The Best Way to Handle An Email Brush Off
How do you currently handle the brush off, “Just email me – or send – me your information”? Believe it or not, about 80% of sales teams I speak with actually shoot off an
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.
How do you currently handle the brush off, “Just email me – or send – me your information”? Believe it or not, about 80% of sales teams I speak with actually shoot off an
If your pipeline isn’t full, you may be wondering how you can avoid and get out of that “sales rut”? In the age of social media there are more ways and opportunities to make
Business networks are the rolodexes of today. It’s not so much who’s in your address book that counts, it’s who is in your business network that counts more. And your value to the network
Not making any money off of a customer goes beyond your commission or bonus. It’s the bottom-line profit your company is not making because of the customer. No salesperson is going to intentionally go
Your Greatest Assets The heart of any company can be found beating inside the walls of its customer service department. Providing superior customer service after the sale is a smart business decision that pays
It’s much easier to move on than dwell on the past, and I’m a firm believer that dwelling on the past doesn’t do anyone any good. If you want to damage your sales motivation,
If you find that you are struggling to achieve a certain result – whether it’s earn more money, get in better shape, improve a relationship, etc., then before you wait to be successful at
Selling for a living is challenging. There are many highs and frequent lows. Constant pressure to reach sales targets, customer and prospects that are more demanding, and changes in the marketplace all make sales
You ask a person to do something. You ask nicely. You are reasonable. And then they say, “I don’t want to (do what you want them to). To which you reply, “But you have
By thoroughly understanding the customer’s PTR, you will be able to effectively price your product and/or service. Pricing too low means you leave profit on the table; pricing too high means you don’t get
From the lessons learned from Jordan’s mastery of the mental game of winning we can find paths to the same level of success in professional selling. The key to doing so is in finding
It goes without saying that in the process of professional selling, the sales conversation concludes with the prospect being asked to make a purchase. To fully understand the power of commitment questions we first need
Can’t stomach cold calling? Steal Jeb Blount’s 13 proven alternatives to picking up the phone that build real pipeline and actually work.
When should you ask questions on a cold call? Questions come after you’ve earned the right, when you’re gathering information and qualifying, and they lead the conversation only when the prospect contacted you first.
To prospect for new clients, stop making random touches and run a consistent five-step system. Work this system every day and you gain control of your pipeline, along with the peace of mind that
Salespeople fail at cold calling for five common reasons. Fix them and the phone starts producing appointments again.
Email response rates are collapsing because decision maker inboxes are stuffed with automated, AI-written slop. This is exactly why the phone is more powerful today than it was ten years ago.
Quick Summary Cold calling anxiety is not a symptom of weakness. It’s human and natural to feel fear when you cold call. You are interrupting a stranger who was not expecting you, and everything
Fear of the phone is quietly draining sales pipelines, and the reps who win are the ones willing to stop hiding behind email and LinkedIn and simply make the call.
Salespeople seek a magic window that makes cold calling easy. When prospects answer happy, say yes without a fight, and book the meeting themselves. So, is there a best time to call?
Short Answer Yes, you can make cold calling fun, and it is worth doing, because the reps who enjoy the phone are the ones who stay on it. Fun is not a personality trait
You know AI is transforming sales, everyone’s talking about it, but you’re still staring at ChatGPT like it’s some mysterious black box, wondering what magical question you should type in first. That’s the reality
The OutBound Sales Training & Leadership Conference presented by Sales Gravy returns Nov. 9-12, 2026, at the spectacular Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas. If you’re serious about your sales career
LinkedIn is still the #1 platform for building pipeline in B2B sales, but the game has changed. Sales and marketing professionals have all come to rely on LinkedIn. It’s been their digital handshake, networking
While your competitors are stuck in voicemail purgatory, a small group of top performers has unlocked a secret pipeline of qualified sales leads. They’ve discovered how to stop chasing and start attracting, all by
Here’s a question that’ll flip your understanding of cultural intelligence in sales upside down: How do you win over a room full of skeptical Spanish teenagers when you’re the obvious American outsider who barely
If you’re only showing up in one place, you’re not showing up at all, which is why top sales reps are making multi-channel prospecting a priority and leveraging LinkedIn to get ahead. “The reality
You know the feeling. You’re mid-pitch, and you watch your prospect’s eyes glaze over—their mind somewhere else entirely. It’s exhausting, demoralizing, and it’s killing your close rate. But what if you didn’t have to
Here’s a question that’ll keep you up at night: What do you do when your emotions are sabotaging your sales performance? That’s the exact challenge posed by Kurt O’Donnell and the sales team from
Ben Hogan, who was arguably the greatest ball striker the game of golf has ever known, taught that if you wanted to improve your swing you should focus on the cause rather than the
Here’s the scenario that’s playing out in sales organizations everywhere right now: Your team fought through a brutal first half of the year, rallied momentum in the second half, crushed their numbers, and now
You’re Coachable, But Are You Truly Humble? You’ve been coachable your entire career. You take feedback, adjust your approach, read books, listen to podcasts, and implement what works. Yet being coachable doesn’t automatically make
The automated “Great job, team!” email blasted to 47 people at 4:37 PM on a Friday isn’t authentic appreciation. Neither is the generic gift basket ordered by someone in HR who’s never met your
To a sales leader, it’s a familiar story.Month one: Your new SDR is on fire. Energy through the roof. They’re excited about cold calling.Month two: Still strong. Meetings are getting booked. Dashboard looks good.Month
This time of year is critical. As sales leaders map out their budgets for the new year, the conversation always centers on a core conflict: How to cut expenses and, simultaneously, motivate teams to
Here’s a question that’ll keep you up at night: How do you take a company from $300K in annual revenue to $1.5 million in 18 months, then scale to $3-$5 million within five years?
Your sales team has the tools. They know the pitch. The CRM is full of leads. So why are half your reps still missing quota? The real issue? Most sales leaders are managing activity
Walk into any sales conference, scroll through LinkedIn, or join a sales team meeting, and you’ll hear the same tired arguments: cold calling versus social selling, interruption versus relationship-building, quantity versus quality. The sales
Leadership is the single most important factor in a sales team’s success. You can have talented reps, strong products, and a solid sales process, but without effective leadership, performance stalls. As Duff Tucker, Sales