Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

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.

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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? 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 

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.

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?

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.”

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:

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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. 

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 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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.  

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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? 

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.

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.  

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). 

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 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

When new agents don’t have full carrier knowledge, they’ll naturally hit roadblocks. How do you keep them from burning deals (and morale)?

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cindy mentioned getting quick-fire objections—like “Is this advertising?” or “How much does it cost?”—which often derail her. To handle them, remember:

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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 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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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 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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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, 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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

WARNING: This Monday’s message will be one of the most powerful hacks you’ll ever integrate into your life—because it’s simple, easy to put into practice, and it works. It has the potential, over the course of time, to change everything for you.

It’s the BTN method, and I learned it from a friend of mine who completely transformed his life and his habits by mastering this one straight-forward tactic.

In James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, he talks about a strategy for making a habit stick: never miss two days in a row.

In other words, if you mess up on Monday—if you skip your workout or drop the ball on your new habit—you give yourself permission to let it go.

But get right back on track by Tuesday. You never miss two days in a row and allow those mistakes to pile up and push you right back into the bad habit you are trying to change.

I love this advice because it reminds us we’re all human. We’re going to slip up. Life happens—kids get sick, you get sick, clients call with emergencies, your boss piles extra tasks on your desk, or your flight is delayed and you’re stranded in an airport— sometimes you’ve just have to eat that piece of cake.

James Clear’s approach is, when this happens, to give yourself a break. It’s okay that you messed up once. Forgive yourself but just don’t let it spiral downward by stringing together multiple days of misses together. It’s a great approach.

But there is another strategy that works even better for staying track, makes it easier to bounce back, still allows you to be human, and over time yields far better results. If you really want to build unstoppable sales habits and supercharge your performance you’ll love this approach.

A few years back, I was meeting a good friend of mine for dinner. We hadn’t seen each other in a couple of years.

He’s the CEO of a large company—constantly flying all over the world, dealing with high-level negotiations, board meetings, you name it.

I know from experience that this kind of schedule can wreak havoc on your diet, your sleep, and especially your exercise routine.

When Chris walked into the restaurant, I was stunned. He looked incredible—like a completely different person.

He’d lost a bunch of weight and was in fantastic shape. As we sat down at our table I couldn’t help but blurt out, “Dude, you look incredible, how on earth do you manage to find the time to exercise and take care of yourself like that with your insane schedule.”

The truth is that at the time, I was really struggling with my own health. I’d been traveling without a break and gained far too much weight. I felt bad. And even though I knew I needed to do something about it, I was wrestling with the typical excuses: busy travel itinerary, client dinners, lack of time in the mornings for a real workout, late nights in airports, and exhaustion.

Chris looked at me, smiled, and said, “I use the BTN method.”

I instantly reached for my phone to Google “BTN” because I thought it was some new, miracle workout program and I was looking for anything that could help me get my health back on track.

Chris just started laughing. “You’re not gonna find that on Google,” he said. “BTN stands for Better Than Nothing.”

Chris explained his philosophy: No matter where he is—no matter how jam-packed his day, no matter how exhausted he feels—he refuses to let a single day pass without doing some form of exercise—no matter how little.

On a good day, when he has time, he does an intense 45-minute workout. But if he doesn’t have time, if he’s been in back-to-back meetings from dawn to dusk, then he’ll at least drop down on the floor in his hotel room and do five push-ups, or 20 jumping jacks, or a two-minute plank. Something. Anything. Just not nothing.

He explained that five push-ups is better than none and over time it all adds up. That’s the BTN method—Something is Better Than Nothing.

One big reason most of us haven’t adopted the BTN mindset is that it feels too small to matter. If you’re used to a 60-minute workout, you might think, “Ten push-ups? That’s useless. Might as well not do anything.”

The truth is that doing anything is infinitely better than doing nothing because of the cumulative impact of doing a little bit every day. For Chris, the months and years of never missing a day completely transformed his health.

Plus, BTN keeps you tethered to your routine, your discipline, momentum, and your sense of identity as someone who follows through and never misses a day.

In my book Fanatical Prospecting, I talk about how prospecting is one of those non-negotiable activities you must do every single day to keep your pipeline full.

Yet, if we’re honest, nobody really likes prospecting. We’ll dream up any excuse, and I mean any excuse to put it off: proposals that need writing, admin tasks, emails, that one big client who demands your attention 24/7, meetings, the boss, it’s Wednesday, a full moon or maybe just the allure of another cup of coffee in the break room.

Of course there are real, legitimate issues that impact how much time you have for prospecting during your sales day.

I know you’re busy. You have fires to put out. Big presentations. And a packed schedule of demos, discovery, and closing meetings. On these days when your schedule is that packed it’s not unusual to roll a zero and skip prospecting altogether. It’s not like you did it on purpose.

But that’s a big problem because those zeros add up to zero. The number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline and the number one reason why you have an empty pipeline is because you did zero prospecting.

A zero day is a day when you do absolutely nothing toward your goal. In fitness, that means no movement, no push-ups, not even a single squat. In sales, it means ignoring prospecting entirely.

Zero days are the real enemy because zero days compound your inaction leading to crash and burn failure.

By contrast though, when you adopt a something is better than nothing mindset and commit to never rolling a zero, you’ll accomplish more than you ever thought possible because you tap into the law of cumulative impact.

The Law of Cumulative Impact states that small, consistent actions, when repeated regularly over time, add up to produce massive results.

In other words, even seemingly insignificant efforts—like making a few prospecting calls or doing a short workout—lead to major transformations in performance, health, and personal growth over time.

Some days you’ll knock out 50 cold calls. Other days you might only manage to make five. That’s okay! Because the last time I checked, five is better than zero.

By continuously stacking small wins, you harness the compounding effect and far exceed what can be achieved with occasional bursts of high effort followed by long stretches of inaction.

• Doing five push-ups every single day for a year accumulates to nearly 2,000 push-ups. That’s going to tone your upper body, build endurance, and keep your metabolism humming.
• Doing five calls a day is 25 calls a week, over 100 calls a month, and well above 1,000 calls a year. That’s a massive chunk of pipeline-building activity from “just five calls a day.”

The key is allowing yourself to be proud of those micro-wins. You’re aiming for progress, not perfection. And the days when you can do more—fantastic. But on others you have to accept that doing something is a win because it’s better than nothing.

Greatness in sales comes from consistent daily effort. The pipeline is always flowing because you never stop feeding it. The “Better Than Nothing” approach ensures you’re always adding logs to the fire—maybe just a few some days, maybe a whole bundle on others, but never letting it burn out completely. Over time, that’s how you create unstoppable momentum.

Here are the keys to putting the BTN Method into practice in your sales day and life.

1. Adopt “No Zeros” Mindset: Wake up each morning telling yourself that you are a person who never has a zero day of prospecting—no matter how swamped or frazzled you feel. Say it out loud.
2. Plan for BTN Activities: Identify the simplest tasks you can do if you’re pressed for time (like calling five leads or sending three emails).
3. Fill the Gaps: Always carry a prospecting list with you. That way you are always prepared. Whenever you find yourself with a tiny window—maybe someone cancels a Zoom meeting or you have 20 minutes between appointments—use the gap to make a few calls. No chunk of time is too small.
4. Celebrate Small Wins: It might feel silly to fist-bump yourself for just doing something, but that mental reinforcement works. You’re rewarding yourself for no zeros.

And remember, this doesn’t just apply to prospecting. Never let a day go by without some form of progress toward your sales goals. Five minutes, ten minutes, one micro-task—it’s always better than nothing.

Whether it’s your first year in sales or you are a seasoned veteran, our FREE Goal Planning guide gives you proven tips, tools and tactics for developing a winning game plan to achieve your biggest goals.

On the surface, you’d think that “selling” and “asking” go hand in hand. In reality, salespeople at all experience levels often hesitate, tiptoe around, or dodge direct closes because they’re afraid of rejection, worried about coming across as pushy, or insecure about asking.

On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount explores why salespeople fear asking for the sale and what to do about it with author and Sales Gravy University instructor, Tony Morris 

Every salesperson starts somewhere. Tony Morris started turning a profit buying 10 pounds of sweets from a shop and selling them for 20 pounds. Before that, he sold car washing door to door. But before all that, he spent hours watching his father prep for sales calls in the mirror, honing his language and mastering his message. It drove home one idea for a young Tony: To be a sales success, you have to practice, practice, practice learning how to ask for the sale. 

The Fear Factor That Holds Salespeople Back From Asking for the Sale

There’s an underlying, deeply human factor that derails many capable sales professionals: The fear of asking for the sale.

Rejection stings, whether it’s a “no” from a potential client or crickets after your presented a proposal you believed was bulletproof.  We fear hearing “no” because we interpret it, consciously or not, as a sign that our competence or worth is lacking. Ironically, the more empathetic and relationship-focused a salesperson is, the more they tend to shy away from scenarios that might lead to an uncomfortable refusal.

When you allow the fear of rejection for creep in when attempting to close the sales it often leads to:

• Hesitation: You wait for the buyer to “signal” readiness, rather than proactively closing.
• Defensiveness: If a conversation veers toward potential objections, you steer away or gloss over critical next steps.
• Over-Explaining: To avoid a direct ask, you bury the buyer in details, hoping they’ll volunteer a “yes.”

Watch any top performer in any field—a pro golfer, a concert pianist, or an elite salesperson—and they often make it look effortless. People assume they were simply “born with it.” In truth, consistent practice is usually the reason they’re able to operate at such a high level without appearing scripted or nervous.

One reason salespeople hesitate to ask for the sale is that they don’t feel comfortable with what to say—or how to say it—when the conversation reaches its critical moment. Practice, especially under realistic conditions, engrains talk tracks, responses to objections, and emotional composure. Practice allows you to lean on muscle memory rather than fumbling for words or panicking at a curveball question or objection.

The more you prepare, the more comfortable you are in the moment. When you are well-prepared you come across as “unscripted” and fluid because you’re not scrambling to find the right words. You’ve internalized the dialogue, so it sounds like a calm, authentic conversation rather than a memorized monologue.

Time and again, top sales performers cite a simple truth: a fast “no” can be better than a lingering “maybe.” It allows you to save time, refocus energy, and cultivate a pipeline of engaged prospects. Learning to handle “no” as a data point—rather than personal rejection—keeps you in motion.

• Categorize the “Nos”: Some are “not now,” others are “not a fit,” and a few are “never.” Understanding which type of no you’re dealing with can shape follow-up strategies.
• Seek Feedback: If appropriate, ask, “I respect your decision. May I ask what caused you to decline?” That insight can sharpen future presentations.
• Stay Professional: Burn no bridges. A gracious exit can leave the door cracked open; circumstances often change.

Whether you’re selling software, consulting services, or coffee machines, if you never ask, you’ll never receive. Fear of rejection and worries about being too pushy can sabotage your success long before you even get to the handshake stage. Authentic confidence, grounded in genuine concern for the buyer’s wellbeing, is the antidote. Combine that mindset with disciplined practice, and you become unstoppable.

You don’t need to “push” people; you just need to guide them. You don’t need to coerce; you simply open the door and invite them to walk through. And if you believe wholeheartedly in your solution, this moment of asking becomes a service to your prospect, not an intrusion. That shift in perspective can transform your entire sales career—and perhaps even your life.

It’s one thing to know you should ask for the sale; it’s another to do it regularly and effectively. Every week, set aside time to measure how consistently you close your conversations. Are you ending calls with vague next steps? Or are you confidently moving opportunities toward a clear yes or no?

• Daily Reflection: At the end of each day, ask: “Did I ask for the sale or a firm next step in every relevant conversation?” If not, why not?
• Peer Accountability: Partner with a colleague or coach to share stats on how many direct asks you made. A little external encouragement can work wonders.
• Celebrate the Asks: Even if you hear “no,” congratulate yourself for actually posing the question. The more you do, the less intimidating it becomes.

The next time you catch yourself hesitating at the close, remember: it’s not about you—it’s about helping them solve a problem. Take a breath, trust your preparation, and ask. Then stay silent long enough for the buyer to answer. You might be surprised how often they say “yes.”

Jeb Blount’s bestselling book Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling. is a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development―prospecting.

Download our free Fanatical Prospecting Book Club Guide HERE.

Elli in Galveston, Texas, faces a scenario that many young sales professionals know all too well: How do you earn respect and project confidence in selling when you’re dealing with people who are older and more experienced than you?

Ellie’s question highlights a universal issue in sales. Whether you’re dealing with age differences or expertise gaps, it’s easy to feel anxious if your buyer is decades older or has been in the industry for a long time.

Below, you’ll find practical strategies to bridge that confidence gap, project authority, and demonstrate a relaxed assertiveness that resonates with prospects of any age.

A significant part of Ellie’s challenge stems from internal dialogue rather than external facts. As I reminded her, rarely will a prospect openly declare, “I don’t respect you because you’re young.” Instead, we often impose that narrative on ourselves.

• Negative Self-Talk
  Telling yourself, “They’ll never take me seriously,” can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you believe you lack standing, that energy radiates, and prospects pick up on it.
• Flip Your Mindset
  Most professionals—older or otherwise—care primarily about whether you can solve their problems, save them time, or increase their revenue. Your birth year is less important than your ability to address their business needs.

The simplest way to defuse insecurities about age or experience is to ask better questions. Listening is far more powerful than talking in most sales situations.

1. Tap Into Their Expertise
   If they’ve been in the business for decades, demonstrate sincere curiosity: “How have you seen this industry evolve since you started?” or “What are some of the biggest shifts you’re preparing for next?” By making them the expert, you earn respect through authentic engagement.
2. Use Youth as a Strength
   Being new or younger often means a fresh perspective. Admit what you don’t know and say, “I’d love to learn from someone with your track record. What advice would you give to someone like me?” You’ll be amazed at how many seasoned pros want to mentor enthusiastic newcomers.
3. Don’t Fear “I Don’t Know”
   If you get a technical question you can’t answer on the spot, say, “That’s a great question. I’m not 100% sure, but let me check with my team and get back to you.” This approach does two things: it proves you’re honest (rather than bluffing), and it gives you a solid reason to continue the conversation later.

If there’s a secret weapon in sales, it’s projecting selling confidence. But this isn’t about memorizing every rebuttal or faking bravado. It’s about becoming relaxed and assertive enough to handle anything that comes your way.

• Rely on Frameworks and ProcessesKnow the steps you’ll take to open a call, overcome objections, or ask for the business. When you trust your proven framework, you’re less likely to freeze under pressure. For instance, if you have a system for handling objections, you’ll approach objections with calm anticipation rather than dread.
• Practice and Role-PlayJust like athletes rehearse plays, sales pros need to rehearse calls. Role playing with a manager or teammate builds “muscle memory.” When real-world situations or questions arise, it’ll feel familiar—something you’ve already navigated.
• Overcome Obstacle FearFace the age-gap issue repeatedly until it no longer feels daunting. Think of it as exposure therapy. The more you engage with senior-level buyers, the more you realize they’re just people with specific needs and pain points.
• Keep Your Pipeline FullNothing nurtures confidence like having multiple deals in progress. A robust pipeline means you can approach each conversation without desperation, which projects a sense of calm authority.

Even the best frameworks won’t help if your own thoughts tear you down. Here’s how to realign your mindset:

1. Self-Awareness
   Listen to the messages in your head. Are you mentally telling yourself you don’t belong, or that you lack the expertise to help a big-name prospect? Recognize those thoughts for what they are—self-imposed limitations.
2. Positive Affirmations
   Replace negative chatter with empowering statements: “I’ve prepared carefully, and I know how to ask the right questions. I’m here to help.” Simple but effective.
3. Visualize Success
   Before stepping into a meeting, picture the conversation unfolding smoothly. Imagine asking incisive questions and guiding the prospect to a positive next step. That mental rehearsal can soothe nerves and raise your confidence.

Intimidation often stems from the unknown. When you deal with a large, entrenched prospect, it’s easy to see them as unapproachable. But frequent interaction turns intimidation into familiarity.

• Aim for Micro-Commitments
  Instead of pushing for a big purchase right away, propose a short introductory meeting or a quick product demo. Build the relationship gradually, letting familiarity replace doubt, and boost your selling confidence.
• Don’t Confuse Longevity with Rigidity
  Some of the most established companies are eager for fresh ideas. If you display genuine interest in helping them innovate, you’ll stand out among reps who assume older clients won’t consider new solutions.

Whether you’re talking to a brand-new entrepreneur or a CEO with decades of experience, confidence is a feeling people sense and respond to. If you walk in unsure of yourself, that doubt can quietly poison the interaction. But if you arrive calm, prepared, and sincerely invested in understanding your buyer’s world, you’ll find that even the most seasoned executives lean in with curiosity and respect.

Remember: You don’t need to know everything. You just need to show genuine interest, have a reliable process, and let your passion for helping them shine through. That’s the real secret to selling confidence across any age gap—making the other person feel heard, validated, and supported.

If you’re wrestling with a tough scenario—whether it’s about age gaps, prospecting woes, or tricky objections—I’d love to help you tackle it. Head over to salesgravy.com/ask, fill out a short form, and our team will reach out to schedule you for a future Ask Jeb episode.

A few weeks back, I was delivering a Fanatical Prospecting Bootcamp to a group of sales reps – all in their 20s. 

They had been assigned to me because their boss was tired of listening to their excuses about why they weren’t consistently picking up the phone and prospecting. 

When he brought me in, he said matter of factly: “They won’t pay any attention to me, but before I start firing people, I’m hoping you can get through to them.”

The reps didn’t want to be there. It was a hostile audience from the start. 

Just as I kicked off the training, one of the reps challenged me with, “Your book Fanatical Prospecting was written a long time ago. Is it even relevant anymore?” His sneering words were more of a statement than a question. 

Like many reluctant prospectors, he wanted to engage in a distracting argument over whether or not outbound telephone prospecting (a.k.a cold calling) was old school. He wanted validation that his avoidance of prospecting was OK. And to make the point that marketing should be responsible for delivering hot, ready-to-buy leads on a silver platter.

Sales reps of all generations — for at least the past 125 years — have been eager to make any excuse — and I mean any excuse — to avoid picking up a phone or knocking on a door. The most common excuse always has been that synchronous prospecting (a.k.a talking with people) is old school. 

There were a couple of snickers from the back of the room in anticipation for what I would do next. But I’d been to this rodeo many times before. 

 “What do you think has changed since I wrote the book?” I asked calmly. 

The young rep shot back condescendingly. “Well, for one thing, nobody answers the phone anymore.”

So I challenged him right back. “Ok, let’s test your hypothesis. Let me see the prospecting list that you brought with you.” (We run live call blocks in our Fanatical Prospecting Boot Camps and require participants to bring a list with them to class.) 

I waited patiently as he pulled the list up on his laptop. Then, I began dialing his prospects, right in front of the class. Instantly I had their attention. They all leaned in to watch. Reality TV is a hell of a magnet. 

I made 11 dials to his list, spoke to two decision makers and set one appointment—all within a span of about 15 minutes. As I handed him back his laptop, I turned to the group and asked, “Any more questions?” 

Elvis Presley said, “The truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” The reason telephone prospecting wasn’t working for the petulant sales rep who challenged me was that he wasn’t doing it. 

The cold truth about cold calling is that nobody answers a phone that doesn’t ring. 

What was true when I wrote Fanatical Prospecting is still true today: 

• If you wait for people to come to you, you’ll starve to death. 
• If you think your marketing team is going to supply you with an endless stream of qualified, ready-to-buy prospects, then you are delusional. 

Here’s another truth for you: When it comes to prospecting, you cannot be delusional and have a full pipeline at the same time.  

There are certainly sales jobs where your phone rings and inbound chat dings with people who are ready to buy. If you cannot stand interrupting people through outbound prospecting, but you like selling, perhaps those are for you. 

However, if you take a sales job where you never have to make a cold call, be prepared for a paycut.* Sales reps in these types of roles typically get paid by the hour with minimum commission upside.

*[Also be aware that some people, including Victor Antonio, are projecting that many of these jobs will be taken over by AI in the future.]

The most coveted, highest-earning sales jobs are reserved for rainmakers. Those who have the ability to fill their pipeline through outbound prospecting and cold calling activity. This is a prized and highly rewarded meta-skill in today’s noisy marketplace.

The top-earning sales professionals in every industry, everywhere, understand this at a visceral level. This is why they are absolutely fanatical about prospecting. 

If you want to make more money, be successful in your sales career or business, earn the income and get the awards you feel you deserve, then you need to get right with this truth right now.

This is a binary choice: Do you want to be successful in sales OR linger in mediocrity, failure and eventually be replaced by a robot? Go look yourself in the mirror right now and answer that question. 

Success in sales is paid for in advance with prospecting. If you are not willing to pay this price, get out now. Go do something else. Life is far too short to spend it doing something you hate. 

On the other hand, if the answer is yes and you choose to embrace success, then make the commitment to be a relentless, unstoppable, fanatical prospector. Ditch your wishbone; grow a prospecting backbone. 

Fanatical Prospecting is the path to freedom. Embracing it gives you wings. It is the difference between earning enough income to create generational wealth or living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of your life, living in your dream home or paying rent for some flea-bitten place someone else owns, settling for a low budget staycation or taking your family on an epic dream vacation. It will change your life. 

Fanatical prospectors are always on, all the time, everywhere. They fill every available moment in their sales day with prospecting activity. They prospect day and night, anywhere and anytime. And they are always on the hunt for the next opportunity. 

Fanatical Prospectors are fearless. They strike up conversations with strangers in line to get coffee, in elevators, on planes, trains, and anywhere they can talk with people and qualify potential prospects. They ask people where they work, what they do, and who makes decisions at their company. 

Fanatical Prospectors get up early in the morning and bang the phone. During the day, they knock on doors. They go to networking events, conferences, and tradeshows. They invest in their professional network and ask for referrals. At night they engage prospects on social media. And when it’s time to go home, they always make one more call. 

The pipe is life and this is why Fanatical Prospecting is as relevant today as it was the day I wrote it. That’s the cold hard truth.

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
Find out more on the Fanatical Prospecting Live Curriculum HERE

Is your website truly working as hard as your sales team? In today’s competitive digital landscape, your website isn’t just an online brochure—it can be one of your best salespeople. Podcaster and influencer Sam Dunning joins The Sales Gravy Podcast to discuss the Caveman Grunt Website Test, why effective SEO strategies are never a one-and-done exercise, and how to build and how to maximize website performance for consistent sales growth.

If your site isn’t converting visitors into customers, it’s time to rethink your approach. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to apply Dunning’s key strategies to turn your website into a dynamic, lead-generating sales machine.

• Caveman Grunt Website Test: Follow the “We do X that solves Y” formula for clarity and effective conversion.
• Understanding Customer Pain Points: Craft landing pages that directly address customer pain points using simple, jargon-free solutions.
• Leveraging Podcasts for Lead Generation: Use podcasting to build authority, get referrals, and increase inbound traffic.
• Turn Your Passions Into Profit: Experiment with activities you enjoy to see if they can be monetized, and give them three months to generate results.
• SEO is a Long-Term Commitment: Don’t treat SEO as a one-time task. Ongoing optimization, including backlinks, keyword updates, and metadata improvements, is key to keeping your website visible.

Sure, the introduction of AI optimization has some professionals running to figure out the algorithm for getting high rankings from AI platforms like ChatGPT or even Google’s AI overviews. But as far as we know, for Google – which still dominates the landscape – the same effective SEO strategies make for high rankings on AI overviews. 

That means overall you still need to focus on Google’s EEAT format: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust.

If you decide that SEO is worth your time then the best place to start is coming up with what your potential customers will be searching for to solve their problem.

Consider:

1. Industries where you’ve already seen success selling your products or services
2. Companies or organizations that can afford your solutions
3. What those companies might currently have cobbled together to solve their problems

Does your website pass the Caveman Grunt Test? The premise is simple: If a caveman visited your website, would it be immediately clear what problem you solve and how you solve it? Keep your messaging straightforward—avoid jargon and unnecessary complexity.

Tip: Focus on the “We do X that solves Y” formula for a clear value proposition. Too many businesses miss out on potential conversions by overcomplicating their website copy. Simple, direct language can drastically improve your conversion rates.

The most successful websites address specific pain points right away. Your landing pages should immediately highlight the problem your customer faces and present your solution in a simple, jargon-free manner.

Here’s what to include:

• Clear, Benefit-Focused Headlines that speak to your customer’s pain point. If you confuse, you lose.
• Trust Signals like customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies.
• Explainer Videos or step-by-step guides to show how your product or service solves the problem.

Why this works: Customers are most likely to convert when they feel you understand their challenges and have effective solutions. Ensure that your landing pages and home page are designed to address these pain points quickly

Once you’ve optimized your website for clarity and customer pain points, it’s time to extend your reach. Podcasting is a powerful tool for building your brand, establishing authority, and generating inbound leads.

By hosting or guesting on podcasts, you can:

• Build credibility in your industry.
• Attract referral-based leads and audience-driven prospects.
• Leverage your podcast content to drive traffic back to your website.

Tip: Focus on building relationships with other podcasters. Once you’ve established your authority, use your podcast to actively engage with prospects and customers.

Sam Dunning’s approach to business is all about experimentation. He believes that successful business ideas come from testing what you love and seeing if it can generate revenue.

Here’s how to apply it:

1. Choose a project or activity you’re passionate about.
2. Form a hypothesis about how it could create revenue.
3. Give it three months to see if the hypothesis holds up.

This experimentation mindset allows you to innovate and explore new ways to engage your audience. Whether it’s social media, cold calling, or podcasting, focus on the activities that align with your business goals.

Many businesses make the mistake of thinking SEO is a one-time task that ends once you’ve uploaded a plugin or added keywords to your site. In reality, SEO is a continuous process that requires regular updates and attention.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Ongoing Keyword Research: Update your keywords based on trends and changing search behaviors.
• Backlink Building: Engage in link-building strategies to improve your domain authority.
• Content Optimization: Refresh old blog posts and pages with updated, relevant content.
• Technical SEO: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly, loads quickly, and is free from technical errors.

Tip: SEO is a long-term investment. It’s not enough to optimize once and forget about it—consistently work to improve your search engine visibility.

In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, there’s no shortcut to success. To build a high-converting website, focus on:

1. Simplicity: Follow the Caveman Grunt Test for clear, effective messaging.
2. Trust-building: Layer in testimonials, reviews, and proof of your product’s value.
3. Constant iteration: Regularly review and update your website to keep it aligned with customer needs and effective SEO strategies.
4. Experimentation: Leverage new channels like podcasting and keep testing to find what works for your business.

With the right approach, your website can become one of your best salespeople, driving leads and growth. Remember, building a successful website is a long-term strategy that requires patience, experimentation, and consistent improvement.

Jeb Blount’s bestselling book Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling. is a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development―prospecting. Download our free Fanatical Prospecting Book Club Guide HERE.

Zack in Defiance, Ohio, faces a unique challenge that might sound specific at first but is more common than you think: he can only close a deal if his customer closes a deal of their own first.

In other words, they must “sell” a project to their own clients before Zack’s solution can come into play. This scenario appears in industries like construction, engineering, software licensing, and more. The conversation with Zack revealed practical strategies you can use to overcome these hurdles and keep your own pipeline healthy.

Welcome to another Ask Jeb segment on the Sales Gravy Podcast! I’m Jeb Blount—bestselling author of Fanatical Prospecting, Objections, Sales EQ, and INKED. In each of these special episodes, we shine a spotlight on your questions, challenges, and roadblocks—offering real-world advice from sales pros who are in the trenches every single day.

Whether your customer has to bid on government contracts, secure large client projects, or get internal buy-in from multiple stakeholders, their success dictates your sale. While it’s easy to be frustrated by this extra layer, it’s crucial to acknowledge a few realities:

— Your Customer’s Motivation: They’re laser-focused on winning their own deal. Your product or service is secondary—important, but not top of mind until they’re assured of a win.

— Lead Time: Deals can stretch out because you’re waiting on an entire chain of approvals or external decisions.

— Competition: If your customers finally land the big deal, they might still shop around to find the best supplier, leaving you in a second round of competition.

Understanding these pressures helps you empathize with your buyer. It also positions you to offer support in ways that make them want to stick with you—rather than jumping to a competitor at the eleventh hour.

It’s tempting to keep nudging your buyers with hard-closing tactics, but that rarely works when they haven’t secured their own contract. Instead, pivot to a mindset of partnership:

1. Build Real Relationships
   Invest time getting to know your buyer on a personal level. Talk about local sports teams, industry news, or shared hobbies. Real rapport fosters loyalty. When your customer finally wins their deal, they’ll feel comfortable turning to a friend—you—for the solution they need.
2. Offer Strategic Expertise
   If your offering requires complex configurations or specialized knowledge, step in as a consultant. For instance, share best practices on how to optimize a design, or explain how to streamline a process. By helping them present stronger bids or more compelling proposals, you become integral to their success.
3. Stay Responsive
   If they’re scrambling to nail down specifics for a bid, be the easiest person on their call list. Quick turnaround times and thorough answers showcase that you’re a reliable partner. Nobody wants a vendor who goes dark when the pressure is on.

One of the biggest pitfalls in this scenario is turning into a “quote factory” who does piles of work for prospects who never buy. While it’s true you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, you also waste valuable hours if you keep shooting at targets that never pan out.

— Track Buying History
Look at your records: are there customers or accounts for which you consistently provide proposals and never see a sale? Identify these patterns.

— Have Candid Conversations
Let them know your time and expertise aren’t free. You’re happy to help, but if they continually choose other suppliers or undercut your prices, you need to reevaluate the partnership. Sometimes, a direct discussion is enough to shift their approach and earn you real business. If not, you can focus on more promising leads.

— Prioritize Strategic Deals
If you’re caught up producing endless quotes for “long-shot” clients, you’ll lack bandwidth to develop deeper relationships where you can add real value. By focusing your time on viable buyers who have a history of awarding you the deal—or who show strong potential—you improve your overall win probability.

Even if you’re not strictly dealing with a bid environment, many of us rely on champions who must pitch our solutions to higher-ups. They effectively “resell” what we offer inside their organization. To help them succeed:

1. Provide Clear, Concise Value Propositions
   Offer bullet-pointed benefits, case studies, and ROI data they can share internally—without overwhelming them. Simplicity wins.
2. Volunteer Your Presence
   In some cases, you can join a call or meeting with executives. This direct access gives you a chance to handle objections and demonstrate credibility first-hand.
3. Check In Without Hovering
   Balanced follow-up is key. Too many check-ins can feel pushy. Too few and you disappear from their radar. Develop a steady, empathetic cadence that ensures you remain top-of-mind.

Remember, you don’t control whether your customers win their own deals, but you do control your approach to the relationship. If you focus on becoming indispensable, customers will fight to include you when it’s time to deliver.

— Stay Price-Competitive, But Don’t Race to the Bottom
If your margin is too high, your customer might choose someone else. However, if you’re always the lowest-priced vendor, you risk becoming a commodity. Earn business through value and trust.

— Provide Critical Insights
If you can highlight cost savings, faster implementation, or greater efficiency—particularly in ways your competitors haven’t—your customer has a stronger pitch to their client or internal stakeholders.

— Expand Your Network
Speak with multiple stakeholders. If one contact disappears or the champion moves on, having other relationships in the organization can keep your deal alive.

Even if you’re not technically waiting for your customer to sell something first, you often are relying on someone to champion your cause internally. In both cases, the takeaway is the same: support your customer, become a trusted advisor, and make sure they see you as vital to their success.

If you do, when they finally land that contract or secure that budget approval, you’ll be the first person they call. That means less time fighting for scraps and more time closing real, profitable deals.

If you’ve got a question, a snag, or a pressing issue in your sales life, I want to hear about it! Head over to salesgravy.com/ask, fill out the quick form, and one of our amazing producers will reach out to schedule you for an upcoming Ask Jeb episode.

In the meantime, remember: when you’re tired, when you’re frustrated, when you’ve had enough—always make one more call. It could be the one that changes everything.

Insights into embracing conflict, staying mindful, battling internal doubt, and communicating effectively from motivational speaker and co-founder of The Constance Group Brian Parsley.

1. Conflict Isn’t the Enemy: Whether it’s internal (“me-me”) or between you and others, conflict can be a catalyst for growth if handled with empathy and awareness.
2. Self-Awareness Is Critical: Recognize when you’re slipping into negative self-talk or procrastination. Do one uncomfortable thing on purpose to regain momentum.
3. Mindfulness Works: A short pause before responding can prevent knee-jerk reactions and help you focus on problem-solving instead of point-scoring.
4. Communication Styles Differ: Tailor your approach to the other person’s style, and clarify misunderstandings by asking what they actually heard.
5. Find a Coach or Mentor: Don’t underestimate the value of someone else’s perspective. A coach sees the “swing flaws” in your sales approach that you might never notice on your own.

Sales is an inherently conflict-laden profession. You’re asking people for time and resources, you’re persuading them to make decisions, and you’re often balancing multiple interests—your client’s, your company’s, and your own. The tension stems from:

— Negotiations with buyers who might have competing priorities.

— Internal pressures from bosses or teammates who expect certain results.

— Personal conflicts within yourself — especially if you’re unsure of your own capabilities.

Conflict can be broken down into three categories:

1. Me vs. You Conflict – Disagreements between individuals (customers, peers, bosses).
2. Me vs. Job Conflict – Situations where your personal values clash with your job role or tasks.
3. Me vs. Me Conflict – Internal struggles, such as procrastination or fear of failure.

The“me vs. me” conflict might be the most insidious, because it can sabotage your motivation, self-esteem, and willingness to accept feedback. 

Many sales professionals fail because they lose the internal battle with themselves in “me-me” conflict. They know they should spend an extra hour prospecting, turn off the TV a little earlier for a fresh start the next morning, or follow up diligently with new leads. Yet, fear of failure or simple inertia holds them back.

Letting small tasks slip—like hitting the snooze button or blowing off a follow-up call—quickly turns into a domino effect:

1. You skip a small task or ignore a responsibility.
2. Guilt or anxiety sets in, making you more emotionally reactive.
3. This emotional reaction, often anger or irritability, spills over into other areas of your life—leading to more conflict, and sometimes even lower productivity.

The ultimate tool  to combat negative self-talk and “me-me” conflict is awareness. Here’s a simple yet powerful strategy: do something uncomfortable on purpose, like making a difficult prospecting call. By choosing the harder path in small, manageable increments, you train your brain to seek out the dopamine rush of achieving a win. Each small success can become addictive—in the best way—helping you build the self-confidence to tackle bigger challenges.

Practical Tip:When you notice you’re about to avoid something important—like a call block—stop and say, “This is hard, but I’m doing it anyway.” That small statement of intent can be enough to reset your mindset for action.

In sales, negative self-talk is especially damaging because of the constant rejection and fast-paced environment. One bad day can lead to a downward spiral:

— One lost deal leads to “I’m not good enough.”

— One tough call leads to “They’ll never buy from me.”

— One missed quota leads to “I’m going to fail.”

Bottom line: Self-talk matters. The real measure of your success in sales often lies between your ears. If you speak kindly and honestly to yourself, and allow for vulnerability, you’ll have a far easier time letting go of fears and focusing on solutions.

While internal conflict can sabotage sales careers from within, “me-you” conflict is equally prevalent—whether it’s with a boss, a coworker, or a spouse. Some communication styles are naturally more direct, while others are more cautious and relationship-oriented. In many organizations, leaders and reps clash simply because they have different default modes of interacting.

1. Start with Empathy: Recognize the other person’s communication style. If they’re more reserved, ease into sensitive topics. If they’re a high-energy type, be ready for rapid-fire conversation.
2. Overreact, Then Respond, Then Recover: This might sound counterintuitive, but by initially “overreacting” in a positive, empathetic way—“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry this happened!”—you invite the other person to calm down and reassure you it’s not that big a deal.
3. Argue from Their Perspective: Even if you believe you’re right, try to make a case for the other person’s position. It helps you see the flaws in your own argument and fosters empathy.

Conflict resolution is at the heart of building a positive organizational culture. If you want your team to thrive, you need to encourage open communication and teach employees how to handle tension productively. This is especially critical in sales, where reps face an onslaught of customer objections and internal performance pressures.

Practical Strategies for Leaders:

— Positive-Framing Technique: Start a tough conversation by reinforcing your respect for the other person. Then address the specific issue or behavior that needs to change, and end by reaffirming the person’s value.

— Seek Feedback: After giving instructions in a meeting, ask, “What did you hear me say?” This clarifies misunderstandings and reduces errors down the line.

— Hire and Reward Coaching: A coaching culture within sales teams can defuse conflict before it escalates. If your people know they’ll receive—and are expected to give—constructive feedback, “me-you” conflict becomes less personal and more about mutual growth.

Ultimately, conflict is unavoidable in sales. The real question is whether you’ll allow it to derail your goals, or use it as a chance to deepen relationships, refine your technique, and grow as a professional. With the right tools, training, and mindset, you can turn every disagreement or challenge into a stepping stone toward higher performance and success.

Learn more about how to avoid “you-me” conflicts over email by reading our blog “How Email Can Sabotage Our Work Relationships” by Rick Kirschner, author of “How to Click with People.”

If you’ve been banging your head against the wall trying to get your team (or yourself!) to prospect consistently, these tips are for you.

In this episode, I answer a question from Paul in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., who’s building and leading a remote sales team in the logistics industry and needs to find a way to get his salespeople to prospect consistently .

Then I tackle a follow-up question from a sales leader at one of our live events on how to keep his salespeople motivated to prospect every day.

Paul leads a medium-sized logistics company with reps spread out in California, Utah, and El Salvador. He’s already done a great job by running a book club around my book, Fanatical Prospecting, but he needed practical tips for ensuring his team actually implements daily call blocks. Here’s the advice I shared:

As a leader, you need to talk about prospecting every single day. Yes, you’ll feel like a broken record, but that repetition is crucial for setting expectations.

If your team was all in one building, you’d simply gather them on the sales floor and power through. Remotely, you can replicate this by scheduling a set time (e.g., 8:00 a.m. PT) and getting everyone on a video call.

You can’t stand next to them physically, but you can still see them, and they can see you. It’s social pressure and moral support rolled into one.

Instead of asking for hours of uninterrupted calling, break it into short bursts—10, 15, or 20-minute sprints. Let them pause to catch their breath, then go again. Keep a virtual whiteboard and track dials, contacts, and appointments in real time. Make it fun and competitive.

Reps might moan about being “micromanaged,” but if you keep it fun and energetic, they’ll often appreciate the structure. Focus on results, not just the dials.

We also addressed a question from a leader who was attending one of our Sales Gravy Live events. Their team struggles to maintain high call numbers consistently. They might hit 100 dials a day for three days, then crash back down. The sales leader asked: “How do we keep our reps pumped for prospecting?”

Nobody Truly “Loves” Prospecting: Prospecting is hard, and most of us won’t naturally get excited about it. But we do get excited about closing deals, landing appointments, and hitting our numbers.

You Must Be a Teflon Sales Leader: Stay relentlessly focused on prospecting, day in and day out. The moment you relax your standards, the team will follow suit. If you don’t treat prospecting as a top priority, neither will they. Be like teflon: no excuses stick.

Lead by Example
Get out on the “floor” (or on the Zoom call) and make calls with them. Don’t hide in your office. When they see you doing the work, they’ll know you mean business.

Use the Power of HIPS
Those high-intensity sprints work just as well here. Run “power hours” with quick breaks in between and track your team’s progress publicly.

Let’s face it: prospecting is often the least-liked activity in sales. It’s easy to push aside because it involves repeated rejection, logistical juggling, and tight discipline. Yet it’s the lifeblood of any thriving pipeline—no prospecting, no leads, no deals, no revenue.

And if you have a remote team, like Paul does, you’re dealing with additional hurdles: time zones, limited supervision, and diminished peer pressure. It’s all too easy for your reps to skip their “call block” if you’re not right there to keep them accountable.

As a sales leader, you can’t just “fix” prospecting once and forget about it. The moment you move on, your team will start slacking. You have to show up, be present, keep the energy up, and run those call blocks every day.

There’s no shortcut, but with the right structure, accountability, and mindset, you’ll maintain a full pipeline and keep hitting those targets—even if your team is spread across the globe.

1. Make Prospecting Non-Negotiable: If it’s not a core daily priority for you, it won’t be for your team.
2. Use Technology to Close the Remote Gap: Schedule video call blocks, share screens, or split into breakout rooms. Presence leads to productivity.
3. Short, Intense Bursts Outperform Marathon Sessions: Quick sprints keep energy high and reduce mental fatigue.
4. Accept That Prospecting “Isn’t Fun”—But Necessary: Stop waiting for everyone to be “excited.” Focus on discipline and wins will follow.
5. Lead From the Front: Consistency in your message and your personal involvement is everything.

Want to Be on the Show? If you’ve got a burning question about prospecting, sales leadership, or closing deals, I want to hear from you! Head over to salesgravy.com/ask, fill out the form, and one of our awesome producers will reach out to schedule you on a future episode of Ask Jeb.

As humans, we naturally fear rejection and do everything possible to avoid it. We’re social creatures at our core, and being rejected feels like we’re being shunned, banished, or kicked out of the group. In fact, the two biggest human fears are rejection and death—and as strange as this may sound, in our hearts we fear rejection more than we fear death.

This, by the way, is a huge problem in sales because, as a sales professional, it’s your job to go out into the world, find rejection, and bring it home. And even though objections are not really rejection, it can still feel that way.

It’s the fear of rejection that makes selling so difficult for most people—and why most people will never do your job. Sales is such a lucrative career choice simply because it’s a rejection-dense job. Companies are willing to pay big bucks to rainmakers who can control their emotions, face rejection head-on, and find a way to win.

The good news is that if you fear rejection and want to avoid it at all costs, the easiest way to do so is to never ask for anything. Of course, if you don’t ask, you won’t get.

You might steer clear of the pain of rejection for a while, but sooner or later it’ll catch up with you when you find yourself unable to provide for your family, missing your mortgage payment, or stuck in a dead-end job. These things, I’ve found, hurt far worse over the long run than rejection.

There’s a verse in the Christian Bible, Matthew 7:7, that goes, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Now, I recognize that Jesus isn’t talking about sales in this verse, but he could be.

You’ll often hear it expressed as, “Ask and you shall receive.” If you think about that for a moment, you’ll notice that asking comes before receiving. In other words, asking is the beginning of receiving. If you want something, you have to ask first.

Far too often, we become rain barrels. We sit and wait. We hesitate and hope. We wish our prospect or customer would do the job for us, but they don’t—because it doesn’t work that way.

If you want to sell more and earn more, you need to ditch your wishbone and grow a backbone. It’s up to you to ask. Asking is the beginning of receiving, so you won’t get the appointment, the next step, the information, access to the decision-maker, or a buying commitment unless you ask.

And the truth is, on the other side of asking, there’s always the potential for objections and rejection. There’s always the chance you won’t get what you asked for. That’s just how asking works.

This is why the hardest part of asking is learning how to shut up afterward. You need to allow space for silence to do its work and for objections or questions to be put on the table. It’s hard to shut up when you’ve put it all out there and left yourself vulnerable to rejection. That awkward moment after you ask can feel like an eternity as you brace for a “no.”

To protect yourself from hearing a rejection, you might start talking, and talking, and talking—deluding yourself into believing that as long as you keep talking, your prospect can’t reject you.

The problem is, in that moment of emotional weakness, you come across as insecure and untrustworthy. You introduce objections that didn’t previously exist. You start blabbing on and on about features and benefits, terms and conditions, your dog, or what you had for lunch—until your stakeholder, who was ready to say yes, gets talked into saying no by you.

Your insecurity in that moment of vulnerability invited rejection.

Here’s the most important rule of asking: After you ask, you must shut up. Despite the alarm bells going off in your adrenaline-soaked mind—despite your pounding heart, sweaty palms, and fear—you have to bite your tongue, sit on your hands, mute the phone, do whatever it takes to remain silent and allow your prospect to answer.

Sometimes they say yes. Sometimes you get a flat no. Most often, though, you’ll get a maybe, which usually shows up as an objection, a question, or a negotiation. And right there is your opportunity to turn maybe into yes, because objections are not rejection.

Objections are signs of confusion, concern, the sorting out of options, risk aversion, cognitive overload, and the fear of change. Objections are a natural part of the human decision-making process. They show that your prospect is still engaged and simply needs your help to make a tough decision.

Questions are also not rejection. People often ask legitimate, but difficult, questions they need answered before they feel comfortable moving forward. Confidently and calmly answer their questions, and you’ll get the yes you’re seeking.

Negotiation is not rejection either. Negotiation is a clear indication that your prospect is engaged and ready to buy. The door is open to a yes—you just need to collaborate with your stakeholder to gain consensus on a mutually beneficial deal.

If you want to become a better closer and negotiator in these situations, check out my book, Inked: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics that Unlock YES and Seal the Deal.

Inked is a comprehensive guide that will teach you exactly how to improve your win rate. You can get it in hardcover or listen to the audio version on Audible or Spotify.

To be a rainmaker in sales—and in life—you must put on your courage boots, walk out into the world, and face rejection head-on. Rather than running from it, you have to go through, over, under, or around it—whatever it takes to get to a yes.

What makes rainmakers unstoppable is their willingness to run headlong into rejection again and again, enduring it with the unwavering belief that they will find a way to win. Embrace the ask, shut up to let silence do its work, respond to objections with confidence, and you’ll discover just how powerful you really are.

Sales Leadership is a continuous journey of self-awareness, connection, and growth. By cultivating courage, emotional intelligence, and authenticity, leaders can navigate challenges effectively and inspire their teams to reach new heights. Through active listening, thoughtful decision-making, and a focus on personal and collective improvement, leaders create environments where individuals and teams can thrive.

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Keith Lubner is joined by Markus Neukom to delve into the key traits and practices of  effective sales leaders, including self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and authenticity.

– Courage in Leadership: Effective sales leaders need the courage to act on their potential without fear of success or failure. This courage often differentiates genuine leadership from insecure or arrogant behaviors.

– Emotional Intelligence Development: Emotional intelligence begins with self-awareness. Leaders must understand themselves before they can effectively lead or enhance team dynamics.

– Leadership as a Learned Skill: Leadership is not an innate talent but an art form that requires intentional development and refinement.

– The Importance of Listening: Listening, including using all senses, is a critical skill for sales leaders. It fosters understanding, prevents assumptions, and enables effective conflict resolution.

– Slowing Down for Effectiveness: Leaders benefit from slowing down to observe and connect with others, which ultimately leads to faster and more accurate outcomes.

– The Shift Toward Authenticity: Modern sales leadership demands authenticity, as younger generations of employees and clients value genuine and transparent leadership styles.

– Reframing Imposter Syndrome as a Sign of Growth: Imposter syndrome is a signal that you’re pursuing something meaningful, despite lingering self-doubt. Recognizing it as a sign of growth can help leaders and professionals push forward with confidence and authenticity.

– Challenges for Women in Leadership: Women face unique challenges, including workplace toxicity and imposter syndrome. Encouraging authenticity rather than adopting stereotypical traits is crucial for their success.

– Intuition vs. Gut Feeling: Leaders are encouraged to trust their intuition, which transcends learned gut feelings and is often a more reliable guide in decision-making.

– Conflict Resolution Through Coaching: Executive coaching plays a vital role in resolving workplace conflicts by emphasizing observation, asking questions, and active listening.

– Self-Care Practices for Leaders: Practices like meditation and structured routines can help leaders manage stress, prevent burnout, and achieve a higher level of personal and professional effectiveness.

Sales Leadership thrives on self-awareness, connection, and a commitment to growth. These principles shape how leaders inspire their teams, handle challenges, and foster an environment of trust and collaboration. By focusing on key qualities like courage, emotional intelligence, and authenticity, leaders can create positive and lasting impacts in their organizations.

Courage is essential for effective leadership. It allows leaders to take risks, embrace uncertainty, and act decisively. Leaders must have the bravery to act decisively and embrace their potential without fear of success or failure. Overcoming these fears requires bravery to step out of comfort zones and pursue opportunities for growth. Courage also plays a role in admitting when help is needed or answers are unclear, which fosters an environment of honesty and collaboration.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a crucial skill for understanding and managing emotions, both in oneself and in others. The foundation of EQ is self-awareness—knowing personal strengths, weaknesses, and triggers. Leaders who prioritize self-awareness are better equipped to navigate relationships and team dynamics.

EQ also involves empathy and active listening. Leaders who genuinely seek to understand their team members’ perspectives can create stronger connections and build trust. Slowing down, observing, and asking thoughtful questions are critical steps in enhancing EQ. In fast-paced environments, pausing to assess situations and people carefully can lead to more informed and effective decision-making.

Listening is a cornerstone of great leadership. It requires full attention, a willingness to ask open-ended questions, and the ability to avoid assumptions. Active listening goes beyond hearing words; it involves paying attention to tone, body language, and the emotional context of conversations. Leaders who listen well can uncover valuable insights, prevent misunderstandings, and demonstrate respect for their teams.

Authenticity is increasingly valued in leadership. Employees and clients alike seek leaders who are transparent, genuine, and aligned with their values. Being authentic means staying true to personal principles while encouraging others to do the same. Vulnerability is a critical component of authenticity, as it allows leaders to admit mistakes, express doubts, and show their human side. This openness fosters a culture of trust and psychological safety.

Women in Sales Leadership often face unique challenges, including workplace bias and higher rates of imposter syndrome. Despite their accomplishments, many women doubt their abilities and feel pressure to conform to traditional leadership styles. Encouraging authenticity and confidence in their unique strengths can empower women to excel in leadership roles. Increasing the representation of women in leadership positions also helps amplify diverse perspectives, creating a more inclusive and effective workplace.

Effective conflict resolution is an important skill for leaders. Leaders can navigate workplace conflicts by observing situations, asking thoughtful questions, and listening carefully to all parties involved. Emotional intelligence plays a key role in effectively understanding different perspectives and finding common ground. Executive coaching can help leaders develop these skills, enabling them to address conflicts constructively and foster harmony within their teams.

Decision-making often involves balancing data-driven insights with intuition. While gut feelings are shaped by past experiences, intuition goes deeper and reflects an understanding that is not easily quantified. Leaders who trust their intuition can navigate uncertain situations and make sound decisions even when the path forward is unclear. Recognizing the distinction between intuition and gut feelings can help leaders refine their decision-making processes.

Leadership can be demanding, and self-care is essential for maintaining resilience. Structured routines, such as meditation or mindfulness practices, can help leaders stay focused and manage stress. Taking time for self-reflection and personal growth allows leaders to recharge and approach challenges with renewed energy and clarity.

Leaders who prioritize trust, empathy, and growth create a solid foundation for long-term success. Encouraging collaboration, valuing diverse perspectives, and fostering open communication strengthen team dynamics. Celebrating achievements and acknowledging hard work also reinforce a culture of positivity and perseverance.

Jeb Blount’s bestselling book Sales EQ: How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal helps guide salespeople through the many hurdles that many struggle with in building authentic relationships with prospects. Download our free Sales EQ Book Club Guide HERE.

Ron wants to know how to get CEOs to actually answer his cold calls (or at least respond). He runs a recruiting firm and finds that his cold calls to top executives often go unanswered, and it’s driving him nuts. He wants to know if there’s a better way to break through all the noise—or if he just needs to buckle down and make more calls.

On this Ask Jeb podcast episode I give Ron specific strategies for connecting with hard-to-reach prospects like CEOs.

Let’s face it: sales is tough, and it’s not getting any easier. With an explosion of AI-driven messages and automated outreach, our prospects—especially C-suite executives—are tuning out more than ever. We call this phenomenon the “great ignore.”

If you don’t stand out from the torrent of spam, you will get lost in the shuffle.

Ron’s question—“Do I just need to make more calls, or is there some next-best method?”—is a dilemma many of us face. The short answer?

It’s both. You do need volume, but you also have to differentiate. If you’re just another voice in the crowd, you’ll be ignored, no matter how many dials you make.

A key point I shared with Ron is the power of multi-threading. That means calling multiple people in the organization—not just the CEO. While the CEO might be the ultimate decision-maker, other stakeholders, like the COO or HR director, might be easier to reach. These people can also give you valuable intel on hiring needs, budget constraints, or timing.

1. Call the CEO: Leave a compelling message or send a short, punchy email.
2. Call Other Stakeholders: Dig for inside info on immediate hiring needs or open reqs.
3. Use That Intel: Let the CEO know, “I’ve spoken with your COO; you’re looking for a VP of Sales. I have a candidate you need to meet…”

This top-down, bottom-up approach helps you gather context, build rapport, and earn the right to talk to the CEO by proving you’re not just randomly dialing.

Ron admitted he’s not always sure whether to leave voicemails. Most of us have left hundreds of voicemails and gotten very few callbacks, so it’s tempting to skip them. But here’s the thing: in today’s world, voicemail transcripts often end up in a prospect’s email inbox or text messages.

• Keep It Short: No more than 30 seconds.
• Make It Compelling: Name-drop a role you know they’re hiring for or highlight your unique solution in a single sentence.
• Use a Teaser: “I’ve got the perfect candidate for your open VP of Sales position—let’s talk.”

Even if they don’t call back immediately, they’re hearing your name and your pitch. Over time, that repetition can pay off—especially if you combine voicemails with other forms of outreach.

The real magic is in creating a multichannel sequence over 30 to 60 days. It’s not just “call once and cross your fingers.” Instead, plan multiple touches that tie together:

1. Voicemail #1
2. Follow-Up Email (within 24–48 hours)
3. LinkedIn Connection Request or DM
4. Voicemail #2 (referencing your email)
5. A Handwritten Note or Card (really stands out)
6. Voicemail #3 (referencing the note)

Be creative. Use each step to reinforce the last, rather than just repeating the same “Hey, it’s me again!” message. Tell a story or highlight different benefits at each step. Show them you’re genuinely interested in their business—not just cold-calling from a script.

Sometimes the CEO won’t respond because there’s no immediate need for your product or service. For Ron, if they’re not hiring, they won’t care about a recruiter. That’s okay—it doesn’t mean you should vanish.

• Keep Dripping: A low-frequency sequence keeps you on their radar.
• Listen for Signals: Maybe they just received funding or they’re expanding into a new market. That’s your cue to ramp up the touches.

Remember, timing is everything. The moment they do need your service, you want to be top of mind.

When you discover a hot lead—someone is hiring, or they are launching a new division—compress your timeline:

• Hit them daily for two weeks.
• Vary the channels (phone, video DM, LinkedIn, email).
• Mention that you already know they have an immediate need.

With a clear business driver, you can (and should) dial up your frequency. If you’re genuinely offering a solution to a pressing problem, they want to hear from you.

-Don’t Rely on a Single Contact: Multi-threading is your friend.

-Always Leave a Voicemail: It’s a free shot to get your message in their ear or inbox.

-Build Thoughtful Sequences: Each touch should reference the last, giving your outreach momentum.

-Match Frequency to Need: Slow drip for “lukewarm,” heavy pursuit for “red hot.”

-Stay the Course: You won’t always see immediate ROI, but consistency wins over time.

If you’re wrestling with a tough sales or leadership challenge, I want to hear about it. Head to salesgravy.com/ask, fill out the form, and my producers will reach out to schedule you on an upcoming episode. It’s your chance to get real-world advice from someone who’s in the trenches every day.

Here’s an important question: Are you coachable? 

Now, before you jump to answer that, I want you to pause and really think about what being coachable or coachability really means.

“Coachability” is essential for top performance in sales – and for that matter ANY endeavor. It simply describes how receptive you are to feedback and guidance; AND, how willingly and effectively you apply coaching to improve your performance. 

Coachability is an open mindset—being flexible, adaptable, the willingness to learn and consider different perspectives, and inviting criticism and critique—without getting defensive. 

It’s about keeping yourself from slipping into the “I already know it all” or “There’s nothing new here” trap or deciding flatly that you don’t need help because you’re just that good. 

True coachability begins with a belief that you can improve and a deep seated desire to grow. This belief opens the door to being more receptive to feedback and coaching. 

It also requires self-awareness. It’s about recognizing and being honest about your strengths, weaknesses and areas where you can improve. It is the vulnerability and the courage to look in the mirror at your imperfections. 

Where there is self-awareness there is the opportunity for transformation—even, by the way, when you already feel that you are at the top of your game.

The truth though is, most of us, at one point or another, are not coachable. We get stuck in our own heads, resist change, and bristle at feedback—especially when it challenges what we believe about ourselves. 

But here’s the kicker: coachability is the hallmark of ultra-high performers. Look at any elite athlete, and you’ll find a coach nearby. Many of them have an entire team of coaches.

I’m a huge golf fan. Golf, for me, is more than a sport; it’s a metaphor for sales and life. It’s hard, humbling, and mastering it is an infinite game. 

The best golfers in the world spend a ton of money on coaches. They’ll have a swing coach, a putting coach, and even a mental coach to keep their head in the game. Why? Because coaches can see what they cannot. 

When I’m working with my own golf coach it sometimes hurts to have him stand there and critique my swing – especially when I think what I’m doing is right. But when I swallow my pride, take it in, and apply it, I see results. I get better, I score lower, and I have more fun.

Sales is no different. It’s tough, it’s competitive, and it seems impossible to ever reach “perfection.” A sales great coach exposes your blind spots. They can help you see what you’re doing right (and need to do more of) and what you’re doing wrong (and need to correct). 

The challenge is, so many salespeople resist the feedback. They sit in training sessions or roleplays with their arms crossed, telling themselves that they don’t need this. 

Veterans, in particular, get stuck in their ways, acting like they’ve got nothing left to learn. But I also see the opposite problem with rookies or young reps who can’t handle any criticism without interpreting it as a personal attack. Both groups end up shutting down, pushing their coaches away and missing an opportunity to grow.

The fact is, coaches are investing time in you because they care about you and want to see you succeed. That doesn’t mean they won’t be tough on you, but it does mean they have your best interests at heart.

Early in my career, I was blessed with a fantastic sales coach named Bob Blackwell. He pushed me hard—probably harder than anyone ever had—and at first, it rubbed me the wrong way. I’d go home, complain to my wife about how he was criticizing me. I was convinced that he was intentionally picking on me. 

One day I was complaining about Bob to my dad—who knew a little something about life. He said, “Maybe you should pay attention to Bob. Sounds to me like he’s been pretty successful. Perhaps he sees potential in you and wants you to win.” 

My dad’s advice hit me like a ton of bricks: Bob’s coaching wasn’t an insult; it was a gift. He was showing me what I couldn’t see, and once I opened my mind to that, my career and income soared. The impact of his coaching helped make me who I am today. 

So, back to my original question: Are you coachable? 

• Are you open to letting someone “break down your swing”? 
• How about letting a coach dissect your cold call approach or how you conduct discovery conversations or presentations? 
• Or does your ego get in the way?

The magic happens when you stay open. 

• When you have the emotional discipline to hear the feedback without melting down or getting defensive. 
• When no matter how good you think you are, you believe that you can still get even better. 

Coachability isn’t something you either have or don’t have. It’s a skill that can be developed and improved over time. By consciously practicing the key components of coachability – like actively seeking feedback and being open to new ideas you can and will become more coachable. With coachability comes improved performance, increased win rates, and a higher income. When you are coachable, you will sell more. 

The greatest thing? When you’re coachable, you attract coaches. People love to coach someone who’s receptive, engaged, and willing to apply what they’re learning. 

Coaches want to see you progress. They want to see you lean in, make adjustments, and when you fail, try again. As you do that more and more, you’ll attract mentors and coaches into your life who are eager to help you succeed because they’ll see that you’re worth investing in.

If you don’t currently have a coach—or a leader who is willing to invest in you – there are still ways to get the support you need. If you feel like you need someone in your corner check out Sales Gravy coaching options at SalesGravy.com/coach

Our programs are not for everyone, but it might be the perfect next step for you to check out if you’re serious about leveling up your game. 

But whether you work with us or not, the takeaway is this: Seek out coaching. Don’t wait for it to come to you. 

Remember, a coach’s job is to push you beyond your comfort zone, to point out what you can’t see, to help you connect the dots between your potential and the reality of where you currently stand. 

Don’t hide in the back row of the training room with your arms folded and your mind closed. Embrace it—especially if it feels uncomfortable. That discomfort is a sign you’re being challenged and pushed to grow.

That’s not always easy. You might feel exposed when someone points out your weaknesses, but that’s the only way to transform them into strengths. No matter how many deals you’ve closed or how many years you’ve been in the game, there’s always a next level—if you’re open to it.

Download our FREE guide and learn the 10 things you need to know to Find The Right Coach for You

Sales leadership demands the ability to adapt, motivate, and guide teams toward consistent, high-level performance. In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast,  Jeb Blount is joined by Charley Bible of KaTom to discuss key strategies for sales leaders, focusing on teamwork, skill refinement, and coaching performance. These insights bridge the gap between individual development and team success, offering actionable takeaways for anyone in sales leadership.

– Team Collaboration Creates Wins: Focusing on the team rather than individual achievements builds a culture of collaboration and shared purpose. Sales leaders who emphasize collective success foster environments where everyone contributes, elevating overall performance and morale.

– Energizing Through Friendly Competition: Workplace challenges—like those inspired by sports or creative competitions—inject energy into teams. Sales leaders can use these lighthearted activities to foster camaraderie, engagement, and a sense of fun that drives motivation and productivity.

– Reflection Drives Growth: Reviewing past results and analyzing setbacks is essential for improvement. Just as athletes study game footage, sales leaders should encourage their teams to evaluate performance trends, pinpoint mistakes, and strategize better approaches moving forward.

– Sales Is a Skill-Based Craft: Sales isn’t just about personality; it’s a disciplined profession requiring constant development. Leaders must instill a growth mindset in their teams, encouraging training and practice to refine techniques, build confidence, and maintain a competitive edge.

– The Power of Fundamentals: When performance dips, returning to the basics can help sales teams regain their footing. Leaders should coach their teams on foundational skills like effective communication, active listening, and prospecting to rebuild momentum and confidence.

– Coaching as a Leadership Tool: Sales leaders play a pivotal role in their teams’ success in their own coaching performance and techniques. By identifying blind spots, providing encouragement, and correcting missteps, leaders can significantly impact their team’s performance and professional growth.

– Self-Awareness Is Key: Encouraging sales reps to recognize and address performance dips is crucial. Leaders should teach their teams to pause, assess their approach, and implement small adjustments to get back on track. Building this habit can prevent minor issues from becoming major roadblocks.

 – Discovery Conversations Open Doors: Strong sales leaders emphasize the importance of discovery—asking thoughtful questions and listening carefully to uncover client needs. This approach not only builds trust but also reveals opportunities that can lead to larger, more impactful deals.

– Consistency Beats the Rollercoaster: The “desperation rollercoaster” can plague sales teams—periods of intense effort followed by complacency. Leaders should emphasize the importance of consistent daily effort, reminding teams that resilience and steady focus yield long-term results.

– Celebrate Hard Work and Achievements: Acknowledging milestones, whether through personal rewards or team recognition, reinforces the value of persistence. Sales leaders should celebrate wins to inspire continued effort and show their teams the tangible benefits of dedication.

Prioritizing team achievement fosters collaboration and a sense of unity. Sales environments that emphasize collective wins over individual accolades create a culture where everyone thrives. Collaboration fuels creativity, encourages accountability, and leads to stronger overall performance. In sales, success often hinges on the strength of the team rather than the brilliance of a single contributor.

Healthy competition sparks energy and enthusiasm within teams. Creative workplace challenges, like sports-themed bets or fun competitions, provide an opportunity to build camaraderie while motivating team members to excel. This approach blends motivation with connection, creating an environment where individuals push each other toward shared goals.

Reflection is a cornerstone of continuous improvement. Whether analyzing why deals fell through or identifying areas of missed opportunity, taking a step back allows teams to learn and adjust. Like athletes reviewing game footage, sales teams benefit from examining past performances to identify strategies for future success. Reflection helps pinpoint what’s working and what needs to change.

Sales is a craft that requires constant refinement. Effective salespeople understand that raw talent only goes so far. It’s consistent skill development and practice that drive excellence. Leaders can support their teams by promoting a growth mindset, encouraging ongoing learning, and providing opportunities for training. This approach keeps teams sharp, adaptable, and ready for challenges.

When performance dips, revisiting the basics is a powerful tool for recovery. Fundamentals like clear communication, active listening, and effective prospecting often hold the key to overcoming slumps. Sales leaders can encourage their teams to maintain a checklist of core skills, using it to recalibrate and regain momentum during challenging periods.

Coaching performance is one of the most effective ways to unlock potential and address performance gaps. A good coach provides valuable insights, helping individuals recognize blind spots and refine their strategies. Sales leaders who invest time in coaching their teams create an environment where constructive feedback is welcomed, fostering growth and improvement at every level.

Self-awareness is essential for sustained success. Salespeople who recognize when their performance is slipping can take proactive steps to adjust their approach. Encouraging self-awareness helps individuals spot patterns, evaluate their methods, and make targeted changes to stay on track. This skill prevents minor setbacks from escalating into significant challenges.

Discovery is the foundation of successful sales. By asking the right questions and listening actively, sales professionals uncover client needs and identify hidden opportunities. Thoughtful discovery not only builds trust but also strengthens relationships, paving the way for larger, more meaningful deals.

Sales success requires consistency. High performers avoid the trap of fluctuating effort, staying focused and steady even after achieving significant wins. Leaders can help their teams build resilience by promoting daily disciplines that maintain momentum and mitigate the risks of complacency.

Acknowledging effort and achievement reinforces a culture of perseverance. Celebrating milestones—whether through team recognition or personal rewards—motivates individuals to continue striving for excellence. These moments highlight the value of hard work and remind teams of what’s possible when dedication and effort align.

Sales leadership is about more than hitting targets; it’s about creating an environment where individuals and teams can thrive. By fostering collaboration, focusing on fundamentals, and encouraging consistent growth, sales leaders lay the foundation for long-term success. Through reflection, coaching performance, and celebrating the wins, teams can build resilience, stay motivated, and achieve their full potential.

Building a great sales team begins with hiring the right people. Start your journey to better hiring with our FREE download: The Sales Manager’s Ultimate Interview Guide 

Eric in Lewiston, Maine, asks how to use last year’s data to create and accurate sales plans and evaluate software tools (like CRMs and ZoomInfo) to make those goals happen.

Sales planning is vital—without a roadmap, you’re just hoping your revenue targets magically come to life. If you haven’t defined clear performance metrics—like call activity, lead generation, conversion rates, or daily prospecting targets—then you don’t really have a plan. You have a wish list.

Eric wanted to know which metrics from the previous year he and his team should be analyzing to inform this year’s targets. The short answer? All of them, if they are metrics that matter to your business goals. Consider:

• Conversion Rates from Inbound Leads
• Speed to Lead (How fast are you following up?)
• Outbound Touches vs. Opportunities in Pipeline
• Opportunities-to-Proposal Ratios
• Proposal-to-Closed Deals Ratios
• Upsells, Cross-Sells, and Expansion Deals

By mapping out how each step in your funnel converts to the next—calls to first appointments, first appointments to proposals, proposals to closed deals—you can see exactly where to focus in the new sales year.

Maybe you need more first appointments. Maybe you need to tighten up your proposals so more of them convert. Or maybe you’re missing upsell opportunities with existing clients. Data points you to the gaps.

Pro Tip: Once you understand your ratios, you can decide if you’re aiming to improve them by, say, 25% (a stretch goal) or if you’re reaching higher. However, be careful not to “fix” one area and inadvertently break another. Success in sales is about balance across the entire funnel.

Eric also mentioned his team’s struggle with an outdated CRM that’s not built for strong tracking. As they look ahead, they’re weighing big guns like Salesforce. But here’s the deal:

• Salesforce is an excellent platform—if you’re a larger organization with the bandwidth, budget, and complexity to justify it.
• For smaller teams (like Eric’s with just two salespeople), adopting a massive enterprise CRM can be overkill.
• Zoho, Pipedrive, Nimble, and HubSpot are great alternatives for small-to-midsize sales teams. They’re user-friendly, more cost-effective, and far simpler to deploy.

The rule of thumb? Choose a CRM that matches your current size and selling process. The last thing you want is to waste months configuring a powerhouse system that nobody uses because it’s too big or too confusing.

Eric’s final question was about whether to invest in a data-intelligence tool (e.g., ZoomInfo, Apollo, LeadIQ) to identify new leads and tap into “intent data.” My take:

1. ZoomInfo: This is what we use at Sales Gravy, and we love it. It delivers reliable data, helps us expand into new verticals, multi-thread inside target accounts, and dramatically speeds up our list building.
2. Intent Data: Tools like ZoomInfo can show you who’s actively looking for solutions like yours. While it’s not perfect, it can be a game-changer for prioritizing outreach to the prospects most likely to buy.
3. Beware the Shelfware Trap: If you invest in a high-end data platform, make sure you have a solid plan (and the discipline) to use it consistently. It’s easy to drop serious money on software and then let it collect dust.

Pro Tip: Start with a limited number of “power users” on your team who will commit to mastering the tool. Then expand usage as you integrate it into your sales workflow.

We’ve been using ZoomInfo for years. Early on, we blew through a lot of money because we didn’t fully implement it. It wasn’t until we got serious—trained our people, integrated it with our CRM, and held each other accountable—that we started seeing results. Today, ZoomInfo is essential to how we prospect, grow pipeline, and clean up our database. But it took time, patience, and leadership buy-in to get there.

1. Review Previous Year Metrics Thoroughly
   • Identify your strongest conversion points—and your biggest leaks.
   • Use ratio-based forecasting to set realistic (but ambitious) goals.
2. Choose the Right CRM for Your Team
   • If you have a small salesforce, consider user-friendly systems like Zoho, Pipedrive, Nimble, or HubSpot.
   • Avoid “CRM bloat” that slows you down rather than fuels productivity.
3. Max Out the Value of Data Tools
   • Tools like ZoomInfo can seriously boost prospecting efforts if you use them daily.
   • Don’t just buy them—train your team, integrate with your CRM, and measure ROI.
4. Build Accountability
   • It’s one thing to have the software; it’s another to ensure people log in, update data, and consistently leverage the platform.
   • Set specific adoption goals and schedule check-ins to make sure everyone stays on track.

If you’ve got a burning sales or leadership question, I want to hear it! Head over to
salesgravy.com/ask, fill out the form, and one of our producers will be in touch to get you on the show.

Until then, keep prospecting, keep hustling, and keep crushing your quotas. Remember: You are the lifeblood of your organization and the economy itself.

Entrepreneurship and Sales demands massive resilience. It’s a skill, not a fixed trait, developed through intentional practice and persistence. Whether managing personal loss or professional setbacks, resilient entrepreneurs navigate challenges with focus and adaptability. This mental toughness enables them to push forward, align their business with their values, and create a lasting impact.

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount, Jr. is joined by Deb Sellinger to explore the power of resilience and adaptability in entrepreneurship. Hear Deb’s inspiring story about overcoming challenges, building businesses that align with personal values, and creating a clear vision for sustainable success.

– Resilience as a Skill: Resilience is not innate. It can be cultivated through intentional practice and perseverance, even in the face of significant challenges.

– Impact Over Income: Prioritizing making an impact over chasing financial rewards can lead to greater fulfillment and long-term success.

– Adapting After Loss: Balancing personal grief with professional responsibilities requires courage and discipline to maintain stability for those relying on your leadership.

– Reinvention of Business Models: Adapting or reinventing a business model to align with personal values or market changes can drive growth and create operational efficiencies.

– Facing Judgment with Integrity: Leaders may face criticism for prioritizing their team or clients over personal interests, but integrity and resilience ensure a focus on long-term goals.

– Importance of Succession Planning: Establishing a succession plan provides stability for employees and clients, ensuring continuity during transitions.

– Clarity in Leadership Vision: Refining a business’s focus can align its trajectory with the leader’s strengths and values, driving sustainable growth.

– Leveraging Team Strengths: Recognizing the unique contributions of team members fosters collaboration, strengthens culture, and supports growth.

– Navigating Rapid Growth: Managing fast-paced growth often requires tough decisions to streamline operations and recalibrate priorities.

– Building for the Future: Involving teams in planning for the business’s future creates shared success and loyalty.

Personal loss doesn’t pause professional obligations. Entrepreneurs often face the challenge of balancing grief with the demands of running a business. For some, maintaining commitments like showing up for a client meeting or fulfilling an obligation becomes a pathway to healing. These moments underscore the duality of leadership: staying present for others while navigating personal struggles.

Every challenge hides an opportunity for growth. A leader who maintained a client relationship during a particularly difficult time discovered that vulnerability and perseverance can deepen trust and create new opportunities. It’s often the toughest moments that forge the strongest connections.

Stepping into unfamiliar territory like inheriting a business or pivoting to a new market requires courage and adaptability. One entrepreneur, faced with an industry they knew little about, redefined their business’s focus and implemented a sustainable model. This reinvention not only stabilized the company but positioned it for future success.

Success without alignment can feel hollow. When one entrepreneur’s wellness business scaled rapidly, they found themselves disconnected from their original mission. By simplifying operations and returning to their hands-on approach, they built a business that resonated with their values and fostered deeper client relationships.

True leadership shines in tough times. Faced with personal challenges, one business leader prioritized their team’s stability and clients’ needs over their own. While this drew criticism, it also highlighted the responsibility and integrity that define exceptional leaders.

Complexity can kill progress. By narrowing focus and optimizing operations, businesses can thrive. A leader who transitioned their services from residential to commercial achieved not only growth but also clarity in their business model. Simplifying often leads to scalable, sustainable success.

Entrepreneurship rewards persistence. Success often comes not from brilliance but from refusing to quit. Each small victory provides the fuel needed to keep moving forward, even when the path ahead seems uncertain.

Sustainable businesses are built on clear, forward-thinking strategies. With a solid plan in place, businesses can prepare for future challenges and be positioned for long-term success as everyone is aligned on the same objectives. A well-thought-out plan serves as a roadmap, guiding the business toward its goals and paving the way for continued growth.

Entrepreneurs often juggle rapid growth with personal commitments. Striking this balance requires strategic decisions and prioritization. Involving family in decision-making and focusing on shared goals allows entrepreneurs to achieve harmony between their personal and professional lives.

Entrepreneurship is not a sprint, it’s a marathon that demands resilience, adaptability, and focus. Leaders who prioritize impact, align their business with personal values, and stay committed to their vision can weather any storm. By balancing personal challenges with professional responsibilities, simplifying operations, and planning for the future, they build businesses that thrive in the face of adversity.

Download the Small Business Owner’s Guide to Sales Training to learn key strategies and tactics for giving your team a competitive edge through sales training without breaking the bank, eating up your valuable time, or adding more to your plate.

Welcome to a new segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast called Ask Jeb!

I believe sales professionals are the heartbeat of the economy. You’re the ones generating revenue for your organization and fueling innovations that keep businesses thriving. Without your hustle, your company doesn’t move forward—and, frankly, neither does the global economy. You’re the elite athletes of the business world.

Ask Jeb is about you and your real world challenges. It’s your agenda and you are in control.

On this Sales Gravy Podcast segment, I answer your burning questions on driving revenue, growing your pipeline, leading your teams, and staying ahead of the competition. If you want to get on the show with me and ask your question, sign up HERE

Bob from Tullahoma, Tennessee (whom we affectionately call “Outbound Bob” because he’s been to our Outbound Conference so many times!) asked a critical question:

“Moving into next year, what prospecting advice, piece of technology, or technique would you offer that could apply across all sales organizations and industries? What’s our ‘silver bullet’—even if it doesn’t really exist?”

I’m the first to say there’s no magic wand in sales—no easy button that instantly books appointments or closes deals. What we do have is the reality of AI-generated “crap” flooding our inboxes and social feeds. This onslaught of automated noise means salespeople must stand out more than ever.

My top recommendation is to lean heavily into deep, multichannel prospecting sequences. Use everything at your disposal:

• Telephone (still the fastest way to close deals)
• In-person visits (yes, face-to-face still works—and people love seeing a real human)
• Email (but make it personal and relevant)
• Direct Messaging (LinkedIn, Messenger—wherever your prospect is, be there)
• Snail Mail (because physical mailboxes are shockingly empty)
• Networking & Referrals (the original social media)

It’s not just about persistence; it’s about persistence plus differentiation. If you’re simply bombarding prospects with a bunch of generic touches, you’re just adding to the noise. Instead, craft messaging that proves you understand their world.

Good news: the tsunami of poorly written AI outreach actually helps you stand out if your message is empathetic, clear, and focused on the prospect’s key interests. Take the time to truly step into their shoes. Know their persona, their industry, and how you solve their burning issues. Show them you’ve done your homework.

Each touch—voicemail, email, text, or social message—should flow logically from the last. You don’t want to leave the same voicemail three times in a row or send “Just bumping this to the top of your inbox” emails day after day. Instead, let your communication build a case for why a conversation is worthwhile. And remember: the number of touches needed to break through keeps rising (15+ touches for warm prospects, 50+ for cold). So, buckle up, play the long game, and keep your messaging sharp.

After Bob’s question, we tackled another big one from a Sales Gravy Coaching client who wished to remain anonymous:

How to handle short-burst prospecting and whether it helps to call businesses that share something in common, like location.

I’m a fan of high-intensity prospecting sprints. Carve out 10–15 minutes, chop wood as fast as you can, then take a break. This approach keeps your energy up and your head in the game.

Whenever possible, focus on a list of prospects that have something in common—same industry, similar role, or even the same town. That way, your messaging can be targeted, speaking directly to a collective pain point or shared experience.

• Targeted Messaging: Useful for a homogenous group (e.g., a batch of CFOs). It may not be perfect for everyone, but it keeps you efficient.
• Personalized Messaging: Time-consuming, but worth it for your highest-value prospects (C-suite, board-level, or highly specialized buyers). Craft these messages uniquely for that individual or account.

Ready to dive deeper? Head over to salesgravy.com/resources to download our free guide: “The 7 Steps to Building Effective Prospecting Sequences.” You can also pick up my new book, The AI Edge, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books. It’s packed with actionable strategies for prospecting in the age of AI.

And if you want to sharpen your skills or ask follow-up questions, check out our coaching programs at salesgravy.com/coach. My team and I work directly with sales pros at every level, helping them craft winning sequences and hit new performance highs.

Happy New Sales Year!

This is the first Monday of the year. The slate is clean. The opportunity to excel, to level up, to make this your best year ever is yours for the taking. The world is your oyster.

It’s time to shake off distractions, get focused, and execute. As we look forward to the next twelve months, there are only three things you control. Your actions, reactions, and mindset.

You have absolute control over your actions. These are the choices you make about how you spend your time, what you prioritize, and where you focus. Choose the right actions and you are going to have a great year; the wrong actions, not so much.

And when it comes to choosing how and on what you invest your time, commit to being ruthless about what you prioritize.Do the things that have the greatest impact on revenue generation, hitting your sales numbers, and achieving your personal goals.

You have control over how you react and respond to the many challenges you will face over the next twelve months. And trust me, there will be lots of challenges and roadblocks.

One of those challenges will be dealing with all of the people and distractions that steal your time and pull your attention away from your priorities.

It will take discipline to respond to these things with a polite no and stay on course. Remember that discipline is sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. Therefore, you can better manage your responses by keeping your eyes on the prize.

When you face emotionally challenging situations, one way to manage your reactions is through mindfulness.

I always thought mindfulness was some frou frou yoga crap until a learned what it really means and how especially powerful it is for managing emotional reactions when you face conflict with another person. Which is important because sales is full of conflict.

Mindfulness is simply the gap you leave between something happening to you and when you respond to it. In this gap you have the opportunity to exert control over your emotions and response. And let’s be clear: you have complete control of when you respond, how you respond, and if you respond.

The way I activate mindfulness is through a simple mental exercise in which I answer the question: Do I want this or do I want that?

For example, if I get into an argument with my wife and my emotional reaction is to dig in and fight for my point of view,  before I do, I’ll ask myself: Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right?

If you are dealing with a tough customer who is pushing your buttons and you really want to give them your mind, you might stop and ask yourself “Do I want to hit my sales number or do I want to tell this jerk what I think about them?

And finally, you control your mindset – your attitudes and beliefs. Of the three things you control, mindset is the most important.

Sales is a mental game. It is a truth that 90% of your success is going to be determined by what goes on between your ears.

There are two prevailing mindsets among salespeople in the world today. My good friend and co-author of The AI Edge Anthony Iannarino labels these the rain barrel mindset and the rainmaker mindset.

Think for a moment about a rain barrel. What does it do? The rain barrel sits in the backyard rusting waiting for rain.

This is exactly what rain barrel salespeople do. They sit around waiting for something to happen to them. Hoping for a lead to come their way. Waiting for their prospect to do the work and close the sale themselves.

Rain Barrels are defined by their circumstances. They complain and whine but take no action to change them. When it doesn’t rain, they blame everything and everyone except for themselves. The rain barrel resides in mediocrity and never reaches their potential.

Then there is the rainmaker mindset. Rain makers believe in themselves and their ability to make things happen. They don’t wait around for anyone or anything.

They replace hope with action. They win and achieve no matter what the circumstances because they believe at the core that they control their destiny. In sales, rain makers are the apex predators who sell more, earn more, and win more.

But here’s the deal. All day long there is a little voice inside your head that is jabbering away. That voice is either building you up or breaking you down.

Allowed to run unfettered, it tells you that you are not good enough, that the world is against you, that you should just give up and quit. Why work hard and give your best effort when the competition, prospects, boss, economy, internal team are all against you it says.

Negative self-talk will sap your confidence and energy. It will cause you to take short cuts, the easy way out, and give up too soon. It will turn you into a  cynical pessimist and steal your joy.

Therefore, you must vigilantly monitor and manage your self-talk and have the intentional discipline to stop and turn it around when it goes negative. Otherwise it’s easy to slip into mediocrity and become a rain barrel.

So on this first monday of the year which mindset will you adopt? What will be your identity?

Will you be a rain barrel and hope for the best? Or, will you become a rainmaker and be your best?

Take control and build a rainmaker mindset with Jeb’s FREE Fanatical Prospecting Book Club Guide