Sales

I was invited by LinkedIn to attend B2Believe, and the message was clear: B2B is shifting faster than most teams realise. Creativity, buyer confidence, and human connection are becoming the new growth levers. Here are my 7 core takeaways (share & save this!) 1. Creativity is becoming the language of B2B Creative that grabs and holds attention multiplies leads by 3x. But while 92% say consistent creative matters – only 12% deliver it. 49% B2B decision-makers say they’re more likely to explore a company if its advertising is creative 40% B2B decision-makers say they’d be more likely to consider a purchase if the ad is seen as “creative” 2. Millennials + Gen Z now make up 71% of B2B buyers You need to engage them differently – they respond to: Cultural references; human stories; faces, not logos. 87% of B2B buyers now prefer content from trusted industry influencers over brand-authored content. 3. Buyability: the new model for growth B2B buying is slow because buyers don’t feel safe with 64% of marketers saying decisions now take longer. The top job-to-be-done is: “Can I defend this decision if it goes wrong?” Buyers don’t need more information — they need more confidence. 4. Your network is a marketing asset — not a distribution channel When employees from your target accounts follow your company, you generate 2.4x more leads. And when senior decision-makers at those target accounts are connected to your employees, that jumps to 2.2x more leads. You are more than 20x more likely to be bought when everyone in the Buyer Group knows you on Day One. Build brand, trust & authority with the right people. 5. Video is non-negotiable Jonathon Palmer said it well: Sound, movement, and visual cues trigger far stronger memory formation than static content ever can. It generates 1.4x more engagement, meaning more people stop, watch, and interact. And most importantly: viewers retain 95% of the message when it’s delivered via video. +20% more leads are driven with video Attention is scarce and recall is even scarcer. Video gives you the highest chance of being remembered — and being acted on. 6. Employee content > corporate content B2B is shifting from logos to faces; from corporate statements to human voices. Even when only 3% of employees post regularly, companies drive 20% more leads. So bring your team to the forefront. 7. Brand and demand are no longer separate Everything now all comes down to trust, Tunji Akintokun put it: “In B2B, trust is the ultimate growth metric that closes deals.” The era of “brand OR performance” is finished. Full-funnel integration is now a growth multiplier with always-on brand activity showing +10% conversion lift. In summary: The brands that win in 2025 won’t be the ones who look good in reports — they’ll be the ones who move buyer groups to act. In partnership with LinkedIn for Marketing #Ad 

Last week, I heard from a super impressive customer who has cracked the code on how to give salespeople something they’ve always wanted: more selling time. Here’s how he transformed their process. This customer runs the full B2B sales motion at an awesome printing business based in the U.S. For years, his team divided their time across six key areas: 1. Task prioritization 2. Meeting prep 3. Customer responses 4. Prospecting 5. Closing deals 6. Sales strategy Like every sales leader I know, he wants his team to spend most of their time on #5 and #6 — closing deals and sales strategy. But together, those only made up about 30% of their week. (Hearing this gave me flashbacks to my time in sales…and all that admin tasks 😱) Now, his team uses AI across the sales process to compress the amount of time spent on #1-4: 1. Task prioritization → AI scores leads and organizes daily tasks 2. Meeting prep → AI surfaces insights from calls and contact records before meetings 3. Customer responses → Breeze Customer Agent instantly answers customer questions 4. Prospecting → Breeze Prospecting Agent automatically researches accounts and books meetings The result? Higher quantity of AI-powered work: More prospecting. More pipeline.  Higher quality of human-led work: More thoughtful conversations. Sharper strategy. This COO's story made my week. It's a reminder of just how big a shift we're going through – and why it’s such an exciting time to be in go-to-market right now.

I watched a CEO fire his entire sales team last month "They're not hitting numbers. We need fresh blood" Six months earlier, I had warned him this would happen The real problem wasn't his sales team It was his onboarding process New customers were churning within 90 days because they never properly implemented the product The sales team kept filling a leaky bucket But he wanted "closers" not "customer success strategies" Here's what most companies get catastrophically wrong about sales growth: - They obsess over acquisition while neglecting retention - They celebrate closed deals but ignore customer lifetime value - They hire more salespeople instead of fixing broken systems I've spent 10 years rescuing companies from this exact death spiral. The pattern is always the same: - Sales targets increase - Quality of customers decreases - Churn accelerates - Desperate discounting begins - Margins collapse - Team gets blamed and replaced - Repeat until bankruptcy The solution isn't mysterious, but it requires courage: - Stop chasing new logos for 90 days - Audit your entire customer journey - Ask departing customers uncomfortable questions - Fix the leaks before adding more water That CEO who fired his team? His replacement team is now struggling with the exact same issues Meanwhile, his competitor grew 100% last year with a smaller sales team but a robust customer success program Revenue isn't just about closing deals It's about creating sustainable value that customers can't imagine living without Fix the system, not the symptoms P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message

🌎 Designing Cross-Cultural And Multi-Lingual UX. Guidelines on how to stress test our designs, how to define a localization strategy and how to deal with currencies, dates, word order, pluralization, colors and gender pronouns. ⦿ Translation: “We adapt our message to resonate in other markets”. ⦿ Localization: “We adapt user experience to local expectations”. ⦿ Internationalization: “We adapt our codebase to work in other markets”. ✅ English-language users make up about 26% of users. ✅ Top written languages: Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese. ✅ Most users prefer content in their native language(s). ✅ French texts are on average 20% longer than English ones. ✅ Japanese texts are on average 30–60% shorter. 🚫 Flags aren’t languages: avoid them for language selection. 🚫 Language direction ≠ design direction (“F” vs. Zig-Zag pattern). 🚫 Not everybody has first/middle names: “Full name” is better. ✅ Always reserve at least 30% room for longer translations. ✅ Stress test your UI for translation with pseudolocalization. ✅ Plan for line wrap, truncation, very short and very long labels. ✅ Adjust numbers, dates, times, formats, units, addresses. ✅ Adjust currency, spelling, input masks, placeholders. ✅ Always conduct UX research with local users. When localizing an interface, we need to work beyond translation. We need to be respectful of cultural differences. E.g. in Arabic we would often need to increase the spacing between lines. For Chinese market, we need to increase the density of information. German sites require a vast amount of detail to communicate that a topic is well-thought-out. Stress test your design. Avoid assumptions. Work with local content designers. Spend time in the country to better understand the market. Have local help on the ground. And test repeatedly with local users as an ongoing part of the design process. You’ll be surprised by some findings, but you’ll also learn to adapt and scale to be effective — whatever market is going to come up next. Useful resources: UX Design Across Different Cultures, by Jenny Shen https://lnkd.in/eNiyVqiH UX Localization Handbook, by Phrase https://lnkd.in/eKN7usSA A Complete Guide To UX Localization, by Michal Kessel Shitrit 🎗️ https://lnkd.in/eaQJt-bU Designing Multi-Lingual UX, by yours truly https://lnkd.in/eR3GnwXQ Flags Are Not Languages, by James Offer https://lnkd.in/eaySNFGa IBM Globalization Checklists https://lnkd.in/ewNzysqv Books: ⦿ Cross-Cultural Design (https://lnkd.in/e8KswErf) by Senongo Akpem ⦿ The Culture Map (https://lnkd.in/edfyMqhN) by Erin Meyer ⦿ UX Writing & Microcopy (https://lnkd.in/e_ZFu374) by Kinneret Yifrah

Offline General Trade does not give you second chances easily and every false start sets the brand back by couple of years And as more and more digital first brands go offline, it is important for them to expand in a phased manner Here is how I suggest brands do the phasing: There are only 3 levers of growth in offline 1. Market Expansion 2. Reach Expansion in Existing Markets 3. Improvement in Extraction If you keep opening new markets, keep increasing number of counters in every market and keep increasing throughput, volumes will keep growing Of these levers, market expansion is the easiest way to get short term growth, And I have seen many brands take this shortcut under the pressure of delivering immediate revenue( find a distributor in a city and bill a first lot) But I strongly suggest that unless you have all the resources to win in a market( right manpower, right partners, right sellout strategy and enough management bandwidth allocation etc ), do not open that market Specially for newer brands just starting, it is very important for them to stick to only 1-2 markets till the time the GTM is fine-tuned and there is proof of Product Price Channel Market Fit Opening new markets is also costly. You will need to incur fixed manpower cost and also have to allocate marketing budget to drive sellout. The worst case situation for brands is( and it happens way too often) - Start a new market - Open few counters - Unable to drive sellout - Counters return stock - Distributor gets disengaged and stops business When the team now goes to find another distributor, there is already a reputation in the market that this brand does not sell, and it goes into a vicious cycle as the brand is unable to find either good distributor or good manpower So, unless you have infinite resources, a better and more sustainable way of growth would be to focus on few markets, get good reach and extraction from those markets and reach a certain scale. You also get invaluable learnings from these markets( type of distributor that works, how to drive sellout, what kind of distribution model works, what kind of manpower works, which products sell the most etc) And from there on, select few markets to open every year. You might end up taking 5-6 years to reach the entire country, but you control the spends and also chances of success goes up significantly For investors evaluating omnichannel consumer brands, do double click on the quality of offline revenue Throughput/Extraction from counters present is the single most important metric in my opinion to judge chance of future growth If there are 2 similar brands X and Y each doing 100 crs & - Brand X does it from 5 cities and 1000 counters - Brand Y does it from 25 cities and 3000 counters While it might seem that Brand Y has stronger distribution, but Brand X might have a better chance of future growth

Here's how to simplify your pitch and 10x your sales: 1. Talk less, sell more. Short sentences = more sales. Hemingway once bet he could write a story in 6 words that'd make you feel something: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Your pitch should pack the same punch. 2. Complexity is for people who want to feel smart, not be effective. The worst salespeople make simple things sound complicated. The best make the complex simple. 3. Complexity says, "I want to feel needed." Simplicity limits to only what is needed. 4. Read your pitch out loud. I remember when I'd asked my COO to read the manuscript of my book. He chose to do it aloud. All 258 pages. Ears catch what eyes miss. The final version reads like butter. 5. "Be good, be seen, be gone." This was the best sales advice I ever got. - Good: Deliver value - Seen: Make an impression - Gone: Don't overstay your welcome People buy from those they remember, not those who linger. 7. Speak like your customer, not a textbook. We like to sound sophisticated. "We create impactful bottom-line solutions." But we like to listen to simple. "We help small businesses explode their sales." Which one would you buy? 8. Every word earns its place. Your pitch should be lean and mean. - Be specific - Avoid cliches - Check for redundancy - If it doesn't add value, cut it out 9. Abstract concepts bore. Concrete examples excite. ❌ "We'll increase your efficiency." ✅ "We'll save you 10 hours a week." Paint a picture. 10. People buy on emotion & justify with logic So tap into their feelings: - Fear of missing out - Desire for success - Need for security Then back it up with facts. 11. The "Grandma Test" never fails. If your grandma wouldn't get your pitch, simplify it. No jargon. No buzzwords. Just plain English. 12. Benefits > features. Dreams > benefits. ❌ "Our group hosts 10+ events per year." ✅ "Our program helps you close deals." 🚀 "Let's take back Main Street through ownership." 13. Use power words: - You - Free - Because - Instantly - New These words grab attention and drive action. Two final things to keep in mind... Simplicity isn't just for sales. Apply these principles to: - your business operations - your thinking processes - your next investment - your relationships - your to do list Sales isn't just for car dealerships. You pitch when you: - Negotiate a raise - Interview for a job - Post on social media - Hire someone for a job - Talk to an owner about buying their biz If you found this useful, feel free to share for others ♻️

Culture is everything 🙏🏾 When leaders accept or overlook poor behaviour, they implicitly endorse those actions, potentially eroding the organisation’s values and morale. To build a thriving culture, leaders must actively shape it by refusing to tolerate behaviour that contradicts their values and expectations.
 The best leaders: 
 1. Define and Communicate Core Values: * Articulate Expectations: Clearly define and communicate the organisation’s core values and behavioural expectations. Make these values central to every aspect of the organisation’s operations and culture. * Embed Values in Policies: Integrate these values into your policies, procedures, and performance metrics to ensure they are reflected in daily operations. 
 2. Model the Behaviour You Expect: * Lead by Example: Demonstrate the behaviour you want to see in others. Your actions should reflect the organisation’s values, from how you interact with employees to how you handle challenges. 3. Address Poor Behaviour Promptly: * Act Quickly: Confront and address inappropriate behaviour as soon as it occurs. Delays in addressing issues can lead to a culture of tolerance for misconduct. * Apply Consistent Consequences: Ensure that consequences for poor behaviour are fair, consistent, and aligned with organisational values. This reinforces that there are clear boundaries and expectations.
 4. Foster a Culture of Accountability: * Encourage Self-Regulation: Promote an environment where everyone is encouraged to hold themselves and others accountable for their actions. * Provide Support: Offer resources and support for employees to understand and align with organisational values, helping them navigate challenges and uphold standards.
 5. Seek and Act on Feedback: * Encourage Open Communication: Create channels for employees to provide feedback on behaviour and organisational culture without fear of reprisal. * Respond Constructively: Act on feedback to address and rectify issues. This shows that you value employee input and are committed to maintaining a positive culture.
 6. Celebrate Positive Behaviour: * Recognise and Reward: Acknowledge and reward employees who exemplify the organisation’s values. Celebrating positive behaviour reinforces the desired culture and motivates others to follow suit. * Share Success Stories: Highlight examples of how upholding values has led to positive outcomes, reinforcing the connection between behaviour and organisational success.
 7. Invest in Leadership Development: * Provide Training: Offer training and development opportunities for leaders at all levels to enhance their skills in managing behaviour and fostering a positive culture. 8. Promote Inclusivity and Respect: * Build a Diverse Environment: Create a culture that respects and values diversity. Inclusivity strengthens the organisational fabric and fosters a more collaborative and supportive work environment.

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to GTM. Maja Voje and I studied 12 leading B2B SaaS companies. (including interviews with their teams) Here’s what we learned: 1. PLG is eating the world >80% of the companies in our study employ PLG in some fashion. Even enterprise companies like Snowflake and Salesforce are adding free trials & freemium. It’s the new normal. Why is this working for them? In 2024, the best marketing is often your product. Users rarely want to lock in a $500K+ contract without trying the product first. But you do need to layer on a strong product-led sales motion to make enterprise work. 2. Dominate one at first, then layer on many Every company we studied got one GTM motion massively right. And, in each case, they still use that GTM motion in some form today. But, they layer on other motions over time. The ideal way to layer is symbiotically: • ABM couples nicely with outbound • Inbound supports outbound • Partnerships amplify PLG For instance: Dropbox grew at first massively on referrals. Now, other channels are much more important. 3. ABM and Outbound are pillars of enterprise For 5- and 6-figure deals, it’s difficult to rely on inbound or PLG alone. The buyer is used to a different process. They want to be hand-held. This is where motions like ABM and outbound shine. That’s why you still see the Snowflake’s and Salesforce’s of the world focusing on them. They’re the bread and butter of enterprise. So… bringing it all together, here’s where to start based on your buyer. If you’re selling to consumers or prosumers: • Lean into PLG, community, and partnerships early on • Layer in paid marketing as you find product-market fit and have budget to scale If you're selling to SMBs: • Blend inbound and outbound motions to build awareness and relationships • Paid digital can accelerate pipeline generation as you dial in your ICP If you're selling to enterprises: • Focus on targeted ABM and partner ecosystems • Inbound is great for air cover, but outbound is crucial for landing large accounts If you have a complex or technical product: • Make sure you have developer docs, free tooling, and community support from day one • Don’t underrate channels like partnerships & paid digital; they can still be crucial support And above all: 1. Remember what works at one stage may not work another 2. Remember the law of diminishing returns 3. Be willing to pivot when necessary

Last week I met with the CRO of a company that was last valued at $2.3 billion. He used my favorite words I’ve heard TO DATE to describe the biggest problem in sales today: “A couple years ago we were selling in a ‘demand-positive’ environment,” he said. He went on: “Today, we’re selling in a ‘demand-neutral’ and even ‘demand-negative environment.’ Those are COMPLETELY different skills.” I asked him what skills sellers need today. Here’s a few things he said: 1. Deliver a McKinsey-caliber POV. A point of view is a UNIQUE insight about an industry problem. A great POV can change how your buyer thinks. All in a way that favors a purchase. Most sellers don’t know how. POVs are thinly-veiled product pitches. There’s no insight. There’s no acumen. The best sellers deliver POVs that rival a McKinsey consultant. They subtly communicate: “I know your business. And I know this problem better than anyone.” Buyers walk out of those meetings better than how they walked in. 2. Uncover C-LEVEL pain and outcomes Open your CRM. Look at the notes in the ‘pain’ field in your deals. Now ask yourself: Are these the topics that C-Level execs talk about? Chances are: Your pain statements resonate with mid level managers. Not C-Level buyers. Uncover the need BEHIND the need. You'll land on the jackpot. 3. Uncover WHAT IT WOULD TAKE to capitalize on a priority. In a demand-neutral environment, you have to go “outbound.” That means buyers aren’t exploring your solution. The obvious step 1 is to uncover priorities (see above). But that’s not enough. You can uncover priorities until you’re blue in the face. But if you don’t know what it takes for your buyer to CAPITALIZE on them? You can't TIE your solution to them. The best salespeople don’t just uncover deep pain. They uncover how the buyer thinks about the causes. They offer insight on how the buyer SHOULD think about them. 4. Build consesus. Buying committees have gotten larger. Buying committees have gotten more risk averse. Buying committees are prone to “do nothing.” Yet sellers have the same multi-threading habits they did two years ago: Work with one, two, MAYBE three people. Stick with the most comfortable contact. Avoid the skeptics. The best salespeople don't just multi-thread. They do it in a way that creates consensus. 4. Confront and convert skeptics into champions. Weak sellers avoid the skeptics. They're uncomfortable. They ask hard questions. They voice hard objections. But the best sellers know that skeptics can become your best champions. Only people who CARE about solving a problem are skeptical about solutions. If you can win them over, they move mountains. Lean into the skeptics. Not away from them. P.S. Here's 39 (free) questions that sell in today's market conditions: https://go.pclub.io/list

My top rep made 40 cold calls and 0 people answered.  Reason: His phone number was "flagged" as spam.  Here's how we fixed it: 1. Bought him a new phone number via our sales engagement tool (he'd been calling from his personal cell phone) 2. Made sure the new number wasn't also tainted by having him call me to see if it showed up as "spam likely". Many SEPs "recycle" the phone numbers they sell, so we made sure that he didn't get one that was also flagged as spam. 3. Registered the new phone number at the Free Caller Registry. Wireless carriers reference call registries to determine your phone number’s reputation. 4. Bought MULTIPLE numbers. We're now rotating the numbers we call from to avoid intense spikes in call volume from any given phone number. Big spikes are a signal carriers look at to determine if a number should be marked as spam. 5. We're more closely monitoring connect rates. If we see them tank for any given number, that's a sign a number has become "tainted" and marked as spam.