June 7, 2025 | Read online
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This week I took a trip to NYC to attend the GTM Fund Retreat and see some friends/colleagues I haven’t seen in a while.
During the presentation, Paul Irving, Partner and COO of GTM Fund, was talking about the state of venture funding and showed this chart.
I was sitting next to my good friend Melanie Fellay and made the offhand comment “wow, that looks like a chart of my career…”
She burst out laughing because we’ve both been through a lot in the past few years and she knew exactly what I was talking about.
That got me thinking about the power of grit and consistency which is what I wanted to focus on in this week’s newsletter.
TACTICAL TIPS: Showing up and following up is half the battle
TECH/RESOURCES: Grit
SALES FROM THE STREETS: Consistency for the win
TACTICAL TIPS:
Showing up and following up is half the battle
I used ChatGPTs Deep Research to see how accurate the statement “showing up is half the battle” is and it came up with some interesting statistics.
The one that stood out to me was that “Nearly half of sales professionals never follow up with a prospect after the first meeting or call.”
That is really hard for me to believe, but if I combine that with the other stats and my own experience, it seems to be at least somewhat true.
I’ve personally had to follow up with sales reps to get them to send me the proposal or the follow up info we discussed during the initial call.
It’s amazing to me how much of success is about staying consistent with the basics like showing up (ideally prepared), setting clear expectations and following up.
When it comes to follow up, solidifying a “defined next step” is one of the most important things we can “get” throughout the sales process.
There is some data I saw from Gong Laboratories a while back about how close rates decline by 71% when next steps are not discussed on the first call.
And there’s where a few tactical tips come in.
The first is relevant to a cold call when someone says “send me information.”
I usually go through a What/When/Who process first:
- I have a lot of information, including a ton on our website - is there some specific information you’re interested in? (What)
- Is it ok if I get it to you by the end of the day? (When)
- Who else will you be sharing this with internally (Who)
For someone who is genuinely interested in your information, those are relatively easy questions to answer. For someone who is just trying to blow you off, those are hard questions to answer.
After I go through that process I need to make sure to nail down the next steps which goes something like this:
ME: Sounds good. I’ll send this over by the end of the day. WHEN do you want to schedule a follow up call to see if it makes sense to take the next steps?
THEM: Next week
ME: When next week? Actually, do you have your calendar in front of you? Why don’t we pick a time so we don’t have to play chase. (Letting you know, we’re going to play chase, and I’m better at it than you are).
It doesn’t guarantee they will show up to the call but there is a much higher likelihood they will if it’s on the calendar instead of you just “touching base” and “checking in” next week.
The other tip to help address follow-up and next steps is related to scheduled meetings.
If you're constantly having trouble getting a next step locked in at the end of meetings then you should try out the Sandler Sales Training technique of the Upfront Contract.
It’s a little old school but still works when done right.
It’s basically a “trial close” or an if/than statement.
Here’s the way I use it to start a meeting:
“Thanks for your time today. Do you have a hard stop at 2:00? Great. In order to get the most out of our time today I put together a brief agenda (usually 3-4 bullet points). What else do you want to add to the agenda and what are your goals for the call today?”
Hopefully they then add in what they want to talk about.
Then, I say something like:
“Thanks for that. Say we get through all this and address your main priorities, TYPICALLY (an important work to use) the next steps are we (insert what you want the next steps to be like - we bring in your executive team). Does that work for you?”
What you’re doing with this Upfront Contract is setting the stage for the close at the end so it’s less awkward and more assumptive.
Regardless of what approach you use to lock in next steps, make sure you do on every call and then follow up with the information you said you would.
TECH/SALES RESOURCES:
Grit
Grit is the one characteristic I keep hearing over and over from successful people and hiring managers.
It’s something you can’t teach and is sorely lacking in today’s business world.
I’ve also talked about this on my podcast quite a bit to try and understand ways of developing it.
Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that you can’t develop grit without going through some shit.
I’ve been through some shit in my career and have had to rebuild myself and my business multiple times.
As most of you know, in early 2023, I went from doing about $6M in revenue with 20 employees to almost $0 in about 2 months when the SaaS/Tech industry came to a screeching halt.
Remember the Silicon Valley Bank collapse? Well, pretty much ALL my clients had money with SVB and since I’m a professional services based company with no true MRR, when the bank collapsed and the companies freaked out about their money they stopped signing contracts with us.
It was the hardest thing I had ever been through in business.
The “good” news was that I had been through similar shit in the past to help me prepare for it.
I graduated in 1998 and started my first company in 2000 when the .COM boom/bust happened. I then went off on my own with my training company in 2007 when the housing market crashed. Then of course there was Covid.
Even though what happened in 2023 was worse than all those combined, I had this internal confidence that I was going to be able to figure it out and get through it even though I had no idea how.
Grit is something you develop through hard times but you can also learn the characteristics of what it is an isn't so you know what to look for.
That’s why the sales resource I’m recommending this week is Angela Duckworth’s book called GRIT: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Start reading or listening to it today to get a better understanding of what grit is and isn’t and how the most successful people develop it.
SALES FROM THE STREETS:
Consistency for the win
Q1 is usually my biggest revenue quarter since I’m on the exact opposite schedule as most sales orgs are.
Usually most sales orgs are busy at the end of the month/quarter/year because they’re closing deals which means they don’t have time or want to do training.
That’s why I’m usually busiest at the beginning of the month/quarter/year.
Q1 started strong and the beginning of Q2 was good too but over the past month or so I’ve noticed a drop in the number of inbound leads and sales calls on my calendar which always make me nervous.
This is why, even in good times, I try to stay consistent with my prospecting almost every day.
I also schedule follow-up activities for any old opportunities and share content to try and stay top of mind and add value to anyone I’ve spoken with in the past.
Inevitably, when I start to get a little nervous that my pipeline is not where it needs to be, an inbound lead comes out of nowhere and it’s usually from someone I’ve spoken with in the past and stayed connected with.
And that’s exactly what happened this week. I got an email out of nowhere from an executive who I had done training for at a previous company more than 8 years ago.
I had stayed in touch over the years, shared content, resources and made sure he was on my newsletter so I was in his inbox every week.
When he made the move to a new company and needed to skill up his sales team, I was one of the first people he reached out to.
He told me he had been following me all these years since the last training and loved how I had evolved and the content and value I was constantly providing.
Needless to say, it was a one-call close for a nice chunk of change that helped get my pipeline and forecast back to where it needed to be.
There was nothing special about what I did. That doesn’t take skill or brand or even talent. It was just about showing up, being consistent and adding value which ANYONE can do.
#MakeItHappen
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
- The JB Sales Membership is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day! 3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?
- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.
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