Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

Here's a question that'll make you rethink everything about sales performance: What happens when your team has all the skills, tools, and training they need, but they're still underperforming because they can't regulate their emotions under pressure? That's exactly what Natalie Brooks from Charlotte discovered when she noticed how drastically emotions were impacting her team's performance during tough selling days. Meanwhile, salespeople like Jordan from San Diego are making decisions they later regret—pushing forward on deals they know are wrong just because they look good on paper. If you're nodding your head right now, you're witnessing one of the most overlooked aspects of sales performance: emotional regulation. And it's costing you deals, talent, and revenue. The Dysregulation Problem: When Emotions Hijack Performance Here's the brutal truth: When you're emotionally dysregulated or your nervous system is hijacked by stress, focusing on anything becomes nearly impossible. Your best discovery questions go out the window. Your qualifying discipline disappears. Your prospecting consistency evaporates. Think about it. You can have the perfect sales process, but if your rep is in fight-or-flight mode from a string of rejections, they're not executing that process effectively. They're just going through the motions while their emotional state sabotages their performance. This isn't just about "feeling better." This is about creating the mental and emotional foundation that allows elite sales performance to happen consistently. Why Most Sales Leaders Miss This Completely The reason most sales organizations ignore emotional regulation is the same reason they obsess over talk time metrics—it's easier to focus on activities than outcomes. It's much simpler to say "make more calls" than to create an environment where your team feels safe enough to regulate their emotions and perform at their peak. But here's what happens when you ignore the emotional component of sales: Your reps start making fear-based decisions. They chase deals they know are wrong fits because they're afraid of having an empty pipeline. They avoid difficult conversations because rejection feels personal. They burn out because they're running on adrenaline instead of sustainable energy. Meanwhile, your top performers aren't just skilled, they've learned to manage their emotional state in a way that supports peak performance. The Three Pillars of Emotional Regulation in Sales Personal Regulation: The Foundation Everything starts with personal habits that support emotional stability. Your "why" becomes your anchor during tough moments. When you're tired, exhausted, or questioning what you're doing, that purpose pulls you through. But purpose alone isn't enough. Your daily habits outside of work create the foundation for emotional regulation at work. Sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress management—these aren't "nice to haves." They're the infrastructure that supports your ability to stay sharp and focused when deals get challenging. Team Regulation: Creating Safety As a leader, you have a responsibility to create psychological safety where your team can regulate together. This might look like mid-day resets where everyone takes a few deep breaths or does a quick activity to release tension from difficult calls. The key is consistency. When emotional regulation becomes part of your team culture—not just something you talk about during tough times—it shows that peak performance includes emotional wellness. Process Regulation: Trusting Your System Here's where emotional regulation meets sales discipline. When you have clear qualifying standards and you trust your process, you don't have to make emotional decisions about which deals to pursue. Ultra-high performing salespeople show discipline by recognizing that they only have so many hours in the day. They create rules they can live by rather than relying on gut feelings in the moment.

While your competitors are stuck in voicemail purgatory, a small group of top performers has unlocked a secret pipeline of qualified sales leads. They've discovered how to stop chasing and start attracting, all by generating warm leads through podcast interviews. Not by starting their own shows, but by treating every podcast appearance as a lead generation machine built on conversation and credibility. As Molly Ruland, CEO of Heartcast Media, puts it, "You don't need a hundred new clients tomorrow. Two people who really like you and understand your business talking about you in rooms you're not in can change your pipeline."  This mindset shift transforms how you approach every conversation so that it compounds into trust, referrals, and revenue. The Real Problem with Your Pipeline You’re sending out hundreds of emails, making dozens of cold calls, and hoping something sticks. It’s exhausting—and it rarely produces the kind of relationships that lead to real opportunities. Your prospects don't want to be sold to. They're sick of transactional relationships. They want genuine conversations and solutions from people they trust. This is where most salespeople fail to find a qualified sales lead. They're focused on the sale, not the connection.  So what’s the alternative? It’s learning to treat every podcast appearance as more than just an interview. Done right, podcasts become a warm stage where you can demonstrate expertise, build credibility, and start relationships that turn into pipeline. To make this work, you need a simple, repeatable system—a four-step process that transforms a single podcast conversation into a flow of qualified leads. Step 1: Finding the Right Stage The process is about being smart, not getting famous. You don’t need to get on the biggest podcast in the world. You need to get on the right podcast. The right podcast is where your ideal customer profile (ICP) is already gathered, listening, and learning. A show with 50 listeners who are all in your target market is a thousand times more valuable than a show with 50,000 listeners who will never buy from you. How do you find the right podcasts?  Ask your best clients what they listen to.  Research key influencers in your space.  Look for shows that specifically address the problems you solve.  Your goal is simple: Find and get on shows hosted by industry connectors, aggregators, and experts who have already earned the trust of your prospects. This allows you to skip the cold outreach and get a warm introduction to your next qualified sales lead. Step 2: The Introduction That Doesn’t Sound Like a Pitch Once you’ve identified your target shows, the next step is getting invited. This is a crucial moment. A generic email won’t cut it. You have to craft a message that offers value, not asks for a favor. Your outreach needs to be personalized and direct. Don’t talk about how great you are. Talk about the host’s audience. Explain why your expertise, insights, or unique perspective will provide undeniable value to their listeners. Reference a specific episode or a past guest to prove you’ve done your homework. And don’t limit yourself to email. LinkedIn is one of the most effective platforms for securing podcast invitations. Sending a thoughtful, personalized LinkedIn message—paired with a strong profile that showcases your expertise—positions you as a credible guest. When a host sees you consistently sharing relevant insights on LinkedIn, your ask feels natural instead of opportunistic. When you offer to help them provide a great episode, you position yourself as a partner. You’re not begging for airtime. You’re offering a valuable conversation. This approach immediately sets you apart and begins the relationship-building process that is essential to finding a qualified sales lead. Step 3: Mastering the Conversation The interview itself is not a sales call. Your goal is to be a helpful,

A day in the life of a rep heading toward sales burnout: You wake up ready to crush your sales goals, skip breakfast to get an early jump on calls, grab fast food between appointments, and by 2 p.m., you're mentally checked out, struggling to focus on that critical prospect meeting.  That's the reality facing Angela Mendez from Austin and Marcus Taylor from Denver. Angela's crashing every afternoon when she skips meals or eats on the go. Marcus is burning out fast, juggling a packed pipeline and back-to-back Zoom meetings. If you're nodding your head right now, this article is your wake-up call. Because the energy crisis and burnout epidemic in sales isn't just about being tired—it's costing you deals, destroying your performance, and stealing your edge when you need it most. Why Sales Reps Experience Afternoon Energy Crashes and How to Fix Them Let's start with the key facts of energy management: Your brain is an engine, and like any engine, it needs the right fuel to perform. When you skip meals or grab whatever's convenient, you're essentially putting sugar water in a Ferrari and wondering why it's sputtering. Here's what happens when you don't fuel properly: Your blood sugar crashes, your focus evaporates, and your personality literally changes. You become irritable, indecisive, and ineffective—exactly when you need to be sharp, confident, and persuasive. The solution isn't complicated, but it requires preparation and discipline. Start with breakfast—period. This isn't negotiable. You need something that gives you a slow burn: oatmeal with fruit, protein like eggs, something that keeps you steady until lunch. If you don't eat protein in the morning, you'll be hungry by 10 a.m. and making poor food choices. Pack your day the night before. Get a cooler. Fill it with real food: apples and almond butter, walnuts, dried fruits without added sugar, vegetables and hummus. Keep fresh fruit and vegetable juices without added sugar in small bottles. This isn't about being a health fanatic—it's about maintaining peak performance when deals are on the line. Here's the game-changer: Don't wait for fatigue or extreme hunger. Stay ahead of it. The moment you feel your energy dipping, that's too late. You should be fueling consistently throughout the day, not rescuing yourself from a crash. And here's a pro tip that might sound simple but works: Carry apples everywhere. When you start getting hungry and your personality begins to shift, an apple gives you just enough sugar and energy without the crash that comes from processed snacks. It's your emergency reset button. How Back-to-Back Meetings Create Sales Burnout and What to Do Instead Now let's talk about Marcus's burnout problem, because this one hits close to home for every salesperson drowning in Zoom fatigue and calendar chaos. Being on camera wears you out way faster than face-to-face meetings. If you're scheduling yourself back-to-back-to-back without recovery time, you're your own worst enemy. There's no formula that's going to solve the problem of walking from one meeting directly into the next meeting into the next meeting. Your brain can't handle it, and your performance will suffer. Take control of your calendar. I know this sounds obvious, but how much of your scheduling nightmare did you do to yourself? How often do you say yes when you should say no? How many meetings do you accept because of FOMO—fear of missing out—when the meeting is actually superfluous? Audit your last 30 days of meetings. Really look at them. How many could you have declined? How many were necessary for moving deals forward versus just making you feel busy and important? Here's what's really happening: You're filling your calendar to prove your value and demonstrate how busy you are. But a packed calendar isn't a badge of honor—it's a recipe for burnout and poor performance. It takes confidence and self-ownership to say,

Leadership is the single most important factor in a sales team’s success. You can have talented reps, strong products, and a solid sales process, but without effective leadership, performance stalls. As Duff Tucker, Sales Trainer, puts it on this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast: "You have to model the behaviors that you want your team to live out. When you model those, you get a lot of credibility. You have respect. You have influence.” In today's hyper-competitive sales environment, your team has choices. Top performers can work anywhere. Average reps will coast if you let them. But the teams that consistently crush quotas, retain top talent, and create cultures where everyone wants to win all have one thing in common: a leader who has mastered the fundamental skills that turn potential into performance. Here are five leadership skills every sales manager must master to drive their team to the next level.  1. Clear Communication: No Confusion, No Excuses Sales teams don’t fail because of a lack of talent—they fail because of unclear expectations. Leadership starts with communication. If your reps don’t know exactly what you expect, how you measure success, or where they’re falling short, you’re setting them up to miss the mark. Clarity means: Defining priorities: What activities matter most (calls, meetings, proposals) and why. Eliminating ambiguity: No mixed signals, no “read between the lines.” Giving feedback in real time: Don’t wait for quarterly reviews to correct course. Practical tip: After every meeting, send a short recap of agreed actions and timelines. It reinforces expectations and removes excuses. Vague leadership creates vague results. 2. Goal Setting & Vision: Building Direction, Not Just Numbers A sales leader isn’t just a scoreboard watcher. Your job is to give your team something bigger to aim at than just “hitting quota.” Without a clear vision, teams drift into reactive mode and lack initiative. People perform better when they’re chasing a clear, meaningful vision.  Effective goal setting requires more than revenue targets. It’s about: Tying team goals to organizational strategy. Breaking big objectives into manageable activity benchmarks. Painting a picture of what winning looks like so reps can see themselves in it. Practical tip: Start every month by walking your team through why their goals matter and how success impacts the company, the customer, and their own careers. When reps buy into the vision, they push harder to achieve it. 3. Coaching: From Boss to Builder Micromanagers kill momentum. Coaches create it. Leadership in sales means shifting from telling people what to do to building people who can do it themselves. Great sales coaching involves: Observation: Ride-alongs, call reviews, pipeline inspections. Targeted feedback: Specific, actionable, focused on behaviors, not personality. Development mindset: Every interaction is a teaching moment. Practical tip: Block weekly one-on-one coaching sessions that focus on skills and pipeline health. Ask questions that uncover roadblocks instead of delivering lectures. Consistently coached reps outperform those left to figure it out alone. 4. Adaptability: Leading Through Change Markets shift, customers evolve, and strategies that worked yesterday won’t guarantee tomorrow’s success. The best leaders view challenges as opportunities. Adaptability looks like: Adjusting sales strategies with confidence. Staying ahead of industry trends, not reacting late. Modeling resilience when things don’t go according to plan. Practical tip: Hold monthly “market pulse” sessions where you and your team discuss shifts in buyer behavior, competitor activity, and emerging tools. This keeps your team agile and ready to move, rather than stuck waiting for direction. 5. Accountability & Recognition: The Performance Balance Leadership is about balance, not being a cheerleader or tyrant.

Here's a question about sales territory disputes that'll make your head spin: What do you do when overlapping territories and shared relationships turn your sales team into a collection of lone wolves fighting over who owns what? That's the exact predicament faced by Kayla Lujan, VP of Sales at Down to Earth Landscape and Irrigation, in Orlando, Florida. Her team manages defined territories, but their business model creates inevitable crossover with HOA managers who oversee multiple properties spanning across different reps' territories. As she put it: "I've really seen the team kind of lose focus on working as one or team selling and more of … a what's mine versus working together." If you're nodding your head right now, you're not alone. Territory disputes are one of the most destructive forces in sales organizations, and they're costing companies their collaborative culture and their best deals. The Psychology Behind Sales Territory Wars Salespeople are wired to win. And when territories overlap, that competitive drive turns inward, creating internal battles that hurt everyone. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was a VP of sales managing local and regional account executives. We had big regional accounts sitting in local territories, and the fighting was relentless. Local reps would work around the system, hide opportunities, and go through back doors to protect "their" accounts. The result? We lost major deals because the wrong person with insufficient skills was working them solo, or we'd win the business only to have explosive commission disputes after the fact. But here's what shocked me most: When we gave people the choice between money or credit on the ranking report, they fought harder over the credit than the commission. They'd forgo 100% money but wage war over who got recognition for closing the deal. That tells you everything you need to know about sales psychology. It's not just about money—it's about winning, recognition, and status. The Real Cost of Territorial Thinking Territory disputes create uncomfortable team meetings and destroy your sales effectiveness in three critical ways: Lost Deal Value: When the wrong rep works a deal alone because they're protecting their turf, you lose the collective expertise that could close bigger opportunities. Relationship Damage: Customers get confused when multiple reps approach them without coordination, making your organization look disorganized and unprofessional. Top Performer Exodus: Your best salespeople get frustrated with the politics and infighting, leading them to seek opportunities at companies with better team cultures. The companies that figure this out win big. The ones that don't hemorrhage talent and revenue to organizations that actually know how to build high-performing sales teams. The Solution: Strategic Commission Pools and Clear Ownership For Kayla's HOA challenge—and similar overlapping territory situations—here's the framework that actually works: Assign Relationship Ownership: The rep with the core relationship (the HOA headquarters contact) owns account retention and expansion. They're responsible for keeping that account long-term and get compensated accordingly. Create Local Opportunity Roles: Local reps in each territory focus on building relationships with on-site contacts—facility managers, groundskeepers, community center staff. They get compensated for new project acquisition and spot opportunities within their geographic area. Implement Commission Pools: Instead of fighting over who gets what percentage, create a commission pool for each major account. The pool gets divided based on roles and contributions, not territorial claims. Force Up-Front Agreements: Here's the crucial part: Make involved parties agree on commission splits before any work begins. Post-deal disputes are exponentially harder to resolve than pre-deal agreements. The Leadership Mindset Shift

Sales activity is the lifeblood of your career. But for too many salespeople, it’s the very thing holding them back. You’re generating a ton of activity, your calendar is packed, your inbox is overflowing, and by the end of the day, you’re drained.  But your numbers aren’t moving. You’re not gaining ground; you’re just driving in circles. As Ron Karr, author of Velocity Mindset, says, the difference between amateurs and top performers isn’t how fast they move, but whether they’re moving with a clear, defined direction. The problem isn’t laziness. It’s that you’re mistaking motion for momentum. And that’s why you feel stuck. The Problem: Sales Activity Without Purpose Most salespeople today are trapped in a cycle of sales activity that leads nowhere. Instead of pursuing long-term, meaningful outcomes, they chase short-term wins: a quick meeting booked, a proposal sent, a Request for Proposal (RFP) answered. But those wins don’t move the needle. They pull you onto a field controlled by competitors. You’re responding to bids, filling out forms, and competing on price. That’s not selling—it’s order-taking. And order-taking will keep you broke no matter how much activity you pile on. The Real Cost of “Busyness” Busyness isn’t just about wasted time. It’s about emotional avoidance. The reason you bury yourself in low-value sales activity is that it feels safe. These tasks create the illusion of productivity while shielding you from what you’re really afraid of: rejection. Instead of calling the prospect who’s gone cold, you refresh your CRM. Rather then reaching out to the big account you’ve been circling, you tidy your inbox. Instead of pushing into a tough conversation, you polish the proposal one more time. You’re not lazy. You’re working hard. But effort without purpose is like a car spinning its wheels in the mud. Lots of noise, lots of energy, but no forward motion.  The Solution: High-Leverage Sales Activity Not all sales activity is created equal. Some actions produce a 10x return. Others are pure waste. Top performers know the difference—and ruthlessly prioritize the former. Here are three high-leverage sales activities that separate pros from amateurs: Proactive Prospecting Your sales pipeline is the fuel tank for your career. If it’s empty, you’re not going anywhere. Prospecting isn’t a side task you do when you have extra time. It is the job. That means making outbound calls, sending personalized emails, and using LinkedIn to connect with people who aren’t already in your orbit. Stop waiting for the phone to ring. Go make it ring. Meaningful Conversations Once you get a prospect’s attention, the goal isn’t to rattle off product features. It’s to have a value-driven conversation. That means asking discovery questions that uncover their goals, their pain points, and their motivations. It means showing up as an expert and positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, not another vendor. When you consistently create conversations that center around the customer’s needs, you become indispensable. Prospects should feel like they’d be foolish not to work with you. The Power of “No” Not every opportunity deserves your time. Amateurs say yes to every opportunity and demo request. Top performers say no. Qualify hard; disqualify fast. The hours you spend chasing a dead deal are hours you could invest in finding a stronger one. Being busy with the wrong opportunities makes you broke. Saying no to the wrong leads frees you up to say yes to the right ones. Your Action Plan To Go From “Just Busy” To Productive Breaking the cycle of wasted sales activity requires intention and discipline. Here’s how to start: Step 1: The Activity Audit For one week, track everything you do—calls, emails, meetings, busywork. At the end of the week, review your log and ask: Which of these activities directly moved a deal forward or created new pipeline? Most of what you thought was productive won’t make the cu...

Here's a question that'll flip your understanding of cultural intelligence in sales upside down: How do you win over a room full of skeptical Spanish teenagers when you're the obvious American outsider who barely speaks their language? That's exactly what Spencer Birmingham from Arkansas faced when he called into Ask Jeb. Fresh out of college with a marketing degree and an internship at International Paper under his belt, Spencer was heading to Spain for eight months as a language teaching assistant. His challenge? Figure out how to connect with Spanish students and "sell" them on American culture and the English language. What started as a simple question about gaining cultural perspective turned into a must-listen discussion of the universal principles of influence—principles that work whether you're closing deals in boardrooms or winning over teenagers in Spanish classrooms. The Universal Language of Human Connection Spencer had already absorbed one of the key lessons from Sales EQ—the brown paper bag of bread story about understanding what matters to your prospect. But he was struggling to see how those principles would translate across cultural and language barriers. Here's the breakthrough: The five core decisions people make before they buy into you—Do I like you? Do you listen to me? Do you make me feel important? Do you get me? Do I trust and believe you?—are universal. They transcend language, culture, and geography. Whether you're selling software to executives in Atlanta or teaching English to teenagers in Madrid, every human being makes these same emotional decisions before they'll open their hearts and minds to your message. The Listening Advantage That Trumps Language Barriers Most teachers (and salespeople) make the same fatal mistake: They walk in talking. They assume their job is to deliver information, share knowledge, and demonstrate expertise. Wrong approach. The secret weapon that works in every culture? Start by listening. Instead of walking into that Spanish classroom and immediately launching into English lessons, what if Spencer started by asking questions: "Tell me something about yourself that not many people know. What are your biggest challenges with English? Why do you want to learn this language?" This approach leverages what we know about human psychology in complex sales: When you listen first, you accomplish three critical things simultaneously. First, you demonstrate likability through genuine interest. Second, you prove you're actually listening—the foundation of all trust. Third, you make people feel important, which is the most insatiable human need. Speaking Their Language (Even When You Don't) Here's where it gets fascinating. Spencer worried about the language barrier, but that's actually his biggest opportunity. The language that matters most isn't Spanish or English—it's the language of being a teenager in Spain. It's the language of their challenges, their dreams, their world. When Spencer takes what they share about themselves and incorporates it into his lessons, suddenly he's not the outsider trying to force American culture on them. He becomes the person who gets them. "Remember when you told me about your soccer tournament? Let's practice describing that experience in English." Suddenly, English isn't a foreign concept—it's a tool for expressing what matters to them. This mirrors exactly what happens in complex sales. The most successful salespeople don't speak the language of their product features—they speak the language of their prospect's business challenges, industry pressures, and personal goals. The Power of Making People Feel Heard There's a reason why building trust through active listening is foundational to every sales methodology: It's the fastest way to move from outsider to trusted advisor. Spanish teenagers, like buyers everywhere, are drowning in noise. Everyone's talking at them—parents, teachers, social media.

In today's economy, being the account manager who keeps clients happy and renewals steady simply isn’t enough. Every budget line item is under the microscope. Customers want proof of ROI, so you have to show measurable value while driving growth. Reva Pellerin, the #1 enterprise account manager at Vidyard, puts it bluntly: "If you simply renew your book of business at 100%, that's not your target. Your target is to grow the customer base." The best account managers aren't just order-takers. They're hunters—finding new opportunities, building pipeline, and actively selling within their own territory. They expand their influence before competitors slip in. So, how do you trade in your passive approach for a hunter's mindset?  The Three-Step Hunter’s Playbook for Account Managers Top account managers share one thing in common: they work their accounts daily. They’re intentional, consistent, and always looking for ways to help clients solve new problems. Here are three steps on how to adopt the same approach. 1. Prospect Your Own Accounts Prospecting isn't just for new business reps—your current accounts are the richest hunting grounds you have. You already have access and credibility; now you need to leverage them. Even a 30-minute weekly block can uncover new revenue. Map the organization: Use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to map the client's company beyond your primary contacts. Look for new hires, promotions, or departures. A new executive often means new initiatives and budgets, creating a prime opening for you. Set alerts so you’re the first to know. Search for adjacent pain points: Don't just focus on the problems your solution already solves. Talk to your contact and ask them about what other departments are struggling with. A simple question like, "I'm curious, what's the biggest challenge the operations team is facing this quarter?" can lead to an introduction to a new buyer and a new opportunity. Send targeted outreach: When you identify a new potential buyer, don't cold call them. Send a personalized email referencing your existing relationship with their colleague and the value you're already providing.  For example: "Hi [New Contact Name], your colleague [Existing Contact Name] and I have been working together to help their team achieve [Specific Result]. I wanted to see if the challenges you're facing in [Their Department] are similar, as we might be able to help." 2. Master the Expansion Sale Expansion sales aren’t about pushing more products—they’re about solving more of your customers’ problems. The best account managers think like consultants: they uncover needs, tailor solutions, and connect them to strategic objectives. Ask penetrating questions: Instead of asking, "Do you need more licenses?" try asking questions that reveal a need. For example: "I know you're focused on improving efficiency. Where are your biggest bottlenecks, and what’s the cost of those bottlenecks?" “What’s the next big initiative you’re planning?” “What are you under the most pressure to deliver this quarter?” Link to measurable outcomes. If your solution saves time, estimate the cost savings. If it improves output, quantify the gain.  Position the expansion as risk reduction. Many leaders will spend to avoid failure before they’ll spend to chase success. Show how the additional product or service reduces operational risk, customer churn, or missed revenue. Collaborate with your champions. Work with your existing advocates inside the account to co-create the expansion pitch. They know how decisions get made internally, and they can help you frame the opportunity in language that resonates with leadership. 3. Leverage Your Success for Referrals Referrals are one of the most underused growth levers in account management. The key is asking at the right time—after you’ve delivered a clear, measurable win. Earn the right first. Advocacy follows impact.

Overcoming call reluctance starts with understanding why even seasoned sales pros freeze up when it's time to pick up the phone. They're paralyzed by one simple fear: interrupting a prospect's day. That's exactly what Kirk Roberts from Richmond, Virginia, brought to the table. Kirk's problem wasn't about not knowing what to say or how to pitch—it was the mental block around the very idea of interruption. He hated being interrupted by low-quality sales calls himself. And even though 99% of the time prospects were receptive to his message, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being pushy just by dialing the phone. Kirk's got the skills. He knows what to say. His prospects love him once they're talking. But every time he reaches for the phone, his stomach knots up. Sound familiar? If you've ever stared at your phone, finger hovering over the dial button, worried about being "that pushy salesperson," you're not alone. The Projection Trap: Why Your Empathy Is Working Against You Kirk's challenge is rooted in something I call projection—deciding for your customer how they'll feel before you've even spoken to them. If you have a high level of empathy (and many great salespeople do), you naturally put yourself in the other person's shoes. You think: "I wouldn't want to be interrupted, so they won't either." Here's the brutal truth: That empathy is killing your pipeline. Because you don't actually know if your call will be an annoyance or the best thing to happen to them today. I've bought plenty of products from salespeople who "interrupted" me, because their timing and message were right. That wouldn't have happened if they'd let their fear of bothering me keep them from picking up the phone. The One Thing That Makes Interruption Welcome Nobody likes to be interrupted. But if you are going to interrupt, make it worth their time. Think about it: Would you rather get a cold call from someone who clearly knows nothing about you, or from someone who's done their homework and has a relevant, valuable reason for reaching out? There are two ways to make your outreach relevant: 1. Personalized Messaging for High-Value Prospects Do your research on the specific individual. Learn about their company, role, and current challenges. Use that to craft a tailored message that connects your solution directly to their world. This is essential for high-value, niche, or executive-level prospects. 2. Targeted Messaging for Scaled Outreach Build messaging that resonates with a clearly defined group—people who share the same role, industry, geography, or problem set. It's not as specific as personalized outreach, but it's still relevant to most people in your target list. Test it. If your calls fall flat, adjust the message until it clicks. Stop Confusing Prep Work with Prospecting Here's where most salespeople sabotage themselves: They spend their "prospecting time" researching LinkedIn profiles and crafting the perfect email instead of actually dialing. Let me be clear: Research is not prospecting. Building messaging is not prospecting. Prospecting is picking up the phone and interrupting people. Everything else is prep work. Block separate time for building your targeted or personalized messaging. Then protect your prospecting time like your mortgage payment depends on it—because it does. From Pushy to Helpful: Reframing Interruption Kirk's empathy makes him a sales rockstar once he's in conversation. But he was letting his concern for prospects' feelings rob them of the chance to work with him. That's not empathy—that's selfish. The shift is simple but not easy: You're not interrupting to take from them, you're interrupting to help them. You've earned the right to interrupt because you've done the work to make your outreach relevant. Missing a chance to help them because you didn't call? That's the real loss. 5-Step Action Plan to Crush Call Reluctance If you're struggling like Kirk,

In 1960, two brothers scraped together $900 and bought a failing pizzeria in Michigan, launching what would become a cautionary tale about sales incentive programs gone wrong. Within months, one brother traded his half of the business for a beat-up Volkswagen, leaving Tom Monaghan alone with his ambitions. By 1965, with three stores under his belt, Tom faced a naming crisis. He couldn't legally keep using the original name, DomiNick's, so an employee suggested "Domino's." The logo? Three dots, one for each store. Tom figured he'd add a new dot for every location. After opening store number five, he wisely reconsidered that plan. Because what happened next wasn't just growth—it was an explosion that would teach sales leaders everywhere a crucial lesson about the double-edged sword of powerful incentives. How One Sales Incentive Program Nearly Destroyed a Billion-Dollar Company Here's what America looked like in the early 1980s: Microwave ovens were revolutionizing kitchens, Federal Express was making overnight delivery an expectation, and Americans weren't just eating faster—they were living faster. Domino's fit perfectly into this new rhythm, but Tom Monaghan wanted more. In a move that bordered on dangerous, he made a promise so simple it would define the company for decades: "Pizza Delivered in 30 Minutes or It's Free." It wasn't just about pizza. It was about certainty. And America bought it—literally. Within a year, sales exploded. From 200 stores in 1978 to over 2,500 by 1985. Over 5,000 by 1989. Every store became a speed factory with slimmed-down menus, cookie-cutter layouts, and drivers who might as well have been sitting behind the wheel with engines already running. Competitors couldn't keep up. But here's the brutal truth about speed: you don't see the danger until it's too late. The Hidden Dangers of Performance-Based Compensation Here's what every sales leader needs to understand: Powerful sales incentives, pushed too far, create unintended consequences that can destroy company culture. This principle, that when metrics become targets, they cease to be good metrics, would prove devastatingly true for Domino's. At first, the cracks were small. A delivery driver rolling a stop sign here, a speeding ticket there. But this wasn't a system built to reward patience—it was built to reward speed at any cost. Inside Domino's stores, the pressure wasn't subtle. Drivers were expected to race the clock. If they missed the 30-minute mark, some franchises made them pay for the order out of their own pockets. The message was clear: make it fast, or make it up yourself. Rolling stops became running red lights. Neighborhood shortcuts turned into risky maneuvers through heavy traffic. What customers didn't see—and what Domino's executives refused to acknowledge—was that they'd created a ticking time bomb. Speed wasn't just a business model anymore; it had become a way of life that determined every employee's behavior, and smart sales leaders understand this connection between incentives and culture. By the late 1980s, insurance companies raised Domino's premiums by 15-20 percent. Reports surfaced of accidents tied to delivery drivers rushing to meet the 30-minute window. Then came the story that changed everything: A Domino's driver in St. Louis ran a red light, colliding with another vehicle. Inside that car was Jean Kinder, whose life was permanently changed. The jury awarded her $78 million in punitive damages. In 1993, Domino's officially ended the 30-minute guarantee in the United States. Here's what most sales leaders get wrong about incentives: they don't just shape what people do—they shape who people become. Sound familiar? It should. Because this same pattern plays out in sales organizations every single day. 5 Warning Signs Your Sales Incentives Are Backfiring Take Wells Fargo's aggressive cross-selling goals in the mid-2010s. Supervisors told bankers to open more accounts,

The transition from closer to coach is where most new sales leaders struggle. You've put in the work, made the calls, and closed the deals. Your numbers speak for themselves. You were the rainmaker. The top dog. The one everyone pointed to as the example of what a salesperson should be. Finally, you’ve earned the promotion you've been chasing: Sales Manager. The very habits that made you successful as a top-performing rep (moving fast, working independently, and ignoring administrative tasks) can work against you in a leadership role. Your win column is no longer personal; it’s team-wide. As Kyle Jager, founder of Vendi Consulting, states in this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, “If you're transitioning from a sales or individual contributor into a leadership role, you probably are great at sales. But now you have to become a great leader. And that takes time. It takes practice, but it also takes some learning.” Why Most New Sales Leaders Fail Most new sales leaders crash and burn within their first 18 months. Not because they can't sell, but because no one ever taught them how to lead. They walk into the role thinking it's just sales, but with a nicer title and better commission overrides. So they default to what they know: chasing deals, staying in the weeds, and trying to be the hero. But leadership isn't about closing deals. It's about developing people. And if you don't make that shift fast, your team won't follow—and your results will suffer. Stop Being the Hero: Your New Job Description As an individual contributor, you were the hero of your own story. Pipeline looking thin? Hit the phones harder. Deal stalling? Jump in and save it. Commission check light? Work more hours. As a sales leader, your job is to make others the heroes of their stories.  That means: Your success is now measured by your team's results, not yours. You’re only as good as the people you lead. You have to develop people, not just manage numbers. Your weakest performer deserves as much attention as your top gun. You become a multiplier. One great salesperson affects one quota. One great sales leader affects ten quotas, twenty quotas, or more. The Five Non-Negotiable Disciplines of Being a New Sales Leader 1. Master the Art of Sales Coaching Coaching is not cheerleading. It's not motivational speeches or rah-rah meetings. Real sales coaching is the systematic development of specific skills through observation, feedback, and practice. You cannot coach what you cannot see. Get in the field with your people. Listen to their calls. Watch their presentations. Most new sales leaders avoid this because it's time-intensive and uncomfortable.  Establish a consistent coaching cadence. Hold weekly one-on-ones to dig into deals, metrics, and skills.  Remember: your goal is not to create mini-versions of yourself. As a new sales leader, your goal is to help each salesperson become the best version of themselves. 2. Build and Maintain Pipeline Discipline As an individual contributor, you managed one pipeline. Now you're responsible for multiple pipelines, and pipeline discipline becomes exponentially more critical. Implement non-negotiable pipeline reviews. Weekly pipeline meetings should be sacred time where every opportunity gets analyzed. Teach your team to be ruthless about pipeline hygiene. Dead deals must be purged. Stalled opportunities need action plans or elimination. Every deal in the pipeline should have a clear next step, decision-maker involvement, and a realistic close timeline. Most importantly, never let your team's pipeline run thin. When pipeline gets weak, panic sets in, and desperate salespeople make desperate decisions.  3. Become a Hiring Machine Your success depends entirely on having the right people on your team. This means you must become obsessed with recruiting and hiring A-players. Stop hiring people you like and start hiring people who can sell.

Here's a question that'll drive you absolutely crazy: How do you sell professional services without giving away everything for free? That's the burning question from Laura and Adam, attorneys who are struggling with the classic professional services dilemma. Their intake team and attorneys want to showcase their expertise by giving away everything for free during sales conversations. Meanwhile, they're also trying to figure out what kind of salesperson they need to hire to sell high-value legal services effectively. If you're nodding your head right now, you're not alone. This is the most common trap I see professional service providers fall into, and it's bleeding them dry while their competitors who keep their mouths shut are crushing them in conversion rates. The Professor Problem: Why Being Smart Is Making You Broke Laura nailed it when she described their current approach as "professorial." They show their talents and knowledge, thinking, "How can they not want to hire us because we're so brilliant?" But here's the brutal, kick-you-in-the-gut truth: The more you teach on sales calls, the lower your closing ratio becomes. Period. No exceptions. The less information you give, the higher your closing ratio goes. This isn't just theory—it's what I've learned from years of training consultants and professional service providers. When practitioners get on sales calls, it's incredibly hard not to show all our cards or teach people during the conversation. But you're not running a free consultation. You're running a sales process. Why Information Is Your Leverage—Not Your Gift Here's what Laura and Adam's team needs to understand: Information is your leverage. Are you going to give your leverage away for free? The key is teaching your intake team how to ask questions and bring the person through a process. You're connecting with prospects, learning about them, getting them talking about their fears, helping them articulate what they want, and then building a quick value bridge to why they should sign with your firm. Then—and only then—do you ask for the commitment. When prospects start fishing for free legal advice, you shut it down fast with this exact response: "That's a really, really good question. And that's exactly why we need to get you booked with an attorney so that you can sit down with a professional who can walk you through that strategy. Let's go ahead and get you signed up." The High-Stakes Hire: What to Look for in Professional Services Salespeople When you're selling high-value services instead of products, you need a special type of salesperson. Here are the three make-or-break qualities that will determine whether your hire is a rockstar or a disaster: They Need to Be Street Smart - Not book-smart—street-smart. They need to think on their feet because you've got different types of people coming to you with different cases. If someone is used to just following a script, they're not the right person for you. High Emotional Intelligence with Outcome Drive - This is the tricky balance. They need high emotional intelligence to quickly connect with people and build relationships. But they also need enough outcome drive to ask for the commitment and not let people off the hook. You're essentially running a one-call close. A person comes in, you take them through the journey, and then you ask them to make a commitment. If they don't commit on that call, your chances of signing them as a client go down exponentially over time. The Goldilocks Zone - If you hire someone too far on the outcome-driven side, they'll be pushy schmucks who pressure people, strongarm prospects, and destroy your reputation. You'll end up with buyers' remorse and angry clients. If you hire someone too relationship-driven with too much empathy, they'll have great conversations and make wonderful friends—but they won't convert anybody into customers.

If you're only showing up in one place, you're not showing up at all, which is why top sales reps are making multi-channel prospecting a priority and leveraging LinkedIn to get ahead.  "The reality of buying and selling is that everyone has different preferences, and as a salesperson, we need to use as many tools as possible. If you are only making calls or sending emails, you’re missing [prospects] that don’t answer calls or reply to emails," says Daniel Disney, one of the world's leading social selling experts and founder of The Daily Sales. In today's sales landscape, understanding and navigating the "Prospecting Maze" is no longer optional—it's essential. The Prospecting Maze: Why Single-Channel Fails The modern buyer isn’t linear. They don’t follow a step-by-step funnel. Instead, they’re zig-zagging across digital touchpoints: social feeds, emails, websites, calls, review sites, podcasts, webinars, and peer referrals. A prospect might first see your company mentioned in a LinkedIn comment, hear about you from a colleague, get a cold call later that week, and convert after reading third-party reviews.  This is where multi-channel outreach gives you a powerful edge. And in the world of B2B, LinkedIn often becomes your competitive advantage. Why Using LinkedIn in Your Multi-Channel Prospecting Works Among your core outreach tools—phone, email, social—LinkedIn stands out. It doesn’t replace cold calling. It reinforces it. Used strategically, it extends your credibility, warms up cold conversations, and drives responses other channels can’t. Here’s what makes LinkedIn a powerhouse in your multi-channel approach: Professional Credibility: A strong LinkedIn presence builds instant trust. Prospects see who you are, what you’ve done, and how you show up in your industry. Deep Prospect Insights: LinkedIn offers unmatched visibility into a buyer’s job history, interests, content, and network. That context powers personalization that cuts through the noise. Soft-Touch Engagement: You don’t have to push. LinkedIn allows you to comment, share, and message in a way that builds rapport, without asking for time or commitment right away. Message Amplification: Your posts and interactions can reach 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections. That passive visibility compounds your prospecting efforts. The LINK Framework: Your Multi-Channel Prospecting System You don’t need to spend hours scrolling LinkedIn. In fact, you can see results in just 15 focused minutes a day — if you have a plan. That’s where the LINK Framework comes in. It’s a repeatable system for integrating LinkedIn with your outreach strategy and making every touchpoint count. L – Leverage LinkedIn for Insight Your first call sets the tone. Before you pick up the phone, use LinkedIn to gather quick intelligence such as your prospect’s role, recent posts, company news, and shared connections. Example Cold Call Opener: “Hi [Prospect Name], this is [Your Name] with [Your Company]. I'm calling because I saw [Your Company] recently [published an article on X / celebrated a milestone / hired new talent], and it made me think about how other leaders in [their industry] are grappling with [specific problem that your solution solves].” I – Integrate Channels with Purpose Don’t silo your outreach. Each touch should build on the last, referencing LinkedIn in your emails, following up calls with connections, and weaving consistent messaging across every interaction. Example Touch Pattern: Touch 1: Phone call + voicemail Touch 2: Immediately after your call, send a LinkedIn connection request Touch 3: Email referencing LinkedIn or voicemail Touch 4: Comment on their recent post or share a relevant industry article Touch 5: Second phone call Touch 6: LinkedIn message with relevant insight or asset N – Nurture Through Engagement Your prospects see who shows up. Stay in their world by regularly interacting with their content.

Should you use sales scripts to close more deals? That's the question I get from salespeople who are struggling to hit their numbers and looking for that magic bullet that'll transform their results overnight. They want to know if there's a perfect set of words that'll make prospects say yes every time. Here's my answer: No. Not just no, but hell no. If you're using scripts, you're using a crutch that's actually crippling your ability to build the one thing that closes deals: trust. And worse, you're hiding behind that crutch instead of developing the real skills that separate elite performers from the pack. The Script Crutch: Why We Reach for It I get why scripts feel appealing. When you're new to sales or struggling with consistency, having something to fall back on feels safe. Scripts promise to eliminate the fear of not knowing what to say next. But here's the problem: That safety is an illusion. When you rely on a script, you're outsourcing your brain to someone else's process. You stop listening to what your prospect is actually saying because you're too busy figuring out what line comes next. You lose your ability to respond authentically to their real concerns, fears, and motivations. Scripts turn you into a talking brochure instead of a trusted advisor. And prospects can smell it from a mile away. Think about the last time someone called you reading from a script. You knew within 30 seconds, didn't you? That robotic cadence, the inability to deviate when you asked a question, the way they plowed ahead regardless of your responses. How much did you trust that person? How likely were you to do business with them? What Scripts Actually Do to Your Performance Scripts don't just fail to help you, they actively hurt your results. They Kill Your Authenticity - The moment you start reading lines, you stop being yourself. Your natural charisma disappears behind memorized words. They Prevent Real Listening - When you're focused on delivering your next line perfectly, you're not truly hearing what your prospect is telling you. You miss the real concerns hiding behind their surface objections. They Make You Predictable - Every other salesperson calling your prospect is probably using the same script. When you sound like everyone else, you become a commodity that competes on price, not value. They Create Dependency - The more you rely on scripts, the less you develop your own skills. Instead of learning to think on your feet and handle objections naturally, you become dependent on having the "right" words handed to you. What Elite Performers Do Instead The best salespeople I know don't use scripts. They use frameworks—a structure that preserves authenticity while ensuring they cover all the bases. Here's the framework that works: Connect First Start every conversation by building genuine rapport. Not with scripted small talk, but with authentic curiosity about who they are and what they do. Unpack Their Fears Early Most salespeople wait until the end to handle objections. Elite performers get them on the table immediately. "Tell me about a bad experience you've had with contractors before." "What are you most worried about with this decision?" You can't script these conversations because every prospect's fears are different. Understand Their Motivation Why are they really doing this? What's the trigger event that brought you together? What happens if they don't solve this problem? These insights come from skilled questioning and active listening, not memorized presentations. Explore Their Desired Outcome Get them talking about their aspirations. What does success look like? When prospects paint their own picture of a better future, they're selling themselves. Make Recommendations Like a Consultant When you've truly listened and understood their situation, making recommendations becomes natural. You tie everything back to what they told you: "You mentioned you're worried about quality....

You know the feeling. You're mid-pitch, and you watch your prospect's eyes glaze over—their mind somewhere else entirely. It's exhausting, demoralizing, and it's killing your close rate. But what if you didn’t have to push so hard? What if you could create the kind of pull where prospects actually leaned in and said, “How do I get started?” In this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, high-performance coach Kristin Andree shared her perspective: "If we put ourselves out there and let people know who we're looking for and be excited about it and excited about helping them, we attract them." The difference between top performers and everyone else isn't talent—it's their prospecting approach. Elite salespeople don't convince prospects to buy. They make prospects want to buy.  The Exhaustion of the Old Way If you feel like you’re always running uphill, you’re not imagining it. Most salespeople are stuck in a reactive mindset—constantly pursuing leads who haven’t shown real interest. This is where the exhaustion creeps in. You follow up relentlessly, only to get ignored. You worry about being too aggressive. Your outreach starts to feel desperate instead of helpful. Prospects can feel that energy shift. When you’re trying to close anyone, instead of helping the right ones, you come across as transactional. You sound like a pitch, not a person. You become just another vendor fighting for attention and pricing leverage. 4 Ways to Make Prospects Come to You Attraction in sales is about relevance and resonance. You stop pushing your solution on people who don’t care and start showing up in a way that makes the right people take notice. That’s the core of value-based selling. It's not about feature dumps, aggressive closes, or chasing "maybe" prospects. It’s about clearly communicating how your solution solves urgent problems, accelerates outcomes, and makes your buyer’s life easier or better. When done right, it flips the dynamic entirely. You move from interrupting to inviting. From being just another sales rep to someone your prospect actually wants to hear from. Here’s how to put that into action: 1. Lead With Curiosity, Not Pitch Decks Before you ever think about pitching, dedicate time to genuinely understanding your prospect's world. Research their industry, their company, and their specific role.  Ask insightful, open-ended questions that uncover their true challenges, not just surface-level issues. Listen for the underlying pain, unspoken frustrations, and desired outcomes. When you truly listen, you gather the knowledge to position yourself not as a salesperson, but as an informed resource. Imagine a software sales rep for a project management tool. Instead of immediately launching into features, they might start by asking, "What are the biggest bottlenecks your team faces in project delivery right now?" As the prospect describes disorganized communication or missed deadlines, the rep then offers to share a related article. This positions the rep as knowledgeable and helpful, building rapport and trust before ever mentioning their product. 2. Use Content as a Sales Magnet You don’t need to be an influencer to build credibility. Every rep can become a curator of insight—and that’s often more valuable than always trying to create original content. Share relevant articles: Find industry news, research, or thought leadership pieces that address your ideal client's pain points and share them on LinkedIn with your own insightful commentary. LinkedIn Posts & Videos: Craft short, valuable posts offering tips, insights, or asking thought-provoking questions related to your niche. Short video tips addressing common challenges can be very impactful. Intelligent Commentary: Engage thoughtfully in industry discussions online. Your informed perspective demonstrates expertise and attracts like-minded professionals. Every time you share something helpful, you reinforce your value.

Here's a scenario that'll hit close to home: What do you do when you were crushing your numbers just months ago, but now you can't seem to close anything and your confidence is in the gutter? That's exactly what happened to Dhruv, a business development rep from Saint Louis. After figuring out his rhythm in Q1 and hitting strong performance numbers, he found himself in a two-month slump with low attainment and shattered confidence. If you're nodding your head right now, you're not alone. Every sales professional faces these valleys, and how you respond determines whether you bounce back stronger or spiral further down. The Confidence Crisis: When Success Breeds Complacency Dhruv's story reveals a pattern I see constantly in sales organizations. After a strong Q1, he got comfortable. His dials dropped. He thought he had it all figured out. Sound familiar? Here's the brutal truth: Success without discipline is temporary. The moment you stop following the process that got you there, you're setting yourself up for a fall. When things started going sideways in April, Dhruv did what most salespeople do—he panicked. He started questioning everything, looking for new scripts on LinkedIn, using AI to find the "perfect" approach. Everything except the one thing that would actually help: going back to basics. The Fundamentals Never Go Out of Style I told Dhruv about John Smoltz, the Cy Young Award-winning pitcher who spoke at an event I attended. Smoltz explained that when baseball players get into a slump, they start changing everything—looking for magic pills, new techniques, secret solutions. But here's what champions do differently: They go back to the fundamentals. Take Kobe Bryant. Every morning at 4 AM, he'd spend three to four hours working on the same basic skills he learned as a kid. The fundamentals that made him great in the first place. The same principle applies to fanatical prospecting. When you're in a slump, you don't need new techniques—you need to execute the proven process with precision and discipline. Process Goals vs. Outcome Goals: The Confidence Builder When your confidence is shaken, outcome goals become your enemy. Focusing on "I need to close three deals this week" when you're struggling just adds pressure and anxiety. Instead, shift to process goals: How many calls will you make today? Are you using your five-step framework consistently? Are you delivering your ledge statements with conviction? Are you following up with discipline? I shared with Dhruv my own experience from when I was 24 and going through a terrible quarter. I was so down I didn't want to come to work. Here's how I climbed out: I started with 10-minute call blocks. Call for 10 minutes, then read three pages of an inspirational sales book as a reward. Rinse and repeat. Within 30 days, I was performing well. Within 90 days, I was the number one rep in my region. The key wasn't finding a secret technique. It was trusting the process in shorter, manageable increments. The Economic Reality: When Markets Tighten, Double Down Dhruv's slump coincided with companies pulling back on spending. But here's what most reps get wrong: When markets tighten, you need to make more calls, not fewer. The prospects with budget and urgency are still out there, they're just harder to find. That means more activity, not less. More discipline, not shortcuts. This is exactly what I cover in Selling in a Crisis—when economic conditions get tough, the fundamentals become even more critical. Your Confidence Comeback Action Plan If you're in a confidence slump right now, here's your roadmap back: Stop Looking for Magic Solutions Get off LinkedIn. Stop asking AI for the perfect script. The answer isn't out there—it's in the process you already know works. Break It Down When confidence is low, work in shorter blocks. Fifteen-minute call sessions with quick wins and self-recognition for executing the p...

Will AI steal your sales team's jobs? It's the question haunting every sales floor conversation and keeping leaders up at night. But here's the crucial insight: The biggest threat to your team’s sales careers lies in misinterpreting AI's role. While the debate rages over robots replacing salespeople, forward-thinking organizations are already embracing "Agentic AI." This isn't your typical automation that just speeds up email sequences. It's a completely different approach that turns AI into your sales team's secret weapon, not their replacement. The companies getting this right aren't asking "How do we cut costs with AI?" They're asking, "How do we make our best salespeople unstoppable?" The answer is reshaping the entire profession, and it's happening faster than you think. Agentic AI is Far From Old-School Automation Most sales leaders think AI is about efficiency, and they’re wrong. They think teams will only send more emails, make more calls, and process more leads. That's old-school automation thinking, not agentic AI Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can independently make choices and take actions while working toward complicated objectives—all without needing constant human oversight or guidance. As Outreach CEO Abhijit Mitra puts it: Agentic AI engines focus on giving salespeople tools that enhance their strengths and simplify their daily tasks. Agentic AI enhances human judgment. Instead of automating relationships, it deepens them. Your top performers are successful because they make better decisions, read situations more accurately, and build stronger connections. Agentic AI amplifies gives your salespeople superhuman pattern recognition, instant access to contextual insights, and the ability to predict customer needs before prospects even realize them. Your best rep's intuition, backed by AI's analytical power, becomes an unstoppable combination. The Best AI is Custom Built Too many organizations buy the same generic solution their competitors are using and wonder why they're not seeing breakthrough results. Your sales process, market, and customers are unique. Your AI should be, too. Despite often being an expensive investment, custom AI solutions adapt to your specific industry terminology, recognize your unique buying patterns, and align with your particular sales methodology. If your team can't find ways to use generative AI effectively, then they need to read The AI Edge by best-selling author Jeb Blount. If they still struggle to use generative AI effectively, it might be time to invest in custom AI that captures and amplifies your unique competitive advantages. Why Most AI Implementations Fail From the Start Before you get excited about AI magic, be warned: Most AI implementations fail spectacularly. Not because the technology is flawed, but because companies skip the unglamorous groundwork. Your AI is only as good as your data. Garbage in, garbage out is both a tech cliché and the undeniable reason your CRM feels like a digital junk drawer and your sales forecasts are glorified guesswork. Companies that invest in data cleanup before implementing AI see immediate, measurable improvements. It’s more than removing duplicate contacts. It’s about creating a foundation where AI can learn meaningful patterns about your customers, your market, and your sales process. Poor data quality limits AI performance and makes it downright dangerous. When AI systems learn from incomplete or incorrect data, they amplify those errors across your entire sales process. Your reps start making decisions based on flawed insights, potentially damaging customer relationships and missing opportunities. The lesson? AI transformation is a data governance initiative. Get it right, and everything else becomes possible. How to Manage Your Team's Resistance to Change Picture this: You announce your AI initiative in Monday's sales meeting. Instead of excitement,

How can one comp plan mistake sabotage your sales team before they even start?  That's the challenge facing Adam and Laura from the Rossen Law Firm in Florida. After attending one of our Dallas workshops, they made the bold decision to transition to a non-attorney sales team. Six weeks later, they're all in on the strategy but hitting a wall on one critical issue: compensation structure. The problem? Like most law firms making this transition, they're stuck in the traditional legal mindset when it comes to paying salespeople. They can't pay direct commissions because of fee-splitting regulations, but they're struggling to create a compensation plan that motivates high performance. If you're nodding your head right now, you're not alone. This is the No. 1 stumbling block I see when law firms try to build professional sales teams, and it's costing them their best talent before they even get started. The Legal Industry's Compensation Conundrum Most law firms approach sales compensation like they're hiring another paralegal instead of recognizing they're building a revenue-generating machine. The traditional legal industry operates on billable hours, retainers, and partnership tracks. But sales? Sales is about results, motivation, and creating an environment where top performers want to stay and mediocre performers either level up or leave. When you try to force a square peg (sales compensation) into a round hole (traditional legal compensation), you get exactly what Adam and Laura discovered: confusion, frustration, and the risk of incentivizing the wrong behaviors. Why Fee-Splitting Regulations Actually Work in Your Favor Before you start cursing the legal profession's restrictions on fee-splitting, let me share something that might surprise you: This limitation can force you to build a better compensation structure than most sales organizations. Here's why: Instead of lazy commission-based thinking, you're forced to get creative with performance bonuses tied to specific outcomes. This means you can build a compensation plan that rewards the behaviors you actually want, not just the easy stuff. The key is shifting from a commission mindset to a performance bonus mindset. This isn't just semantic; it's a fundamental change in how you think about motivating your sales team. This approach requires strong leadership fundamentals, which is why understanding how to create a sales accountability culture becomes critical to your success. The Three-Layer Compensation Framework That Actually Works When I work with law firms on this challenge, I recommend a three-layer approach that satisfies legal requirements while creating real motivation: Layer 1: Competitive Base Salary This is your foundation. Pay a competitive salary that attracts superstar talent. Why? Because when you pay superstar wages, you can hold people accountable for superstar performance without them saying "you're not incentivizing me for that." If most of your comp is salary, you can explain expectations clearly and apply leadership, motivation, and inspiration to get people to do the hard things without getting paid extra for everything. Layer 2: Individual Performance Bonuses (Monthly) Focus on activity-based goals that drive results: Follow-up completion rates Number of qualified calls taken Conversion rates from initial contact to consultation Client onboarding task completion These should be measured monthly because salespeople need tighter timelines to stay motivated. The fundamentals of effective follow-up and systematic prospecting become crucial here. This is where mastering fanatical prospecting principles makes the difference between good and great performance. Layer 3: Team and Firm-Level Bonuses (Quarterly/Annual) This is where you create real ownership mentality: Quarterly team goals: Total new clients signed above baseline Annual firm goals: Overall revenue growth and profitability targets

How many times do you actually attempt to reach out to a prospect before you give up? On the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jessica Stokes calls out a common sales reality when prospecting: “We all know the average salesperson typically stops after three, maybe four attempts before moving on. We assume they're not interested. We want to find a juicier lead.” This common behavior defines The 3-Call Fallacy—the flawed belief that if someone doesn’t respond after a few tries, they’re not interested. It’s where you probably tap out and tell yourself you’ve done enough. You haven’t. Persistence is key.  Why Salespeople Quit Prospecting Too Early The premature retreat from prospecting isn't about laziness; it's rooted in fundamental misconceptions and fear. The Fear of Being Annoying The most common excuse? “I don’t want to be a pest.”  You leave a voicemail, send an email, maybe try LinkedIn, and then you back off. You tell yourself you’re giving them space. But your prospect doesn't remember you. When you're looking at your CRM thinking, "This is my sixth attempt—I'm going to tick this guy off," your prospect likely has no idea who you are. To them, today's call feels like the first time you've reached out. The Momentum Killer Spacing out your touchpoints destroys any traction you might have built. Waiting a week—or worse, a month—between messages forces you to restart every time. That familiar name? Forgotten. That compelling message? Gone. Momentum is built with consistency. Familiarity breeds trust, but only if you stay in front of them long enough to become familiar. The 4 Steps of Building a Fanatical Prospecting Sequence The fix? Being fanatical about sequencing.  It’s about consistent, well-timed, multi-channel outreach that keeps your message fresh and front of mind. Stay Consistent: Don’t let more than a few days pass between touchpoints. Regular rhythm creates recall. Think of it like a steady drumbeat—not a one-time boom. Use Multiple Channels: Your prospect may ignore emails but answer LinkedIn. Or they may screen unknown numbers but reply to a personalized video. Use all the tools available: Phone calls Emails LinkedIn messages Video messages Direct mail (for high-value prospects) Track Your True Attempt Rate: Most reps overestimate their persistence. Implement a rigorous tracking system, whether in your CRM or a simple spreadsheet, to log every single touchpoint. Reframe Your Mindset: You’re not bothering people—you’re offering help. If you believe in your product and know it can solve their problems, persistent outreach is a service, not a nuisance. The Prospecting Challenge Ready to put this into action? Take 20-50 leads and run a sequence over the next 30-45 days. Make contact attempts every few days using multiple channels. Track your progress. You’ll likely discover: Responses after 8, 10, even 12 attempts. Prospects saying things like "I'm glad you reached out again" or "I was thinking about calling you back." Booked appointments you never would have gotten with the traditional 3-call approach. 3 Common Personal Objections (And Why They're Wrong) This is where self-sabotage shows up. Let’s break down the common excuses: "I don't want to be annoying." Your prospect deleted your voicemail in 10 seconds. They're not sitting there with a map of all your attempts, getting angrier with each one. "If they were interested, they would have called back." People are busy. Interest doesn't always translate to immediate action.  "I need to focus on warmer leads." Every lead starts cold. The difference between a cold lead and a warm lead is often just consistent, value-driven follow-up. You make them warm. The Discipline Factor: Every Attempt Counts Just like you can't run a 10K after one day of training, you can't expect immediate results from prospecting. It's a cumulative effort that builds momentum over time.

Here's the brutal truth about social media for sales: You're already behind, and it's going to be a grind. That's the reality Margarita from Dallas discovered when she called into our podcast. She's a seasoned realtor with 20+ years of experience, built her entire business on referrals and warm market relationships, and suddenly realized she needs to master social media to stay competitive. Sound familiar? You're not alone if you're staring at this digital mountain wondering how the hell you're going to climb it. But what makes Margarita's situation even more challenging and why her story matters to every sales professional reading is this: She's trying to compress 20 years of relationship building into a social media strategy that can compete with people who've been doing this for decades. The Tom Cruise Problem: Building Your Social Media Presence Takes Time Remember the first time you saw Tom Cruise in a movie? For me, it was Risky Business, some kid dancing around in his underwear. He wasn't the "last movie star" then. He was just another actor trying to make it. But here's the thing: Today, if you saw Tom Cruise walking down the street, you'd lose your mind. You'd want selfies, autographs, the whole nine yards. Why? Because over decades, he created millions of micro-interactions that built trust, familiarity, and fandom. That's exactly what you need to do on social media. You need to create fans of YOU. The problem is that most sales professionals want to skip the relationship-building phase and jump straight to the closing phase. They want to post a few listing videos and magically generate leads. That's not how it works. The Algorithm Rewards Consistency, Not Perfection Here's the part that's going to hurt: You need to post every single day. Not when you feel like it. Not when you have something "good" to share. Every. Single. Day. When you first start, your content is going to suck. Your first TikTok video? Three people will watch it. Your first Instagram post? Crickets. Your first LinkedIn article? Your mom and your real estate buddy will like it. I know because I've been there. We've all been there. The algorithms don't care about your feelings—they care about consistency. Think about it this way: You're not just competing with other sales professionals for attention. You're competing with Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, and every other form of entertainment for your prospects' eyeballs. The only way to win that battle is to show up relentlessly until people start recognizing your name and face. The Two-Bucket Strategy: Marketing vs. Lead Generation When you think about social media as a sales professional, you need to separate it into two distinct buckets: Bucket 1: Marketing and Brand Building This is about name recognition, familiarity, and staying top-of-mind. When people in your market are ready to buy or sell, your name should be the first one they think of. This bucket is about volume, consistency, and building your personal brand. Bucket 2: Direct Lead Generation This is about watching what prospects are doing, engaging with them directly, and converting social interactions into sales conversations. This bucket is about quality, relationship building, and moving people from digital relationships to actual appointments. Most people focus entirely on Bucket 1 and wonder why they're not getting leads. Others focus only on Bucket 2 and wonder why their content isn't reaching anyone. You need both working in harmony. Your 3-Pillar Content Strategy System Here's what you need to post consistently: Original Content: This is your unique perspective, your experience, your stories. If you're a 20-year veteran like Margarita, you have war stories that new agents don't. You've survived market crashes, interest rate spikes, and industry changes. Share that wisdom. Curated Content: Find industry articles, market reports, and news relevant to your prospects.