Chasing Impact, Not Sales

I have to be honest. Dean Curtis sent me an introductory email and I almost did not know what to expect. Another educator turned corporate sales professional? What are the chances??? And then he said five words that stopped me cold.

Sales is a craft, not a con.

And I was like, okay, we need to talk.

Dean is the CEO of Ingage, a sales content platform built for home improvement contractors who want to show up to the appointment ready to win. But what makes this conversation so good is not just what he has built. It is how he thinks about sales, because it sounds a whole lot like what we talk about every single week on this podcast.

We get into the 70-30 rule his team lives by and why their close rate goes up when his reps stop talking. We talk about why showing up with a feature dump is one of the fastest ways to lose a deal and how finding the three things that actually matter to the person in front of you changes everything. And his advice for CEOs at the end of this episode is something I genuinely needed to hear too.

Stop muscling through it alone. Get in rooms with people who have already done what you are trying to do. Send the elevator back down.

This one felt like a conversation between two people who just get it. I think you are going to love it.

Let's go.

About Dean: Dean Curtis is the CEO of Ingage, a former math teacher turned Apple enterprise technologist, helping contractors make the presentation their strongest asset since 2017.

Connect with Dean: Instagram: @deancurtis23 | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deanc23 | Facebook: Dean Curtis

Connect with Ingage: Instagram: @ingage.io | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/ingageio

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Happy Q4, friends. And yes, I said it. Q4 energy is my favorite energy. Not Q1. Q4 is what sets the tone for everything that comes after it, and if you are a sales professional who wants Q1 to hit differently, this episode is exactly where to start.

Because what I want to talk about today is a tiny nuance that is quietly wrecking pipelines everywhere. The difference between interest and readiness.

Here is what I am seeing in the field right now. Someone engages with your content. They ask great questions. They hop on a consult call without hesitation. Everything in your gut says HOT lead. But then the call goes nowhere. And then the next one goes nowhere. And suddenly you are staring at a pipeline full of people who love your offer and wondering what is wrong with your process?

Nothing is wrong with your process. You have an interest problem, not a readiness problem. Those are two completely different things.

Interest means I want this. Readiness means I am prepared to do something about this. An interested buyer is curious, engaged, and can absolutely see the potential. BUT they are also thinking "maybe someday", or "I need to figure a few things out first." They are showing you curiosity, not commitment. When you treat curiosity like commitment, you burn your calendar chasing conversations that were not going to convert.

A ready buyer is different. They have already connected the problem to the cost of staying exactly where they are. They do not just recognize that you might be their answer someday. They are prepared to participate in the solution right now. They welcome the questions, they push back on their own objections, and they understand that something has to change because the cost of staying put is no longer acceptable.

That is what makes the close feel easy. Not your script. Not your closing technique. The readiness of the buyer walking into the room.

So here is the challenge I want to leave you with. Look at your pipeline right now, especially your "hot" leads, and ask yourself a different question. Not do they want what I sell, but are they ready for what it will require? Because your job in sales is not to turn every interested person into a buyer. That is marketing's lane. Your job is to recognize when interest becomes readiness. And when someone is truly ready, your role shifts from convincing to simply joining hands and helping them make a clear, informed decision.

Interest creates conversations. Readiness creates movement. And knowing the difference is what separates chasing sales from chasing impact.

Let's go.

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows that before I ever stepped into the world of sales and business, I was an educator. So when someone comes across my radar who has built an entire business around the bridge between education and impact, and can connect it all the way through to the bottom line, I am going to find a way to get them on this mic.

Jonny Havey is the founder of eLearning Partners, a former CPA and IT auditor at Price Waterhouse Coopers, and one of the most uniquely positioned people I have had the pleasure of sitting down with. Right brain, left brain, numbers and storytelling, all firing at once. And what he has built out of that combination is something I think every business owner, sales leader, and founder needs to hear.

Here is what stopped me in this conversation. Jonny did not get his job at PwC because of his accounting degree. He got it because of his film degree, and because he spent 45 minutes talking about Lord of the Rings with the director who interviewed him. That story alone tells you everything about what he believes, and everything about what we talk about on this podcast. Connection closes. Credentials just get you in the room.

But where Jonny takes it from there is where things get really interesting. Because what he has spent years building is a framework that most businesses are desperately missing. The ability to identify and articulate the return on investment not just for the company, but for the customer and the team member as well. He calls it the win-win-win, and when all three of those circles align, something remarkable happens. Education becomes a competitive advantage, profit leaks get plugged, and the impact scales.

We also get into why so many incredible training and education initiatives inside organizations never get the funding or the attention they deserve, and what it actually takes to tell that story in a way that moves the needle on the income statement.

If you have been focused on closing deals and checking quotas, this episode is going to reframe the whole thing. Get obsessed with the triple win, and watch everything else follow.

Let's go.

Connect with Jonny: Learn more about Jonny and eLearning Partners and join his Plug the Profit Leak Challenge at plugtheprofitleak.com

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Every Monday my son's football team sits down and watches the film. Not just the final score. Not just the last play. Every single series, every single moment that led to the outcome. Because a good coach knows the score is just the symptom. The real work happened long before the clock ran out.

Sales coaching works exactly the same way, and most coaches are getting it wrong.

If you are a sales leader, a sales manager, or a consultant who has ever sat across from a struggling rep and said we just need to work on closing, this episode is for you. Because here is the truth that most coaching misses entirely. The close is not where deals are won or lost. It is where the truth of everything that already happened in the conversation is finally revealed.

By the time you get to the close, clarity has either been built or it has not. Trust has either been established or it has not. The buyer either feels the weight of their problem or they do not. And no closing technique, no objection handling script, and no amount of pressure coaching can fix what the conversation failed to do.

When a deal stalls at the end, that hesitation is not the problem. It is the symptom. And when coaches obsess over the symptom instead of rewinding the tape to find the real cause, they send their reps back out with better scripts and more pressure, which creates friction on both sides and rarely results in a close that actually sticks.

The fix is almost never at the end. It is at the beginning. Obsess over the quality of the conversation. Obsess over every play. Because when the conversation creates clarity, trust, and alignment, the close does not feel like a moment. It just feels like what happens next.

Stop coaching the close. Start leading better conversations and watch everything else follow.

Let's go.

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

There is a trap that high performers fall into, and most of them never even see it coming.

It does not happen because they are not good at what they do. It actually happens because they are really good at what they do. It is the need to sound impressive. And in a sales conversation, that need is quietly costing people deals they should be winning.

Here is what it looks like in real life. The conversation is going well. You are using the right language, bringing strong insight, demonstrating your expertise. But somewhere along the way the goal shifts. Without even realizing it you stop trying to help the buyer understand and start trying to prove that you understand. And the moment that happens, clarity gets replaced with performance.

The buyer is not evaluating how smart you sound. They are asking themselves one question the entire time. Do I get it? And if the answer is no, they do not move. They nod, they hesitate, they throw out objection after objection without ever being able to articulate why, because they never walked away clear. They walked away still trying to process something that did not land.

The strongest sales leaders are not the ones who sound the most impressive. They are the ones who take something complex and make it feel simple and relevant for the person sitting across from them. Not dumbed down. Relevant. There is a big difference.

So the next time you are mid conversation, stop asking yourself how you sound. Start asking whether they are clear. Because you do not win deals by being the smartest person in the room. You win them by being the clearest.

When the buyer truly understands, the decision does not feel risky. It just feels like the obvious next step.

Let's go.

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

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From the Cockpit to the Boardroom: What Fighter Pilots Know About Impact with Guest: Boo Boucousis

I saw his story and I knew immediately. Fighter pilot turned CEO. Worked with NFL teams. Thirty plus years of building one of the most unique companies I have ever come across. I had to get him on the mic.

Boo Boucousis is the CEO of Afterburner, and what he brought to this conversation stopped me in my tracks more than once. Because what he shared is not just about flying jets or leading elite military missions. It is about the way the best performers in the world think, debrief, iterate, and grow. And it applies directly to every sales professional, every leader, and every founder trying to figure out why they keep getting busy without getting better.

Here is what hit me hardest. Eighty three to eighty five percent of businesses lack the clarity of objectives needed to drive genuine execution. They are not failing at closing or delivering. They are failing at defining what they are actually trying to hit in the first place. Sound familiar?

Boo breaks down the ORCA method, a four step framework born in the cockpit that fighter pilots use on every single mission. Objective, result, cause, action. It is the debrief culture that took performance up four hundred percent in the Air Force, and it is the same framework that Afterburner has taken into boardrooms, NFL locker rooms, and sales teams around the world.

We also get into what it really means to be aware versus just existing, why the hunter killer sales role is done, and what the future of the SDR looks like in a world where machines are starting to both buy and sell. And his final question to the audience is one I am still thinking about.

Are you existing on earth, or are you aware on earth?

This one is worth every minute. Let's go.

Connect with Boo: Visit callmeboo.com or search Boucousis on any AI platform or Google. His family is the only one on earth with that name, so you will find him.

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

I am back, feeling good, and ironically talking a lot today about talking too much.

We have all been there. You are on a sales call, things are going well, and then the buyer pauses. Maybe they ask one more question. And something in you shifts, and you just start talking. And talking. And talking. You know it is happening, you can feel it, and you just cannot stop it. That word vomit moment that every single sales professional has experienced at least once, and if you say you have not, I do not believe you.

Here is what is actually happening in that moment. The instinct to explain more comes from a good place. We want clarity. But when we cross that line from explaining into over explaining, we do not create clarity. We create confusion. And a confused mind does not say yes.

When a buyer hesitates, they are rarely asking for more information. They are processing. They are almost there. But when you pile on more details and more justification, you make the decision feel heavier and more complex than it was a second ago. You shift from leading the conversation to convincing. And we all know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that.

The move is simple but not always easy. Pause. Ask them what feels unclear, or what part of this feels biggest for you right now. Those two questions will do more for the conversation than any amount of re-explaining ever could. Let them give you the answer key.

Clarity does not come from adding more. It comes from removing the confusion. And you cannot remove it until you know where it is.

Let's go.

Connect with Mandy: Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Chasing Impact, Not Sales Episode 33: Stop Fixing the Close. Fix the Funnel.

If you keep hearing the same things on your sales calls, this episode is for you.

"I need to think about it." "Now isn't the right time." "Just send me more info and I'll get back to you."

Sound familiar? Most sales professionals hear this and think they have a closing problem. Most leaders hear this and think they have a closer problem. But what if neither of those is true?

If you are hearing the same hesitation over and over again, lead after lead after lead, you are not looking at a conversion problem. You are looking at an attraction problem. And attraction happens long before that call ever starts.

The buyers you attract determine the conversations you have. The conversations you have determine your conversion. So if your closes feel like a fight, it is time to stop looking downstream at the close and start looking upstream at the funnel.

In this episode I break down exactly what is creating those wishy-washy, fence-sitting leads. Messaging that tries to speak to everyone and lands with no one. Content that stays surface level instead of going deep. Leading with tactics instead of transformation. All three of those create the same outcome: people who hesitate, stall, and ghost.

Here is the truth bomb. Aligned buyers do not need to be convinced. They do not need to be talked off the fence. They recognize themselves in the problem, they already know the cost of staying where they are, and they are already moving toward a decision before they ever talk to you. Your job is not to persuade them. Your job is just to make sure the right people are entering the conversation in the first place.

So before you blame your close rate, ask the better question. Do we actually have a closing problem, or are the right people even in the room?

Because when the right people are in the room, sales stops feeling like persuasion and starts feeling like alignment. That is the whole reason we do this work.

Let's go.

Connect with Mandy: Ready to fix your funnel instead of your close rate? Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/30min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Chasing Impact, Not Sales Podcast The Moment You Should Stop Selling

It has been a minute, and I have missed this.

I have been heads down working with some incredible new sales professionals lately, and something keeps coming up in training over and over again that I just had to bring to you. Because every single time I share it, I hear the same thing back: thank you, thank you, thank you.

So here it is.

Sales culture glorifies persuasion. But human nature fights it. And that tension? That is where most salespeople are losing, and they do not even know it.

The strongest, most professional, and I will argue the most successful sales leaders know something that the "always be closing" crowd does not. There is a moment in every single conversation, whether it ends in a close or a loss, where the most powerful thing you can do is stop selling. And in that moment, start disqualifying.

Here is the reframe that changes everything. Disqualification is not rejection. Disqualification is not a lost sale. Disqualification is protection. It protects the buyer from making the wrong decision. It protects your team from a difficult delivery. And it protects your brand from misaligned expectations that will eventually catch up with you.

Because when the wrong client says yes, that is not a win. That is just the first domino.

In this episode I walk through exactly where disqualification fits in a healthy sales system, what the signals look like when you have crossed from evaluating into convincing, and why trusting your standards over your urgency to close is what separates the good from the great.

If you are new to sales, this one is going to change how you show up in every conversation. And if you have been in the game for a while, this is the reminder you probably needed.

Impact does not come from more deals. It comes from more of the right ones.

Let's go.

Connect with Mandy: Ready to build a sales process rooted in standards, not pressure? Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/60min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Connect with Mandy: 🔗 Follow Mandy on LinkedIn 🌐 [email protected] 📥 Want a sales system that feels good and works? Let's talk.

AI Isn't Replacing Sales. It's Exposing It. — with Guest Jack Siney

I have to be honest. I was not planning to press record as fast as I did in this conversation.

Jack and I started talking before I even hit the button, and about ten minutes in I was like, no, we need to stop because you all need to hear this. So that is exactly what we did.

Jack Siney is a seven-time entrepreneur and the founder of FrontRace. He has built and scaled venture-backed software companies across public safety, GovTech, and now AI, and he has watched the tech world reshape itself more than once. He is not an AI hype guy. He is someone who has been in the trenches long enough to know the difference between what is real and what is noise.

Right now, there is a lot of noise.

Every sales professional I talk to is either convinced they are about to lose their job or quietly hoping they can ignore AI long enough for it to go away. Jack and I both see it differently, and this conversation is where we lay it all out.

AI is not replacing sales. But it is absolutely exposing every broken process, every gap in your data, and every assumption you have about what your best people are actually doing. The companies that spent $650 million on AI last year and saw almost no ROI? They skipped two foundational steps that Jack breaks down clearly here. We also dig into why your top rep Susan is outselling Mike by 3x and neither of them can tell you why, and why that black hole has existed in sales for forty years without anyone being able to shine a light on it. Until now.

We get into what AI is genuinely good at today, where it is not ready for prime time, and what it looks like to build a team that uses AI as a force multiplier instead of a replacement. I also share what I am seeing firsthand right now, one human setter paired with one AI agent, doing the work of five, and what I think that means for the future of the SDR role, comp plans, and how sales teams are going to be built in the next few years. Real talk, no hype. I think you are going to love this one.

Connect with Jack: Find him on LinkedIn at Jack Siney (S-I-N-E-Y) and visit FrontRace.com. Hit "Join the Race" in the upper right corner to see what your team is actually doing. No commitment, no pressure, just real data.

Connect with Mandy: Feeling behind in the AI race or unsure how it fits your sales strategy? Let's talk. Book a free consult: https://calendly.com/mandyminitello-consult/60min Grab the KPI Cheat Sheet: https://mandyminitello.kit.com/cheatsheet

Connect with Mandy: 🔗 Follow Mandy on LinkedIn 🌐 [email protected] 📥 Want a sales system that feels good and works? Let's talk.