Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

Sales leadership demands the ability to adapt, motivate, and guide teams toward consistent, high-level performance. In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast,  Jeb Blount is joined by Charley Bible of KaTom to discuss key strategies for sales leaders, focusing on teamwork, skill refinement, and coaching performance. These insights bridge the gap between individual development and team success, offering actionable takeaways for anyone in sales leadership.

– Team Collaboration Creates Wins: Focusing on the team rather than individual achievements builds a culture of collaboration and shared purpose. Sales leaders who emphasize collective success foster environments where everyone contributes, elevating overall performance and morale.

– Energizing Through Friendly Competition: Workplace challenges—like those inspired by sports or creative competitions—inject energy into teams. Sales leaders can use these lighthearted activities to foster camaraderie, engagement, and a sense of fun that drives motivation and productivity.

– Reflection Drives Growth: Reviewing past results and analyzing setbacks is essential for improvement. Just as athletes study game footage, sales leaders should encourage their teams to evaluate performance trends, pinpoint mistakes, and strategize better approaches moving forward.

– Sales Is a Skill-Based Craft: Sales isn’t just about personality; it’s a disciplined profession requiring constant development. Leaders must instill a growth mindset in their teams, encouraging training and practice to refine techniques, build confidence, and maintain a competitive edge.

– The Power of Fundamentals: When performance dips, returning to the basics can help sales teams regain their footing. Leaders should coach their teams on foundational skills like effective communication, active listening, and prospecting to rebuild momentum and confidence.

– Coaching as a Leadership Tool: Sales leaders play a pivotal role in their teams’ success in their own coaching performance and techniques. By identifying blind spots, providing encouragement, and correcting missteps, leaders can significantly impact their team’s performance and professional growth.

– Self-Awareness Is Key: Encouraging sales reps to recognize and address performance dips is crucial. Leaders should teach their teams to pause, assess their approach, and implement small adjustments to get back on track. Building this habit can prevent minor issues from becoming major roadblocks.

 – Discovery Conversations Open Doors: Strong sales leaders emphasize the importance of discovery—asking thoughtful questions and listening carefully to uncover client needs. This approach not only builds trust but also reveals opportunities that can lead to larger, more impactful deals.

– Consistency Beats the Rollercoaster: The “desperation rollercoaster” can plague sales teams—periods of intense effort followed by complacency. Leaders should emphasize the importance of consistent daily effort, reminding teams that resilience and steady focus yield long-term results.

– Celebrate Hard Work and Achievements: Acknowledging milestones, whether through personal rewards or team recognition, reinforces the value of persistence. Sales leaders should celebrate wins to inspire continued effort and show their teams the tangible benefits of dedication.

Prioritizing team achievement fosters collaboration and a sense of unity. Sales environments that emphasize collective wins over individual accolades create a culture where everyone thrives. Collaboration fuels creativity, encourages accountability, and leads to stronger overall performance. In sales, success often hinges on the strength of the team rather than the brilliance of a single contributor.

Healthy competition sparks energy and enthusiasm within teams. Creative workplace challenges, like sports-themed bets or fun competitions, provide an opportunity to build camaraderie while motivating team members to excel. This approach blends motivation with connection, creating an environment where individuals push each other toward shared goals.

Reflection is a cornerstone of continuous improvement. Whether analyzing why deals fell through or identifying areas of missed opportunity, taking a step back allows teams to learn and adjust. Like athletes reviewing game footage, sales teams benefit from examining past performances to identify strategies for future success. Reflection helps pinpoint what’s working and what needs to change.

Sales is a craft that requires constant refinement. Effective salespeople understand that raw talent only goes so far. It’s consistent skill development and practice that drive excellence. Leaders can support their teams by promoting a growth mindset, encouraging ongoing learning, and providing opportunities for training. This approach keeps teams sharp, adaptable, and ready for challenges.

When performance dips, revisiting the basics is a powerful tool for recovery. Fundamentals like clear communication, active listening, and effective prospecting often hold the key to overcoming slumps. Sales leaders can encourage their teams to maintain a checklist of core skills, using it to recalibrate and regain momentum during challenging periods.

Coaching performance is one of the most effective ways to unlock potential and address performance gaps. A good coach provides valuable insights, helping individuals recognize blind spots and refine their strategies. Sales leaders who invest time in coaching their teams create an environment where constructive feedback is welcomed, fostering growth and improvement at every level.

Self-awareness is essential for sustained success. Salespeople who recognize when their performance is slipping can take proactive steps to adjust their approach. Encouraging self-awareness helps individuals spot patterns, evaluate their methods, and make targeted changes to stay on track. This skill prevents minor setbacks from escalating into significant challenges.

Discovery is the foundation of successful sales. By asking the right questions and listening actively, sales professionals uncover client needs and identify hidden opportunities. Thoughtful discovery not only builds trust but also strengthens relationships, paving the way for larger, more meaningful deals.

Sales success requires consistency. High performers avoid the trap of fluctuating effort, staying focused and steady even after achieving significant wins. Leaders can help their teams build resilience by promoting daily disciplines that maintain momentum and mitigate the risks of complacency.

Acknowledging effort and achievement reinforces a culture of perseverance. Celebrating milestones—whether through team recognition or personal rewards—motivates individuals to continue striving for excellence. These moments highlight the value of hard work and remind teams of what’s possible when dedication and effort align.

Sales leadership is about more than hitting targets; it’s about creating an environment where individuals and teams can thrive. By fostering collaboration, focusing on fundamentals, and encouraging consistent growth, sales leaders lay the foundation for long-term success. Through reflection, coaching performance, and celebrating the wins, teams can build resilience, stay motivated, and achieve their full potential.

Building a great sales team begins with hiring the right people. Start your journey to better hiring with our FREE download: The Sales Manager’s Ultimate Interview Guide 

Eric in Lewiston, Maine, asks how to use last year’s data to create and accurate sales plans and evaluate software tools (like CRMs and ZoomInfo) to make those goals happen.

Sales planning is vital—without a roadmap, you’re just hoping your revenue targets magically come to life. If you haven’t defined clear performance metrics—like call activity, lead generation, conversion rates, or daily prospecting targets—then you don’t really have a plan. You have a wish list.

Eric wanted to know which metrics from the previous year he and his team should be analyzing to inform this year’s targets. The short answer? All of them, if they are metrics that matter to your business goals. Consider:

By mapping out how each step in your funnel converts to the next—calls to first appointments, first appointments to proposals, proposals to closed deals—you can see exactly where to focus in the new sales year.

Maybe you need more first appointments. Maybe you need to tighten up your proposals so more of them convert. Or maybe you’re missing upsell opportunities with existing clients. Data points you to the gaps.

Pro Tip: Once you understand your ratios, you can decide if you’re aiming to improve them by, say, 25% (a stretch goal) or if you’re reaching higher. However, be careful not to “fix” one area and inadvertently break another. Success in sales is about balance across the entire funnel.

Eric also mentioned his team’s struggle with an outdated CRM that’s not built for strong tracking. As they look ahead, they’re weighing big guns like Salesforce. But here’s the deal:

The rule of thumb? Choose a CRM that matches your current size and selling process. The last thing you want is to waste months configuring a powerhouse system that nobody uses because it’s too big or too confusing.

Eric’s final question was about whether to invest in a data-intelligence tool (e.g., ZoomInfo, Apollo, LeadIQ) to identify new leads and tap into “intent data.” My take:

Pro Tip: Start with a limited number of “power users” on your team who will commit to mastering the tool. Then expand usage as you integrate it into your sales workflow.

We’ve been using ZoomInfo for years. Early on, we blew through a lot of money because we didn’t fully implement it. It wasn’t until we got serious—trained our people, integrated it with our CRM, and held each other accountable—that we started seeing results. Today, ZoomInfo is essential to how we prospect, grow pipeline, and clean up our database. But it took time, patience, and leadership buy-in to get there.

If you’ve got a burning sales or leadership question, I want to hear it! Head over to
salesgravy.com/ask, fill out the form, and one of our producers will be in touch to get you on the show.

Until then, keep prospecting, keep hustling, and keep crushing your quotas. Remember: You are the lifeblood of your organization and the economy itself.

I’m hearing sob stories from leaders and individuals everywhere who are waking up to the cold, hard truth that they are staring down the barrel of a thin or empty pipeline.

If you are in this situation and don’t have enough pipe to cover your number—either for this month or the first quarter—then you need to take action now to close that gap because  getting behind your number at the beginning of the year means loads of stress and chasing your tail – for the rest of the quarter or the entire year if you get too far behind.

Stepping back for a moment, the reason your pipeline is empty today can usually be traced back to your sales activity in November or December.

Some teams get tunnel vision in the fourth quarter. They focus on closing deals and finishing the year strong but fail to balance that with prospecting activity for the future.

Other folks just get distracted by the holidays and let the final weeks of the year slip by without prospecting to fill the pipe with enough new opportunities to cover January.

In other cases, the pipeline opportunities that you were counting on this month—the ones that pushed decisions until after the holidays – have suddenly gone silent and are ghosting you. You’re finding out the hard way that it is very, very difficult to reignite these deals once you’ve allowed this much time to pass.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this because the truth is the truth. No matter what got you to this point, you need to get to work right now to turn this around.

So the question is, how do you do this?

One of the biggest pitfalls I see is that when pipelines are empty, salespeople get overwhelmed and paralyzed. They don’t know where to begin, so they waste time worrying and “getting organized.” They “plan to plan to plan” to prospect but don’t get any actual prospecting done.

There’s an old saying that goes, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” Likewise, the first rule of an empty pipeline is: When have one, start prospecting. That’s it. There’s no magic to it. It’s a blinding flash of common sense.

Therefore step one is to block one to two hours at the start of your day specifically for prospecting. Close your email and company chat, put devices on do not disturb, and place a singular focus on picking up the phone and calling potential customers.

Put these morning blocks on your calendar as an immovable meeting. No excuses, no last-minute changes. Keep this time sacred for outbound prospecting.

Why first thing in the morning? Because that’s when you’re fresh, your prospects are fresh and neither of you have gotten buried in your day yet. And the truth is, if you put off prospecting until the afternoon, your willpower is often depleted and you are more likely not to do it.

Next you need to focus on the right kind of prospecting. This isn’t the time for a slow, meandering approach in which you cultivate long-term opportunities on LinkedIn and through networking. While building the future through slow prospecting activities is important, right now you need to move fast.

You need to target, engage, interrupt and convert prospects that can move into your pipeline as viable opportunities, right now.

By “interrupt,” I mean dialing the phone, knocking on doors, sending personalized emails, text messages, video messages and direct messages —whatever it takes to get attention and engage in conversations with high potential, high probability prospects.

When I say target, I mean not random. Randomness is the enemy of effectiveness. At this moment in time, spray and pray will not turn your pipeline around. You need a rifle rather than a shotgun approach.

The key is building a targeted list because the better your list you, the better your prospecting outcomes. There are five sources for building a targeted prospecting list, fast.

Look at inbound leads that came in over the last quarter, or maybe the last six months. These folks have already expressed some level of interest in what you offer—maybe they downloaded a white paper, attended a webinar, or even reached out directly.

They might have ghosted you, gone quiet around the holidays, or perhaps you were busy and didn’t follow up as aggressively as you should have. Regardless, this is an easy list to build and there is a good chance that you can reactivate some of these leads, now that we are in a new year.

Build a list of all of the pipeline opportunities that were lost over the past year. Pull your own out of the CRM plus those of any reps that have left your company—you may need to ask your sales leader for permission to do this but ask, because it is surprising how much gold you can find in deals that other people have lost.

Many of these prospects didn’t end up choosing any solution at all—and are still living with the same old problems. But because it’s a brand-new year, they may be open to exploring solutions.

Inactive or dormant customers are a true gold mine. These are people that bought from you or your company in the past but haven’t purchased in a while. They are already familiar with your brand, product, software, or service and they are easy to talk with.

The conversation might be as simple as calling and saying, “Hey, when will you be buying again?” or “What’s new on your end since we last worked together?” Because there’s already a relationship, it’s not really a cold call; it’s more like a warm re-introduction.

Target existing customers where there may be expansion or cross-sell opportunities. This is a list you’ll want to build thoughtfully so that you target the right, high potential accounts. Because you are already doing business with these people the conversations are easy to initiate. Just call to say “Happy New Year,” ask about their upcoming plans, and learn about potential needs you can fill right now.

Go into your CRM and run a search for prospects that meet your ICP and have an identified Q1 buying window. This buying window may be a contract expiring with your competitor, a seasonal swing in demand, a budgetary period, equipment coming off of lease, or they told you on past prospecting calls that they would be making changes or decisions in the first quarter.

Pro Tip: You may also want to look at industry verticals that are doing well and flush with budget.

When you are in a hole like this, digging out can be both overwhelming and tedious. You are going to be doing a lot of work and it won’t always feel like you are getting anywhere. This can be demotivating and make you want to quit.

Therefore, to stay on track, set micro-goals—a certain number of calls, touches, conversations, or qualifying information that you want to achieve each day.

Track your results religiously and celebrate even the smallest wins. If you get a bad number, for example, celebrate the fact that you now know not to call that number.

At the same time, use your micro-goals to hold yourself accountable. If your goal is to make 25 calls, don’t let yourself off the hook at 20. This level of discipline keeps your momentum going.

The 30-day rule states that the prospecting you do in any 30-day period will pay off over the following 90 days. It’s about having faith that the prospecting you do now will begin paying dividends in the weeks and months to come. You won’t see miracles overnight, but if you stay consistent, you will get the results you are looking for.

Before moving on, I want you to stop and remember how this feels. Lock this stress and anxiety into your emotional memory. Then make a commitment not to allow this to happen to you again next year because it is completely avoidable.

Later this year as we move into the fourth quarter, remember that you must keep prospecting even while you’re trying to close deals. This lesson is going to stick a lot better if you internalize it right now, while the pain is fresh.

Embrace and make prospecting a daily discipline. It’s not something you do when you “feel like it” or only when your pipeline is on life support. It’s like working out. You don’t go to the gym once, get in shape, and then you’re done. You have to keep going, keep working at it, and keep putting in the reps.

Remember: The number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline and the number one reason you will have an empty pipeline is that you failed  to prospect every day, every day, every day.

Entrepreneurship and Sales demands massive resilience. It’s a skill, not a fixed trait, developed through intentional practice and persistence. Whether managing personal loss or professional setbacks, resilient entrepreneurs navigate challenges with focus and adaptability. This mental toughness enables them to push forward, align their business with their values, and create a lasting impact.

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount, Jr. is joined by Deb Sellinger to explore the power of resilience and adaptability in entrepreneurship. Hear Deb’s inspiring story about overcoming challenges, building businesses that align with personal values, and creating a clear vision for sustainable success.

– Resilience as a Skill: Resilience is not innate. It can be cultivated through intentional practice and perseverance, even in the face of significant challenges.

– Impact Over Income: Prioritizing making an impact over chasing financial rewards can lead to greater fulfillment and long-term success.

– Adapting After Loss: Balancing personal grief with professional responsibilities requires courage and discipline to maintain stability for those relying on your leadership.

– Reinvention of Business Models: Adapting or reinventing a business model to align with personal values or market changes can drive growth and create operational efficiencies.

– Facing Judgment with Integrity: Leaders may face criticism for prioritizing their team or clients over personal interests, but integrity and resilience ensure a focus on long-term goals.

– Importance of Succession Planning: Establishing a succession plan provides stability for employees and clients, ensuring continuity during transitions.

– Clarity in Leadership Vision: Refining a business’s focus can align its trajectory with the leader’s strengths and values, driving sustainable growth.

– Leveraging Team Strengths: Recognizing the unique contributions of team members fosters collaboration, strengthens culture, and supports growth.

– Navigating Rapid Growth: Managing fast-paced growth often requires tough decisions to streamline operations and recalibrate priorities.

– Building for the Future: Involving teams in planning for the business’s future creates shared success and loyalty.

Personal loss doesn’t pause professional obligations. Entrepreneurs often face the challenge of balancing grief with the demands of running a business. For some, maintaining commitments like showing up for a client meeting or fulfilling an obligation becomes a pathway to healing. These moments underscore the duality of leadership: staying present for others while navigating personal struggles.

Every challenge hides an opportunity for growth. A leader who maintained a client relationship during a particularly difficult time discovered that vulnerability and perseverance can deepen trust and create new opportunities. It’s often the toughest moments that forge the strongest connections.

Stepping into unfamiliar territory like inheriting a business or pivoting to a new market requires courage and adaptability. One entrepreneur, faced with an industry they knew little about, redefined their business’s focus and implemented a sustainable model. This reinvention not only stabilized the company but positioned it for future success.

Success without alignment can feel hollow. When one entrepreneur’s wellness business scaled rapidly, they found themselves disconnected from their original mission. By simplifying operations and returning to their hands-on approach, they built a business that resonated with their values and fostered deeper client relationships.

True leadership shines in tough times. Faced with personal challenges, one business leader prioritized their team’s stability and clients’ needs over their own. While this drew criticism, it also highlighted the responsibility and integrity that define exceptional leaders.

Complexity can kill progress. By narrowing focus and optimizing operations, businesses can thrive. A leader who transitioned their services from residential to commercial achieved not only growth but also clarity in their business model. Simplifying often leads to scalable, sustainable success.

Entrepreneurship rewards persistence. Success often comes not from brilliance but from refusing to quit. Each small victory provides the fuel needed to keep moving forward, even when the path ahead seems uncertain.

Sustainable businesses are built on clear, forward-thinking strategies. With a solid plan in place, businesses can prepare for future challenges and be positioned for long-term success as everyone is aligned on the same objectives. A well-thought-out plan serves as a roadmap, guiding the business toward its goals and paving the way for continued growth.

Entrepreneurs often juggle rapid growth with personal commitments. Striking this balance requires strategic decisions and prioritization. Involving family in decision-making and focusing on shared goals allows entrepreneurs to achieve harmony between their personal and professional lives.

Entrepreneurship is not a sprint, it’s a marathon that demands resilience, adaptability, and focus. Leaders who prioritize impact, align their business with personal values, and stay committed to their vision can weather any storm. By balancing personal challenges with professional responsibilities, simplifying operations, and planning for the future, they build businesses that thrive in the face of adversity.

Download the Small Business Owner’s Guide to Sales Training to learn key strategies and tactics for giving your team a competitive edge through sales training without breaking the bank, eating up your valuable time, or adding more to your plate.

Welcome to a new segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast called Ask Jeb!

I believe sales professionals are the heartbeat of the economy. You’re the ones generating revenue for your organization and fueling innovations that keep businesses thriving. Without your hustle, your company doesn’t move forward—and, frankly, neither does the global economy. You’re the elite athletes of the business world.

Ask Jeb is about you and your real world challenges. It’s your agenda and you are in control.

On this Sales Gravy Podcast segment, I answer your burning questions on driving revenue, growing your pipeline, leading your teams, and staying ahead of the competition. If you want to get on the show with me and ask your question, sign up HERE

Bob from Tullahoma, Tennessee (whom we affectionately call “Outbound Bob” because he’s been to our Outbound Conference so many times!) asked a critical question:

“Moving into next year, what prospecting advice, piece of technology, or technique would you offer that could apply across all sales organizations and industries? What’s our ‘silver bullet’—even if it doesn’t really exist?”

I’m the first to say there’s no magic wand in sales—no easy button that instantly books appointments or closes deals. What we do have is the reality of AI-generated “crap” flooding our inboxes and social feeds. This onslaught of automated noise means salespeople must stand out more than ever.

My top recommendation is to lean heavily into deep, multichannel prospecting sequences. Use everything at your disposal:

It’s not just about persistence; it’s about persistence plus differentiation. If you’re simply bombarding prospects with a bunch of generic touches, you’re just adding to the noise. Instead, craft messaging that proves you understand their world.

Good news: the tsunami of poorly written AI outreach actually helps you stand out if your message is empathetic, clear, and focused on the prospect’s key interests. Take the time to truly step into their shoes. Know their persona, their industry, and how you solve their burning issues. Show them you’ve done your homework.

Each touch—voicemail, email, text, or social message—should flow logically from the last. You don’t want to leave the same voicemail three times in a row or send “Just bumping this to the top of your inbox” emails day after day. Instead, let your communication build a case for why a conversation is worthwhile. And remember: the number of touches needed to break through keeps rising (15+ touches for warm prospects, 50+ for cold). So, buckle up, play the long game, and keep your messaging sharp.

After Bob’s question, we tackled another big one from a Sales Gravy Coaching client who wished to remain anonymous:

How to handle short-burst prospecting and whether it helps to call businesses that share something in common, like location.

I’m a fan of high-intensity prospecting sprints. Carve out 10–15 minutes, chop wood as fast as you can, then take a break. This approach keeps your energy up and your head in the game.

Whenever possible, focus on a list of prospects that have something in common—same industry, similar role, or even the same town. That way, your messaging can be targeted, speaking directly to a collective pain point or shared experience.

Ready to dive deeper? Head over to salesgravy.com/resources to download our free guide: “The 7 Steps to Building Effective Prospecting Sequences.” You can also pick up my new book, The AI Edge, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books. It’s packed with actionable strategies for prospecting in the age of AI.

And if you want to sharpen your skills or ask follow-up questions, check out our coaching programs at salesgravy.com/coach. My team and I work directly with sales pros at every level, helping them craft winning sequences and hit new performance highs.

Happy New Sales Year!

This is the first Monday of the year. The slate is clean. The opportunity to excel, to level up, to make this your best year ever is yours for the taking. The world is your oyster.

It’s time to shake off distractions, get focused, and execute. As we look forward to the next twelve months, there are only three things you control. Your actions, reactions, and mindset.

You have absolute control over your actions. These are the choices you make about how you spend your time, what you prioritize, and where you focus. Choose the right actions and you are going to have a great year; the wrong actions, not so much.

And when it comes to choosing how and on what you invest your time, commit to being ruthless about what you prioritize.Do the things that have the greatest impact on revenue generation, hitting your sales numbers, and achieving your personal goals.

You have control over how you react and respond to the many challenges you will face over the next twelve months. And trust me, there will be lots of challenges and roadblocks.

One of those challenges will be dealing with all of the people and distractions that steal your time and pull your attention away from your priorities.

It will take discipline to respond to these things with a polite no and stay on course. Remember that discipline is sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. Therefore, you can better manage your responses by keeping your eyes on the prize.

When you face emotionally challenging situations, one way to manage your reactions is through mindfulness.

I always thought mindfulness was some frou frou yoga crap until a learned what it really means and how especially powerful it is for managing emotional reactions when you face conflict with another person. Which is important because sales is full of conflict.

Mindfulness is simply the gap you leave between something happening to you and when you respond to it. In this gap you have the opportunity to exert control over your emotions and response. And let’s be clear: you have complete control of when you respond, how you respond, and if you respond.

The way I activate mindfulness is through a simple mental exercise in which I answer the question: Do I want this or do I want that?

For example, if I get into an argument with my wife and my emotional reaction is to dig in and fight for my point of view,  before I do, I’ll ask myself: Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right?

If you are dealing with a tough customer who is pushing your buttons and you really want to give them your mind, you might stop and ask yourself “Do I want to hit my sales number or do I want to tell this jerk what I think about them?

And finally, you control your mindset – your attitudes and beliefs. Of the three things you control, mindset is the most important.

Sales is a mental game. It is a truth that 90% of your success is going to be determined by what goes on between your ears.

There are two prevailing mindsets among salespeople in the world today. My good friend and co-author of The AI Edge Anthony Iannarino labels these the rain barrel mindset and the rainmaker mindset.

Think for a moment about a rain barrel. What does it do? The rain barrel sits in the backyard rusting waiting for rain.

This is exactly what rain barrel salespeople do. They sit around waiting for something to happen to them. Hoping for a lead to come their way. Waiting for their prospect to do the work and close the sale themselves.

Rain Barrels are defined by their circumstances. They complain and whine but take no action to change them. When it doesn’t rain, they blame everything and everyone except for themselves. The rain barrel resides in mediocrity and never reaches their potential.

Then there is the rainmaker mindset. Rain makers believe in themselves and their ability to make things happen. They don’t wait around for anyone or anything.

They replace hope with action. They win and achieve no matter what the circumstances because they believe at the core that they control their destiny. In sales, rain makers are the apex predators who sell more, earn more, and win more.

But here’s the deal. All day long there is a little voice inside your head that is jabbering away. That voice is either building you up or breaking you down.

Allowed to run unfettered, it tells you that you are not good enough, that the world is against you, that you should just give up and quit. Why work hard and give your best effort when the competition, prospects, boss, economy, internal team are all against you it says.

Negative self-talk will sap your confidence and energy. It will cause you to take short cuts, the easy way out, and give up too soon. It will turn you into a  cynical pessimist and steal your joy.

Therefore, you must vigilantly monitor and manage your self-talk and have the intentional discipline to stop and turn it around when it goes negative. Otherwise it’s easy to slip into mediocrity and become a rain barrel.

So on this first monday of the year which mindset will you adopt? What will be your identity?

Will you be a rain barrel and hope for the best? Or, will you become a rainmaker and be your best?

Take control and build a rainmaker mindset with Jeb’s FREE Fanatical Prospecting Book Club Guide

Discover the secrets to lead follow up and conversion after trade show, conference, and events.

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Harriet Mellor shares proven strategies for maximizing trade show ROI with personalized outreach, leveraging CRM tools, and building lasting relationships that convert leads into valuable long-term customers.

– Follow-up Touchpoints: An eight-touchpoint follow-up strategy is recommended, with touchpoints spread over a 12-week period, incorporating multiple communication methods like email, phone, social media, and video.

– Importance of Patience: Building relationships and converting leads into customers takes time. Long sales cycles, such as 20 months for some deals, highlight the need for persistence and patience.

– Consistent Outreach: Regular and consistent communication helps ensure that leads don’t forget about the company or its offerings.

– Tracking Interactions: Meticulous tracking of every touchpoint and interaction provides insight into what strategies work, enabling continuous refinement.

– Personalization: Customizing outreach efforts, such as referencing personal details from interactions, enhances engagement and builds rapport.

– Variety of Channels: Using diverse communication platforms, such as phone calls, emails, video, and social media, increases the likelihood of connecting with leads.

– Value-Driven Engagement: Sharing valuable resources like podcasts, webinars, or helpful information adds value to the relationship and builds trust with leads.

– Utilizing CRM Systems: Leveraging CRM tools aids in organizing, tracking, and automating follow-up activities, ensuring efficiency and consistency.

– Planning and Strategy: Having a clear plan and a structured system for follow-up ensures effectiveness and prevents a disorganized approach.

– Positive and Authentic Interactions: Being genuine and enjoying the process of building relationships can positively influence the success of follow-up efforts.

Following up with leads requires patience. Many deals do not happen overnight, especially in industries with long sales cycles. For instance, a lead might take 20 months to convert into a customer due to factors like contract timing or budget availability.

Despite the wait, these deals can be significant, justifying the costs of attending the event. Patience allows salespeople to build meaningful relationships with prospects over time, which often leads to successful outcomes.

Consistency in follow-ups is crucial for staying on a lead’s radar. Without regular communication, potential customers may forget about your business, especially if they have interacted with multiple vendors at the event. A consistent approach ensures that your company remains top-of-mind when they are ready to make a purchase decision.

Effective follow-ups involve reaching out through various channels. Email, social media, phone calls, and video messages all offer opportunities to connect with leads.

Different people respond to different methods, so using a mix increases the likelihood of engagement. Video, in particular, can add a personal touch and help stand out in a crowded inbox.

Tracking all touchpoints with leads is essential for evaluating what works and refining your approach. This includes keeping detailed notes in your customer relationship management (CRM) system.

For instance, noting personal details like a lead’s hobbies or recent activities can make follow-ups more personalized and engaging. These small details can help spark meaningful conversations and demonstrate genuine interest in the lead.

A well-structured follow-up plan ensures that no leads fall through the cracks. This plan should outline the timing and content of touchpoints, spreading them out over a period of weeks or months.

For example, an eight-touchpoint strategy over 12 weeks can include emails, phone calls, LinkedIn messages, and sharing relevant resources. A clear plan prevents follow-ups from becoming sporadic or disorganized.

CRM systems are invaluable for managing lead follow-ups. They help track interactions, automate tasks, and organize leads efficiently.

By using a CRM, salespeople can ensure that they consistently engage with leads and maintain a record of all communications. This data is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of different follow-up strategies.

Personalization is key to successful lead follow-ups. Generic messages often fail to capture attention, while personalized communications show that you value the lead as an individual. Referencing specific details from past conversations, such as a lead’s interest in a conference topic or an upcoming trip, can make interactions more engaging and memorable.

Salespeople who provide value during follow-ups are more likely to build trust with leads. This could include sharing relevant resources like podcasts, articles, or invitations to webinars. Offering something useful shows that you are invested in the lead’s success, not just closing a deal.

Measuring ROI from sales events can be challenging but is critical for evaluating their effectiveness. ROI often goes beyond immediate deals. It includes factors like brand awareness, long-term relationships, and leads that convert months or even years after the event. While some deals might justify the cost of attending a conference, others may require additional follow-ups to determine their true value.

Persistence is a cornerstone of effective follow-ups. Many leads require multiple touchpoints before they respond.

Salespeople should not be discouraged by a lack of immediate results. Instead, they should focus on consistent, thoughtful outreach to keep the conversation going. A long-term approach often leads to successful outcomes.

While the ultimate goal of follow-ups is to close deals, building strong relationships with leads should be the priority. Genuine, authentic interactions create trust and lay the foundation for future business. This means taking the time to understand a prospect’s needs and providing solutions that align with their goals.

Following up with leads from trade shows and conferences is both an art and a science. It requires patience, consistency, and a thoughtful approach to outreach.

By using multiple channels, tracking interactions, and leveraging CRM tools, salespeople can stay organized and increase their chances of success. Personalization, persistence, and providing value further enhance the effectiveness of follow-ups.

Ultimately, the key to turning leads into customers lies in building relationships. When salespeople focus on genuine connections and thoughtful engagement, they create opportunities for lasting success and a strong ROI from their event efforts.

Discover practical tips to improving Trade Show ROI in Jessica Stokes popular on-demand course: How to Improve Conference and Tradeshow ROI 

Your personal goals are the aspirations that drive you, inspire you, and push you through the tough days. As you’ll learn in this Monday Money podcast episode and article, these goals are essential to helping you maintain sales discipline throughout your sales year.

When developing personal goals, I break them down into three buckets:

These are the things you want to acquire or buy. For example, this year, I set a goal to purchase a new home—and I did. Whether it’s a house, a new car, or building up your savings, to-have goals are about acquiring something that enhances your life.

These are about evolving into the person you want to become. Maybe you want to be a sales manager, or if you’re a manager, you want to be a director or VP of sales. You might want to go back to school for a degree or an MBA. Or you want to be a better spouse, a better leader, or a better peer. Maybe you want to be a President’s club winner or be recognized as an expert in your industry—whatever it is, to-be goals help you level up as a person and a professional.

These are experience goals. My wife and I had a big one a couple of years ago: going on a horseback trek across the Masai Mara in Kenya. It was a massive, life-changing adventure we saved for, planned for, and worked toward. Think about experiences that create lifelong memories—maybe you want to travel somewhere special or take on a meaningful project or hobby you’ve always dreamed about.

Number one, goals massively increase the likelihood that you’ll actually achieve the things you want. Speaking your goal out loud, writing it down, and being intentional about it has a powerful psychological effect.

Number two, goals make life meaningful. It’s unbelievably fulfilling to look back and see what you accomplished—how far you’ve come over the course of a year, five years, or a decade.

Number three, we work in a tough, competitive profession, and it’s just plain satisfying to put your commission checks, bonuses, and hard-won earnings toward something that improves your life or the lives of the people you love.

But the biggest reason to set goals—especially in sales—is that the sales profession is hard work and it can be brutal.  It’s loaded with rejection.

At every turn, we face potential “nos,” whether it’s prospecting calls, asking for next steps, pushing to level up to a decision-maker, or closing the deal. We even face internal rejection when we try to sell a complex deal internally to our own company or get approval for special pricing. Rejection is everywhere, and the fear of rejection—or avoiding it—is the number one reason salespeople fail to perform.

Add to that the grind: making call after call, stuffing data into the CRM, pushing through proposals, handling endless follow-ups and selling becomes tedious, hard, rejection dense work.

For this reason it requires discipline to stay on track and keep grinding day after day and month after month over the course of the sales year. But here’s the rub: discipline can wane, especially if we’re not hyper-focused on a bigger prize.

I want you to pay attention to this next part because understanding the real definition of discipline it’s critical.  Discipline is sacrificing what you want now for what you want most.

Human nature wants easy. We’d rather that customers call us than having to chase them. We’d rather deals close themselves than investing hours into multi-step follow-ups. We don’t want to face that “no.”

But in success in sales is paid for in advance with facing rejection and hard work. Therefore If you don’t have a clear, compelling reason—something you want most—it’s easy to cave in and take the easy route instead of doing what really needs to be done.

This is the reason why having a strong set personal goals is crucial for sales professionals. You need that powerful “why” to keep grinding when the going gets tough. When the pipeline’s not as full as you’d like or you’re hitting roadblocks, you need something more important than convenience to drag you back into the fight.

Let’s talk about how to do this. If you’ve gone through any kind of SMART goal-setting course, some of this may sound familiar. But these basics are timeless and indispensable. To set effective goals you need to ask and answer five basic questions:

Sounds simple, but for a lot of us, it’s not. We’re so busy scrolling through social media, bingeing on TikTok, or juggling daily distractions that we never pause to ask, “What do I really want from my life?” So step one is to get specific. Define it.

Because we’re talking about next year’s personal goals, let’s keep them within a 12-month horizon. But any truly effective goal requires a deadline or target date—otherwise, it’s just a pipe dream. When you have a hard date, it creates urgency and focus.

Be honest with yourself. If all your goals are ridiculously ambitious, you’ll burn out or give up once it’s clear you’re not making meaningful progress. Stretch goals are great—big, hairy, audacious goals will push you—but balance those with goals you can realistically achieve.

This is the ultimate question. If your goal doesn’t fire you up, if it’s not something you’d move mountains to achieve, you won’t push through the tough days. Remember, discipline means sacrificing what you want now for what you want most. If the desire isn’t there, the sacrifices won’t be made.

These are your steps to success—your system, your process, your roadmap. As James Clear says in Atomic Habits, you don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems. The idea is simple: if you have a crystal-clear process for what you need to do daily, weekly, and monthly, you’ll keep moving toward the goal—even when life gets hectic.

This is where your personal business plan and your personal goals intersect.

For instance, if your to-do or to-have goal requires additional income—maybe you need a bigger commission check to afford that new pool or a bucket-list vacation—then you have to hit your sales targets. This means building a discipline system that ensures you’re prospecting enough, qualifying enough opportunities, following up diligently, and negotiating effectively. Without a system and personal business plan you are more likely to get random results.

Sit in silence. Turn off the noise, get away from distractions, and grab a notebook and pen. Write down what you want, when you want it, if it’s attainable, how bad you want it, and how you plan to get there. Sketch it all out—just let the ideas flow. Once you’ve got it all down, build a formal goal sheet.

Yes, I’m talking about physically writing it out. There’s tremendous power in seeing your goals in black and white, or printing them out and pinning them above your desk. Countless studies show that written goals are far more likely to be realized than goals that just bounce around in your head.

This goal sheet is your personal roadmap—put it into your personal business plan so everything stays in one place.

Learn how to set winning goals and build your personal Goal Sheet in Jeb Blount’s comprehensive course: The Essentials of Setting Winning Goals

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, take a look back at the best insights from the year. These moments aren’t just memorable, they’re actionable advice that sales professionals can take into 2025 to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.

This year reinforced a crucial truth: the fundamentals of sales never go out of style, but adapting to the environment around you is key. Buyers are sharper, busier, and more discerning, which means the best salespeople need to work smarter and harder to stay ahead. Here’s what stood out from our conversations this year:

– Objections Are Opportunities: Objections aren’t something to avoid, they’re invitations to build trust. When a buyer pushes back, it’s a sign they’re engaged. Instead of sidestepping concerns, lean into them. Acknowledge the issue, ask thoughtful questions, and use the conversation to demonstrate your understanding of their needs.

– Relentless Prospecting Wins Deals: The deals you close tomorrow start with the work you do today. This year, we discussed the importance of consistent prospecting and how staying disciplined with your outreach pays off. Whether it’s calls, emails, or social touches, keeping your pipeline full is the foundation of success.

– Empathy Drives Connection: In a crowded marketplace, standing out often comes down to how well you connect with your prospects. Leading with empathy and emotional intelligence helps uncover the real problems you can solve. Listening, not just to respond, but to understand, creates trust and sets you apart from competitors.

– Simplify the Process: A complicated sales process creates unnecessary barriers for your buyers. Instead, focus on making every step clear and straightforward. Simplify presentations, eliminate unnecessary details, and provide actionable next steps. Buyers are more likely to move forward when it feels easy to do so.

– Consistency Is King: Talent might get you started, but consistency is what keeps you winning. Showing up daily, sticking to your routines, and doing the small things consistently makes a big difference over time. Success in 2025 will be about maintaining that focus, even when motivation dips.

In high-stakes sales situations, maintaining composure is crucial. Drawing from his extensive military experience, retired Navy SEAL Master Chief Stephen Drum emphasizes the importance of preparation, adaptability, and mental resilience. By implementing a structured approach—commit, prepare, execute, and reflect—sales professionals can enhance their performance under pressure. This method enables individuals to stay focused, adjust to changing circumstances, and continuously improve their strategies.

Josh Hulsebosch dives into how physical fitness directly impacts sales performance by enhancing energy levels, mental clarity, and resilience. Maintaining a “proud posture,” standing tall with shoulders back and chest open, not only boosts confidence but also improves breathing and communication, essential for effective selling. Prioritizing regular exercise, proper nutrition, and adequate sleep equips sales professionals to handle the demands of their role, leading to increased productivity and success.

The moment you realize sales isn’t about you is the moment you start winning. Too many salespeople and entrepreneurs fall into the trap of making their pitch the center of the conversation, focusing on their product, their needs, or their numbers. But here’s the truth: your prospects don’t care about you—they care about themselves. Success comes when you shift your mindset and make everything about the customer. Carole Mahoney discusses how to ask better questions, listen deeply, and focus on their pain points, goals, and dreams. When you solve their problems and make them the hero of the story, you’ll not only close more deals but also build lasting relationships that fuel your business.

Discipline is the steering wheel that keeps you on course, while motivation is the gas pedal that drives you forward—and Dre Baldwin mastered both. He didn’t wait for opportunities to come knocking; he created them. Dre’s story is a blueprint for sales pros and entrepreneurs: consistency in your daily actions builds momentum, and staying disciplined keeps you laser-focused, even when motivation fades. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about showing up, doing the work, and staying in the game long enough to turn possibilities into realities. That’s how you move from dreaming to doing.

AI is changing the sales game, but here’s the deal: it’s a tool, not a replacement for your hustle. Victor Antonio demonstrates that the best salespeople know how to blend the power of AI with human connection. Use AI to gather insights, predict buyer behavior, and streamline processes, but don’t forget that people buy from people they trust. Your ability to empathize, build relationships, and create value is what sets you apart. AI can enhance your strategy, but it’s your skill, grit, and adaptability that close deals and build long-term success.

Looking ahead to 2025, the key to thriving in sales is staying grounded in these principles while being flexible enough to adapt. Whether it’s perfecting your prospecting routine, mastering the art of connection, or streamlining your process, every action compounds toward bigger results.

Here’s to a successful new year filled with growth, opportunity, and plenty of closed deals.

Get your New Year off to a winning start with Jeb Blount’s popular on-demand course: The Essentials of Setting Winning Goals

For me, the last full week of the year has always been the chance to pause, take a break from the grind of selling, and really think about what happened over the past year—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

If you are anything like me and do the same, there are two ways to look back on your last twelve months. You can do so with regret or reflection.

These two opposing lenses are vastly different in the way they affect your view of where you’ve been and where you are going.

Let’s start by unpacking regret.

Some of you are already feeling regret about goals you missed, deals you lost, opportunities that slipped through your fingers, or the people in your life you may have let down.

Regret is that feeling you get when you look back on something you did (or didn’t do) and wish you could change it.

In many ways, regret is similar to worry, except it’s focused on the past instead of the future. Worry is about what might happen; regret is about what already happened. That’s a big distinction.

Although you can turn worry into action and change the future, you cannot rewrite the past. No amount of regret changes history. All it does is create a feedback loop in your mind where you keep reliving your mistakes, misses, and failures over and over again.

I’ve observed so many people get stuck in this endless loop of regret. They keep lamenting, “If only I had . . .”

Those “if only’s” can paralyze you. They sap your energy, crush your confidence, and keep you from moving forward.

On one hand, regret can push you to change—you don’t want to feel that kind of pain again, so you work hard to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

On the other hand, regret can become a debilitating emotion that drags you into an exhausting and useless mental loop of “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.”

But no matter how many times you complete that loop, it doesn’t change the outcome. It becomes an emotional anchor that weighs you down as you start the new year.

Reflection, on the other hand, is entirely different—and far more productive.

When you reflect, you detach from your emotions with objectivity to look at your entire body of work from the past year.

Reflection isn’t about punishing yourself for what went wrong. It’s about gaining clarity on why it went wrong—and what you can do about it next time.

Reflection also helps you find gratitude in unexpected places. Maybe there’s a hidden lesson in overcoming an obstacle or perhaps you gained a new perspective because a challenging person came into your life.

It’s important to realize that each decision you made over the past year shaped your present circumstances. But you are not defined by these circumstances, only by how you respond to them.

Reflection creates awareness. Where there is awareness there is the potential for change. Awareness is like the sun, anything it touches has a tendency to transform.

The bottom line is that reflection is about learning, growing, and transforming. Regret is stagnation.

The reason I’m talking about the impact of reflection as we close out this year is because, for most of us, the slate really does feel clean come January 1st.

In the sales world, we get a brand-new quota and brand-new targets. There’s an air of possibility as we think,

But if you don’t take a moment to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, you’re likely to find yourself repeating the same missteps. Reflection is like an internal debrief—a chance to say, “Here’s what happened, here’s why, and here’s how I’m going to fix it.”

Let me give you a personal example. A the beginning of last year I set a goal for my sales training company Sales Gravy. This was a big, bold visionary goal that would transform our organization and ultimately double our sales.

I proudly and confidently told my team that it was going to happen. And then, in an embarrassing crash and burn, I failed miserably.

Certainly, I could have stewed in regret, beating myself up and allowing my self-talk to run wild about how I fell short. But that would have been a waste of time and energy.

Instead, I chose reflection. I asked myself, “What happened and why didn’t I achieve this goal?” As I mulled over those questions, the answers came more clearly than I expected.

One of the biggest insights I gained was that I’d set this big goal but didn’t establish a system or plan to make it happen. You see, a goal without a system is basically just a wish—as they say, “hope is not a strategy.”

If, for example, you set a goal to prospect a hundred potential customers per week, but you haven’t built a disciplined daily routine, built targeted lists, set aside specific times for calls, and created accountability checkpoints, it’s not going to stick. Life will get in the way. Sooner or later, your big, bold goal gets overshadowed by a million other tasks. Without a system for achieving the goal you quickly succumb to discipline fatigue.

This is exactly what happened to me. At the start of last year, I was fired up about my big goal. I was confident, energized, excited and believed that I could make the goal to happen just by saying that it would.

Then my sales team started knocking it out of the park bringing in new clients and the work started to pile up. I was traveling, speaking, training, advising clients, writing a book, running the OutBound Conference, and dealing with everyday business firefights. Because I didn’t have a system in place to support my audacious goal, as the grind wore me down and my discipline began to fatigue, I slowly but surely drifted off course.

In my case, I realized that with a goal this big, the hubris to believe that I could just manifest it with my enthusiasm was a failing strategy.

Instead, I needed to hire more talent. To make this goal a reality, I needed people who could lead the way and keep this project on track. I also needed to build a systematic, step-by-step system for achieving the goal.

Upon reflection, I’m grateful for my massive failure because it forced me to change my approach to leadership, add amazing new people to my team, and get much more dialed in with our strategic business planning process.

This is exactly why reflection can be your best friend at year end. It allows you to own your failures without letting them define you, and it helps you leverage your successes by pinpointing what you did right.

Regret says: “You messed up. You’ll never fix this. It’s too late.”

Reflection says: “You messed up. Now let’s find out why, learn from it, and do better next time.”

My challenge to you this week is to carve out time to reflect on your past year.

Here’s the big takeaway: Regret is the enemy of progress, Reflection is the catalyst for growth.

Get your New Year off to a winning start with Jeb Blount’s popular on-demand course: The Essentials of Setting Winning Goals