Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

You know the drill. The quota clock is ticking, the pressure is mounting, and there's that relentless urge for a quick win. Every sales professional has felt that impulse to rush the process, to push for the immediate "yes," because, well, the numbers demand it. But here's the tough question you need to ask yourself: What if that very pressure is actively sabotaging your long-term success? What if chasing the fast buck is actually costing you the lucrative, lasting relationships that define an elite sales career and build a lasting book of business? As Sales Gravy Podcast guest Steve Pyfrom puts it: “Building relationships takes time and sales, teams need desperately to get off of this short-term win dynamic. The goal is long-term revenue for your company, lifetime value for the end user.”  Focusing solely on the quick sale burns through pipeline leads faster than you can replace them, leaving you on a perpetual hamster wheel of prospecting just to stay afloat. It's time to talk about the long game, because building real relationships is where sustainable revenue lives. Why Churn Is Killing Your Commissions Let's talk numbers. According to SimplicityDX, customer acquisition costs have increased by 222% over the last eight years, while customer lifetime value has remained flat. It's getting harder and more expensive to find new customers, making the ones you have incredibly valuable. Yet most salespeople treat customers like one-time transactions. They close the deal, celebrate briefly, then immediately move on to the next prospect. This approach is financial suicide. Customers who feel rushed through the buying process rarely become loyal advocates. When a customer feels pressured into a decision or perceives the sale as purely transactional, their loyalty is paper-thin. They're constantly looking for better deals, questioning their purchase decision, and jumping ship when problems arise. When a customer churns, you lose all potential referrals, upsells, and cross-sells they could have generated. You're back to square one, hunting for new prospects to replace the revenue you just lost, all while acquisition costs keep climbing. The Trust Equation That Changes Everything Most salespeople think selling is about convincing, but selling is about connecting. When you rush a prospect, you're telling them their decision-making process doesn't matter. You're saying your timeline is more important than their comfort level.  Real relationships are built on trust, and trust takes time. Think about your personal life. Your closest friends aren't the people who tried to fast-track the process. They're the ones who showed up consistently, listened without an agenda, and proved their reliability over time. The same principle applies in sales. The prospects who become your biggest advocates aren't the ones you pressured into a quick yes. They're the ones who felt heard, understood, and genuinely cared for throughout the entire process. The Compound Effect of Relationship Selling Consider Mary, a software sales rep who was in competition with 2 other software vendors for a deal with a manufacturing company. Mary's competitors immediately launched into aggressive pitches and discount offers to David, the CFO, hoping to close the deal quickly. Mary took a different approach. Instead of pitching, she spent two months understanding David's cash flow challenges and upcoming board presentation needs. She shared relevant case studies, introduced him to a supply chain consultant, and helped him think through his decision criteria. She never once mentioned her software. When David's team raised concerns about implementation timelines during their evaluation, Mary's competitors pushed back, insisting their solution was simple to deploy. Mary listened, then connected David with a similar CFO who had successfully managed a comparable rollout. That conversation addressed David's real concerns and kept Mary's soluti...

That's the question every sales leader, CEO, and HR department is wrestling with as AI tools flood the market with promises to automate everything from prospecting to closing deals. Meanwhile, salespeople are panicking, wondering if their jobs are about to disappear to some algorithm that can write emails faster than they can type "Dear Valued Customer." If you're losing sleep over this, take a deep breath. The fear is real, but it's also completely misplaced. Here's the brutal truth: AI isn't going to replace you. But salespeople who understand how to leverage AI absolutely will replace those who don't. When Robots Try to Sell It's Not Authentic Remember when email prospecting worked? When a well-crafted subject line could get you a meeting, and personalization meant more than just mail-merging someone's first name? Those days are over, and AI killed them in about nine months. Here's what happened: Marketing departments discovered they could use AI to blast out thousands of "personalized" emails that sounded human but weren't. They could fake voicemails using voice cloning technology. They could create sales sequences that felt authentic but were completely artificial. The result? Complete market saturation with fake outreach that destroyed trust across every communication channel. Humans Have a BS Detector for Fakeness Here's what these AI-obsessed companies don't understand: People have an incredibly sophisticated BS detector. We can sense inauthenticity from a mile away, even when the technology is nearly perfect. When you receive an email that sounds too polished, too perfect, or follows a pattern you've seen before, your brain immediately flags it as fake. When you hear a voicemail that sounds just slightly off—even if you can't pinpoint why—you delete it. But here's the real killer: Once people realize you were too lazy to write your own email or leave your own voicemail, they lose all respect for you. They think, "If this salesperson can't be bothered to put in the effort to reach out to me personally, then why would I want to do business with them?" The One Thing AI Can Never Do This is where the magic happens, and it's where your competitive edge lies. AI can write emails. It can analyze data. It can even fake phone calls (poorly). But it cannot engage in real-time, empathetic, synchronous conversation with another human being. It can't read micro-expressions during a video call. It can't pick up on the subtle hesitation in someone's voice that signals an unspoken objection. It can't pivot in real-time when the conversation takes an unexpected turn. Most importantly, it can't build the kind of authentic human connection that makes people want to buy from you instead of your competitor. The AI + Human Intelligence Formula Smart salespeople aren't running from AI—they're running toward it—but they're using it as a tool to make themselves better, faster, and stronger, not as a replacement for actual selling skills. Here's where AI excels in sales: Research and Preparation: AI can analyze a prospect's 10-K filing, research their competitors, and create discovery questions in minutes instead of hours. It can build detailed company profiles and identify potential pain points before you ever pick up the phone. Data Organization and Analysis: That timeline your manager needs for a customer service issue? AI can pull data from your CRM, email, and support tickets to create a comprehensive summary in seconds instead of the hours it would take you to compile it manually. Writing Enhancement: Most salespeople aren't great writers. Don't shoot the messenger. AI can help you craft better emails, proposals, and follow-up messages, but only if you edit them, personalize them, and make them authentically yours. The Holy Grail: Intelligent Prospecting Lists: The biggest opportunity is using AI to build high-quality prospecting lists. Imagine walking into the office and having AI presen...

Is there such a thing as natural sales talent? Are top-level sales professionals born that way? Do they possess a gift from God that powers their ability to close sales? On this Money Monday, I answer these age-old questions. For the Love of the Game When I was 9 years old, after going to the Masters tournament with my Dad, I cut a limb that was shaped like a golf club from a tree, dug holes all over our backyard, and started playing “backyard golf” with a wiffle ball.  I loved my little backyard golf course and played every day after school. One day though, my Dad, who had been watching me, said, "Why don't we just go play real golf?" My dad didn't know anything about golf. He didn’t grow up playing. But we went down to Walmart, bought some cheap golf clubs, and started chasing little white balls.  We played at a legendary course in Augusta called The Patch—a municipal course with hard dirt fairways and patchy greens but a super fun place to learn the game. Our game was terrible, and we never practiced or took a lesson. But I loved going out with my dad to the course, and we had fun! In high school, I started playing on the golf team. That might have been a turning point for my game if we’d had a real coach, but instead we had a math teacher who did not play golf assigned to babysit us. So, we were on our own, but we had fun. Those years playing on my high school golf team were a blast! In college, I continued to play golf for recreation—usually with my fraternity brothers. Golf was about going out, telling jokes, and drinking a lot of beer. I have so many fun memories from those days.   The Myth of Natural Talent Stole My Joy After getting out of college, I continued to play—mostly in business situations—and that’s when golf stopped being fun. I would golf with clients and peers who were so much better than me. It didn't make sense that they could hit the ball so well and I could not.  I would go out to the range and practice until my arms hurt, but I never got any better. It never occurred to me to take a lesson.  By my mid-30s I was so frustrated with golf that I started to believe something that would haunt me for the next 20 years: I convinced myself that people who could play golf well were just naturally gifted. And because I wasn't naturally gifted, I would never be good at golf. So I quit. For two decades, I didn't pick up a golf club. A Massive Mindset Shift Leads to a Comeback If you have read my books and listened to my podcasts you know that I'm a big horse person. I've been involved in equestrian sports since I was a kid. I've had formal coaching and training with horses. On horseback, I thought I was naturally gifted. I believed it was something that God had imbued in me. So I forgot about golf and poured my time and energy into horses. Eventually, though, my son got older and started playing golf. And being an equestrian at my age became more and more dangerous. A bad day on a horse means you're in the hospital in traction. A bad day on the golf course means you go to soothe your wounds with a cold beer in the clubhouse. So I picked up the sticks again. But this time, I sought out a golf coach. A pro who could help me learn how to play the game.  Starting over has been hard. It is difficult to learn new skills. But with lessons, I've gotten better. In fact, last week I shot my lowest score ever. Over the past two years of working on my golf game, I’ve come to realize how much the story that I kept telling myself about not being naturally talented hurt me and how much it stole from my life. That story cost me 20 years of enjoyment of a game I loved. The difference between my success with horses and my failure with golf wasn't natural talent. It was coaching and instruction.  The Power of an Open vs Closed Mindset Once you stop believing that you have to be naturally gifted in order to do anything well, you open your mind to new possibilities and amazing th...

"I can't do that." How many times have you said those four words when facing a challenging sales situation? It could be picking up the phone to make that intimidating cold call. It could be asking for the close with a high-value prospect.  If you say 'I can't do that,' guess what? You're absolutely right. You won't. But here's what’s surprising: The solution is simpler than you think.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddjRyIHq6LA The Wisdom That Sounds Ridiculous (Until It Changes Everything) Thirty years ago, sales coach Steve Chandler heard a client say those familiar words: "I don't think I could ever do that." His response was four words that initially sounded absurd.  "Then don't be you." When Richard Fenton, co-author of "Go for No!," first heard this concept, he had two immediate reactions: "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," followed quickly by "That's the most profound thing I've ever heard." Think about it. When someone says they can't speak in front of a thousand people, what's the typical advice? "Just be natural. Just be yourself." But if they’re someone who freezes up in front of crowds, why would they want to be that person in that moment? Although you can’t magically become a new person, you do have the power to choose which aspect of yourself shows up in any given situation. The Alter Ego Advantage of Top Performers Elite athletes and performers often adopt different personas to enhance their performance. When the game was on the line, Kobe Bryant would mentally shift into his Black Mamba persona, accessing a level of confidence and killer instinct that separated him from other players.  "The Black Mamba is something I created to get through the lowest points," Bryant explained. "It's a mindset, a way of approaching challenges." Beyoncé morphs into "Sasha Fierce" on stage—a fearless, magnetic performer—but off stage, Beyoncé describes herself as naturally shy and introverted. Strategic identity shifting is the ability to step into a role that's equipped for the task at hand.  Your 3-Step Transformation Process Ready to make it happen? Here's your simple framework: Identify Your Limitation What specific sales activity makes you feel uncomfortable or incapable? Be precise. Instead of "I'm bad at sales," identify exactly when you struggle: "I freeze up when asking for referrals from satisfied customers." Design Your Persona Who would you need to be to excel in that situation? Create a specific identity, such as The Referral Request Professional, who understands that satisfied customers want to help others access the same value they received. Make the Switch Before entering a sales situation that makes you nervous, consciously transition into your character. Use mental preparation (visualizing success), physical cues (changing your posture, adjusting your voice), or even simple props (a specific piece of clothing or accessory). Creating Sales Identities That Perform The beauty of the "don't be you" approach is that you're not manufacturing a fake personality. You're accessing different facets of who you already are or who you can become.  Here are some examples of identities to cultivate in sales: The Cold Calling Champion When you need to make prospecting calls, don't be the version of you who worries about interrupting people or who fears rejection. Instead, become the professional who understands that you're offering solutions to real problems. Lead with confident conviction—like you’re doing them a favor by calling. Channel the mindset of a sales rep who is genuinely excited about helping prospects discover opportunities they didn't know existed. Before each calling session, take just two minutes. Visualize this persona. How do they talk? What's their vibe? How do they sit? Then step into that identity. The Confident Closer When it's time to close the deal, don't get stuck in the part of you that feels pushy or uncomfort...

Here's a question that exposes one of the most dangerous myths in modern sales: How do you set the right pipeline creation target to consistently hit quota? That's exactly what Maryellen Soriano from New Jersey asked when she called into Ask Jeb. After crushing 134% of quota in her first year selling EdTech solutions—transitioning from owning her own childcare center to selling back into that same industry—she was being told she needed 11X pipeline to maintain her success. If that number made you cringe, you're not alone. The obsession with pipeline multipliers is creating more problems than it's solving, and it's time we had an honest conversation about what actually drives predictable revenue. The Pipeline Myth That's Killing Your Forecast Most sales teams are drowning in fake pipeline, and it's destroying their ability to forecast accurately. Leadership teams, especially in tech companies, consistently miss their numbers quarter after quarter because they're obsessed with one question: "How much pipeline do we have?" The real question should be: "How clean is our pipeline?" Would you rather have 11X pipeline filled with lottery tickets, or 2X pipeline packed with qualified buyers? The answer should be obvious, but somehow we keep chasing vanity metrics instead of focusing on what converts. Here's the brutal truth: All pipeline opportunities are not equal. Two Approaches to Pipeline Creation There are two ways to approach pipeline creation, and only one of them actually works consistently. Approach #1: Maximum Daily Prospecting (The Proven Method) Don't worry about how big your pipeline is. Worry about how much prospecting you're doing, and run on a daily cadence of prospecting that maxes out the time you can spend every single day. Prospect every day, every day, every day. I have a block of time every morning for prospecting. Then I'm prospecting during any gap during the day. If there's time between meetings, I'm doing outreach. Every single day I'm prospecting to the very max that I have time to prospect. When you do this, you don't have to worry about pipeline size because it takes care of itself. You never get on the desperation roller coaster because you never stop feeding the machine. Approach #2: Pipeline Multiplier Obsession (The Broken Method) This is where leadership teams fixate on having "5X pipeline" or "11X pipeline" because they think more is better. The problem? As soon as reps think they have "enough" pipeline, they quit prospecting. Then reality hits when half those opportunities were pipe dreams. The Science of Pipeline: The Law of Replacement If you want to look at pipeline like science rather than hope, you need to understand the Law of Replacement: You need to replace opportunities in your pipeline at a rate that is equal to or greater than your closing ratio. Let me give you a real example of how this works. In a previous role, I had my numbers dialed in perfectly: I knew I needed 10 first-time appointments every week About 50% would move to follow-up appointments (5 deals) I'd close about 20% of those follow-ups (1 deal per week) It took me about 20 prospecting touches to generate 2 first-time appointments Working backwards from one closed deal per week, I knew exactly what I needed to produce in terms of prospecting activity and first-time appointments to feed my pipeline consistently. If I didn't replace the deals that fell out every single week, I'd eventually end up with nothing. What Makes a Real Pipeline Opportunity Here's where most organizations get it completely wrong. They're stuffing their CRM with anything that moves and calling it "pipeline." A real pipeline opportunity requires a conversation. It's not a form fill or a marketing lead or something someone else talked to and dumped in your CRM. You need to have qualified it yourself and made a decision that it belongs in your pipeline. At Sales Gravy,

Have you ever been working on a deal where you had this feeling, this intuition, this Spidey sense—something in the back of your mind telling you that this wasn't going to close? That you were going to waste your time? Maybe you had one of the stakeholders who was against you—an enemy. There was a naysayer who kept calling you out. Perhaps the stakeholders weren't engaged, or the incumbent vendor was so integrated into the organization that it would be very difficult to displace them. Whatever the case, you knew in the back of your mind that you weren't going to close the deal. But you kept working on it anyway. You rode that puppy to the ocean floor like the Titanic that it was. If you’ve done this, and I know you have, take heart because we've all been there. We've all had these situations, and we've later regretted them.  Top Sales Pros are Quick to Walk Away From Bad Deals  One of the traits of Ultra-High Performers that has always been true is that they're very quick to walk away from a deal they can't close—a deal where they've concluded that the probability of winning is so low it doesn't meet their threshold. The reason Ultra-High Performers walk away from deals like this is simple: They know that the greatest waste of their time is investing it with the wrong prospect. The time they invest in a prospect that's not going to close is money down the drain, because it's time they can't focus on a deal that will close. But average salespeople? They hang on—hoping against hope that somehow, miraculously, things will turn around. In sales, awareness matters. You must always know where the exit is. There are two primary reasons why salespeople work on deals that are never going to close. Understanding these reasons is the first step to avoiding the trap. Reason #1: The Failure to Qualify Properly Too often, qualifying is treated like a one-and-done activity. We qualify the opportunity against our ICP. We qualify the numbers, budget, timing, urgency, and whether we're talking to a decision-maker with buying authority.  These are all quantifiable metrics that we can measure and check off our list.  But Ultra-High Performers take qualifying to the next level. Rather than making it a quick process, they understand that qualifying is never done. It's an ongoing process of awareness that keeps you tethered to reality in every deal. And their top qualifier, once they've checked off the must-haves, is engagement. Are the stakeholders engaged? Are they leaning in? Are they matching your effort, answering questions, and working collaboratively with you? It's okay that there are some stakeholders who may be naysayers. That's normal in complex deals. But if you've got stakeholders who are enemies—people who are actively working against you—then your deal might be a bridge too far.  Engagement is my No. 1 qualifier. I'm constantly asking questions and giving stakeholders things to do to see whether or not they're engaged. If they're not engaged, I walk away because lack of engagement is a clear signal that you are not going to close the deal.  Reason #2: An Empty Pipeline This brings us to the second reason salespeople stay in bad deals—desperation born from an empty pipeline. On Friday, Dennis J. Walker, who is a benefits consultant with USI, posted something on LinkedIn that perfectly captures this dynamic. Here's exactly what he wrote: Jeb Blount regularly states that you can't be delusional about your pipe, your prospects, your efforts, etc and be successful as a salesperson. This week one of the larger deals in my pipe definitely didn't progress the way I wanted- and it turns out one of the executives is what I call a "deal enemy" - he was actively working against me and my team. The last two meetings I've had with him tipped me off this could be the case; this week we had an incident that indicated he was actively working against us. Because my pipe is full?

Your sales team just closed a $50K deal. Marketing takes credit because the prospect downloaded three whitepapers. Sales takes credit because they nurtured the relationship for six months. Meanwhile, you're wondering why this kind of success feels so random—and why similar prospects are slipping away. Companies with misaligned sales and marketing teams waste more leads and see annual revenue decline. But businesses that achieve true alignment? They close more deals and grow revenue faster year-over-year. The difference isn't talent, budget, or market conditions. It's whether your marketing and sales teams are pulling in the same direction or accidentally sabotaging each other. Clashing Departments Can Crash Your Bottom Line The consequences of misalignment between sales and marketing are significant. One common side effect is sales teams complaining about the quality of leads generated by marketing, often dismissing them as "bad leads."  Another issue is messaging. Marketing can be blind to the value propositions that are working for sales if they do not understand the sellers’ pitches and approach to closing deals. Their messaging is stale and ineffectual, completely disconnected from where sellers are finding success. When marketing and sales have different metrics or goals, it leads to a breakdown in communication and a lack of shared understanding. That misalignment hampers productivity, damaging morale and impacting your bottom line. Start With the Customer Journey The most important aspect that sales and marketing need to align on is the customer journey. This involves mapping out every touchpoint—from initial awareness to final purchase to customer retention.  Map the customer journey together—then act on it. This shared blueprint reveals exactly when prospects are ready for direct outreach versus when they need more nurturing. The payoff is immediate: Marketing delivers leads at peak readiness, while sales focuses their time on prospects most likely to convert. When both teams operate from the same customer journey map, handoffs become seamless and conversion rates climb. Tackle Sales Objections Together Every sales professional understands that the path to a closed deal is rarely a straight line. It's often a zig-zag through questions, doubts, and hesitations from prospects. Marketing’s role is to help develop messaging and collateral assets that help the sales team deal with these objections. This includes essential resources like case studies, white papers, product demonstrations, and ROI calculators. With the support of marketing materials, sellers have the resources to back up their pitch, highlight benefits, and keep buyers engaged. Most teams fail to communicate. Marketing creates polished but generic materials that sales doesn’t know exist. Sales knows which objections are the hardest to overcome but doesn’t have specific collateral to counter them. The winning approach: Sales documents the top 5 objections that derail deals, complete with context about when and why they surface. Marketing then builds laser-focused tools to address these concerns. Think comparison sheets for "your competitor is cheaper," implementation timelines for "this seems too complex," or peer testimonials for "we're not sure this works in our industry." Close the loop: Sales reports back on which materials move deals forward and which fall flat. Marketing iterates based on real-world results. This feedback cycle shifts objection-handling from guesswork into a refined system that consistently converts hesitation into confidence. Get Sales and Marketing Aligned Now How can businesses foster a stronger cohesion between sales and marketing? Here are six key strategies: Establish Shared Goals and Metrics Sales and marketing should work together to define common objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs).  Action item: Schedule a joint planning session within the next 2 weeks to agree on 3-5 ...

Here's a question that'll make your head spin: What do you do when your top performer is crushing quota but not hitting a required talk time KPI? That's the question posed by Josh Robich and Josh Nelson from Nashville. Josh Nelson ranked 18th out of 130 reps in his first full year at a new company, but he was consistently falling short of the company's sacred talk time metric of 3 hours per day, averaging only 2.5 hours instead. Meanwhile, his company is obsessed with using talk time as its primary KPI to measure sales effectiveness. If you're shaking your head right now, you're not alone. Obsessing over the talk time KPI rather than actual sales outcomes is one of the most backward approaches to sales management I see today, and it's costing companies their best talent. The Moneyball Problem: When Metrics Become Religion Remember the movie Moneyball? Billy Beane revolutionized baseball by focusing on on-base percentage instead of traditional stats that looked impressive but didn't correlate with winning games. He found a metric that predicted success. Talk time is the opposite of Moneyball. It's a vanity metric that makes leaders feel like they're managing performance when all they are really doing is measuring noise. Here's the brutal truth: Talk time means absolutely nothing if it doesn't drive revenue. It means nothing if the conversations are shallow, non-productive, or a poor buying experience. You can have reps talking for 4 hours a day who are dead last on your ranking report, while someone like Josh is closing deals left and right with only 2.5 hours of phone time. Which one would you rather have on your team? Why Talk Time Is a Lazy Leader's Crutch The reason companies fixate on vanity metrics like talk time is because it's easy. It requires zero investment in actual coaching, observation, or skill development. Think about it: It's much easier to look at a dashboard and say, "You need to talk more," than it is to actually listen to calls, analyze technique, and provide meaningful feedback on discovery questions, objection handling, or closing skills. But here's what happens when you manage this way: You drive away your best performers and enable your worst ones. Your top performers get frustrated because they're being penalized for efficiency. Your bottom performers get comfortable because they can hit their talk time numbers while producing nothing of value. What Actually Matters: KPIs That Move the Needle Instead of obsessing over how long reps are talking, and other vanity KPIs, smart sales leaders focus on outcome-driven metrics that actually correlate with sales performance and closing deals. First-Time Appointments How many new conversations is each rep having? In sales, FTAs are your Moneyball. If a rep isn’t setting enough first-time appointments, they are sub-optimizing their sales potential. Next Step Conversion Rates What percentage of first-time appointments convert to second appointments? This tells you everything about relationship building, discovery skills, and value articulation. If Josh is converting at a higher rate with less talk time, he's simply more effective per conversation. Show Rates How many scheduled appointments actually happen? This reveals qualification skills, the ability to create urgency and commitment, and the quality of prospecting conversations. Pipeline Velocity How quickly are deals moving through your sales process? This shows you who's truly building momentum versus who's just having long conversations that stall deals in the pipeline. Revenue Per Hour The ultimate sales efficiency KPI is who is generating the most revenue per hour of phone time. Stop Obsessing Over the KPI and Start Coaching When you shift your focus to outcome metrics, everything changes. Instead of telling reps to "talk more," you can provide specific, actionable coaching: For the rep who has great first-time appointment numbers but poor conversion rates:...

If you are spending more time staring at your windshield instead of looking into your customers' eyes, you are doing field sales wrong.  Over the past couple of years, there's been a resurgence in field sales. Businesses everywhere are adding field salespeople and sending representatives out into the territory to meet with customers face-to-face.  And for good reason—human beings buy from human beings. The most powerful way to anchor relationships, solve problems, and sell more is to get in front of your customers. With AI creating so much noise in the system, it's getting harder to prospect via email and social media. Going out and knocking on doors has become an easier way to connect with people, build relationships, and open up opportunities in your pipeline.  And the good news, at least for now, is that prospects are happy to see field sales pros and inviting them in to their businesses and homes.  But with the resurgence of outside sales comes an age-old problem: Field salespeople have got to travel to get to customers. And here's the brutal reality—the single greatest waste of time for field sales professionals is staring at a windshield. On this Money Monday segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast I'm going to teach you exactly how to minimize windshield time and maximize face time. Because at the end of the day, you don't get paid to drive. You get paid to sell. The Windshield Time Delusion Too many reps delude themselves into believing that driving from one place to another is "working." Let's get something straight: Driving is not an accomplishment. I don't care if you put 100 miles on your vehicle in a day. That doesn't mean you accomplished anything meaningful. It just means you drove from one place to the next, burning dinosaurs and wasting time. I see this all the time. Reps will drive to one customer, then drive all the way across their territory to another customer, instead of concentrating their work in a single geographic area.  They'll dead-head out to an appointment, then drive all the way back to the office, passing up dozens of prospects they could have walked into along the way. Don’t confuse activity with productivity.  Just because you drove all over creation, that doesn’t mean you had a productive day.  Your job is to be in front of customers, not behind a steering wheel. Every minute you spend staring at your windshield is a minute you're not building relationships, solving problems, putting new opportunities in the pipe or closing deals. The Mathematics of Effective Field Sales Territory Management  Let me put this in perspective with some simple math that will blow your mind. Let's say you're a typical field sales rep working in a moderate-sized territory. You make 5 customer visits per day, and between poor route planning and territory management, you spend an average of 45 minutes driving between each appointment. That's 3 hours and 45 minutes of windshield time daily. Over a 5-day work week, that's 18 hours and 45 minutes of non-productive driving time. That's nearly half of your work week spent accomplishing absolutely nothing. Now, let's say you tighten up your territory management and reduce that drive time to 20 minutes between appointments through better planning. You're now down to 1 hour and 40 minutes of windshield time daily, or 8 hours and 20 minutes weekly. You just freed up more than 10 hours per week. That's enough time for 15 to 20 additional customer visits or prospect calls. Over a month, that's 60-80 more customer touchpoints. Over a year, that's 720-960 additional opportunities to build relationships and generate revenue. The reps who figure out how to minimize windshield time don't just have better work-life balance—they absolutely dominate their territories and blow past their quotas while their competitors are still driving around wastefully. Map Your Territory Into Quadrants This is why the first rule of field sales is get...

AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to boost your game. Used wisely, AI can be your secret weapon. AI is everywhere: in social selling, content creation, automation, to say the least. Here's the double-edged sword: If you're trying to outsource everything to AI, you won't last. If you're stuck in the old ways, refusing to adapt, you'll get left behind. Top performers are integrating AI into their workflows to make their human skills even sharper. They know AI is the edge they need to rise above the competition. Where AI Actually Delivers Value Think about how much sales time you burn on necessary tasks that don't drive revenue, like data entry and research. That's where AI shines. It handles the repetitive work faster and more accurately than you ever could. Feed it your ideal customer profile, and  you can have a filtered list of prospects before you even finish your coffee. AI can analyze thousands of LinkedIn profiles in minutes to identify prospects who match your best customers' characteristics. It can scrape company websites, news articles, and financial reports to give you conversation starters that actually matter. While you're having one discovery call, AI can prep intel for your next five meetings. Consider email outreach. Instead of sending generic templates, AI can help personalize messages at scale using real company data—recent funding rounds, leadership changes, and industry challenges. All this results in open rates that don't make you cringe and response rates that actually justify your time investment. Be Smart About How You Integrate The mistake most sales reps make is thinking AI means "set it and forget it." That’s plain wrong. The winners are using AI as a research assistant, not a replacement for judgment. They're feeding it context, reviewing its output, and adding the human insight that turns data into deals. The best use AI to identify patterns in their closed-won deals, then apply those insights to current opportunities. They analyze which messaging resonates with different buyer personas, then craft more targeted outreach. They're not working harder; they're leveraging better intelligence. Take objection handling. AI can analyze your call recordings to identify the most common pushback you're getting, then help you develop stronger responses. It can even suggest which case studies or references would be most compelling for specific prospect types. It’s taking your experience and making it work for you at warp speed. What's Coming Next for AI Wait until you see what’s on the docket for AI advancements: AI agents that anticipate what you need before you even ask.  What if your follow-up email was already drafted after a call, incorporating specific points from the conversation? Your proposal includes ROI calculations tailored to their business model, all generated from publicly available data about their company. AI will soon do more than respond to prompts; it will proactively support your sales process. It'll flag when a deal is stalling based on engagement patterns. It'll suggest the optimal time to follow up based on the prospect's communication preferences. It'll even coach you on your delivery by analyzing successful calls from top performers. That’s why the time to adopt is now. Don’t let AI’s growth outpace your own knowledge of how to use it. Stay on top of new systems and improvements. The Human Element Remains King But here's what AI will never recognize: the moment in a sale when a prospect's voice changes and you know they're really interested. It doesn’t have the ability to read between the lines of what someone isn't saying. It lacks the intuition that tells you to pivot your pitch mid-conversation because you've spotted a better angle. AI can't build genuine rapport. It can't adapt to the subtle cues that tell you someone's ready to buy or needs more nurturing. It can't handle the complex, nuanced objections that require empathy and creative...

If you're in field sales, you know the reality: You spend hours every week sitting behind the windshield, staring at traffic that's moving at the speed of molasses. Whether you're dealing with Atlanta's notorious I-285 parking lot or any other major city's rush hour nightmare, that windshield time is either making you better or making you bitter. Recently on the Ask Jeb segment of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jacob Kimrey asked about helping his field sales team maximize their productivity while stuck in traffic. But here's the thing—this advice isn't just for managers to give their reps. It's for YOU, the field rep, to take control of your own success. Let me tell you how to turn those frustrating hours in traffic into your secret weapon. Driving Isn't an Accomplishment First, let's get something straight: Driving is not an accomplishment. I don't care if you put 200 miles on your car today—that doesn't mean you accomplished anything meaningful for your business. Too many field reps confuse activity with productivity. They think that because they drove all over creation, they had a productive day. Wrong. The goal is to minimize your windshield time and maximize your face-to-face time. But when you ARE stuck in traffic, you better make damn sure you're using that time to get better. Smart Territory Management Saves Windshield Time Before we talk about maximizing windshield time, let's talk about minimizing it through smart territory planning. Map your territory into quadrants: Monday territory, Tuesday territory, Wednesday territory, Thursday territory, and Friday territory. If you're supposed to be in your Monday quadrant but you're driving to your Friday area, you better have a damn good reason. When you're planning your field time: Group your appointments geographically: Don't hopscotch all over your territory in one day. Plan your route in advance: Use your CRM to map out the most efficient route. Use the T-calling technique: When you arrive somewhere for an appointment, look left, look right, look behind you—can you make additional calls in that immediate area? The tighter your route planning, the more selling time you create and the less windshield time you waste. Prospecting from the Road (Safely) Now, here's where it gets interesting. That windshield time can actually become prospecting time—if you do it safely and legally. There are apps and dialers that let you load phone numbers and dial hands-free while you're stuck in traffic. You can also set up your phone so contact numbers are easily accessible with voice commands. Safety first: Only do this when you're completely stopped in traffic or pulled over. Never compromise safety for a sales call. Hands-free follow-up calls: Use voice-to-text features to send follow-up messages to prospects or customers. Planning calls: Call ahead to confirm appointments or reschedule meetings. Customer check-ins: Those relationship-building calls that keep you top-of-mind with existing customers. The key is preparation. Have your call lists ready, know who you're calling and why, and keep it simple and safe. Voice Technology Is Your Friend Today's smartphones have incredible voice capabilities that field reps should be leveraging: Voice-to-text for quick CRM updates Voice memos to capture important thoughts or follow-up reminders Hands-free scheduling and calendar management Voice-activated research on prospects or companies Learn to use these tools, and you'll be amazed how much more productive your windshield time becomes. Welcome to Automobile University The number one thing you should be doing while stuck in traffic is attending what the great Zig Ziglar called "Automobile University." When you're sitting in your car, staring at brake lights, what's coming through your speakers? Is it the news (which will just make you angry)? Music (which won't make you any money)? Or are you investing in content that makes you be...

Most value propositions stink. They’re boring, generic, feature-heavy garbage that make buyers’ eyes glaze over. And the worst part? Most salespeople don’t even realize their value proposition messaging is hurting them. On this week’s Sales Gravy Podcast, Lisa Dennis breaks down her process for building value propositions that actually work—the kind that grab buyers by the heart and don’t let go. But before we get to the solution, let’s talk about why most value propositions fail miserably. Reason #1: You’re Talking About Yourself, Not Them Here’s the fundamental problem with 90% of value propositions: They’re all about you. “We’re the industry leader with cutting-edge technology and award-winning customer service that delivers best-in-class solutions…” Blah, blah, blah.  Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of your prospect mentally checking out. Here’s a hard truth about human nature: Nobody cares about you. They care about themselves. Every buyer wants to talk about their problems, their challenges, their goals, and their pain points. When you launch into your pitch about incredible features and market-leading capabilities, your buyer is silently thinking, “What does this mean for me?” And if you don’t answer that question immediately, you’ve lost them. Your value proposition isn’t a corporate brochure. It’s not a marketing slick. It’s the value-bridge between what you do and what they need.  If it’s a monologue about you, your company, and your product features you’ve lost the game before kickoff. What to do instead: Make your value proposition a laser-focused spotlight on them. Start with their problem, not your solution. Lead with their pain, not your product. Reason #2: You’re Using Generic, Meaningless Buzzwords Most value propositions include phrases like “industry leader,” “best-in-class,” “cutting-edge,” or “world-class customer service.” “We’re a one-stop shop with purpose-built solutions that increase efficiency and decrease costs.” Really? And I suppose your competitors specialize in decreasing efficiency and increasing costs? These phrases and buzzwords make you sound exactly like every other salesperson who’s ever walked through your prospect’s door: boring.  Here’s the brutal truth: If your competitor could copy and paste your value proposition and use it for their company, it’s not a value proposition—it’s forgettable noise. What to do instead: Get specific. Use numbers. Use their language, not yours. Instead of “increase efficiency,” say “reduce your monthly reporting time from 40 hours to 4 hours.” Instead of “industry leader,” show them exactly how you’re different and why that difference matters to them. Reason #3: You Haven’t Done Your Homework Most salespeople build their value propositions standing in their own shoes rather than those of their buyers. If you don’t know what keeps your prospects awake at 3 AM, if you don’t understand their specific challenges, and if you haven’t talked to real customers about why they bought from you (or didn’t), then your value proposition is built on sand. Guesswork rather than research. What to do instead: Talk to three groups of people and gain insight through their lens. Your Lovers: These are your raving fans. What do they say about you when you’re not in the room? What specific problem did you solve that made them heroes in their organization? Your Likers: These are satisfied customers who aren’t writing love letters about you. What almost made them choose your competitor? What reservations did they have? Your Haters: These are the tough conversations. The prospects who chose someone else or the customers who fired you. Why? What did they feel you were missing? This insight helps you shape your messaging so that it connects with the buying motivators of potential customers. How to Build a Value Prop That Actually Works Now that we’ve covered why most value propositions fail,

Jon Buehler from Jacksonville asks: "How do you maintain the consistency and intensity with prospecting? I find myself doing these sprints to get momentum, but struggle to keep that momentum going for long, sustained periods of time." Jon's question gets to the heart of one of the most significant challenges in sales: maintaining disciplined, consistent, daily prospecting over the long haul. It's a challenge that plagues even experienced sales professionals. In this Ask Jeb article and Sales Gravy Podcast, I dig into why this happens and how to fix it. The Prospecting Paradox Prospecting is the lifeblood of sales success, yet it's the activity most salespeople hate and avoid. This creates a dangerous pattern I call the "desperation rollercoaster"—a cycle that wreaks havoc on your results, your mental health, and ultimately your career. Here's how it works: You prospect hard for a while, fill your pipeline, and start closing deals. Life is good. Then you get busy servicing those new clients and tell yourself you've "earned a break" from prospecting. Your prospecting activity slows down or stops entirely. Fast forward 30-90 days, and suddenly your pipeline is dry. Panic sets in. Your manager is breathing down your neck. Your commission checks shrink. Only then do you rediscover your "motivation" to prospect. And the cycle repeats. Up and down. Feast and famine. This isn't a strategy; it's a recipe for burnout and inconsistent performance. The Hidden Costs of Inconsistent Prospecting The desperation rollercoaster creates damage far beyond just an empty pipeline. When you're desperate for deals, everything about your sales approach deteriorates: You become pushy and pitchy instead of consultative You come across as desperate and insecure You focus exclusively on what YOU need, not what the PROSPECT needs Your discovery questions become shallow You skip crucial steps in your sales process You discount aggressively because you have no leverage Your negotiation and closing skills deteriorate In short, when you're desperate for deals, you sell terribly. Inconsistent prospecting doesn't just hurt your pipeline—it undermines your entire sales approach. The 30-Day Rule: Why Consistency Matters More Than Intensity In Fanatical Prospecting, I discuss the "30-Day Rule": The prospecting you do in this 30-day period will pay off in the next 90 days. This rule explains why inconsistent prospecting is so dangerous. When you take even a single day off from prospecting, it creates a hole in your pipeline 30-90 days from now. Take a week off, and you create a significant gap. Take a month off, and you essentially guarantee a sales crisis in your near future. Understanding this principle makes it crystal clear why consistency trumps intensity every time. I'd rather see you make 20 prospecting calls every day for a month than 100 calls in a single day and nothing for the rest of the month. The Pain and Pull Method for Maintaining Motivation So how do you maintain your prospecting discipline when motivation inevitably fades? I use the "Pain and Pull" method. The Pain: Visualize the Consequences When I don't feel like prospecting (and yes, even after decades in sales, I still have those days), I vividly picture what will happen if I skip it: The stress of an empty pipeline 60 days from now The uncomfortable conversation with my team The hit to my income and reputation The desperation that will undermine my sales approach By focusing on the pain I'll experience in the future if I skip prospecting today, I create immediate motivation to pick up the phone. The Pull: Connect to Your Why My friend Victor Antonio calls this "the big pull," connecting your daily prospecting discipline to your most important goals and aspirations. Nobody wakes up excited to make cold calls. But many people wake up excited about buying their dream home, sending their kids to college,

On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Looking at the final scoreboard, his five-stroke victory seemed like total domination. But I was there on the ground, and what I saw wasn't domination. It was something far more valuable for you as a sales professional and has everything to do with success. What I witnessed was a master class in mental resilience. And in this Sales Gravy podcast and article, I'm going to break down exactly how Scheffler's approach to adversity can transform your sales results. The Brutal Grind Quail Hollow is beautiful, but make no mistake—this course has teeth. It chewed up and spit out many of the world's best golfers without an ounce of remorse. Just ask Bryson DeChambeau, who on Saturday watched his lead evaporate on the "Green Mile" – the brutal final three holes of the course. Or ask Jon Rahm, who briefly held the lead on Sunday before plummeting to eighth place after getting absolutely bitten by those same closing holes. If you just looked at Scheffler's final score, you'd think he cruised through effortlessly. But that's not even close to what happened. It was a grind—every single hole, every single shot. Scheffler came into Sunday with a five-stroke cushion, but by the front nine, he had completely lost that lead. Let that sink in for a second. The world's best golfer, playing his best golf all season, watched his commanding lead completely vanish. For most players, that would have been it. Game over. The spiral begins. The tournament slips away. But not for Scottie Scheffler. Bounce Back Percentage - The Key to Winning There's one statistic from the tournament that explains everything – and it's a metric that should become your new obsession as a sales professional. It's called the "bounce-back percentage." The bounce-back percentage measures how often a player makes a birdie or better immediately following a bogey or worse. In other words, how often do you recover from failure and immediately create success? For the entire field at Quail Hollow, the average bounce-back percentage was 17.4%. For Scottie Scheffler? An astonishing 62.5%. Think about what this means. When the average player faced adversity, they bounced back less than one time in five. But Scheffler? He transformed failure into immediate success more than three out of every five times. That is massive mental resilience. It's the difference between holding a trophy and watching someone else hold it. It's the difference between being number one in the world and being just another talented pro. And it's absolutely the difference between sales mediocrity and sales excellence. Bounce-Back Matters in Sales So why am I talking about golf statistics on a sales podcast? Because the bounce-back percentage is the perfect analogy for what makes or breaks a sales career. I've got news for you—bad stuff is going to happen in your sales career. You're going to fail, lose, and face adversity. That's not a possibility—it's a guarantee. You're going to have situations where everything seemed perfect, and then the deal falls apart. Sometimes it's your fault. Sometimes it's not. Maybe the champion of your deal suddenly gets fired or leaves the company. Maybe a competitor swoops in at the last minute with a ridiculous offer. Maybe your prospect ghosts you after six months of work. Each day you're going to run into situations when you're prospecting where someone slams the phone in your ear, and then you've got to immediately turn around and make the next call. There will be days where nothing goes right and everyone says no. Your ability to bounce back doesn't just influence your success – it defines who you are as a sales professional. It is the key to winning. Full stop. The Goldfish Paradigm  When I'm hiring salespeople, one of the things I'm measuring for is optimism. It's essentially Ted Lasso's goldfish paradigm—the ability to forget fast. On the show,

Sales is a trust game. Always has been; always will be.  It’s not about features, price points, or flashy presentations. It’s about conviction. And conviction is born from trust: deep, unshakable trust across four critical fronts.  Ignore even one, and you’re leaving deals on the table. The First Deal You Close Every Day is YOU Before you ever make a cold call, send an email, or walk into a meeting, you’ve got to sell you to you.  Self-doubt is a silent killer. It creeps in, erodes confidence, and betrays you in your voice, your body language, and that split second when you hesitate to ask for the close. Top performers don’t have fewer fears—they just trust themselves to push through them. They build self-trust the hard way: doing the reps, facing objections, pushing through rejection until they're bulletproof. Self-trust isn’t optional. It’s the launchpad for everything else you do. Trust in Your Product If you don't believe in what you're selling, neither will your prospect. Prospects can smell when you’re bluffing. They pick up on the hesitations, the weasel words, the way you tiptoe around weaknesses instead of confronting them head-on. When you know your product solves real problems—and you’ve seen it do so again and again—you sell with conviction. You don’t overpromise. You stop folding under pressure, and stop chasing price shoppers.  Trust in your product doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It means you know where it fits, what it does well, and who it helps—and you’re not afraid to walk away when it’s not the right match. Your Process is Your Competitive Edge Amateurs wing it. Top performers trust their process.  A rock-solid sales process is your roadmap to predictable success. It’s the framework that turns chaos into control. When you trust your process, you stop second-guessing yourself. You know exactly what to do next, even when prospects throw curveballs.  Your process should cover all parts of the sales cycle: prospecting, qualifying, handling objections, closing, and follow-up. Each step should be intentional and refined through experience.  Trust in your process gives you the courage to disqualify bad fits and the discipline to execute consistently.  Building Trust with Prospects: Where Deals Live or Die Prospects don’t buy from people they don’t trust. They buy from people who understand them, demonstrate competence, and follow through on every promise.  The 7 Trust Accelerators That Actually Work Prepare Like Your Career Depends On It: Before every interaction, know their business, industry challenges, and recent news. When you reference their Q3 earnings call or their CEO's LinkedIn post, you show respect for their time and business. Lead with Insight, Not Pitches: Share something valuable they don't know about their market, competitors, or opportunities. "I noticed companies in your space are struggling with X. Here's what the successful ones are doing differently..." Ask Questions That Make Them Think: Skip the basic discovery questions. Ask: "If you could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about your current process, what would it be?" or "What's the real cost of not solving this problem?" Admit What You Don't Know: When stumped, say: "That's a great question. I don't have the answer right now, but I'll find out and get back to you by tomorrow." Then actually do it. Tell Them When You're NOT a Fit: Nothing builds trust faster than saying: "Based on what you've told me, I don't think we're the right solution for you. Here's who might be better..." They'll remember your honesty. Share the Whole Truth About Implementation: Don't sugarcoat. Tell them: "Here's where clients typically hit speedbumps. Here's how long it really takes. Here's what you'll need to invest beyond the price tag." Follow Up with Value, Not Just "Checking In”: Every touch should add value. Send industry reports, introduce them to potential partners,

Brian Kemski wants to know how to stop prospects from ghosting him. He asks a question that plagues salespeople everywhere: "What can I do about prospects who go through the process, seem interested, and then disappear into the witness protection program after I give them my information?" If you've been in sales for more than a week, you know exactly what Brian is talking about. You have a great discovery call, you build rapport, you send over your proposal or pricing...and suddenly—radio silence. The prospect ghosts you, leaving you frantically checking your email every five minutes and wondering what the hell happened. In this Ask Jeb episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast I'm going to teach you how to prevent it. You Gave Away Your Leverage for Free During our conversation, I asked Brian to consider what he'd do if I offered him $100 to go get me a Big Mac. He wasn't interested. When I upped it to $200, he started considering it. At $500, he was ready to make the trip. Why? Because at $500, the value exchange made sense to him. Your sales information works exactly the same way. Your pricing, specs, and solutions have real value. When you hand them over without getting anything in return—especially before completing your sales process—you're essentially giving away hundred-dollar bills for free. And once you give away all your value, the prospect has no more reason to talk to you. Understanding Power and Leverage in Sales In most sales situations, your prospect has more power than you do because they have more alternatives than you. They can choose your competitors or simply decide to do nothing. The only way to level the playing field is through leverage—something you have that they want because it provides value to them. It's like that hurricane example I gave Brian: If there's a hurricane in Miami, all the power is out, and you're the only person selling ice, you have all the power because there are no other options. But in normal business situations, your prospect has plenty of options, which gives them power. Your information is the leverage that gets prospects to "dance to your tune." Once you give that away without getting anything in return, you've surrendered all your power. Your Sales Process Should Be a Value Exchange Here's what your sales process should look like instead: Use discovery calls to build value: Ask questions that help prospects think differently about their problems. Create insights they can't get elsewhere. Meet multiple stakeholders: Insist on speaking with everyone involved in the decision. This builds relationships across the organization and prevents ghosting. Present your proposal in person: NEVER email a proposal. Your proposal meeting should be a closing meeting where you're getting a yes or no. Look for engagement at every step: If prospects aren't willing to invest time and effort in your process, they're showing you they aren't serious. Each step of your process should involve the prospect giving something (usually time and information) to get something from you. This creates what psychologists call the "investment effect"—the more effort people put into something, the more they value it. The RFP Trap The clearest example of giving away leverage is responding to RFPs without conditions. When you fill out all that information and send it without meeting the decision-makers, you'll rarely hear back. My approach? "I'm not filling out all that information until you meet with me." If they want your solution badly enough, they'll meet. If they don't, you've saved yourself hours of wasted time. I practice what I preach, but I'm not perfect. Just last November, I spent 12 hours on a proposal I knew had little chance of closing because I'd skipped steps in my own process. I gave away my leverage for free, and they ghosted me—exactly as I predicted they would. I have to relearn this lesson once or twice a year. Maybe you do too.=

Your quota doesn't take a summer vacation, so your pipeline-building efforts can't afford to either. This is a reality check. Summer is coming fast, and if you don’t get your pipeline positioned for success now, you’ll be scrambling come mid-July. The summer sales slowdown is a documented phenomenon across almost every industry. According to data from HubSpot, prospecting response rates can drop by as much as 25% between June and August.  Appointment conversion rates decline by similar percentages. And overall deal velocity—how quickly opportunities move through your pipeline—slows dramatically during this period. Why does this happen? It's simple: Decision-makers take vacations. Buying committees become fragmented with staggered time off. Business momentum slows as organizations shift to a summer mindset. And you are distracted with the pool, the beach, your kids, and fun travel.  Salespeople Wait Until it is Too Late That’s reality. Now, here's the brutal truth. Each summer salespeople make the same bad mistake—they wait until they're already in the summer slump to try to climb out of it. By the time they realize their pipeline is drying up in late June, it's already too late to course-correct, leading to stress and anxiety as their sales numbers and income drop as the temperature rises. If you are not focused on building your summer pipeline now, you are in big damn trouble. First, your prospects become harder to reach, which means your connection rates drop. With lower connection rates, you get fewer meetings. Fewer meetings lead to fewer opportunities entering your pipeline. Meanwhile, your existing pipeline is moving slower than normal due to vacation schedules. These factors don't just add up—they multiply.  And here's the kicker—while you're experiencing this slowdown, your quota isn't taking a vacation. Your revenue targets remain unchanged. In fact, for many organizations, Q3 is when quota ramps up higher and the pressure really starts to build to hit annual targets. The Sales Psychology of Going Into Summer Prepared to Make Quota Beyond the pure mathematics of pipeline building, there's a psychological advantage to preparing now. When you're proactively filling your pipeline ahead of the summer slowdown, you operate from a position of confidence and abundance. Sales professionals who hit the summer slump with a thin pipeline typically find themselves in panic mode. When you're in panic mode, prospects can sense it. Your conversations become more about your needs than theirs and your willingness to discount increases. These behaviors ultimately reduce deal profitability and your income, and damage your relationships with potential customers. Contrast this with the sales professional who's already built a healthy summer pipeline. They can approach each conversation with genuine curiosity and patience. They can focus on value creation rather than transaction acceleration. They can maintain price integrity because they're not desperate for the deal. And they can actually have summer fun rather than summer stress.  Double Down on Prospecting Now The simple reality is that connecting with prospects will get harder during summer. So you need to double your outreach volume now. If you normally make 30 prospecting calls daily, bump that to 60 for the next six weeks. The 30-Day Rule states that the prospecting you do in this 30-day period will pay off for the next 90 days. In other words, the seeds you plant today will determine your harvest in July and August. Knowing your pipeline is healthy going into summer allows you to enjoy any vacation time you take without constantly checking emails. When you're not scrambling for deals, you can be more selective about which opportunities you pursue, focusing on ideal customer profiles rather than anyone with a pulse. A well-built summer pipeline might actually allow you periods of lower activity that you can use for s...

Here’s a hard truth most salespeople never hear: The most dangerous thing you can do is think like an employee. On this week’s episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, business consultant for entrepreneurs David Neagle says: “You've got to see yourself above the place that you actually want to accomplish.” The highest-earning reps? They think like owners. They take responsibility for their number, their mindset, and their mission. They don’t wait for leads to be handed to them or settle for “good enough.” They build a pipeline like a business, because it is.  So whether you run a company or just run your territory, these lessons from a successful entrepreneur will harden your mindset and help you sell with more purpose, more urgency, and more grit. Making Money Isn’t Hard. You need to come around to a simple idea: Making money isn’t the hard part. Getting over your mental baggage about making money is infinitely more difficult. Most salespeople riding the feast-or-famine rollercoaster find themselves desperate more often than not. When that happens, they unconsciously sabotage themselves. They discount too quickly, hesitate to ask for the sale, or talk themselves out of big goals. Here’s the truth: Money is everywhere, and opportunity is endless. But if you believe sales is a grind and success is for “those people,” you’ll work three times harder for half the reward. Don’t undersell yourself. Entrepreneurs don’t apologize for making money—they design their lives around it. If you want to earn like a business owner, stop treating money like a taboo topic. Start treating it like a scoreboard you want to climb. Stop Caring What People Think (Especially About You Winning) The moment you start succeeding—wildly succeeding—is the moment people will have opinions about it. You close a big deal or hit the top of the leaderboard? Somebody will whisper. Someone else will be resentful. That’s not your problem. It’s theirs. You’ll never hit your peak if you can’t stomach a little hate from the nay-sayers. Entrepreneurs learn early that approval won’t pay your bills. If you want to win in sales, stop seeking validation from people who aren’t playing game at your level. You can’t serve your buyer and care what others think at the same time. Choose your future over fitting in. Believe You’re Worth the Win Most reps think their biggest problem is weak leads or tight markets. It’s not. It’s that they don’t believe they’re worthy of success. They don’t think they deserve the close, the commission, or the praise. Instead of swinging for the fences or building consistency, they settle for mediocre wins some of the time. Instead of dealing with confidence, they let insecurity take over. Business owners don’t have that luxury. Their livelihood depends on selling themselves—and believing in what they offer. The same should go for you. When you believe you’re worth the success, your tone changes. Your body language shifts. Your presence becomes undeniable—and buyers feel it. Push past doubt by honing your skills through practice and reviewing past successes. You deserve everything you’ve worked hard to gain. Sales Isn’t About Getting—It’s About Giving A lot of people treat sales like they’re trying to take something. That’s why they feel pushy, needy, or “icky.” But the best sellers think like business owners—and owners know they’re in the business of solving problems. They're giving value, outcomes, and transformation. If your mindset is “I need to get this deal,” your buyer will feel that. But if you shift to “I’ve got something that can truly help them,” everything changes. You show up with confidence, not desperation; with curiosity, not pressure. Sales isn’t just hunting. It’s serving. And your commission is just the reward for solving someone else’s problem. Start thinking like a consultative seller. Listen closely to your prospect’s needs and position yourself as a trusted advisor who...

Tyler Goss, from Tampa, has two critical sales questions: 1) How do we achieve those "crazy" prospecting numbers I talk about in my books? 2) When should a lead become a pipeline opportunity? In this podcast, I break down these answers in plain English. When to Create a Deal: Finding the Sweet Spot There's no shortage of opinions on when to create a deal in your CRM. Some sales leaders will tell you to create a deal before you even make the first call (ridiculous). Others won't let you create one until the contract is practically signed (equally absurd). Here's my take: Both extremes are problematic. You need a pipeline that gives you meaningful data. Here's how we handle this at Sales Gravy: For Inbound Leads: We categorize inbound leads into three distinct groups: 1. List Leads These are people who sign up for our newsletter or download basic resources where we only ask for a name and email address. They're joining our community, and while some might become customers down the road, they're not pipeline opportunities yet. 2. MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) These folks have given us more detailed information through webinars or content downloads. They've provided their phone number, email address, company, role, etc. There's an implicit understanding that we might reach out, but they haven't expressed a direct interest in buying. I don't want these in my pipeline just yet. 3. Hot Leads These people come to us with their hands up, saying things like: "We've got a team of nine and want to do sales training" or "Our SKO is in February, and we want to hire Jeb. How much does he cost?" These leads have an open buying window and go straight into the pipeline. We'll close 95% of these because they've already self-identified as buyers. For Outbound Prospecting: When prospecting outbound we only put opportunities into the pipeline after the prospect has agreed to a first-time appointment (FTA). Here's why: First-time appointments are your Money Ball metric—they indicate the health of your prospecting efforts. When an FTA is in your pipeline, you can measure critical data points like: Show/no-show rates by rep Advancement rates from FTA to next stages Conversion rates from FTA to closed business If I have a rep setting tons of FTAs with only a 10% show rate, I need to diagnose that problem. If another rep is advancing 50% of their FTAs to the next stage, that tells me something completely different. The qualification point is simple: Both parties have agreed to step into the sales process. That's when it becomes a pipeline opportunity. Some organizations resist this approach because they only want "fully qualified" opportunities in their pipeline. I get it, but you're missing valuable data if you wait too long. Consider this example: If you work in an industry where everyone's under contract, and you know contract expiration dates, you might be tempted to automatically add prospects to your pipeline as their contract end dates approach. I wouldn't do that. Wait until you've had a conversation where they agree to meet with you to discuss options. That agreement to step into the process is your trigger. If you're putting everything into your pipeline, you're diluting your data. If you're waiting until deals are practically closed, why even have a pipeline? The sweet spot is somewhere in between—and for most B2B sales organizations, it's at the first-time appointment stage. Maximizing Prospecting Efficiency: How We Make So Many Calls Tyler also asked about those "crazy" prospecting numbers I mention in my books. How do my teams make hundreds of calls during designated call blocks? The answer boils down to three key principles: 1. Separate List Building from Prospecting Research and building lists is NOT prospecting. When we're prospecting, we're just chopping wood. We have our lists ready in advance, and when it's time to prospect, that's all we do.

During a practice round at a major golf tournament recently, one of the players hit an exceptionally beautiful shot. A fan in the gallery exclaimed, "Man, I wish I could hit a shot like that!" The player walked over to the fan and said, tongue-in-cheek, "No, you don't." The fan looked confused. "What do you mean?" The player replied, "You don't want to hit a shot like that because that means hitting a thousand balls a day, every day, for the next 20 years. That's what it takes to hit a shot like that." And that's true for pretty much everything you want to accomplish life—whether it's playing golf, the piano, selling, investing, or mastering AI. If you want to be elite, you have to do a lot of repetitions of the same thing to reach the top.  Adopt The Mamba Mentality You've got to practice constantly. And this is what a lot of people miss. See, the truth is you can have anything in life you want—pretty much within reason—as long as you're willing to do the boring work. You know what separates Warren Buffett, the greatest investor of our generation, from other investors? He's read over 100,000 financial statements in his lifetime. Think about that. 100,000 financial statements. That's not exciting work. That's not sexy. It is sitting alone, poring over numbers, analyzing balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, day after day, year after year, decade after decade. But that boring work made him one of the richest people on the planet. Or look at Kobe Bryant. Kobe was famous for his "Mamba Mentality" which meant showing up at 4 AM to practice, hours before his teammates. It meant shooting thousands of the same shots over and over. His trainer once said Kobe would practice one simple move 700-800 times in a single session. Not 10 times, not 50 times. 700-800 times. The same move, over and over and over again. That's the boring work that made him a legend. Going out to the driving range and hitting a thousand balls with your seven iron is one of the most boring things you can possibly do. Crap, hitting 50 balls with your seven iron is boring. But that's what separates the top performers from the low performers—they're willing to do the boring things. Top Performers are Always Working at It In sales, top performers are constantly studying. I meet them all the time. They show up in my seminars, read my books and listen to my podcasts. They’re taking courses on Sales Gravy University. They invest in learning and practicing every single day.  When we run role plays, they jump right in. They recognize that, yeah, that's boring work. But you've got to do the boring things, the repetitive things, to get what you want.  Be Careful What You Wish For So the questions you have to ask yourself when you make that wish for what you want or set a goal is: How bad do you want it? Are you willing to do the work?  Are you willing to make the sacrifice?  Are you willing to grind day in and day out?  Are you willing to do all of boring reps that nobody ever sees in order to reach the very top?  Success is Paid for In Advance With Boring Work You can accomplish anything once you accept that the price for success is paid for in advance. The price of admission to the elite levels of any profession is doing the boring work that most people aren't willing to do. Let me give you an example from my own life. Years ago, when I was starting out in my sales career, I made a commitment to make 100 cold calls every single day no matter what. Rain or shine. Good mood or bad mood. Whether I felt like it or not. You know first hand that cold calling is not exciting work. It's tedious, repetitive, and rejection dense. Honestly, most people—including my boss—thought I was nuts.  But those 100 calls a day allowed me to out perform and out earn all of my peers. It made me the top sales rep in my fortune 200 company. It bought houses, made me wealthy, and eventually gave me the platform to write book...