We use the pendulum as a metaphor for extremes. We see it in social trends and politics all the time. It’s important to note that there is at least a thread of truth in the extremes, that’s why they get taken so far. When they get carried away, that’s when the momentum naturally causes a regression to the mean, which is usually a lot closer to the truth.

I've been seeing more chatter about companies forcing their employees to return to the office (RTO). Most notable is Twitter, as Elon Musk is apparently trying to hot-box his engineers into fixing the platform.

It's too early to tell if the strategy will be successful, but forcing people to work 80+ hour weeks will end spectacularly one way or another.

"You'll never sell better than when you Sell Like You” That rolls off the tongue really nicely, and people's eyes light up when I say that. They all seem to get it conceptually, but we have to peel back the layers of the onion here. What is the value of selling like you? What is the outcome, what happens to you? What happens to your results when you Sell Like You?

There have been several moments in my career (and I assume in yours as well) where I have wondered whether or not I should do something.

I've been in discovery calls where I wondered if I should ask a certain question. I've raised my voice in operating rooms and stopped surgeons from proceeding because I saw something I didn't like. I've driven across town to see someone without an appointment because I just had a feeling they might be willing to see me.

I've never been let down by that intuition.

I love every new season of this podcast more than the one before, and the ones before have been pretty darn good. For Season 4, I’m thrilled to be talking about how to Sell Like You.

This concept came about in 2021 when I was speaking at the OutBound conference. It hit me like a ton of bricks during a conversation I was having with two rockstar sellers in front of my exhibit booth. Right away, I registered the domain and I knew I was onto something.

I’ve been obsessed with Steven Pressfield lately.

I was first introduced to The War of Art about ten years ago when Seth Godin referred to it in The Icarus Deception. It was impactful, and I knew the concept of Resistance (with a Capital R) was a big one, but that was barely the tip of the iceberg.

Here's a simple way to leverage gratitude at the end of the year to create new opportunities for your business at the beginning of next year. 

Naturally, as the year comes to a close, you're going to be thinking about gratitude. You're going to want to spend some time and show your appreciation to your best customers and clients. You're gonna want to think about where you've come over the past year, and you're definitely going to want to think about where you're going in the future. 

...and nobody does when you're not.

I had the same conversation two separate times with two separate sales reps on back-to-back days. When that happens to me, I know I need to address it for the rest of you because there are some people out there who are going through this and really just don't know where to turn.

Here's the situation.

Over the seven-plus years that I’ve had my consulting business, I’ve become much more interested in what holds salespeople back than what moves them forward. The problems themselves are more interesting than the fixes, and the fun is in the application. 

Your prospects need you now more than ever.

I could probably end this piece right now, but that would be anticlimactic, wouldn't it?

That’s a wrap on Season 3!

I’ve put together a quarter’s worth of prospecting episodes all in one place, which coincidentally is how long you should stay engaged with a prospect before you move on to another one.

This season discussed the frameworks I use with my clients to help them become more effective opportunity creators, and I hope it’s been helpful for you.

I don’t watch much baseball anymore. There was a time when it was ubiquitous on the tv every evening, but times change as kids grow up and they’re more interested in their own shows on the screen. I still manage to tune into the playoffs in October. Meaningful games are just too hard to turn down.

“Alright, Jeff, 25 episodes of prospecting theory. Would you please just tell me what to say?”

Content is not just for marketers anymore. On today’s episode, I’m going to show you how I’ve used content in the past as well as how I’m using it today. I think it’s going to reaffirm your belief and give you a couple of different spins on what you’re already doing.

"It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll."

Nothing worth achieving comes without hard work, and a career in sales is no different from AC/DC's 1975 classic about a band paying their dues in order to make it to the big time. It's not a 9-5 job. You don't get paid for your time, you get paid for your results, and a lot of times, that means working more hours. It's easy to imagine that the best-performing salespeople just outwork their peers.

I'm here to tell you that's not true. In a lot of cases, they actually work less.

I’ve laid out a pretty solid strategy for you thus far. You might be thinking, “Great, Jeff, but how do I act on this? How do I ask so many questions, so often, through so many channels, of so many people?”

Well, I’m glad you asked…

Most salespeople give up before they give themselves a chance at gaining any momentum. Prospecting isn’t a one-time event. You have to give up on the idea that success looks like saying the right thing to the right person at the right time. Think of it like a campaign. It’s a process you commit to. You build on each call, and you win the meeting as the result of your cumulative efforts.

Today I'm publishing an article for the 364th consecutive Sunday. That's seven years.

My wife reminded me last night that this kind of consistency is not something most humans even endeavor, let alone pull off. In a world where daily creation and posting are the norms, it's easy to lose sight of the significance of a feat like this. So I'll take her advice and (gently) pat myself on the back for a second before I get ready to write something else for next week.

The inimitable Mark Hunter is my guest today on the show to discuss why sales reps spend so much time talking about themselves and their products instead of their prospects and their problems.

Nobody cares as much about your product as you do. As fascinating as you think it is, your prospects just don’t care. They don’t have the context (yet) for why they should be so enamored with it. You’re going to need their attention in order to create that context, and you’re certainly not going to get it by talking about yourself.