October 11, 2025 | Read online
I saw this post on Instagram from @globalmindapparel this week with the quote:
“Time is the only currency we spend without knowing the balance.”
I’m not going to say it “hit me” since that’s a tell-tale sign of ChatGPT but it did remind me of the importance of time related to Sales.
In this week’s newsletter, I’m going to share some tips on how to leverage time in sales, the GPT I use to prep for meetings (saving time), and a conversation I had with a colleague that got me to realize why things feel so uncomfortable right now, especially in the world of AI.
TACTICAL TIPS: Time to Value (TTV)
SALES TOOLS/RESOURCES: Meeting Prep GPT
SALES FROM THE STREETS: Why everything feels uncomfortable right now
(and what time has to do with it)
TACTICAL TIPS:
Time to Value (TTV)
Time to Value is usually associated with the time it takes from when a customer signs up or buys until they get their first meaningful outcome or value from your product or service.
It’s also very applicable throughout the sales process, especially dealing with executives.
Have you ever had a 30-60 minute meeting scheduled with an executive and they come in and say something like - “Sorry, I only have about 10 minutes. What do you got for me?”
In my younger years I would just blast through my presentation on 5x speed to get through everything and would be super proud of myself for being able to do it in 10 minutes but then wonder why I never got to the next step.
TIP: If this ever happens to you say this - “well, there’s no way we’re going to be able to get through everything we need to get through in 10 minutes so what’s the one thing you need to hear from me in the next 10 minutes to earn the right for a more detailed discussion and your undivided attention?”
Another scenario is when you’re “qualifying” an executive asking multiple questions and after the 4th or 5th question they get impatient and say - “could you just show me the demo?”
What they’re basically saying is - you got enough value from this conversation already, it’s my turn.
TIP: Hopefully you’ve already qualified the account before meeting with the executive but if not, quantify the number of questions you have for the executive. For instance - “I have 5 questions for you and after that I can share how I think our solution could help.”
Lastly, have you ever gone on a ride-along or had your manager on a client call with you and didn’t put together a prep doc or an agenda? How long does it take for the manager to take over the meeting after it starts? Or, if you’re not using agenda’s for your meetings with clients, how often does an executive take the conversation in a totally different direction? If you’re not using an agenda for your calls, they're in control, you’re not.
TIP: I wrote a blog post a while ago called “Executives are like children, they need structure.” Read that article and apply the “shared agenda” moving forward.
SALES TOOLS/RESOURCES:
Meeting Prep GPT
Speaking of wasting time, most of us waste a ton of time in meetings asking stupid questions that can easily be answered beforehand. With the amount of information out there and the abilities of AI, I think the three most insulting questions/statements you can say to a client right now are:
- Tell me about your business
- What are your priorities?
- What keeps you up at night?
These are all questions we should be able to answer ourselves beforehand or at least know enough to create a hypothesis of their situation that we can use as an anchor for the conversation.
I’ve created my own custom Meeting Prep GPT that I usually only give away as part of my training but I figured I would share it with you, my newsletter community.
It helps me prepare for meetings by learning about the Industry, Company, Persona and Person and then helps create a hypothesis and impact questions.
It effectively answers the stupid questions above so we can skip all that and get to what matters (time to value).
Let me know what you think of it and obviously, if you want the training behind it, feel free to sign up for my OnDemand training or my 1:1 Coaching. Use coupon code “JBNEWSLETTER” for 20% off.
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SALES FROM THE STREETS:
Why everything feels uncomfortable right now
(and what time has to do with it)
We’ve been talking about time this week - how to use it wisely, save it, and stop wasting it in Sales.
But I’ve been thinking about it more broadly too.
I had a conversation with a friend recently where we both admitted how off everything feels right now. Especially with AI moving at the speed it is.
That same week, my mom, who’s 82, told me she was worried about my 21-year-old nephew. She was worried about his lack of direction and that he might not get a good job when he graduates.
First, I needed to remind her that I had absolutely zero direction or idea of what I wanted to do when I was 21. But more importantly, I had to remind her that he’s growing up in a totally different timeline than we did and we need to let go of what we think is the “right direction.”.
For my mom’s generation, and even a chunk of mine, life came with a roadmap: Go to school, get a job, get promoted, buy a house, retire. But that path doesn’t exist anymore. AI didn’t just move the goalposts, it moved the game.
What’s happening now is we’re watching time collapse in real time. What used to evolve over decades now shifts in days. We’re watching systems, jobs, even entire identities become obsolete, while we’re still living them.
And that creates a kind of discomfort most of us have never felt before. We’re nostalgic for a slower pace not because we hate progress, but because this kind of acceleration is new. It’s not that we’re afraid of change. We’re just not used to seeing it happen right in front of us.
Another friend was talking about how AI music is getting so good and worried about how his kids might not ever get to experience or appreciate “real” music.
But here’s the thing - our kids won’t miss our version of authenticity. They’re not going to want to go back. They’re going to define their own version of what’s real. Of what matters. Of what’s worth their time.
So yeah, hold onto the things that ground you. Vinyl. Books. Whiteboards. That’s your tether. But don’t put those expectations on the next generation. They’re not going to live on your timeline. And they shouldn’t have to.
The value of time has changed and the pace of value has changed.
We need to stop trying to apply an old clock to a new world. We need a new clock all together.
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