Josh

Sales insights + My opinions

[Josh @JoshPSales]

How bad do YOU want to close a deal?

This is my old car, the night before Christmas Eve a year ago

Ran out of the house for a bite to eat between calls and got hit by a semi while I was waiting for a light to turn green. Worst part was I could see it coming for 5 seconds before it happened, but there was literally nothing I could do to stop it

Bit of an issue as I had a $30k deal on the line with a scheduled call to collect 45 minutes later.

I still remember the first thing I thought after getting hit was “Fuck I hope the cops get here quick I need to get home and collect that”

Car totaled, concussed, in shock, and with a black eye I made it home just in time.

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING comes in the way of a PIF.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

A sales rep I coached last year who was averaging $6k/mo in comms messaged me this.

Insane what happens when you level up your skill set.

Regardless of any opportunity you undertake, the common factor will always be YOU and your skill level and effort. Nothing else matters.

It’s also a perfect example of the value of GOOD coaching. When I coach reps, while doing 1o1s, I build a customized sales course that focuses on their weak spots, what they want to engrain, and it’s carefully designed to be something they come back to many times over.

The reps who do always end up with a result like this.

So much of the “training” here is cookie cutter advice that you forget to use as soon as you take your next call.

If you want to earn more, simply invest more into yourself.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@KyleMau Once a year like clockwork you end up virally pissing off the plebs 🤣

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@wizofecom All great advice. Vouch.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@TheGeoMethod Seems to be par for the course. I've heard someone say "no one chooses sales, it chooses you" and a lot of the time it's because something severe happened first.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

The only “job” I’ve ever had was sales.

Starting out in high school I was selling T-Shirts, knives, cold calling people from my high school to get jobs in some employment scam idek what it was to this day tbh

Fast forward I was doing ecom during Covid, had a phenomenal run followed by a horrendous drop… worst part I had just splashed everything I had for inventory because I thought I’d become a millionaire from women’s swimwear

Ended the venture $50k in debt, no career prospects, literally nothing

Was the darkest place I’ve ever been.

I ended up jumping into HTS as a setter. That job paid virtually nothing but felt like a blessing

Dialed more than anyone on the offer, set more than anyone on the offer, was pulled to closing about a month in

A year later I had my first $20k month

Since then I’ve had many $50k months

Life can change in the blink of an eye

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@bowtiedbrazil 🎯

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@bowtiedmeathead I was accepted into a top tier (5/1000 applications) internship out of high school. Cubicle work. Despite everyone’s advice I quit that summer.

I now make way more than I ever would have staying in that role because of that decision.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

No such thing.

You’ll sacrifice, you’ll learn, and you’ll always learn there’s another level to climb.

It’s the right question, but you already have the right answer as well.

Volume and calibration.

[SAL @TopCashStacker]

@JoshPSales How do we condense timeline w/o sacrificing learning and skill, sir

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@sweatystartup 145+. The sharks are recruiting the undrafted for their small biz.

Only the elite are calculating how many boxes an undrafted D1 guard can move per hour.

Zig when others zag.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@TopCashStacker In a few years you’ll be making more money than you ever dreamed of and realize all of this was worth it.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@mikefutia chat

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@ImAntCalabrese Alo

[Josh @JoshPSales]

There's a lot of speculation on how AI will impact sales. Here's what's happening and what's going to happen:

1) AI Enabled Salespeople: Obvious one first. Insights, research, and data are available near instantaneously. Smart reps have been leveraging this already to brush up ahead of calls and in some cases, use an LLM to get information live on calls.

2) Prospect + Opportunity Data Models: As more datasets get built, commonalities and patterns across prospects and similar companies will become more and more apparent and become hyper specific. Trigger events for outreach will become commodities, but beyond that there will be a solution that creates "brains" that can accurately predict what pitches will land, optimal internal strategy, likely procurement sequences, levels of interest, personality types within an org, etc. Some versions of this already exist.

3) AI will not replace good AEs: Status, charisma, and power dynamics are simply too important to buying decisions. Additionally, buyers need a counterparty to blame if something goes wrong. AI can't take accountability.

4) AI will develop "emotional intelligence": Voice sentiment tools exist but they are primitive. They aren't able to predict whether someone is genuinely interested or politely tire kicking. That will change.

5) AI enabled CRMs tied closely to the "brain" mentioned above: Obvious extension of a curated and bespoke data source for pipeline opportunities - zero-effort-required, perfectly-timed and worded follow ups. The deal winners will have the best agentic solutions and data.

6) A return to "true" selling: When everyone is able to follow up and manage deals with a disproportionate level of attention and energy, buyers will go numb to all of it. Good demos and the human touch will differentiate.

7) GEO/AEO: 94% of buyers already use and have been using LLMs to make buying decisions. As usage expands and matures, they'll ask questions to models highly trained on every aspect of their business. Massive amounts of time and resources will be spent on GEO. It will go well beyond where it currently sits and teams will create hyper-specific resources with the hopes of capturing more market share.

8) Synthetic Demos: For SaaS, it will be very easy to create a free "light" version of what the user will pay for with simulated data. Imagine a demo where the buying team is able to visualize the problem and its downstream effects, implement your solution, and see ROI with their specific data in real time.

Also important note: Some of these will take a long time to come to fruition, but most of the seeds for these innovations have already been planted.

As usual, winners will win, and order takers will be flushed out.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@andyfrisella Blessings always feel like curses while they're forming.

https://t.co/BcKY0zTnZW

[Josh @JoshPSales]

Yet another late night extracting cash. A pipeline barrage, I almost feel sorry for them at this point.

As I look out of the window of my corner office over the city, I remember how I got here. What decisions I made, what lead to being in the fortunate position I am in now.

Lately it feels like I’ve been in the pressure cooker. Battle after battle. Stressor after stressor. But in reality, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve learned something extremely important over my sales and business career…

Blessings usually feel like curses while they’re happening.

I’ve had a million “failures” in my life and every single one of them ended up leading to something that made me more successful.

No way to predict, no way to plan. Just ruthless effort and ambition played out over years, one thing leading to the next.

I’ve learned to welcome and enjoy the dark periods.

Because I know that something great is around the corner.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

Prospects literally can't help but to show their true level of interest during sales process.

They won't state it explicitly, particularly in higher stakes situations as it would weaken their frame and betray their natural defense mechanisms.

Initial call: "We'll review and let you know" vs "What are the next steps?"

Mid-stage: Brings in uninterested and uninformed partners and board members vs telling you "I'm selling this for you. Here's what you need to know about the rest of the team."

Contract stage: Critique or finds reasons not to vs seeking clarification.

The reality is a sale is won or lost much earlier than a lot of sales reps realize.

There's a natural gravity that feels like it's pulling a deal together when real intent exists.

By the way, if you have to ask if it's there when looking at an opportunity... it isn't.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

@Vladsells hoodie on for trench work

[Josh @JoshPSales]

Great take. No real chance sales is replaced by AI anytime soon, AI verbiage and content is largely overused at this point already and people immediately switch off when they subconsciously notice. Absolutely zero chance a board will align and prep questions prior to a call with ChatGPT

[Josh @JoshPSales]

Yet another late night extracting cash. A pipeline barrage, I almost feel sorry for them at this point.

As I look out of the window of my corner office over the city, I remember how I got here. What decisions I made, what lead to being in the fortunate position I am in now.

Lately it feels like I’ve been in the pressure cooker. Battle after battle. Stressor after stressor. But in reality, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve learned something extremely important over my sales and business career…

Blessings usually feel like curses while they’re happening.

I’ve had a million “failures” in my life and every single one of them ended up leading to something that made me more successful.

No way to predict, no way to plan. Just ruthless effort and ambition played out over years, one thing leading to the next.

I’ve learned to welcome and enjoy the dark periods.

Because I know that something great is around the corner.

[Josh @JoshPSales]

People talk about DQing here (which is important) but I really like to "filter" by making my time extremely scarce for leads with low intent.

The key is to not act too hastily (things come up) but if 2+ of these things happen, probably a good idea to force a reschedule/cancel/end the call

-More than 5 minutes late without a heads up
-Refuses to confirm the appointment anywhere, ever
-Mentions "finances" "budget" or "funding" while having zero idea of what scope/service offering would look like
-Immediately try to "get down to business" (what's your price is the first thing out of their mouths/something similar)
-Not taking the call at all seriously
-Low intent short form answer on app
-"profit sharing"/"revenue sharing"
-Talks about how many other calls they've been on and nothing works
-Getting "investors" (SMB only)

The list goes on. Basically, if you get a terrible feeling in your gut as you look over a leads app and info, pretty good chance it will be a waste of your time.

DISCLAIMER: Always handle/reframe these first, don't give up without trying. But don't spend too much time when there's no meat on the bone.