Most salespeople treat follow-up like an afterthought: a quick check-in email, then nothing. I sat down with Corrie George, founder of YESA and Canada First, and former president of Grant Cardone Canada, to talk about the follow-up system that's actually helped him close hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.

Most Sales Are Won After the Fifth Contact

• According to Salesforce, less than 20 percent of sales happen in the first few points of contact.
• 82 percent of sales happen between the fifth and twelfth point of contact.
• Most sales reps stop following up long before they reach that window, which means they're walking away from the majority of their pipeline.

Know Where Your Buyer Really Is in the Buying Cycle

• Before you follow up, figure out where the buyer actually is. Some people aren't even aware they have the problem you solve yet.
• Corrie says salespeople often compete with a purchase in a completely different category, not just a direct competitor.
• Understanding that stage changes how, and how often, you should be reaching out.

The Four Types of Follow-Up: Information, Education, Entertainment, and Service

• Corrie breaks follow-up into four categories, and they have to happen in order: information, education, entertainment, then service.
• Skipping the order, especially jumping to entertainment before you've built credibility, makes a rep look unprofessional instead of likable.

Information Follow-Up Covers Your Product and Company

• This is the follow-up most reps already do: spec sheets, product comparisons, and warranty details.
• Corrie also uses this stage to introduce the buyer to the service team they'll work with after the sale, so promises made during the pitch feel real.

Education Follow-Up Turns You Into an Advisor

• Education follow-up gives the buyer something useful whether they buy from you or not, like an honest guide to navigating your industry.
• Corrie points to the movie Air, where Nike won over the Jordan family by telling them exactly what to expect from competitors before ever pitching a shoe.
• This step also means telling buyers the hard questions they should ask your competitors, even when it makes your own company look more exposed.

Entertainment Comes After You've Earned Trust

• Entertainment, things like memes, a pizza delivery, or a Rubik's Cube with a clever note, only works once you've already built credibility.
• Trying to build rapport before trust exists makes a buyer more suspicious, not less.

Service Follow-Up Closes the Loop

• Service follow-up means offering something small and free, like a low cost version of your product, a free workshop, or a discounted service, to prove your competence before the big ask.
• It comes last because you don't want to give away value to buyers who are still early in the process.

Physical Follow-Up Beats Digital

• Every digital follow-up competes with hundreds of unread emails and notifications already on a buyer's phone.
• A physical card, book, or package sits on someone's desk with no competition, and Corrie treats that as one of the most underused tools in follow-up.

Play the Long Game With Every Prospect

• Some deals will close this month, some in three months, and some won't close for a year. Reps need to plan follow-up around that reality instead of giving up early.
• Corrie's rule: do something today that your future self will thank you for.

"Don't expect him to spend fifty grand with you if you won't spend fifty dollars on him." — Corrie George

Resources

• Learn more about Corrie's sales trade school, YESA.
• Learn more about Corrie's home security company, Canada First.
• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.
• Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Every seller has been there. You send the perfect proposal, deliver a great pitch, and then the exec on the other end goes silent.

I sat down with Anthony Reeves, a former global executive at Amazon, WPP, LVMH, and Airbnb, to talk about the real reason executives ghost you. It's not what most sellers think.

Executives Aren't Ghosting You, They're Protecting Themselves

• Executives get to their position by protecting their career and their company, and staying out of trouble.
• The number one question running through their head in a pitch is whether this decision could embarrass them personally or embarrass the company.
• If a sales conversation doesn't address that fear directly, it gets pushed to the back burner, which looks a lot like ghosting.

Slow Down. You're Probably Over-Preparing

• Anthony spent years as the final decision maker at companies like Amazon and WPP, with back to back thirty minute meetings from morning to night.
• By the time a deal reaches an executive's desk, it's often already been vetted by their team. They just want confirmation, not a full pitch from scratch.
• Sales reps who try to sell all the way through the meeting are working against how executives actually make decisions.

Get to the Point in the First Few Minutes

• Anthony has sat through pitches that took twenty five minutes to get to the point. At his level, he needed the point in the first few minutes.
• He recommends opening with a short greeting, then moving straight into what you're there to talk about: the product, the plan forward, the price, and the benefit to their organization.
• That structure resets a busy exec's mind fast, since they're usually jumping straight from a completely different meeting into yours.

Let Data Do the Convincing

• One of the best lessons Anthony learned at Amazon was to make decisions with data, not opinion.
• Jeff Bezos's rule was that seventy percent of the data is usually enough, with the rest filled in by good judgment.
• Data driven pitches remove the office politics and personal bias from a decision, which makes it easier for an executive to say yes.

Data Levels the Playing Field for Junior Sellers

• At the enterprise level, a purchase usually has to clear procurement, legal, compliance, and IT, four teams that rarely speak the same language.
• Data is the one language all four of those teams can agree on.
• Anthony says a junior sales rep with strong data can out argue the most senior person in the room, because the data doesn't care who's presenting it.

Think Like the Person You're Pitching

• Executives are jumping from meeting to meeting all day, often with almost no gap in between.
• Anthony suggests opening with a quick, genuine greeting, then naming exactly what the meeting will cover so the buyer can mentally reset.
• That small structure change respects their time more than small talk does.

Don't Hide the Facts, Especially the Price

• Every fact in a deal comes out eventually, so there's no reason to delay the ones that matter most, especially price.
• Anthony compares a slow sales pitch to a used car lot that won't just tell you the price. Buyers respect a rep who's upfront, even about the tough numbers.
• Getting to price early doesn't kill a deal. It builds the trust that keeps the conversation moving.

Build a Set of Principles You Won't Cross

• Anthony points to Amazon's leadership principles, especially customer obsession, as an example of a rule that guided every decision regardless of the revenue on the table.
• He's turned down revenue in the past because saying yes would have gone against a personal or company principle, and it paid off long term.
• Reps who define their own non negotiables ahead of time make faster, more confident decisions in the room.

The Real Reason Executives Ghost You

• If you push a short term sale that embarrasses or overwhelms the buyer, you lose the long term relationship, and most future business comes from existing customers.
• Sometimes the right move is to say no to a deal, because protecting the relationship is worth more than the transaction.
• Thinking long term, and putting the buyer's reputation ahead of the sale, is what keeps executives responding instead of disappearing.

"Sometimes saying no and not embarrassing the customer is actually a really good thing. It'll benefit you in the longer term." — Anthony Reeves

Resources

• Connect with Anthony Reeves on LinkedIn.
• Visit Anthony's website.
• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.
• Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Every sales leader wants to go upstream. Bigger logos, bigger checks, bigger deals. But most of what determines whether that move actually works has nothing to do with the sales team. I sat down with Alison Disken, an expert in executive alignment, to talk about the one thing most companies miss when they decide to go upmarket.

Why Going Upmarket Takes More Than A New Sales Pitch

• Everyone wants to go upstream because that's where the bigger checks are.
• But most of what determines success in that move has nothing to do with the sales team specifically.
• The nuance that gets missed is making sure the entire company is aligned before sales even starts prospecting.

Get The Full C-Suite Aligned On What Upmarket Means

• Executive alignment is one of the most overlooked pieces of any strategic pivot.
• Allie shared an example of a European tech company acquired by a US private equity firm. They were winning in mid market, but got pushed to chase enterprise names without ever redefining their tech stack, competitive positioning, or pricing for that new buyer.
• Alignment starts with reassessing the ideal customer profile, setting clear timelines, and agreeing on sales goals across the entire executive team, not just sales and marketing.

How To Start The Alignment Conversation

• Sit down with every executive individually and ask them to walk through their view of the strategy, the priorities, and what they'd sacrifice to hit the top priority.
• Comparing those individual answers is what surfaces the alignment gaps.
• These gaps aren't a sign that someone doesn't understand the business. They show up naturally as a company grows.

Build The Internal Narrative Before You Move

• Once the executive team is aligned, someone needs to pull all of that input together into a clear story: why now, what this means for the business, and where the company expects to be in six, twelve, and eighteen months.
• Every function needs a clear answer to what they will start doing, stop doing, and continue doing to support the shift.

What Changes Across The Company When You Go Upmarket

• Operations often need a new delivery and onboarding model, since enterprise buyers expect dedicated implementation, service level agreements, and stronger security and compliance.
• HR has to rethink hiring and compensation to attract account executives with enterprise level experience.
• Finance has to shift pricing from mid market volume discounts to value based enterprise pricing, and plan for margin drag from longer sales cycles and bigger discounts.

Why Passive Agreement Kills The Shift

• Leaders often nod along when a strategy shift gets presented, but never work out the specific details for their own function.
• Allie calls this passive agreement. Everyone agrees at the 30,000 foot level, but nobody has actually mapped out their piece of the work.
• Companies without full alignment still make progress. It just takes longer and feels less cohesive.

Build The Roadmap And Reinforce It Constantly

• The roadmap breaks the strategy down into specific actions for each function, plus a communication plan for cascading the message through every level of the company.
• One message or one town hall is not enough. Allie points to research showing it can take twenty to twenty five repetitions for people to grasp a more complex concept.
• Consistency is what keeps people on track. The message people hear today should be the same message they hear next week and two months from now.

How To Spot An Alignment Gap On Your Own Team

• Ask your team what the strategy is and what goals you're working toward.
• If everyone gives close to the same answer, your team is aligned.
• If the answers are vague or different, you've found your alignment gap, and that's exactly where to focus next.

"If everybody gives you the exact same answer, you have your alignment. If you're getting vague or varied answers, you've unearthed your alignment gap." — Allie Disken

Resources

• Connect with Allie Disken on LinkedIn. She shares her free alignment diagnostic and productivity drag calculator there.
• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.
• Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Sales and marketing are supposed to work together, but in most companies, they don't. Not to the level your revenue actually needs. In this episode, I sat down with Mark Kapczynski, co-founder of Kontrol Media and author of Everyone Sells, to talk about practical, sometimes unconventional ways to get these two teams pulling in the same direction.

Why Sales and Marketing Still Don't Work Together

• Traditional marketing was built around brand awareness, not revenue. That history still shapes how a lot of teams operate today.
• Marketing budgets are getting cut because leadership now expects marketing to prove its impact on revenue, not just visibility.
• Sales and marketing need to see each other as one team working toward the same goal, not two departments with separate scorecards.

Give Sales and Marketing One Shared Goal

• Most companies still measure marketing on traffic and awareness, while sales is measured strictly on closed revenue.
• Mark says both teams need a shared goal tied to revenue, whether that's new logos, higher customer lifetime value, or overall revenue growth.
• Marketing pay structures need to change too. Straight salary with a small year end bonus doesn't give marketers the same stake in closing deals that commission gives salespeople.

Meet on the Pipeline Two or Three Times a Week

• Sales and marketing can't just hand off leads and hope for the best.
• Mark recommends meeting regularly, two or three times a week, to review the pipeline together.
• These meetings should cover what made one lead higher quality than another, and what's holding up deals that are stuck.

Track the Metrics That Actually Matter

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV) should be shared numbers between sales and marketing, especially for enterprise deals.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS) shows whether marketing's paid spend is actually working. Mark looks for four to five times return.
• Time to close and number of touch points are also worth tracking together.

Let Marketing Support the Close, Not Own It

• Marketing shouldn't be responsible for closing deals. Contracts, legal terms, and pricing sit outside their lane.
• But marketing can stay involved right up until the customer gives a verbal yes, supporting the salesperson the whole way.

Use What Marketing Is Already Great At

• Marketers are natural storytellers. Salespeople tend to be more transactional and want to close fast.
• Marketing can help build trust and consistency across every touch point, so a prospect hears the same story from sales, marketing, and leadership.
• Nurturing is another area marketing can own. Not every prospect is ready to buy today, and marketing has the tools and patience to stay engaged until they are.

The Big Takeaway: Everyone Sells

• Mark's core message ties back to his book, Everyone Sells. Every person in a company plays a role in the sales process, not just the sales team.
• When only one department is expected to carry the entire revenue goal, the business underperforms.

"Sales and marketing are peanut butter and chocolate. They have to work well together, otherwise you just have two silos going two different directions with two sets of goals." — Mark Kapczynski

Resources

• Learn more about Mark's company, Kontrol Media.
• Connect with Mark Kapczynski on LinkedIn.
• Check out Mark's book, Everyone Sells (Including AI): How to Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime.
• Join our LinkedIn cohort and learn to prospect the right way.
• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

This wraps up our four part LinkedIn Response Series. Over the last few episodes, I covered your headline, your banner, and how to turn profile views into real conversations. In this final episode, I'm showing you how to take those conversations and turn them into booked appointments.

Never Pitch First

• The fastest way to kill a new LinkedIn conversation is to pitch right away.
• When someone replies to you, keep the conversation focused on them before you bring up your product or service.

Make The Conversation About Them

• One of the easiest ways to find something to talk about is to look at what the person posts on LinkedIn.
• I'll drop a prospect's profile link into Claude or ChatGPT and ask for ideas on how to start a natural conversation with them.
• If they post about something like running marathons or self improvement, use that as your opener. Ask a real question about it.

Use Voice And Video Messages

• Voice and video messages inside the LinkedIn app get far better replies than plain text.
• Record them natively in the LinkedIn app, not through Loom or another video tool. It feels more real, and prospects respond to that.
• Always end your voice or video message with a question. That question is what pulls the reply out of them.

Give It A Day Or Two

• Don't ask for anything the same day someone replies to you.
• Wait a day or two, then ask a permission based question tied to something specific about them or their company.
• This is what turns small talk into a real business conversation.

Message The Right People

• None of this works if you're messaging random people.
• Build your outreach around people who fit your ideal customer profile. Target the accounts and titles you actually want to work with.
• Relevant messages get relevant replies.

Turn It Into An Appointment

• Once someone shows interest, ask if they're open to a five to seven minute conversation.
• If you can't explain what you offer in five to seven minutes, that's a sign to tighten up your pitch first.

"If you can't explain what you offer in five to seven minutes, you don't have a right to ask for someone's time." — Donald C. Kelly

Resources

• Learn the full system inside the LinkedIn Prospecting Course.
• Email Donald directly at [email protected] to ask about joining the next cohort.
• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

show notes

Getting a notification that someone viewed your LinkedIn profile can be exciting, but most sellers don't know what to do next.

In this episode of the LinkedIn Response Series, I am sharing how to turn profile views into meaningful conversations that can lead to appointments and new business.

Instead of ignoring those notifications or sending an immediate sales pitch, I'll show you a simple process that helps you engage interested prospects the right way.

• A LinkedIn profile view is often a sign that someone is interested in learning more about you or your business.
• They may have found you through your content, received a connection request from you, or be researching your company before reaching out.
• In many cases, prospects are doing their homework before booking a meeting. That makes profile views an early buying signal that should not be ignored.

• It is tempting to react in one of two ways: send an immediate sales pitch or do nothing at all.
• Neither approach is effective. Instead of rushing the conversation or letting the opportunity pass, use the profile view as a reason to start a genuine connection.
• The goal is to build a relationship before discussing your product or service.

• A simple, honest message can open the door to a meaningful conversation.
• If someone views your profile, take a moment to review theirs. If they look like a good fit, send a connection request with a friendly message acknowledging that they visited your profile.
• Asking why you are not already connected feels natural and often encourages a response without sounding salesy.
• Once they accept your request, continue the conversation by asking what prompted them to visit your profile. Their answer may reveal a need, an opportunity, or an interest in working together.

• Not everyone who views your profile will become a customer, and that's okay.
• Some people will decide you are not the right fit, while others are already interested in what you have to offer.
• Focus your time on the people who are engaging with your profile, content, or connection requests. Those are the conversations that are most likely to turn into appointments and future business opportunities.

• Following up on profile views does not have to take a lot of time.
• Set aside time each week to review who has visited your profile.
• Reconnect with people you've already engaged with, and send connection requests to new prospects who fit your ideal customer profile.
• A consistent follow-up process helps you start conversations before your competitors have the chance.

Resources

• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help in creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Your LinkedIn headline is one of the first things prospects see, yet many salespeople waste it by listing their job title and company name. In this first episode of the LinkedIn Response Series, I explain why your headline should focus on the problem you solve instead of who you work for.

A strong headline tells prospects immediately how you can help them, increases profile views, and encourages more conversations before you ever send a sales message.

• Your headline is more than a job description. It helps prospects quickly decide whether you're relevant to them.

A well-written headline can:

• Increase profile views by making your profile stand out in LinkedIn searches.
• Encourage more inbound conversations from interested prospects.
• Clearly communicate the value you provide before someone reads the rest of your profile.
• Improve your visibility by using keywords your ideal buyers are already searching for.

• Most buyers don't care where you work unless your company is already widely recognized.
• Instead of using your company name or job title as the main focus, use your headline to explain the problem you solve. When prospects immediately recognize a challenge they're facing, they're far more likely to view your profile and engage with you.

• A great headline only works when it's seen by the right people.
• Rather than trying to appeal to everyone on LinkedIn, narrow your focus to your ideal buyers. This could include people who:
• Recently changed jobs.
• Are active and posting on LinkedIn.
• Match your target industry or decision-maker profile.
• The more relevant your audience, the more effective your headline becomes.

One effective approach is to build your headline around three parts:

• Identify a specific problem your ideal customer is experiencing.
• Make the problem feel immediate and relevant.
• End with a question that points toward the result they want.

This approach sparks curiosity and encourages prospects to learn more about you.

• Avoid technical language, company jargon, or long descriptions.
• Your headline should be short, easy to understand, and immediately clear. Prospects should know within seconds whether your profile is relevant to them.

• Even small changes can make a noticeable difference.
• After updating one team member's LinkedIn headline to focus on customer pain points instead of company information, connection requests began turning into real conversations.
• Prospects started asking buying questions and booking appointments without being pitched directly.
• The change wasn't in the outreach. It started with the headline.

In the next episode of the LinkedIn Response Series, I explain how to increase LinkedIn profile views so more qualified prospects actually see your profile and your headline.

"Address the problem your prospect is already thinking about, then show them the outcome they're looking for."

Resources

• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help in creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Administrative tasks are part of every sales role, but they should never take priority over selling.

I'm revisiting a conversation from the archive with Anthony Iannarino to share practical ways to keep admin work from taking over your day. While this conversation first aired in 2020, the principles are still relevant today, especially when AI can help streamline many everyday tasks.

Busy Is Not the Same as Productive

• A full calendar does not always mean meaningful progress. As sales professionals become more successful, more requests, emails, client issues, and internal tasks naturally compete for their attention.
• The challenge is learning to separate work that creates opportunities from work that simply keeps you busy.
• Staying productive means focusing on the activities that move deals forward instead of constantly reacting to every request.

Protect Your Most Important Work

• The best time and energy should be reserved for activities that directly contribute to sales.
• Instead of starting the day by checking emails or responding to client requests, block uninterrupted time for prospecting, nurturing relationships, and preparing for important sales conversations.
• Administrative work can be handled later without sacrificing the work that drives results.

Create Boundaries Around Client Requests

• Being available for clients does not mean responding to every request immediately.
• Many transactional tasks, such as correcting invoices, retrieving reports, or resolving operational issues, belong to other departments.
• While it is important to make sure customers receive the help they need, those responsibilities should be delegated whenever possible so selling remains the priority.

Use Time Blocks to Stay Focused

• Switching between emails, CRM updates, prospecting, and meetings throughout the day makes it difficult to stay focused.
• Working in dedicated time blocks helps eliminate distractions and improves productivity.
• Setting aside uninterrupted periods for prospecting, project work, and administrative tasks makes it easier to complete each activity without constantly changing focus.

Batch Administrative Tasks Together

• Administrative work is unavoidable, but it does not have to interrupt the entire day.
• Grouping similar tasks together, such as updating the CRM, replying to emails, or completing reports, helps reduce time lost through constant task switching.
• Completing these activities during scheduled blocks keeps them from interfering with revenue-generating work.

Let Your CRM Work for You

• A CRM should be used as a tool to support future conversations, not as another task to avoid.
• Recording important notes after meetings makes it easier to remember customer goals, previous discussions, and next steps.
• Instead of relying on memory, use the CRM to capture details that strengthen future interactions and improve follow-up.

Confidence Matters More Than Endless Research

• Many sellers delay prospecting because they believe they need more research before making a call.
• Research has its place, but it should never replace meaningful outreach.
• A clear value proposition, confidence in the conversation, and consistent follow-up have a much greater impact than spending hours gathering information that may never be used.

Prioritize Opportunity Creation Every Day

• Sales success comes down to creating opportunities and winning them.
• Administrative work supports the sales process, but it does not replace it.
• Protect time for prospecting, client conversations, and relationship building before tackling lower-value tasks.
• Consistently doing the most important work first creates better long-term results.

"Do what's most important first every day without failure, and don't negotiate with yourself." — Anthony Iannarino

Resources

• Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
• Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
• Visit Blue Mango Studios for help in creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How do you handle competitor questions without sounding defensive, desperate, or unprofessional?

In this solo episode, Donald C. Kelly shares three practical strategies for talking about competitors with confidence and credibility. Instead of attacking another company, he explains how to use customer stories, thoughtful questions, and your prospect's own insights to position your solution as the better fit.

If you're in a competitive sales environment, this episode will help you navigate competitor conversations in a way that builds trust and moves deals forward.

Episode Breakdown with Timestamps:

Why You Should Prepare for Competitor Conversations (00:00:31 – 00:01:30)

• Donald explains that prospects are often evaluating multiple vendors at the same time.
• Rather than being surprised by competitor questions, sales professionals should prepare their messaging ahead of time and understand where their solution stands out.
• He emphasizes that preparation gives sellers confidence when those conversations arise.

Lead With Your Strengths Instead of Attacking Competitors (00:01:31 – 00:02:30)

• Donald shares his first strategy for handling competitor discussions.
• Instead of naming competitors or criticizing them directly, he recommends emphasizing the areas where your solution performs best while subtly addressing gaps that prospects may experience elsewhere.
• The goal is to keep the conversation focused on solving the customer's problem rather than attacking another company.

Let Customer Stories Do the Talking (00:02:31 – 00:07:30)

• Donald introduces his favorite approach: using customer success stories to explain why buyers switched from a competitor.
• Drawing from his experience competing against Laserfiche in the document management industry, he demonstrates how to acknowledge what a competitor does well before explaining why customers ultimately chose a different solution.
• He explains that customer experiences carry far more credibility than sales claims because they come from real users rather than the salesperson.

Use Reviews and Testimonials as Third-Party Validation (00:06:01 – 00:07:30)

• Donald encourages sales professionals to study customer reviews on platforms like G2 and Google Reviews.
• Instead of making negative claims yourself, use publicly available feedback to understand common concerns and position your solution accordingly.
• This approach allows prospects to hear criticism from existing users instead of from you.

Let Prospects Voice Their Own Doubts (00:07:31 – 00:10:30)

• The third strategy is to ask thoughtful questions.
• Donald recommends asking prospects what concerns they have about other vendors instead of volunteering criticism yourself.
• Once they share their doubts, you can validate those concerns and explain how your solution addresses the issues they're most concerned about.
• This creates a more natural and trustworthy sales conversation.

Three Strategies to Handle Competitor Questions with Confidence (00:10:31 – 00:11:39)

Donald wraps up the episode by summarizing his three-step framework:

• Build your sales conversation around your strengths.
• Use customer stories to explain why buyers switched from competitors.
• Let prospects express their own concerns before responding with customer proof and relevant examples.

Themes Discussed

• How to discuss competitors professionally
• Positioning your solution without badmouthing others
• Using customer stories to build credibility
• Leveraging online reviews in sales conversations
• Asking better questions during competitive deals
• Building trust through evidence instead of opinion

Key Quote from the Episode

"How you can talk about your competitor without badmouthing them is to have your customer do so."— Donald C. Kelly

Resources Mentioned

• G2 Reviews
• Google Reviews

Follow Donald on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show.

Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound.