
Recognizing Buying Signs
If you were to poll all of your customers as to why they bought from you, they would respond with a variety of reasons. What follows are the most common reasons why people choose
Welcome to the Sales Gravy blog, where salespeople and sales leaders get better every week. We publish new sales training articles and podcast episodes three times a week, covering prospecting, cold calling, objections, negotiation, and leadership, written by Jeb Blount and the Sales Gravy trainer team.

If you were to poll all of your customers as to why they bought from you, they would respond with a variety of reasons. What follows are the most common reasons why people choose

The greatest obstacle in making a purchasing decision is fear. When it comes to selling, you better handle the prospect’s fear or it will handle you. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear that

One advantage that salespeople posses is this; aside from being a salesperson, you are also a consumer and a prospect, enabling you to better connect with each prospect you speak with. Think about

Selling is the art of creating new possibilities and solutions. Salespeople are responsible for the creation rather than the controlling of solutions for their prospects. As such if you are a highly creative salesperson,
Over the years, I’ve discovered that when sales people tell me that they have prospecting on their “to do” list, what they really are saying is that they “intend” to prospect. When sales people

Certainly, these are unprecedented times, but fundamentals are fundamentals. When you stray from them, you get into trouble. When in trouble, return to the fundamentals and return to consistent and sustainable sales success. In

‘The more we try to maintain control in our lives, the less freedom we create for ourselves,’ illustrates one of the many paradoxes in life. While we may strive to maintain control over our

Here’s the secret to boosting your confidence today; make confidence a choice. Wait, I know what you may be thinking; it sounds too easy. It has to be more difficult than this. Well,

So here’s the scene: Large corporate sales convention in the company’s training center in Washington State; over 250 sales reps flown in from all over the country; Sales directors, V.P.s, sales managers all running

A Top 20% closer is an expert at asking questions, layering those questions, questioning the red flags, etc., and at the end of a prospecting call or presentation, they call can tell you exactly

Just because the media says that the economy is sliding downward does not mean that your sales will be affected. Your mental mindset plays a tremendous role in your success. While it is difficult

Most sales people live a hurried life and time is of the essence. While we agree that in sales, time is money, there is a cost for polluting our bodies with so much junk food that
If you’ve hung around me for longer than five minutes, you’ve heard me say that sales is about talking with people. The fact is, the more people you talk with, the more you’ll sell.
The best salespeople spend hours rehearsing sales calls, because statements, and meeting pitches so they know exactly what to say when they finally get a prospect on the line. The best know that practice,
WARNING: This Monday’s message will be one of the most powerful hacks you’ll ever integrate into your life—because it’s simple, easy to put into practice, and it works. It has the potential, over the
As humans, we naturally fear rejection and do everything possible to avoid it. We’re social creatures at our core, and being rejected feels like we’re being shunned, banished, or kicked out of the group.
Ron wants to know how to get CEOs to actually answer his cold calls (or at least respond). He runs a recruiting firm and finds that his cold calls to top executives often go
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 episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, discover how Alex Niswander used the Fanatical Prospecting framework to maximize outreach and build meaningful client relationships. Learn about creative touchpoints, High-Intensity Prospecting call blocking (HIPs),
Persistence is the Key to Fanatical Prospecting Excellence Other than not prospecting all together, giving up too soon is the primary reason salespeople are failing at prospecting on an epic scale. Three weeks ago,
On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, host Jeb Blount sits down with sales expert Brian Parsley to tackle one of the most common objections faced by sales professionals—price. Brian shares actionable strategies

Steal this trial close technique and exact scripts to motivate buyers to make decisions and act without making big price concessions.
Salespeople fail at cold calling for five common reasons. Fix them and the phone starts producing appointments again.
Most salespeople are looking for the secret edge that will move them to the top of the sales ranking report. The truth though is that there isn’t just one thing that separates top performing
Short Answer How honest should you be in sales? Completely. The moment a customer catches you in even a small lie, like fudging how long a meeting will run, they have every reason to
The best pitch I’ve ever heard about didn’t have a single slide. It had an ax, an elevator, and a crowd that had no idea what was about to happen. The sales storytelling techniques
Sales complacency is the silent performance killer that sets in after winning — and the only defense is returning to the fundamentals that built your success in the first place. Key Takeaways When Success

Quick Summary Reading buyer signals means recognizing the behavioral and psychological cues prospects send before they ghost you, and using that information to keep deals moving toward a real decision. Key Takeaways Listen to
When results drop and motivation fades, the fix is to increase your prospecting activity above your normal baseline, not wait until you feel ready. More calls create more conversations, more conversations create more opportunities,
No matter your industry or deal size, mastering how to negotiate in sales comes down to seven rules that protect your leverage and win more profitable deals.
Here’s a question about sales territory disputes that’ll make your head spin: What do you do when overlapping territories and shared relationships turn your sales team into a collection of lone wolves fighting over
In 1960, two brothers scraped together $900 and bought a failing pizzeria in Michigan, launching what would become a cautionary tale about sales incentive programs gone wrong. Within months, one brother traded his half
The transition from closer to coach is where most new sales leaders struggle. You’ve put in the work, made the calls, and closed the deals. Your numbers speak for themselves. You were the rainmaker.
Here’s a question that’ll drive you absolutely crazy: How do you sell professional services without giving away everything for free? That’s the burning question from Laura and Adam, attorneys who are struggling with the
Gaius, who runs an insurance brokerage in Ohio wants to know how to get his new sales agents cold calling and building pipeline earlier in their training cycle, without making them feel overwhelmed and
Sales Leadership is a continuous journey of self-awareness, connection, and growth. By cultivating courage, emotional intelligence, and authenticity, leaders can navigate challenges effectively and inspire their teams to reach new heights. Through active listening,
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
In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with Andy Matheou from RHM Staffing to dive deep into the challenges and triumphs of selling in the staffing industry. Andy shares
On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Lucy Beth Adams sits down with Master Sales Trainer, Jessica Stokes to discuss her journey in sales, from her early days in cold calling to becoming