Practical posts on discovery, prospecting, deal management, and sales leadership. Based on real data, not theory.
Most demo training polishes the delivery. Deciding what to show, in what order, based on what you heard, is almost never trained. The diagnostic and the scene-based playbook.
Most discovery calls stop at pain. Here's why that produces commodity information, and the two dimensions, novelty and altitude, that turn a good call into a qualified deal.
Most SaaS sales training delivers correct theory into a broken system. What 1,400+ reviewed calls reveal about why it fails, and the diagnostic approach that produces behaviour change.
A net positive for B2B SaaS, with two caveats: too much standardized theory over real coaching, and SPICED isn't the one framework to rule them all. The full review, with real pricing.
A weak demo-to-close rate is almost never a demo problem, it's a discovery problem. What 1,400+ reviewed calls show, and how to fix it, with the data.
Signal-based outbound works because relevance wins. But signals are commoditized and volume-trained GTM engineers spray them. The fix: a go-to-market alpha, conservative channels, human outreach.
3x coverage is a myth, but the deeper problem is that the data feeding the ratio is fiction. Why deal inspection beats coverage math, with real benchmark numbers.
Sales manager coaching fails on cadence, not content. The weekly 1:1 structure, the 4 Cs of trust, and measuring managers by inputs (OCKI).
1 in 50 managers scores call quality; the rest just count calls. Here's the rubric to score, why 1–5 beats tick-boxes, and how to keep AI notetakers honest.
Discounting is a discovery failure, not a pricing problem. Here's how to fix it upstream — and how to trade with four levers when you get to the commercial conversation.
These aren't sales methodologies — they're information frameworks. Here's which one fits your deal size, and the step almost nobody takes after implementing one.
Most cold call openings fail before the rep finishes their first sentence. Here's what the data shows — and how the IPADS framework fixes it.
US frameworks were built for a market ten times the size of any European country. Here's what breaks — and what higher-touch outbound looks like in practice.
Most training fails not because the theory is wrong but because of structural failures before, during and after the event. Here's the complete system.
Most sales training fails within weeks. The 4-phase framework that creates lasting behaviour change — from baseline diagnosis to manager upskilling.