Aug 30: The 22-second cold open lifting replies 44%
Good morning. Sales leaders are shifting pipeline control away from self-sourcing reps to centralized operations.
Cogency Global doubled its close rate and cut sales cycles in half by stripping AEs of their self-sourcing mandate. VP of Sales Pieter Leenhouts capped rep pipelines at exactly 120 accounts, shifting the entire burden of target selection to leadership.
Today's Sales Plays (19)
Tactical moves operators are running right now, with verbatim source.
outbound
EA-to-EA Peer Meeting Pitch
Pitch a peer-to-peer executive meeting directly to the prospect's executive assistant, CCing your own exec's EA to build credibility.
Discussing: Cold outbound to enterprise C-suite executives whose calendars are heavily guarded by EAs.
“I will send the EA a personalized outreach email... and then I will usually also CC in the EA to my executive. So it again, just adds even more credibility to this meeting proposal.”
MechanismFind the EA on LinkedIn. Email them proposing a meeting between their exec and your exec (e.g., CIO to Chief Data Officer). Include a 3-bullet agenda. CC your own executive's EA on the email. If you can't identify the exact EA, email the most senior one and ask, "Is it Jane or Mike?" to trigger a correction.
Outcome99% success rate getting time with the executive
CounterpointReps usually try to bypass EAs. Treating them as strategic partners and offering a peer-to-peer networking meeting gets you on the calendar.
#603 - How to Use Executive Assistants to Unlock Enterprise Deals | Laura McDonald · Aug 27, 2026
team_and_org
3x Pipeline Virtual Patch Warming
Build virtual territories and warm them with marketing touches until they hit 3x pipeline coverage before assigning them to new hires.
Discussing: New AE ramp times are stretching to six months or more because reps are handed completely cold territories.
“Once I got a patch to a 3x pipeline... I'd cut that patch and I'd start ranking which patches could take my new hires. That would move my ramp time from the theoretical six months... to 90 days.”
MechanismInstead of giving new hires a cold patch, create virtual patches. Direct marketing spend and outreach to these specific accounts to generate touches. Wait until a virtual patch reaches a 3x pipeline-to-quota ratio. Only then, cut the patch and assign it to a newly hired seasoned rep.
OutcomeReduced ramp time from 6 months to 90 days
CounterpointMost orgs assign cold patches on day one and expect reps to build pipeline while learning the product. This shifts pipeline generation to marketing first.
SPOTLIGHT: He Missed Quota 5 Times in 25 Years. Here's the System Behind That.| Mike Carpenter, CEO & Co-Founder @ Xfactor · Aug 20, 2026
icp_and_segment
Won-Deal AI Pattern Matching
Analyze your last 10 won deals with AI to disqualify 80 percent of your assigned accounts and focus solely on the hyper-relevant minority.
Discussing: Reps are assigned 100 to 400 accounts and spread their effort too thin across multiple verticals.
“We increased meetings, qualified meetings set from the BDR team by like 26% in like 30 days, mostly just by doing that. Just saying, hey, we're just not going to reach out to any of these other ones.”
MechanismExport the last 10 to 20 won deals. Feed the data (industry, employee count, funding, champion persona) into Claude or ChatGPT. Ask the AI to identify the common patterns. Disqualify the bulk of your book and focus all outbound effort on the 10 to 15 accounts that perfectly match.
Outcome26% increase in qualified meetings set in 30 days
CounterpointMost reps treat all assigned accounts equally; this play requires actively ignoring 80 percent of your territory to over-index on the top 20 percent.
The Too Good To Ignore Outbound Methodology · Aug 24, 2026
discovery
The worst reference counter-question
Ask for a best reference, then immediately ask for their worst reference to force honest reflection.
Discussing: Qualifying a champion or interviewing a candidate who is giving overly polished, rehearsed answers.
“He starts by asking, who is your best reference and why?... And as they finish, you ask the counter question, which is, who would be your worst reference and why? And see their calls change.”
MechanismAsk, "Who is your best reference and why?" Let them list their advocates and the positive feedback. The moment they finish, ask the counter-question: "Who would be your worst reference and why?" Watch how their tone shifts to gauge self-awareness and uncover hidden risks.
OutcomeSpeaker notes people answer honestly and provide deep texture.
CounterpointBuyers and candidates prep for strengths/weaknesses questions, but pairing the worst reference immediately after the best breaks their script.
20VC: Inside Sequoia's Investment Committee: Lessons from Don Valentine, Doug Leone and Alfred Lin | How the SpaceX and Citadel Deals Went Down | What Sequoia Specifically Looks for in Founders with Julien Bek · Aug 24, 2026
discovery
The 1-to-10 prospect disqualification question
Ask serial delayers to rate their likelihood of buying on a 1-to-10 scale to expose counterfeit interest.
Discussing: Prospect keeps delaying follow-ups with vague requests to call back later.
“One day I said, you know what? On a scale of one to 10, what's the likelihood of you ever doing business with me? He said, two... I said, OK, why don't I take you off my list? And he said, that would be a good idea.”
MechanismWhen a prospect repeatedly asks you to call back at a later date, stop the cycle. Ask directly: 'On a scale of 1 to 10, what's the likelihood of you ever doing business with me?' If they give a low number, follow up with: 'Why don't I take you off my list?'
OutcomeSuccessfully disqualified a time-wasting prospect.
CounterpointReps often accept endless delays to avoid friction; this forces the friction to save pipeline time.
Are You Too Nice to Close the Deal? | Connie Kadansky - 2031 · Aug 24, 2026
demo
Demo Mind-Reading Prompt
Replace "Any questions?" with a 1-to-10 scale or a direct prompt about what they are thinking to avoid technical rabbit holes.
Discussing: Wrapping up a demo or presenting a pricing proposal to a mixed room of stakeholders.
“AEs will do a demo and then they'll say, so any questions? And it is such a waste of time because inevitably... some techie in the audience says a random question that's totally unrelated to anything of value.”
MechanismNever ask "Any questions?"—it invites random technical users to derail the meeting. Instead, ask: "What's going through your mind as you're watching this demo?" or "On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel this feature will solve the problem you just told us about?"
Outcomespeaker's word, not measured
Counterpoint"Any questions?" shifts control to the most pedantic person in the room. Targeted prompts keep the focus on business value.
#603 - How to Use Executive Assistants to Unlock Enterprise Deals | Laura McDonald · Aug 27, 2026
team_and_org
Acqui-hiring solo open-source creators
Bypass traditional interviews by acquiring solo developers who have spent months building open-source projects in your exact domain.
Discussing: Sourcing high-conviction, elite engineering talent in a highly competitive market where traditional pedigree fails to predict performance.
“We expect 100% of our future hires to come through acquiring companies... you're quitting your job and you're spending five, eight months just building that one thing. And that shows so much more conviction than you can track in an interview.”
MechanismStop relying on traditional interviews and Ivy League pedigree to find elite engineers. Instead, scout for solo developers who have quit their jobs to spend five to eight months building an open-source project in your specific problem space. Acquire their project to bring them in-house, offering them the capital and resources to continue scaling the exact mission they were already working on.
Outcome100% of future hires expected to come through this channel.
CounterpointYou aren't hiring them for general engineering tasks; you are buying their existing momentum and keeping them focused on the exact same problem space.
20VC: Is Anthropic's Coding Business Worth $2 Trillion? | Should American Enterprises Work With Open-Source Chinese Models? | Why 80–90% of Neo-Labs Die in the Next 18 Months? with Eno Reyes, Co-Founder @ Factory · Aug 29, 2026
demo
Dual-Executive POV Sign-Off
Require both the global SE leader and the CRO to sign off on every Proof of Value before it starts.
Discussing: Scaling a technical sales motion where reps rush into unstructured POVs to maintain deal momentum.
“The SE leader globally signs off on POVs as well as me. So if we don't put our hands in the middle and say we want to do it, then we're not going to do it.”
MechanismInstitute a hard gate for POVs. The rep must prove they have a tested champion, alignment with the Economic Buyer on a straw-man business case, and clear differentiation. If the global SE leader and the CRO do not both physically sign off on the criteria, the POV does not happen. No exceptions for fast-moving deals.
OutcomeMaintains a very high technical win rate and prevents wasted SE resources.
CounterpointReps will argue that slowing down for sign-off loses deals, but skipping this step usually results in losing anyway or landing a subpar contract.
Why Great CROs Stop Managing Numbers and Start Building Systems · Aug 27, 2026
outbound
Closed-lost trend update script
Call closed-lost opportunities to share a new industry trend that exposes a gap in the competitor they chose.
Discussing: Calling a prospect who previously evaluated you but chose a competitor.
“I know when you previously spoke to us, you guys had Druva... The challenges you had with Druva was as you migrate to the cloud, you didn't feel like it had as much security.”
MechanismKeep a spreadsheet of closed-lost ops. Call directly and say: 'We spoke last year when you chose [Competitor]. The challenge with them is [X]. What we're seeing now is [New Trend/Problem]. I'm guessing you're thinking about this. Does it make sense to speak another time?'
OutcomeSpeaker's word, not measured.
CounterpointInstead of asking if they are unhappy with their current vendor, introduce a new industry problem their vendor cannot solve.
#602 - My Exact Prospecting Process That Got Me To President's Club 3X (Live Screenshare) · Aug 25, 2026
outbound
The Ransomware Logistics Cold Call
Force prospects to visualize the physical reality of a security breach by asking about ransom logistics.
Discussing: Cold calling IT leaders who are ignoring the threat of ransomware attacks.
“I'm like, do you know how you get Bitcoin? Do you know what that looks like? Because I didn't. And I'm not real crazy about going to the worst part of town with $50,000 in cash.”
MechanismInstead of pitching security features, ask if they know the actual logistics of paying a ransom. Ask: "Do you know how you get Bitcoin? Do you know what that looks like? ... going to the worst part of town with $50,000 in cash and feeding it into an ATM machine."
OutcomeSpeaker uses this to earn time with prospects who are otherwise ignoring security risks.
CounterpointDon't pitch the software's prevention capabilities; pitch the physical, uncomfortable reality of the failure state.
WHAT IT TAKE TO BECOME AN A-PLAYER IN B2B SALES · Aug 24, 2026
negotiation
The build-it-yourself success pivot
When a prospect says they will build in-house, lower their defenses by offering advice on how to succeed at it.
Discussing: The prospect drops the "we're going to build this in-house" objection after you've invested time in the deal.
“I don't want to erode trust by diving right into a defensive motion... I'll say, you know, you're not the only CMO I'm talking to who's exploring a build versus buy use case. Are you open to hearing some things I've seen... that helped make a build case a success?”
MechanismSuppress the urge to list reasons they will fail. Instead, say: "You're not the only [Title] exploring a build versus buy. Are you open to hearing some things I've seen that helped make a build case a success?" Then advise them on internal resource allocation or success metrics.
Outcomespeaker's word, not measured
CounterpointCounterintuitive: you build trust by actively coaching them on how to not buy your product.
#600 - Prospect Says “We’re Doing This In-House” You’ll Say… · Aug 18, 2026
team_and_org
Centralized AE Pipeline Loading
Stop making AEs self-source; have leadership load exactly 120 targeted accounts into their pipeline to maintain a 70/30 pre-to-post engagement ratio.
Discussing: Selling an education-heavy product to a finite TAM where AE self-sourcing leads to bloated, low-quality pipelines.
“Instead of them loading their own opportunities, we load those opportunities for them. We made sure that each AE for our business, we said around 120 opportunities is about the right size of the pipeline.”
MechanismStop requiring AEs to self-source. Instead, have sales and marketing leadership select and load target accounts directly into AE pipelines. Cap each AE at roughly 120 active opportunities. Maintain a strict ratio: 70% in 'pre-hand raiser' stages (active outbound cadences) and 30% in 'post-hand raiser' stages (active deal cycles). This ensures reps spend their week executing personalized touches rather than scrolling for leads.
Outcome2x close rate and 50% reduction in sales cycle
CounterpointDefies the standard expectation that AEs must self-source 30-50% of their pipeline, shifting the burden entirely to leadership for better account control.
How We 2x Sales Revenue & Reduce Sales Cycle By 50% | Pieter Leenhouts - 2032 · Aug 28, 2026
discovery
First-Name Exec Sponsor Drop
Drop the assumed executive sponsor's first name during discovery to test your prospect's actual access and influence.
Discussing: First proper discovery call when you need to validate if your prospect is a real champion with access to power.
“I'll say, hey, what does Sarah think this initiative needs to deliver... The reason I say Sarah and not Sarah and surname is also to make it sound like I actually know Sarah.”
MechanismResearch the likely executive sponsor on LinkedIn before the call. Ask your prospect, "What does [First Name] think this initiative needs to deliver?" Using only the first name implies you already know them. The prospect will either correct the sponsor's identity or reveal their meeting cadence (e.g., "I have a weekly 1:1 with her").
Outcomespeaker's word, not measured
CounterpointMost reps ask "Who is the economic buyer?" which signals you are at the bottom of the org chart.
#603 - How to Use Executive Assistants to Unlock Enterprise Deals | Laura McDonald · Aug 27, 2026
team_and_org
Post-Sale Support Handoff Framework
Stop acting as the help desk by separating customer ownership from problem ownership, forcing support to use your documentation.
Discussing: AEs losing active deals because they are spending their time personally fixing post-sale customer support issues.
“You own the customer, not the problem. Someone else owns the problem and your job is to hold them accountable... you call them and you coach. Where could you find the information?”
MechanismWhen support asks you to fix a documented issue, refuse to do it yourself. Ask: "Where can you find this information?" and "When are you going to help this customer?" Set a calendar reminder to check in with support before their stated deadline. Once resolved, call the customer to take the victory lap. Reward support (lunch, donuts) for executing.
OutcomeSpeaker notes this prevents lost commission and allows AEs to scale instead of acting as the help desk.
CounterpointAEs naturally want to fix problems to protect the relationship. This play protects the relationship by owning the follow-up, not the execution.
Jeb Blount on Why You're Losing Deals to Customer Service Fires (Ask Jeb) · Aug 26, 2026
team_and_org
Favorite Leader Coachability Screen
Ask candidates what they liked most about their favorite past leader to reveal if they value development or just autonomy.
Discussing: Interviewing AEs and trying to separate candidates who are genuinely coachable from those who just claim to be.
“You'll get people that are like... 'I liked working for Sally because she just got all the problems out of my way and just let me sell.' That person doesn't clearly value the environment of education and development.”
MechanismTo test for actual coachability, ask candidates: 'What was your favorite thing about a past leader?' Listen to the reasoning. If they say, 'They taught me X and made me better,' they value coaching. If they say, 'They got obstacles out of my way and let me sell,' they prioritize autonomy.
OutcomeFilters out uncoachable reps during a 400-interview annual cycle.
CounterpointDirectly asking 'Are you coachable?' always gets a yes. This indirect question reveals their actual working preference based on past behavior.
Why Great CROs Stop Managing Numbers and Start Building Systems · Aug 27, 2026
outbound
3-T permission-based opener
Open cold calls with one of three Ts (Trigger, Tension, Trust) followed by a specific time-bound permission ask.
Discussing: Opening a cold call without triggering the prospect's default defensive posture.
“You have to have at least one of the three Ts... either a trigger, tension, or trust. And then you need to wrap your permission-based opener by asking for permission.”
MechanismStructure the first 15 seconds using a greeting, exactly one "T" (Trigger: "noticed you opened a new branch", Tension: "need to expand brand awareness quickly", or Trust), and a highly specific permission ask ("Do you have 22 seconds so I can tell you why I called?").
Outcome44% increase in first-time meetings set
CounterpointAsking for a hyper-specific amount of time (22 seconds) pattern-interrupts the standard "do you have a minute" brush-off.
Meet Amanda Long, our newest Pipeline Consultant · Aug 17, 2026
team_and_org
Valuation audit for heroic sales
Audit your sales org for unpredictable, heroic revenue to avoid a massive valuation discount during an exit.
Discussing: Preparing a sales organization for an exit or outside investment valuation.
“If your growth is coming from a heroic environment, that undermines their trust that if you leave... you can't replicate that revenue... the discount could be as much as 15 to 20% discount on the valuations.”
MechanismAudit your CRM for hidden discounting (e.g., deals closing at $2M that started at $2.6M) and heavy end-of-quarter win rates. If revenue relies on these "heroics," document the specific outputs required for each deal stage to prove to investors that the revenue is predictable and system-driven.
OutcomeAvoids a 15% to 20% discount on company valuation.
CounterpointInvestors don't just value the revenue number; they value the predictability of the system that generated it.
How To Make Your ARR 20% More Valuable To Investors | Keenan, CEO @ A Sales Growth Company · Aug 30, 2026
icp_and_segment
Outcome-based AI pricing model
Price AI tools based on the cost of the human workflow they replace, not per-seat software licenses.
Discussing: Monetizing AI products that complete end-to-end tasks rather than just assisting humans.
“Instead of selling a tool that can help you achieve an outcome, you can sell the outcome directly... effectively the AI is running the entire workflow end-to-end and is able to collect a fee from the outcome it's generating.”
MechanismCalculate the fully loaded cost of a human completing the task (e.g., $50 per resolved airline ticket). Price your AI product as a fraction of that outcome cost rather than charging an annual SaaS license. Bill only for the successfully completed end-to-end workflow.
Outcome$1 billion in ARR already generated in the autopilot customer support category.
CounterpointShifts the buyer's mental model from "software budget" (competing on $1) to "services/headcount budget" (competing on $6).
20VC: Inside Sequoia's Investment Committee: Lessons from Don Valentine, Doug Leone and Alfred Lin | How the SpaceX and Citadel Deals Went Down | What Sequoia Specifically Looks for in Founders with Julien Bek · Aug 24, 2026
team_and_org
Hiring PMs for AI post-sales
Hire product managers and pre-sales engineers for AI customer success roles, coaching them on account management rather than teaching technical depth to traditional CS reps.
Discussing: Building a post-sales team for highly technical AI products where traditional CS reps lack the workflow expertise to drive consumption.
“We've had success with a few product managers that have kind of made the shift to go to market... open to learning and being coached up on account management... Looking at pre-sales people... they just have to kind of grok the change.”
MechanismSource post-sales talent from product management, pre-sales engineering, and management consulting. For PMs, provide specific coaching on account management, exception handling, and competitive positioning. For pre-sales engineers, frame the role as "pre-sales in disguise" focused on post-signature workflow integration, paying them on par with core sales to remove the stigma of moving to CS.
OutcomeSpeaker notes success transitioning PMs and finding a lot of talent this way.
CounterpointInstead of teaching technical AI workflow discovery to traditional CS reps, hire technical roles (PMs, SEs) and teach them account management.
AI Selling Rewards Curiosity | Workflow Discovery with Seong Park · Aug 23, 2026
From the Conversations
30 Minutes to President's Club | No-Nonsense Sales
EA-to-EA Peer Meeting Pitch
#603 - How to Use Executive Assistants to Unlock Enterprise Deals | Laura McDonald
Aug 27, 2026 · 42m · 3 quotes pulled
▶ Listen“I will send the EA a personalized outreach email... and then I will usually also CC in the EA to my executive. So it again, just adds even more credibility to this meeting proposal.”
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The worst reference counter-question
20VC: Inside Sequoia's Investment Committee: Lessons from Don Valentine, Doug Leone and Alfred Lin | How the SpaceX and Citadel Deals Went Down | What Sequoia Specifically Looks for in Founders with Julien Bek
Aug 24, 2026 · 1h 18m · 2 quotes pulled
▶ Listen“He starts by asking, who is your best reference and why?... And as they finish, you ask the counter question, which is, who would be your worst reference and why? And see their calls change.”
Dual-Executive POV Sign-Off
Why Great CROs Stop Managing Numbers and Start Building Systems
Aug 27, 2026 · 1h 1m · 2 quotes pulled
▶ Listen“The SE leader globally signs off on POVs as well as me. So if we don't put our hands in the middle and say we want to do it, then we're not going to do it.”
Sources
▶ Listen30 Minutes to President's Club | No-Nonsense Sales
#603 - How to Use Executive Assistants to Unlock Enterprise Deals | Laura McDonaldLaura McDonald breaks down how to multithread enterprise deals, reach the C-suite, and build buying committee consensus without getting trapped with one champion. Learn how to leverage executive assistants, map the real power base, and neutralize blockers before they kill your deal. 🎙️ ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS: 🪑 Build the three-legged stool: Get every critical stakeholder group to “green” instead of treating enterprise deals like a linear sales process. 🤝 Sell the executive meeting: Broker peer-to-peer introductions between executives instead of asking the C-suite to meet with another salesperson. 🗺️ Map the real power base: Whiteboard the org with your champion to uncover who matters, who has influence, and who you still need to win over. 🚧 Neutralize blockers fast: Find out why they’re blocking, how much influence they have, and either win them over or build enough support around them to overpower their veto. You're one step closer to President's Club! 📝 The Ultimate Multi-Threading and Selling to the C-Suite Report 🏋 30MPC Training 🛠 Weekly Tactical Breakdowns 📚 Things you can steal and use today
▶ ListenTopline
SPOTLIGHT: He Missed Quota 5 Times in 25 Years. Here's the System Behind That.| Mike Carpenter, CEO & Co-Founder @ Xfactor<p>Mike Carpenter — CEO of Xfactor.io, former President of Global Sales at CrowdStrike — didn't win VP of the Year seven out of eight times by outworking everyone. He did it by finding cheat codes in the data everyone else was ignoring.</p> <p>In this episode, he walks through the X-Factor methodology: how he staffed ops teams that were abnormally large by industry standards, how he cut rep ramp time from 18 months to 90 days by warming territories before a new hire ever showed up, and why he thinks most companies running AI on their CRM are getting confident, wrong answers and won't know it until the numbers drop.</p> <p>Mike also shared:<br /> - Why working harder isn't the same as finding an X-Factor<br /> - How he used data to uncover the hidden patterns that drive revenue<br /> - Why static operating plans break down as businesses scale<br /> - How he cut sales ramp time by warming territories before reps entered them<br /> - Why causal AI matters more than simply putting an LLM on your data<br /> - What it takes to build AI that leaders can actually trust</p> <p>Chapters</p> <p>00:00 Intro<br /> 00:33 Meet Mike Carpenter and Xfactor<br /> 04:11 The "X-Factor" mindset that drove 25 years of sales success<br /> 08:18 Why working harder isn't a sustainable competitive advantage<br /> 10:56 The planning problem that inspired Xfactor<br /> 14:57 How AI uncovers hidden revenue opportunities<br /> 18:20 Why MQLs are the wrong metric to optimize<br /> 23:12 The biggest mistake companies make with AI today<br /> 25:52 Where to find Mike and Xfactor<br /> Try Xfactor: xfactor.io/</p>
▶ ListenOutbound Squad
The Too Good To Ignore Outbound MethodologyIn this episode, Jason, Clara Johnson, and Amanda Long from Outbound Squad, talk about why outbound needs its own methodology, the three core parts of Too Good To Ignore, how to scale it across your team, and practical plays your reps can use to book more meetings. Check out more free content and get help with outbound at https://outboundsquad.com.
▶ ListenThe Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Inside Sequoia's Investment Committee: Lessons from Don Valentine, Doug Leone and Alfred Lin | How the SpaceX and Citadel Deals Went Down | What Sequoia Specifically Looks for in Founders with Julien Bek<p>Julien Bek is a Partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the most renowned venture firms in the world. At Sequoia, he has partnered with companies including Rillet, Tacto, and Auctor. Before joining Sequoia, Julien spent five years at Accel, where he worked with companies including Miro, Melio, and BeReal. He is also an angel investor in Revolut and Attio.</p> <p>AGENDA:</p> <p>06:35 – What did Julien only discover about Sequoia after joining the firm?<br data-start="194" data-end="197" /> 08:05 – What does everyone get wrong about Sequoia?<br data-start= "330" data-end="333" /> 13:00 – Is Series A the hardest stage at which to invest today?<br data-start="396" data-end="399" /> 14:00 – Is Sequoia less focused on ownership as outcomes become larger?<br data-start="684" data-end="687" /> 19:20 – Does Sequoia simply pay more than everyone else to win deals?<br data-start="756" data-end="759" /> 22:00 – Is the "triple, triple, double, double" growth model dead?<br data-start="825" data-end="828" /> 25:00 – What is Sequoia's investment process really like behind the scenes?<br data-start="985" data-end="988" /> 27:15 – Can a partner still invest when the rest of Sequoia votes against them?<br data-start="1158" data-end="1161" /> 30:00 – Why can a flawless founder pitch actually be a warning sign?<br data-start="1229" data-end="1232" /> 31:00 – How do you judge whether a founder is exceptional in just 30 minutes?<br data-start="1309" data-end="1312" /> 33:00 – How can investors tell whether a founder's story is genuine?<br data-start="1380" data-end="1383" /> 35:10 – Is arrogance a bad trait in a founder?<br data-start="1441" data-end="1444" /> 36:00 – Which great founder did Julien completely misread?<br data-start="1502" data-end="1505" /> 37:15 – How should investors adjust their founder assessment across different cultures?<br data-start="1592" data-end="1595" /> 39:00 – What does a founder's childhood reveal about their future trajectory?<br data-start="1672" data-end="1675" /> 40:30 – What has Julien learned from Doug Leone, Pat Grady, Alfred Lin and Shaun Maguire?<br data-start="1764" data-end="1767" /> 47:00 – What does it mean when "agents become the new customer"?<br data-start="1831" data-end="1834" /> 49:00 – Does UI become irrelevant in an agent-first economy?<br data-start="1894" data-end="1897" /> 50:15 – Will answer-engine optimisation become larger than SEO?<br data-start="1960" data-end="1963" /> 52:00 – Will AI agents destroy software margins and brand loyalty?<br data-start="2029" data-end="2032" /> 53:00 – How quickly will enterprises allow agents to make purchasing decisions?<br data-start="2111" data-end="2114" /> 54:00 – Is AI infrastructure a safer investment than applications?<br data-start="2180" data-end="2183" /> 56:00 – Do software margins matter less when the potential outcomes are larger?<br data-start="2262" data-end="2265" /> 58:00 – Could the next trillion-dollar company masquerade as a services business?<br data-start="2346" data-end="2349" /> 01:00:00 – Which service industries can AI truly automate end-to-end?<br data-start="2418" data-end="2421" /> 01:02:00 – Are enterprises simply crying out for more help implementing AI?<br data-start="2496" data-end="2499" /> 01:03:10 – Will AI lead to dramatically smaller teams?<br data-start="2647" data-end="2650" /> 01:06:15 – Is traditional private equity screwed?<br data-start= "2710" data-end="2713" /> 01:07:00 – The most overfunded and underfunded categories in venture<br data-start="2793" data-end="2796" /> 01:08:15 – What is the best AI agent company outside Sequoia's portfolio?<br data-start="2869" data-end="2872" /> 01:09:00 – Which missed investment still haunts Julien?<br data-start="2927" data-end="2930" /> 01:09:45 – Which founder trait will Julien never compromise on?<br data-start="2993" data-end="2996" /> 01:10:00 – Which competing fund makes Sequoia bring its A-game?<br data-start="3059" data-end="3062" /> 01:10:45 – How Julien missed Revolut—and helped his mother retire by investing anyway<br data-start="3147" data-end="3150" /> 01:14:00 – What does Julien believe that other Sequoia partners might disagree with?<br data-start="3234" data-end="3237" /> 01:15:00 – What is Julien most excited about over the next five years of AI?</p>
▶ Listen- ▶ Listen
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Is Anthropic's Coding Business Worth $2 Trillion? | Should American Enterprises Work With Open-Source Chinese Models? | Why 80–90% of Neo-Labs Die in the Next 18 Months? with Eno Reyes, Co-Founder @ Factory<p dir="ltr">Eno Reyes is the co-founder and CTO of Factory, the agent-native software development platform building autonomous "Droids" for enterprise engineering teams. Factory has raised $220 million, most recently a $150 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation, from investors including Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, 20VC, NEA, Blackstone, Insight Partners and Nvidia. Before founding Factory, Eno worked as a machine-learning engineer at Hugging Face, training, optimizing and deploying large language models for enterprise customers.</p> <p dir="ltr">AGENDA:</p> <p dir="ltr">00:00 Are We Underestimating AI by an Order of Magnitude? </p> <p dir="ltr">06:35 Why Can the Smartest AI Model Be the Cheapest? </p> <p dir="ltr">18:51 Is Anthropic's Coding Business Really Worth $2 Trillion? </p> <p dir="ltr">33:41 Will Continuous-Learning Models Help or Hurt Factory? </p> <p dir="ltr">40:43 Will 80–90% of Neo-Labs Die in the Next 18 Months? </p> <p dir="ltr">44:33 Should American Enterprises Work With Open-Source Chinese Models? </p> <p dir="ltr">55:42 Must AI Founders Radically Rethink What a Great Outcome Looks Like? </p> <p dir="ltr">1:04:30 Do Pedigree and Credentials Still Matter in AI Hiring? </p> <p dir="ltr">1:19:17 Which Is the Biggest Threat: Claude Code, Codex, Cognition or Cursor? </p> <p dir="ltr">1:24:20 What Seems Crazy Today but Will Be Obvious in Five Years?</p> <p> </p>
▶ ListenRevenue Builders
Why Great CROs Stop Managing Numbers and Start Building SystemsIf you're spending more time managing numbers than building people and process, this conversation reveals where that shift starts – and what it costs to miss it.
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30 Minutes to President's Club | No-Nonsense Sales
#602 - My Exact Prospecting Process That Got Me To President's Club 3X (Live Screenshare)Three-time President’s Club winner Charlotte Johnson breaks down the exact prospecting process she uses to work her territory, prioritize the right accounts, and consistently build pipeline. She shares how she segments accounts, researches Tier 1 prospects, leverages signals and partners, writes messaging, and organizes her calendar so prospecting actually gets done. 🎯 Segment your territory by effort: Divide accounts into Signals, Tier 1s, and Volume so your time and personalization match the opportunity. 🤝 Use every path into Tier 1 accounts: Combine account research with internal connections, channel partners, previous conversations, and relevant trigger points to create warmer ways in. 📅 Turn prospecting into protected calendar blocks: Decide exactly which accounts you’ll work, link the necessary notes, time-box the activity, and treat prospecting time like a customer meeting. You’re one step closer to President’s Club!: 📓 Charly’s Sales Impact Planner: https://a.co/d/05wjAEhA 🏋 30MPC Training: https://www.30mpc.com/course/team-training 🛠 Weekly Newsletter: https://hubs.li/Q02NJQ8p0 📚 Things you can steal and use today: https://linktr.ee/30mpc_youtube
▶ ListenThe Best of the Brutal Truth about B2B Sales & Selling - The show focuses on the enterprise Sales Process
WHAT IT TAKE TO BECOME AN A-PLAYER IN B2B SALES<p>Here is a FAQ Video on the Courses: <a href= "https://youtu.be/0F7imrzjXWs">https://youtu.be/0F7imrzjXWs</a></p> <p>Here is a deep dive into which course is best for you: <a href= "https://youtu.be/JM_jgS8M-iU">https://youtu.be/JM_jgS8M-iU</a></p> <p><a href= "http://www.b2brevenue.com/">https://www.b2bRevenue.com</a> - Get Your Free E-Book on How Companies make Decisions.</p> <p>FAQ:</p> <ul> <li>1 YEAR ACCESS, PAY MONTHLY OR ANNUALLY NOT A SUBSCRIPTION</li> <li>OFFICE HOURS EVERY<span class= "Apple-converted-space"> </span> OTHER WEEK VIA ZOOM. 1 HOUR GROUP Q&A.</li> <li>UNLIMITED 1-ON-1'S<span class= "Apple-converted-space"> </span> ARE FREE AS LONG AS THEY CAN BE SHARED IN THE COURSE. 1-ON-1 ARE</li> <li>FULL ACCESS ON DAY ONE - NOTHING IS GATED OR TIME RELEASED.</li> <li>ALL CONTENT IS VIDEO BASED AND SELF PACED</li> <li>I RECOMMEND TAKE COURSE ONCE WITHOUT NOTES OR APPLYING IT SO YOU UNDERSTAND THE BIG PICTURE FIRST. THEN TAKE AND APPLY IT STEP BY STEP.</li> <li>YOU START WHEN YOU WANT AND GO AS FAST OR SLOW AS NEEDED.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p>Email me additional questions: <a href= "mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>— SAMPLE EMAIL TO EXPENSE THE COURSE</p> <p>MGR,</p> <p> </p> <p>I have been listening to the brutal truth about sales podcast for X months and it speaks to the issues we face.</p> <p> </p> <p>They currently offer a course that includes video instruction, group Q&A and One-on-One coaching. I'm committed to my own personal development and</p> <p>would like your help in expensing the course.</p> <p> </p> <p>It would pay for itself if I closed only one new deal of $X value.</p> <p> </p> <p>Please let me know by Friday if I can move forward with this 1 year course.</p> <p> </p> <p>Thanks,</p> <p>ME</p> <p>Here are some student interviews from the courses:<span class= "Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p> </p> <p>————————————————————————————————————</p> <p>Audible 30 day Free Trial:</p> <p><a href= "http://www.audibletrial.com/BrutalTruth">http://www.audibletrial.com/BrutalTruth</a></p> <p> </p>
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Topline
How To Make Your ARR 20% More Valuable To Investors | Keenan, CEO @ A Sales Growth Company<div data-line="3" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="2"> Keenan, founder and CEO of A Sales Growth Company and the bestselling author of Gap Selling, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to make the case that two companies with identical revenue can be valued 3 to 4 times apart, depending entirely on how that revenue got made. Topics include the four sales org archetypes (heroic, random, peacock, and compounding), the valuation discount investors quietly apply to revenue produced by heroics, why quota attainment fell from 60% to 23% while enablement spend went up 7x, and the difference between a sales system and sales structure. Plus, what revenue leaders can learn from how Sequoia, Blackstone, and CAA actually run their people, why Keenan is done with the phrase go-to-market, and the story behind the one-name brand.</div> <div data-line="4" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="3"> </div> <div data-line="5" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="4"> <p>Key Takeaways:</p> <p>- How you produce revenue changes what the market will pay for it: investors are buying your ability to repeat the number, not the number itself. Keenan puts a figure on it in his paper Not All Revenue Is Created Equal: "the discount could be as much as 15 to 20% discount on the valuation." Heroics hides the cost; nobody opens a CRM and sees "we closed a $2 million deal and nobody saw that that $2 million deal started at $2.6 million."<br /> - Systems are not structure. A system defines the outputs it wants and stays agnostic about how each rep gets there, which is what separates it from a script. "Making people do everything the same is structure," Keenan said. He runs it through golf: "I focus less on what your swing looks like, and I'm asking myself, are you able to hit a draw when you need to hit a draw?"<br /> - Sales teams over-invest in training the behavior (structure) and under-invest in understanding the buyer, which Keenan calls sales physics: "nobody buys anything unless their current state is untenable and intolerable." A good system helps the buyer realize that state, which will allow a deal to close.<br /> - The spending trend is going the wrong way, and Keenan closes the episode with the numbers: "In 2012, depending who you ask, 60% of reps made quota… now 23%… And the spend has gone up 7x… But win rates declined by 29%. Sales cycles extended by 37 days… What we're investing in isn't working." It persists because no CRO gets room to rebuild: "It's the boat's got a hole in it… You got to fix it. But by the way, you cannot dry dock the boat."</p> <p>And yes: AJ Bruno is buying the book for the first 20 listeners who reach out. Send AJ a direct message on LinkedIn or in the Pavilion Topline Slack and he will buy you a copy of Gap Revenue Performance.</p> </div> <div data-line="13" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="12"> </div> <div data-line="14" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="13"> Connect with the Hosts & Guests:</div> <div data-line="15" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="14"> </div> <div data-line="16" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="15"> Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/</div> <div data-line="17" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="16"> Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/</div> <div data-line="18" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="17"> Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/</div> <div data-line="19" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="18"> Guest: Keenan, CEO & Founder at A Sales Growth Company - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkeenan/</div> <div data-line="20" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="19"> </div> <div data-line="21" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="20"> Topline is more than a YouTube Channel:</div> <div data-line="22" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="21"> </div> <div data-line="23" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="22"> Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/</div> <div data-line="24" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="23"> Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast</div> <div data-line="25" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="24"> Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack</div> <div data-line="43" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="42"> </div> <div data-line="44" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="43"> Chapters:</div> <div data-line="45" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="44"> 00:00 Introducing Keenan And Gap Selling</div> <div data-line="46" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="45"> 03:08 A Dollar Of Revenue Is Not A Dollar</div> <div data-line="47" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="46"> 03:46 The Four Sales Org Archetypes</div> <div data-line="48" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="47"> 06:59 The 15 To 20% Valuation Discount</div> <div data-line="49" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="48"> 08:58 The MEDDIC Definition Problem</div> <div data-line="50" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="49"> 12:47 The Left Tackle Analogy</div> <div data-line="51" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="50"> 18:24 Can Heroics Be Predictable?</div> <div data-line="52" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="51"> 23:10 Structure Is Not A System</div> <div data-line="53" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="52"> 28:32 What VC Firms Get Right</div> <div data-line="54" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="53"> 42:09 The Physics Of Selling</div> <div data-line="55" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="54"> 50:16 Awareness First, Then Pipeline</div> <div data-line="56" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="55"> 51:55 Tired Of The Word Go-To-Market</div> <div data-line="57" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="56"> 1:00:23 AI, Product Velocity And Enablement</div> <div data-line="58" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="57"> 1:04:26 Is Sales A Power Law?</div> <div data-line="59" data-line-type="context" data-line-index="58"> 1:12:09 The Story Behind One Name</div>
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30 Minutes to President's Club | No-Nonsense Sales
#600 - Prospect Says “We’re Doing This In-House” You’ll Say…Jen Allen-Knuth and Nick Cegelski break down exactly what to do when a prospect tells you, “We’re going to build this in-house.” Instead of immediately defending your solution, you’ll learn how to build trust, uncover the beliefs behind their decision, and guide them toward seeing the risks of DIY for themselves. You’ll learn to: 🔎 Seek to understand before you sell: Uncover why they want to build, how far along they are, who’s involved, and what they’re already worried about before trying to change their mind. 🤝 Help them succeed with DIY first: Lower their defenses by advising them on resources, technology, success metrics, and even peer introductions before you ever pitch against the in-house option. ⚖️ Make build vs. buy impossible to ignore: Surface the hidden costs, maintenance, employee adoption, and cross-functional buy-in of building internally, then contrast those pitfalls directly with what your solution handles for them. -- You’re one step closer to President’s Club!: 💼 Selling to the C-Suite Course: https://hubs.li/Q04thbhX0 🏋 30MPC Training: https://www.30mpc.com/course/team-training 🛠 Weekly Newsletter: https://hubs.li/Q02NJQ8p0 📚 Things you can steal and use today: https://linktr.ee/30mpc_youtube
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The Sales Evangelist
How We 2x Sales Revenue & Reduce Sales Cycle By 50% | Pieter Leenhouts - 2032<p>Imagine doubling your close rate and cutting your sales cycle in half. That's not a hypothetical. It's exactly what <u><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pieterwleenhouts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pieter Leenhouts</a></u> and his team did at Tax Guard, a Cogency Global company that sells to banks and financial institutions. </p><p>Pieter walked me through exactly how they pulled it off, and it wasn't magic. It was math, structure, and a relentless focus on the front end of the pipeline.</p><p><strong>Why Their Sales Cycle Was So Long To Begin With</strong></p><ul><li>Tax Guard's solution was new to the financial institutions they sold to, so reps had to spend real time educating buyers before those buyers even understood why they needed it.</li><li>That education requirement, combined with deals that stalled out with the wrong contacts, created a long sales cycle and a lower close rate.</li><li>Fixing it started with the pipeline itself, not with pushing reps to work harder.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Give Every Rep the Right Size Pipeline, Not Just More Deals</strong></p><ul><li>Pieter's team found that around 120 opportunities was the right pipeline size for most of their account executives, though the number flexes based on how efficient a rep is.</li><li>Instead of leaving reps to self source every opportunity, the team loads a portion of that pipeline for them, so reps spend more time working real opportunities and less time hunting for net new business.</li><li>Their market of five to ten thousand financial institutions is well defined, which makes it possible to plan pipeline size with real precision instead of guessing.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Split the Pipeline: 70 Percent Pre-Handraiser, 30 Percent Post-Handraiser</strong></p><ul><li>Of those 120 opportunities, about 70 percent sit in the pre-handraiser stage, where reps are still working to connect with people.</li><li>The remaining 30 percent sit in the post-handraiser stage, where there's already an active, ongoing conversation with the customer.</li><li>That split keeps reps focused on outreach without starving the deals that are already moving.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Marketing and Sales Load the Pipeline Together</strong></p><ul><li>Pieter is careful to point out that loading the pipeline isn't a sales-only effort. It's a collaboration between sales leadership and marketing leadership.</li><li>Marketing helps identify and prioritize which accounts and departments actually fit where Tax Guard's solution applies.</li><li>That partnership is part of why the team can hand reps a healthier mix of fast cycle and slow cycle opportunities instead of leaving it to chance.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Why They Kept AEs on the Full Buyer Journey Instead of Handing Off to BDRs</strong></p><ul><li>Because their solution requires ongoing education, Pieter's team decided against using BDRs or SDRs to book appointments and hand off to AEs.</li><li>The same person a buyer starts talking to needs to stay with them as a trusted advisor through the entire education process.</li><li>Pieter is clear that this only makes sense because of how complex and unfamiliar their solution is. A more transactional sale can absolutely work with a BDR handoff.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>The Cadence: 17 Touches Over 70 Days</strong></p><ul><li>Each opportunity in the pipeline follows a defined cadence, roughly 17 touches over 70 days, with three to five contacts tied to each account.</li><li>That structure turns follow-up into a math exercise. Once you know the number of opportunities, steps, and contacts, you know almost exactly how many activities a rep needs to complete each day.</li><li>The cadence isn't automated. Reps still show up and do the work themselves, which keeps the process personal instead of robotic.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Personalization Is What Makes the Math Work</strong></p><ul><li>Pieter gets five to six hundred pitches a day himself, so he knows exactly what gets ignored: generic, unpersonalized outreach.</li><li>His team uses AI to gather background information quickly, but the personal touch, referencing where someone went to school or what they care about, still has to come from the rep.</li><li>That combination of structure and personalization is what actually breaks through the noise instead of just adding to it.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>How They Catch Reps Who Are Gaming Activity Numbers</strong></p><ul><li>To catch reps who rack up huge activity numbers without real substance, like hanging up before voicemail or blasting the same email to everyone, Pieter's team looks past raw activity totals.</li><li>They review call recordings and email engagement to see whether real conversations are actually happening, not just whether the activity got logged.</li><li>The goal isn't to catch people doing something wrong. It's to find the reps who are getting real engagement and figure out what they're doing differently so the whole team can replicate it.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Weekly and Monthly Rhythms Keep the Team Accountable</strong></p><ul><li>Every rep gets a weekly one on one that covers both big strategic issues, like what's happening in the market or with competitors, and specific opportunities that need a plan to close.</li><li>Once a month, Pieter's team reviews the front end metrics as a group: how many people are in cadence, how many emails are opening, how many real conversations are happening.</li><li>They also track Net Promoter Score to measure how the sales experience actually felt to the buyer, not just whether a deal closed.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>Their Tech Stack: Salesforce, Gong, Gong Flows, and Delighted</strong></p><ul><li>Salesforce is their core CRM, and Pieter says most of what makes it powerful is what gets plugged into it.</li><li>Gong records and analyzes sales conversations, which lets the team track things like how often pricing objections come up and coach reps faster than they could otherwise.</li><li>Gong Flows adds structured outreach sequences with AI built in, and Delighted measures NPS so the team can see how the buying experience felt from the customer's side.</li></ul><br/><p><strong>The Numbers Pieter's Team Watches Every Week</strong></p><ul><li>Close rate and pipeline velocity are the two headline numbers Pieter checks first, since they show whether the whole system is working.</li><li>Underneath those, his team tracks how long deals sit in each of their seven pipeline stages, with alerts when something sits too long.</li><li>They also watch the quality of the opportunities reps are given and how well each rep prospects into the right people, since strong activity numbers mean nothing if they aren't pointed at the right accounts.</li></ul><br/><p>"Activities create opportunities, opportunities create sales. The only thing we control is our activity level." — Pieter Leenhouts</p><p><strong>Resources</strong></p><ul><li><u><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pieterwleenhouts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Connect with Pieter Leenhouts on LinkedIn.</a></u></li><li><u><a href="https://tax-guard.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn more about Tax Guard, a Cogency Global company.</a></u></li><li><u><a href="https://prospectpro.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.</a></u></li><li><u><a href="https://thesalesevangelist.com/sales-mastermind/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.</a></u></li><li><u><a href="https://bluemangostudios.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.</a></u></li><li><u><a href="https://thesalesevangelist.com/linkedin-prospecting-course/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.</a></u></li></ul><br/><p><strong>Sponsorship Offers</strong></p><ol><li><strong>This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.</strong></li></ol><br/><p>With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at <u><a href="https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hubspot.com/sales</a></u>.</p><ol><li><strong>This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.</strong></li></ol><br/><p>Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at <u><a href="https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/cx/20/09/sales-navigator-podcast?src=re-pod&trk=tse&veh=tse&mcid=6897323946090332160" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">linkedin.com/tse</a></u>.</p><ol><li><strong>This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.</strong></li></ol><br/><p>Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the <u><a href="https://tsesales.typeform.com/to/UCMfjZbX" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">salesevangelist.com/linkedin</a></u>.</p><p><strong>Credits</strong></p><p>As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: <a href="http://thesalesevangelist.com/survey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">thesalesevangelist.com/survey</a><a href="https://tsesales.typeform.com/to/lc5yAa8P" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">.</a> We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sales-evangelist/id788738885" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcast</a>, <a...
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Revenue Builders
AI Selling Rewards Curiosity | Workflow Discovery with Seong ParkSeong Park, SVP of Customer Support & Services at Cursor, explains why the old model of selling certainty is giving way to curiosity, experimentation, and workflow discovery.
▶ ListenSales Gravy: Jeb Blount
Jeb Blount on Why You're Losing Deals to Customer Service Fires (Ask Jeb)<p>If you're not prospecting because you're too busy putting out customer fires, you have a priorities problem.</p><p>In this episode of Ask Jeb on the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount answers a question from Steven in Texas, who lost deals in his pipeline because he was spending too much time servicing existing customers instead of prospecting and closing.</p><p>Jeb's core message: you can never let go of owning the customer relationship, but you have to let go of owning every customer problem. When you become the help desk instead of the salesperson, you stop scaling yourself and your pipeline dries up. Jeb breaks down how to shift from being the chief problem solver to being the quarterback, coaching your support team to fix issues while you hold them accountable through consistent follow up, all without damaging the relationships that keep your business and referrals coming.</p><p>What You'll Learn:</p><ul><li>Why the tension between customer service and prospecting is a choice of priorities, not an unavoidable cost of doing business</li><li>How trying to personally fix every customer issue quietly empties your pipeline</li><li>The difference between owning the customer relationship and owning the customer's problem</li><li>How shifting from "chief problem solver" to "quarterback" lets you scale as a salesperson</li><li>How to coach your support team to find solutions instead of solving everything yourself</li><li>Why a disciplined follow up system is what actually protects your customers and your deals</li><li>How to hold your support team accountable while still investing in the relationship with them</li></ul><p>-</p><p><a href="http://salesgravy.com/ask" rel="nofollow">Submit</a> your question: <a href="http://salesgravy.com/ask" rel="nofollow">salesgravy.com/ask</a></p><p><a href="https://a.co/d/00b8wZYQ" rel="nofollow">Purchase</a> Jeb Blount's new book: <a href="https://a.co/d/00b8wZYQ" rel="nofollow">90 Days to Level Up Your Sales Skills</a></p><p>Grab your tickets for <a href="https://outboundconference.com/" rel="nofollow">OutBound Conference</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jebblounthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jebblount" rel="nofollow">Follow</a> Jeb Blount on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jebblount" rel="nofollow">LinkedIn</a></p><br/><br/>Our Sponsors:<br/>* Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com and use promo code BEEF at checkout for $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply.<br/><br/><br/>Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a><br/><br/>Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>
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Outbound Squad
Meet Amanda Long, our newest Pipeline ConsultantIn this episode, Jason and Amanda Long from Outbound Squad, talk about the daily practice ritual that took her to the top of the leaderboard, how she made it impossible for her manager not to promote her, and how to nail your first front-line leadership role. Check out more free content and get help with outbound at https://outboundsquad.com.
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