that your prospect doesn’t want to be contacted. This becomes an easy excuse not to prospect or to give up after one or two touches. 

Emotional Detachment

Breaking through the challenge of projecting when prospecting and truly embracing persistence is not easy. You know as well as anyone else that detaching from emotional hang-ups is easier said than done. But emotional detachment is exactly what has to be done in order to free yourself from what is holding you back. 

When it comes to the persistence of prospecting—where rejection and non-responsiveness are common—emotional detachment is a crucial meta-skill. 

Detachment doesn’t mean being cold or indifferent. It means not allowing your own personal emotions to cause you to decide what your prospect feels. When you learn to detach, you are less likely to take rejection personally, you’ll bounce back more quickly, and you’ll find the persistence required to win. 

Resistance Does Not Equal Rejection

Detachment begins with internalizing that your prospect’s initial resistance does not equate to outright rejection. We all resist new things and change.

Resistance is a natural response to your outreach. Especially when people are not yet familiar with you, your brand, or your product, service, or software. It is just human nature.

Persistence is often required to move beyond this initial familiarity barrier. This helps compel your prospect to engage in a meaningful conversation and build a deeper connection. This is why making multiple prospecting touches is a normal part of the prospecting and familiarity journey.

Instead of viewing a lack of response, a rejection, or an unexpected outcome as a personal failure, try reframing these moments. Recognize that each step, whether positive or negative, contributes to your growth and eventual success and is a part of the process. This helps you avoid getting caught up in the negative emotions that cause you to give up too early.

It is easier to detach from your emotions when you view each persistent prospecting touch as a natural step toward meaningful engagement. Instead of focusing solely on the success or failure of any given touch, shift your perspective to see the bigger picture of building relationships over time.

Shift your mindset from equating persistence with being pushy and resistance with rejection. Then you step into a prospecting framework that values consistency, patience, and a focus on persistently playing the long game.

Edison once said that “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” So when you are tired, worn out, and you feel like you can’t take anymore rejection, always will yourself to make one more call!

Learn how to convert more prospecting calls into appointments with our FREE Guide 25 Ways to Ask for the Appointment on a Cold Call

In sales – especially in product knowledge training – we’re taught from day one how to pitch, how to present, and how to overcome objections. We rehearse our spiels, memorize talking points, and perfect our scripts. 

But too often we forget one of the most basic truths in sales: The more you listen, the more you learn. And the more you learn, the faster and easier it is to close a deal. Silence — shutting up and listening — is your secret weapon. 

Yes, you need to speak confidently about the value you bring to the table, and you need to be clear when you’re asking for the deal. But the words that actually sway a prospect don’t come from you — they come from them. 

Prospects convince themselves to buy. Your job is to guide the conversation in such a way that they articulate the problems they’re trying to solve, the goals they want to achieve, and the obstacles blocking their path. When you can get them to articulate those issues in their own words, you close deals. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovBdhmangUU Embrace the Pause

A common mistake reps make is rushing in to pitch a solution, answer a question, or tackle a perceived objection. They jump in prematurely, before letting the prospect fully voice what’s on their mind. 

But if you can stay silent, if you can resist the urge to speak immediately, your prospect will usually elaborate. They’ll keep talking, often divulging the root cause of their hesitation. 

That root cause might be very different from what you assumed at first glance. If you jump in too soon, you risk addressing a superficial objection and missing the real issue entirely.

I’ve seen too many sales professionals sabotage deals because they were afraid of a little silence. They ramble on, trying to fill every pause, unnerved by any lull in the conversation. 

But in the pause, in the silence, is where your prospect gathers their thoughts. If you just wait, if you’ll just shut up, what comes next is where the real magic lies. 

Your prospect will begin to share deeper insights. They might reveal the internal politics at play, the budget constraints, or the personal motivations driving their buying decision. They’ll teach you exactly how to close the sale. 

Build Trust Through Silence

Learning to be comfortable with silence is also about showing genuine respect for the other person. When you give someone space to talk, you send an unspoken message: “I value your thoughts, your insights, and your experiences.” 

That’s a powerful psychological signal. It builds trust faster than any perfectly rehearsed line. People buy from those they trust, and trust often begins with the simple act of listening.

Now, I’m not saying you should clam up entirely. Strategic silence is not about becoming a mute. It’s about knowing when to speak, what to say, and when to remain quiet. 

Ask a probing question, and then zip your lips. Sit there, look them in the eye, and nod empathetically while they talk. Let them finish. Then pause a moment. 

Usually, that extra beat of silence after they finish speaking nudges them to continue, and they’ll share even more valuable information. 

If it’s truly time for you to respond, do so thoughtfully, directly, and concisely. Then hand the baton of conversation back to your prospect with another question or an invitation to elaborate.

Six Strategies For Leveraging Silence to Sell More

1. Plan Your Questions: Before any meeting, plan the key questions you want to ask. Keep them open-ended and designed to encourage deep, detailed answers.
2. Practice The 3-Count Rule: After the other person finishes answering the question, mentally count “one … two … three” before you talk again. Let those seconds of silence hang in the air. Leaving the gap of silence almost always compels the other person to fill it. 
3. Embrace Discomfort: Silence can be awkward. Learn to live with that. Recognize that this discomfort is exactly what triggers prospects to open up further.
4. Be in the Moment: After asking a question, resist the urge to start planning your response or thinking about your next question in your head.
5. Listen Deeply: When they talk, focus on their words and the emotions behind them. Don’t just listen; truly hear what they’re saying and ask follow up questions around their emotional cues. 
6. Ask Follow-Up Questions: Instead of immediately trying to solve their problem or deliver a solution, ask another question that goes deeper. “Can you tell me more about that?” or “How does that issue affect you personally?” can uncover hidden gold.
7. Recap and Confirm: Once the prospect has shared, summarize what you heard. Confirm that you understand their concerns correctly. This step builds trust and ensures everyone’s on the same page.

When you unlock the power of silence in your sales conversations, you’ll get below the surface to the real issues your prospect is facing and build stronger relationships. Never forget that sales isn’t about talking more; it’s about learning more. And you learn more by closing your mouth and opening your ears.

Sales Gravy Live’s Fanatical Prospecting Bootcamp teaches tactics and tricks to 5x your pipeline in 90 days. Learn more about it here.

For more sales tips, listen to the Ask Jeb Podcast, where Jeb answers viewers’ burning questions live. Listen here.

Download Jeb’s FREE Fanatical Prospecting Book Club and Study Guide. This 31-page guide includes summaries, discussion prompts, individual reflections, and exercises. Get it Here

Marcin from Warsaw, Poland, asks: What are the top sales trends shaping the future of sales?

Our conversation ranged from the impact of AI to the growing importance of a consultative selling mindset in modern selling. Below, you’ll discover practical insights you can leverage to sharpen your competitive edge—regardless of what industry or region you sell into—and take advantage of these emerging trends.

AI Will Power Sales Efficiency and Intelligence

When we think about the future of sales, AI inevitably dominates the conversation. Whether you’re a software rep, selling capital equipment, or providing professional services, artificial intelligence is quickly transforming the salescape.

1. Elevated Efficiency
   AI will eliminate many repetitive tasks, surface the best leads, track deal progress, and remind you when a prospect stalls. At a basic level, AI can be your 24/7 virtual assistant that never forgets an appointment or misses a follow-up.
2. Smarter Data Management
   AI will digest massive data sets, then deliver concise insights that help you identify buying signals, forecast deal closures, and spot hidden risk factors in your pipeline.
3. Relationships Still Matter
   As advanced as AI might be, it can’t replace human conversations—especially in complex or consultative sales. Ultimately, people buy from people they trust. Keep that fact front and center as you adopt AI-driven tools. They’re there to free you up for higher-value activities, not to take over your role.

The Return to Humanity: Relationships Make the Difference

In an age where we can automate just about anything with tech, your core differentiator will be your ability to build trust and engage deeply with clients.

• Human Connection Is a Competitive Advantage
  If everything can be automated or self-served, how do you stand out? By demonstrating genuine empathy, patience, and an interest in solving unique business problems. Buyers are craving human interaction that goes beyond transactional sales.
• Adapt to Cultural Nuances
  Your ability to adapt and flex to the nuance of both cultural differences between countries, regions, industries, and companies gives you a competitive edge when building trust.  In some markets, diving straight into business is a sign of respect and efficiency; in others, building rapport is crucial before any serious conversation can start. Being agile enough to flex your communication style to fit local norms is a hallmark of top-performing sales consultants.

Embrace a Consultative Selling Mindset

In the age of AI there is a massive shift toward consultative selling. If you’re selling complex products, services, or solutions, you can’t just pitch features and benefits anymore. To survive and thrive you must become a business advisor, diagnosing problems and developing creative and innovative solutions.

Key Skills to Develop

1. Deep Discovery 
   Great consultants don’t leap in with a pre-packaged pitch; they ask probing questions, explore unarticulated pain points, and let clients talk. This patient approach sets you up to deliver precisely what the customer needs.
2. Business Acumen and Technical Knowledge
   In consultative sales, you often speak with senior executives who expect you to know how business works—everything from supply chain issues to profitability metrics. If you show up unprepared, someone else with deeper business insight will get the sale.
3. Creative, Innovative Solutions
   Once you’ve gathered the facts, your job is to co-create a roadmap. That means pulling from your experience, internal product knowledge, and general business know-how to design a solution that resonates across multiple stakeholders. This requires both IQ (to connect the dots) and EQ (to communicate the vision persuasively).

Stay Curious and Keep Learning

A big part of stepping into a consultative role is adopting a lifelong learning mentality. Too many sales professionals stop reading or stop trying new things once they feel confident in their current role. But the pace of change is accelerating, and complacency is dangerous.

• Read Widely
  I personally read (or listen to) a steady stream of books. I’m an advocate of doubling up with Kindle and Audible to keep learning wherever I go. If you want to understand AI’s impact on sales more deeply, my latest book—The AI Edge—is a great place to start.
• Study Your Industry and Markets
  Keep track of industry-specific trade journals, financial news, and market trend reports. If you’re selling in healthcare, finance, manufacturing, or nonprofits, dive deep into how those sectors operate and adapt.
• Role-Play and Practice
  Being a consultant means mastering the art of conversation. Role-playing different scenarios with a colleague or sales manager isn’t just for novices; it helps even seasoned pros refine their questioning techniques and adapt to complex buying committees.

Transforming from “Just a Salesperson” to Trusted Advisor

Problem solvers are the champions of the business world. It is crucial that you make the mindset shift needed to go from a mere “vendor” to a high-level consultant or trusted advisor. It starts with seeing yourself in that new identity. Once you do, you’ll naturally invest time into building deeper business acumen, strengthening your listening skills, and shaping creative solutions.While AI and automation will continue to reshape sales, your ability to interpret data, ask incisive questions, and connect personally with buyers will set you apart.

Got a Sales Challenge? Ask Jeb!

If you’re struggling with a tricky sales scenario—whether it’s prospecting woes, AI adoption, or mastering consultative conversations—I’d love to help. Go to salesgravy.com/ask, fill out the short form, and our producers will reach out to schedule you for a future Ask Jeb segment.