Sales

Ever noticed how saree shops don’t start with sarees? You walk in. The salesperson barely asks what you are looking for. Yet a chair appears out of nowhere…and before you even settle in, someone places a hot cup of tea in your hand. I used to think this was “good hospitality.” It’s actually brilliant business. Because the moment you sit down, sip tea, and relax… you stop being a hurried customer. You become a guest. And guests don’t browse. Guests stay, explore and trust - which is what the shopkeepers want. Hospitals call it “patient experience.” Startups call it “user onboarding.” Luxury brands call it “client delight.” But Indian saree shops figured this out decades ago. Lower resistance before selling. Let comfort do the conversion. It’s the same principle every business can use: Before asking for attention, create ease. Before asking for money, build comfort. Before selling, make people feel welcome. A cup of tea isn’t a beverage. It’s a strategy.

Last week, I heard from a super impressive customer who has cracked the code on how to give salespeople something they’ve always wanted: more selling time. Here’s how he transformed their process. This customer runs the full B2B sales motion at an awesome printing business based in the U.S. For years, his team divided their time across six key areas: 1. Task prioritization 2. Meeting prep 3. Customer responses 4. Prospecting 5. Closing deals 6. Sales strategy Like every sales leader I know, he wants his team to spend most of their time on #5 and #6 — closing deals and sales strategy. But together, those only made up about 30% of their week. (Hearing this gave me flashbacks to my time in sales…and all that admin tasks 😱) Now, his team uses AI across the sales process to compress the amount of time spent on #1-4: 1. Task prioritization → AI scores leads and organizes daily tasks 2. Meeting prep → AI surfaces insights from calls and contact records before meetings 3. Customer responses → Breeze Customer Agent instantly answers customer questions 4. Prospecting → Breeze Prospecting Agent automatically researches accounts and books meetings The result? Higher quantity of AI-powered work: More prospecting. More pipeline.  Higher quality of human-led work: More thoughtful conversations. Sharper strategy. This COO's story made my week. It's a reminder of just how big a shift we're going through – and why it’s such an exciting time to be in go-to-market right now.

Here's how to simplify your pitch and 10x your sales: 1. Talk less, sell more. Short sentences = more sales. Hemingway once bet he could write a story in 6 words that'd make you feel something: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Your pitch should pack the same punch. 2. Complexity is for people who want to feel smart, not be effective. The worst salespeople make simple things sound complicated. The best make the complex simple. 3. Complexity says, "I want to feel needed." Simplicity limits to only what is needed. 4. Read your pitch out loud. I remember when I'd asked my COO to read the manuscript of my book. He chose to do it aloud. All 258 pages. Ears catch what eyes miss. The final version reads like butter. 5. "Be good, be seen, be gone." This was the best sales advice I ever got. - Good: Deliver value - Seen: Make an impression - Gone: Don't overstay your welcome People buy from those they remember, not those who linger. 7. Speak like your customer, not a textbook. We like to sound sophisticated. "We create impactful bottom-line solutions." But we like to listen to simple. "We help small businesses explode their sales." Which one would you buy? 8. Every word earns its place. Your pitch should be lean and mean. - Be specific - Avoid cliches - Check for redundancy - If it doesn't add value, cut it out 9. Abstract concepts bore. Concrete examples excite. ❌ "We'll increase your efficiency." ✅ "We'll save you 10 hours a week." Paint a picture. 10. People buy on emotion & justify with logic So tap into their feelings: - Fear of missing out - Desire for success - Need for security Then back it up with facts. 11. The "Grandma Test" never fails. If your grandma wouldn't get your pitch, simplify it. No jargon. No buzzwords. Just plain English. 12. Benefits > features. Dreams > benefits. ❌ "Our group hosts 10+ events per year." ✅ "Our program helps you close deals." 🚀 "Let's take back Main Street through ownership." 13. Use power words: - You - Free - Because - Instantly - New These words grab attention and drive action. Two final things to keep in mind... Simplicity isn't just for sales. Apply these principles to: - your business operations - your thinking processes - your next investment - your relationships - your to do list Sales isn't just for car dealerships. You pitch when you: - Negotiate a raise - Interview for a job - Post on social media - Hire someone for a job - Talk to an owner about buying their biz If you found this useful, feel free to share for others ♻️

My client fired their entire SDR team on Tuesday By Friday, their pipeline had grown by 60% This sounds impossible It's not After auditing 50 B2B sales organizations over 10 years, I've uncovered the most expensive myth in modern selling: → The belief that MORE activity at the TOP of your funnel will fix conversion problems at the BOTTOM Let me share what actually happened: This mid-market software company was spending $350,000 annually on their 4-person SDR team - 100+ cold calls per rep daily - 17 meetings booked weekly - "Incredible metrics" according to leadership - But their close rate? A devastating 1.2% The VP of Sales was convinced they needed MORE outreach, MORE automation, MORE top-of-funnel I suggested something different: pause all prospecting for 7 days Instead, we had their account executives do something radical - engage with the 215 prospects already in their pipeline who'd gone cold after initial meetings Using a framework we developed: - 65 prospects responded within 24 hours - 41 booked follow-up meetings - 23 re-entered active buying cycles - 6 closed within 14 days (total value: $212K) The shocking revelation? - Their pipeline wasn't empty - It was overflowing with neglected opportunity. This company didn't have a lead generation problem. They had a lead nurturing catastrophe. By reallocating resources from mindless prospecting to strategic engagement, they've now: - Reduced CAC by 60% - Shortened sales cycles by 30% - 2x their close rate The counterintuitive truth: Sometimes the fastest path to growth is to stop chasing new opportunities and start converting the ones you've already earned. What percentage of your marketing and sales budget is focused on prospects who've already shown interest vs those who haven't? That ratio reveals everything about your future growth trajectory P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message

A market map with 10,000 companies is impossible to prioritize. These are the 300 to know. I was a VP of Product in sales tech. And I was frustrated with the maps I found. So I've been studying the space and speaking with experts. Here's the players you need to know: — ONE - Core: Revenue Operating System This is your CRM, your system of record - where your sales operation begins. I break this into 3 segments: Enterprise Platforms → Built for large organizations with complex workflows and high-volume deals → Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP Growth-Stage Solutions → Designed for growing businesses that need scalable tools but with flexibility to adapt → HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, SugarCRM Modern CRMs → Startups and fast-scaling companies looking to move fast without rigid systems rely on modern CRMs. → Attio, Affinity, Close.io, Copper, Freshsales. — LAYER TWO - Engagement & Intelligence These tools power outbound outreach, automate sequences, and provide real-time data on prospects: → Outreach, Salesloft, VanillaSoft, Groove Engagement tools ensure your team hits the right prospect at the right time. — LAYER THREE - Revenue Acceleration These platforms shorten deal cycles: → Gong, Salesloft, Chorus.ai, Ebsta With real-time feedback and actionable insights... — LAYER FOUR - Data & Enrichment Your outreach is only as good as the data backing it. These platforms ensure you’re reaching out to right prospects. → ZoomInfo, Apollo.io, Clearbit, Lusha, Hunter io, Cognism — SATELLITE CLUSTERS - Modern GTM Stack These tools enhance parts of the GTM journey. AI-Enhanced Tools → Automate and personalize content creation at scale. → Writer, Grammarly, CopyAI, Jasper Product-Led Motion → Identify sales-ready leads through product engagement. → Pocus, Intercom, Breyta Sales Enablement → Equip sales teams with training, resources, and playbooks to perform at their best. → Seismic, Spekit, Allego Conversational GTM → Convert prospects directly through real-time chat. → Drift (now part of Salesloft) — SATELLITE CLUSTERS- Emerging Categories These are adjacent categories sales teams often still use. Product Analytics → Track user behaviors post-sale for better upsell and retention opportunities. → Amplitude, Mixpanel Customer Success → Ensure long-term customer retention and success beyond the initial sale. → Gainsight, Catalyst, Totango Workspace Integration → Enable seamless collaboration across sales and operations. → Notion, Slack, Airtable, monday.com Revenue Orchestration → Connect workflows across different systems to streamline revenue operations. → NektarAI, Tray.io, Workato, Boomi — This took a lot of time. Reshare ♻️ if you loved this post. What tools would you add?

In today's digital age, leveraging celebrity brand ambassadors has become a popular strategy for businesses, including startups. As someone who's been a brand ambassador for various companies over the years and dabbled in startups myself, I've seen firsthand the ups & downs of this approach. People often ask if it's always beneficial to have a celebrity endorse your products or services. I’ll break it down to the most important things to consider. Visibility - Celebrities bring a massive following, offering increased visibility & reach to a wider audience that may have been difficult to engage otherwise. This exposure could enhance brand recognition & create positive associations in consumers' minds. Credibility -  The right kind of celebrity could inject a dose of credibility into your brand. Consumers may in turn perceive your product as reliable, particularly important for startups aiming to build a solid reputation & carve out a slice of the market. Engagement - Some celebrities are able to forge personal connections with their community. By aligning your startup with a celebrity, you may be tapping into that emotional connection & that community may be more likely to show interest in your brand. Costs - Engaging a celebrity ambassador comes at a price. Even if you opt for an equity-based deal, you still need to allocate valuable resources to amplify the association, potentially diverting funds from other key areas of requirement. Authenticity - The alignment between the celebrity & your product must seem genuine. If the partnership feels like a misfit or forced, the results can be counter productive. Today's consumers are evolved & can sense inauthenticity from a distance. Sustenance - While celebrities can generate a buzz in the short term, building interest & loyalty requires consistent effort & a solid value offering that goes beyond the celebrity association. Your product still needs to deliver exceptional value beyond the initial buzz.. Relevance - Ensure the celebrity aligns with the startup's target audience, values & offerings. The endorsement should make sense within the startup's brand identity & goals. Budget - Assess whether the startup can afford the associated costs, especially including the ongoing marketing efforts. Do not assume that bringing a celebrity on board itself is going to win you the war. It’s just a head start. Long-Term Strategy - A well-crafted partnership should naturally integrate into your overall marketing & branding strategy & solidify your position & bring sustained growth. Timing - Most importantly, remember, spending so much in early stages, or early dilution in equity can have long-term consequences, so ask yourself if you’re really ready at this stage. Ultimately, the decision to engage a celebrity brand ambassador should be based on your unique circumstances & goals. Hopefully this will help some make an informed decision. #BrandAmbassadors #CelebrityEndorsements #InfluencerMarketing

The best negotiator I know is completely silent 70% of the time. Last year she closed $400M in deals saying almost nothing. In high-stakes negotiations, the person who truly understands human psychology wins. Not the loudest voice. Not the biggest title. The one who reads the room. FBI negotiator Chris Voss spent decades getting terrorists to release hostages. Now he teaches business leaders the same principles. And here's what surprised me most: These aren't secret tactics. They're learnable skills. Anyone can become a skilled negotiator. You just need to understand how humans actually make decisions. These 7 techniques are a great starting point. They've worked in life-or-death situations and multi-billion-dollar deals. 1. Strategic Silence teaches patience. Most of us rush to fill quiet moments. But silence creates space for better offers. Practice counting to 10 before responding. It feels eternal. It works. 2. "How" over "Why" shifts dynamics. One word change. Completely different conversation. Try it in your next meeting. Watch defensiveness disappear. 3. Addressing Fears builds trust fast. Name what they're worried about before they do. It shows you understand their position, not just your own. 4. Mirroring is almost unconscious. Repeat their words. They elaborate without realizing it. Simple technique. Profound results. 5. Getting to "No" seems counterintuitive. But "no" creates boundaries. Boundaries create honest dialogue. Real deals happen after "no," not before. 6. Confirming Concerns creates momentum. Summarize their position accurately. They feel heard. Feeling heard leads to flexibility. 7. Listing Objections removes their power. Say their doubts out loud first. They can't weaponize what you've already acknowledged. Every CEO needs this skill. Every leader benefits from understanding it. Every professional can learn it. The question isn't whether you need these skills. It's when you'll start developing them. P.S. Want a PDF of my Negotiation Skills Cheat Sheet? Get it free: https://lnkd.in/dDxE5v3B ♻️ Repost to help a leader in your network. Follow Eric Partaker for more negotiation insights.

🗺️ AirBnB Customer Journey Blueprint, a wonderful practical example of how to visualize the entire customer experience for 2 personas, across 8 touch points, with user policies, UI screens and all interactions with the customer service — all on one single page. AirBnB Customer Journey (Google Drive): https://lnkd.in/eKsTjrp4 Spotify Customer Journey (High-res): https://lnkd.in/eX3NBWbJ Now, unlike AirBnB, your product might not need a mapping against user policies. However, it might need other lanes that would be more relevant for your team. E.g. include relevant findings and recommendations from UX research. List key actions needed for next stage. Add relevant UX metrics and unsuccessful touchpoints. That last bit is often missing. Yet customer journeys are often non-linear, with unpredictable entry points, and integrations way beyond the final stage of a customer journey map. It’s in those moments when things leave a perfect path that a product’s UX is actually stress tested. So consider mapping unsuccessful touchpoints as well — failures, error messages, conflicts, incompatibilities, warnings, connectivity issues, eventual lock-outs and frequent log-outs, authentication issues, outages and urgent support inquiries. Even further than that: each team could be able to zoom into specific touch points and attach links to quotes, photos, videos, prototypes, design system docs and Figma files. Perhaps even highlight the desired future state. Technical challenges and pain points. Those unsuccessful states. Now, that would be a remarkable reference to use in the beginning of every design sprint. Such mappings are often overlooked, but they can be very impactful. Not only is it a very tangible way to visualize UX, but it’s also easy to understand, remember and relate to daily — potentially for all teams in the entire organization. And that's something only few artefacts can do. Useful resources: Free Template: Customer Journey Mapping, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e-emkh5A Free Template: End-To-End User Experience Map (Figma), by Justin Tan https://lnkd.in/eir9jg7J Customer Journey Map Template (Figma), by Ed Biden https://lnkd.in/evaUP4kz Free Figma/Miro User Journey Maps Templates https://lnkd.in/etSB7VqB User Journey Maps vs. Service Blueprints (+ Templates) https://lnkd.in/e-JSYtwW UX Mapping Methods (+ Miro/Figma Templates) https://lnkd.in/en3Vje4t #ux #design

Sales leaders need to put an end to this MADNESS. Here's a strategic seller who was put on a PIP after hitting 166% of his $1.2M quota because he didn't hit the required "activity metrics.” There’s a better way to lead: It's simple... Stop treating knowledge professionals like factory workers. Specialized knowledge, building networks, and embracing tech innovation are more important growth levers than measuring activity inputs. This is especially true for strategic sellers. If you're leading sellers who have to engage with multiple executives at large companies and you're scrutinizing their "activity metrics,” I suggest you do an audit of your management style. Here are 3 great places to start: 1. WHO DO YOU WORK FOR? The average tenure of a VP of Sales is 17 months (down from 26 mos in 2010, per Gong). You’re in a high-pressure position, so it’s a good time to think about who you *truly* work for if this trend has any chance to reverse. Instead of thinking of your board and C-Suite as your bosses, what if you flipped the model on its head? This is known as Inversion Thinking. Instead of: “What do I need to show people at the top to keep my job?” Ask: “What can I do to help the people below me reach their full potential?” 2. WHAT IS THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS? Is the team you lead given a revenue quota or something else? Businesses need revenue to survive and grow… Not more meetings on the calendar. So why over-index on activity inputs if the important outcomes are being surpassed? This is known as Linearity Bias, the assumption that a change in one quantity produces a proportional change in another. More calls, emails, and meetings ≠ more revenue. Instead of chastising reps who are over quota but under activity, try deconstructing their unique approach and giving them a platform to share it with the rest of the team. Viewing sellers like this as “lucky” will limit your growth and tenure. 3. HOW MUCH TRUST DO YOU HAVE? “We had 2 reps put in their notice this week, and I know 2 more who are about to resign.” This was verbatim from a Strategic Account AE I spoke with last week at a Series D startup. Why? Because their senior sales team must participate in 2 cold call blitzes each week in addition to 80 outbound outreaches. “We feel like glorified SDRs. 1,000 calls have produced 10 meetings, a 1% return.” They’re fed up and burned out…so they’re leaving. If a tenured seller leaves tomorrow, what’s the cost of finding, vetting, onboarding, and training a new seller? What's the cost of lost momentum with existing pipeline? If you’re leading with activity and not strategy, I guarantee you don’t have trust in your sales team. As we enter 2024, I encourage you to think differently. The era of 17 months tenure, <40% quota attainment, and 63% of sellers experiencing burnout doesn’t have to continue. You can be the change. 🐝 P.S. Strategic sellers seeking a better way, subscribe: https://buff.ly/3noPjbn

Stuck at the bottom of the value pyramid? Here’s how to level up. The Value Pyramid Breakdown: → Level 1: Operational Efficiency (“Are projects on time and on budget?”) → Level 2: Strategic Alignment (“Are we doing the right projects?”) → Level 3: Business Value Creation (“Are we driving measurable business outcomes?”) Follow these steps to level up: 🔼 1. Shift from Task Completion to Business Outcomes ➡️ E.g. Instead of tracking milestones, report how a project reduced customer onboarding time by 30%. 📊 2. Align Projects with Strategic Goals ➡️ E.g. Prioritize a digital transformation project that aligns with the company’s 5-year growth plan. 💡 3. Measure Value, Not Just Effort ➡️ E.g. Showcase how a new CRM implementation increased sales conversions by 20%, not just its launch date. 👏 4. Strengthen Stakeholder Engagement ➡️ E.g. Create a stakeholder map to ensure decision-makers are engaged in critical project phases, reducing scope creep. 🚀 5. Prioritize High-Impact Projects ➡️ E.g. Deprioritize a low-revenue initiative to fast-track a project with a projected 50% ROI. 📅 6. Move from Static Plans to Adaptive Roadmaps ➡️ E.g. Use rolling-wave planning to adjust project scopes based on real-time market feedback. 📈 7. Introduce Value-Based KPIs ➡️ E.g. Replace "projects completed" with "revenue increase per project" as a key success metric. ⚖️ 8. Balance Governance with Agility ➡️ E.g. Simplify approval processes for low-risk projects while maintaining rigorous oversight for complex ones. 🔎 9. Implement Continuous Improvement Cycles ➡️ E.g. Use post-project reviews to identify process gaps, leading to a 15% faster delivery time in the next project. 💡 10. Build Cross-Functional Collaboration ➡️ E.g. Establish joint PMO and Sales task forces to ensure customer needs drive project priorities. What would you add to the list? 💥 Want to climb the pyramid? Join my Value-Driven PMO Playbook masterclass — equip your PMO with frameworks to drive real business value. Registration 🔗 (in the comments below 👇) -- 👍 + ♻️ Like + Repost to help others succeed with PMOs. 🔔 Follow me (Hussain Bandukwala) for more content like this.