97 key sales statistics to help you sell smarter in 2025

Kiran Shahid — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0100

When I first started covering B2B SaaS, I used to skim over sales statistics, thinking, “Interesting, but not immediately useful.” I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The more I worked with sales-led teams, the clearer it became: top-performing reps use industry data to fine-tune everything — when they reach out, which channels they prioritize, even how they structure their pitches.

I’ve rounded up the most useful sales stats for 2024, so you can recalibrate what you do next.

Table of Contents

Sales Prospecting Statistics
Sales Follow-Up Statistics
Sales Closing Statistics
Inside Sales Stats
Sales Email Statistics
Sales Call Statistics
Sales Performance Statistics
Sales Career Statistics
Sales Technology Statistics
Remote Sales Statistics
Sales Statistics Takeaways

Sales Prospecting Statistics

When I was just starting out, finding prospects felt like the hardest part. I didn’t have a network, a warm pipeline, or anyone sending leads my way and had to build everything from scratch.

What helped was treating prospecting like a daily habit. Whether it was reaching out cold, following up with past connections, or getting more intentional about how I showed up online, it all added up.

1. Most prospects (96%) research companies and products before engaging with a sales representative (HubSpot).

2. 71% of prospects prefer independent research over talking to a rep (HubSpot).

3. 37% of sales representatives produce the most leads from phone calls during cold outreach (HubSpot).

4. 24% of sales organizations leverage cold calling as a primary sales channel, while 25% use it as a secondary channel (HubSpot).

5. 1 to 4% reply rates are the norm for most cold email senders, with only 16% achieving reply rates above 5% (Mailshake).

6. 69% of cold email senders report their performance has declined year-over-year due to spam filtering and AI-generated content fatigue (Mailshake).

7. Only 5% of senders personalize every email individually, while 51% rely on segment-based templates (Mailshake).

8. 48% of cold email senders report bounce rates between 2-5%, with 15% exceeding 6% - putting their campaigns at risk (Mailshake).

9. 81% of revenue leaders say their team's deals are more complex than ever (Gong).

Sales Follow-Up Statistics

There’s this awkward middle ground after you send a pitch where you’re not sure if following up will help or annoy. I used to overthink that moment. Waited too long. Lost deals I probably could’ve won.

Eventually, I stopped guessing and started paying attention to what works. And it turns out, most sales happen in the follow-up. Here’s what the data says about why follow-up matters more than we think, and where most people get it wrong.

10. 82% of sales professionals see building strong relationships as the most crucial and rewarding aspect of the sales process (HubSpot).

11. 60% of customers reject an offer four times before buying (Invesp).

12. 80% of successful sales take five or more follow-up calls (Invesp).

13. Nearly half of all salespeople (48%) never make any follow-up attempts (Invesp).

14. 44% of salespeople give up after a single follow-up attempt (Invesp).

15. The first follow-up email can increase reply rates by an impressive 49% (Belkins).

16. The ideal number of follow-ups for optimal results in a B2B outreach campaign is two emails (Belkins).

17. Cold email outreach campaigns using three email rounds typically generate the highest reply rates, averaging 9% (Belkins).

Sales Closing Statistics

Over the years, I’ve learned that personalizing customer interactions heavily influences buying decisions and response rates. Improving the quality of interactions will boost your closing rates.

18. The average sales close rate in 2024 was 29% (HubSpot).

19. The average sales win rate in 2024 was 21% (HubSpot).

20. The median deal size in 2024 was $4,000 (HubSpot).

21. Single-threaded deals are an immediate red flag for deals over $50K (Gong).

Inside Sales Stats

I’m not a fan of high-pressure sales tactics or chasing people who clearly aren’t interested. But if your sales process is messy, slow, or unclear, you’ll lose the deal long before anyone says no.

Most B2B sales involve more than one decision-maker, and it’s easy to get stuck in endless back-and-forths or conversations that go nowhere.

What’s made the biggest difference for me is tightening the process and knowing when to follow up, how to keep momentum, and making it easy for prospects to say yes.

Selling doesn’t have to be pushy, but it does have to be focused.

22. Sales representatives dedicate only two hours daily to active selling (HubSpot).

23. Administrative tasks take up an hour of sales representatives’ time daily (HubSpot).

24. On average, five decision-makers are involved in every sale (HubSpot).

25. 62% of sales professionals believe their organizations are taking fewer risks in 2023 compared to 2022 (HubSpot).

26. 70% of sales professionals reported budgets were under greater scrutiny in 2023 (HubSpot).

27. 28% of sales professionals say lengthy sales processes are the primary reason for prospects backing out of deals (HubSpot).

28. 72% of company revenue is generated from existing customers, while 28% comes from new customers (HubSpot).

29. 24% of high-performing sales teams emphasize a culture of trust among representatives, compared to only 13% of underperforming teams (HubSpot).

30. 52% of sales professionals utilize sales enablement content, and 79% consider it crucial for closing deals (HubSpot).

31. Sales professionals incorporating sales enablement content in their approach are 58% more likely to exceed their targets (HubSpot).

32. Only 30% of sales professionals believe their sales and marketing teams are closely aligned within their company (HubSpot).

33. 56% of sales professionals believe prospects will use generative AI to help them justify purchase decisions (HubSpot).

34. 52% of sales professionals believe generative AI can help them identify objections and address issues (HubSpot).

35. 54% of sales pros say selling has been harder this year than it was before (HubSpot).

36. 77% of deals are multi-threaded, but successful deals have twice as many buyer contacts as unsuccessful ones (Gong).

37. Large strategic deals include an average of 17 contacts (Gong).

38. Closed-won deals include an average of 6.7 sales team members by discovery completion (Gong).

Sales Email Statistics

Email might seem easier than a cold call, but without vocal tone, real-time cues, or immediate feedback, every sentence matters. And when you’re sending to dozens (or hundreds) of leads, creating personalized, high-performing messages becomes its own skill set.

Here’s what the latest data says about what works in 2024:

39. 91% of marketers said segmentation improved email performance (Litmus).

40. 83% saw performance improvements from subject line personalization and live content (Litmus).

41. Only 34% of marketers currently use generative AI for email copywriting (Litmus).

42. Interactive elements like schema markup and emojis improved performance for 60% of marketers (Litmus).

43. The average open rate across industries is 42.35% (Mailerlite).

44. B2B services see an average open rate of 39.48% (Klaviyo).

45. B2B services see a 2.21% click-through rate (Brevo).

46. SaaS companies average a 1.91% click-through rate (ActiveCampaign).

Sales professionals can gain deeper insights into their own engagement metrics with our free email tracking software, which provides real-time notifications when prospects open emails and click links.

Sales Call Statistics

Even with all the digital tools available, cold calling still pulls its weight, especially when you’re trying to build a pipeline from scratch. When I was starting out, I didn’t have a warm network or a steady flow of inbound leads. Cold calls were one of the few levers I could pull.

It wasn’t always comfortable, but it worked. I could reach decision-makers directly, learn what they cared about, and start real conversations.

The data backs this up, too. Cold calls need to be done with purpose. Let’s look at what the numbers say.

47. 37% of sales representatives produce the most leads from phone calls during cold outreach (HubSpot).

48. 38% of salespeople find late morning (10 am-12 pm) to be the most productive time for cold calling (HubSpot).

49. Tuesday is the best day for cold calling according to 30% of salespeople, followed by Wednesday (27%) (HubSpot)

50. 46% of cold callers open calls with a direct introduction and purpose statement, while 20% start with questions to generate interest (HubSpot)

51. Most successful cold calls (49%) last between 2 and 5 minutes (HubSpot)

52. 73% of cold callers combine email with cold calling in their multi-channel outreach approach (HubSpot)

Sales Performance Statistics

I don’t have a sales team to manage, but I still track the numbers like it’s my job.

Because it is.

When you’re handling your own outreach, tracking metrics like response rates, time-to-reply, and call-to-close ratios shows you exactly where leads are stalling and which tactics are moving deals forward.

Inside the world of AI BDRs — can AI replace human business development representatives?

Kolawole Samuel Adebayo — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0100

If you’re like me, you’ve asked this question: What is the difference between a salesperson and a business development representative (BDR)? Well, here’s what I found. A salesperson usually deals with warm leads. That is, people who already know what they want and just need some guidance to make a decision. But a BDR? That’s outbound territory.

They’re the ones doing the digging, researching prospects, identifying opportunities, and building a pipeline of potential clients from scratch. They’re the ones picking up the phone, sending those cold emails, and sparking interest where there was none.

After nearly a decade of hunting down leads for my business, I’ve become a one-person business development team. Now, here’s the kicker. AI means the hours I’ve spent researching leads and trying to break through the noise may be automated. Efficiently. At scale.

Naturally, I had to investigate.

Read on to discover what I found about AI BDRs and how they are changing the game.

Table of Contents

What is an AI business development representative?
How AI BDRs Work
Can AI BDRs replace human reps?
Why hire an AI BDR?
Best AI BDR Agents and Tools

What is an AI business development representative?

Let’s be honest. These days, “AI” is pretty much prefixed to everything from toothbrushes to to-do lists. So, before we get swept up in the buzzwords, I like to break things down. First, let’s strip it back to basics. Who is a BDR?

According to Gartner, a BDR is “responsible for generating new business opportunities by qualifying leads and prospecting through existing business accounts to engage with potential buyers.”

In simple terms, they’re the ones who research, reach out, and start conversations that (hopefully) lead to sales. Now, let’s bring AI into the mix. At its core, artificial intelligence is here to automate, augment, or optimize tasks, especially those that are repetitive or data-heavy.

So, when we put the two together, here’s what we get:

An AI BDR is a software agent that uses artificial intelligence to automate and optimize core and repetitive business development tasks, such as prospecting, lead qualification, and outreach, with the goal of generating new business opportunities at scale.

How AI BDRs Work

Like many AI solutions, AI BDRs use machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to mimic parts of the BDR process and replicate it with incredible speed and scale. Now, what does a typical BDR process look like? In 2020, BDRs at HubSpot walked us through what a typical day in their lives looked like.

Thales Brito kicked things off with what might sound simple but is essential — getting coffee, checking his calendar, and getting mentally prepared for the day ahead. Jenise Thng shared that she spends her mornings sourcing companies she plans to reach out to, while Natsumi Uchida mentioned her work phone had “basically become [her] best friend” thanks to the number of calls she makes each day.

Then there’s the deeper work. Juliana Bermudez talked about connecting with clients and learning about their business models, and Sarah Stamp described filtering through inbound leads to find the best-fit accounts. She says, “I go filter through all of the inbound leads that HubSpot generates through the back of its really excellent blog content and from there, I will find the best-fit leads.”

Ally Brillaud, on the other hand, focused on administrative tasks that involved follow-ups and making sure prospects were armed with the right information before they talked to an account executive.

Source

What’s interesting is how many of these tasks (calendar checks, lead sourcing, phone outreach, research, or even follow-ups) are now supported by AI sales tools, and have now formed a core part of the AI BDR offerings.

Where Thng once manually sourced companies to contact, AI tools can now use predictive analytics to pre-select prospects based on firmographics, buying signals, and engagement history. AI will also leverage the same technologies to support BDRs like Stamp to filter high-intent inbound leads automatically.
Where Brillaud prepares her follow-up emails, natural language tools can draft emails tailored to the lead’s industry or behavior.
For someone like Uchida, whose day revolves around calls, AI can quietly sit in, transcribe the conversation, and flag key moments which would save time and boost productivity.
AI BDRs can also optimize calendar and workflow planning for BDRs like Brito, setting priorities based on lead scoring and urgency, especially when integrated with CRMs like HubSpot.
Providing administrative support is unarguably AI’s domain. These days, AI BDRs can fully automate follow-up workflows, provide tailored content recommendations, and log every interaction into the CRM automatically. 2020 Brillaud would be grateful for that.

If AI is so wonderful at BDR, it begs the question …

Can AI BDRs replace human reps?

Uh, no.

And I’ll explain why.

When asked whether AI BDRs can replace human reps, Johnny Lee Reinoso, founder of C-Level Partners, counters with this. “Can AI ever sell as well as humans do?” His answer? Not really.

As Reinoso puts it (and I agree), the heart of real selling lies in “showing true empathy, building trust, and forging human-to-human connections.” He drives the point home with a memorable analogy. “In sales, AI will always be playing checkers while humans are playing chess.”

Cue this funny but true LinkedIn post by Jen Allen-Knuth:

Source

But don’t take just mine, Allen-Knuth’s, or Reinoso’s word for it. According to HubSpot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report, 82% of salespeople (including BDRs) agree that while AI tools reduce manual tasks, building strong relationships is still the most critical and rewarding part of the job. It’s not just about sending emails or qualifying leads, it’s about understanding people and being able to connect in a way that can’t be replicated by code.

And buyers feel the same.

HubSpot’s research also found that 96% of prospects do their own research before ever talking to a rep, which means by the time they get to you, they’ve already read the blog posts, watched the demos, and compared your product to others (if you cared to put that online, of course).

What they’re looking for now isn’t information, it’s resonance. Something to click. Someone who gets it. And that’s where human BDRs shine.

Even subtle things like referencing a past conversation, a mutual connection, or any prior contact can dramatically increase trust and engagement. According to industry benchmarks, referencing prior interactions can improve lead conversion rates by up to 50%. That context, that tailored relevance, it’s all deeply human.

Now, that’s not to say AI BDRs don’t have a place. AI BDRs are incredible at the repetitive, tedious, admin-heavy stuff — and this is why there is a record increase in AI adoption in sales. They can find leads, sort them, score them, and even kick off the first wave of outreach.

However, Tido Carriero, co-founder of Koala, cautions against going all-in on automation too soon. “I think we’re seeing a pulling back on AI SDRs just because they’re not quite hitting the mark on really thoughtful, genuinely helpful context. At the end of the day, if you’re not offering value in that outbound message, you’re not gonna book a meeting. And a lot of the AI SDRs have kind of fallen short of that promise.”

Bottom line? Until AI BDRs can connect with people on an emotional level, until they can read the room, adapt, and build trust in real time, they’re here to assist, not replace.

And honestly, that’s probably the best-case scenario. As Michael Brown, Columbia Business School professor, says in an interview with Business Insider, “I don’t know any buyer who wants to be sold to by a copilot.”

Unfortunately, this CEO found out the hard way:

Source

Why hire an AI BDR?

Now that we’ve established what AI BDRs are good at, let’s look at what they actually do for your business and why it matters.

1. They take over the manual tasks (so your team can actually sell).

No one wants a BDR who just clocks in, makes 50 calls from a spreadsheet of 7,000 cold leads, and checks out for the day. Real business development isn’t about mass dialing. It’s about value-based outreach.

AI BDRs step in to handle the grunt work — researching leads, scoring them based on fit and intent, etc., so your human reps can focus on conversations that convert. Take Ceros, a creative content design platform, for example. As their business scaled, their sales process became tangled in disconnected systems and bloated spreadsheets.

According to Douglas Botchman, director of revenue operations, “Our approach to prospecting was ‘volume over value.’ Our systems and processes got so complex and disjointed. Our reps were wasting time and lacking insight. Their productivity tanked. They were playing darts in the dark. The worst part: Our customers suffered as a result. Because reps were so bogged down, they lost sight of what they do best: actually connecting with prospects.”

Ceros adopted HubSpot’s Sales Hub, streamlining workflows and surfacing key insights directly within contact records. No more digging through tabs. With AI-driven automation, reps could zero in on diagnosing pain points and driving deals forward.

The result? A 180% increase in deals generated and a greater than 18% growth in sales qualified leads over five years. Proof that giving reps time back equals serious pipeline growth.

2. They enhance client conversations by making reps smarter.

Even the most experienced reps won’t be experts in every vertical. But AI can help them sound like they are. Take Haley Gault, a Salesforce seller who found herself preparing for a conversation with a customer in the electric vehicle charging space, a topic she wasn’t familiar with.

She instead turned to Salesforce’s Agentforce AI to help her prep. “I don’t have a vertical, so I’m no industry expert in regards to electric vehicle contracting,” she said. To prepare for the call, she asked her AI sales agent for relevant info regarding the business (industry trends, call recordings, previous sales, etc.).

“That’s a way for me to really quickly get up to speed on who this customer is. What were the previous conversations with Salesforce? Who are the key stakeholders?” Working remotely from Pittsburgh, Gault emphasized how AI tools help her prepare for meetings when she doesn’t have colleagues nearby to role-play with or bounce ideas off.

These kinds of AI tools also support personalization and consistency, ensuring reps bring relevant context into every call. As one B2B sales rep put it in a sales research survey by HubSpot, “Thanks to AI tools, buyers know more about my products, and I know more about their needs.”

3. They never forget to follow up.

Here’s a stat every sales leader knows deep down: 80% of deals require at least five follow-ups, but 94% of reps give up before that fifth attempt. Why? It’s not a lack of hustle. It’s a lack of capacity. Reps are juggling many conversations, calendars, and tools. Eventually, some leads just fall through the cracks.

AI BDRs handle the ongoing follow-up with surgical precision — sending the right message at the right time, based on behavior, engagement, and context. Gold’s Gym SoCal is a prime example. After growing their leads from 750 to 4,000 using HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, they hit a wall.

According to Brian Morris, VP of sales, “It worked great until it didn’t. Leads fell through the cracks. Sometimes delayed by weeks. Suddenly, I was playing IT guy instead of focusing on strategy.”

Once they integrated HubSpot Sales Hub’s AI-powered follow-up and automation tools, everything changed. Reps now get real-time alerts when a lead clicks an email or visits the site, and all relevant engagement data is instantly available.

Their outreach is now timely, tailored, and data-backed. And the growth speaks for itself, “Our people are growing with the business,” says Morris. “We’ve gone from 12 clubs to 23, and we’re just getting started.”

4. They scale what humans can’t.

AI doesn’t get tired, distracted, or discouraged, and that’s a huge advantage in high-volume outreach. As Inna Kubovski, VP of marketing at Vendict, explains, “AI is unbeatable at consistency

26 professional voicemail greetings to help you record the perfect one [+ expert tips]

Shannon L. Jackson — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 21:30:00 +0100

During my time as a B2B sales rep, my voicemail greetings started off being long-winded, pitchy, and wordy. I thought that having a good voicemail greeting consisted of saying all the right things to guarantee the prospect answering my callback.

Many believe voicemails don’t convert and are a waste of time, but I learned that voicemail greetings are a hidden gem that actually helped me have more quality conversations.

Here’s what I learned: A good voicemail greeting doesn’t have to be overly detailed or salesy to be effective.

In this post, I am sharing voicemail greetings to help you record one that suits your style and approach — without using extensive language or pitchy verbiage. (You can also download free sales voicemail scripts for other kinds of calls as well.)

Table of Contents

What is a good voicemail greeting?
Voicemail Message Example
Work Voicemail Greetings
Short Voicemail Greetings
Business Voicemail Greetings
Vacation Voicemail Greetings
Holiday Voicemail Greetings
Sales Voicemail Greetings

What to Say in a Voicemail Greeting

When I was a B2B sales rep, understanding the purpose of a good voicemail greeting gave me clarity on what to say without rambling. I gained the confidence to build familiarity by reaching out as a sales representative, offering my services, and highlighting a value proposition that piqued enough interest for the prospect to answer my call.

As I mentioned, you don’t want to be too wordy in your voicemail greeting. Saying a lot doesn’t automatically mean you are speaking with quality and relevance. Your voicemail greeting should do two things:

Build familiarity with who you are and what you offer.
Allow the party to answer your callback.

Work Voicemail Greetings

The work voicemail greetings I’ll go over in this section are best if you have a work phone that is specifically (and only) yours.

These voicemails are highly effective because they help you establish a relationship straight from the voicemail. Or, they help you share an important update in a simple, straightforward way.

1. Sales Results Voicemail Example

“Hey, this is [Your Name] at [Your Company], where we help sales teams turn goals into real outcomes. I’m away from the phone, but if you leave your info and what you're hoping to achieve, I’ll reach out with how we can help you get there faster.”

Why I like this example: Having a sales result voicemail greeting is beneficial, as it offers a friendly yet sales-impact-focused approach. When it comes to sales, you always want to advise the other party on “what is in it for them” based on what they are calling to achieve.

When I was a sales representative, I would always offer a value proposition to pique the prospect's interest, giving them a teaser that let them know they were calling the right place.

And that is precisely what this voicemail greeting exemplifies. Immediately letting the other party know that you are busy turning goals into real outcomes enables the party to understand that you are really in the business of achieving sales results and that you are willing to help them achieve theirs. This is a great selling point and an attractive showcase all within this voicemail greeting.

2. Email Option Voicemail Example

“Hi, you’ve reached [name] at [company]. If you need a quick response, please shoot me an email at [insert email address], and I’ll be in touch by EOD tomorrow. If it’s not urgent, leave me a message with your name and number. Have a great day.”

Why I like this example: When I leave a voicemail, I may wonder when (or if) I’ll hear back. This voicemail gives a specific timeline for when the caller will hear back.

Prefer to be contacted via email? Make that clear in your voice memo so that listeners reach out to you through email instead. This particular voicemail script makes email even more desirable by implying that it's a faster mode of communication.

3. Alternative Contact Voicemail Message

“Hey there, thanks for calling! I’m currently unavailable, but you can contact [alternative contact name] at [phone number] if you need assistance immediately. Otherwise, please leave me a quick message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Talk soon!"

Why I like this example: When it comes to work voicemail greetings, you can be professional and personable. Because voicemails have such a “perfect stigma,” people tend to forget we are human. We are not robots. Showcase some warmth and personality in your work voicemail greetings as you do with your voicemail.

In my voicemail greetings, I always like to offer a friendly welcome and thanks to the person calling. Even though they can’t reach you, offering an alternative contact is a straightforward way to navigate that. Ending the voicemail properly helps close out on a personal feel as well.

4. Parental Leave Voicemail Script

“Hello, this is [your name]. I’m currently out on parental leave until [return date]. I truly appreciate your call and understanding during this special time. If you need support while I’m away, please reach out to [cackup contact name] at [contact info]. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can after my return. Take care!”

Why I like this example: This one is for the parents who want to appear professional yet again warm and grateful in their voicemail greeting. Because of how sacred and special this leave may be for you as a parent, it’s an excellent approach to highlight that in your voicemail greeting, allowing your gratitude to be understood when a person is reaching out.

As a parent myself, I would use my voicemail message to express my appreciation for the special occasion that prompted my parental leave, and offer any necessary assistance while I'm away.

5. Resignation Voicemail Message

“Hello, this is [your first and last name]. I’m no longer with [company name], as I’ve recently transitioned out of my role. I’m deeply grateful for the connections and conversations during my time here. For assistance moving forward, please contact [replacement’s name] at [email] or reach out to [general contact info]. Wishing you continued success!”

Why I like this example: Usually, when you think of resignation voicemails, you instantly think of being short, rigid, or direct in your messaging. However, I think you should do the opposite by offering gratitude, being friendly, and being expressive.

I used this voicemail when I left a company years ago, and it was so effective. I really loved the customers, clients, and colleagues I met and worked with during my time as an employee there, so I wanted to make sure I highlighted them even in my resignation message. If you want to have intentional closure with a company, this voicemail greeting is it.

Short Voicemail Greetings

Neither you nor your clients have a lot of time to waste. I recommend the following short voicemail greetings to get to the point quickly and invite them to leave a message.

6. Short Sales Voicemail Greeting

“Hi, this is [your name]. I’m either on a call or away from my desk. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message, and I’ll get back to you in [time frame]. Thank you.”

Why I like this example: Short, simple, and to the point — this voicemail gets to the gist fast.

This short voicemail script is particularly apt for salespeople who are often on calls. But you can use it if you‘re a higher-level employee who’s often in and out of meetings and if you often miss calls for that reason.

A short message is the strategy that Ashot Nanayan, CEO and Founder of DWI, takes with his voicemail. He told me: “My approach is to leave a short, approachable message that reflects my personality; something like, ‘Hi, you‘ve reached Ashot Nanayan. I’m either helping a client or on the road, but leave your name, a quick note on what you need, and I'll get back to you soon!’”

He adds, “This message isn‘t flashy, but it’s authentic and reliable, which helps build trust right from the start. It also subtly conveys that I'm active and engaged, which encourages callbacks.”

7. Short Voicemail Script with Requested Reason

“Hi [prospect's name], it’s [your name] from [your company]. I wanted to run something by you that might be relevant for [insert light hint: 'your Q3 pipeline goals' / 'new reps ramping up']. When you call back, just let me know what prompted your interest so I can keep it focused and quick. You can reach me at [your number]. Thanks!”

Why I like this example: This voicemail greeting is an example of what I mentioned earlier: making sure to offer a value proposition to pique interest in a way that is friendly and helpful to entice the prospect to call back. The value proposition should, in most cases, be relevant to the calling party and connect with the requested reason.

8. Short Classic Voicemail Greeting for Landlines

“Hi, you’ve reached [your name]. I’m unable to come to the phone right now. Leave your name, number, and a short message, and I’ll be sure to call back.”

Why I like this example: This classic voicemail message simply states that you couldn’t come to the phone in time to pick up the call — which is particularly useful for landlines, which you don’t carry on your person. (If you’re creating a voicemail greeting for your cell phone, this one wouldn’t quite work because you usually have your phone on you.)

A short voicemail doesn’t mean bad voicemail. Aqsa Tabassam, sales and marketing manager at SoPicks, thinks it means the opposite: “I totally understand the challenge of picking the right voicemail message, especially when you want to make it sound welcoming yet professional.”

She shared the script she uses on her business line: “Hello, you've reached (company name). Sorry we missed your call. Please leave your name, number, and any details about your inquiry, and we'll get back to you soon.”

“Keeping the [voicemail] message clear and friendly can make a difference in how people feel about calling back…a warm but concise message builds trust right from the start,” she adds.

If you appreciate brevity, this voicemail will do the trick.

9. Short Classic Voicemail Message for Cell Phones

"Hey, this is [your name]. Thanks for reaching out. I’m busy at the moment, but if you leave your name, number, and message, I’ll return your call.”

Why I like this example: Another classic voicemail script, but this time, it’s more device-agnostic. All it says is that you’re busy at the moment and asks the caller for their contact information and their message. Simple and easy.

If you want to use this method but make it more unique, drop the word “busy” and say what you might be doing, like being out on a call or something similar. Samantha Odo does this with her voicemail at Precondo, and she shared the script with me: “You've reached Samantha Odo at Precondo. I'm probably out showing properties or meeting with clients. Please leave a message, and I'll call you back shortly!”

She says, “This simple, direct message emphasizes my active involvement in the field. It works because it assures clients they are dealing with a no-nonsense, hands-on professional."

You can use this voicemail message on any device. You also ask for all of the essentials you’ll need to return a call.

Business Voicemail Greetings

Are you creating a voicemail greeting for your entire company or team? These business voicemail greetings will do the trick.

10. Front Office Voicemail Script

“Hi there! You’ve reached the front desk at [company name]. We’re either on another call or away from the phone at the moment. Please leave your name, phone number, and a brief description of how we can assist you, and we’ll get back to you shortly. We appreciate your call and look forward to speaking with you!”

Why I like this example: This is a typical voicemail greeting, but I added “How can we help?” to offer a more personable feel for the person calling and the front desk associate. The “How can we help?” opens up for the person calling to express what they need assistance with so that the callback can be specifically about the request and not just a general callback.

Use this front office voicemail script if you want to receive clarity callbacks instead of general requests.

11. Customer Service Voicemail Script

“Thank you for calling [your company name] customer service. We’re currently unavailable, but your call is important to us. Please leave a detailed message with your name, phone number, and reason for calling, and we’ll respond within one business day. We appreciate your patience.”

Why I like this example: Having had a customer service experience myself, I appreciate a voicemail that highlights the expected timeframe for a callback. It’s essential to let customers know when they can expect a callback so they can be aware, prepared, and informed. This should be a customer service 101 callback standard, but most companies miss this simple action.

Use this customer service voicemail script to provide structure to your voicemails with calmness and reassurance.

12. Business Hours Voicemail Message

“Hi, this is [your name]. I’m currently unavailable, likely recharging or supporting others in doing the same. Please leave your name, number, and a short message. I’ll return your call during business hours. Wishing you a grounded and productive day.”

Why I like this example: For a business hours voicemail, I suggest creating a voicemail that reflects the nature of your business. In this example, since I help my clients prevent burnout with holistic practices as a coach, I stated this as the reason I am unavailable.

I close the message by highlighting what I help my clients achieve. You can do the same thing with your business voicemail message to let others know you are true to your business mission and you practice what you preach. Use this business hours voicemail message to convey professionalism and awareness to your current and future business clients.

13. “For More Information” Voicemail Script

“Hi there! This is [your name]. I’m so glad you called. If you're looking for more information about our offers, services, or upcoming events, please leave your name, phone number, and the topic you'd like to learn more about. I’ll get back to you ASAP. For faster assistance, please feel free to visit [your website] or send me a message at [your email]. Can’t wait to connect!”

Why I like this example: This type of voicemail script is perfect for highlighting your offers without being overly salesy. Since someone is already calling you, you can inform the other party of your offerings based on what you have available at the time. This could include promotions, services, events, etc. Highlighting your website and email to connect is another option to provide a self-service option, along with an alternative method to reach you and learn more.

Use this voicemail script for more information if you don’t want to pitch your offerings but want to present them in a valuable way.

14. Sales Team Voicemail Greeting

“Hello, you’ve reached the Sales Department at [company name]. All of our representatives are currently helping clients [insert goal, such as achieve 40% growth through streamlining HR operations] and are unable to take your call. Please leave your name, company, and phone number, and we’ll give you a call back ASAP. Thank you!”

Why I like this example: I love this sales team voicemail script for two reasons: It once again repeats the company‘s value proposition, and it implies the team is busy with other clients, signaling that the product is coveted. This voicemail allows you to reinforce your company’s mission, showing people that you are dedicated to helping your clients.

15. Promise to Get Back Voicemail Greeting

“Hi! Irene from Spylix is this. Send me an email if you’re hoping for a quick response, and I’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible tomorrow. But don’t worry if it’s not very urgent! Please leave your name and phone number, and I’ll get in contact with you as soon as I can. I hope today is fantastic for you!”

Why I like this example: Irene Graham, co-founder of Spylix, an online phone tracker for parents, loves this voicemail greeting that she’s set for herself. As a caller, I like how specific this message is.

Vacation Voicemail Greetings

16. Classic Vacation Voicemail Greeting

“Hi, you’ve reached [your name]. I’m currently out of the office on vacation and will be returning on [date]. I won’t be checking messages regularly, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. If your message is urgent, please contact [alternative contact name] at [contact info]. Thanks, and I’ll talk to you soon!”

Why I like this example: I think vacation voicemails should be friendly and clear. I am guilty of this too, but many people's out-of-office voicemails are often general and uninformative. I understand the excitement of being away from the office, so who cares about creating a thoughtful vacation greeting?

However, having a vacation voicemail greeting that offers an update on what’s going on, along with when you are accessible, is a win for the party looking to reach you. Also, touching on the urgent review of messages as well as providing alternate contact information is the perfect closure to a classic voicemail greeting.

Use this classic vacation voicemail greeting if you are looking to create a thoughtful vacation greeting.

17. Adventurous Vacation Voicemail Message

“Hello! You’ve reached [your name], but I’m currently swapping my office chair for airplane seats and backpack straps. I’m traveling the world, chasing new adventures, and definitely not checking voicemails. I’ll return on [date], so leave a message and I’ll get back to you once I land — mentally and physically!”

Why I like this example: I am not the adventurous type, but if I were, this would be my vacation of adventures voicemail message. Letting the person who calls get a sneak peek into what you are doing on vacation is a fun, approachable, and personable way to create an adventurous vacation voicemail. By letting the caller in on the fun, you spark excitement with the certainty of not expecting a call back until you return from your adventure. Closing the voicemail with a return date and a clear state of being offers clear expectations.

Use this adventurous vacation voicemail message when you are headed for your next adventure travel.

18. Short Vacation Voicemail Script

“Hey there, this is [your name] from [your company]. I’m out of the office until [date]. In the meantime, please direct your inquiries to [coworker’s name] at [email address]. They can also be reach

The most helpful AI agents for small businesses, according to business owners

Kolawole Samuel Adebayo — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0100

Most small businesses know the frustration of scaling their tech all too well. As they address their pain points in day-to-day operations, they find themselves buried in tedious setup processes, constant troubleshooting, and tools that just don’t scale.

I researched several companies who have shared about their struggles and the subsequent success they found in leveraging AI agents.

Whether it’s generating leads, creating content for social media or the website, handling customer queries, or managing cash flow, every function is a potential time sink when done manually. This is why today, big and small businesses alike are using AI agents to scale their business.

In this article, I’ll explore how small businesses use AI agents and highlight some of the best tools available, complete with insights from fellow entrepreneurs and other professionals.

Table of Contents

How Small Businesses Can Use AI Agents

Best AI Agents for Small Business

Build Your Own Agents

How Small Businesses Can Use AI Agents

AI agents are no longer a luxury for large enterprises. Small businesses are now leveraging them more than ever before. Below, I share some ways they are using this technology to stay competitive.

1. Supporting Customers Better

Many businesses struggle to deliver high-quality customer support without burning hours on chatbot maintenance or live chat backlogs, and this is especially common among small teams with limited resources.

As Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, puts it, “SMBs don’t typically have the time, resources, or the level of AI expertise that larger companies do. But with Gen AI, SMBs can now leverage powerful technology to improve both efficiency and effectiveness. If used thoughtfully, SMBs can reach more customers, serving customers with even more insights and with unprecedented relevance.”

Bridget Pyne, marketing manager at BabelQuest, shares her company’s experience, saying, “Building our old chatbot was so time-consuming. A full week sometimes vanished into branching logic and endless tweaks. Then came maintenance!”

Their next step was finding a solution that didn’t just work but worked better and faster. They turned to an AI agent to streamline everything.

“Breeze customer agent took less than an hour to set up, and minimal upkeep since it taps directly into our existing knowledge base,” explains Pyne. “It’s like going from dial-up to fiber optic — the difference has been incredible. The time saving alone has freed up additional hours for the team to review content gaps and better improve our knowledge base offering.”

According to an IBM report, businesses using AI-infused virtual agents can reduce customer service costs by up to 30% while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. That’s a significant win on both fronts.

But remember (and I think it’s necessary to reiterate) AI agents are powerful, not perfect. The human touch is still essential in customer service. AI should handle the repetitive and straightforward tasks, while human reps step in for complex, emotional, or sensitive interactions.

I highly recommend setting clear escalation paths and design moments, where human connection shines, especially when empathy and nuance matter most.

2. Marketing the Business

One thing I’ve consistently noticed among small business owners is the constant juggling act where marketing often ends up on the back burner. For many, it’s just posting occasionally on social media, sending a newsletter once in a while, or relying on word-of-mouth.

But marketing isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a growth engine. Data from our State of Marketing report shows that businesses that have set up marketing goals and strategies are 2.5 times more likely to report growth than those without.

The problem? Marketing takes time. But that’s where AI agents can step in. From content generation and email writing to campaign management and analytics, AI marketing agents can automate tasks and even make strategic decisions based on data. They handle the workflow while you focus on results.

Jen Spencer, vice president at We Are Girls Club, an organization supporting women in sales leadership, puts it this way: “With a small marketing team, I have to wear many hats. But using an AI content agent allows me to go from A to Z on a project all by myself and save so much time. What used to take me one to two weeks with a team now takes me minutes.”

Spencer continues, “If I didn’t have this tool, I would’ve had to launch my marketing campaign without a landing page, and my conversion rates would’ve suffered.”

3. Handling Parts of the Sales Process

Sales teams are often overloaded with repetitive, manual tasks like sending follow-ups, qualifying leads, and responding to basic queries. What if AI could handle that grunt work?

Vendict, an AI-native government, risk, and compliance solution, created their own AI agent — Maya — to do just that. Maya manages key parts of their go-to-market efforts: qualifying inbound interest, running outbound campaigns, supporting website chat, and even aiding sales enablement.

Inna Kubovski, vice president of marketing at the company, shares the returns of this investment. “The most immediate benefit is speed. Maya dramatically cuts down time-to-first-touch, follow-up delays, and inbound triage. That alone improves conversion rates because you’re catching people when they’re still in a decision-making mindset.”

According to Kubovski, the deeper advantage is focus.

“Our team isn’t spending their days chasing ghost leads or formatting cold emails. They’re talking to the right people, with better context, and they’re more productive because of it,” Kubovski says.

4. Managing Financial Processes

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any small business and also one of its greatest stress points. Many SMBs still rely on outdated spreadsheets and slow manual processes that lead to delayed payments, missed invoices, and financial blind spots. AI agents can now manage invoicing, forecast cash flow, flag unusual spending, and even automate collections. This gives business owners a real-time pulse on their finances and the confidence to make smarter decisions.

According to a PYMNTS Intelligence report in partnership with American Express, 83% of SMBs are already using AI for data analytics and financial management, and 73% are consolidating their cash management into unified digital platforms.

On a lighter note, you could AI your business just like Sherzod Gafar plans to AI his entire life.

Source

Best AI Agents for Small Business

Ready to add an AI agent to your team? These are currently some of the most helpful AI agents for small businesses I’ve found.

1. Breeze by HubSpot

Source

HubSpot’s Breeze Agents are AI-powered “digital coworkers” built directly into the CRM, designed to automate major pieces of your sales, marketing, and support workflows. I like to think of them as always-on teammates that don’t sleep, don’t forget things, and actually know your business.

There’s a Prospecting Agent that researches leads and writes customized outreach emails (in your voice), a Content Agent that drafts landing pages or blog posts based on your CRM data, and a Customer Agent that handles support tickets 24/7.

Bradley Poole, CRO at ResellerRatings, said their Breeze-generated emails outperformed their own BDRs in quality and engagement.

“What makes it exceptional is its ability to scan contact information and generate truly contextual, customized outreach that resonates with prospects. It doesn’t just save time, it's elevating the quality of our initial touchpoints with potential customers.”

What I like: Personally, I love how deeply it integrates with your existing CRM data. It pulls from real customer context, campaign history, and content you’ve already created.

Pricing: Included with HubSpot’s Service Hub Professional ($100 per seat/month) and Enterprise plans ($150 per seat/month).

2. Jasper AI

Source

I think Jasper is a great option for marketing teams, especially the ones with so many tasks and so little time to complete them. It can generate long-form content, Facebook ads, emails, landing pages — you name it — and it can do it in your exact brand voice. You can train Jasper with your tone, upload documents and guidelines, and even generate visuals alongside text.

Carl Bleich, head of content at Bloomreach, said their team shifted its workflow entirely around Jasper. Now writers focus on strategy and editing, while Jasper drafts the bulk content, helping them publish consistently and drive a 40% bump in traffic.

What I like: What I love most? Once it learns your tone, it pulls from that every time, keeping your voice consistent across everything from tweets to whitepapers.

Pricing: Starts at $39/month for individual creators. Enterprise pricing available on request.

3. Intuit Assist for QuickBooks

Source

Most business owners hate bookkeeping and the monotony of it all. But this is exactly where AI shines. With Intuit Assist, you can scan receipts, upload PDFs, or forward emails, and it’ll handle the rest — categorizing expenses, generating invoices, flagging suspicious charges, and even forecasting your cash flow.

According to Amit Talach, Intuit’s senior VP of product, “We have Intuit Assist now making much more accurate, explainable, and transparent recommendations on expense categorizations, effectively automating accounts payable and accounts receivable.”

What I like: Handing over your finances to an AI agent might feel like a leap. But if there’s one company that’s earned trust here, it’s Intuit. Their tools are built for accountability, not just automation — and I believe they’ve had decades to prove that.

Pricing: Starts at $35/month (Simple Start) and goes up to $235/month (Advanced), depending on the features you need.

4. Lyro by Tidio

Source

Lyro AI Agent is a smart chatbot built into Tidio’s live chat platform, and it plugs directly into your existing help documents, site content, and FAQs. Once it’s live, Lyro answers questions in a few seconds, handles recurring tasks, qualifies leads, books meetings — and escalates to a human only when necessary. I find it super helpful because it supports multiple languages and works across live chat, email, and social channels. It can reclaim up to 64% of your team’s time.

For ecommerce? It handles shipping updates, inventory questions, and returns. For service businesses? It books appointments, shares policies, and collects contact info.

What I like: What I love is how quickly it gets up and running and how natural the conversations sound. You’re not getting stiff, robotic responses. Lyro speaks like a real teammate would.

Pricing: Based on conversation volume. Starts at $0/month for up to 50 conversations and scales to $175/month for 300 conversations. (A conversation = any chat, email, ticket, or message thread.)

5. Microsoft Copilot for Small Business

Source

Microsoft 365 Copilot is like having an AI assistant that lives inside the tools you’re already using — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more. It helps you draft documents, clean up data, summarize meetings, generate presentations, and automate repetitive tasks.

But the real magic is Copilot Studio, where you can build your own agents to run autonomously — think invoice follow-ups, email outreach, or even internal reporting. Once configured, they’ll work behind the scenes while you focus on higher-value tasks.

What I like: I love how Microsoft’s AI provides agents in the tools and allows you to customize them to fit your business’s unique needs.

Pricing: You could either use the Microsoft 365 Copilot plan at $30 per user/month, pay for the Copilot Studio plan $200/month per tenant for 25,000 messages, or pay $0.01/message for pay-as-you-go.

Build Your Own Agents

Here’s where I think things get really exciting. You don’t have to wait around for someone else to build your ideal AI agent. You can do it yourself, like what Cole Fortman did in the post below.

Source

And this one.

Today, consumers expect to interact with brands via multiple distribution channels. They want to buy in-store, via a company site, third-party platforms, and social media. This is what makes a comprehensive distribution strategy important. An optimized distribution strategy will help you figure out the right way to reach them.

In this article, I’ll guide you through how to do just that.

Table of Contents

What is distribution strategy?

Types of Distribution Strategies

Selecting the Right Strategy

Distribution Strategy Examples

Tips for Creating an Effective Distribution Strategy

The principal aim of any retailer is to get their goods to the target market. Not only that, you must make them available in the manner they prefer to buy them, as seamlessly as possible, to keep customers engaged. This is a moving target.

Statistic: 77% of consumer product marketers have reported that they must significantly transform their brand’s customer engagement approach in 2025.

Your distribution strategy is how you reconcile all these necessities.

Source

Your strategy is your plan to speed the connection between your offerings and their end-users. That’s whether they’re consumers, businesses, or a mixture of the two. There are many considerations to account for when defining a distribution strategy.

The following are a handful of the most notable:

The customer experience you aim to give and how distribution options align with it

The nature of your products and how they must get sold and used

Your direct competitors and how they serve customers

Consumer needs and demands

Shipping considerations

First, let’s look at one of the fundamental building blocks of an optimized distribution strategy — the distribution channels.

Distribution Channels

You might think distribution channels are self-explanatory. It’s the different places you sell your products, right? Wrong. That’s a common misconception. Your website, a third-party platform, or a physical store is not a distribution channel. However, each can form part of your distribution channel.

A distribution channel is a product’s entire journey to get from you to its end-user. It could be that your store or website is all that’s involved. That’s the case if you’re a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand with a direct distribution strategy: You sell your lines straight to their end-users. Not all distribution channels are as straightforward, though.

Lots of channels, in fact, include intermediate steps between your firm and consumers — this is known as an indirect distribution strategy. The principal players in such more complex chains are as follows:

Producers. These are the manufacturers who make products or their constituent parts.

Wholesalers. Your budget and the costs associated with different distribution channels. Firms specializing in broad distribution of products to multiple retailers.

Retailers. Businesses that sell products to their end-users. Sales can happen online or offline.

Consumers/End-Users. The final purchasers of an item. They’re buying it to use, not to sell on.

Your business can exist at different points of these channels. If you sell many different products, too, each may have its own channel. You may also use more than one, or even more than one type, even if you only provide one product line. That’s where four principal varieties of distribution strategy enter the picture.

Types of Distribution Strategy

An optimized sales distribution strategy is one tailored to your brand and customers. You don’t have to choose from a limited number of prescribed alternatives. There are, however, four categories into which most strategies fall: intensive, selective, exclusive, and direct-to-consumer.

Source

1. Intensive Distribution Strategy

Many brands adopt this type of distribution strategy. Intensive distribution involves implementing as many different channels as possible for a given product. It’s a common strategy for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, perishables, and personal care products (to name a few).

Pros: Enhances market penetration for the product. Widest consumer base. Powerful to increase brand awareness.

Cons: Not always cost-effective. Pricing may vary, with retail stores trying to undercut each other.

Some easy examples of this are Coca-Cola and Snickers bars — these items can be bought practically anywhere, from Amazon to Walmart to vending machines (kids even sell Snickers bars door-to-door as a part of school fundraisers).

No business starts with an intensive distribution strategy. “You evolve to that the bigger you get,” shared Dave Gulas, cofounder of EZDC. Gulas helps ecommerce brands scale, and he shared his insights (including what he considers to be the “holy grail” of distribution — which I’ll get to in a minute).

2. Selective Distribution Strategy

This strategy is when firms choose different channels for specific products or services. They might, for instance, only sell an item in a particular geographic area. Or they may restrict sales of product lines to only their website. The idea here is to match channels to consumer behavior and demand. That, thus, is more cost and time-efficient for the brand.

Pros: You can target consumers with more precision. More control over price, market, etc.

Cons: More reliant on the distributor’s relationship with your target audience.

Here’s an example from the natural deodorant company Nuud. They nudge customers to purchase directly from their website (where they have the highest profit margins and most control over customer experience), but also have selective distribution partners:

Source

3. Exclusive Distribution Strategy

Companies may restrict the provision of some items even more. They could, for instance, use only one very narrow channel for a particular line. When brands use this tactic, they’re trying to stoke scarcity and thus demand. It’s how companies make products seem higher-end and more desirable. Or, a company could choose to only sell its entire product base directly to customers on its website.

Pros: Exclusivity can create buzz for special launches. Explores symbiotic partnerships.

Cons: High reward means high risk. Some willing buyers will be unable to access.

Here’s an example of a 2025 launch by Blogilates and Target. Exclusivity was a prime marketing characteristic, as you can see with the tagline “new and only at Target.” This launch went viral, no doubt in part to the founder’s massive audience established online and the perfect alignment between customers and retail venue.

Source

Tip: These aren’t siloed approaches to distribution. A company can simultaneously leverage both an intensive and exclusive distribution strategy by releasing limited-edition products in specific locations.

4. Direct Distribution Strategy

For many brands, it’s advantageous to have a direct distribution strategy for as long as possible. Dave Gulas even described it as the holy grail: “The holy grail of distribution is not needing these middlemen, these distribution channels.” And while direct distribution strategies are by no means new, Gulas said that “the direct-to-consumer aspect of it has gone on steroids,” citing the evolution of social media.

While this might look similar to an exclusive distribution strategy, it’s different in many important ways. Namely, a larger operational burden, higher profit margins, and the founder can be the face of the company. This brings a powerful level of authenticity to the entire sales process. The cliché “people buy from people” comes to life with this strategy (when leveraged properly — more on this in a minute).

Pros: Complete control. Lowest costs. Most adaptable.

Cons: Requires inbound customers. All awareness is generated by you. Largest operational burden.

Here’s an example of the clothing brand See The Way I See, which went on Shark Tank in 2023, touting huge sales through social media. The investors on the show passed on founder Sophie Nistico’s pitch because they all agreed that her business model was thriving and didn’t need their help.

Source

Selecting the Right Strategy

Defining the right distribution strategy for your product is more complicated than choosing from those four options, of course. You should stay focused on your customers while also considering your commercial goals.

I recommend you weigh the following considerations when creating an effective distribution strategy for your product.

Internal Considerations

Assess your internal infrastructure and how much control you want over distribution.

Business operations. Could the right tech provide a smooth, direct distribution plan? Is your logistics good enough to reliably supply a retailer on the other side of the world? Start by focusing on what your team can realistically sustain.

Post-purchase support. How much post-purchase support might end-users need? Would third-party retailers or providers be able to offer it? How much control do you want over the customer experience?

Different channels for different products. Do you need to explore different channels for particular products? Or in other geographical areas or territories? Could dual distribution offer the flexibility your business needs?

Tip: This isn’t a one-time task, but rather an ongoing review of sales data. Loris Petro, marketing manager at Kratom Earth, shared this advice: “Choosing a distribution strategy that works for you means stripping away what looks good in a pitch deck and focusing on how people live, shop, and think in each location. Nothing beats observing that up close and adjusting as you go.”

This is backed by research: 76% of consumer product marketers report that they must adapt to changes faster than ever before.

Market Considerations

Assessing your marketing channels, customer data, and product awareness will help you gauge market considerations.

Target audience. Customer preferences should be heavily weighed. Where is your customer base shopping? What’s most convenient for them?

Awareness. Are potential customers already aware of your product, or do they need to be introduced? Direct sales can offer better margins and more control, but are you equipped to reach customers without retail partners?

Marketing channels. How does content marketing impact or align with different distribution channels? Which ad types (online or off) best support your broader strategy?

Example: Hone John Tito, cofounder of Game Host Bros, shared the following experience of how he adapted his strategy to cater to different target markets. “When we launched our North American game server hosting, we focused on direct sales and online advertising. But when we expanded into Europe and Asia, we quickly discovered we had to have local partners who were better positioned to handle those markets than we could from across the ocean. We had to adapt our strategy based on the demands of each region, and the key metric that we watched closely was the customer acquisition cost (CAC). It dropped 20% once we made the switch to a partner model in Europe.”

Product Considerations

Assess how your product impacts distribution, planning for long-term efficiency (though this will evolve as your product and the market change).

Routine purchases. If customers purchase your products routinely, middleman costs will add up substantially. Earning customer loyalty is a big upfront cost, but a relationship where customers purchase directly from your website instead of Amazon or big box retailers offers huge cost savings over time.

Customer demand. Is there enough demand from the general public to support an intensive distribution strategy?

Brand identity. Does it fit your brand’s positioning to have your products in every store under the sun? If you have a higher-end reputation, should availability be more limited? Also, consider if your customers purchase from you for value-based reasons.

Example: Selling on Amazon is an effective way to reach consumers who are searching for your products. However, many conscious consumers boycott Amazon. Choosing to sell through Amazon could conflict with your brand’s identity and your target market’s motives to purchase from you.

Distribution Strategy Examples

With all of that information in mind, let’s see how these distribution strategies look out in the wild.

1. Dawn Dish Soap: Intensive Distribution Strategy

Household cleaning companies aim to position their product everywhere, meaning both direct and indirect channels. Customers can buy their favorite dish soap online from wholesalers or curbside pickup at their favorite retail locations (distributors).

Source

By using the intensive strategy, this dish soap is available at:

Ecommerce websites

Convenience stores

Grocery stores

2. Jeni’s Ice Cream: Selective Distribution Strategy

Ice cream is typically seen as another product sold using the intensive distribution strategy. Still, for smaller brands that aren’t sold in big box stores, Jeni’s Ice Cream has the opportunity to offer exclusive flavors and products depending on the location of its ice cream parlors, and now even through shipping.

Source

For particular states or shop locations, Jeni’s also offers exclusive merch like pint koozies, seasonal flavors, or limited edition flavors that are only available in controlled ways and periods.

3. Local Pet-Sitting Service: Exclusive Distribution Strategy

Even more niche of a service offering is the example of a small business running a pet

The cold calling framework every rep needs to beat the summer sales slump

mroberge@hubspot.com (Mark Roberge) — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 18:07:28 +0100

Cold calling might be the most dreaded activity in sales, especially during a slow season. As someone who‘s trained countless sales professionals at HubSpot, Stage 2 Capital, and Harvard Business School, I can tell you it’s also one of the most misunderstood.

I run an exercise in some of my HBS classes. We have students make real cold calls selling $20 pizzas to local businesses. I'd say out of 1,000-or-so calls, students generally manage to sell five or six pizzas. The success rate is pretty brutal, but the learning experience is invaluable.

I recently demonstrated this approach on The Science of Scaling YouTube channel with Matthew Brown, who bravely stepped into the role of a novice salesperson. Here's a look at how that went.

Table of Contents

Why Cold Calling Is So Challenging

The Cold Call Framework That Actually Works

The Three Critical Elements of Successful Cold Calling

Why Cold Calling Is So Challenging

There's a reason that cold calling is often viewed as one of the most — if not the most — frustrating activities in sales. If you‘re good at it, you’ll still get hung up on 80-90% of the time, and even the best SDRs tend to only book one meeting a day. That's why many salespeople would prefer to avoid it altogether. But mastering cold calling is possible with the right technique, mindset, and practice.

For this exercise, I played the role of a busy chiropractor‘s office manager. Matthew’s first attempt to sell me a pizza fell flat. He got flustered after the first objection and didn't know how to proceed. This is the reality most salespeople face when cold calling.

After watching Matthew‘s initial struggle, we broke down a framework that transformed his approach. Here’s how that went.

The Cold Call Framework That Actually Works

After years of studying and teaching cold calling techniques, I‘ve found Sam Nelson’s approach to be the most effective. It's built on simplicity and repetition, allowing your mental energy to focus where it matters most. Let me break down each component:

1. Open with “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

This question only has two possible answers (yes or no), and your response remains identical either way: “I'll be brief.” If they say it‘s a bad time, you acknowledge but promise brevity — if they say it’s fine, you‘ve created a small commitment to listen.

Either way, you’ve established a foothold in the conversation that buys you precious seconds to deliver your message.

2. Deliver a tight elevator pitch.

Your elevator pitch should follow a simple formula: “We provide X to Y leaders that improve Z by [specific outcome].” It should be concise, value-driven, and tailored to the prospect's likely pain points.

When Matthew revised his pitch to emphasize how the pizza would save the office time and improve staff morale rather than just describing the product, his effectiveness improved dramatically. Remember, you‘re not trying to close a deal yet — you’re creating just enough interest to continue the conversation.

After delivering your elevator pitch, immediately follow with a direct ask. In our pizza exercise, this was straightforward: “What do you think? $20 for the pizza?” In a B2B setting, you might say, “I'd love to set up an introductory call. How is your schedule?”

3. Handle objections and repeat the ask.

When Matthew first heard objections, he backpedaled and froze. In our revised approach, he acknowledged each objection, provided a counterpoint, and immediately circled back to the ask. The key insight: objections are expected parts of the conversation, not conversation-enders.

When I objected about preferring healthy food, budget concerns, or being too busy, Matthew countered each point and immediately returned to: “I'd still like to send you that pizza today.”

The takeaway? The average successful cold call involves handling three or four objections before booking a meeting.

Subscribe to The Science of Scaling on YouTube and turn a typically slow-paced season into a successful summer for sales teams.

The Three Critical Elements of Successful Cold Calling

Beyond the framework, there are three essential elements that separate successful cold callers from the rest:

1. Embrace scripts (even if you hate them).

I‘m not typically a fan of scripts, but cold calling is an exception. This is a game of seconds where every word counts. A good script isn’t about sounding robotic — it‘s about freeing your mental bandwidth to focus on what matters: listening and responding.

Matthew noted this was transformative. He said, "I don’t have to think or feel nervous about how I‘m hearing this person’s voice for the first time."

2. Master the objection flywheel.

Objections aren‘t roadblocks — they’re expected parts of the conversation. Effective cold callers enter a continuous flywheel: deliver pitch, make ask, hear objection, handle objection, make ask again.

The key is persistence. Don't let objections throw you off your game. Always circle back to your ask, and never exit the flywheel until the prospect either agrees or hangs up.

3. Adopt an authentic tone.

Counterintuitively, sounding like a polished salesperson hurts your chances. I advise reps to “channel being a skinny 14-year-old kid.” People feel bad hanging up on someone who sounds slightly nervous or authentic.

Sound like a regular person having a conversation. Your authenticity will make prospects more receptive.

The mindset shift: You're not there to make friends.

One of the biggest barriers to successful cold calling is the “need for approval.” Many salespeople prioritize being liked over making the sale. After our exercise, Matthew had an epiphany: “You're not there for a relationship … You're there to solve a problem for them.”

I often compare salespeople to doctors. When a doctor diagnoses a health issue, they tell you what you need to hear because they believe in their ability to help. Similarly, if you truly believe in your product, persistence isn‘t pushy — it’s necessary to deliver value to people who need it.

Cold calling may never be easy, but it can become a powerful tool in your sales arsenal when approached with the right technique, mindset, and expectations. Just as Matthew progressed from completely freezing up to successfully closing a sale in our session, you too can develop this critical skill through structured practice and the right framework.

8 best sales tools for small businesses to consider

Osama Zahid — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0100

Finding the right sales tools for small businesses can make the difference between chasing leads endlessly and closing deals with confidence. As someone who has worked closely with a small business owner, I know how important it is to have tools that help us work smarter.

In this article, I’ll explore what I believe are the key features to look for when choosing a sales tool for a small business. I’ll also be testing out eight of the best sales tools for small businesses and sharing my hands-on experience with each one.

I’ll guide you through the key features of these tools, break down their pricing, and share what I find most valuable about each one. My goal is to give you a clear, firsthand look at what each tool offers, so you can make a confident, informed choice for your business.

Table of Contents

What You Should Look For in a Small Business Sales Tool

Types of Sales Tools Every Small Business Should Invest In

8 Best Sales Tools for Small Businesses

What You Should Look For in a Small Business Sales Tool

When I explore different sales tools for small businesses, here’s what I keep an eye out for.

Ease of Use

I want a tool that’s intuitive from day one. If I need to spend days figuring out how to input a lead or generate a report, it’s not the right fit. I test how easily I can navigate the interface, input data, and retrieve useful insights without a steep learning curve.

Affordability

I know budgets are tight when running or managing a small business. I evaluate whether the tool gives me solid value for its price. I also check for flexible pricing plans that can scale as my business grows, without locking me into costly contracts.

Integrations

I don’t want to waste time juggling between too many disconnected apps. That’s why I look at how well each tool integrates with platforms I already use. I check whether the tool integrates with the email platform I am using, etc. A good sales tool should make my workflow smoother, not more complicated.

Mobile Accessibility

I often find myself needing to check in on leads or deals when I’m away from my desk. I see how well each tool works on mobile devices and whether I can perform basic actions (such as updating a lead or viewing sales dashboards) on the go.

Reporting and Insights

I want more than just raw data — I want clear, actionable insights. I explore how each tool helps me visualize my pipeline, track performance, and forecast revenue. A strong reporting feature should help me make smarter, faster decisions.

Customer Support

When something goes wrong, I don’t want to be left hanging. I test how responsive and helpful the tool’s customer support is, whether through live chat, email, or an online knowledge base. Reliable support is a must-have for me.

Customization and Automations

My business has unique processes, and I want a tool that can adapt to how I work. I check how much I can customize things like deal stages, data fields, and reports to fit my specific workflow. Then I should have the ability to create automations that handle repetitive tasks for me.

As a small business owner, I want to spend less time on manual work and more time closing deals. The more I can streamline my sales process with smart automations, the smoother my day-to-day work will be.

Most SMB owners are short on time, money, and manpower. Anything that helps them work faster and smarter has a dramatic ability on their bottom line (and stress levels).

If you run a small business, here are the seven tools that will dramatically upgrade your productivity and results.

CRM

As a small business owner, I need one place where I can keep track of every deal, contact, and conversation without losing my mind. That’s why a CRM is essential for me. It stores all the details about my contacts — their email, phone number, LinkedIn profile, and website — and automatically logs every interaction I have with them.

I can instantly see when we last talked, how we connected (phone or email), what we discussed, whether they’ve bought from me before, how often they visit my site, which pages they checked out, and which emails they’ve opened and clicked.

I don’t have to manually track any of it. It just happens.

Bottom line: If I’m choosing one tool to keep everything organized, it’s HubSpot CRM.

Documents Tool

I want to make it as easy as possible to send proposals, close deals, and get paid. That’s why having a tool to send and collect electronic signatures is a no-brainer for me. It lets me send contracts and proposals quickly, and my customers can review and sign them in minutes — no printing or scanning needed.

Faster signatures mean faster payments. HubSpot makes this even smoother by integrating with tools such as PandaDoc, so I can automate the process and keep the cash flow moving.

Invoicing Software

Reliable invoicing software helps small businesses get paid faster and manage cash flow more efficiently. With the right tool, you can quickly create and send professional invoices, track payments, and automate follow-ups for overdue accounts.

I like to look for the following key features:

Customizable templates. Design invoices that reflect your brand with logos, colors, and personalized messages.

Automatic payment reminders. Set up automated emails to gently nudge clients about upcoming or overdue payments.

Online payment integration. Let customers pay directly from the invoice using credit cards, bank transfers, or digital wallets.

Payment tracking and reporting. Monitor which invoices have been paid, which are outstanding, and generate reports to understand your revenue trends.

If you bill by the hour, I recommend choosing invoicing software that lets you easily add tracked time and expenses directly to your invoices.

Inventory and Order Management Software

If you are in a business that sells physical products, having a reliable inventory and order management system is a must for staying organized. It helps in keeping track of stock levels, purchase and sales orders, and warehouse details all in one place.

The most essential features I look for in an inventory and order management system are:

Barcode scanning. To quickly check stock levels with a simple scan.

Reorder alerts. Notification when inventory is running low, to avoid the risk of selling out unexpectedly.

Reporting. To see which products are the top sellers, the total value of the inventory, and to track sales performance by week, month, or quarter.

I’ve found Xero and inFlow to be excellent choices for small business inventory management.

Survey Tool

Successful business owners have one thing in common: They’re passionate about understanding their customers better. They are also determined to identify their most satisfied clients to drive referrals and encourage repeat business.

And by spotting dissatisfied customers early, they step in and resolve issues before negative reviews surface. The more insight you have into your audience, the easier it becomes to meet their needs and market effectively.

A user-friendly platform such as SurveyMonkey (which integrates with HubSpot) makes it simple to create polished surveys — no technical expertise required. I suggest sending a quick survey after a purchase to gather feedback on the experience.

Small business owners can also use surveys to engage prospects, leads, or even your own team.

Meetings App

When you’re lining up meetings with clients, suppliers, partners, or even with people in your internal team, a scheduling app can shave valuable minutes off your day. It creates a shareable view of your availability, so others can book a slot that works for both of you.

Once a meeting is booked, it syncs straight to your calendar, no back-and-forth required. I recommend trying HubSpot’s Free Meetings Scheduler.

Email Management Tool

Email remains one of the most powerful assets for any seller. If your inbox doesn’t have tools that show when someone opened your message or clicked a link, you’re leaving actionable insights on the table.

Timing matters! I aim to follow up while I’m still top of mind. It’s far easier to get a response when your prospect just engaged with your email a few hours ago.

Maybe you want your message to hit someone’s inbox first thing in the morning, but you’ll be busy at that hour. No worries! Just schedule it ahead of time. My last recommendation is to set follow-up reminders if they haven’t replied, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Check out HubSpot’s email tools.

8 Best Sales Tools for Small Businesses

1. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to meet nearly every digital need for small businesses. Beyond its free CRM, it includes features like live chat, an AI-powered content writer, and a website builder. Its products are organized into dedicated hubs for sales, marketing, customer service, content management, operations, and more.

For this article, I will focus specifically on the features of Sales Hub.

Key Features of Sales Hub

Sales Automation Tools Sequences

This feature is designed to boost productivity. It streamlines lead assignment, follow-up tasks, and other repetitive actions using automated workflows and sequences.

I can move deals between stages, set reminders, and keep tabs on progress. This makes it easier to prioritize and close more sales.

Mobile CRM App

The HubSpot mobile app allows accessing and engaging with contact activity anytime, anywhere. Also, I can easily send professional-looking emails using pre-built templates or using HubSpot’s AI email writer.

With the business card scanner feature, I can quickly convert business cards into CRM contacts and eliminate the need for manual data input. This feature is incredibly useful for events like conferences and exhibitions, where you’re meeting numerous people and don’t have the time to manually input prospect data into your CRM.

AI Prospecting Agent

You can streamline your sales outreach with Breeze, an AI prospecting agent that helps identify high-quality leads and crafts personalized outreach within your existing workflow.

Basically, it analyzes target accounts in minutes and delivers actionable insights that would normally take days to gather manually.

I love how Breeze integrates seamlessly with HubSpot’s CRM, requiring no extra setup or training, and continuously adapts to your sales patterns to provide more relevant insights over time. This allows your team to focus on closing deals with all the prospect intelligence they need in one place.

Reporting & Analytics

HubSpot’s built-in dashboards help in monitoring campaign performance, website activity, and sales metrics. I can create custom reports to get clear insights into what’s working and where to improve. The visual pipeline tool lets me track deals at every stage of the sales process:

Equip your team with powerful insights through user-friendly analytics and reporting tools that are simple to learn.

Integrations

HubSpot connects with over 1,800 apps and tools, making it easy for me to integrate my CRM with platforms I already use such as Gmail and Zoom.

I can share a link that lets prospects book time on my calendar directly. This cuts down the back-and-forth of scheduling meetings and keeps the pipeline moving smoothly.

What I Like

For small businesses, every minute counts. With lean teams, working efficiently is essential. And that’s where I feel automation makes a real difference. HubSpot is a top choice for me for boosting productivity with its robust automation tools.

I worked for a logistics company that didn’t have the capacity to cater to companies that had a low order volume.

So, I set up the following workflow to automatically email anyone who filled out our website form but didn’t meet our minimum order requirements.

Similarly, another inbound qualification workflow was created to streamline the work.

The purpose of this workflow was to take data from our website’s form submissions and check whether the property was in the company’s TAM.

As you can see, the workflow essentially classified properties according to the monthly number of orders and then set actions and next steps accordingly (for instance, adding to list, SDR contacting them, sending out email, updating lifecycle stage, etc.).

In my experience, HubSpot makes building automations remarkably straightforward and simplifies the processes of a business.

Pricing

HubSpot offers a free CRM with core features — perfect for small businesses that are looking to explore first. Its paid plans unlock advanced tools for marketing, sales, and service that allow businesses to scale as their needs grow.

Source

The Starter Customer Platform pricing starts from $20 per month per seat. For businesses that need a comprehensive solution covering marketing, sales, customer service, and content management, the Professional plan is a great fit.

2. Odoo

Odoo markets itself as the “real-customer centric” CRM. Odoo is a comprehensive software which has a lot of modules for different business verticals.

Key Features

Sales

The sales module is mainly related to creating quotes easily. It is designed to boost sales by suggesting add-ons, applying discounts, and using closing triggers.

Once a quote is confirmed, it automatically converts into a sales order, and relevant teams are notified in real time to keep operations moving smoothly.

Invoicing

Invoices can be generated easily from confirmed sales orders (automatically, in batches, or individually). Sales and billing are fully integrated, with flexible invoicing policies and payment terms based on confirmation or delivery. Once an invoice is sent, customers can pay online.

Odoo Invoicing also simplifies payment follow-ups with automated reminders for late or outstanding invoices, helping to streamline the billing process. Vendor bills can be managed just as easily, and checks can be printed to ensure timely supplier payments. The app connects directly to the accounting platform, with accounting entries posted in real time to the correct journals and accounts.

Accounting & Finance

Odoo automatically syncs and imports bank statements, making real-time reconciliation quick and easy. Simply validate the match between statement lines and accounting entries. The platform provides all key financial reports (balance sheets, profit and loss, aged receivables and payables, and tax reports) — all of which are dynamic.

Reports can be filtered, annotated, customized, and compared across periods. The Accounting app also supports multi-currency and multi-company environments, allowing for inter-company transfers and consolidated reporting across sub

Strategic planning: How it supports a perfect sales operation

Jenny Romanchuk — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0100

I’ve led two sales teams at SaaS and was a salesperson myself. I spoke to hundreds of C-level salespeople and founders from enterprises like Coca-Cola to different IT vendors.

When we talked about strategic sales planning, it was often confused with operational planning, as I came to understand through conversations. Back then, I thought it was just wordplay. In reality, though, this leads to inadequate sales quotas and misaligned stakeholder expectations.

In fact, 56% of executives and their teams wasted time on strategic planning, while only 44% spent the strategic planning time productively.

That’s a huge gap. This fact indicates that over 50% of the sales team can improve their performance.

Theory aside — let’s dive into a practical breakdown of strategic planning in sales.

Table of Contents

What is strategic planning?

What is the purpose of strategic planning?

Strategic Planning and Sales Teams

Strategic Planning Process

Benefits of Strategic Planning

Why is strategic planning important?

Strategic Planning Software

Common frameworks for strategic planning include the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Objectives and Key Results (OKR), and the Theory of Change (TOC).

Balanced Scorecard Institute sums up strategic planning nicely:

“It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful.”

What is the purpose of strategic planning?

The purpose of strategic planning is for an organization to determine the direction it will head in over the next three to five years. You’ll set overarching goals and outline how you want to achieve them. Strategic plans are often adjusted based on market changes or unforeseen threats, so they may be modified to respond to changes in the business environment (internal or external).

When you have long-term business goals, it becomes easier for different departments in your organization to plan their activities, allocate resources, and take actions that will help your business meet your goals in the designated time frame. The plans created from strategic planning are called operational plans, and I’ll discuss the difference between the two concepts below.

Strategic plans set long-term goals, while operational plans outline the daily, monthly, and quarterly actions to achieve those goals.

Operational plans turn strategy into action.

Usually, individual departments or team leaders create operational plans to support the broader strategic objectives.

For example, if your company’s goal is to increase revenue by 75% in 3 years, each department will develop operational plans to contribute to that goal.

Customer service might focus on retention,

Sales could upsell and generate qualified leads,

Marketing may refine buyer personas to target the right customers.

In the end, each department’s efforts contribute to reaching the revenue goal.

Why is strategic planning important?

Having a solid plan keeps the team focused and proactive instead of reactive — no matter the size of the team.

When I worked at startup Signum AI as the first sales leader hire, we would typically sit together with the founder and outline our 12-month plan, which was a combo of strategic and operational goals. We mapped out high-level business goals and aspirations, and then cascaded them into quarterly and monthly operational plans aligned with marketing efforts.

It helped us meet sales quota almost every month (like 85-100%).

Without that, we would be just blind and pour money into sporadic motion, as it used to be at the very beginning (I’ll discuss this later in the article).

Bottom line: For sales teams, strategic planning directly impacts quota attainment, territory management, and how effectively reps use tools and data.

Another great example of the importance of strategic planning is Mary Kelly’s story; she is a corporate advisor and founder of Productive Leaders.

Kelly asked her friend, who owns two successful restaurants, if he was going to revisit his strategic plan going into the new year.

He literally laughed and said, “What strategic plan?”

His approach was just to figure things out along the way and keep doing what’s been working.

“To be fair, he has been doing well,” says Kelly. But she also made a really good point here: What if he could be even more successful … with less stress? That’s what strategic planning is all about.

Kelly explains that every business, no matter the size or industry, can benefit from having a strategic plan. And why is it important? Well…

A strategic plan defines your vision and mission. It sets the direction for where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.

You’re prioritizing what actually matters and putting the rest aside.

Markets change fast. With a strategy in place, you’re more prepared to pivot without losing momentum.

Everyone (not only the sales team) is pulling in the same direction.

Most importantly, it helps you measure progress. You can check in on where you are versus where you wanted to be, and adjust accordingly.

Strategic Planning and Sales Teams

The strategic plan is determined by senior leadership or executives to develop a long-term vision for the company. Then, it’s up to individual departments to create plans and strategies for their teams to align with and work towards the objectives set in the strategic plan.

Sales leaders create a sales plan (operational plan) that outlines the short-term strategies and tactics used to achieve long-term goals. This aligns sales teams and salespeople, so they know exactly what they're working towards and how progress and success will be measured.

Benefits of Strategic Planning for Sales Teams

If I had to pick one thing as the best part of strategic planning, it’d be focusing on the right moves and creating a roadmap for long-term growth, which, in turn, brings even more benefits.

Sets the direction and improves agility and adaptability.

I used to think a long to-do list was a good strategic plan. I learned this hard lesson when I led a SaaS sales team of five people at Signum AI. In the first months, I realized we were just busy — launching things, testing channels, hiring reps, etc. — but we were not strategic.

Basically, we were chasing quotas without connecting the dots. That couldn’t last long, and so we had to rethink our approach.

Professor Roger Martin calls this the “planning trap.” Teams feel in control because they’re managing tasks, but there’s no cohesive theory of success behind it.

Instead of obsessing over execution, strategic planning makes you ask: What’s our bet? What unique approach are we taking that others aren’t?

It connects the dots between your goals, your actions, and your edge.

And here’s the impact: Organizations that build this kind of strategic clarity — where everyone understands and rallies behind the plan — are 3.4x more likely to adapt quickly when things shift.

As I previously said, strategic planning translated into our sales growth, too, hitting high monthly quotas.

Forces us to make hard, but smarter choices.

Real strategy isn’t about doing more, it’s about choosing what not to do. That part’s uncomfortable. But every time I’ve committed to one clear path over three average ones, results followed.

Strategic planning pushes you to say no to “nice-to-haves” and double down on what you believe will work. It’s a bet, it’s risky, but it also creates focus.

Research shows that when companies focus on just 2 or 3 top priorities, they usually hit all of them. But when they try to juggle 4 to 10, they tend to only get 1 or 2 done, and if they go over 10, they often don’t finish any.

Source

Aligns sales and marketing teams toward a clear, mutual goal.

When there's no strategic planning, sales teams chase random targets or react to short-term numbers. The same goes for the marketing department. They shoot campaigns just to hit the number of lead goals without much thinking about their quality and the number of lost relevant opportunities.

Guess what? That happened to us, too. But this time, in all the SaaS companies where I was employed. Marketing could launch a crazy campaign that filled our pipelines with totally irrelevant leads. The worst time was when 3 SDRs suffocated with 100+ leads over a week, with a 70% disqualification rate. I was furious because we must have contacted them, gone on discovery calls, and done basic SDR stuff to qualify them.

Conversely, a clear plan means everyone knows why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Not only does it sound great, but companies with strong sales and marketing alignment also close 38% more deals compared to those with poor alignment.

Moreover, a 2024 report from InfoPro Learning found that 61% of execs struggle to connect strategy with day-to-day sales efforts. But when all employees understand the plan, they’re 77% more likely to perform at the highest level possible.

Also, according to one of the most experienced salespeople, Anthony Nicks, a clear sales process leads to 15% more salespeople achieving their quotas and 18% higher revenue growth compared to those without a defined process.

And speaking of growth, let’s close it out with the final benefit.

Turns sales into a long-term growth engine.

When your plan is strategic, you stop measuring success only by this quarter’s quota. You start thinking bigger: lifetime value, customer loyalty, and market positioning.

From my experience, companies that take time to build a strategic sales plan (one that connects marketing, product, and customer success) see compounding growth. Not explosive overnight wins, but steady, predictable scale.

Here’s a real-world example that backs “my” theory up:

Lloyds Banking Group recently pinpointed 18.7 million of its 27 million customers as key growth opportunities. As part of a new sales initiative, they’ve trained a team of around 830 people to focus on building stronger customer relationships.

The goal? Boost the average number of products sold per customer by 5% by the end of 2024. That’s a long-term play built on connection, not just conversion.

Pro tip: I suggest using HubSpot’s Growth Strategy Template to map out your growth plan. It helps you monitor revenue, expand into new regions, add products, and grow your customer base. Super easy to fill out and keep an eye on progress.

Source

The strategic planning process is designed during planning sessions to define the business’s overall vision and high-level, long-term goals that the business wants to achieve. The outcome of the entire process is a strategic plan.

1. Prepare for strategic planning.

Getting your strategic planning off the ground starts with setting the right foundation. I was part of strategic planning for a charitable foundation, a startup, and another SaaS company where I had worked. Here's how we set things up to make sure we were ready to execute:

Choose the right people.

First, you need the right mix of people:

Executives and leadership set the vision and help guide the direction.

The finance team keeps us grounded. Their input ensures the strategy is financially feasible.

The operations team knows the nuts and bolts of the business. They make sure our plans are practical and can actually be executed, even if something has to be modified.

The product team ensures the strategy aligns with what customers need.

Sales and marketing teams know the customer and the market. Their input is critical for targeting the right opportunities.

HR is often overlooked, but they make sure we have the right talent and resources to pull off the plan.

Set a realistic timeline.

When we have the right team in place, we usually want it all now and as soon as possible, but that’s not how things work. Here’s what to take into account when setting a realistic timeline:

Company size and complexity: Smaller companies may only need a few weeks, while bigger ones might need a few months. I set a timeline based on the scope of the project.

Allow for flexibility: Always leave room for adjustments. Plans change, and you don’t want to be scrambling when something unexpected comes up.

Milestones: Break it down into phases (research, strategy development, feedback, approval) to stay on track.

Pro tip: I incorporated regular milestone reviews (every 2–4 weeks) to assess progress, identify issues early on, and make necessary adjustments.

Set clear expectations.

The team is ready, we have deadlines, so it’s time to make sure everyone knows what’s expected of them.

Commitment level: Be clear about how much time they’ll need to dedicate to attending meetings, presenting data, or leading a part of the process.

Preparation: Always ask your team to come ready with research or data that can contribute to the conversation. It makes the sessions more efficient, and everyone feels their opinion matters.

2. Assess the business.

At this point, you want to know where your business stands. And this is how to do it:

Evaluate internal and external factors.

Look at what’s driving the business and what could hold it back. Here are some key things I advise focusing on.

Growth areas: Is a specific part of the business growing fast? Identify what’s working and figure out how to support that growth further.

Technology: Are there any new tools or tech that could make a big difference in improving efficiency or processes? If so, look at how you can use them.

Legislation changes: Keep an eye on any laws or regulations that could impact the business. If something’s coming down the pipeline, ensure you’re prepared to respond.

Choose the strategic planning frameworks.

I always rely on these five frameworks because they keep me clear on the big picture, help me spot what matters, and make it easier to turn ideas into real steps.

SWOT Analysis: Identifies your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It helps you understand what’s working and where you’re vulnerable.

Source

Porter’s Five Forces: Looks at competition by analyzing new competitors, supplier power, customer power, substitutes, and industry rivalry. It helps you spot market pressures.

Balanced Scorecard (BSC): A visual plan that shows your mission, vision, goals, and how to measure progress with KPIs and action steps.

Objectives and Key Results (OKR): Pick 3–5 main goals, and for each, set 3–5 measurable results you can track with a score (like 0–100%).

Theory of Change (TOC): Start with your big goals, then work backward to figure out the steps needed to get there.

PESTLE Analysis: Evaluates the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors affecting your business. It’s about understanding outside forces that could impact you.

Source

3. Outline your mission, vision, and key stakeholders.

What’s your business’s mission or vision? Identify the core values and priorities of your business by outlining your mission and vision statements.

Mission: This is why you exist. Keep it customer-focused. What problem are you solving, and how does your product/service he

How I use BANT to qualify prospects [+ expert tips]

Shannon L. Jackson — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0100

I recall the first time I was introduced to the BANT framework. I was enrolled in an online education program designed to train me as a sales development representative. The program was self-paced, allowing us to study the material at our convenience. I made flashcards to assist my memorization, and I came across the word BANT.

I immediately remember thinking this one would be easy to retain, as I saw it was not only an acronym but also a framework utilized in qualifying prospects for the sales cycle. I knew BANT would be something I needed to learn and would use often, so I began immersing myself in the model.

In this post, I will share how to use BANT as your everyday framework to qualify prospects with intention and structure.

Table of Contents

What is BANT?

What does BANT stand for?

How to Use the BANT Sales Framework and Process

How NOT to Use BANT

BANT Lead Qualification Questions

With so many ways to qualify prospects, I consider BANT to be one of the best, if not the best, methods for qualification. Why? Because it provides step-by-step guidance on how to navigate the conversation, giving you a clear plan on what to do when speaking to a prospect.

As I mentioned, I immediately adopted BANT as a daily framework when I studied and then transitioned into an SDR role. Because I studied BANT in my training program, I was even more prepared to utilize BANT when speaking to prospects in my sales role.

What does BANT stand for?

BANT’s definition is pretty clear cut — so while how you execute on the framework will involve some finesse, creativity, and a sense of how your prospect is responding to your questions, you’ll ultimately need to cover the following aspects:

B – Budget. Does the prospect have the budget to buy your product or service?

A – Authority. Is the person you’re speaking to the decision-maker?

N – Need. Does the prospect have a real need or problem that your product or service can solve?

T – Timeline. What’s their timeline for making a decision or implementing a solution?

{{ sgMacro.render_ftSnippet({ header: "How to Use the BANT Sales Framework and Process", content_type: "ordered_list", list: { items : [ "Understand the prospect’s budget beyond the dollar amount. ", "Identify stakeholders in the decision-making process.", "Determine the importance of the problem.", "Prepare a timeline for the sales process.", "Stay informed through multiple channels.", "Use digital tools to track your progress.", "" ] }, paragraph: { content: "" } }) }}

Now that you are more aware of what BANT is and what it stands for, I want to show you how using the BANT framework can give you more structure and intention within your sales process.

1. Understand the prospect’s budget beyond the dollar amount.

Don’t focus on the exact dollar amount within the prospect’s budget, but rather uncover how they spend.

This was a major hiccup for me when I first implemented BANT in my conversations as an SDR. I would ask, “What is your budget?” and the prospect would respond with a dollar amount that would be out of the price range of the service I was offering.

Because it was out of the price range, I initially thought the prospect was not qualified. However, after learning to ask more questions that dug into their spending behavior, flexibility, budget source, etc., I realized that those questions opened up the conversation and allowed me to peel back the onion layers.

Pro tip: Uncover budget patterns. Learn how they usually spend money in this area by asking questions like, “Have you invested in products or services like this before? What did that process look like?”

2. Identify stakeholders in the decision-making process.

When selecting stakeholders, consider a broad range of individuals who are involved in the decision-making process. You are not looking for just one specific person, but for a buying committee.

As an SDR, one of my key tasks was to identify the key stakeholders who would champion our products. Champions are internal advocates who believe in your product or service and are willing to spread the word or promote it to help drive sales forward. To do this, I would conduct research to identify their interest level and any buying signals that correlated with my current product or service.

Pro tip: Identify the buying committee early. Assume it’s more than one person, because it usually is. To uncover who else is involved, ask, “Is there anyone from [xyz department] who’d need to weigh in before you move forward? In addition to identifying your champion, you’ll also need to identify the gatekeepers, influencers, and end-users.

3. Determine the importance of the problem.

When evaluating the problem you’re trying to solve, ensure that you accurately identify its weight. Not all problems are treated equally, so determine whether the problem is urgent, painful, or business-critical.

As a sales coach, I was introduced to a method for helping prospects identify genuinely urgent issues. For the sake of illustration, consider the example of vitamins or aspirin. Vitamins are beneficial to have, as they help supplement or replenish what your body is lacking. But vitamins are not always needed; typically, if you miss taking a vitamin, you will be okay.

Now, aspirin, on the other hand, is required to alleviate the pain. People generally don’t take aspirin as a nice-to-have but as a must to take the pain away immediately. This analogy gave me a crystal-clear understanding of the problems my clients faced, which I could alleviate through my services.

Now your turn: Determine which problems your prospect is facing, and how your company's product or services can help. In this example, severity is one way to determine the importance of the problem. Other factors include its impact, frequency, and priority.

Pro tip: Help the prospect understand the cost of doing nothing, as people often underestimate the pain of staying the same. Help them quantify it by asking questions like “What happens if this issue goes unresolved for another 3-6 months?” and “How would that impact your goals?” This will help the prospect see the severity of said problem if left unaddressed.

4. Prepare a timeline for the sales process.

Next, you are looking to uncover when the prospect plans to take action. When preparing your sales timeline, ensure you are building a roadmap to guide the prospect through their buying journey.

One way to prepare your timeline is to understand the evaluation stage from the decision-maker's perspective. Knowing where your prospect is in the evaluation stage will save you time and help you understand what’s next for the prospect.

The evaluation stage typically involves three key areas:

Exploring options. If my prospect is just exploring, they are not ready to commit to a purchase. This is similar to when you are browsing a store and the store clerk asks if you need help with anything, and you mention, “I am just looking.”

Comparing options. Here, your prospect is interested, but they are looking to see if you can give them the best price, experience, and solution to their problems.

Prepared to make a decision. They are done weighing their options, ready to decide, know what they want, and are prepared to sign on the dotted line.

Pro tip: Add a timeframe to the evaluation stage and help your prospect avoid stagnation. For example, you could say, “Other teams in your situation typically complete evaluations within 2-3 weeks. Does that feel realistic on your end?”

5. Stay informed through multiple channels.

There are many ways to stay informed while using the BANT framework.

Budget

To stay up-to-date on budget, I recommend checking out LinkedIn hiring updates, press releases, and funding announcements. As a representative, as part of my ICP research, I would read press releases. This is how I stayed up-to-date on the latest changes the company was making, specifically looking for growth signals or funding announcements that could qualify the allocated budget.

Pro tip: Crunchbase is a valuable resource for this, as it provides insights into investment, funding, and corporate news for companies. For example, you might see that a prospective company has just raised a Series A. Likely, that means a budget exists for scaling tools.

Authority

To stay informed on who holds the authority in your prospective company, I suggest LinkedIn Sales Navigator, company team pages, and articles.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a platform for discovering mutual connections, influencers, and champions. I would use it while researching decision-makers to contact. It had all the information I needed to work passively at scale while I attended to the active work of cold calling and emailing.

For example, you learn that the person you're talking to is a manager, but their VP is the real decision-maker. You catch this by seeing a LinkedIn comment on a post about a “new strategy” from the director.

LinkedIn is also a go-to channel for leveraging authority in BANT, as it enables you to view the titles and reporting structure of the prospect.

Need

For this category, I would suggest a company blog, an employee newsletter, product reviews, and industry news as the top places to gather information about new initiatives the company plans to roll out. Reading reviews will help you understand employee pain points and customer complaints. Industry news can highlight market shifts, creating new pain points and needs within BANT to address. For example, maybe you read a blog post about a prospect that is scaling remote teams. This hints they’ll need better onboarding tools.

I often read product reviews as a representative because I was selling a product or service, and I wanted to know about the issues customers experienced with the company’s product. I would research the company on Google and read reviews.

Pro tip: If you're going to gather employee reviews, consider visiting Glassdoor or RepVue, which both offer in-depth insights from the employee's point of view.

Timeline

News alerts, events/conferences, and Google Alerts will give you access to mergers, layoffs, leadership changes, and automated updates on key accounts. Events and conferences often mark the start of a project.

Google Alerts was my go-to strategy again for working passively at scale. When any changes within the prospective company occurred that were aligned as a qualified lead for BANT, I would note it within the CRM and use it as a selling point to reach out while prospecting.

Additionally, I would be aware of layoffs and understand the sensitivity behind such a massive change, or realize that it wasn’t an ideal time to reach out.

6. Use digital tools to track your progress.

Create a BANT template or scorecard in your CRM. Log answers from prospective conversations to Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline fields to keep track them daily.

As a rep, I was not as structured with the BANT process as I could have been. However, I do think having an organized system in place is vital, especially when you’re having daily prospecting conversations. This could be an intentional way to manage, track, and view the BANT framework within your workflow.

Pro tip: Create dropdowns or color-coded fields and label them as: Qualified, Partially known, and Unknown/Unqualified.

How NOT to Use BANT

I don’t think BANT is needed in every prospective conversation. Most of the time, when you are cold calling, there are more misses than hits that don’t warrant a discussion. Therefore, when it comes to using BANT, it must be intentional, structured, and strategized.

Earn the right to talk BANT by focusing first on insight, education, and pain discovery. Don’t assume all of this can be done on the first call.

I would identify semi-qualified prospects to reach out to and add them to my call list for the day. “Semi-qualified” means they looked like they were a target ICP, and that’s it. I would call, and they would say not interested, hang up, or no one would answer.

Additionally, I would make other calls to those who had met the initial stage of being an ICP. During a conversation, I could determine if they were a good fit for BANT or not and then move them on to the next step, which might warrant another call. Continue to revisit and update BANT throughout the deal cycle.

Pro tip: To use BANT, it doesn’t have to be in one setting or conversation. When making 50-60 calls a day, I would BANT qualify around 10-15. Not every call qualifies for BANT.

BANT Lead Qualification Questions

We learned earlier that BANT is more than a checklist. This framework helps you discover a lot of important information about a prospect in a short amount of time while also building a relationship with them. The key to making BANT work for you is asking thoughtful questions that flow together in a conversation.

Below are some of the best questions to ask a prospect for each stage in the BANT framework. Remember, you’re having a conversation, so vary the order and the wording as you need to.

Budget

1. “What do you currently spend on tackling this issue?”

Balázs Keszthelyi, founder and CEO of TechnoLynx, says, "By starting in this way, I can establish a prospect's current budget, providing a benchmark for what future spend will likely be. Ideally, this question also opens up the conversation to help sales understand if a prospect is willing to spend beyond this — based on whether their current solution achieves all that they hope for, or by how much it falls short.

2. “We’ve determined that your team is losing X amount per [week, quarter, year] on this problem. How does that compare to the budget you’ve set aside?”

From my experience, discussing budgets early in the conversation felt uncomfortable. I was providing the prospect with an easy way out if they didn't want to further the discussion, because I hadn’t yet earned the right to speak about the budget during the first call.

Instead, lead with value. In this case, this question is more effective and demonstrates the financial impact of the problem. The question helps the prospect understand the cost of inaction if they don’t take action now.

A question like this can help in the BANT process by opening the door to deeper conversations that uncover the urgency, gain a deeper understanding of their problem, and guide them to a solution that moves the deal forward.

3. “We estimate that your team could potentially gain X amount per [week, quarter, year] by making this [change, investment]. How does that compare to the budget you’ve set aside?”

This question is a straightforward way to connect the budget of BANT with the value of your solution. Instead of providing a transactional budget question, this is framed in terms of what the prospect will gain before considering the cost.

As a representative, this type of question would allow me to take a collaborative approach, where the prospects I had conversations with were thinking beyond the price and more about what’s at stake financially if they delay action. The question provides insight into how they invest, whether a budget has already been allocated, and who may be involved in the financial discussions.

4. “What team’s budget would this tool fall within?”

As an SDR, I would often encounter prospects who either didn’t know their exact budget or felt uncomfortable disclosing it immediately. But when you frame it as a question about which team or department owns the budget, it shifts the focus from money to structure.

This helped me identify key players, learn who to loop in next, and assess whether the conversation needs to be elevated to someone in finance, revops, or IT. It’s an effective way to map the buying process while continuing the conversation with curiosity and professionalism. It’s also a smart, low-pressure way to uncover budget ownership without directly asking, “Do you have a budget for this?” which can feel pushy early in a conversation.

5. “How much would it cost to build the system by yourself?”

As a rep, I understood that early conversations can fall flat when you push too hard for dollar amounts too soon. But when you frame the question in terms of the cost of doing it themselves, you spark a different type of response.

This question positions your solution against the real costs of internal development — not just in terms of money, but also in terms of time, resources, technical expertise, and long-term maintenance. It's a more innovative, consultative approach that aligns better with the buyer journey and keeps the discovery process value-driven rather than salesy.

6. “How much would it cost if you haven’t fixed this issue in five years?

This kind of question helps the prospect quantify the risk and business impact of doing nothing, which naturally leads to a more grounded conversation about what

Solution selling: What it is and how I do it effectively

Davidson Hang — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0100

I’ve been fortunate enough to work my way up from being a BDR at Experian Marketing Services and an AE at LinkedIn Learning all the way to where I am now. As the head of business development at Untap Your Sales Potential, we coach and train the top 1% of sellers at SAP, Microsoft, Gong, AWS, Google Cloud, Salesforce, HubSpot, and other blue-chip companies.

Sales is an interesting landscape, because even the top sales companies don’t really offer you solution-selling training. They give you product knowledge, yes — but ironically, that’s probably one of the most useless things when it comes to closing deals.

Think about it for a second: When you go to a luxury clothing store, they ask you questions like “Is this for a special occasion?” “Is it an anniversary or birthday present?” “Is it for your mom or wife?” These questions allow you to feel seen and heard and show that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy.

If the sales rep didn't get to know your needs, budget, appetite, and history, and just went straight to talking about how great the product is, you’d feel like they were lacking the emotional intelligence to read the room better.

In other words, sellers must have curiosity and ask thoughtful, intentional questions in order to understand the full picture.

Remember: You can’t sell a solution if you don’t know the problem you’re solving for.

Table of Contents

What is solution selling?

When is solution selling used?

Why is solution selling effective?

Solution Selling: Benefits and Disadvantages

How I Approach the Solution Selling Process

Solution Selling Books

In strategic selling, there’s a concept called point of view, which means having a hypothesis based on your research and understanding what keeps your prospect up at night. It’s about using relevant client stories and speaking to the hero’s journey — showing how you’ve helped others overcome similar challenges.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, here’s what the storytelling framework looks like through a seller’s lens:

Hero. Your client (not you!).

Mentor. You, your team, or your solution.

Ordinary World. Their old process.

Call to Adventure. The challenge they faced.

Tests and Ordeals. Obstacles and doubts along the way.

Reward and Return. The transformation, ROI, or breakthrough they gained.

Let’s say I’m speaking to a high-achieving rep who’s been promoted every year from SDR to SMB AE to MM AE, and now they’re six months into their first Enterprise AE role.

My hypothesis might be:

“Hey Robby, I’d imagine you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, trying to figure out how you landed this role over sellers with 20 years more experience. There’s probably a bit of impostor syndrome that comes with this new territory. Are you wondering: How do I best prioritize my accounts? How do I expand these large contracts? Am I working on the right activities?”

When you check in with them, they’ll correct you if you’re off — but at least it shows you’ve done your homework and truly understand what’s on their mind. It gives them a sense of being seen and heard. Not only does it show credibility, but it opens up avenues for them to elaborate on certain topics.

Your prospect might reply with something like this:

“Oh, wow, it's like you’ve read my mind. Yes, I do feel a bit overwhelmed, like I lucked my way into this career path with so much upside not only in earning potential, but also in working with world-class clients. It sounds like you certainly have thought about this problem, and it seems like you’re well-versed in fixing a lot of issues that have come up recently and are causing me to overthink things…”

When you hear statements like that, you know you’re on the right track.

I’ve learned that the key is to speak less and allow prospects the space to share openly and honestly — and don’t interrupt them. Silence will allow others to give you information that would be more helpful than pitching a product.

For the longest time, I was uncomfortable with silence. Living in the living room in a one-bedroom apartment with a family of five taught me that there’s always some conversation going on, and I had to learn that silence is your friend. It will cause people to open up because everyone wants to be heard, especially in today's noisy environment with so many talking heads.

When is solution selling used?

Solution selling is certainly more geared towards highly complex consultative sales, so use it with high-value or customized solutions where there are multiple stakeholders.

For example, as a summer gig in college, I sold Verizon Fios door-to-door. In those cases, it would be overkill if I leveraged solution selling (although I would argue in any type of sales it's always more valuable to ask questions rather than straight pitching).

In contrast, if your product or service needs to be tailored to each customer — like enterprise SaaS, large services contracts, or anything that impacts multiple teams or systems — solution selling is your best bet.

Unfortunately, not many companies teach you about solution selling, as everything is always focused on teaching reps why their product is great and why the competitor sucks.

If you think about it, if you have a friend who is always talking about how awesome they are and they are bashing other people or gossiping about others all of the time, it makes you wonder, “Man, what is Johnny saying about me when I’m not in the room?”

I made the mistake of bashing Salesforce Marketing Cloud once when I was at Experian Marketing Services, and I had a client respond back to the email and say it was distasteful. That made me realize that the tactic was a poor reflection of my character. (More on how that plays into selling later on.)

Why is solution selling effective?

With solution selling, you’re guiding a prospect through change. And when buyers are navigating new strategies, digital transformation, or shifting how they operate, they need a consultative partner, not just a vendor.

I lean heavily on solution selling when working with enterprise clients who might not even know the full scope of what’s costing them money or holding them back.

It’s especially effective when:

You’re moving up-market into larger accounts. Perhaps you were able to grind your way into landing a commercial AE position from being a hard-working SMB rep. Now you need to be more strategic instead of just pounding the phones. You’ll have to do the deep work required to get to the next level.

You’re selling a product that’s not an obvious “need-to-have.” Being able to connect the dots for a prospect is essential. Don’t lay all the track work, but then forget to communicate to the client how it connects for them specifically. Linkage is important. Your prospect has to be able to envision your solution and trust that it applies within their specific circumstances.

Solution Selling: Benefits and Disadvantages

We’ve all made the mistake of pitching way too early without truly understanding the big picture for our prospect. Even with smaller deals, when you take the time to actually find out what their need is instead of talking about your solution, you will help them feel heard and understood.

Some of the benefits of solution selling I’ve seen are that it:

Builds long-term relationships rooted in trust.

Creates a stronger alignment with buyer goals.

Leads to higher deal sizes and better retention.

Ideal for complex, consultative sales environments.

Are there disadvantages to solution selling? A few. That’s because solution selling:

Requires more time upfront (discovery, research).

Doesn’t scale easily in transactional sales.

Demands high EQ and business acumen.

Can frustrate impatient reps or buyers.

Another benefit I realized? Solution selling taught me to slow down to speed up. It’s not about racing to the close — it’s about building to it with intention. The best reps aren’t spreading themselves too thin; they are uber-focused on the best deals with the most upside.

I cringe when I think back to when I was the only territory rep for the Northeast down to the DMV region, and I was overwhelmed with the amount of inbound leads. Looking back on it, I should have led with curiosity. I ended up doing well, but I know now that there was a lot of room on the table. I could have slowed down and been a lot more consultative instead of rushing prospects to do a same-day discovery and demo because I thought I had too much on my plate.

That’s another thing I learned from solution selling: It's about working on the right activities. Figuring out what those are takes time. You need to slow down and be thoughtful about what really moves the needle.

Like most sellers, I used to be in a place of survival and couldn‘t slow down to think more strategically. Many of us take the path of least resistance. In the short term, it’s easier to be an order taker and still get revenue to add to your quota attainment, but sometimes it’s about the prospecting activities that get your foot in the door with the clients who can be whales.

How I Approach the Solution Selling Process

BANT and MEDDIC are so outdated. I know that’s going to ruffle some feathers, because many of you paid a lot of money to these trainers. But if you think about it, no one wants to be interrogated for an hour.

Instead, I like to use PREDICT.

PREDICT is an acronym Ian Koniak (former #1 Seller at Salesforce in the Enterprise division) uses to guide high-performing sellers through a values-based, consultative sales process.

P – Problem: Understand the true business problem.

R – Root Cause: Identify what’s really causing the issue.

E – Emotion: Uncover the emotional pain or urgency behind the problem.

D – Decision Criteria: Clarify how decisions will be made and who’s involved.

I – Impact: Quantify the business and personal impact of solving (or not solving) the issue.

C – Champion: Find the internal advocate who will sell on your behalf.

T – Timeline: Establish urgency and lock in next steps.

This is a modern take on the traditional solution selling process because it incorporates the emotion behind why this is urgent.

As I discussed earlier, I think the linkage portion is missing from most solution selling thought leaders. At the end of the day, if prospects don’t see how your solution could work for them and their specific industry, region, or context, then you have wasted time and energy for nothing. So, don’t forget to clearly link your solution with your prospect’s specific pain point.

Here are some other tips on how I like to approach solution selling:

Have an honest conversation with your prospect. Keep it casual.

Use a note-taker so you’re not scribbling like your life depends on it, and so you can be present during the call or meeting.

Don‘t be afraid to embrace the silence. With enough space, a prospect will eventually open up with what’s really going on and the biggest problems. (In-person meetings will always be more candid.

Solution Selling Books

Here are three impactful resources from Brandon Fluharty, Jamal Reimer, and Marcus Chan that have significantly influenced my approach to solution selling.

1. Brandon Fluharty’s Design Thinking in Sales

Resource: How to Design Bigger Deals in SaaS Sales

How I’ve Used It: Brandon's approach to integrating design thinking into sales has transformed how I engage with clients.

Ethos: Fluharty speaks about how we all think of ethos, which is the credibility, authority, and the character of your reputation. How do you improve your character? This isn’t discussed too often in sales books, but it matters because if you say you are going to send something, are you actually going to execute on what you say you will?

If you do, this will build credibility and trust. If you have a good reputation, it will be noticed. After all, it's the little things that people notice. This helped me realize that even the little things I say I’m going to do? I treat them very seriousl now, whereas before I didn’t realize I was over-promising just because I was people-pleasing.

Pathos: Fluharty uses the concept of pathos to teach how to appeal to the emotional side of your prospects. This is all about their current emotional state, their desired end-game emotional state, and you getting them to that point appropriately.

Logos. Fluharty also reminded me to make sure my communication is clear and has a call to action. Too often, I’ve spent time on deals and then wondered why they stall. Upon reflection, it's as simple as not having a clear next step. Without a clear game plan you’re wasting valuable time.

2. Jamal Reimer’s Two Mountain Model

Resource: The 5 Point Framework I Used to Close Three $50M Deals

How I’ve Used It: Reimer’s model is built on the analogy of a mountain, where your goal as a rep is to climb the mountain as quickly as possible because those who hold all the budget and decision-making powers are at the summit. The illustration below gives more detail on this.

Source

It’s a very simple concept, but harder to execute. It helped me realize that the more executive access I have, the more energy involved — and the more likelihood that the deal will move quickly.

For instance, when I was working with the head of cloud technologies at Samsung, it was so much easier to advance a deal than when I’m working with project managers who ultimately can’t really do much even if they love you as a person.

3. Marcus Chan’s H.E.A.R.T. Framework – Handling Objections with Empathy

Resource: The HEART method to navigate and resolve client objections effectively

How I’ve Used It: This framework helped me validate what prospects were going through, acknowledging that their concerns were valid. This allows them to say everything they need to get off their chest, and in turn, I’m able to close for a next-steps meeting a bit more organized instead of being all over the place.

Here’s the framework:

Hear. Actively listen to the client's concerns.

Elaborate. Encourage the client to provide more details.

Aside. Aside from budget and not having enough time, is there anything else that would prevent us from working together? This allows you to isolate the problem and make sure there aren’t other reasons why it might not work.

Re-clarify the value: Reiterate the benefits and value of the solution. It could look like: “So what was the reason why you checked out the webinar?” Or, “It sounds like you haven't been hitting your numbers the last couple of years, and you’re questioning if you want to stay in sales still.”

Transition to close. Guide the conversation towards a resolution. What would happen if nothing changed? This part can be uncomfortable for people who are recovering from people-pleasing tendencies.

Solution selling is a partnership.

At its core, solution selling is about partnering with real people to solve meaningful problems. It's really all about relationships at the end of the day.

I remember being inspired when one of my clients at our Mastermind acknowledged my persistence in front of our peers. The client said if I hadn’t challenged him and pushed him to improve, he wouldn’t be there speaking to 100 of the top SaaS reps in the world, sharing his journey. It was one of those moments where I felt really connected to how impactful a career in sales can be.

If you want to succeed with solution selling, it starts with who you choose to be.

Be the kind of rep who leads with empathy, curiosity, and integrity.

Do the work and dig deep in discovery, map the real problem, and co-create meaningful outcomes.

Have the results. Stronger client trust, bigger deals, and a reputation as someone who solves, not just sells.

That’s where the real magic happens. And that’s what makes solution selling so powerful.

19 templates for follow-up emails after a meeting, conference, and more

Diego Mangabeira — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0100

In my early sales days, I would spend hours preparing for a meeting, doing research, crafting the perfect pitch, and rehearsing objections. But, I didn’t realize the real test often comes after the call ends. It wasn’t in what I said, but in what I did next.

I assumed a good meeting guaranteed a next step. I underestimated how busy, distracted, and overloaded decision-makers really are. That’s when I learned a simple truth: The follow-up is the close. It’s where you clarify the win and prove you’re the kind of partner who follows through, not just shows up.

Since then, I’ve treated every follow-up email like part two of the pitch. Not a generic “Thanks again,” but a well-timed message that adds context, anticipates objections, and makes next steps frictionless. Because in sales, just like in life, it’s not about what you say. It’s about what you do next.

Let’s get into it.

Table of Contents

Follow-Up Email Subject Lines

How to Send a Follow-Up Email After Networking

When to Follow Up After a Meeting

How to Write a Thank You Email After a Meeting

Thank You Email After Meeting Tips

Follow-Up Email Templates

Thank You for Meeting With Me Email Templates

The Importance of Sending a Thank You Email After a Meeting

Follow-Up Thank You Email Mistakes to Avoid

Follow-Up Email Subject Lines

Before we look at the follow-up email templates below, I wanted to go over some strong subject lines for your emails. I like to remember that the subject line is the first thing recipients see when they glance at their inbox, so it needs to grab their attention and make them want to open my message.

Below are some of my most successful subject lines for follow-up emails.

1. “Circling back with two ideas I didn’t get to share on our call”

Why it works: This subject line plays into unfinished business — a psychological hook that creates curiosity and keeps the door open. It also signals that you’re someone who’s still thinking post-call, which most reps aren’t. In a world where follow-ups feel templated, this one feels alive.

How I use it: I send this within 24 to 48 hours of a call when I genuinely have insights I didn’t get to share. It doesn’t matter if it’s a framework, a story from a similar client, or even a new angle that clicked after the meeting. I’m not just recapping. I’m adding value.

2. “Re: Your hiring bottleneck — here’s a client example I mentioned”

Why it works: Personalized. Pain-based. Solution-oriented. This line taps directly into the emotional thread your prospect shared, without being dramatic. You’re showing that you listened, you understood the stakes, and you followed through with proof.

How I use it: When a client mentions a hiring challenge, ramp time issue, or team capacity concern, I follow up with a short story or Loom that shows how another company overcame it. I don’t give a full case study, but just enough for them to see what’s possible. Short. Specific. Strategic.

3. “Quick follow-up + a playbook I promised”

Why it works: The word “promised” hits differently. It builds credibility and taps into social psychology. We respond better to people who keep their word. This subject line doesn’t try too hard, but it delivers trust, clarity, and a subtle sense of anticipation.

How I use it: I always say on calls, “I’ll follow up with a short playbook on this.” This line lets me fulfill that without sounding like I’m just “checking in.” The email itself includes two to three slides, a short breakdown, or even a bullet-point summary. Nothing fancy — just real, usable thinking.

4. “Thanks for the honesty on churn, I’ve seen this before”

Why it works: Vulnerability opens doors. When a prospect shares something raw (like customer churn, missed targets, or internal conflict), acknowledging it with empathy, not urgency, builds depth. This line shows emotional intelligence, not just sales skill.

How I use it: I’ve sent this after conversations where the prospect lets their guard down. In the email, I don’t jump into a pitch. I relate. I offer a short observation from a past client. And then, I invite them into a no-pressure conversation. This is how trust begins.

5. “Following up on Tuesday — here’s the roadmap I’d build in your shoes”

Why it works: You’re stepping into their world, not pulling them into yours. This line positions you as someone who thinks like them, not someone trying to convince them. It’s also time-stamped (“Tuesday”), which grounds it in real momentum.

How I use it: Perfect for post-demo or exploratory calls. I break down the roadmap into three parts: Now, Next, and Later. It’s not just a proposal. It’s a strategic view that says, “Here’s how I’d tackle this if I had your problems and my tools.” That framing changes everything.

6. “Your words stuck with me, especially what you said about growth not solving broken systems”

Why it works: Quoting the prospect shows deep listening. But more than that, it makes your email feel like a reflection, not a pitch. Executives are used to people talking at them. This feels like someone thinking with them.

How I use it: I jot down strong phrases during calls, especially ones that feel like “truth bombs.” Later, I use those words to start the follow-up. It anchors the conversation in their language and makes the message feel tailored, not transactional.

7. “Our convo got me thinking: What if the real issue isn’t the pipeline, but the process?”

Why it works: This subject line triggers a strategic reframe. It’s not accusatory; it’s curious. And curiosity invites conversation. It also breaks the pattern of typical follow-ups by offering a new lens instead of pushing the same message.

How I use it: This approach is ideal when the prospect is fixated on a surface-level problem (like lead volume), but you sense the root issue is deeper (like poor qualification or low win rates). I pair this with a diagram, mental model, or bold opinion to earn a reply.

8. “Not just a summary — here’s what I’d do next if I were in your role”

Why it works: Executives don’t need another recap. They need direction. This line communicates ownership, perspective, and confidence — three things they’re subconsciously scanning for in every vendor. It says: I’m not here to chase. I’m here to contribute.

How I use it: After a great call, I’ll summarize key takeaways in bullet form. Then, I always include “If I were you, here’s what I’d do next.” This creates a consultative tone. I’m not asking them to buy. I’m showing them how to move.

9. “You asked about benchmarks — here’s what I’m seeing across the market”

Why it works: Buyers want to know what others like them are doing. This line positions you as a pattern-seeker, not a product-pusher. It promises market intel, not marketing fluff.

How I use it: I collect trends, metrics, and quotes from past clients, and share the ones most relevant to the person I’m emailing. I don’t just give averages. I give nuance. “Series A companies in health tech are seeing this, but fintech’s a different story…” That’s where trust is built.

10. “One last thing before your leadership sync: framing the ask”

Why it works: This line taps into timing and alignment. It’s perfect for that quiet space before a big internal meeting, when your prospect is prepping slides or arguments. You’re not being pushy. You’re being helpful. You’re equipping, not chasing.

How I use it: I use this when I know they’re pitching the idea to their CFO or board. I send them two to three bullet points on how to position the ROI, risks of inaction, and language to use when justifying the investment. That’s how you become a partner, not just a vendor.

How to Send a Follow-Up Email After Networking

Step 1: Start with a subject line that feels like it came from a human, not a template.

Like I mentioned above, something I’ve learned after sending thousands of follow-up emails — the first thing that determines whether someone reads your message isn’t your clever body copy or thoughtful recap. It’s the subject line. That tiny little string of text is either a green light … or a brick wall.

And when you’re following up after networking, especially from an event where people met dozens of faces, your subject line needs to jog memory and spark interest immediately. I never go with “Nice to meet you” or “Great chatting” — they’re forgettable. Instead, I tie it to a moment (“From the AI panel yesterday — Diego”), a shared laugh (“The coffee line was worth it”), or even a bit of curiosity (“I had a crazy idea after our chat…”).

Find inspiration from my examples above or this list of 150+ subject lines, but whatever you do, make it personal and make it specific. Most importantly, make it feel like you’re a real human who wants to keep the conversation going, not a calendar reminder with a smiley face.

Step 2: Anchor your email with a shared moment to cut through the noise.

Whenever I follow up after a networking conversation, I always start with context. Why? Because no one remembers your face better than they remember how you made them feel.

If you can tie your email to a moment that triggered emotion — a surprising insight, a laugh, a powerful talk you both watched — you separate yourself from the dozens of generic follow-ups they’re about to ignore.

For example, I once followed up with a VP of sales after a SaaS growth event. Instead of “It was great meeting you,” I wrote, “I’ve been thinking about your comment during the AI roundtable — the part about replacing SDRs, not just augmenting them. You hit a nerve.”

He replied in four minutes.

People don’t want your resume in their inbox. They want a reason to remember you. So give them one.

Step 3: Don’t sell — show how the relationship benefits them.

This is where most people mess it up. They jump into a pitch. But here’s the thing: Nobody goes to a networking event hoping to get spammed the next day. They go hoping to meet people who help them solve problems, unlock insight, or grow their career.

So instead of writing “Let me tell you more about what we do,” I write something like, “You mentioned your reps are struggling to get meetings with CFOs — I’ve worked with a few teams who tackled that exact bottleneck. Happy to share what worked if helpful.”

Value upfront. No strings. That’s how trust starts. And the truth is, even if they’re not ready to buy, they’ll remember you as someone who understands them, which is exactly what gets you the meeting when the timing is right.

Step 4: Proofread like your reputation depends on it — because it does.

This one sounds basic, but it’s crucial. You can write the most emotionally intelligent, value-packed follow-up in the world … and if it’s riddled with typos, you’ll come across as rushed, careless, or transactional.

Here’s my rule: Before I hit send, I read it out loud. If anything sounds robotic, repetitive, or unclear, I change it. Tools like Grammarly help, sure. But your voice? That’s the final filter.

And if you really want to level up, tailor your tone to match theirs. If they were formal, stay sharp. If they joked around with you at the event, loosen up a bit. People notice when you mirror their style. It makes them feel safe.

Step 5: Always close the loop with gratitude, and make it feel earned.

Gratitude is currency in sales. But, a lazy “thanks again” doesn’t buy you much. Instead, I make it personal and specific.

“Thanks again for taking the time to unpack your GTM strategy with me. It gave me a totally new lens on what startups are getting wrong with intent data.”

That kind of thank-you shows them you were present. That you actually listened. And that you’re not just trying to close a deal, you’re building a relationship.

That’s what gets you invited to the next conversation, the private Slack group, or the inner circle.

Step 6: Suggest next steps — but never push.

Here’s my philosophy: curiosity over control.

If the connection is strong, the next step should feel natural. So, I don’t write, “Let’s book 30 minutes to explore synergies.” I write, “Not sure if it makes sense to jam further, but if you ever want to swap notes on outbound experiments or see how others are using AI agents in their funnel, I’m happy to open the playbook.”

Soft. Helpful. Open-ended. It respects their bandwidth while still giving them a clear door to walk through.

That’s how I’ve landed coffee with CMOs, partnerships with $100M+ companies, and podcast invites — all from simple, non-pushy follow-ups like that.

Step 7: Make your signature memorable, not just functional.

Your email signature isn’t just an afterthought. It’s a mini billboard for your personal brand.

Mine includes:

A link to my LinkedIn.

A Calendly link for quick access.

A line like “Helping consultants book 10–20 qualified meetings/month with AI agents.”

And sometimes, a short P.S. with something relevant, like a podcast episode, blog post, or success story.

It’s subtle, but powerful. It reinforces what I do, who I help, and how they can engage, without a single hard pitch. Every detail in your email should serve your narrative. Even the footer.

Pro tip: Allow your email recipients to book follow-up meetings on your calendar with you. HubSpot’s free meeting scheduler makes the process easy.

Step 8: Match your timing to the emotional energy of the event.

Timing isn’t just about the clock. It’s about the momentum.

I try to follow up within 24 hours while the conversation is still warm, but more importantly, while the emotional imprint is still strong. That sense of excitement. Curiosity. Openness.

Strike while the brain is still firing from that keynote or that spark of connection.

But if I know they’re flying home or decompressing after a three-day event? I wait 48 hours. Respect the bandwidth. Let the dust settle. Then drop a note that brings them back to that moment.

The right timing feels intuitive. And, it makes you stand out.

Step 9: Keep a CRM log or digital note — your future self will thank you.

One of the best habits I’ve developed is this: After every event, I log every meaningful conversation into a CRM or Notion board, even if no clear opportunity exists yet.

I write down:

Where we met.

What we talked about.

Personal tidbits (kids, city, projects, etc.).

What I promised to follow up with.

Why? Because 90% of sales is follow-up. And, 90% of follow-up is remembering things that most people forget. This small step compounds. Months later, when I reference their exact words or send a book they mentioned … it lands.

It’s not automation. It’s attention. That’s your edge.

Step 10: Don’t just follow up. Follow through.

The biggest mistake I see in networking is this: People send the thank-you email … and that’s it.

But, if you told them you’d share a resource? Send it. If you promised to introduce them to someone? Make the intro. If you said you’d check back in a few months? Put it in your calendar now.

Your follow-up email is the opening move, not the whole game. Real relationships are built over time, through consistent value, thoughtful touchpoints, and keeping your word even when no one’s watching.

This is how deals get done, doors open, and reputations are built.

And the truth is, the way you follow up says more about you than anything you said in the actual conversation.

So, don’t just send the email. Be the kind of person they want to hear from again.

When to Follow Up After a Meeting

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years leading hundreds of sales calls, partner meetings, and investor pitches, it’s this: The timing of your follow-up isn’t just a courtesy. It’s part of the close.

I used to think following up “whenever I had time” was fine. But time after time, I’d watch warm leads go cold, relationships drift, and momentum fade — all because I didn’t show up at the right moment with the right message.

Let me break down how I approach follow-ups now, based on what’s worked in the field, not just in theory.

Within 24 Hours: For Anything That Moved the Needle

Whether it was a high-stakes sales pitch, a networking coffee that sparked synergy, or a discovery call that uncovered real pain points, I always follow up within 24 hours. Not “tomorrow or the next day.” The same day, if possible.

Why? Because clarity decays fast. And most buyers are juggling a dozen things. If you don’t follow up while the emotion, context, and urgency are fresh, you’re not just late — you’re forgettable.

I usually send a short, emotionally intelligent email that includes:

A thank-you (always genuine, never robotic).

A recap of their goals and what I heard.

A clear CTA (book the next meeting, review the proposal, share internal feedback).

This works across the board: sales calls, client check-ins, strategic partnerships, even investor meetings. Respect their time by acting quickly. I’ve literally had C-level buyers reply, “Thanks for the speed — rare these days.”

Within 48 Hours: For Asynchronous Processes Like Job Applications

What is the ideal length of a sales email? Insights based on 40 million emails

mrenahan@hubspot.com (Mike Renahan) — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Like most people, I don’t read all of the sales emails I get. When I do open an email, I skim its contents and immediately close out long, rambling messages, which is exactly why the search for the ideal email length is like Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail.

It’s not about nitpicking word count; it comes down to holding the reader’s attention long enough to stick out in the never-ending sea of emails.

One analysis of over 20 million cold emails found that the more people you email, the lower the open rates go. That statistic might as well say, “the harder you work, the worse the results get.” But in reality, being successful in sales isn’t about doing more — it’s about being more effective. This makes learning how to write a sales email that people want to respond to more important than ever.

Let’s look at how email length can help you get the results you want from your email marketing strategy.

Table of Contents

Ideal Email Length

Email Length Best Practices

Tips for Ensuring Ideal Email Length

Great Sales Email Examples

Ideal Email Length

For almost a decade, it’s been said that the ideal email length is 50 to 125 words. The origin of this famous numeral is a 2016 Boomerang study, which analyzed 40 million emails. Despite its age, that Boomerang study is still used as a benchmark thanks to the depth of research. They found the following correlations between email word count and response rates:

200 words = 48% response

175 = 49% response

150 = 49% response

125 = 50% response

100 = 51% response

75 = 51% response

50 = 50% response

25 = 44% response

10 = 36% response

Boomerang also reviewed email sentiment and found that messages that expressed either moderate positivity or negativity evoked 10 to 15% more responses than completely neutral emails.

But, sales reps should know, the research discovered too much emotion in messages resulted in similar response rates as neutral emails. “Flattery works, but excessive flattery doesn’t,” Alex Moore wrote in the report.

What’s changed since this study’s birth? Well, email still has incredible ROI. New tools, like our AI Email Writer, help you write emails faster and more efficiently. But everyone is getting more emails than ever before, like a boat taking on more and more water.

Research by Constant Contact reinforces points of Boomerang’s data, which you’ll see below. Some more insightful 2024 data from Constant Contact: 40% of business owners surveyed in the Current State of SMB Marketing report said that they put off managing email campaigns because of a lack of time.

More than half of the surveyed marketers said that they spent less than one hour per day on marketing emails, despite it being (on average) their second most-frequented marketing channel.

The truth is, word count is not the end-all when it comes to writing successful sales emails. These best practices, however, make a huge difference.

Email Length Best Practices

A conversation about word count alone is only skin character-deep. Instead of sweating over an extra sentence or two, let these best practices steer the length of your sales emails.

Don’t go over the maximum email length.

Boomerang’s data is supported by other research, like this study from Constant Contact. In a study of over 2.1 million customers, they found emails with approximately 20 lines of text had the highest click-through rates:

Source

This translates to about 200 words, which is higher than Boomerang’s data, but still provides a helpful range. When in doubt, shorter is generally better, so always err on the side of “less is more,” and keep your emails below 200 words.

Here’s an example of an ultra-brief two-line email template from Sam Wright, head of operations and partnerships at Huntr:

The subject line: [Company] <> Huntr

Email body: We helped [x, y, z, competitor] do Y, which led to Z results. I believe we can be helpful to you as well.

Sam shared this screenshot of the email open and reply rates:

Source

Avoid making your emails too short.

Yes, short and direct emails resonated best with prospects and earned a response. (That’s why former HubSpot account executive Dan Muscatello writes short prospecting emails — two sentences long at most.)

However, Boomerang’s numbers revealed a fine line: Emails that were 10 words or shorter got a response just 36% of the time. You don’t want your emails to feel like you’re just sending a text, or that you forgot the other half of the email before hitting send (been there).

Use visuals to break it up.

Amanda DeLuke is an email expert who has overseen the sending of tens of millions of bulk marketing emails. She echoed the importance of keeping emails brief, and also added this advice:

“Provide a small visual representation (image, icon, etc.) to support each topic/text and provide links out to external content for more details — this will save you a lot of space.”

Don’t be heavy-handed with images.

There’s a lot to say about how images can increase user engagement, but there’s a fine line between attention-grabbing and attention-hogging. HubSpot research suggests that as the number of images in an email increases, your click-through rate will decrease.

Constant Contact also found that imagery impacted click-through rate, with clicks dropping as images are added to an email.

Source

Plan for mobile devices.

Does using the term “mobile devices” make me sound old? Folks are checking their electronic mail everywhere these days: desktops, laptops, phones, tablets, and even smart watches (though getting an email on my wrist is an actual waking nightmare for me, personally).

Statistic: 64% of people primarily check their inbox on mobile devices.

Smaller screens make the case for shorter messages, but there’s also a hidden catch. When people use their mobile to check their inbox, it means that they’re checking their email while multitasking. All the more reason to be brief, using bolded text and bullet points to help with scannability.

Make your message viewable at a glance on mobile. Your point should be clear with one look, without making readers scroll. Test this before sending. Large headers take up valuable space on mobile, so use them with care.

Source

Head back to the third grade.

Why delay the transmission of one’s message with a tedious turn of phrase?

Translation: Why make people’s brains work harder by using fancy language? Writing at a third-grade reading level is a golden rule in all marketing, and email is no exception.

Boomerang’s study found that third-grade level emails performed 36% better in terms of open rate than those written at a college reading level and boasted a 17% higher response rate than emails composed at a high school reading level. Free-flowing, informal emails are best for eliciting a response from recipients.

I’ll show you a tool that can help you measure this below.

Include clear CTAs and ask 1-3 questions.

What is someone supposed to do after they read your email? The call-to-action (CTA) should be clear in every single message you send.

It’s best practice to also include an “ask” in every sales email you send, and reps often ask prospects for information in their messages. But how many questions are too many in an email?

We recommend asking one to three questions in your email. There’s even a built-in safeguard against over-probing prospects (invasive) in the HubSpot email tool:

Source

Shorten email subject lines.

If no one opens your emails, it doesn’t matter how long they are, does it? That’s a rather depressing realization, but it can inspire all of us to spend a little more time on this easily overlooked step.

Statistics: Subject lines with seven words have been found to have the highest open rate at 46.2% (Regie.ai).

The golden rule? Keep it short, to the point, and personalize it. Personalization is so important that it deserves its own call-out.

Do your research and personalize.

If you don’t put in the time to research your prospect and craft a valuable email, it doesn’t matter if you achieve the perfect email length. Your prospect won’t be interested in what you have to say because you haven’t taken the time to say something that matters to them.

One easy trick: Use your recipient’s first name in subject lines. One study found that subject lines mentioning someone’s first name were discovered to have a 29% higher open rate.

Our email tool has dozens of personalization options for the subject line, plus easy A/B testing to drive conversions:

Source

Tips for Ensuring Ideal Email Length

If shorter emails with simple language and clear asks are better, how do you ensure your emails are measuring up? Here are a few tips.

1. Use the free Hemingway App.

Copy and paste your email message into this app and see what grade the readability tracks to, which phrases have simpler alternatives, and how many “hard to read” and “very hard to read” sentences your message contains.

2. Always add a close.

Sales expert Jeff Hoffman advocates that every conversation or email you exchange with a prospect should include a close. Whether you’re asking for more time, contact information, or their business, always make sure you’re asking for something. This makes it as easy as possible for recipients to respond.

Before writing your email, consider what your goal is for this communication and tailor your close accordingly. For example, if I want an email to yield a discovery call, I’ll include that ask at the end, and build the rest of the email around it to support and encourage that close.

3. Don’t waste important real estate.

Your email opening line and greeting are incredibly important, so don’t waste them on “Hi, my name is.” Instead, try, “How can I make your life easier?” or “I noticed your company recently …”.

Similarly, make your email closing lines powerful and intriguing with statements like, “I love ramen as well. Have you tried [restaurant name]?” or “Did the ebook you downloaded change the way you think about [topic]?”

4. Remove excess language.

We tend to add extra words to our writing to soften our message (especially when we’re asking for something or providing constructive feedback). Before sending your email, review for unnecessary language.

For example, here’s a sentence before and after removing filler words:

Before: “I think it might be a good idea for us to come up with a few ideas that will help us present several scenarios to your executive team when we meet.”

After: “Let’s brainstorm several scenarios to present to your executive team next week.”

Let’s look at some great examples that embody these best practices (and, bonus: are editable for you to use yourself).

5. Create team email templates.

If you’re working on a sales team, I think it’s important to be consistent with language, CTAs, and offers. Using a template builder tool can ensure consistent messaging and provide a jumping-off point for individual reps in their outreach.

Great Sales Email Examples

The email examples below are all templates included in HubSpot’s email template library. This is a free part of our Marketing Hub! Set up only takes a few minutes, and you can use our software to send out professional sales emails through your work email address.

When you input a contact’s details (like first name and company name), your emails will automatically be customized. This means that you’ll never input the wrong company or misspell a name (even my first name gets butchered).

Source

1. The Simple Next Steps Email

I’m ordering these email examples by length: shortest to longest. First up is the “What would need to change?” email. At only 36 words long, this email gets right to the point by asking a prospect what would need to change in order for them to want to discuss working together. It’s a short, cold email that doesn’t waste anyone’s time beating around the bush.

Source

Why this follow-up email works:

Emphasis on the relationship (“make sense for us to talk”) instead of the sale.

Ellipsis in the subject line creates intrigue.

Extremely brief, with a focus on the CTA.

2. Breakup Email

Here’s an example of an email following up with an inbound lead. You can see the template screenshot directly below, and my personalized version underneath (length: 91 words). I’m an SEO writer who works with businesses to build their blogs, so my email is written from that perspective.

Fun fact: This breakup email has a 33% reply rate. If only all breakups went that well!

Source

Hi [name],

I’ve tried to reach you a few times to go over suggestions on improving your website traffic, but haven’t heard back, which tells me one of three things:

You’re all set with website traffic and your blog, and I should stop bothering you.

You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet.

You’ve fallen and can’t get up, and in that case, let me know and I’ll call someone to help you.

Please let me know which one. I’m starting to worry!

[Your Name]

Why this email works:

You show that you’re thoughtful by acknowledging that you might be bothering them.

Personality sells (you can use AI all you want, but people buy from people).

It’s easy for the recipient to reply by choosing from your numbered list.

3. Inbound Lead From Content Follow-up Email

Let’s address the elephant on the screen: This email is longer than most. When the template is populated, this email runs at more than 100 words (mine is 106, to be exact). This is longer than most sales emails, but it brings a lot of value to the recipient.

Source

Hi [first name],

You recently visited my website and downloaded my

The art of asking open-ended questions

Diego Mangabeira — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

I still remember the worst discovery call of my career. I was twenty minutes into what I thought was a brilliant interrogation of a CFO at a growing tech company, rattling off question after question from my carefully prepared list. Budget? Check. Authority? Check. Need? Check. Timeline? Check.

I was hitting every qualification box, feeling pretty good about myself, when the CFO interrupted me mid-sentence with this:

“I feel like I'm being deposed, not consulted. Are you here to help me solve a problem, or just to fill out a form?”

That stung. Because he was right.

I was asking questions, sure. But they were the wrong questions: close-ended, checklist-driven inquiries that gathered data without building understanding. I was interrogating, not investigating. I was qualifying, not connecting.

That call ended with a polite “we'll be in touch” that never came. But it taught me something that changed how I approach every sales conversation: The quality of your questions determines the quality of your relationships.

And the quality of your relationships determines the quality of your deals.

Here‘s what I’ve learned about the art of asking open-ended questions and how to use them to build deeper relationships, uncover real needs, and close more deals.

Table of Contents

What are open-ended questions?

Open-Ended vs. Closed-Ended Questions

How to Ask Open-Ended Questions

Examples of Open-Ended Questions

But here‘s what most sales training gets wrong: open-ended questions aren’t just about gathering information. They're about creating experiences.

Since that disastrous call I mentioned with the CFO, I‘ve refined my questioning approach across 11,519 cold calls, 335 booked meetings, and over $406K in closed revenue. I’ve sold to CFOs in São Paulo, CTOs in Dubai, and founders in Silicon Valley.

And through all of that experience, I‘ve learned that open-ended questions aren’t just a sales technique — they're the foundation of trust, the catalyst for insight, and the bridge between what prospects tell you and what they actually need.

Research backs this up: According to recent studies, sales reps who consistently close deals listen more than they talk, maintaining a 60/40 split in favor of listening.

The best way to create space for listening? Asking questions that can't be answered with a simple yes or no.

When I ask a prospect, “What keeps you up at night about your current sales process?” I‘m not just looking for problems to solve. I’m inviting them to reflect on their challenges, articulate their frustrations, and begin to envision what a solution might look like.

That question creates a shared moment of exploration that builds trust and rapport.

I learned the power of this approach when working with a fintech startup. Instead of asking typical qualifying questions like “Do you have budget?” I shifted to “How do you typically approach investments in technology that could impact your growth trajectory?” That single question change transformed a 15-minute qualifying call into a 45-minute strategic conversation that led to a six-figure deal.

The best open-ended questions do three things simultaneously:

Gather insight about the prospect's situation.

Encourage reflection that helps prospects think differently about their challenges.

Build a connection between you and the person you're speaking with.

The key is understanding that open-ended questions don't just extract information: they transform conversations. And in sales, the quality of your conversations directly determines the quality of your outcomes.

Open-Ended vs. Closed-Ended Questions

Let me show you the difference with a real example from my own experience selling to a VP of Sales at a growing SaaS company.

My old closed-ended approach:

“Do you have a sales process?”

“Are you hitting your revenue targets?”

“Is sales enablement a priority?”

“Would you like to see a demo?”

My refined open-ended approach:

“How would you describe your current sales process?”

“What's happening with your revenue growth right now?”

“Where does sales enablement fit into your strategic priorities?”

“What would you need to see to feel confident about moving forward?”

See the difference? The closed-ended questions gave me data points. The open-ended questions gave me understanding.

I learned this distinction the hard way when I was working with a startup that was struggling to close enterprise deals. Their reps were asking plenty of questions, but they were all closed-ended. They'd qualify budget, authority, need, and timeline (classic BANT methodology), but they never understood the human context behind those answers.

When we shifted to open-ended questions, everything changed.

Instead of asking “Do you have budget for this?” we started asking, “How do you typically approach budget allocation for strategic initiatives like this?” Instead of “Are you the decision-maker?” we asked, “Who else would be involved in evaluating and implementing a solution like this?”

The conversations became richer. The insights became deeper. And the close rate jumped from 18% to 31% in six weeks.

When to Use Open-Ended vs. Closed-Ended Questions

Closed-ended questions work best for:

Confirming specific facts (“What's your company size?”).

Getting quick yes/no decisions (“Does Thursday at 2 PM work for you?”).

Validating assumptions (“Are you currently using Salesforce?”).

Moving toward commitment (“Are you ready to move forward?”).

Open-ended questions excel at:

Understanding context and nuance.

Building rapport and trust.

Uncovering pain points and motivations.

Encouraging prospects to share their story.

Creating moments of reflection.

According to recent research, the most effective sales conversations maintain a 43:57 talk-to-listen ratio, meaning top performers listen more than they speak. Open-ended questions are the key to creating that listening space.

Both question types have their place in sales conversations. But if you want to differentiate yourself in a world where buyers are skeptical of salespeople, open-ended questions are your secret weapon. They transform interrogations into consultations, qualifying calls into strategic conversations, and prospects into collaborative partners in the problem-solving process.

The magic happens when you use them intentionally, not as checklist items, but as tools for genuine exploration and connection.

How to Ask Open-Ended Questions

After thousands of sales conversations, I‘ve developed a systematic approach to asking open-ended questions that feels natural, not scripted. The key isn’t memorizing a list of questions, but mastering the art of transforming any interaction into genuine exploration.

I learned this lesson when struggling to connect with a particularly analytical CFO. Every closed-ended question I asked got one-word responses. But when I shifted to “How do you currently measure the success of technology investments?” suddenly we were having a 20-minute conversation about ROI frameworks and strategic priorities.

The magic words are “how,” “what,” and “why.”

They turn statements into stories, facts into feelings, and answers into insights. Instead of asking “Do you like your current vendor?” I ask, “How has your experience been with your current vendor?” The difference is transformational.

But here's where most reps go wrong: they treat open-ended questions like items on a checklist rather than tools for genuine exploration. I start with one or two powerful questions and let the conversation evolve naturally. If a prospect mentions something interesting, I dig deeper rather than moving to the next item on my list.

This approach is backed by research from Gong, which found that top-performing sales reps ask 54% more questions than average performers, but the quality of those questions matters more than the quantity.

The goal isn‘t to ask more questions, it’s to ask better ones that create space for real dialogue and genuine understanding.

Transform any question into an open-ended question.

This is the skill that transformed my entire approach to sales conversations. I teach every rep I coach to master this simple but powerful technique: Take any closed-ended question and turn it into an open-ended exploration.

The transformation is easier than you think. Here are the patterns I use daily:

Closed-ended question

open-ended question

Instead of: “Do you like your current vendor?”

Ask: “How has your experience been with your current vendor?”

Instead of: “Is price important to you?”

Ask: “How do you typically evaluate the ROI on investments like this?”

Instead of: “Are you ready to move forward?”

Ask: “What would need to happen for you to feel confident about moving forward?”

Here's my challenge to you: For the next week, catch yourself every time you ask a closed-ended question. Pause and ask: “Could I rephrase this to learn more?” You'll be amazed how this simple shift changes the quality of your conversations and the depth of insights you uncover.

If you ask a closed-ended question, follow it up with an open-ended one.

Sometimes you need specific information, and a closed-ended question is the fastest way to get it. That‘s perfectly fine, just don’t stop there. Follow up with an open-ended exploration that reveals the context behind the facts.

I've learned to use what I call the “one-two punch” approach: Get the fact, then explore the context.

Here's how this works in real conversations:

Example sequence:

“Do you have budget allocated for this project?” (closed)

“How does the budget approval process typically work in your organization?” (open)

Another example:

“Are you evaluating other solutions?” (closed)

“What's your process for evaluating different options, and what criteria matter most to you?” (open)

I discovered this technique during a call with a procurement director who was giving me very short answers. When I asked, “Do you like working with your current vendor?” she said simply, “Not really.” Instead of moving on, I followed up with, “What would an ideal vendor relationship look like for you?” That follow-up question opened up a 15-minute conversation about their frustrations and exactly what they needed to change.

You see the pattern? The closed-ended question gives you the basic facts you need for qualification, but the follow-up open-ended question reveals the context that helps you tailor your approach and build rapport.

This approach is particularly powerful when confirming next steps. Instead of just asking, “Does next Tuesday work for a follow-up?” I might say, “Does next Tuesday work for a follow-up? And what would you like to accomplish in that conversation?”

The key is training yourself to pause after any closed-ended question and ask: “What's the story behind that answer?” That's usually where the real insights (and the real opportunities!) are hiding.

Use open-ended questions to start a conversation, not to run through a script.

Here's where most reps go wrong: they treat open-ended questions like items on a checklist rather than tools for genuine exploration.

I once shadowed a rep who had memorized a list of 20 open-ended questions and was determined to ask every single one, regardless of how the conversation flowed. When a prospect mentioned they were struggling with team morale after a recent layoff, instead of exploring that comment, he moved straight to his next scripted question about budget. The prospect visibly shut down.

That's when I realized the fundamental difference between questioning and conversing. Open-ended questions should spark natural dialogue, not create robotic interrogations.

I approach discovery calls differently now. I start with one powerful open-ended question and let the conversation evolve organically. When a prospect says, “We're struggling with sales productivity,” I don't immediately jump to my next prepared question. I explore: “What does that struggle look like day-to-day for your team?” Then I might follow naturally with: “How long has this been an issue?” or “What have you tried to address it so far?”

The key is listening to the answers and using them as springboards for deeper exploration. If someone mentions a challenge with their current vendor, I dig into that. If they talk about a strategic initiative, I explore the context and implications. The conversation should feel like a collaborative investigation, not a deposition.

This approach requires comfort with uncertainty. You can‘t control where open-ended questions will lead, and that’s exactly the point. The tangents and unexpected directions often reveal the most valuable insights.

I always remind myself: I‘m not here to execute a script. I’m here to understand a human being and their business challenges. Open-ended questions are simply the vehicle for that understanding.

Below, I’ll dig into these open-ended, high-value questions and share why they worked for me.

1. What are the top priorities of your business at the moment?

This question has opened more doors for me than any other single question in my sales toolkit. It's deceptively simple, but incredibly powerful because it invites prospects to share their strategic thinking rather than just their tactical challenges.

I learned the power of this question during a call with a fast-growing fintech CEO. Instead of asking “What problems are you trying to solve?” I asked about their top priorities. What followed was a 20-minute conversation about their expansion into new markets, regulatory compliance concerns, and the need to scale their operations team. That context helped me position our solution not as a nice-to-have tool, but as a strategic enabler for their growth plans.

The beauty of this question is that it reveals the hierarchy of what matters most to them right now. When someone says, “Our top priorities are customer retention, international expansion, and improving our unit economics,” I immediately understand where to focus my energy and how to frame our value proposition.

I‘ve found that prospects appreciate this question because it shows I’m thinking strategically about their business, not just trying to find a problem my product can solve. It also helps me understand whether our solution aligns with their current priorities or if the timing might be wrong.

Follow-up questions that work well here include: “What's driving those priorities?” or “How are you currently addressing each of these areas?” This creates a natural flow into deeper discovery about their specific challenges and initiatives.

2. What are some of the best decisions you’ve made related to ___?

This question is pure gold because it gets prospects talking about their wins while revealing their decision-making criteria and values. I learned its power during a call with a VP of operations who had been giving me short, guarded answers about their current challenges.

When I shifted to asking “What are some of the best decisions you've made related to scaling your operations?” his entire demeanor changed. He lit up talking about how they'd implemented a new workflow automation system that reduced processing time by 40%. As he shared the story, I learned exactly what mattered to him: measurable efficiency gains, minimal disruption to his team, and quick time-to-value.

That insight completely changed how I positioned our solution. Instead of leading with features, I framed our conversation around delivering similar measurable improvements with minimal implementation friction.

This question works because it taps into natural human psychology: People love sharing their successes. But more importantly for sales, it reveals their definition of “good decisions.” When someone tells you about their best choices, they're essentially giving you their buying criteria and success metrics.

I often customize this question based on the context: “What are some of the best technology investments you've made?” or “What are some of the best hiring decisions that have impacted your team?” The specificity helps focus their response while still allowing them to choose what they want to highlight.

The follow-up question I always ask to this one is, “What made those decisions successful?” This uncovers their evaluation process and helps me understand how they define ROI and measure success.

3. How are you feeling about your current situation related to ___?

This question might feel too personal for a business conversation, but that's exactly why it works so well. It breaks through the professional facade and gets to the human reality behind the business challenges.

I discovered the power of this approach during a discovery call with a CTO who was being unusually evasive about their technology challenges. When I asked the standard “What issues are you facing with your current system?” he gave me textbook answers about “scalability concerns” and “integration challenges.” But when I shifted to “How are you feeling about your current technology situation?” the conversation changed.

He paused for a moment, then said, “Honestly? Frustrated. We're spending more time fighting our tools than building solutions for our customers.” That one word, “frustrated,” opened up a 30-minute conversation about the real impact of their technology problems on team morale, customer satisfaction, and his own stress levels.

The word “feeling” is crucial here because it gives people permission to be human rather than just professional. It moves the conversation from facts to emotions, and emotions drive decisions far more than features and benefits ever will.

I often customize this question based on the context: “How are you feeling about your current sales performance?” or “How are you feeling about your team's productivity levels?” The key is to focus on an area where you suspect there might be some emotional weight, such as satisfaction, frustration, confidence, or concern.

This question works because it creates psychological safety. You‘re acknowledging that business challenges aren’t just operational problems; they're human experiences that affect real people. That acknowledgment often lead

How purchase orders streamline your business — what to know and how to get started

Michelle Lodge — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Purchase order numbers. I wonder how many invoices I’ve added PO numbers to in my years as a freelance business reporter. That number may be in the thousands. I’ve seen just as many POs as an online shopper. And, I’ve benefited.

Having the correct PO number on my invoice means I get paid a lot faster. A PO can help track down my missing ecommerce order. Vendors who spoke with me for this blog were equally enthusiastic about POs. They believe that a well-run PO system is key to their operations’ success and have seen how it can streamline processes.

So, let’s explore the benefits of purchase orders, how they work, and how to build a PO system.

Table of Contents

What is a purchase order?

How does a purchase order work?

Advantages of Purchase Orders

Purchase Order Format: What to Include on Your PO.

How to Create a Purchase Order

How to Create a Purchase Order System

What is a purchase order?

A purchase order is a written document that lays out what is being ordered, the price, date of order and contact information for both parties. A PO may also include payment terms and taxes. Each PO bears a unique identifier, often in numbers and letters, which is the purchase order number.

“A PO gives you [the company] structure. You have expenditure control, audit trails and, approval management,” Mark Friend, a director for the computer support services company Classroom365, which serves schools throughout the UK and is based in London, wrote in an email to me.

Nana Quagraine, founder and CEO of online home-decor store 54 kibo, agrees.

“[A PO] is my financial protection. When the supplier accepts it, we are both legally responsible for those terms,” wrote Quagraine in an email. “This allows me to monitor my spending commitments before any payment is made and also gives my accounting team visibility into the expenses that are coming up.”

Quagraine added that POs mean that her company can also avoid unnecessary shipping costs and has at the ready proof of the transaction during reconciliation.

Purchase Order Vs. Invoice

A PO is different from an invoice. As a vendor, I issue the invoice with payment terms to my client who has hired me to write a blog or article. As part of generating my own invoice, I also include a unique code I create, called an invoice number.

Invoices repeat much of the information that’s on a PO, such as the PO number, contact information for both parties, and how/when to pay.

“The key distinction between a purchase order vs. an invoice is who is sending it, and when they send it,” notes Knowify, the cloud-based software company that helps small- and medium-sized building contractors keep their many projects straight.

How does a purchase order work?

A PO system creates a PO and assigns it a unique code, called a PO number, to each order. As a vendor, Quagraine explained that “creating an effective purchase order starts with clearly identifying what you need to procure.” That means gathering all specifications — like order quantity, quality requirements, delivery timeline and budget constraints.

“Once a PO is approved and sent to the supplier, it acts as a binding agreement. The supplier then delivers the goods or services and sends an invoice that should match the PO. The PO helps verify what was ordered, received, and invoiced,” says Marty Bauer, director of sales and partnership at Omnisend in Charleston, S.C., a marketing platform for ecommerce businesses.

Let’s dive deeper into the process.

First, the seller creates a PO and generates a PO number.

Companies devise a PO system that creates unique numbers or letters or a combination of both for each transaction. With the PO number, the business can easily identify where an order is, what it contains, how much it costs and when it will be shipped.

For example, Quagraine’s PO number system works this way: The company uses a prefix that shows the year and quarter (for example, “23Q4”), and then adds a supplier code for each of their African artisan partners and ends it with a sequential number.

“This enables my team to quickly determine when an order was placed and with which artisan collective or supplier,” she said.

Next, the seller reviews and approves the PO.

When I’m working as a writer, I receive an assignment notification by email from an editor asking me if I’d like to take on a project. Once my editor accepts my blog post or article, I create the invoice, based on the buyer’s specifications, which includes the PO number. Then, I submit the invoice to the buyer.

Then, the buyer conducts purchase order matching.

An accounts payable team matches my invoice against the PO to make sure that what I delivered is my specific assignment.

Finally, the invoice is sent for approval.

If everything matches up — PO number, invoice and work delivered — the accounts payable team sends my invoice along with the purchase order file to my editor for approval.

On the other side, let’s say I’m buying something from Chewy. I order a product, enter my payment method, and the seller’s system immediately generates an invoice and works toward the order’s fulfillment. That system creates a unique PO number or code for that transaction. Their team then makes sure the order is fulfilled.

Advantages of Purchase Orders

“First and foremost, POs can help prevent a lot of headaches,” says Bauer. “You avoid duplicate payments, [and] it's easier to manage budgets and vendor relationships.”

Quagraine also sees big benefits for her business. In the same week, she may be coordinating with craftsmen in Morocco, textile experts in Ghana and woodworkers in South Africa.

For her, purchase orders provide consistency that can cut through any confusion. Many times, she added, the use of POs has helped to prevent shipping errors. They can also help identify mistakes by double-checking the original agreement when an unexpected item shows up.

Allan Hou has helped develop many PO systems and is a sales director at the freight-forwarding service TSL Australia. He says that the “greatest advantage” is that a PO system tracks where and how funds are spent and records them.

As a result, he says, “There will be fewer opportunities for error or dishonesty to occur because the system will ensure each purchase is authorized and logged.”

Other benefits may include:

Formal documentation that communicates expectations and ensures order fulfillment.

Budget management to ensure that money is marked for procurement and that enough inventory is available. This can also help during audits.

Order tracking so teams can make sure purchases are fulfilled.

Vendor accountability, as vendors need to follow the terms and conditions of the PO.

Best tip: Having an effective PO system helps to prevent overspending and promotes more accurate tracking of merchandise.

Purchase Order Format: What to Include on Your PO

A purchase order displays all the basic terms of the transaction, the PO number, and names of entities involved. That includes their physical addresses, contact information, what items were ordered and their prices. Any discounts, tax information, shipping costs and payment terms should also be included.

“We use a simple internal template that includes the PO number, buyer/vendor details, item descriptions, quantities, agreed-to prices, terms, and delivery instructions,” Brian Kroeker, president of the custom printer Little Rock Printing in Calgary, Canada, told me in an email. “It can be created using a spreadsheet, but I recommend integrating it with accounting software.”

Kroeker shared this sample of what his company files.

Purchase Order Template

To create a purchase order, download Hubspot.com ’s purchase-order template, which comes in two versions, an Excel and a fillable PDF. I recommend using the Excel version to create multiple POs for a single supplier and the fillable PDF for one-off purchases.

The Excel template automatically calculates the final cost, including totals and discounts.

Types of Purchase Orders

1. Standard

Standard is for sporadic or one-off purchases, such as when I ordered from the specialized vendor Amara to replace a shattered porcelain plate of an Andy Warhol reproduction. Because standard POs cover occasional transactions, it’s especially important that you, whether you’re a buyer or seller, double-check the details carefully.

Best for: Standard purchase orders are for one-off purchases you make from a company you rarely do business with.

2. Blanket

You may opt to use a blanket purchase order, also called a “standing order,” which offers a long-term contract between a supplier and a buyer. A blanket PO allows you to set prices for the items over a specific time period. Although you may receive several shipments, all shipments have the same PO number.

3. Planned

A planned PO is when you agree on what and how much to buy, but you schedule deliveries as needed. “For example, you might tell your supplier, ‘We’ll need 1,000 boxes this year. We’ll call when we need each batch,” said Bauer.

4. Contract

Contract POs outline the pricing and terms for all of the vendor‘s purchase orders within the contract’s time frame. The buyer and vendor sign a contract outlining the terms before a purchase order, referencing the contract issued.

This type of PO works well for manufacturers or construction companies that rely on steady shipments of raw materials now and in the future to produce finished goods or buildings and roads.

Best for: Manufacturers and construction and engineering firms, whose projects are long-term and require buying a steady stream of goods.

Contract PO template, courtesy of Visme.

Source

5. Digital

A digital PO is “an automated solution that uses digital platforms to generate, send, and track purchase orders,” said Hou. While you do receive an email confirming your purchase or sale, behind it is the software that is much more efficient and time-saving for all parties.

According to Quagraine, “Digital POs integrate with sales data and inventory systems. Now, if a dozen throw blankets sell out quickly, my system generates the PO to restock them.”

How to Create a Purchase Order

Behind each purchase order, there is a sophisticated interconnected financial system. Here’s what’s involved.

Step 1: Submit banking details to your system administrator.

Your system administrator needs the full slate of banking details and basic personal information, including:

The vendor’s name.

The vendor’s address.

The payment account type.

The account number and bank routing number (also known as the ABA number).

Kaitlin Milliken, program manager of the Freelance Network here at HubSpot, says, “When working with freelance writers at HubSpot, our team gathers the writer’s payment details. Then, the accounting team loads this information into the system.”

Each time I onboard with a new client, I submit all those details to the administrator. Sometimes, they ask for a voided check from my bank account if they set up direct deposit for me.

Pro tip: To avoid delays and red tape when doing business internationally, make sure you know the requirements and forms needed for each country, or hire a consultant or lawyer with that expertise to provide you and your team with that precise information.

Step 2: Add in your purchase details.

The right form makes it easy to fill in the purchase details correctly. For each item ordered, add the following:

The quantity of the order.

How it’s packed (box or tube).

The number.

The name.

The price per unit and total price.

Subtotal.

Taxes and shipping fees.

The order’s total dollar amount.

The names, addresses and email addresses for each party and my shipping details also must be included. Finally, it must be signed and dated.

Step 3. Include extra information requested by your company.

Most information needed is straightforward — bank, names, addresses, email addresses, contact numbers and name, payment terms, shipping fees and taxes. When the vendor is in the business of selling items from all over the world and from specialized manufacturers, you may be required to provide extra forms.

To stay on top of the situation, have your in-house counsel or a consultant who knows the ins and outs of international commerce review those types of orders. They can recommend what’s required. Or, you may want to outsource that service.

How to Create a Purchase Order System

Devising a purchase-order system starts with determining needs based on the size of your operation.

“In my experience, a basic system with manual tracking was effective for a smaller team, while larger operations required an automated system with full integration into the supply chain and financials,” says Hou.

“At its core, a good PO system lets you monitor every purchase, from request to receipt, ensuring [that] all the details are captured accurately,” he adds.

Step 1: Determine the right forms for you.

The business you run dictates which type of forms to have handy. Most businesses need forms used for the five types of POs. Likely, your accounting staff or another in-house department can generate the forms. If not, there are plenty of companies that create forms, including Hubspot.

Step 2: Dictate role assignments and accessibility.

Each of your employees has an assigned role. For those who work on POs and see orders through from purchase to delivery, it’s critical that they understand the system backward and forward. A mistake that some companies make is to allow only one or a few employees access to all aspects of the system.

That’s usually an attempt to keep the system secure and ensure privacy. The wiser course of action is to maintain a bench of trained employees who can step in when the main point persons are unavailable.

Step 3: Adhere to and improve your purchase-order system.

Kroeker says when setting up a new system, make sure that it’s thorough, but also flexible. For example, Little Rock’s PO system has approval thresholds. Smaller orders don’t require extra steps, it offers more than one point person to contact, and it uses a standardized format and cross-check process.

The company also has integrated its PO and invoicing systems to detect mismatches early on. This “version tracking” allows POs to be amended. “That flexibility has saved us more than once when vendors needed updates mid-process,” Kroeker says.

Purchase Orders Lead to Stronger Relationships With Suppliers

An efficient PO system can promote a sense of trust and foster loyalty among customers. Over time, customers grow to have confidence in your company because you reliably deliver on your promises, as spelled out in the purchase order.

So, it’s time to start building or refining your PO, so you can grow your business better.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Creating an effective business development plan from concept to execution

Meg Prater (she/her) — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

I distinctly remember a meeting when our sales and marketing teams brainstormed how to grow the business:

“We need more leads,” echoed the sales team.

“No, we don’t. We need to learn to close better,” said the CMO.

“Wait, what’s the actual plan?” said the confused voice in my head.

Everyone was brewing with ideas and opinions. Yet, nobody had a clear strategy (including me). That’s when we all realized that growth isn’t just about chasing more leads or closing more deals. It requires a concrete roadmap in the form of a business development plan to connect the dots and unveil the path.

From that moment of realization, our team was determined to put a plan and approach things systematically. We went through much trial and error (and more research than we would like to admit). Alas, we’ve cracked the code on what makes a business development plan work, and I’m excited to share it with you.

In this guide, I’ll take you through everything I’ve learned from my experience and others’ about crafting a holistic and effective business development plan.

Table of Contents

How to Develop a Business Development Strategy

Business Development Planning

Business Development Strategy Example

Business Development Planning

Business development planning is the process of creating a roadmap for your company’s growth and success.

I like to think of it as a GPS that helps me navigate the business world to reach my desired destination of long-term profitability. I’ve learned that a well-rounded business development plan encompasses several aspects, such as:

Performing market analysis. Researching the industry, competitors, and target audience to uncover opportunities and potential challenges.

Setting goals. Defining measurable goals, as the individual department members can’t see where to go without a big, red “X” on the map.

Developing a strategy. Creating a game plan for reaching the goals, including tactics for marketing, sales, and partnerships.

Allocating resources. Ensuring you have the team, budget, and tools to make your journey successful.

Tracking performance. Checking your compass (metrics and KPIs) to ensure you’re headed in the right direction.

Let me take you through the steps to develop one, covering all the above aspects.

1. Define your business objectives.

While you might want to settle with “make more money than last year,” I’ll stress that it’s essential to be more specific when building your business development strategy. To achieve what you want, you need to define clear goals.

I’ll recommend going SMART, i.e., setting goals that have all the five characteristics below:

Specific.

Measurable.

Attainable.

Relevant.

Time-Bound.

For instance, let’s say you own an ecommerce company looking to increase revenue. A SMART business objective would look like this: “Increase average order value by 15% in the next six months by implementing a personalized product recommendation system and offering bundled deals.”

Here’s a little hack: One of the easiest ways to go SMART is to use HubSpot’s free template for SMART goal setting. I find using it incredibly helpful!

2. Conduct market research.

No matter how long you’ve been in the game, never assume you know your market inside out. Assumptions can be dangerous, and the way to overcome them is through thorough market research.

David Janovic, founder of RJ Living, shared this golden piece of advice: “When entering a new market, it's definitely crucial to be putting the time and effort into conducting thorough market research — which will help you understand the local landscape, customer preferences, and potential competitors."

To date, I take this advice seriously and ensure I see what’s happening beneath the surface. Some things I recommend you look into are:

What customers want.

How much potential the target market has?

What are competitors up to?

To get these answers, you can begin by digging into industry reports, government statistics, and online databases. Here are some of my recommended resources:

Industry reports. Check out industry research from Gartner, McKinsey & Company, and Forrester.

Government statistics. If you manage an American business, I recommend the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Federal Reserve Economic Data for their incredible breadth of insights. Outside the U.S., you can try out location-specific sources, like Eurostat, or global sources, such as World Bank Open Data.

Online databases. While there are too many online databases to make sense of, I typically look for statistics from our annual reports, like HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report, since our researchers take due care in collecting data. Other than that, I also like eMarketer, Pew Research Center, and Statista.

Pro tip: While secondary sources provide most of the required data, I tend to combine secondary research with the old-fashioned method of talking to people using surveys or interviews. I’d say focus on discovering what makes them tick, what keeps them up at night, and what they need.

3. Identify your target customers.

Next, it’s time to zero in on your ideal customers. After all, you can’t please everyone, right? To do this in a structured manner, I swear by creating buyer personas.

Quick recap: Buyer personas are fictional yet realistic representations of your ideal customers based on data.

If you have existing buyer personas, you can update them based on the insights you’ve gathered from the market research. Once your personas are ready and up to date, evaluate each one's market size, growth potential, and opportunity. See which buyer personas align with your business objectives and prioritize them accordingly.

Pro tip: If you don’t have any buyer personas or need to develop another one for a new audience segment, check out HubSpot’s handy buyer persona generator.

4. Evaluate your current position.

With your groundwork done, the next step is to take a long, hard look in the mirror to assess exactly where you stand compared to the competition — from a bird' s-eye view and even up close.

Amy Kauffman, Chief Marketing Officer at CMO Room, says, “Competitive analysis should play a central role in developing the business strategy. It's critical to have a deep understanding of the competitive landscape — not just who the players are but their strengths, weaknesses, positioning, and likely moves."

To put Kauffman’s advice into practice, I align with the SWOT analysis framework, which helps me assess my standing broadly. Here’s the template I use(and you can use it too!

Quick recap on SWOT: It is a strategic planning technique for identifying a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It helps determine precisely where you are compared to competitors and is excellent for getting a broader perspective.

Once you gather the data, here’s how you can fill out the SWOT analysis template:

Strengths. Note down whatever the brand excels at (i.e., your competitive advantage).

For instance, a strong brand reputation and a loyal customer base.

Weaknesses. Next, highlight the areas of struggle or failure.

For instance, limited integration capabilities

Opportunities. Look at the market trends, audience segments, and emerging technologies the brand can leverage.

For instance, there is a rising trend of remote work.

Threats. Lastly, check out competitors, markets, and regulations to identify threats that could derail success.

For instance, an economic downturn, leading to reduced spending.

Pro tip: Remember, SWOT analysis isn't a one-and-done deal. Even if you’ve conducted it during the startup stage, repeat it while developing a business development strategy. After all, businesses evolve, markets shift, and customer preferences change over time.

To go granular, you can dive deep into the sales funnel, marketing mix, and customer experience to unearth essential business details. In particular, I’ve found it helpful to look for clogs in the sales pipeline where potential customers are getting stuck. Another useful way to go deeper is reviewing marketing efforts and seeing what’s working and what can be improved. Finally, I also suggest asking customers directly to identify unmet needs.

5. Develop strategies.

Next, it’s time to don your strategy hat and craft effective strategies for each department to drive real business growth. While the exact strategy depends on your business and its objectives, here’s what I’ve found it should look like for different departments:

Sales

The sales plan should outline your target audience and potential obstacles. It needs to provide a “game plan” for sales reps, outline responsibilities for team members, and define market conditions. If you’ve already established one, unify it with your business development efforts.

If you haven’t created a sales plan, check out this free template.

Marketing

The marketing plan is supercritical since 96% of leads do their homework before talking to a sales rep. Ensure your marketing strategy:

Resonates with the target audience. To this end, identify appropriate channels, customize messaging, and personalize content to develop a marketing mix that aligns with the target customers’ preferences and behaviors.

Educates the audience. Don’t assume everyone will immediately “get” it. Instead, use marketing to attract, engage, and explain what you offer.

Increases brand visibility. Up to 71% of prospects prefer doing research independently without talking to a sales professional. Leverage search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing to build a trustworthy brand.

Customer Success

Data shows 72% of a company's revenue comes from existing customers. In short, you can get more business from your existing customers since you’ve already earned their trust.

For this, you need to work on establishing a personal connection instead of relying on coupons, discounts, or free perks. For instance, I tend to focus on listening to customer’s feedback and improving products to win them over to our side.

Source

Paul L. Gunn Jr., founder of the KUOG Corporation, agrees that the “heartfelt action to go beyond the transactional to deliver a solution that speaks to the intangibles anchors them to often support a long-term relationship and make significant tangible impact."

6. Define tactics and action plans.

With the strategies established, it’s time to lay out tactics and specific actions to pursue them. I recommend identifying key initiatives and projects and mapping them with clear action plans. Ensure the action plans include information on the following:

Tasks. Team members must know their responsibilities, who the lead is, and what’s required.

Timeline. Set realistic milestones and deadlines for each initiative to keep everyone on track and accountable.

Budgets. Allocate your resources judiciously. Instead of blowing your entire budget on a flashy marketing campaign, put money into initiatives that will genuinely move the needle.

7. Set metrics and KPIs.

You cannot know if your business development plan works if you can't track your progress. Therefore, set clear metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) as a scoreboard for your business development efforts.

To do this, identify the specific metrics that align with your business objectives and strategies. I personally find the following metrics incredibly insightful:

Customer acquisition cost (CAC). CAC summarizes how much you’re spending to attract new customers. By optimizing your marketing and sales, you can lower your CAC.

Conversion rate. Conversion rate measures the effectiveness of different marketing and sales processes, such as how many customers took a desired action.

Win rate. Unlike conversion rate, win rate deals only with sales opportunities. It’s a percentage of how many sales opportunities your sales team successfully closed, providing insights into your sales progress.

Net promoter score (NPS). NPS measures customer satisfaction with your brand or their likelihood of recommending it to others.

Customer lifetime value (CLV).CLV, also called LTV, helps companies understand the total revenue they can expect from a single customer.

Gauri Manglik, CEO of Instrumentl, especially recommends tracking LTV to SaaS companies: “The key is that LTV captures both revenue and engagement over time, not just a snapshot. So rather than looking at new sales in isolation, I always encourage SaaS companies to make LTV their north star metric for business development.”

Pro tip: After identifying the relevant metrics or KPIs, you can also set SMART goals for each to make tracking easier. Plus, you can create dashboards to visualize the progress against the KPIs. I’ve found this makes it easy for team members to see how they’re doing and what they need to improve.

8. Allocate resources.

While I’ve already mentioned resource allocation during action plans, I suggest revisiting resource management in a big-picture mode for seamless plan execution.

Prioritize the initiatives based on their potential impact and alignment with your business objectives. In other words, focus your resources on the areas that give you the most bang for your buck. Beyond that, make it a point to examine your current resources. If you have any skills, expertise, or technology gaps, fill them up by hiring new talent, investing in training, or purchasing a new tool.

For example, 63% of sales leaders share that AI makes competing with other businesses easier. You can also improve your sales metrics by adopting an AI-powered sales solution.

While you do this, remember that resource allocation isn’t a one-and-done deal (like other things on this list). So, keep a close eye on the ROI of different initiatives outlined in your business development plan and shift your resources as required. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to try a different approach.

9. Implement and monitor.

With a solid plan, a team of do-ers, and enough resources to execute, it’s time to put all the strategizing and planning into action and watch the magic unfold.

Make sure your plans reach the shop floor — everyone knows their role and has the tools to crush it. Don’t forget to keep the communication lines open. Situations can arise, and you need clear comms channels to be on top of your game and fix the issue immediately.

Once things have started, keep your fingers on the pulse and track your progress against your established metrics and KPIs. This is what’ll help you stay on course. While you do this, celebrate your wins along the way — whatever size they might be. This will keep you and the team motivated and engaged for the long haul.

10. Continuously review and update.

Since markets evolve, customer trends change, and competitors improve, a business development strategy will always be a work in progress. Therefore, keep reviewing and updating your plan to gener

Building a customer journey sales funnel that actually works, insights from a sales pro

Diego Mangabeira — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

I still remember the first time I tried to “build a funnel.” I had just joined a new company, and I wanted to prove myself. I mapped out buyer personas, stacked automation tools, drafted clever messaging sequences, and organized a color-coded CRM that looked like a sales manager’s dream. It was clean, sharp, and complete. But, it didn’t convert.

I was generating leads, but they were cold, scattered, and disengaged. My reply rates were low. My demos were rushed. My pipeline felt bloated with names that had no business being there. At the time, I thought I had a traffic problem. What I really had was a journey problem.

That experience taught me something I’ve never forgotten: a sales funnel isn’t just a sequence. It’s a story that the buyer walks through step by step. And if that story doesn’t make sense, nothing moves.

Since then, I’ve built customer journeys that do work. These journeys have generated 335 meetings, closed $287K in a startup from scratch, and helped drive $40 million in enterprise deals across multiple continents and industries. Here’s what it really takes to build a customer journey sales funnel that works — not just in theory, but in the trenches.

Table of Contents

What is a customer journey funnel?

Why Customer Journey Funnels Benefit Sales Teams

How to Build a Customer Journey Funnel

Customer Journey Funnel Example

Tips for Building a Customer Journey Funnel

What is a customer journey funnel?

A customer journey funnel is the structured path your ideal buyer takes from problem-aware to solution-ready, guided by intentional, relevant, and timely sales and marketing touchpoints. It’s not just about activity. It’s about alignment. Between your message and their moment. Between their pain and your solution.

Done right, you don’t just have a funnel. You get a filter that separates interest from intent and awareness from action.

Over the past 17 years, I’ve built these funnels from scratch. I’ve over 656,000 emails, making 11,519 cold calls, booking 335 meetings, and closing over $406,000 in new business in startup environments alone. I’ve also led multimillion-dollar sales cycles in enterprise, driving $40 million in revenue.

What I’ve learned across every region is this: The best funnels don’t push. They guide.

They anticipate objections. They layer credibility. They move buyers forward through a mix of logic and emotion, urgency and trust. A good funnel builds context. A great one builds momentum.

And the secret? It’s never just about the tool you’re using. It’s about how every touchpoint speaks to a deeper moment in the buyer’s world.

That’s why I always approach funnels like a strategist, not just a seller. Whether I’m mapping outreach for SaaS in North America or building a consultative sequence for real estate in LATAM, I don’t start with “What should we send?” I start with “What should the buyer feel next?”

Because that’s how you turn a lead into a conversation.

A conversation into a commitment.

And a funnel into real revenue.

Why Customer Journey Funnels Benefit Sales Teams

A lot of teams think a customer journey funnel is just a marketing thing. It’s not. When done right, it becomes a sales accelerator. It brings clarity, reduces wasted effort, and creates real movement in the pipeline.

In my experience, the impact isn’t just visible in conversions. It shows up in morale, in consistency, and in confidence. Let me break it down.

1. Funnels turn chaos into clarity.

In outbound sales, the line between motion and progress is blurry. Reps might be doing a lot — sending emails, making cold calls, booking meetings — but if those actions aren’t tied to a clear journey, they’re just noise.

I’ve seen this firsthand. Earlier in my career, I was generating leads but losing deals in the middle of the funnel. Why? Because the buyer wasn’t ready. My messaging didn’t match their awareness stage.

When I shifted to a journey-first funnel, where each stage had a clear intent, I saw my conversion rate jump.

From 335 meetings booked, I turned 69.1% into SQLs. That didn’t happen by chance. That happened because the funnel did the heavy lifting of alignment before the meeting ever took place.

And, that alignment reduced wasted energy. It gave me, and the teams I coach, a roadmap. Not just what to do next but why.

2. Funnels improve personalization at scale.

Let’s be real: Personalization isn’t about using the first name or referencing the company’s LinkedIn post. It’s about making sure the message matches the moment the buyer is in.

With a strong funnel in place, reps stop guessing what to say. They start knowing what the buyer needs at each step.

For example, in the Awareness stage, I use insights like recent funding rounds or job changes to spark curiosity. In the Evaluation stage, I share tailored case studies or objection-busting content.

Because I track every touchpoint, I’ve been able to A/B test what works. I’ve seen how stage-specific messaging gets more engagement, more responses, and better meetings.

As sales strategist and author Aaron Ross once said, “The more predictable your system, the more scalable your results.”

Funnels give you that system.

3. Funnels reduce no-shows and strengthen commitment.

There’s nothing worse than getting a “yes” on the phone … only for the prospect to ghost you. I’ve been there.

But, here’s what changed everything: When I used my funnel to educate before the meeting, I saw my no-show rate drop under 18%.

Why? Because the prospect wasn’t just booking. They were buying into the journey. They had context. They knew what to expect. And, when people understand the next step, they’re more likely to take it.

One thing I teach founders and SDRs I coach is this: If your funnel doesn’t build momentum between touchpoints, it’s not a funnel. It’s a leaky pipe.

When your journey is built right, each stage deepens the relationship. You go from “just another call” to “this is part of something that makes sense.”

4. Funnels make onboarding and coaching easier.

When I’m onboarding a new rep or training a founder who’s doing their own outreach, the first thing I look for is this: Do they have a customer journey they can follow, or are they winging it?

Without a funnel, every rep invents their own process. That creates inconsistency. It’s hard to scale. It’s hard to coach. And, it makes performance unpredictable.

But with a funnel? Now we’re speaking the same language.

I can say, “Here’s how we warm up cold accounts,” or “Here’s the content you send after a demo.” I can train new hires faster. I can spot drop-off points. I can plug leaks.

It’s like giving someone a GPS instead of telling them to “head north and figure it out.”

In fact, a study by CSO Insights found that companies with a formalized sales process, including mapped buyer journeys, saw an 18% higher revenue growth rate than those without.

Structure wins. Every time.

5. Funnels help you sell the way people buy.

This is the core of everything: we need to sell the way people want to buy, not the way we want to sell.

And buyers today? They’re smarter. Busier. More skeptical. They don’t want to be rushed. They want to be led.

Funnels respect that.

They allow sales teams to meet the buyer where they are, not where we wish they were.

I’ve sold across five continents — from fast-paced SaaS in the U.S. to relationship-first business in Brazil, to enterprise deals in the Middle East. One thing remains true: the buyer’s journey might look different on the surface, but the psychology underneath is always human.

When you build a funnel that’s flexible enough to adapt but structured enough to scale, you’re not just improving KPIs. You’re building trust.

How to Build a Customer Journey Funnel

I’ve built funnels that generated 335 booked meetings and over $406K in revenue in early-stage companies. I’ve also helped enterprise teams turn outdated processes into scalable journeys. Here’s the truth: you don’t need a fancy system to start.

You need a clear customer journey, a few key tools, and a commitment to thinking like the buyer. Here’s how I do it, step by step.

Step 1: Map the stages of awareness.

I start by asking: Where is my buyer right now in their decision process?

Most sales funnels fail because they assume the buyer is ready when they’re actually just curious. So, I built my journey around five stages:

Awareness: They know they have a problem.

Interest: They’re open to solving it.

Evaluation: They’re comparing options.

Decision: They’re ready to act.

Post-sale/Retention: They’ve bought in, now it’s time to keep them.

By mapping the journey first, I make sure every email, call, and follow-up is tailored to the stage, not just the persona.

As Jill Rowley once said, “If you want to be interesting, be interested.”

I apply that by asking smarter questions early, so I can learn where the buyer is and match my messaging to it.

Step 2: Align messaging with each stage.

Once I know the stage, I write messaging that meets the buyer there.

In Awareness, I don’t pitch. I empathize. In Evaluation, I don’t educate. I differentiate.

Here’s how I approach it:

Awareness: I lead with relevance, not rapport. For example, I may say, “I saw your team is expanding into the LATAM market. I’m curious how you’re planning to scale customer support across regions?”

Interest: I share use cases and insights. I might say, “Here’s how a company like yours reduced onboarding time by 30% after switching to our platform.”

Evaluation: I provide tailored proof, like case studies, benchmarks, and ROI. Stats like my 69.1% SQL conversion rate show what’s possible when the journey is built right.

Decision: I reduce friction. I recap the value, handle objections, and lock in next steps.
I use frameworks like “Assume the Close” and “Mutual Action Plans.”

Post-sale: I make sure my onboarding and success teams keep delivering value. Because retention is part of the journey, not the end.

Step 3: Connect channels into a seamless flow.

A real funnel isn’t a sequence. It’s a system. That means connecting touchpoints across channels. I use:

Email sequences to warm up and educate.

Cold calling to spark urgency and clarity.

LinkedIn to add familiarity and proof.

Video/voice notes for standout personalization.

I don’t rely on just one. I orchestrate them. And when I did this consistently across 656,150 emails and 11,519 cold calls, I saw higher reply rates, stronger discovery calls, and fewer no-shows (my no-show rate dropped under 18%).

And, the data backs this up. According to HubSpot, companies with aligned sales and marketing strategies close 67% more deals.

Alignment is what turns messaging into momentum.

Step 4: Create frictionless transitions.

This is one of the most overlooked parts of the funnel: hand-offs.

From SDR to AE. From cold email to booked call. From demo to post-sale. If you don’t plan the transitions, your funnel breaks down. So I always ask:

Does the prospect know what to expect next?

Have I previewed the value of the next step?

Have I reduced uncertainty or added more?

I use confirmation emails, short pre-call videos, or even Calendly descriptions to prep buyers. It’s all about managing expectations and removing resistance.

Trish Bertuzzi once said, “The buyer journey is not a straight line. It’s a maze of twists and turns.”

That’s why I don’t leave transitions to chance. I guide the path.

Step 5: Track, test, and optimize.

Funnels aren’t one-time projects. They’re living systems. So, I track everything — every “no,” every email open, and every call outcome.

That’s how I hit a 69.1% SQL conversion rate. I didn’t guess. I tested. I used A/B subject lines. I changed the call openers. I studied no-show reasons. I learned from patterns. I adapted.

Here are the tools I’ve relied on the most.

CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive

Data: Apollo, Lusha, ZoomInfo, RocketReach

Content: Google Docs + ChatGPT for script iterations

Mindset: I log emotional trends, too. I track the days I felt sharp and the days when I didn’t. Remember, performance isn’t just process. It’s presence.

Customer Journey Funnel Example

To show you what a working customer journey funnel looks like in practice, let me walk you through one I’ve used successfully in a SaaS setting. This is also a funnel you could easily implement in a platform like HubSpot.

Let’s imagine we’re selling a fictional SaaS product called “TeamFlow,” a platform that helps remote teams manage projects and increase productivity through automation and AI-powered workflows.

I’ve sold solutions like this before, across different markets, so the structure I’m about to show you is rooted in the same fundamentals that helped me close $406K in startup deals and $40M in enterprise.

Step-by-Step Funnel: How I’d Build TeamFlow’s Customer Journey

1. Awareness stage: Identify the trigger.

At this stage, the prospect doesn’t know us. They’re not looking for “TeamFlow.” But, they are feeling the pain. Maybe projects are slipping, team productivity is low, or their head of ops is overwhelmed.

My trigger insight: I use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter companies that recently hired a new VP of Operations or CTO. Why? Because change = openness.

My message: “Hey [First Name], I saw you just stepped into the VP Ops role at [Company]. Curious — how are you tackling the challenge of scaling remote team productivity without burning everyone out?”

KPI I track:

Open rates and reply rates

Average = 18-23% open rate with personalized subject line

Reply rate goal = 5-8%

If I’m under that, I change the trigger or rewrite the CTA.

Why it works: I’m not pitching features. I’m framing the pain in their world.

Pro tip: Morgan Ingram once said, “Your cold outreach should sound like it’s coming from someone who knows them, not someone trying to sell them.” That’s my goal here — relevance over rapport.

2. Interest stage: Spark curiosity.

Once they reply or click a link in my email, they’ve moved to the interest stage. Now they’re problem-aware, but not solution-ready yet. So, I don’t sell. I educate.

What I share: I send a short Loom video breaking down how remote teams lose 12.5 hours per week to context switching (based on Asana’s report). I may also send a LinkedIn post showing how one of our clients reduced project delays by 28% in 3 months.

My CTA: “I don’t know if it’s a fit yet, but I’d be happy to share how we helped a company in your space solve this. Want to take a look?”

Stats I’ve seen here:

Video click-through = 18–22%

Meeting booked from video = 11.4%

My average conversion here historically:

Booked 335 meetings → 69.1% SQL conversion rate

What matters most: I focus on why now, not why us. Because urgency moves the needle more than features.

3. Evaluation stage: Build trust through proof.

Now the prospect is comparing options. They’ve seen a few demos. They’re bringing others into the conversation. This is where most reps get nervous, but this is where I double down on personalized credibility.

What I do: I share a case study that mirrors their business model or a 1-pager with ROI metrics tailored to their team size. I also invite their team to a use-case-specific walkthrough (not a general demo).

How I recap the journey so far: “Here’s what I heard you say matters to you… Here’s how our platform supports that… and here’s what a rollout could look like for your team.”

Pro tip: Mark Roberge, HubSpot’s former CRO, said, “The best reps sell with data, not adjectives.” So, I show the numbers. That includes what we’ve done and what they can achieve based on others like them.

4. Decision stage: Make the path to yes easy.

Now it’s about confidence, clarity, and simplicity. I don’t hard close. I soft lock.

What I say: “If nothing changes in the next 6 months, what will that cost the team in hours or outcomes?” That’s not pressure—it’s perspective.

I create a Mutual Action Plan (MAP) that include:

Stakeholders.

Timelines.

Implementation roadmap.

KPIs to measure success.

This makes them feel supported, not sold. And, it increases deal velocity—something I’ve used repeatedly across IBM, 3M, and SaaS startups to shorten sales cycles and move large deals across the finish line.

No-show rate here: Under 18%, because they’re bought in before they sign.

5. Retention stage: Extend the journey, don’t end it.

Here’s what most reps forget: The funnel doesn’t end at the sale. It evolves.

What I do post-sale: After a sale, I schedule a 30-day “value check-in.” I also share customer success tips via email to keep teams inspired. Then, I ask for a review or referral after we’ve delivered early wins.

Why this matters: In every market I’ve worked in, word of mouth is your secret weapon. And retention turns customers into promoters.

My metric: If expansion or referrals aren’t happening, it’s not a product problem — it’s a journey gap.

Tips for Building a Customer Journey Funnel

There’s a difference between a funnel that looks good on paper and one that actually moves revenue. I’ve tested both. The real breakthrough co

How I meet with C-level and win deals as a seasoned sales rep

Diego Mangabeira — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Most reps aren’t prepared to sell to C-level executives. Here’s my honest take: Most salespeople are overprepared for objections and underprepared for business conversations.

They rehearse demos instead of researching pressure points. They come armed with product knowledge, but not enough market insight. And they try to impress executives when they should be enabling decisions.

In this post, I’ll reveal what it really takes to sell to execs. That includes how to prepare like a strategist, not a seller, and hope to drive action in under 30 minutes. I’ll also share the mistakes I made, the frameworks I use (including multi-stakeholder alignment models), and the exact psychology I apply when stepping into the room with someone who signs the checks.

But first, here’s a little bit about my journey with executive selling.

Table of Contents

My First C-Level Sales Meeting

Understanding the Executive Mindset: What I've Learned From Hundreds of C-Suite Meetings

Before the Meeting: My Proven Preparation Process

During the Meeting: Executive Conversation Strategies I've Refined Over Time

Making the Executive Sale

My First C-Level Sales Meeting

I’ll never forget the first time I sold to a C-level executive. It wasn’t a Zoom call or a casual check-in. It was a formal boardroom meeting at a multinational company in São Paulo. There were five people in the room — one CEO, one CFO, two directors, and me.

I had rehearsed my pitch twenty times. I had the deck, the talking points, the case studies, even the objection-handling matrix I’d built the night before. I walked in ready to prove value.

Ten minutes in, I realized I was losing them.

They weren’t asking about product features. They weren’t reacting to benchmarks. They weren’t interested in “what our solution does.” They wanted to talk about strategy. Market positioning. Risk mitigation. Internal politics. And when the CFO asked, “What are you helping us avoid next quarter?” I didn’t have a crisp answer. I froze.

I didn’t lose the deal that day. But I didn’t win their trust either.

And that’s when it hit me: selling to executives isn’t about presenting solutions. It’s about proving strategic relevance.

Since then, I’ve sold to hundreds of C-level decision-makers across five continents—from SaaS founders in New York, to CIOs in Dubai, to CFOs in Mexico City, and managing directors in London. I’ve closed over $40 million in enterprise contracts, and I’ve coached SDRs and AEs who struggled to break into the C-suite—until they started shifting from seller to strategic partner.

As Brent Adamson (co-author of The Challenger Sale) once said, “The best sellers don’t just deliver insight. They disrupt thinking.” That’s what this guide is about: equipping you with the mindset and tools to stop pitching and start leading executive conversations with clarity, control, and commercial impact.

Understanding the Executive Mindset: What I've Learned From Hundreds of C-Suite Meetings

If you walk into a C-level meeting thinking it’s just a higher-stakes demo, you’ve already lost.

I learned this the hard way.

Years ago, I landed a rare opportunity: a one-on-one with the CEO of a billion-dollar logistics company in LATAM. I’d done the research, practiced my opener, even rehearsed objections. But five minutes in, he leaned back in his chair, raised his eyebrows, and said something that changed my approach forever:

“That’s all fine — but, tell me why this matters now.”

Not what my product did. Not how it worked. But why now? And more importantly, why him?

That moment cracked something open for me. Because selling to C-level executives isn’t about transferring information. It’s about transferring strategic urgency.

Here’s the core shift: Executives don’t care about how your solution works. They care about how it protects or advances their priorities.

C-Level Thinking Is Rooted in Tradeoffs and Timing

Over the past 17 years, I’ve sold to CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs, and Heads of Strategy worldwide. There’s a pattern I see every time.

Executives think in frameworks. They make decisions based on tradeoffs. They are not interested in features. They’re interested in outcomes. They don’t want to know what’s possible. They want to know what’s probable.

That means when you walk into a C-level sales conversation, your job is not to educate them on your solution. It’s to connect the dots between their strategic priorities and your business impact.

According to a Forrester report, 62% of executive buyers say sellers lack insight into their business. That’s the gap. And that’s the opportunity.

You Need to Speak the Language of Risk and Return

Most sales conversations operate at the tactical level. Executive sales conversations live at the intersection of risk, revenue, cost, and timing.

When I sell to operational leaders, I talk in terms of efficiency gains, time-to-value, and change management. When I meet with a CFO, I anchor around the cost of delay, margin protection, and budget prioritization. When it’s the CEO, I zoom out even more: market timing, competitive threat, and category differentiation.

You’re not just selling a product. You’re helping them place a bet. And, the clearer you are about the upside and the downside, the more trust you earn.

Here’s the Controversial Take: Scripts Don’t Work in the C-Suite

I know that goes against a lot of sales training. But, I stand by it.

Scripts are great for new reps. They help with structure. However, when I’m walking into a room with a C-level decision-maker, I toss the script. That’s because executives can smell rehearsed from a mile away.

Instead, I prep using mental models and deal-specific scenarios. I ask myself:

“What pressure is this person under right now?”

“What’s the internal political risk if they say yes or say no?”
“How can I help them look smart in front of their board?”

That’s what real preparation looks like at this level. As Anthony Iannarino puts it: “You’re not there to sell a product. You’re there to sell a better future.”

If you can’t define what that future looks like in terms they care about, you’re not ready for the meeting.

The Executive Mindset Is Fast — But Not Rushed

This is a nuance most reps miss: C-levels move fast, but they don’t make rushed decisions.

That means you need to lead the meeting with clarity, not clutter. Open with the insight. Lead with the risk. Map the path forward early.

In my highest-converting executive meetings, I always do three things in the first 90 seconds:

Reframe the context in their world.

Clarify the outcome, I believe they care most about.

Ask a strategic question that proves I’ve done my homework.

When I follow that rhythm, I move from vendor to thought partner — fast. Once you’ve earned that position, the entire conversation changes.

Before the Meeting: My Proven Preparation Process

You don’t get a second shot with a C-level executive. That’s why I treat every executive meeting like a campaign — high stakes, no fluff, and zero guesswork.

Over the years, I’ve built a prep process that’s helped me close $40M+ in enterprise deals across LATAM, the Middle East, and the U.S., and more than $406K in early-stage revenue for startups that had no brand equity to lean on. I’ve used this same framework whether I was walking into the CEO’s office at a Fortune 500 company or jumping on a VC-funded founder’s calendar for a 15-minute call.

Below is my playbook for preparing. It’s not about Googling their name five minutes before the meeting. It’s about showing up as someone who belongs in the room.

Step 1: Research the Executive’s Current Context

This isn’t surface-level LinkedIn scanning. I go deep.

I start by answering three core questions:

What macro challenge is this exec facing right now?

What internal priority might this solution touch?

What would make this conversation feel worth 30 minutes on their calendar?

I review the company’s most recent press releases, investor updates, and leadership transitions. I read the executive’s interviews or authored content (LinkedIn posts, podcast appearances, earnings calls). If they’ve said, “We’re focused on expanding in LATAM,” then you can bet my opener references go-to-market localization — because I’ve done that in four languages.

When I walk in, already showing that understanding, the dynamic shifts. I’m no longer an interruption. I’m a strategic input.

Remember: Context is the new closing technique. I know most sales teams skip this step and wonder why they get ghosted.

Step 2: Identify the Executive’s Personal Success Metrics

C-suite leaders don’t buy tools. They buy outcomes. And, those outcomes are personal. A CFO might care about cost avoidance this quarter. A CRO might be under pressure to fix a pipeline hygiene issue. A COO might be tied to operational KPIs like time-to-resolution or onboarding cost.

I tailor my messaging around what they care about, not what I want to sell.

Here’s what I ask myself:

What metric are they being evaluated on this quarter?

How does my solution make them look smarter, faster, or more future-ready?

What’s the unspoken internal risk if they make the wrong call?

I even built a cheat sheet with:

Their top 3 potential goals

Their likely blockers

1 insight that connects what I do to what they’re trying to achieve

Bonus: I write my first-line cold opener using this prep. That means even if I never land the meeting, my outreach still positions me as thoughtful, not transactional.

Step 3: Build a Strategic Agenda, But Keep It Buyer-Led

Executives hate two things: wasted time and vague meetings. So, I set a clear, tight agenda before the call, then frame it in a way that serves them, not me.

Here’s my structure:

“I’d love to start by understanding how you’re approaching [priority X] this quarter.”

“From there, I can share what we’ve seen work in similar companies in [industry].”

“If there’s interest, I can walk through a few outcomes we’ve helped others achieve—and what that might look like for your team.”

I send this agenda ahead of time in my calendar invite and email follow-up. Why? Because it primes the call, lowers resistance, and increases show rates (mine are consistently under 18%).

Controversial take: I don’t walk into exec meetings with a discovery sheet. I walk in with a narrative. And, that narrative starts with the exec, not with me.

Step 4: Pressure-Test the Value Prop Before the Call

This is one most sellers skip, and it costs them the deal.

Before any C-level meeting, I challenge my own pitch:

“If this executive asked, ‘Why now?’, do I have a one-sentence answer?”

“Can I explain the impact in their language, not mine?”
“Is there a quantifiable risk of not acting?”

If I can’t answer those questions clearly, I go back and tighten the value proposition.

Example: Instead of saying, “We help teams streamline collaboration.” I say, “We helped a distributed ops team reduce project delays by 22% in Q1—without adding headcount or changing their workflow.”

As the Challenger model teaches, insight wins over information. And executives? They pay attention when the insight costs them something if ignored.

Step 5: Rehearse Like an Operator, Not a Performer

I don’t memorize a script. I rehearse my flow.

I mentally walk through the meeting like an athlete visualizing a race. I prep for likely objections (“We already have a solution,” “We’re in budget review”) and match them with business-first counters.

I review the agenda and the call plan out loud. I say my opener to a peer, or record myself and play it back. If I weren’t impressed hearing it from someone else, I would rewrite it.

I’ve coached dozens of reps who stumbled through their first exec meeting because they thought “winging it” was confident. It’s not. It’s reckless.

Executives respect prep. And they can tell who’s done it by the second sentence out of your mouth.

During the Meeting: Executive Conversation Strategies I've Refined Over Time

Let’s be real: C-level conversations aren’t like your average sales call. I’ve had to learn that the hard way. They don’t care about your product. They care about how it protects or advances the business. Period.

And over the last 17 years, I’ve refined a few critical strategies that have helped me stay in the room, win their trust, and drive real executive conversations that convert. Let me break it down for you step by step.

Open with context, not credentials

When I first started selling to executives, I used to think I had to prove myself in the first 60 seconds. I’d rattle off my experience, my company’s logos, and my metrics. Guess what? They didn’t care.

What shifted everything for me was realizing that executives value relevance over resumes.

So now, I open with this: “Here’s what I’m seeing in your space right now — and here’s why I reached out.”

I center the conversation on their world, not mine. Their timing, not my targets. And that one change gets me better engagement in the first 2 minutes than any pitch deck ever has.

Data backs this up: A Harvard Business Review study found that 90% of C-suite execs say they “never” respond to cold outreach that isn’t personalized to their business context.

Lead with questions that spark insight, not interrogation

Here’s something I’ll debate any day: The best executive sellers don’t ask more questions. They ask better ones.

When I’m in the room with a CEO, I don’t ask about their “current tech stack.” I ask, “What’s one initiative this quarter that feels high-risk but unavoidable?” Because that’s what’s keeping them up at night. And when they answer, I listen like a strategist, not just a seller.

Here are three question frameworks I’ve found powerful in C-level meetings:

Impact Framing: “If this doesn’t get solved, what’s the downstream effect six months from now?”

Comparison Insight: “What’s changed since the last time your team tried solving this?”
Ownership Trigger: “If this works, who benefits the most, and who gets the credit?”

These questions position you as a business partner, not a product pusher.

As The Challenger Sale co-author Brent Adamson says, “The best reps teach customers something new about their business.” That’s your job in a C-level meeting: not to discover problems, but to reframe them.

Anchor the conversation in business value, not features

When I meet with execs, I reframe everything in their language:

“This isn’t about automation—it’s about reducing human error by 38% in your current workflow.”

“This isn’t about dashboards—it’s about faster decision-making across departments.”

I bring metrics, ROI, and industry benchmarks. And when I don’t have exact numbers, I offer assumptions based on similar companies: “Based on what we saw with [Peer Company], this might look like a 12–18% improvement in your customer onboarding time.”

Here’s my golden rule: If the value isn’t framed in their scoreboard, it doesn’t land.

Manage the clock, but let the conversation breathe

I used to cram everything into a 30-minute slot, thinking more info = more value. But the truth? C-level buyers don’t want a firehose. They want a signal.

Now, I do three things every time:

Set clear checkpoints: “We’ve got 30 minutes. Want to spend the first 10 unpacking the challenge?”

Build in space: I leave room for silence. Executives often pause to think, and that’s where the gold lives.

Adapt in real-time: If we hit a moment of alignment, I go deeper—even if that means skipping the demo. I prioritize impact over agenda.

And I always ask, “Is this direction helpful—or should we pivot to what’s most top-of-mind for you?”

This single question signals respect, adaptability, and strategic alignment.

Close with clarity and commitment

Here’s where most reps fumble: they end the meeting with “I’ll follow up with some next steps.” That’s weak. Executives don’t want homework. They want decisions.

So I close by recapping what we uncovered and aligning on what’s next:

“Based on today, here’s what I heard: [Recap pain + impact]. If we’re aligned on solving this, the next step is [insert next step]. Sound good?”

This approach gives them the power, but it gives me the momentum.

When I started using this format, my post-meeting drop-off rate decreased by over 40%. Because the exec left the meeting knowing exactly where we were going — and why it mattered.

Making the Executive Sale

One of the biggest shifts in my career didn’t come from a new pitch deck or a clever line in a cold call. It came from sitting across from a CEO who said something I’ll never forget, “I don’t need another vendor. I need someone who can help me think better.”

That hit me hard. Because up until that moment, I thought I was doing everything right. I had the slide deck. I had the numbers. I had the case studies polished and ready. But what I didn’t have was the right to lead the conversation at the executive level.

That meeting didn’t end with a deal. It ended with a wake-up call. I walked away realizing that selling to C-level executives isn’t just another stage in the funnel. It’s an entirely different game.

So no, I don’t show up to impress C-level executives anymore. I show up to serve them. I show up with insight. With questions. With respect for their time — and a strategy to make it worth their while.

If you’re still chasing titles and hoping a better product demo will win the day, it’s time to rethink the game. Because at this level, sales isn’t about being liked. It’s

The best AI agents for sales on the market — here’s what I tested and expert takes

Kiran Shahid — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Last year, I hit a wall trying to scale sales as a solo consultant.

I was doing strategy calls, sending follow-ups, chasing proposals — basically playing rep, manager, and ops lead all at once. Hiring wasn’t an option, and most tools I tried just added dashboards, not real help.

So I started experimenting with AI sales agents. Not just CRMs with a chatbot, but tools that could actually prospect, write personalized outreach, track replies, summarize calls, and move deals forward without me hovering.

In this article, I’ll explain what AI agents for sales are and highlight 10 tools that can take repetitive tasks off your plate.

Table of Contents

What are AI agents?

The 10 AI Agents for Sales I’d Recommend Right Now

Why AI Agents Are No Longer Just a “Nice-to-Have”

What are AI agents?

AI agents for sales are task-specific tools trained to perform actions a rep would normally handle manually like sourcing leads, writing follow-ups, updating CRM fields, or summarizing calls. Unlike general AI assistants that answer questions or draft content, these agents are built into your sales stack and act based on real-time data.

Think of them as software-based team members built to handle repetitive, time-sensitive sales tasks at scale, freeing you up to focus on higher-value activities like selling, strategy, and closing deals.

The 10 AI Agents for Sales I’d Recommend Right Now

There are dozens of tasks that eat into your day — researching leads, updating the CRM, writing follow-ups, chasing next steps — all before you even get to selling. The average sales rep even loses two days a week on admin and paperwork tasks.

This is a breakdown of 10 AI agents for sales I’d recommend to any founder or sales leader who needs real support, not another platform to babysit.

1. Breeze by HubSpot

Best for: Sales professionals already using HubSpot who need to streamline their workflow and automate repetitive tasks.

I’ve been exploring Breeze by HubSpot as a way to streamline sales without piling on more tools — or more people. It’s not trying to replace reps. Instead, it works more like a behind-the-scenes assistant that nudges you toward next steps, generates outreach, and keeps deals moving without you having to babysit every task.

What stood out to me is how it folds into my existing workflow. Breeze pulls in real-time data, suggests actions, and surfaces insights that would usually take me hours to find. It’s especially helpful for handling small but time-consuming tasks, like organizing contacts or prioritizing leads.

It’s still early-stage in some ways, but Breeze has helped me spend less time toggling between tools and more time actually talking to potential clients.

Pros

Shortens forms using Breeze matching.

Integrates into HubSpot’s existing ecosystem.

Saves time on small repetitive tasks (e.g., writing workflow descriptions).

Enriches target account data accurately.

Builds basic reports with minimal effort.

Pricing

You can start using Breeze Copilot and a selection of core Breeze features for free within HubSpot. More advanced AI tools — like Breeze Agents and deeper automation capabilities — are included with premium tiers of HubSpot’s platform. Breeze Intelligence is available as an optional add-on for those on a paid HubSpot plan.

2. Gong

Best for: Sales teams looking for conversation intelligence to improve coaching, call analysis, and follow-up processes.

Source

I haven’t used Gong personally, but it’s hard to ignore how often it shows up in sales circles — especially on LinkedIn. Gong records and analyzes your sales conversations to spot patterns, objections, competitor mentions, and deal risks.

Josh Hargett, senior account executive at Omnisend, loves Gong for its call summaries:

“Gong call summaries are the most helpful piece of AI so far. If I have a few back-to-back calls and do not have time to complete my notes or send a follow-up, Gong will use AI to summarize the call and remind me of next steps.”

In another example, Hargett shared how Gong saved a colleague during a packed day of demos:

“Once, a colleague had three demos back-to-back and didn’t have time to send a proper follow-up. Gong had already summarized each call and flagged the key next steps, so the rep just reviewed and sent personalized recaps right after the third call. Without AI, those follow-ups might’ve been delayed or rushed, which could have slowed the whole deal down.”

Sales leaders are noticing too. Adam Weitzman, who heads enterprise sales at workforce management system Rippling, praises how well it surfaces customer insights you’d usually miss unless you were shadowing every call.

Source

Its detection tech recognizes layered concepts — like risk signals, stakeholder hesitation, or competitor threats — and brings those to the surface automatically. That kind of visibility across calls, emails, and meetings means reps and managers don’t have to guess what’s really happening in a deal.

Gong AI also generates follow-ups, account briefs, and internal updates that actually reflect where the deal stands. It helps prioritize next steps, flags stuck deals, and suggests ways to re-engage based on real conversation data.

On top of that, Gong updates the CRM for you, detects coaching gaps, and even predicts revenue outcomes using hundreds of behavioral signals. It’s like giving your team a strategist, assistant, and coach — all in one.

Pros

Analyzes sales calls to surface coaching insights like monologuing or interrupting.

Searches transcripts with AI-driven keyword tracking.

Accelerates onboarding through top-performing call examples.

Locates call recordings and transcripts efficiently with an easy to use interface.

Cons

Delays or misses call recordings occasionally.

Misses key moments in transcriptions and screen-sharing.

Limits customization options for analytics and insights.

Pricing

Custom pricing available upon request.

3. Clay

Best for: Outbound sales teams that need powerful, customizable lead generation and enrichment capabilities.

I’ve used Clay to build highly targeted lead lists, and out of all the tools I’ve tested, it’s easily one of the most powerful when it comes to sourcing and enriching prospect data. It’s more like a no-code data engine for outbound.

You start with inputs like LinkedIn URLs, company names, or even just job titles, and Clay lets you layer in enrichment from dozens of sources like Clearbit, Apollo, BuiltWith, LinkedIn, and more.

You can run bulk lookups, filter by specific attributes (like technologies used or funding stage), and then automatically clean, score, and route those leads into your outreach tool.

What makes it stand out is the flexibility. Jesse Ouellette, founder of prospecting platform LeadMagic, raves about how many use cases you can squeeze out from Clay.

Source

You can create complex automations using simple logic, without code. If you’re serious about outbound and want full control over your lead sourcing, Clay is the kind of tool you build your system around.

Pros

Builds lead lists with multi-source waterfall enrichment (mobile numbers, emails, and more).

Integrates with tools like ChatGPT to automate personalized outreach and follow-ups.

Scrapes websites, enriches datasets, and creates custom workflows without code.

Automates lead scoring and sales trigger monitoring.

Cons

Has a steep learning curve — can feel overwhelming without a technical background or onboarding support.

Requires manual verification at times, especially for custom fields.

Demands clear outbound processes and lead criteria before full utilization.

Pricing

Free

Starter: $149/month

Explorer: $349/month

Pro: $800/month

4. Clari

Best for: Revenue leaders and sales managers who need accurate forecasting and pipeline visibility.

Clari is a revenue intelligence platform built for sales leaders and RevOps teams who need a clear, data-backed view of what’s happening after leads enter the pipeline.

Justin Herrin-Knapp, full cycle account executive at Whippy.ai, relies on Clari’s AI to take the pressure off post-meeting admin work.

“I rely extensively on Clari for its AI-driven meeting recordings, automated note-taking, personalized follow-up email suggestions, and powerful search capabilities,” he says. “This has significantly improved the speed and quality of my post-meeting communications.”

He shared a recent experience that shows how Clari supports in-the-moment execution:

“Recently, I had a critical demo with a high-value prospect. Using Clari’s AI capabilities, the system instantly transcribed the meeting, identifying key insights and objections in real time. Immediately afterward, Clari suggested a personalized follow-up email referencing exact points from our discussion. Previously, I’d have to rely on manual notes or revisit call recordings, making timely and precise follow-ups significantly harder.”

Clari’s AI flags risks early — like low activity on a high-value deal — and helps managers coach based on patterns across teams, stages, and timeframes.

If you’re tired of chasing down updates before every forecast call or second-guessing where you’ll land this quarter, Clari is built to give you the visibility and confidence you’re probably missing.

Pros

Customizes platform features with user-friendly interface.

Summarizes opportunity activities comprehensively.

Organizes metrics into clear categories for tracking with the collections feature.

Cons

Requires browser refreshes for updated information.

Experiences integration bugs with certain platforms (like Groove).

Provides limited utility for individual reps.

Pricing

Custom pricing available upon request.

6. Crystal

Best for: Sales professionals who want to personalize outreach based on prospects’ communication preferences and personality traits.

Crystal is a personality AI tool built for sales teams who want to tailor their messaging based on how prospects naturally communicate and make decisions. I’ve used it during outbound campaigns — especially when I’m reaching out to execs I haven’t spoken to before.

For example, here’s an evaluation of my own profile:

If I’m unsure whether to keep the tone direct, collaborative, or more data-driven, I’ll run their LinkedIn profile through Crystal. It gives me a quick read on how they likely think and respond, along with do’s and don’ts for messaging.

The Chrome extension makes it easy to use directly in Gmail or LinkedIn. It even suggests sentence edits based on a prospect’s communication style. Some profiles are surprisingly spot-on — it once flagged a VP as highly results-driven and low-patience, so I led with a clear ROI stat and got a reply within the hour.

That said, it works best when there’s enough public data to analyze. For quieter profiles, the results can feel more generic.

Pros

Generates personality profiles for tailored outreach.

Integrates with LinkedIn, Gmail, and CRMs seamlessly.

Helps write more effective messages by adjusting tone, structure, and focus.

Provides playbooks based on DISC profiles.

Cons

Decreases in accuracy with limited prospect data.

Generalizes assessments for low-data profiles.

Experiences Chrome extension bugs occasionally.

Pricing

Free

Premium: $49/month

Business: Custom

Enrichment: Custom

7. Lavender

Best for: Sales reps who want to optimize their email outreach for higher response rates with minimal effort.

I use Lavender when I’m sending cold emails and don’t have time to second-guess every line. It helps me tighten the message, adjust the tone, and make sure the core value lands fast — especially when I’m writing to execs who skim.

The scoring system gives instant feedback on deliverability, tone, length, and structure, so I’m not flying blind.

What I’ve found most helpful is the mobile preview. A lot of prospects read emails on their phones, and Lavender makes sure the key info doesn’t get buried. I also use it to streamline personalization — pulling in CRM data and nudging me to get more specific without adding extra steps.

It’s not always perfect; now and then it’ll suggest something that feels a little robotic. But overall, it’s helped me cut my email writing time in half — and boosted reply rates when I stick to its recommendations.

Pros

Provides a straightforward interface with accessible features.

Improves deliverability through real-time scoring.

Optimizes messages for mobile reading.

Teaches effective email writing principles.

Cons

Suggests irrelevant or generic personalizations occasionally.

Prices higher than alternatives for small teams.

Limits usefulness outside email workflows.

Pricing

Free

Starter: $29/month

Individual Pro: $49/month

Team: $99/month

8. Fireflies

Best for: Teams that need accurate meeting transcription, organization, and follow-up automation.

Fireflies automatically joins my interview calls with subject matter experts, and it’s become one of those quiet tools that saves me hours every week.

It records the conversation, transcribes it almost instantly, and sends the transcript and summary directly to my inbox. Instead of scribbling

Cold calling: What it is & how to do it right

Diego Mangabeira — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

I still remember the first cold call that truly humbled me.

Not the first one I ever made — that one was bad, sure, but I was too naive to realize it. I’m talking about the first call where I thought I was prepared. I had the script and the pitch — and even their LinkedIn open. And still … the moment they picked up, I choked.

The decision-maker — a VP at a growing tech firm — answered with a skeptical “Hello,” and I launched into my opener. Within 20 seconds, he cut me off with a polite but firm, “Diego, I’m going to stop you right there. I don’t take cold pitches.” Click.

Now, I could’ve blamed him. I could’ve said, “He just wasn’t open” or “He doesn’t get it.” But the truth was: I wasn’t relevant. I was talking at him, not to him. That call taught me one of the hardest truths in sales:

No one owes you their attention. You earn it — word by word.

Since then, I’ve made thousands of cold calls to everyone from Fortune 500s to seed-stage startups. And I still believe in cold calling. Not because it’s easy, but because it works if you respect the craft. And that’s where most reps — even smart, well-intentioned ones — mess up. They treat cold calls like interruptions instead of opportunities. They either ramble through a script that sounds like it was written in 2009, or worse, they wing it, hoping personality alone will land the meeting.

That’s not how you sell in 2025. And that’s not how I coach my clients — or run my own pipeline. So this post? This isn’t theory. It’s a field-tested, experience-backed guide on how to cold call in today’s sales environment — using real-world scripts, updated stats, and strategies I’ve battle-tested across industries.

So if you’re tired of relying on luck, scripts that feel stale, or openers that go nowhere, this guide is for you.

Let’s break it all down.

Table of Contents

What is cold calling?

Why is cold calling done by sales professionals?

How to Cold Call

What is cold calling?

Cold calling is one of those terms that instantly sparks debate in sales circles. Some see it as outdated. Others treat it like a badge of honor. Me? I see it as a high-skill, high-resistance channel that, when done right, can still open more doors than most people give it credit for.

At its core, cold calling means picking up the phone and starting a sales conversation with someone you’ve never spoken to before. No email warmup. No mutual connection. Just you, a phone, and a shot at capturing attention in the first 30 seconds.

Sounds brutal, right? That’s because it is — when you treat it like a numbers game. But when you approach it like a craft? That’s when cold calling becomes a strategic weapon.

In this article, you’ll learn:

Why cold calling still works — and when it doesn’t.

How to structure your calls for impact, not just activity.

What to say in the first 15 seconds (and what not to).

The exact scripts I’ve used to book meetings with VPs, founders, and buyers who “don’t take cold calls.”

How to handle rejection, objections, and gatekeepers with empathy and control.

Why Most Cold Calls Fail (and What I Learned From Bombing My First 100)

I’ll be honest: My first few months of cold-calling were a bloodbath. I was dialing dozens of strangers a day with nothing but a generic pitch and a tight smile. I was told to “just push through the no’s.” But no one told me how to turn those no’s into opportunities.

Eventually, I stopped reading scripts like a robot and started thinking like a strategist. That’s when everything changed. Because cold calling isn’t about pushing a product. It’s about creating relevance fast enough to earn trust — and a few more minutes of someone’s time.

Over the years, I’ve learned to treat cold calling like chess, not checkers. It’s less about what you say and more about how quickly you can meet the prospect in their mental context. That’s where the magic happens.

Yes, cold calling still works — and the data proves it.

Let’s clear something up: Cold calling isn’t dead. Far from it.

According to RAIN Group’s 2023 report, live phone conversations remain one of the top five most effective prospecting tactics. And Cognism’s latest data shows that cold calling conversion rates doubled from 2% to 4.82% over the past year. That’s a 140% improvement. Why?

Because fewer reps are doing it well, which means there’s less noise and more space for those who know how to stand out.

Even Gong found that when a rep follows up a cold call with an email, reply rates increase from 1.81% to 3.44%. That’s a 90% lift — just by pairing the phone with another touchpoint. In other words, cold calls amplify your outbound motion. They don’t exist in isolation — they multiply your reach.

The Real Definition of Cold Calling (From Someone Who’s Done It for Years)

Forget the textbook version. Here’s how I define cold calling today:

Cold calling is the art of starting relevant conversations at scale — with people who don’t know you but need what you offer.

And I say “art” intentionally. Because this isn’t just about dialing. It’s about pattern recognition, emotional intelligence, timing, and confidence. It’s about knowing when to press, when to pause, and when to pivot.

Great cold callers don’t just pitch. They provoke curiosity. They show up with clarity, not desperation. And most importantly, they treat every call like a conversation worth having — even if it doesn’t convert right away.

You don’t win on charm. You win on clarity.

You don’t close with pressure. You close with precision.

And above all, you don’t improvise your way into trust. You prepare for it.

Cold calling is still the fastest path to real-time feedback.

Here’s something most playbooks won’t tell you: Cold calling isn’t just about lead generation. It’s about insight generation.

Every call gives you live, unfiltered feedback on your messaging, your positioning, your timing, and your tone. There’s no faster way to pressure-test a new value proposition than saying it out loud to 50 strangers. And if your pitch survives that, trust me — it’ll survive anything.

That’s why I tell every founder, SDR, and marketer I coach: Cold calling is a diagnostic tool, not just a sales tactic. If you’re struggling to get traction in the market, pick up the phone. You’ll learn more in three hours than in three months of passive research.

Cold calling isn’t dead — lazy cold calling is.

Cold calling isn’t dead. Let me be clear about that. The data doesn’t lie — and neither does the pipeline. Done well, a cold call can still be the fastest way to book a high-value conversation with a C-level decision-maker. But what’s dead is the old way of doing it. The robotic pitches. The generic “Did I catch you at a bad time?” openers. The fake rapport.

If you’re still treating cold calls like a volume game, it’s no wonder they’re not working. Today’s prospects can smell a spray-and-pray pitch from a mile away. But when you come in with intent, context, and empathy? You’re no longer an interruption. You’re a signal.

Cold calling isn’t for everyone. It’s uncomfortable. It’s unpredictable. And it forces you to get better — or get off the phone. But that’s exactly why I still do it. Because in a world of templated emails and automated sequences, the fastest way to build trust is still one-to-one conversation.

And that starts with the courage to dial.

Why is cold calling done by sales professionals?

There’s something brutally honest about cold calling. No marketing fluff. No nurture flow. Just a conversation between two humans — one with a solution, the other with a problem they may not know they have yet. That’s why I still believe cold calling is one of the purest, fastest, and most revealing channels in sales.

So, why do sales professionals keep cold calling in 2025, even with AI tools, inbound funnels, and automated sequences at our fingertips?

Simple: Because it works when done right, and no other channel gives you real-time feedback at scale like the phone does.

Let me explain.

1. Cold calling creates conversations at scale.

I’ve run outbound campaigns for startups, agencies, and enterprise firms. And no matter the tech stack — email, LinkedIn, chatbots, carrier pigeons — phone calls consistently bring in 20–30% of our qualified conversations when executed with skill and precision.

And the data backs that up.

According to Cognism’s 2024 Cold Calling Report, the average conversion rate for cold calls has jumped to 4.82%, up from 2% just a year prior. That’s a 140% increase — because reps who stuck with it got sharper while others gave up too soon.

And cold calls don’t exist in isolation either. Gong’s research shows that a phone call before or after an email doubles the response rate. When the voice and the inbox work together, you build recognition and trust.

I’ve seen this firsthand. When my SDR team leads with a well-researched cold call, even if it goes to voicemail, our reply rates on follow-up emails consistently jump by 60–70%.

2. The phone forces relevance (and rewards preparation).

Cold calling isn’t about spamming a list. It’s about showing up with context and conviction. That’s why sales professionals still do it — it forces them to get closer to the customer.

Here’s the thing most people miss: Cold calling reveals in seconds whether your message lands or not. There’s no hiding behind a clever subject line. If your offer is unclear, irrelevant, or misaligned, you’ll know instantly — because the prospect will hang up.

But that feedback loop is gold.

When I want to test a new positioning statement, I don’t start with a landing page. I start with 50 calls. Because the phone doesn’t lie.

As Jason Bay, founder of Outbound Squad, says, “Cold calling is the only sales channel where you get instant rejection, instant validation, and instant improvement. That’s why it’s still a core skill — because the best sellers crave that level of feedback.”

I couldn’t agree more.

3. It builds muscle where it matters: Objection handling.

Want to see if your sales team has real selling skills? Don’t look at their email templates. Listen to their cold calls.

In cold calls, there’s no time to Google a rebuttal. You either know how to de-escalate resistance, reframe the objection, and guide the conversation forward — or you don’t.

I’ve trained hundreds of reps, and nothing accelerates learning like cold call roleplays. It sharpens the reflexes you need to succeed at every other stage of the funnel. If you can handle “We already have a vendor” live, you’ll crush it in a discovery call.

And there’s a mindset shift here, too. Cold calling teaches you not to fear rejection, but to expect it. That kind of psychological resilience turns reps into closers.

4. It reaches buyers that other channels miss.

Let’s be honest: Inboxes are overcrowded. LinkedIn DMs are flooded. Social feeds are noisy. But phones? Still underutilized.

When I target VPs and C-level execs in more traditional industries — construction, logistics, finance — cold calling isn’t just effective. It’s often the only way to cut through.

These are people who don’t scroll through newsletters all day. But they will answer a direct, relevant call if it sounds like someone who did their homework.

And when you do get through? The conversion path is faster. I’ve booked meetings with CFOs in under 60 seconds on the phone — meetings that would’ve taken 12 touchpoints over email.

5. Cold calls sell the next conversation.

I’ll say something controversial: A cold call is not about discovery. It’s about selling the next step.

I’m not trying to solve the whole problem on the first call. I’m trying to earn the right to go deeper. That means positioning the meeting, not the product.

The reps who succeed don’t ask 10 questions. They create urgency. They show a glimpse of value. They make it easy to say “Yes” to 15 more minutes.

Here’s how I like to frame it: Cold calls are like movie trailers. You’re not selling the whole film — you’re selling the seat in the theater.

If you focus the call on why now, not what we do, your meeting book rate will jump.

6. Cold calling isn’t dying. It’s evolving.

Cold calling isn’t outdated — it’s misunderstood.

The reason sales professionals still do it is because it’s fast, measurable, and brutal in the best way. It exposes bad messaging. It builds stronger reps. And when layered with smart outbound systems, it fuels pipeline like no other channel can.

I don’t cold call because I like rejection. I cold call because it builds skill, character, and revenue. And when those three things align? You’re not just dialing numbers. You’re driving growth.

How to Cold Call

Research like a sniper, not a tourist (AKA Why I never pick up the phone without context).

When I first started cold calling, I used to dial with a mix of nervous energy and hope. I thought enthusiasm could make up for a lack of context. It didn’t. I burned through good leads by winging it. What changed everything for me was treating each call like a micro-campaign, not a shot in the dark.

Before I call anyone, I dig. I look into the person, the company, the tech stack, their latest product launch, and even who they’ve recently hired on LinkedIn. I check if they raised a round, expanded into a new market, or just got regulatory approval.

Why? Because when I say something like “I saw you just rolled out usage-based pricing — curious how that’s impacting your onboarding funnel,” the tone of the conversation instantly shifts. It tells them: I did my homework. I’m not here to pitch you. I’m here to help you think.

Buyers don’t hang up on relevance. They hang up on scripts that sound like they could be sent to anyone.

Build a script you can improvise with — not one you’re shackled to.

I used to think sales scripts were for robots. But then I realized something: The best jazz musicians master their scales so they can break the rules. Same thing in sales.

I write and rewrite my cold call scripts like I’m tuning a performance. I don’t read them line by line — I internalize the flow. I map out objections before they come. I pre-frame my CTA so it feels like a natural next step, not a jump scare. I even rehearse awkward silences so I don’t panic when they happen.

The goal is never to sound scripted. It’s to sound prepared. Confidence on a cold call doesn’t come from personality — it comes from repetition. And a great script is the foundation that lets your personality shine through.

Lead with something they just did, not something you want to do.

One of my highest-converting cold opens ever started with: “Saw your CEO talking about expansion into LATAM on a podcast last week. I work with similar companies post-expansion to help sales teams localize without losing momentum — is that something on your radar?”

That line got me a meeting, but more importantly, it earned respect. Because relevance is earned, not assumed. I always try to anchor my opening in something timely: a recent blog post, a market shift, a customer announcement, a tech stack addition. It shows that I’m not interrupting — I’m aligning.

Most cold calls fail in the first 15 seconds. Mentioning something specific, recent, and relevant is your best chance to beat the default reflex of “Sorry, not interested.”

Don’t fear rejection anymore.

Rejection used to hit me hard. Now, it teaches me. I track not just the “no’s,” but the why behind them. Did I come in too strong? Was the timing off? Did I fail to personalize? Every rejection carries a clue.

I’ve been hung up on mid-sentence. I’ve had prospects who sounded annoyed just to be breathing the same air as a sales rep. That used to rattle me. Now, I take a breath, reset, and move on. Because rejection isn’t personal — it’s data. The sooner you embrace that, the faster you grow.

You’re not trying to win every call. You’re trying to win the right ones — and that means powering through the wrong ones without losing your rhythm.

Time your dials like a trader watching the market.

Cold calling isn’t just about what you say — it’s about when you say it. I’ve tested every time slot imaginable, and here’s what’s worked best for me: mid-morning (between 10:00–11:00 AM) and late afternoon (4:00–5:00 PM), in the prospect’s local time.

But timing goes beyond the clock. I also look at company events. Did they just hire a new VP of sales? Did they attend a trade show? Did they roll out a new product? These aren’t just news items — they’re openings.

When you call during transition points — moments where decisions are being made — you become part of that decision-making process. Time it right, and you’re not cold calling. You’re showing up exactly when they need you.

Open with the reason you’re calling, and say it with clarity, not as an apology.

If there’s one thing that’s helped me earn time on a cold call, it’s getting straight to the point. My go-to line? “The reason for my call is simple…” Then I tie it directly to a challenge I believe they’re facing or an outcome they want.

No fluff. No fake rapport. Just clarity.

Gong’s data backs this up — calls that start with a clear reason are 2x more likely to lead to positive outcomes. And from my own calls? I’d say the difference is even greater. Executives respect decisiveness. They don’t want you to charm your way in. They want you to respect their time and make it worth their attention.

Turn cold calls into mini work sessions — not pitches.

This one took me years to learn: Cold calls that feel like one-way pitches die fast. Cold calls that feel like two-way problem-solving sessions? That’s where the magic happens.

When I started adding interactivity — like sharing a quick stat, asking for a reaction, or referencing something on their site — the engagement shifted. They weren’t just listening; they were thinking with me.

Now, I try to make every cold call feel like a mini working session. Even 90 seconds of real thought partnership creates momentum. Prospects don’t remember salespeople. They remember the moments when someone helped them think differently.

Sell the next step, not the whole vision.

Here’s the mistake I made early on: trying to sell the whole deal on the first call. That’s too much, too soon. Cold calls aren’t for closing. They’re for opening.

My only goal on a cold call is to sell the next step — usually a 20–30 minute discovery call. That’s it. I don’t drown them in features. I focus on value alignment, timing, and curiosity. If they feel intrigued and see potential, I’ve won.

It’s like dating — you’re not proposing on the first meeting. You’re asking for a coffee.

Use every call as a rehearsal for the real thing.

Every cold call I make is a chance to get sharper. I track my opener’s conversion rate. I test CTAs. I log objections and build respo

Do you need a business owner’s policy? Here’s who BOPs work for and what they cover (+ expert tips)

Michelle Lodge — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Insurance gives you an extra layer of coverage when life throws an emergency your way — whether that be a run to the doctor, the mechanic, or the dentist. If you own a business, you can tap into that extra protection with a business owner’s policy.

In my years reporting on business and finance, I’ve learned that launching a business is fraught with challenges. Business owner’s policies are one type of insurance that can help mitigate some of these risks. That may include protection from theft, lawsuits, and unforeseen accidents.

In this article, I take a deep dive into the ins and outs of business owner’s policies. I’ll explain which businesses benefit most from this type of coverage and what to look for if you need to shop for the right option. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What is a business owner’s policy?

What does a business owner’s policy cover?

Business Owner’s Policy Benefits

Cost of BOPs

What is a business owner’s policy?

A business owner’s policy is a type of insurance designed for small- to medium-sized operations with fewer than 100 employees. Also known as a BOP, a business owner’s policy is “designed to shield from things that can cause big harm to business,” said Sam Taylor, an insurance expert at the consulting firm LLC.org.

These plans bundle several types of coverage, according to Gregg Barrett, CEO of the property and casualty administration software firm the WaterStreet Company. These plans often focus on protecting the business’ assets, shielding owners from potential lawsuits, and covering losses during an emergency. Putting all these protections in one plan can help owners manage their coverage more easily.

What does a business owner’s policy cover?

Barrett notes that business owner’s policies offer three core protections:

Protection for the business property.

General liability insurance.

Lost income and operating costs caused by interruptions in business operations.

Converging a business’ property includes the space itself, equipment, furniture, and inventory. Plans often protect these assets both from unplanned accidents and targeted damage. For example, fire, theft, vandalism, and natural disasters are often all covered.

Liability insurance involves covering “legal costs, medical, [or] property damage caused to others,” Barrett told me. For example, if a customer sued a business for an accident that happened in the shop, a business owner’s policy can help cover the cost.

The third category covers lost income and operating expenses if your business is forced to close. Let’s say your area is evacuated during a fire or closed during a pandemic, your BOP can compensate some of your losses.

Reilly James Renwick notes that interruptions are often overlooked.

“Most policyholders normally never think their BOP would compensate them for lost income due to a covered event, but that claims require the documentation of their income streams and expenses. Without these records, businesses could fail to get full benefits they are entitled to,” says Renwick, chief marketing officer of the mortgage broker firm Pragmatic Mortgage.

Certain business owner’s policy providers allow you to add other types of coverage to your plan. For example, Barret notes that some insurers allow business owners to add coverage for cyber liability, data breaches, and professional liability. That’s a suggestion to strongly consider, as data breaches are on the rise.

Pro tip: Study what your BOP covers to make sure you’re getting the most out of your policy.

Business Owner's Policy vs. General Liability Insurance

A BOP is much more comprehensive than general liability insurance. In fact, a BOP typically includes general liability insurance, whereas the reverse isn’t true. The chart below, provided by WaterStreet Company and edited for clarity, shows the similarities and differences between the two types of insurance offerings.

Business Owner’s Policy (BOP)

General Liability Policy

Coverage

Combines general liability, property insurance, and business interruption coverage

Covers third-party bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury; that includes defamation, libel, slander, copyright infringement

Property Insurance

Yes, includes coverage for business property and equipment

Does not cover business property

Business Interruption

Yes, covers loss of income due to a covered event, such as a storm or fire

Does not cover business interruption

Customization

Can be customized with additional coverages, including professional liability, data breach, and employee dishonesty

Can be customized with endorsements for specific risks, but only relative to liability

Ideal For

Small- to medium-sized businesses looking for comprehensive coverage on many aspects of the enterprises

Businesses needing basic liability protection

Business Owner’s Policy Benefits

In my opinion, a BOP’s best benefit is the same as any other insurance: the peace of mind it offers. That’s of even greater value to business owners, who have a tough, headache-filled job to begin with. You may even be covered for lost income and operating costs if you are forced to close. With a BOP, a risk-filled endeavor gets a little less risky.

Beyond that, the insurance can save you money when you face an emergency. Let’s take a look at copyright infringement, an example I have personal experience with.

I published an article in Cosmopolitan, and the company I reported on asked whether they could send a copy of the piece to prospective clients. I said yes and quoted them a price for the opportunity. I later found out they were sending it out without paying me. I hired a lawyer and dealt with the back-and-forth until we reached an out-of-court settlement.

A BOP could have benefitted both of us. The company went through the hassle and expense of legal fees. They ended up paying me more than I would have charged them. If they had a BOP, they wouldn’t have needed to front the cost. And, if I had a BOP, I could have sought compensation through my policy. I wouldn’t need to find a lawyer and go through the trouble firsthand.

Another plus is that the BOP combines a fairly comprehensive range of coverages into a convenient package. Business owners don’t have to spend hours researching different types of policies for every imaginable emergency — comparing every fire insurance provider, then repeating for general liability. Beyond that, one bundle is cheaper than buying each policy separately.

What type of business is eligible for a BOP?

To be eligible for BOP insurance, a business must employ less than 100 employees, maintain a small office or commercial space, bring in less than $1 million in annual revenue. The business owner also needs to have less than one year of business interruption insurance, according to the insurance broker site TechInsurance.com.

Retail stores, restaurants, contractors, manufacturers and sales offices are among the types of businesses that are eligible for BOP coverage, noted Farmers Insurance, which sells these policies.

What knocks some businesses out of eligibility is if they have a home-based business. For example, a barber shop in a retail space would be covered. Meanwhile, a barbershop based out of your garage would not. If your business is set up in your home, a homeowner’s policy can typically offer some coverage.

Cost of BOPs

Premium costs can vary depending on the type of business you run, where your business is located, how many moving parts need to be insured, and how long you’ve been in business.

Your property values and the number of employees will also affect what you pay. Additionally, businesses in densely populated locations often fork over steeper rates than those in small towns or rural areas.

“On average, you can expect to pay between $500 and $5,000 per year for a policy,” said Barrett.

Higher-risk businesses, like restaurants or contractors, will tend to pay more because of their increased exposure to liability and property damage. For example, a construction business uses heavy equipment and handles projects in dangerous environments, raising the price. Similarly, restaurants are fast-moving, with heat and sharp knives thrown into the mix, increasing the likelihood of injuries.

According to insurance provider The Hartford, major insurers start plans at around $85 per month or $1,019 annually. Progressive’s BOPs start at $113 per month or $1,319.

“In the past 20 years, prices have increased by about 20% to 30%, mostly because of inflation and more claims,” said Taylor. She added that business owners must factor in the premium hikes when planning their next year’s budgets.

Pro tip: “Cheap is expensive” is advice I got from a wise businesswoman years ago. I’ve incorporated that thinking into every purchase I’ve made since then, whether it’s for clothing, technology, furniture, or insurance.

When I come across a policy premium that is much cheaper than what seems to be the going rate, I investigate and ask myself what coverage it offers, what are the deductibles and how reputable are the insurers about honoring their commitment to policyholders. If I go with the lowest quote, I may end up paying much more later when a problem arises.

Securing Your Coverage

Take it from someone who is insured in many areas of her life: Insurance is necessary. If you have a small- to medium-sized business, you need a solid BOP policy. That said, shop around and make sure you get the coverage you need. Then, if an insurable emergency happens, call your broker ASAP.

How & why to use sales scripts [+ 14 examples and templates]

Diego Mangabeira — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

I still remember the first time I froze on a sales call.

I had no script, no structure. I just had a vague idea of what I was selling and a whole lot of nerves. The executive on the other end waited in silence after my clumsy pitch, and all I could think was, “I’m never letting this happen again.”

Since then, I’ve built and tested hundreds of sales scripts across industries, deal sizes, and stages of the funnel. From early-stage startups to enterprise clients, from cold calls to strategic follow-ups — I’ve seen what works and what falls flat. And here’s what I’ve learned: The best scripts don’t sound like scripts. They sound like confident, relevant conversations.

You don’t need robotic lines. You need rhythm. Structure. A compass.

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through the process I’ve refined over the last decade, covering exactly how I build sales scripts that feel natural, convert consistently, and scale trust with decision-makers.

Whether you’re a new rep still finding your voice or a seasoned seller looking to tighten your messaging, you’ll find examples, templates, and battle-tested tips to help you craft scripts that actually work, without sacrificing authenticity.

Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What is a sales script?

How to Write a Sales Script

Sales Call Script Sample

Sales Script Templates

Sales Script Examples

Why use sales scripts?

What is a sales script?

Let me start with this: I don’t use sales scripts to sound robotic. I use them so I don’t sound like one.

When I talk about sales scripts, I’m not referring to word-for-word monologues you recite like an actor. I’m talking about structured, intentional frameworks designed to keep your message clear, your tone human, and your outcomes consistent. A great script is a compass, not a cage.

In my experience, the best salespeople I’ve coached or worked with use scripts not to control the conversation, but to guide it. We’re not trying to manipulate buyers — we’re helping them make decisions. And when you’re in the middle of a high-stakes call, having a well-crafted script in your back pocket can be the difference between staying grounded and going blank.

At its core, a sales script is a repeatable set of talking points, questions, insights, and transitional lines that help you move a conversation forward — from opener to next step — with confidence and flow. It keeps your message aligned with the prospect’s needs and your tone aligned with the context.

And here’s why that matters: According to Gong's analysis of thousands of objections during sales calls, top-performing reps respond to objections with clarifying questions 54.3% of the time, compared to just 31% for average reps. Consistency builds trust, and trust closes deals.

How Sales Scripts Help Sales Reps

Let me give you a real-world comparison.

When I work with startups or consultants building outbound playbooks, script architecture is one of the first things I teach. Not just what to say, but why you’re saying it. I tell them to consider who they’re selling to and how to adapt the script in real time. Because when you’re cold-calling a COO or presenting to a skeptical CTO, winging it doesn’t cut it.

I once helped a B2B founder rework their outbound script after hearing one of their reps get shut down three calls in a row. The problem? They were leading with features. No context, no relevance. Once we built a pain-first, benefit-anchored script with real industry triggers, their reply rate jumped by 4.6% in two weeks, and meetings doubled the month after.

Here’s the truth: A script won’t save a bad product or force a decision that isn’t ready. But it will help you sound more confident, handle objections with poise, and move from transactional pitches to transformational conversations.

If you’re still thinking, “But I don’t want to sound scripted,” good. You shouldn’t. Because the goal isn’t to follow a script — it’s to internalize it so deeply that it becomes second nature.

Just like musicians learn scales so they can improvise, sales pros learn scripts so they can connect.

How to Write a Sales Script

Let’s be clear: I don’t write scripts to sound polished. I write them to stay sharp. To guide the conversation without controlling it. To make sure my message is clear under pressure — and to help new reps skip the awkward learning curve I had to stumble through.

Below is my actual process. This is what I’ve used to train SDRs, founders, consultants, and closers across multiple industries — from SaaS to staffing, supplements to AI tools. I’m not guessing. I’m giving you the blueprint I’ve battle-tested through thousands of cold calls, LinkedIn DMs, and email threads.

Step 1: Start with your ICP’s “Oh, That’s Me” moment.

Before I write a single line of any sales script, I pause and put myself in my buyer’s shoes. Not just in a general “Hey, they’re a CMO at a SaaS company” kind of way, but in a visceral, time-sensitive, emotionally charged way. I ask myself, “What’s happening in their world right now that would make them say, ‘Oh, that’s me’ the second they read or hear this message?”

I’m not trying to impress them with features. I’m trying to interrupt a specific moment in their mental feed. When I built a script for an AI staffing platform targeting overwhelmed tech leaders, I didn’t open with “We help tech teams scale talent.” That’s safe. That’s vague.

Instead, I said: “You know that moment when your backlog just doubled and your lead engineer walked out the door? That’s usually when we get the call.” It worked — not because it was clever, but because it was precise.

The key is timing, not polish. According to a 2023 LinkedIn study, 76% of decision-makers say they’re more likely to engage with outreach that reflects a deep understanding of their day-to-day challenges. So, every time I script, I obsess over that moment. Not the persona. The pain.

Step 2: Anchor to one problem (not a list of features).

One of the biggest mistakes I see — and yes, I’ve made it myself — is trying to cram too many value props into a single message. I used to think I was adding value. But I was just adding noise.

If you give a buyer five reasons to care, they won’t remember any. But if you mention one burning problem they’re actively dealing with, they’ll pay attention. Especially if that problem has a clear, measurable outcome attached.

When I worked with a B2B SaaS company on their discovery call script, we stripped away everything that wasn’t essential. No more bullet-point benefits. No more “We do this, this, and this.” We landed on one pain point, crystal clear: “We help ops teams cut manual workflows by 40% — without adding dev time.”

That was it. And the result? More booked calls and less confusion.

I always tie the pain to a business outcome, not just a task. Because the higher you go in the org chart, the more that matters. The CFO doesn’t care that a dashboard loads faster. They care that faster reporting means faster decisions — and that impacts revenue.

Step 3: Frame your solution like a category, not a commodity.

One shift that’s changed the way I sell — especially when I’m introducing a product for the first time — is learning to speak in categories, not commodities.

When I tell a prospect, “We offer AI voice agents for customer support,” they think: “Oh, another chatbot.” But when I say, “Imagine your best rep — but one that never sleeps and handles 80% of calls automatically,” they lean in. I’m no longer asking them to buy a product. I’m inviting them to picture a new way of working.

This technique isn’t just fluffy storytelling. There’s science behind it. Gong found that top-performing reps are 55% more likely to use visual analogies in their pitch. Why? Because metaphors build memory. And memory builds momentum.

If you’re struggling to make your product feel “new,” start here. Reframe it not by what it is, but by what it replaces, simplifies, or amplifies.

Step 4: Use strategic questions to pull, not push.

The best scripts don’t tell. They guide. And the most powerful way I’ve found to guide a conversation is through well-crafted, tension-building questions.

I don’t ask, “Are you interested in AI automation?” That’s binary. That’s easy to shut down. Instead, I ask, “What happens when your team gets slammed with DMs while everyone’s offline?” That creates friction, and friction is fuel for curiosity.

Great sales scripts lead the buyer to their own realization. Because here’s the truth: When a prospect says the problem out loud, it becomes real. And once it’s real, they need a way to solve it.

I treat every question like a breadcrumb. Each one nudges the prospect toward a gap they didn’t know was costing them time, money, or sleep. The right question at the right time? It doesn’t just move the deal forward. It repositions you from vendor to advisor.

Step 5: Script the first 20 seconds, not the whole call.

I’ll let you in on something that took me years to learn: The goal of a script isn’t to control the call. It’s to earn the right to keep it going.

That’s why I only script the first 20 seconds — the intro, the hook, and the reason I’m reaching out. After that, it’s all improv. Intentional improv, yes. But improv nonetheless.

Here’s one I used recently that got a 44% reply rate on cold calls:

“Hey [Name], I’ll be super quick — this is Diego. I help SaaS founders automate outbound without hiring SDRs. Built something that’s been getting wild results — mind if I give you the 30-second version?”

It’s short. It’s confident. And most importantly, it asks permission. That micro-yes? It shifts the dynamic. I’m not pushing in — I’m being invited in. And when that happens, the odds of a real conversation shoot way up.

Step 6: Build objection responses into the flow.

Here’s where most reps go wrong: They wait for objections and then scramble. I prefer to beat objections to the punch.

If I know a founder is going to say, “We already have a chatbot,” I address it before they do:

“You might already have something that kinda does this, but most of our clients switch when their volume spikes and things start breaking.”

By acknowledging the objection early, I control the frame. I show empathy without losing momentum. It’s not defensive — it’s proactive. And it isn’t just good selling, it’s neuroscience. When people feel heard, their resistance drops. So instead of arguing, I validate. And then I reframe.

This technique has saved countless deals for me, especially in competitive markets where status quo bias is strong. If you’re not addressing objections upfront, you’re leaving too much room for doubt to fester.

Step 7: End with a micro-commitment, not a close.

Here’s a controversial take: I don’t try to close the deal on the first call. I close out of curiosity.

When the call’s winding down, I might say, “This might not be for you — but if you’re even 10% curious, I can send you a 90-second demo. Worst case, you steal a few ideas.” That’s it. No pressure. No “When’s a good time for a 30-minute call next week?”

This approach works because it’s low-friction. It gives the buyer an easy out while still moving the conversation forward. And the data backs it up. According to Outreach.io, calls that end with low-pressure CTAs like “open to a quick look?” have a 31% higher reply rate than hard closes. But honestly? I don’t need data to believe it — I’ve lived it.

At the end of the day, I don’t sell through pressure. I sell through pull. I want my prospects leaning in, not backing away. And a well-placed micro-commitment is often all it takes to spark that next step.

Sales Call Script Sample

Let’s get something straight — I don’t believe in fantasy scripts. You won’t find any robotic lines or recycled phrases here. What you’re about to read is the real script structure I’ve used to book meetings with C-level executives, busy founders, and no-nonsense decision-makers in SaaS, AI, real estate, and beyond.

I’ve tested this on thousands of calls across global markets and industries — and I’ve coached SDRs, founders, and enterprise teams to use it, tweak it, and own it. It works because it’s not rigid. It works because it respects the person on the other end. And, it works because it balances tension and trust in the first 30 seconds, which is where most reps lose the game.

This script isn’t magic. But it’s built to do one thing exceptionally well: start a real conversation.

Cold Call Sales Script (Built for Humans, Not Robots)

Step 1: Pattern Interrupt & Permission

“Hey [First Name] — it’s Diego. I know you weren’t expecting this, so I’ll be brief. Do you have 30 seconds to see if this is even worth a chat?”

Why this works:

I don’t pretend I’m not interrupting them — I lean into it. This isn’t about tricking someone into a conversation. It’s about being direct, respectful, and composed. When I lead with permission, I shift the power dynamic. I’m not pushing my way into their day — I’m offering them the option to opt in. That micro-yes? It unlocks the door.

I’ve found that even C-level execs, the busiest people in the building, appreciate this approach. It’s disarming. It signals that I understand their time is valuable — and that I’ll earn their attention, not hijack it.

Step 2: Role-Specific Problem Hook

“I work with [ICP type, e.g., B2B founders] who are scaling but stuck spending 10+ hours a week on manual outreach. Usually, by the time we talk, they’re either about to hire a junior SDR — or regretting that they already did.”

Why this works:

Notice what I didn’t do here: I didn’t say “We’re a platform that does XYZ.” I didn’t talk about features. I went straight to their lived experience — something they feel in their body at 8 pm when they’re still typing follow-up emails.

I always aim to hold up a mirror. I want the person on the other end to say, “That’s exactly where I am right now.” Because once someone feels seen, they’re far more likely to lean in. And the specificity of this hook isn’t accidental — it comes from actually living these calls, not theorizing them from a desk.

Step 3: Social Proof Tease (Optional but Powerful)

“For context, I just helped a SaaS founder in Austin go from zero to 14 meetings/month in 30 days — no SDR, no cold emails, just one AI agent doing the heavy lifting.”

Why this works:

I don’t launch into a 3-minute case study here. I don’t name-drop logos. I tease just enough social proof to create credibility, without triggering sales resistance. I call this “the credibility breadcrumb.”

It’s subtle, but effective. It says, “You’re not alone — and this isn’t my first rodeo.” And that creates psychological safety. Because if I’ve done it for someone like them, there’s a chance I can do it again. And that opens the door to possibility, which is what keeps a call alive.

Step 4: Insight-Based Question

“Quick question — how are you currently handling outbound right now? Is it founder-led, or do you have reps doing cold outreach?”

Why this works:

This is the turning point — from pitch to dialogue. I’m not fishing for surface-level info. I’m inviting them to reflect, to tell me where they are in their journey. And when they answer, I’m not just listening for what they say. I’m listening to how they say it. The tone. The energy. The frustration behind the facts.

A great question is one that makes the buyer pause. It reframes the moment. And it lets them feel, not just respond. When I hear a gap in their process, I don’t jump in with solutions. I sit with it. I give it space. Because in sales, silence is often where trust is built.

Step 5: Tension + Micro Close

“Got it. Based on that, there might be a fit. I’m not sure yet. But if you’re even 10% curious, I can send over a 90-second video showing how it works — worst case, you steal the idea. Would that be fair?”

Why this works:

Here’s where I separate myself from the pushy reps. I’m not asking for a full demo. I’m not pressuring for a calendar slot. I’m offering curiosity — and that’s a much easier yes.

This phrasing matters: “I’m not sure yet.” That one sentence signals honesty. I’m not assuming I can help. I’m exploring if I can. That nuance builds respect. And the “steal the idea” line? That’s pure pattern interrupt — and it works wonders because it lowers the stakes.

Low-friction CTAs like this can significantly boost reply rates.

Real-World Example: Voice AI Sales Call

Let’s break it down even further. Say I’m selling a Voice AI Agent that follows up with real estate leads in under 60 seconds. Here’s exactly how I’d run this cold call using the structure above:

“Hey Mark, this is Diego. I’ll keep this quick — do you have 30 seconds for context?

“I work with real estate teams who lose dozens of leads every week because no one has time to call them fast. One client told me, ‘If we don’t follow up in five minutes, we lose them to Zillow or Redfin.’

“We set up a Voice AI agent that calls every new lead in under 60 seconds. It books meetings, answers questions, and sounds human. They went from chasing leads to choosing who they work with.

“How are you handling new inbound leads right now? Is it manual or automated?”

[They answer.]

“Appreciate you sharing that. If you’re open to it, I’ll send a short clip — 90 seconds tops — showing how it works in real time. If it sparks ideas, we talk. If not, no worries. Sound fair?”

No tricks. No push. Just relevance, timing, and tone. That’s what turns a cold call into a warm opportunity.

Final Thought

A sales script should never feel like a script. It should feel like a rhythm.

I write scripts to open space. Space for relevance, for reflection, for trust. That’s what the best scripts do. They don’t shout. They signal.

And the reps who win? They don’t sound perfect. They sound real. They sound like someone worth talking to. Someone who gets it. So take this script. Make it your own. Tweak it. Test it. Say it out loud and stumble over the words — that’s how you find your flow.

Because at the end of the day, you’re not just selling a solution. You’re selling the experience of being understood.

Sales Script Templates

Download Sales Call Scripts for Free

Ready to begin creating your own script? Use these templates as a starting point.

1. Outreach Call Script

I learned the hard way when a client’s churn rate quietly climbed even as new deals kept coming in. We were winning buyers but losing customers.

Since then, mapping the buyer journey vs customer journey separately and designing content for each has become a core part of my strategy work.

In this piece, I’ll break down the difference between the two journeys, where they overlap, and how clarifying them can help you close deals faster and turn more customers into loyal advocates.

Table of Contents

What is a buyer’s journey?

What is a customer’s journey?

Buyer’s Journey vs Customer’s Journey

Where the Buyer and Customer Journeys Intersect

How to Weave the Buyer and Customer Journey Together

What is a buyer’s journey?

The buyer journey is the path a potential customer takes from first realizing they have a problem to deciding on a solution and making a purchase.

You can break into three main stages:

The buyer journey focuses entirely on the pre-purchase experience and involves the questions, doubts, and motivations that drive someone to buy.

For example, when I worked with a project management SaaS client, we mapped a typical buyer journey like this:

A marketing director realizes their team is missing deadlines (Awareness), compares tools like Asana and Monday.com (Consideration), and then signs up for a free trial with my client’s software (Decision).

Getting this right meant we could tailor content precisely to the buyer’s mindset at each stage.

What is a customer’s journey?

The customer’s journey begins after your buyer makes a purchase.

It’s the full experience someone has with your brand once they become a paying customer, including onboarding, product use, support interactions, renewals, and referrals.

Where the buyer’s journey ends with a transaction, the customer’s journey becomes about relationship-building. It covers every moment that either strengthens loyalty or sours it.

For example, with one SaaS client I supported, we realized new customers were excited at sign-up but confused during onboarding. Even though they had “bought,” they quickly lost momentum. By improving their onboarding flow and adding milestone emails, we helped customers get value faster and increased retention by 18%.

The customer’s journey is critical because a sale is the starting point for earning trust, satisfaction, and eventually, advocacy.

P.S. Not sure where to start with yours? Here’s a customer journey map template to use as a starting point.

Buyer’s Journey vs Customer’s Journey

Both the buyer’s journey and the customer’s journey are essential because they serve different goals, and ignoring either one leaves money on the table.

The buyer’s journey helps you attract and convert new leads by meeting them where they are in their decision-making process. The customer’s journey, on the other hand, ensures that once someone buys, they stick around, succeed, and eventually help bring in new customers through referrals or advocacy.

Here’s a summary of their differences:

Buyer’s Journey

Customer’s Journey

Focus

Converting prospects into customers

Building loyalty after the sale

Primary Emotion

Curiosity, skepticism, excitement

Trust, satisfaction, empowerment

Stages

Awareness, Consideration, Decision

Onboarding, Adoption, Success, Advocacy

Relationship Status

Stranger to customer

Customer to advocate

Key Question

“Why should I choose this?”

“Was this the right choice for me?”

Ownership

Usually led by marketing and sales

Usually led by customer success and support

Typical Content

Educational blogs, webinars, case studies

Onboarding guides, FAQs, loyalty programs

Main Goal

Win the deal

Earn long-term loyalty and referrals

Common Pitfalls

Over-promising, unclear messaging

Under-delivering, neglecting support

Typical Metrics

Lead conversion rate, sales closed

Customer retention, churn rate, lifetime value, NPS

In my experience, treating these journeys as separate but connected lets you optimize both first impressions and lasting relationships.

Where the Buyer and Customer Journeys Intersect

The buyer’s journey and customer’s journey may seem like two separate paths, but there’s always a point where they meet — and that intersection is where lasting loyalty begins.

This moment looks different for every business:

Sometimes it happens with the first product experience.

Sometimes through brand storytelling.

Sometimes, through relationship-building right after the sale.

In my work as a B2B SaaS content consultant, I see it when a lead interacts with one of my audits and realizes I’m already thinking about how to help them succeed after launch. The shift happens early, and it changes the tone of everything that follows.

Other companies engineer this intersection point with equal care.

Riley Westbrook, co-founder of Australian coffee chain Valor Coffee, focuses on creating a sense of belonging. The buyer might first walk in just wanting a cup of joe, but the journey deepens when they understand Valor’s purpose.

“They come in for a cup of coffee, but become a customer when they know who we are... They are no longer a buyer nor a mere customer but a customer who has goals. It’s not about the cup they are carrying, but what that cup stands for,” Westbrook says.

The team at Valor knows the emotional bridge isn’t built at the cash register. It’s built through storytelling, shared purpose, and small daily rituals that make customers feel like participants in something bigger.

On the other hand, at AI sales coaching platform Dextego, co-founder Ioanna Mantzouridou Onasi mentions the buyer and customer journeys are almost inseparable from the start. Because their product delivers personalized value from the first demo, prospects immediately feel seen.

“Whether it’s through our product tours, our AI-generated demos tailored to their team’s sales motion, or the insights we share in initial conversations, we’re not just selling — we’re already coaching.”

Here, trust is built before any money changes hands. Buyers are gently moved into becoming customers because the product already behaves like a partner.

When you’re intentional about the handoff between buyer and customer, you open a relationship. The faster you create that emotional shift, the stronger your long-term loyalty becomes.

How to Weave the Buyer and Customer Journey Together

I know it’s easy to treat the buyer journey and customer journey as separate workflows — one focused on conversion, the other on retention. But in practice, the gap between them is where momentum gets lost and trust starts to slip.

Weaving the buyer and customer journey together means designing every stage to feel continuous, not compartmentalized. Here’s how I do that in practice.

1. Mirror the customer’s reality early.

The faster a buyer sees themselves in your product or service, the faster they start acting like a customer.

When early interactions feel generic, buyers stay detached. But when your demo, pitch, or messaging reflects their specific challenges, language, and goals, it short-circuits skepticism and builds immediate emotional buy-in.

I think this is even more critical today when you consider that, according to our 2024 Sales Trends Report, 96% of prospects do their own research before speaking to a sales rep. By the time they show up at your demo, they need relevance rather than a basic overview.

At Dextego, Mantzouridou Onasi stresses how they make this a core part of the sales process. Instead of using standard templates in their demos, they customize everything around the prospect’s real sales playbook, objection-handling examples, and KPIs. One CRO even told them, “This doesn’t feel like a pitch — it feels like onboarding.”

Because the demo already spoke the buyer’s language, the transition to becoming a customer felt natural, unlike a leap of faith.

Instead of just a “yes,” you want to get a “this is exactly what we need.”

2. Engineer loyalty moments before the sale.

Loyalty begins the moment a buyer gets their first small win.

If you wait until after someone signs up or pays to build trust, you’ve already lost valuable momentum. Instead, engineer loyalty by creating fast, tangible victories early: during trials, demos, onboarding emails, and even simple walkthroughs.

That’s especially important when you consider that sales pros only spend two hours per day actually selling. Most of the buyer experience happens outside live conversations, meaning your product and onboarding must do a lot of the work.

Take Fireflies, for example.

When I started a free trial, they didn’t leave me to figure things out on my own. They immediately sent onboarding tips like “Review your Join and Recap settings” and showed me how to capture my first meeting notes within minutes.

These tiny early wins helped shift me from “I’m trying this out” to “This is already helping me.”

The earlier you make someone feel successful, the faster they start behaving like a customer.

3. Maintain emotional continuity across channels.

The message someone hears on your homepage should match what they experience in your demo, onboarding, and first few weeks as a customer. Not just in words, but in feeling.

Buyers notice when the tone shifts. If your marketing promises simplicity, but your onboarding feels like homework, trust erodes.

Take a brand like Notion. The same calm, minimalist tone you see in their launch videos carries through their website, welcome emails, and in-app guides.

From the first “Get started” screen to the first template you use, I find the experience feels intentional, not fragmented.

And it’s not just digital brands that do this well. Michael Capote, chief marketing officer (CMO) of German Car Depot, highlights how they intentionally mirror their online voice in their physical service experience.

“The explanation we use on our website is the same one that our staff uses when communicating with customers face-to-face, resulting in a smooth flow of information.”

I find that consistency reduces anxiety, especially in high-trust environments like auto repair, because the customer never feels like they’ve stepped into a different world. This kind of emotional follow-through, whether in an app or a waiting room, turns curiosity into confidence and confidence into loyalty.

4. Align your entire GTM engine around one core promise.

Our research shows that 72% of company revenue now comes from existing customers, not new ones. Yet most teams still structure their go-to-market (GTM) motions around one goal: acquisition.

To fix this, I recommend using a consistent sales methodology and value framework across marketing, sales, and customer success. No mixed messages. No new definitions of success post-sale.

And yet, only 30% of sales pros say their sales and marketing teams are strongly aligned. That leaves plenty of room for miscommunication and disconnects, especially in the buyer-to-customer handoff.

Julie Thomas, CEO of sales training company ValueSelling Associates, explains:

“In our business and our clients’ businesses, the buyer and customer journeys are cyclical. The AE works with the buyer to define value and ROI, and that exact plan is handed off to the CSM, who uses it as the north star. Marketing then reinforces those same outcomes with content. Everyone stays focused on solving the buyer’s problems — because that’s what keeps them a customer.”

In a recent interaction with Readymode, a customer engagement platform for outbound calling, this alignment paid off for ValueSelling. Their AI SDRs and CSMs were trained on the same value-based framework to create a seamless buyer experience.

The result? A 30% increase in demo-to-meeting conversions and 40% revenue growth because every team stayed anchored to the same definition of value.

5. Build community around customers, not just products.

Repeat purchases aren’t the only sign of loyalty. The deeper signal is when customers start identifying with your brand and want to participate in it beyond the transaction.

That shift doesn’t happen through loyalty points or discounts alone. It happens when customers feel seen, included, and invited into something they value.

Valor Coffee does this intentionally. When customers come in for an order, the team uses the opportunity to get to know them.

“We don’t immediately take their order; we take a moment to talk to them as a human being... A follow-up as a human being after a visit, a thank-you note, or a mention of a cup we think they would appreciate helps sustain that connection,” shares Westbrook.

But community-building doesn’t stop at the counter. Valor also engages customers across channels and recognizes them on social media, hosts events, and invites participation outside of purchases.

“Whether a morning conversation on X or attending an event, we want to have a community around our brand.”

Instead of just pushing customers to buy more coffee, I love how Valor makes them feel like they belong even when they’re not holding a cup.

6. Turn your buyer into an internal hero.

When a deal closes, the person who signed off on it often needs to justify that decision internally. They need proof that the solution works — and fast — especially if they championed it before anyone else on their team was convinced. That’s where your onboarding strategy can either stall or accelerate adoption.

This isn’t just about the post-sale experience. Our research shows that 28% of sales pros say long sales cycles are the #1 reason deals fall through, which means helping your champion succeed internally isn’t just about retention. It can shorten deal timelines, too.

Dextego builds for that. During the sales process, Mantzouridou Onasi and the team worked directly with a VP of sales to shape coaching prompts aligned to her team’s real-world sales challenges.

“We made her the internal hero by turning those prompts into live dashboards her team used from Day 1. That smooth transition made her look great and got us deep adoption fast.”

Instead of resetting expectations post-sale, they reinforced the exact solution the buyer had envisioned. The VP didn’t need to re-explain anything. She showed up with a working product that already reflected her input, and her team followed her lead.

I see this kind of strategic onboarding as turning your buyer into a trusted voice inside the organization. And when that happens, expansion and advocacy become a continuation, not a new sales cycle.

Help your champion win early, and they’ll keep you in the room longer.

7. Personalize the transition based on how they buy.

Not every customer enters through the same door, and treating them like they did creates friction right when trust is most fragile. Personalizing the post-sale experience based on how someone purchased (not just what they purchased) can turn that moment into a natural next step rather than a hard reset.

I like how home hospital bed company SonderCare applies this in practice by segmenting customers based on their purchasing behavior. CEO Kyle Sobko mentions that because some customers buy after intensive consultation, while others make quick decisions based on specific needs, each group receives different onboarding content and follow-up communication tailored to their decision style.

“We segment our customers based on the way they purchase, and then tailor

Accounting basics that will help your business grow better

Kiran Shahid — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Most sales pros think their job ends when the deal is signed. But if you don’t understand how those deals affect your company’s bottom line, you’re selling blind.

When I studied accounting in college, I didn’t realize how useful it would be later on as a solopreneur. But now? It’s helped me price projects more confidently, negotiate with more context, and understand exactly how much a “yes” is worth.

You don’t need a finance degree to sell smarter. But you do need a grasp of a few key accounting concepts like profit margins, cash flow timing, and cost structures. Once you connect the dots between what you sell and what the business keeps, your role becomes a whole lot more strategic. Let’s walk through the key concepts.

Table of Contents

Accounting Fundamentals

How to Set Up Your Small Business Accounting System

The Importance of Accounting in Sales

Essential Accounting Concepts

Accounting Principles for Sales Success

Essential Financial Documents

Accounting Skills for Sales-Led Professionals

How to Integrate Accounting With CRM Systems

Accounting Fundamentals

What is accounting?

Accounting is the process of systematically recording and interpreting your financial information. That includes summarizing spend, seeing where revenue comes from, and reporting transactions. Like many careers, accounting is a mix of tactical and analytical tasks. Accountants think about what your financial records will mean to regulators, agencies, and tax collectors.

I like to think of accounting as the backbone of any successful business, especially when it comes to sales. It provides the data showing whether the deals you’re closing are profitable — and whether you’re getting paid fast enough to keep your cash flow healthy.

Through careful analysis and reporting, accounting turns raw financial data into actionable insight, guiding not just operations and planning, but pricing, commission structures, and sales strategy, too.

What is business accounting?

Business accounting involves recording transactions and analyzing finances. It’s a means to gain insights into cash flow, profitability, and overall financial performance.

For sales professionals and business owners, accounting helps connect the dots between revenue targets and real-world outcomes. It shows which products or services are most profitable, where discounts start to hurt margins, and how payment terms affect your ability to reinvest in growth.

How Accounting Shows Up in Sales

You might not think about accounting when you’re negotiating with a client or chasing a quota — but it’s in the background of almost every sales decision.

Here’s where it quietly plays a role:

Pricing deals. Understanding unit costs and margins helps you avoid underpricing and eroding profitability.

Structuring payment terms. Whether you offer net-30 or upfront payments affects cash flow projections and working capital.

Commission planning. Sales commissions are an expense that has to be accounted for correctly — especially with tiered or deferred payouts.

Discount approvals. Accounting data helps determine when a discount makes financial sense — and when it cuts too deep.

Forecasting. Sales forecasts feed into revenue projections, which accounting uses to budget for hiring, marketing, and inventory.

Evaluating customers. Analyzing accounts receivable can surface patterns — like which types of clients pay late or default — so sales can prioritize more reliable accounts.

Deal reviews. Before finalizing a large contract, finance and accounting often review the terms to make sure the deal supports the company’s financial goals.

Rather than being limited to behind the scenes, accounting shapes how you and your team evaluate, close, and support deals.

Types of Accounting

Accounting is more than staring at balance sheets all day. It shows up in how you price a deal, offer a discount, or decide which clients are worth pursuing. There are different types of accounting that support different parts of the business — and as someone who sells and delivers, I’ve learned to lean on all of them in small ways.

Below, I’ll walk through the types of accounting you might encounter and how they can directly support smarter selling.

Tax Accounting

Tax accounting involves maintaining and keeping track of your business’s taxes. This can include filing yearly taxes, tracking spend and tax rates, as well as assisting employees with setting up tax forms.

Where this comes up in sales: I’ve had to factor in local sales tax and VAT compliance when selling to international clients, especially in SaaS. Understanding how different jurisdictions treat digital services helps avoid surprise liabilities later. If you’re quoting prices across borders, tax accounting isn’t optional — it’s foundational.

Financial Accounting

Financial accounting focuses on the value of the company’s assets and liabilities. These accountants make sure that a company’s accounting follows the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which I’ll describe below. They also work with cash flow statements and balance sheets.

In sales, this is what helps you understand what kind of revenue is truly profitable. I once closed a large deal that looked great on paper — until I realized how much of it was being eaten up by platform fees, contractor costs, and unpaid client invoices. Financial accounting helped me see the real value of that deal.

Management Accounting

Management accountants present financial data to stakeholders and senior leadership at a company. They play a greater role in reviewing what products or services a company needs, as well as how these efforts can be financed.

From a sales lens, this is the group that asks: Are we selling the right thing at the right price to the right people? If I’m pitching a new offer, the numbers from management accounting help me back up the business case. It’s less about what sounds good and more about what actually holds up financially.

Forensic Accounting

If forensics brings up images of NCIS crime scenes, your deductive skills are up to par! Forensic accounting does require a certain degree of digging and detective work.

This type of accountant investigates and analyzes financial information for businesses. Think compliance breaches or shady contract clauses. I once had a deal fall through because the client’s team flagged an irregularity in our pricing model. A forensic-style review saved us from rolling out a flawed system to future clients.

Cost Accounting

Cost accountants create a constant record of all costs incurred by the business. This data is used to track where the company spends and to improve the management of these expenses. Cost accountants are responsible for finding redundancies and places where the company could cut costs.

This is where you sharpen your pricing instincts. Early on, I priced a fixed-scope project too low because I didn’t account for how many revisions it would realistically require. Once I reviewed the real costs (time, tools, subcontractor input), I built margin buffers into all future quotes. Cost accounting taught me to protect my margins without guessing.

Auditing

Auditors are accountants who specialize in reviewing financial documents to see if they comply with tax laws, regulations, and other accounting standards. These professionals evaluate organizations’ financial documents to make sure that they are accurate and follow legal guidelines.

For sales teams, auditors can feel like the last line of defense. If you’re closing enterprise deals, especially with public companies, be prepared to provide compliant paperwork — pricing breakdowns, historical revenue data, even commission policies. Auditors don’t just review your numbers — they sometimes determine whether the deal moves forward.

International Accounting

International accountants focus on working with businesses that operate around the globe. They know about trade laws, foreign currency rates, and the accounting principles of other countries.

When I started working with clients in the E.U., I had to adjust how I invoice, apply taxes, and account for exchange rate fluctuations. International accounting helped me ensure I was quoting and collecting the right amount — and not losing money in the conversion process.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is a tactical financial process that includes recording and organizing financial data. That includes what’s being spent and what money the business is making. This work can be done either by an accountant or a bookkeeper. Bookkeepers focus on tracking spend. Accountants go beyond, advising leaders on what to do with this data.

For sales, bookkeeping helps you answer key questions: Which client hasn’t paid? How much recurring revenue do we actually have? What percentage of closed deals end up canceled or refunded? Before I make any sales push or launch a new offer, I look at the books. Otherwise, I’m building a strategy on assumptions.

The simplest explanation still holds: An accountant can be a bookkeeper, but not all bookkeepers are accountants. But when you’re in sales, either one can help you close smarter.

The Importance of Accounting in Sales

Sales directly impacts your margins, cash flow, and long-term profitability. Accounting knowledge helps you understand how deals affect the bottom line, so you sell more strategically and build a healthier business.

Improves Pricing Decisions and Deal Profitability

When you understand your cost structure, margins, and overhead, pricing stops being a guessing game. Accounting helps you see which products, pricing models, or discounts are actually making money and which are quietly eroding your margins.

According to McKinsey, top-performing B2B companies that use data and analytics to inform sales strategies see a 2% to 5% increase in sales.

Why? Because they make pricing and deal decisions based on facts, not gut feel. By tracking cost-to-sell by channel, product, or customer, you can structure smarter offers, negotiate more confidently, and protect your bottom line with every deal you close.

Leads to Better Customer Understanding Through Revenue Data

Understanding your revenue data is a lens into customer behavior. By looking at where your income is coming from, which products are repeatedly purchased, and which customers are the most profitable over time, you see patterns that can shape your entire sales strategy.

Marty Bauer, director of sales and partnerships at email marketing platform Omnisend, puts it well: “The reason for understanding accounting is that any good salesperson or customer-facing role in general must be able to put themselves on the same side of the table with the customer. By understanding the customer’s position and business needs — most of which run through accounting — you can be more adaptive to the customer’s needs.”

That perspective shift is powerful. Revenue data tells you what matters most to your customers — not just what they buy, but how and when they buy it. It helps you personalize conversations, anticipate objections, and position your offer as a smarter business decision.

Helps Forecast More Accurately and Manage Sales Cycles Smarter

Accurate forecasting starts with knowing your actual costs, cash flow patterns, and historical sales performance. Accounting gives you the inputs to build forecasts grounded in reality, not guesswork. For example, if your financial data shows that Q3 consistently brings in 30% of annual revenue, you can plan your outreach, hiring, and ad spend accordingly.

It also sharpens how you manage your sales cycle. When you know your average cost to acquire a customer, your average deal margin, and how long it takes to close, you can prioritize high-impact deals and avoid chasing leads that burn time without delivering profit. Accounting turns your pipeline into a business tool, helping you align revenue targets with actual financial outcomes so your sales strategy scales with stability, not just speed.

Essential Accounting Concepts

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, running a small business, or leading sales in your own company, here’s an overview of how accounting underpins the work you do. It starts with this conceptual understanding: Accounting is to financial management what a foundation is to a building.

It’s what tells you if your sales are actually profitable — not just impressive on paper.

Accounting helps you keep track of three important things:

Tracking income and expenses.

Ensuring compliance with tax laws.

Making informed decisions that drive growth.

Whether you’re handling finances yourself or working with a bookkeeper, these phrases will come up. Understanding the language makes you sharper when pricing, forecasting, or evaluating a deal. These 24 terms will create the foundation on which you’ll build your knowledge.

Some may not apply to your business right now, but if you’re planning to grow or shift into higher-value deals, you’ll want a holistic view.

1. Debits & Credits

Not to be confused with your personal debit and credit cards, debits and credits are foundational accounting terms to know. I remember the difference like this:

A debit records the money coming into my business. A credit records the money going out.

Let’s say I invoice a client for a consulting package. The revenue that hits my account? Debit.

Now say I pay a contractor to help me fulfill that project. That payment? Credit.

When you operate out of a cash account — a business bank account holding your liquid assets — every transaction is recorded using this method.

For example, if I pay for ad spend out of pocket, the cash account is credited (money is leaving), and the advertising expense is debited (to reflect the cost incurred).

Why does this matter for sales? Because understanding how every quote and expense gets logged helps you avoid pricing errors, underestimating delivery costs, or burning through cash without realizing it.

Here’s a simple visual to help you understand the difference between debits and credits:

Debits

Credits

Increase assets

Decrease assets

Decrease liabilities

Increase liabilities

Decrease revenue

Increase revenue

Increase the balance of expense accounts

Decrease the balance of expense accounts

Decrease the balance of equity accounts

Increase the balance of equity accounts

2. Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable

Accounts receivable is money that people owe you for goods or services. It’s considered an asset on your balance sheet — because it’s money you’re expecting to come in.

In sales, this is your open invoices. If I send a client a $3,000 invoice for a project, that full amount shows up under accounts receivable. When the client pays, the balance goes down. If they delay payment, it stays open — and potentially affects my cash flow. This is why knowing your average collection time matters. It’s not just about closing the deal — it’s about getting paid.

Accounts payable, on the other hand, is money you owe other people. It’s a liability on your balance sheet.

Say I pay $5,000 in rent each month for a co-working space where I meet clients and host workshops. Before I actually transfer that money, the $5,000 is listed under accounts payable — it reflects the upcoming expense.

Both of these matter when you’re running sales and operations. If your accounts receivable keeps growing but your cash isn’t moving, it’s a sign that your collections process (or your client screening) needs work. And if your payables outpace your income? Time to rethink your pricing or spending.

Date

Account

Debit

Credit

7/31/24

Rent

5000

7/31/24

Accounts Payable

5000

Once that value is paid, here’s how that would be recorded in your company’s financial records.

Date

Account

Debit

Credit

8/1/24

Accounts Payable

5000

8/1/24

Cash Account

5000

3. Accruals

Accruals are credits and debts that I’ve recorded but haven’t actually received or paid out yet. For example, if I close a deal and send the invoice, I record that sale before the payment hits my account.

Same goes for expenses — I might hire a contractor for a project and log the cost even though I haven’t paid them yet.

This matters for sales because it gives you a more accurate picture of your income and expenses in real time, not just when the money moves. (I’ll explain more when I break down accrual method accounting later.)

4. Assets

Assets are everything your business owns — whether physical or not.

For me, assets include my laptop, design software subscriptions, some intellectual property, and the c

I tested 5 AI cold email generators, here’s what I found

Rachael Nicholson — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0100

Before starting my career in marketing, I was a business development admin for a relatively large local college. Part of my role was to generate sign-ups for apprenticeships and short courses from local businesses across different sectors. I did this by cold calling (oh, the humanity!), good ol’-fashioned mailouts, face-to-face visits, and email outreach.

Like 23% of sales pros, I found cold emailing the best way to reach out to prospects. Seriously, it was my preferred lead-gen activity by a country mile. Not only was it less invasive and nerve-wracking for me, but also, like 21% of salespeople, cold email was my most successful lead-gen method.

I didn’t have access to AI back then. When I think about how long-winded and monotonous it was to build prospecting lists manually — only to have a chunk of emails bounce or remain unopened — I wish I did.

From that point of view, I can totally see the benefit of incorporating AI into the process. But when it comes to the actual writing part, I must admit, I’m a little skeptical. Are AI cold email generators actually worth it? Today, I put ‘em to the test.

Table of Contents

What is an AI cold email generator?

When To Use an AI Cold Email Generator

5 Best AI Cold Email Generators

What is an AI cold email generator?

An AI cold email generator is a tool you can use to help you draft your cold email copy using Artificial Intelligence (AI). By tweaking prompts and output fields, AI email tools can help you save time on your outreach. But here’s the thing: AI shouldn’t be your go-to for every cold email you send.

When To Use an AI Cold Email Generator

In my experience — and from what I’m hearing from email experts — using AI to generate cold emails can save you time.

But on the flip side? An AI cold email writer can also harm your effectiveness at turning cold leads into warm ones or achieving your email goals, whatever they may be. While some nuance is involved, I think using an AI cold email generator for the following scenarios would work best.

You have a free product or service offer.

In the intro, I mentioned that cold email was my most successful lead-gen activity in sales. And this was especially true when we had free short courses to offer local businesses. Why did this work?

We had genuinely great freebies that were highly relevant to the industries I targeted.

If that’s your setup, I think an AI cold email generator could help you successfully promote your freebie to a specific audience segment.

Example: Back in the 2010s, the UK government introduced new regulations that required anyone handling food in a commercial setting to have specific training around food allergens. From memory, they might’ve even needed specific certification, too.

Luckily, the college I worked with had secured funding to offer a free food allergen short course with relevant certification. Ahead of the updated regulations, I sent out a cold email to a bunch of hospitality and catering companies in the local area. Within 10 minutes of the email landing in people’s inboxes, the phone started ringing.

The email itself wasn’t anything fancy. I explained the upcoming regulations, shared details about the course, and made it crystal clear it was free, no strings attached! I also included a clear CTA telling folks how to book a place. If I replicated this same scenario now, I’d feel comfortable using AI to help me draft the email and save time.

You don’t need high degrees of personalization.

If high levels of personalization aren’t needed (i.e., you’re sharing a generic offer or quick news update to prospects), try AI. But if high levels of personalization are required (i.e., you’re targeting a smaller group of specific prospects), it might be best to skip AI and prioritize the human touch.

Example: Ekta Shewani, a Freelance SEO Outreach Specialist at Uniqode, has experimented with using AI to generate cold outreach emails for publishing partnerships. She shares her experience below.

“I think AI has a huge way to go. I think, given the right prompts, it's great. But then there are other elements like if we leverage it at mass level, will it actually decrease the level of humanness of an email.”

She adds, “I have realized personalized email outreach is way better than using tools…Recently, I have increased personalized email outreach, and it helps me understand the domains better, analyze them better, and understand the people working there better.”

You’re not reaching out to a specific high-value prospect.

I also wouldn’t recommend using AI to generate cold emails if you’re contacting a specific person for the first time. And I really wouldn’t recommend it if you’re sending a cold outreach email to a potentially high-value prospect. Intensive research, personalization, and heavy lifting are justified in this case.

Example: Joe Fletcher, a Marketing Consultant at Scaled, recounts contacting a busy CRO where another generic type of cold email wouldn't have prompted a response.

“I signed one client who was a big football fan,” says Fletcher. “I started the email with, ‘your team lost 2-1 at the weekend, but I am here to cheer you up by giving your SDR team 25 qualified calls and save you cash from your current tech.’”

He adds, “Basically, I had scraped a bunch of people using ZoomInfo tracking code on their website, and knew it cost a lot, for what is in effect just a large database of B2B people.”

According to Fletcher, the tool at the time was a freemium offering.

“We were just reaching out to anyone really and saying sign up, usual hook. But this guy was working for a medium-sized company that had just taken on funding, and the number of seats they would've needed was high,” Fletcher says.

Fletcher explains that this was a big thing for the SaaS brand where he worked at the time. It showed them moving into the next steps of growth and handling companies that needed 15+ seats of the tool.

Rather than turning to AI to generate a generic email, “it took a lot of research into this guy's personal life, what his role in the business was, different hooks I could try, and things he was passionate about.”

5 Best AI Cold Email Generators

To make the test fair, I will use the same prompt — or elements of it — and scenario for each tool when possible. How much of the prompt I can use will ultimately depend on each tool's setup and preset input options. Because of this, I predict that the difference maker in output will likely be the availability and detail of input fields.

For this scenario, I’m pulling inspiration from the use cases above and offering a free service (a comprehensive edit of a piece of blog content) to a specific target segment (busy SEO managers).

Here’s a screenshot of my prompt and scenario:

Pro tip: I’m mainly testing out each AI cold email generator's writing ability and how easy the tools are to use. Before investing in any email marketing tool, consider other elements like integrations with existing tools or prospect research and campaign management capabilities.

1. HubSpot AI

HubSpot AI is a collection of AI-powered tool integrations you can use as part of the customer platform. The tools will help you streamline your marketing, sales, and customer service activities.

Regarding features relevant to email marketing, you can use HubSpot AI to do prospect research, draft on-brand prospecting emails, and analyze campaign results. I’m specifically testing HubSpot's AI Email Copy Generator for this article.

What I like: ChatSpot has recently graduated as a full HubSpot feature. You can now access it from anywhere inside your CRM, which I think will help speed up email marketing tasks related to prospecting. For example, you can ask ChatSpot questions and get quick answers about leads in your CRM.

Price: Get started for free.

Source

Testing It Out

Looking at the post-sign-up screen, I’m so grateful that HubSpot (at least by the looks of it) will walk me through this process. Plus, the options on this page are simple and easy to follow. I don’t feel overwhelmed at all. To get started, I’m picking “Marketing Email.”

This has prompted a screen asking me to describe what my marketing email is about. HubSpot recommends keeping it “concise and focused,” so I will only add a relevant portion of my pre-written prompt.

Next, HubSpot wants me to input my key selling points. Specificity is the hidden art of conversion copy, so I love that this is making me really think about my offer‘s key selling points! These selling points are actually more specific than my original prompt. I’d say the tool’s layout and prompting are helping me narrow these down.

Now, it’s time to determine what action I want my audience to take. I’m selecting “Sign-up” as this offer requires leads to reply by email to qualify. I love the range of calls to action on offer. I also like that you can create your own if you want.

Now I’m being prompted to select my writing style. Out of the options, I think “Witty” is closest to the tone of my brand. Like the call-to-action options, I loave the range of styles on offer. I can see this being beneficial if you oversee a few different brands, each with a distinct style.

After filling out the input fields above, I can confirm my prediction that HubSpot would walk me through the entire process was correct. No overwhelming spreadsheets, no fuss, just simple guidance making it super simple to start. Perfect!

After inputting all the requirements, I was met with this screen. The layout is visually pleasing and easy to navigate. If I want to change anything I’ve added to the input fields, the instructions walk me through it.

The final email itself isn’t exactly in the style of my brand — a little bit sarcastic, sassy, and with extra spice. If you follow me on LinkedIn and receive something like this with my name attached and without my signature, it might shock you. (I’m picturing it now and giggling.)

That said, not everyone has a bold brand like mine, and I think this copy isn’t too shabby for an out-of-the-box AI-generated email.

Pro tip: Try experimenting with the various “writing styles” for different outputs.

Once the tool has generated your email copy, you can either “generate again” or “edit your marketing email.”

Similar to the previous screen, the layout of the edit screen is super user-friendly. I can see this being helpful if you want to drag and drop elements in, like images, or switch up the email layout.

2. Clay

Clay harnesses multiple APIs and integrations to achieve many actions with a single tool. Clay is ideal for creating a cold first touch point email that steers away from prompt-based and generic offerings. Clay comes highly recommended by Joe Fletcher, who has seen “real movement” in first touch point cold emails from using the tool.

“I can research my targeted leads within Clay and then use the tool to scrape company information, like company size, blog posts, latest news on the web, events they are attending, and much more,” says Fletcher. This helps him craft a much more targeted email showing some research into these potential leads and interest in their company.

While Clay’s features can speed up your prospecting process, it’s not quite there yet for one-to-one email marketing.

“Integrating GPT/Claude to write your emails can mean you send unique emails out to customers you mark as people you want to work with,” Fletcher warns. “However, there is still that missing human element/certain research areas that the tools cannot find. So, for me, a personalized approach is still needed when you have a focused ABM campaign running.”

What I like: You get 1,200 credits a year with the free trial. That’s pretty generous and will give folks enough wiggle room to test out the tool’s capabilities and make sure it’s right for them. I also think Clay has a lot of potential for personalizing cold emails based on company size, specific team structures, and even posts they have on social media.

Price: Get started for free.

Testing It Out

Clay’s sign-up process was pretty straightforward. But looking at the “home” screen, I’m already wondering if this is the best tool for testing the cold email writing feature alone. It seems like you have to be a whiz with spreadsheets, and so far, there have been no prompts to walk me through the process.

This could be my tech-aversion at play, or maybe my use case isn’t ideal. Still, I’m sitting here thinking, “What do I do next?” I guess it’s time to watch a help video. So far, this isn’t nearly as easy to get to grips with as HubSpot’s platform. That said, if you’re familiar with tools like this, the layout might not be an issue for you at all.

I have returned from watching the help video. It turns out I can use the “Clay Starter Table” to test out the tool. That’s a bonus, as with some research-based tools like this, you need your own data to get started.

Based on the help video, I hit “Add column,” select “Add enrichment,” and type “Use AI” into the search bar.

That process brings up a bunch of third-party integrations. At first glance, you need credits to use most of these. You get 1,200 credits a year with the free trial. That means I can test some of the integrations out for free. Another bonus! I will stick with what I know and use the OpenAI/GPT integration.

I think this might say more about me than the actual product, but I’m looking at this next screen and feeling the tech fear again. Alas, I’ll dive in. I’ve added a brief section of my original prompt for the specific task and then used the rest to add more context below.

Pro tip: As an FYI, you must select up to five rows on the Starter Table before generating the email. That had me stumped for a little while.

I’m selecting “Try on five rows,” but I only see the subject line drafts rather than the cold email copy. I think I need to add an input, or maybe some new columns, perhaps a conditional formula… At this stage, I really don’t know.

I’m going to try adding a new “Text” column and adding that as the input to the prompt. Let’s see if this changes the output.

Clay is still only reverting subject line drafts. As for the subject line copy, it isn’t too bad. It’s a little generic for me, but as I said before, my brand is bolder than most. This will have to be my jumping-off point because I’m getting nowhere, fast.
<

How AI business analytics can level up your data game (+ expert tips)

Zoe Ashbridge — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0100

I’ve adopted AI into many parts of my business, particularly in marketing and operations. Yet, I wasn’t making the most of what AI could bring to my business. I hadn’t considered AI’s role in business analytics.

I spoke to business founders, marketers, and data analysts to learn more about how AI business analytics allows for faster data analysis and delivers business findings faster than you’d do alone. I was pleasantly surprised by the response; there are a lot of ways that business analysis benefits from AI.

In this article, I’m sharing everything I learned about AI business analytics.

First, we’ll dig into the ways that AI can help with business analytics, followed by a step-by-step guide to getting started with it. Throughout, I’ve shared my favorite insights from professionals who are already using AI in business analytics.

Table of Contents

How can AI help with business analytics?

Expert Tips on Using AI for Business Analytics

How to Use AI for Business Analytics

How can AI help with business analytics?

I spoke to over 30 professionals about AI analytics and discovered four common ways that AI is helping businesses.

Automating Data Processing

I am already familiar with AI’s automation of data. Whenever I handle a large dataset, I turn to AI to process that data. I might ask the AI to condense data, collapse duplicates, or deliver findings from a report.

GA4’s analytical AI is brilliant at delivering information in an easy-to-read and efficient manner. For example, in the screenshot below, I wanted to know my site's traffic volume. Rather than clicking through to reports, the AI delivered the information I most wanted to read.

The above is one example of where AI saves time and accurately reports on data; the answer was instant.

What I like: This is a simple way to start with AI business analytics. It’s built into a tool that every website owner should be using. It’s easy and efficient.

Enhancing Predictive Analytics

Similar to the above, artificial intelligence enhances predictive analysis. I’ve talked about predictive analysis related to CRMs before. Many CRMs rely on AI to support users with predictive analysis. It makes sense since AI can analyze data quickly and accurately.

At the click of a button, AI can help you understand your audiences and make data-driven decisions to a) serve your audiences in the best way possible and b) get closer to conversion quicker.

Carmen Mendoza, account executive at Booking Agent Info, credits AI with detecting complex patterns and trends in data sets that would otherwise be imperceptible.

Booking Agent Info connects customers with celebrities.

Mendoza says, “AI allows us to create predictive analytics. Using historical data and current market trends, we can forecast when there might be a rise in demand for certain skills or talent types. This is useful information because it helps us identify talent early and cultivate relationships with them so that we can provide clients with the right people when they need them.”

What I like: While staff are busy working day-to-day, it’s easy to miss opportunities that are coming up. AI takes the predictive analysis off employees; AI won’t forget or miss opportunities. The predictive analysis then reports to the human, who does the important bit: building the human-to-human relationship.

Scheduling

I especially love the idea of using AI for scheduling. I love AI for scheduling my daily activities. There was a time when I used Motion, an AI project management tool, to manage myself, but I hadn’t considered the impact of AI when scheduling a team.

Source

Szymon Skoneczny, a mathematical model specialist at Softinery, uses AI business analytics in manufacturing to optimize processes.

He said, “[AI] analyzes vast amounts of data from production-line sensors in real-time, enabling us to make decisions that lead to increased efficiency. The application of AI also allows us to predict machine failures, optimize production schedules, and minimize operational costs.”

AI becomes most helpful when it fulfills a role that a human can’t. It’s impossible for a human to monitor every machine in real time, nor can a human easily consider the production schedule for an entire manufacturing team efficiently.

What I like: Using AI to predict machine failures and optimize schedules directly impacts business profitability. Unlike humans, AI can monitor numerous machines at once. In this use case, AI offers many cost-saving opportunities.

Summarizing Data

Many who have adopted AI for business analytics use it to summarize data. A common way of using AI summarization is customer feedback.

Instead of manually picking through customer feedback and assigning findings, the AI does it all for you.

Dana Brown, head of marketing at Shortcut, uses AI summaries for customer feedback. Brown says, “We can use AI tools to help efficiently summarize large text documents, such as customer feedback from surveys, extracting key themes and sentiments without a whole bunch of manual work. This not only saves time but also ensures that no critical insights are overlooked.”

What I like: I think data summary is a fantastic use case for AI. Many of us are already using it for things like AI meeting notetakers. However, the benefits of summarizing business data are significant. Brown is saving hours and hours using AI to summarize and contextualize customer feedback surveys.

Expert Tips on Using AI for Business Analytics

It’s clear that AI for business analytics is beneficial and efficient, but before you get started, consider these tips from professionals already using AI in this way.

Source

Monitor data on a real-time basis.

With AI, your data can be monitored all day, and significant findings can be reported to you.

Chris Roy, product and marketing director at Claimsline, uses AI to monitor the sales pipeline.

Roy says, “Timely data is crucial. Utilizing AI for real-time monitoring helps identify trends and issues as they happen, enabling swift adjustments.”

For instance, Roy notes, tracking inbound and outbound lead metrics in real-time has allowed the team to maintain a balanced approach in their lead generation strategy. This informs “decisions that directly impact our hiring and revenue-generation processes,” Roy says.

Joey Lowery, founder and marketing coach at Media Shark, also recommends using real-time data.

Lowery says, “Our AI system alerts us to unusual sales patterns instantly. Last month, it caught a sudden spike in a product line, letting us quickly restock and capitalize on a trend.”

What I like: AI can monitor data 24/7. It doesn’t need a break; it’s fast, accurate, and can spot trends and alert you to potential actions. Analysis like this is difficult and incredibly time-consuming for humans. Give AI this analysis so you can get to work on resolving AI’s findings.

Start small.

Lowery from Media Shark has some advice for getting started with AI. He warns, “Don't get caught up in the hype — look for practical applications that directly impact your bottom line.”

Instead, Lowery suggests starting small, focusing on one area where you need insights, and growing from there.

What I like: From HubSpot surveys, we know that teams can easily adopt AI within the tools they already use. Instead of trying to do everything and overwhelming teams with new processes and tools, I suggest focusing on one thing, ideally connected to something you’re already doing. It eases the mental load and increases the chances of AI adoption.

Don’t replace your humans.

AI should be used to complement your human workforce.

Mike Sadowski, founder and CEO of Brand24, says, “AI has evolved into a great tool for our business analytics, but I also want to emphasize that it doesn't replace human insight.”

Sadowski has first-hand experience of AI’s shortfalls.

He says, “When we first implemented AI tools, there was an initial wave of excitement as if we had discovered a shortcut to comprehensive understanding. Though, we soon realized that while AI excels at highlighting trends, it lacks contextual awareness. Human judgment remains key for correctly interpreting these insights and making informed decisions based on them.”

According to Sadowski, the solution is using AI to enhance analysis.

He says, “For those considering AI implementation, I advise against expecting it to solve every problem for you automatically. Instead, utilize it as a tool to enhance your analysis, not supplant it. Begin with specific areas where AI can provide an advantage, such as customer sentiment analysis or predictive sales modeling.”

What I like: While AI is a fantastic tool, it is just that: a tool. It’s easy to get excited by AI and become over-reliant on it. I think this is another benefit of starting small: You’ll get a better gauge of where AI excels and where its shortfalls are.

Be ethical.

Ethical AI is really important. We are all still in the very early days of using AI, yet there have already been AI lawsuits and questions on how and when AI usage is appropriate. This isn’t here to put you off using this amazing tool, but it should be used conscientiously.

Maggie Bolt, marketing manager at Forum Ventures, says, “Make sure you are ethically using AI. You should always respect customer privacy and use AI responsibly in line with data regulations.”

What I like: It’s easy to get excited by what AI can do for our business, but we must be careful. Business analyst consultants, for example, should be transparent about their AI usage.

Provide quality data.

As much as AI takes tasks off humans, it still depends entirely on humans to operate successfully.

Josh Bolstad, owner of Niche Ranker, recommends that teams provide quality data to their AI. Bolstad says, “I’ve learned that AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. Ensuring data accuracy and relevance is essential.”

What I like: Even in its simplest form, I’ve noticed that the AI output correlates with the input I give the tool. Bolstad is right: You get out of AI what you put in. Data input is a commitment, but it pays off.

How to Use AI for Business Analytics

If you’re new to using AI for business analytics, my simple step-by-step guide will get you from the consideration phase to using AI for business analytics.

Source

Step 1. Choose one area to improve with AI business analytics.

Before investing time or money into AI for business analytics, determine which area of your business you will analyze with AI.

Consider:

What will be most helpful to you and your team. Your team is more likely to invest the time and learn if the AI directly impacts their work in a good way.

Areas where you’re already using tools or have good processes. AI adoption is more likely to stick if you use AI that exists within tools you’re already using.

Measurable outcomes. Decide which KPIs will monitor the success of using the AI. Were you looking to save time, get more accurate data, or something else? Whatever it is, make sure you have a measured outcome.

Step 2. Start small.

Experts I interviewed suggested starting small and building out from there. You don’t have to do everything in one go. In fact, there’s going to be a period where you and your team need to get used to the AI.

Start by handling a few tasks with the AI and seeing how it responds. Then, analyze the output, tweak the input, and alter systems and processes accordingly.

Remember: You can always scale your AI operations as you go.

Step 3. Manage the AI with your team.

As you explore your new AI for business analytics, hold one member or a small team accountable for the execution.

Hilary Corna, a strategy coach, says, “Accountability is key to sustaining the success of any process improvement efforts.”

To help build accountability, Corna recommends framing expectations, setting realistic expectations, and cultivating a growth mindset.

Step 4. Human Analysis

As our experts said, no AI system is complete without human analysis. Once the AI has delivered its output, your team must add all the important human layers. This will be especially important in the early days of the adoption of AI for business analytics. You need to be sure that the system is doing what it should as accurately and efficiently as you need it to.

Step 5. Human Action

Three common end goals of bringing AI into your business analysis are saving time, analyzing large datasets accurately, and improving efficiency.

Remember that the AI is taking some of your team's work. Now, you must allow your team the time and freedom to do what they do best and add that all-important human layer.

Getting Started

Before I started learning about AI and business analytics, I knew it would be incredibly useful. Still, the scale to which AI can benefit business analytics surprised me greatly.

Insights from our AI and business analytics professionals have inspired me to level up how I use AI in my own business, and I hope it does the same for you.

Next, you just need to pick an area of business analytics to optimize with AI and get to work. The benefits are great; don’t sleep on it.

5 best CRMs for real estate businesses in 2025

HubSpot Staff — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0100

Managing relationships in real estate is more than just remembering names and dates — it’s about nurturing trust through every stage of the buying or selling journey. However, with high volumes of leads, complex transactions, and long sales cycles, real estate businesses’ CRM needs are uniquely demanding.

Real estate professionals rely heavily on innovative tools to manage their growing networks and workflows to stay organized and competitive. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software plays a crucial role by streamlining communication, prioritizing follow-ups, and offering clear visibility into the sales pipeline — all of which contribute to closing deals more efficiently. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2024 Technology Survey, CRMs were among the top three tech tools that gave respondents (or their agents) the highest-quality leads in the last year.

In this article, we’ll break down the best CRM software for real estate businesses, complete with a comparison table, feature-by-feature analysis, and a how-to guide for choosing the right system for your team. Whether you’re a solo agent or running a large brokerage, you’ll find options that match your workflow and growth goals.

And yes, HubSpot is among the trusted CRMs real estate companies use to streamline operations and scale their client relationships efficiently.

Table of Contents

What is a CRM for real estate?

CRM Comparison Table

Best CRM Software for Real Estate Businesses

Benefits of CRM Software for Real Estate

5 Important Features for a Real Estate CRM

How to Choose a CRM for Real Estate (Step-by-Step)

Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat is the best CRM for real estate?

Meet HubSpot, the Top CRM Choice for Real Estate Companies

What is a CRM for real estate?

A CRM for real estate is a software tool designed to help agents, brokers, and firms manage client relationships, property listings, and sales workflows more efficiently. It centralizes communications, tracks leads through the buying or selling process, and automates follow-ups — all tailored to the unique pace and complexity of the real estate industry.

Best CRMs for Nonprofit Organizations at a Glance

CRM

Best For

Key Features

Pricing

Free Trial

HubSpot

Growing real estate teams seeking an all-in-one solution

Integrated marketing, sales & service hubs

Customizable deal pipelines

Email tracking & templates

Meeting scheduler

Lead scoring & automation

Mobile app

Website integration

Free: $0

Starter: $9/month/seat

Starter Customer Platform: $9/month/seat

Sales Hub Professional: $90/month/seat

Yes, 14 days

Follow Up Boss

Teams focused on lead response and conversion

Automatic lead distribution

Text & email from one inbox

Lead source tracking

Action plans & workflows

Call recording

Integration with lead sources

Grow: $58/user/month (two free months included)

Pro: $416/user/month (includes 10 users, additional users can be added at $41/month, two free months included)

Platform: $833/user/month (includes 30 users, additional users can be added at $17/month, two free months included)

Yes, 14 days

Property Matrix

Luxury real estate & international markets

IDX website integration

Multi-language support

Commission tracking

Marketing center

Transaction management

MLS integration

Custom pricing only (must request a demo for price quote information; see here)

Yes, 14 days

Monday.com

Teams wanting lead generation and CRM capabilities combined

Built-in lead generation tools

AI-powered lead scoring

Behavioral automation

Smart campaigns

Custom-branded apps

Open house tools

Free CRM: $0/user/month (maximum two users)

Basic CRM: $9/user/month

Standard CRM: $12/user/month

Pro CRM: $19/user/month

Enterprise: Custom pricing only (must request a demo for price quote information; see here)

No, demo scheduling required

Real Geeks

Budget-conscious agents and small teams

Video email & texting

Drip campaigns

Transaction management

Lead distribution

Power dialer

AI assistant

Establish: $399/month (includes $250 sign-up fee)

Grow: $699/month (includes $250 sign-up fee)

Expand: $1,199/month (includes $500 sign-up fee)

Conquer: $1,799/month (includes $500 sign-up fee)

Yes, 14 days

Best CRM Software for Real Estate Businesses

In real estate, staying organized while juggling multiple clients, properties, and transactions can feel overwhelming, but the right CRM makes all the difference. Modern real estate CRMs are explicitly designed for how agents work today, with features like mobile apps for updating notes during showings, automated follow-ups that nurture leads over months, and visual pipelines that track each deal from first contact to closing.

Below, I’ve covered the features and benefits that help real estate professionals save time, close more deals, and deliver exceptional client experiences. Take a look:

1. HubSpot

Source

Best for: Growing real estate teams looking to scale operations while maintaining personalized client relationships through integrated marketing and sales tools.

Key HubSpot Features

Customizable deal pipelines: Essential for real estate professionals to track properties through different stages (listing, showing, offer, closing) while visualizing their entire portfolio at a glance.

Email tracking and meeting scheduler: Streamlines the showing scheduling workflow by allowing clients to book property viewings directly from emails, while agents can see when prospects open listing emails.

Marketing Hub integration: Automates lead-nurturing campaigns based on property interests, automatically sending new listings to buyers based on their saved searches and preferences.

HubSpot Pricing (Sales Hub)

Free: $0

Starter: $9/month/seat

Starter Customer Platform: $9/month/seat

Sales Hub Professional: $90/month/seat

2. Follow Up Boss

Source

Best for: High-volume real estate teams focused on rapid lead response times and converting online leads into clients.

Key Follow Up Boss Features

Automatic lead distribution: Crucial for real estate teams to instantly route incoming leads from Zillow, Realtor.com, or website inquiries to the right agent based on location, property type, or availability.

Unified communication inbox: Consolidates the typical agent workflow of juggling texts, emails, and calls into one screen.

250+ lead dource integrations: Automatically imports and tracks leads from major real estate platforms, eliminating manual data entry and showing ROI for each marketing channel.

Follow Up Boss Pricing

Grow: $58/user/month (two free months included)

Pro: $416/user/month (includes 10 users, additional users can be added at $41/month, two free months included)

Platform: $833/user/month (includes 30 users, additional users can be added at $17/month, two free months included)

3. Property Matrix

Source

Best for: Established real estate agencies and property management companies needing comprehensive transaction tracking and trust management capabilities.

Key Propertybase Features

Integrated trust accounting: Critical for real estate agencies handling client deposits and rental income, ensuring compliance with real estate trust account regulations.

Multi-office management: Enables brokerages to oversee multiple locations from one dashboard, tracking agent performance, commission splits, and office-specific listings while maintaining centralized reporting.

Automated commission calculations with Xero/MYOB integration: Streamlines sales workflows from listing to settlement, calculating agent commissions based on custom splits and syncing financial data with accounting software.

Property Matrix Pricing

Custom pricing only (must request a demo for price quote information; see here)

4. Monday.com

Source

Best for: Real estate teams seeking a highly visual, customizable platform that adapts to unique workflows and scales from solo agents to large brokerages.

Key Monday.com Features

Visual pipeline management: Perfect for real estate professionals who need to track multiple deals simultaneously, offering kanban boards, timeline views, and color-coded statuses.

Custom automation builder: Streamlines repetitive real estate workflows, such as sending listing agreements after initial meetings, notifying team members when offers are received, or triggering inspection reminders based on contract dates.

200+ integrations, including Zillow and DocuSign: Automatically syncs new leads from major real estate portals while enabling digital signature workflows for contracts.

Monday.com Pricing

(Annual price based on team size)

Free CRM: $0/user/month (maximum two users)

Basic CRM: $9/user/month

Standard CRM: $12/user/month

Pro CRM: $19/user/month

Enterprise: Custom pricing only (must request a demo for price quote information; see here)

5. Real Geeks

Source

Best for: Growth-focused real estate teams wanting a complete lead generation ecosystem with built-in IDX websites, landing pages, and Facebook advertising tools.

Key Real Geeks Features

IDX website with lead capture forms: Essential for real estate professionals to showcase MLS listings while automatically capturing visitor information through property search behavior.

Facebook marketing integration: Streamlines the modern real estate marketing workflow by creating targeted Facebook ads for listings.

Autoresponders with property alerts: Nurtures leads on autopilot by sending new listings matching their saved searches, market reports, and personalized property recommendations based on viewing history.

Real Geeks Pricing

For a 12-month term:

Establish: $399/month (includes $250 sign-up fee)

Grow: $699/month (includes $250 sign-up fee)

Expand: $1,199/month (includes $500 sign-up fee)

Conquer: $1,799/month (includes $500 sign-up fee)

Benefits of CRM Software for Real Estate

Eliminate Double-Booking and Missed Showings with Synchronized Scheduling

Real estate agents waste hours coordinating property showings, often double-booking themselves or missing appointments due to calendar conflicts across multiple properties and clients.

HubSpot’s meeting scheduler and calendar sync integrates directly with Google Calendar and Outlook, allowing clients to self-book property tours based on real-time availability. Agents can set buffer times between showings, block out personal time, and automatically send confirmation emails with property details. This turns a chaotic scheduling process into an automated system that respects agent and client time.

Convert More Leads by Targeting the Right Prospects at the Right Time

Not all real estate leads are equal. Some are ready to buy today, while others are just browsing. Agents waste time on tire-kickers without proper organization, while hot prospects go cold.

HubSpot’s list segmentation and lead scoring automatically organize contacts based on engagement level, property preferences, and timeline. Create dynamic lists like “Viewed 5+ properties in the last week” or “Downloaded mortgage calculator,” then trigger targeted campaigns to these high-intent segments. This precision targeting helps agents focus on prospects most likely to transact while nurturing others until they're ready.

Never Lose Another Deal Due to Poor Communication or Missed Follow-Ups

Real estate deals die in the follow-up phase. Agents juggle dozens of active prospects while managing current transactions, inevitably neglecting timely communication. However, HubSpot’s sequences and workflow automation create fail-safe follow-up systems that run automatically. Set up sequences that send listing updates on day 1, schedule a call on day 3, and share market reports on day 7 — all personalized and timed perfectly.

When prospects engage, workflows can alert agents, assign tasks, or move deals to the next pipeline stage, ensuring consistent communication throughout the lengthy real estate cycle.

Make Data-Driven Decisions with Real-Time Performance Visibility

Brokers often discover problems too late — an agent’s conversion rate drops, a lead source stops performing, or deals stall in the pipeline — because they lack real-time visibility.

HubS

HubSpot Commerce Hub pricing guide — essential tools for growing revenue

HubSpot Editorial — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 16:29:41 +0100

HubSpot Commerce Hub streamlines payment collection, quote management, and revenue tracking directly inside the CRM. With businesses increasingly adopting integrated billing tools, Commerce Hub helps teams close the loop between sales, finance, and operations. The best part? It’s completely free.

This guide outlines accurate 2025 pricing for each Commerce Hub tier, plus feature comparisons, trade-offs, and recommendations to help you choose the best fit.

HubSpot Commerce Hub Overview

HubSpot Commerce Hub is a native billing and payments solution built into HubSpot’s CRM. It allows businesses to create and send branded quotes and invoices, manage payments, and streamline revenue collection — all without leaving their customer relationship platform. The tool simplifies the quote-to-cash process by enabling users to generate documents, share payment links, and track transaction statuses within HubSpot.

With Commerce Hub, businesses can accept one-time payments using credit/debit cards or ACH bank transfers. These features are especially useful for SaaS companies or service-based businesses with retainer models. Commerce Hub also supports tax calculation, discounting, and reporting tools to monitor financial performance.

All of these features operate within HubSpot’s ecosystem, ensuring payment data is tied to contacts, deals, and company records without the need for third-party billing tools.

Key Features

Invoicing capabilities that turn quotes into cash with invoices sent directly from your HubSpot CRM

Payment links you can embed in web pages, forms, emails, and more

Automated recurring billing capabilities

Accepts over 130 currencies

Trade-offs vs Competitors

Advantage: While standalone billing tools like Chargebee or Paddle require third-party CRM syncing, Commerce Hub keeps all revenue activity directly connected to customer records, deals, and workflows

Consideration: Commerce Hub is ideal for businesses that want tightly integrated revenue and CRM data, while competitors may be more suitable for those with standalone billing needs

HubSpot vs. Stripe Payment Processing

Commerce Hub offers two payment processing options. Choose the option that works best for your business:

Category

HubSpot Payments

Stripe via Commerce Hub

Support

Connect with a commerce expert for support anytime

Use existing Stripe support

Pricing Transparency

No hidden fees for billing, invoicing, or integrations

Additional fees may apply (e.g., 0.75% platform fee)

Fraud Protection

Includes fraud detection and chargeback support — 100% free

Not specified on this page

Platform Integration

Manages commerce and payment data within HubSpot’s unified platform

Uses Stripe for processing; integrates with Commerce Hub invoicing and billing

Payment Methods

Credit/debit cards, ACH Bank Transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay

Credit/debit cards, ACH, SEPA, BACs, PADs

Currencies Supported

130+ currencies

130+ currencies

Credit/Debit Fees

2.9% per transaction + 0.5% platform fee

Stripe’s standard fees + 0.75% platform fee

ACH Fees

0.8% capped at $10 + 0.5% platform fee (also capped at $10)

Stripe’s ACH fees + 0.75% platform fee

Availability

Any Starter, Professional, and Enterprise Hubs

Any Free, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise Hubs

Promotions

No platform fee for 60 days (limited time offer)

Not mentioned

Making the Right Choice

Choose HubSpot Commerce Hub if:

You already use HubSpot CRM and want payments, quotes, and revenue tracking fully integrated with your sales and marketing data

You want to send branded quotes and invoices without switching platforms or manually syncing data between tools

You’re looking for a simple way to accept one-time or recurring payments using ACH or credit cards, with minimal setup

You want to automate workflows around payments (e.g., follow-ups, renewal reminders) using HubSpot’s native automation engine

You want centralized visibility across sales, marketing, service, and revenue operations with one login and a unified contact record

You prefer a no-code or low-code solution where finance teams can manage billing and reporting without engineering support

Getting Started

Commerce Hub offers both Stripe and HubSpot payment options. Stripe payment processing through Commerce Hub is available with any Free, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise Hub. HubSpot payment processing is only available with any Starter, Professional, and Enterprise Hub.

For personalized quotes or bulk pricing, contact HubSpot Sales at (888) 482‑7768 or visit the HubSpot pricing page.

Process Payments Faster

HubSpot Commerce Hub brings together the full quote-to-cash lifecycle within one unified CRM platform — eliminating the need for third-party billing tools, manual integrations, or siloed data systems. Whether you're just getting started with invoicing or scaling subscription-based revenue, Commerce Hub’s flexible tiers provide a seamless way to create quotes, collect payments, and manage recurring billing.

HubSpot’s Sales Hub pricing guide — essential features for every rep

HubSpot Editorial — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 16:13:07 +0100

HubSpot Sales Hub is a powerful sales acceleration platform that helps teams streamline outreach, close deals faster, and increase revenue. With 84% of customers reporting 84% improved their lead quality, Sales Hub offers a proven return on investment. This guide provides accurate, up-to-date pricing and feature comparisons across all Sales Hub plans as of 2025.

HubSpot Sales Hub offers four pricing tiers to meet the needs of growing sales teams and enterprise organizations:

Plan

Monthly Cost (Annual)

Core Seats Included

Deal Tags

Sales Automation

Onboarding Fee

Free Tools

$0

2 seats

N/A

N/A

None

Sales Hub Starter

$9/seat (annual) or $15/seat (monthly)

Per user

10 deal tags per account that apply to all pipelines

Trigger tasks and email notifications when deals change stage

None

Sales Hub Professional

$90/seat (annual) or $100/seat (monthly)

Per user

10 deal tags per account with rules for specific pipelines

Up to 300 fully customizable workflows

$1,500

Sales Hub Enterprise

$150/seat

Per user

10 deal tags per account with rules for specific pipelines

Up to 1,000 fully customizable workflows

$3,500

Free Sales Tools

Price: $0/month

Users: Up to two users

HubSpot‘s free CRM includes essential tools for contact management, pipeline tracking, and basic outreach. The free tier integrates with HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, Service Hub, Content Hub, and Operations Hub. This suite of free tools offers a free business platform.

This tier includes HubSpot branding and is ideal for solo users or teams testing CRM solutions.

Key Features

Basic CRM and contact tracking

Meeting scheduler

Email tracking up to 200 notifications a month

3 email templates

Conversational chatbot

Task and activity tracking

Best for: Individuals and early-stage startups needing a no-cost CRM with basic sales capabilities.

Sales Hub Starter Pricing

Price: $9/seat (billed annually)

Deal Tags: 10 deal tags per account for all pipelines

Sales Automation: Trigger tasks and email notifications when deals change stage

Sales Hub Starter removes HubSpot branding and adds powerful features like conversation routing, HubSpot payments, and unlimited email notifications. Starter also unlocks two deal pipelines per account, compared to just one in the Free plan, which enables teams to manage multiple sales processes (e.g., new business vs. renewals) separately. Additionally, users get 500 calling minutes per account per month, supporting outbound outreach directly from the CRM.

Starter further enhances sales productivity with features like task queues, custom properties, and conversation routing, enabling reps to organize follow-ups more effectively and automatically direct incoming leads to the right team member. Sales Hub Starter also introduces early-stage automation and process control features that help small teams sell more efficiently without the complexity or cost of higher tiers.

Starter supports fast-growing teams ready for professional-grade tools without enterprise complexity.

Key Features

HubSpot branding removed from chat and meetings

Multiple currencies accepted for payment

HubSpot Payments and Stripe payment integration (U.S. only)

Unlimited email open and click notifications, plus custom tracking domains.

Up to 5,000 canned snippets and documents that can easily be shared with prospects

Meeting scheduling and conversation routing

Trade-offs vs. Free Tools

Advantage: Branding control, automation, routing

Cost: $108-180/annually per user vs. $0

Limitation: Still limited in automation, email health reporting, conversational bots, and goal setting.

Best for: Small sales teams looking to standardize processes, track deals more efficiently, and route conversations without committing to complex infrastructure.

Sales Hub Professional Pricing

Price: $90/month per user (billed annually)

Onboarding Fee: $1,500 one-time

Deal Tags: 10 deal tags per account

Sales Automation: 300 customizable workflows

Sales Hub Professional offers end-to-end automation, deal forecasting, and deeper reporting. This tier is designed for sales managers scaling teams and seeking performance insights.

Professional users gain access to powerful workflow tools like automated lead rotation, task creation, and deal stage updates, which streamline the sales process and reduce manual work. Professional also includes email sequences, allowing reps to automate a series of personalized follow-ups based on contact engagement, and 1:1 video messaging to enhance outreach and conversions.

Sales Hub Professional includes a wide range of features that are not available in HubSpot’s Free or Starter plans, making it a significant step up for growing sales teams that need deeper automation and reporting.

Key Features

Sales automation workflows (lead rotation, task creation)

Custom deal stages and pipelines

Forecasting tools and sales analytics

Email sequences and 1:1 video creation

Custom reporting and dashboards

Product library and sales playbooks

Phone support included

Trade-offs vs Starter

Advantage: Automation, forecasting, reporting

Cost: $1,080-$1,200/annually per user + $1,500 setup vs. $108-180/annually for Starter

Complexity: Requires configuration and onboarding

Trade-offs vs Enterprise

Limitation: No lead form routing, recurring revenue tracking, or advanced permissions

Savings: $600-720/annually per user + $2,000 lower onboarding cost

Best for: Mid-sized teams scaling outbound efforts, standardizing pipelines, and building insight-driven sales strategies.

Sales Hub Enterprise Pricing

Price: $150/month per user (billed annually)

Onboarding Fee: $3,500 one-time

Deal Tags: 10 deal tags per account with pipeline-specific rules

Sales Automation: Up to 1,000 fully customizable workflows

Sales Hub Enterprise includes a suite of advanced features not available in the Professional tier, catering specifically to organizations with complex sales structures, compliance requirements, and advanced reporting needs.

One of the biggest differentiators is custom objects, which allow teams to model their CRM around any business process from territories to renewals. Teams can go beyond the standard contact-deal-company structure. Enterprise also includes predictive lead scoring, which uses AI to surface the most sales-ready contacts automatically. For large teams, advanced permissions and team hierarchies let admins control access to pipelines, reports, and records based on roles, departments, or regions.

In addition, Sales Hub Enterprise offers conversation intelligence, enabling automatic call recording, transcription, and coaching insights directly within the CRM. This supports high-performing sales orgs in coaching at scale and improving rep performance.

Key Features

Custom objects and record layouts

Predictive lead scoring

Advanced permission sets and team hierarchies

Conversation intelligence with call transcription

Recurring revenue tracking

Quote approval workflows

Custom deal scoring and coaching playlists

Trade-offs vs Professional

Advantage: Predictive intelligence, custom objects, advanced controls

Cost: $1,800/year per user + $3,500 setup

Complexity: Needs dedicated admin resources and strategy

Trade-offs vs Competitors

Advantage: HubSpot bundles CRM features, AI, analytics, and quote approvals into one interface versus separate tools required by Salesforce and Dynamics.

Consideration: Sites may run into platform constraints around API limits or automation throughput.

Best for: Large, distributed sales teams needing complex automation, governance, and deep reporting with out-of-the-box integration.

ROI and Business Impact

HubSpot's customer data shows:

36% increase in deals closed after 12 months of using HubSpot Sales Hub.

109% improvement in deal close rate for Sales Hub customers over one year.

61% increase in average deal size for businesses using HubSpot Sales Hub.

79% improvement in rep productivity after adopting HubSpot’s sales tools.

48% reduction in time to close a deal, on average, when using Sales Hub automation.

2.5x increase in pipeline volume reported by Sales Hub customers after full implementation.

63% of users say they save at least 4 hours a week per rep using automation features like task queues, sequences, and email templates.

Feature Comparison by Plan

Feature

Free Tools

Starter

Professional

Enterprise

Deal Pipelines

1

2

Unlimited

Unlimited

Calling Minutes

None

500

3,000

12,000

Email Templates

3

5,000

5,000

5,000

Documents

5 per account

5,000 per account

5,000 per account

5,000 per account

Sales Automation

None

Basic

Advanced workflows

Advanced + quote approvals

Custom Reporting

None

None

100

500

Forecasting

None

None

Default and custom forecasting

Default and custom forecasting (with recurring revenue)

Sequences

None

None

5,000 per account and up to 500 email sends/user/day

5,000 per account and up to 1,000 email sends/user/day

Custom Objects

None

None

None

Available

Permissions & Team Hierarchy

None

None

Basic Teams

Advanced Roles

Making the Right Choice

Choose Free Tools if:

You're just starting with CRM software

You need a no-cost way to manage deals

You want to try HubSpot before upgrading

Choose Sales Hub Starter if:

You're a small team ready to invest in basic automation

You need branded materials, task queues, and chat routing

You want payments and pipeline control without setup costs

Choose Sales Hub Professional if:

You're scaling a team and need automation, forecasting, and reporting

You want to standardize your playbooks and track performance metrics
You need 1:1 email/video, rotation logic, and phone support

Choose Sales Hub Enterprise if:

You're managing large or segmented teams

You need advanced governance, AI scoring, and complex deal workflows

You require predictive analytics and custom object tracking

Integration and Additional Costs

HubSpot Sales Hub integrates with over 1,500 applications, including LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Stripe, Aircall, PandaDoc, and Google Workspace. Most integrations are included in your plan, though some third-party tools may have separate costs.

Add-ons like extra calling minutes or integrations with advanced CRMs may incur separate charges.

Getting Started

HubSpot offers:

14-day free trial for Sales Hub

24/7 support on paid plans

Guided onboarding via HubSpot specialists

Free training through HubSpot Academy

For personalized quotes or bulk pricing, contact HubSpot Sales at (888) 482‑7768 or visit the Sales Hub pricing page.

Use Sales Hub to Grow Better

HubSpot Sales Hub offers a scalable CRM solution that grows with your business — from solo founders using free tools to global sales teams managing thousands of deals. Whether you're automating follow-ups, forecasting revenue, or enabling coaching with conversation intelligence, the platform empowers sales teams to close deals more efficiently.

Each plan is designed to unify outreach, streamline sales operations, and support team performance. From simple task queues to enterprise-grade automation and governance, Sales Hub provides the tools needed to operationalize your sales process and drive results.

Effective, underrated sales traits every rep should develop, from a sales coach

Shannon L. Jackson — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 13:00:00 +0100

When I started my sales career, I immediately gravitated toward the slimy salesperson persona. I was pushy and only focused on closing the deal. As I saw it working well for my colleagues, sales gurus, and top sales reps, I developed it into my selling identity.

But my natural personality is empowerment and empathy, and having worked in customer service, I also learned the value of actively listening and relating to customers.

My later discovery that these traits were also an important part of sales surprised me.

I began to work on developing these traits as a salesperson while still staying authentic. Now, I’m showing you how to do the same — how to build the underrated but powerful traits that make sales feel natural, effective, and aligned with who you are.

7 Sales Traits Every Rep Needs

When I started making the transition from B2C selling to B2B, it was a new world to me. I knew I needed more than the typical sales skills of confidence, resilience, relationship-building, and objection handling to positively impact my performance.

While there is no magic number of positive traits a top-selling representative should have, what matters most is being intentional in establishing what those traits are for you. I coach my students that the powerful thing about possessing sales success traits is that they are flexible and ever-evolving as you grow in your sales career.

Notice how I mentioned having the foundational traits down pat before I realized I needed more if I was going to advance my B2B sales performance? What I mean is this: You can start with a solid three, five, or seven traits you find valuable, and add or subtract more later on. Determine what suits you in terms of the timing of your role as a sales representative. You can even adjust your traits quarterly to keep you in sync and aligned for hitting your quota.

Over time, my understanding of the unconventional traits of top sales representatives shifted from a surface-level understanding to a deeply rooted one. That level combines traditional sales skills with the right mindset. Enabling them both makes it more efficient to train top-selling representatives by teaching reps to perform with skill and self-awareness.

Now, let’s get into naming these traits.

1. Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is a sales skill that helps you stay composed after rejection, bounce back faster, and maintain a consistent tone during high-stress days. It means you have the ability to manage your emotional reactions, especially under pressure, so you can respond with intention rather than overreacting.

I adopted this sales success trait in my second quarter as a B2B sales representative after researching the importance of remaining calm in high-stress sales situations. I had never experienced consistent rejection in a sales role before, and self-regulating my emotions became an important way for me to navigate those high-pressure times with clarity and resilience.

Ei4change provides a great overview of how self-regulation impacts sales performance. It highlights that sales representatives who manage their emotions effectively can engage clients more authentically, navigate objections with greater ease, and ultimately drive higher conversion rates through strategic relationship-building efforts.

In my sales coaching, I help students develop self-regulation by teaching them to manage their emotions more effectively through increased self-awareness of their feelings during sales activities.

How to Develop This Trait

Practice mindfulness and breathwork before high-pressure activities and identify emotional triggers during workflow.

2. Curiosity Over Control

Curiosity over control is a mindset that uses discovery and learning over forcing a conversation.

Curious top-selling representatives dig deeper into buyer needs, ask better questions, and create more value rather than pushing a pitch. RevBoss says that selling with the curiosity methodology diverges significantly from traditional sales, which emphasize product or service features and benefits.

Once again, in trying to copycat what worked for others, forced pitching was my thing. I was more than ready to tell how great our product was and all the bells and whistles that came with it.

But when I began cultivating genuine curiosity about my prospects and staying informed about their industry and specific needs, I was able to differentiate myself as a sales professional who genuinely cared.

How to Develop This Trait

Asking open-ended questions, staying genuinely interested in your prospect’s world, and reviewing tasks for missed learning moments.

3. Mental Alertness

I define mental alertness as the ability to be attentive, aware, and responsive to new information. It means you think fast on cold calls, adjust mid-conversation, and stay sharp during objections or unexpected turns.

This unconventional trait is where thinking on your feet comes in, allowing you to be flexible and quick-witted in your prospective conversations. You never know how a prospect will respond, so being mentally alert gives you the flexibility to react accordingly.

This was a sales success trait that finally came naturally to me. I would have something in mind to mention, and oftentimes that plan would change based on the prospect's viewpoint. It’s always okay to adapt in sales.

How to Develop This Trait

Practice real-time objection handling, role-playing, and improv scenarios to enhance your skills.

4. Detachment From Outcomes

In sales, detachment is the practice of separating your identity and self-worth from external results or prospect responses. Detachment allows you to stay consistent and confident, whether you secure the client or not, by focusing on what you can control: your effort and presence.

Sales leader Josh Braun asks, “Why is detaching from the outcome a superpower in sales (and life)? It’s because when you become attached to an outcome — whether it’s a sale, a meeting, hitting quota, or making President’s Club — you tie your happiness to that result.

Ironically, the more you try to control outcomes, the more they end up controlling you. Detachment doesn’t mean you don’t care or that you’re complacent. It’s about having the wisdom to do your best and then letting go of the result.

One of my sales managers taught me the importance of detaching from the outcome: If you let go of the expectations, you are most likely to reap the reward.

This sales skill practice worked wonders in my sales role because I was able to show up more confidently without being distracted by the result. In turn, I now help my sales coaching students understand the real impact of this trait when they consistently face the end goal of a cold call while addressing objections.

How to Develop This Trait

Set process goals (calls made, personalized emails sent, quality conversations) and celebrate input, not just results.

5. Empathetic Listening

Empathetic listening is listening with the intent to fully understand and emotionally connect with the speaker, not just to respond. It builds trust, reveals deeper pain points, and makes prospects feel safe to share what they truly need.

We are taught to practice active listening and empathy, but by combining the two, you can gain a deeper understanding of your prospect.

The Selling to the C-Suite newsletter by Cherilynn Castlemann suggests sellers should have “giraffe ears” — what she calls “a powerful listening technique encouraging active and empathetic listening. Imagine a giraffe with its long neck, stretching to hear distant sounds.” Castlemann goes on to explain how giraffe ears involve empathy, non-judgment, curiosity, and focus.

I’ve seen how empathetic listening partners with sales performance because it allows the prospect to open up more about their real problems and what they are struggling with.

This approach not only made it easier for me to connect as a sales representative, but it also allowed me to introduce a solution tailored that would address their needs and concerns, enabling me to determine if it would be a compatible fit by simply listening to the prospect further.

How to Develop This Trait

Slowing down, reflecting on what you hear, and pausing before responding.

6. Grit in the Small Moments

For me, “grit in the small moments” means showing persistent effort and discipline in the small, daily choices that shape long-term success. It shows up as making one more cold call, writing one more custom line, or pushing through resistance in small, yet powerful ways.

As Buzzboard notes, developing sales grit isn’t an overnight process, but it can be fostered by meeting adversity with a positive mindset and learning to surmount challenges.

As a B2B sales rep, cold calling was the majority of my workflow. One time, I saw an inspirational message on LinkedIn encouraging sales reps to make one more call, even when you are experiencing rejection, objections, or dead-end calls: make one more call.

I took that advice to heart and applied the same mindset to everything in my work, including emails, calls, and researching ICPs. Having that reminder to use your grit to do one more thing and push forward is an effort that top-selling representatives should make.

How to Develop This Trait

Creating rituals around outreach blocks, building supportive habits, and reviewing small daily wins.

7. Self-Compassion

Self-compassion is all about treating yourself with kindness, understanding, and encouragement, especially in moments of failure or frustration. It helps you recover from rough days, reduce burnout, and maintain confidence even when the numbers aren’t in your favor.

You are human; therefore, you must be honest with yourself and show some self-love. While coaching other sales reps, my mantra to them is to be kind to yourself, understanding that you will not always book the meeting, hit quota, or pitch the best pitch.

And yes — I took my own advice and practiced self-compassion when I didn’t meet quota in my first quarter as a new B2B sales representative.

I think self-compassion should be the number one unconventional trait of top sales reps. Give yourself permission to fail, bounce back, and recover. It’s perfectly okay to simply “be” without doing everything all the time.

How to Develop This Trait

Catching negative self-talk, reframing failure as feedback, and treating yourself like you'd treat a teammate.

Sales Success Traits That Meet You Where You Are Going

As you build out your sales skills in your current role, I encourage you to really hone in on which of these traits will honor not only what you are facing at the moment but also what you are trying to achieve in your sales career.

Looking back on my sales experience, I was the opposite. I was so focused on the future, the result, and the big moment that I neglected the small moments, self-regulation, and compassion for the present. These unconventional traits of top sales reps are a remix and spin-off of traditional sales approaches, but they can be applied in any sales setting.

Whether you are a sales representative or a sales manager, remember that these sales success traits are established to help improve sales performance through skill and self-awareness, balancing metrics with mindset.

13 Professional Sales Email Signature Examples That Work in 2025

Michael Welch — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0100

I’ll admit it — I didn’t always put much thought into my sales email signature. Early in my career, my email sign-off was just my name. After reading countless emails from prospects and peers, I realized I often start reading an email at the bottom, with a quick glance at the sender’s signature to learn about them. That’s when it hit me: My bland signature was a missed opportunity to make a stronger impression.

Other than your subject line, your email signature is one of the first things people notice when they open an email. Whether I’m cold-emailing a prospect or reaching out to a new customer, I want my sign-off to grab attention, inform the reader, and even include a subtle call-to-action. Over time, I learned that a well-crafted sales email signature can build credibility and drive action, while a poorly crafted one can confuse the recipient or make your organization look unprofessional.

In this post, I’ll cover some common email signature mistakes to avoid, then share 13 tips to help you create an outstanding signature, including some real examples from my own inbox. By the end, you’ll have plenty of ideas to transform your sign-off into a small but mighty asset.

Table of Contents

Common Sales Email Signature Mistakes to Avoid

Sales Email Signature Examples and Tips

Common Sales Email Signature Mistakes to Avoid

Before we look at what to do, let me share a few common mistakes I’ve seen (and made myself) with sales email signatures. Avoiding these pitfalls will ensure your signature looks professional and works effectively:

Going overboard with design. I remember discovering flamingtext.com as a young middle schooler and putting these garish fonts in a few years' worth of PowerPoint assignments. Luckily, that past is behind us. Using multiple funky fonts, clashing colors, or (my least favorite) a random, usually irrelevant quote can do more harm than good in your sales email signature. Save the creativity for your email body.

Including too much information. Your email signature isn’t your entire resume. Listing every phone number, physical address, social profile, and the email address you just sent them an email from creates a cluttered block of text. I’ve been guilty of it, but eventually I learned that less is more. Stick to the most important contact info and maybe one key link (like your LinkedIn or a booking link). An overly long signature can overwhelm readers at best and spook email platforms at worst, negatively impacting deliverability.

Outdated or broken elements. Nothing looks less professional than a signature with broken image icons or links that don’t work, and many unlucky SDRs are furiously prospecting with a broken meeting link in their signature as we speak. Make sure to update your signature whenever your info changes (new title, phone number, etc.) and regularly double-check that all links and images load correctly.

No call-to-action or value add. A big mistake is treating the signature as just an electronic business card and missing the chance to engage the reader. If you simply sign off with your name and title, you’re leaving an opportunity on the table. I try to include at least one actionable element — whether it’s a link to schedule a call or a resource that’s relevant to the recipient.

By sidestepping these mistakes, you set the stage for a winning signature. Now, let’s explore some best practices and examples of great sales email signatures that get it right.

Sales Email Signature Examples and Tips

Below are 13 sales email signature tips, including some examples and key takeaways. These aren’t ranked in any particular order — what works best for you will depend on your role, industry, and personal style. As you read through, think about which elements you can adopt from each to improve your own signature.

1. Use a signature generator for personalization.

I made the signature below in about 60 seconds using HubSpot’s free email signature generator. I plugged in my info, linked to a headshot I use on LinkedIn, and instantly got a pretty professional design. There are a bunch of different templates you can use to make it your own, which is why this kind of tool is a great place for anyone to start.

Source

Best for: Anyone setting up their first sales email signature or looking to quickly create a polished, on-brand sign-off without wasting a day of actual work.

2. Tout your accomplishments.

If you or your company earned an award or special recognition, consider featuring a small nod to it in your signature. Whether you’re an “Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Company” or you just got recognized by the local paper, showcasing an accolade can instantly boost credibility with prospects. It signals that you excel at what you do without you having to say a word about it in the email body.

Best for: Anyone with a notable achievement that prospects care about, or someone working at a company that’s received recent accolades. Awards reassure new contacts that they’re dealing with a proven, reputable professional or organization.

Pro tip: Make sure any accomplishments you list are recent enough to still be relevant, and always consider your audience. Showcasing that you’ve made the President’s Club three years in a row is great when you’re applying for a new position, but it rarely adds value for your prospects.

3. Keep the branding consistent.

Your email signature is an extension of your company brand, so make sure it looks the part. I use ZoomInfo for prospecting, and through all my interactions with different individuals, their email signature format has remained very consistent.

Source

Pro tip: Particularly if your company hands contacts from one team member to the next (sales > onboarding > account management, etc.), consistent branding is crucial to delivering a great customer experience.

4. Add a link to collect reviews.

Social proof is crucial, but even the most customer-first companies often forget to ask for feedback and testimonials. That’s why my company’s co-founder puts the request right in his signature, so happy customers are a click away from telling the world. It’s earned us quite a few reviews and has become standard practice on our account management team.

Source

Best for: Customer-facing roles like account management, customer success, and more. If you’re doing a home run job, make it easy for your clients to spread the word.

5. Include a calendar scheduling link.

Tired of endless emails to set up a meeting? Include a calendar link in your signature to let people book time with you in just a few clicks. I’ve historically included a link to make things convenient for prospects and avoid any unnecessary back-and-forth, although I’ve recently heard more that some recipients find this pushy. To me, it’s a way to be respectful of everyone’s time, but that doesn’t mean you have to agree.

Best for: Busy salespeople who frequently schedule calls or demos. It streamlines the process and makes it super easy for interested leads to engage with you.

Pro tip: Consider holding the meeting link until the second email. Many CRMs make it easy to choose different signatures for different occasions, so testing this shouldn’t be a major lift.

6. Have a few options on deck.

In HubSpot, it’s very easy to set up multiple signatures and then choose the right one for a given recipient. For example, just by clicking my signature before I send an email, I can adjust from my basic default signature below to a different one depending on the industry I’m prospecting in at the time.

In commercial construction, for example, many of our clients come to us for our recruitment marketing capabilities, so I’ll include a link to a popular blog post on optimizing websites for recruitment. Prospects click it, see what we can do, and only then do they respond and set up a meeting.

Best for: Anyone who values personalization in outreach, which should honestly be everyone at this point.

7. Share your latest content or publications.

Your signature can do more than just provide contact info — it can showcase your expertise and build your credibility. In the example below, Venture Asheville Executive Director Jeffrey Kaplan links his TEDx Talk, How to Build a Better Entrepreneur. I was curious enough to check it out and learned a lot.

Source

Pro tip: If you’ve got some published thought leadership, consider linking to it — just make sure you think about who will be reading your emails and make sure the content will be relevant for the majority of recipients.

8. Highlight product announcements.

Keep contacts in the loop by using your signature to promote new products, features, or content. A sales rep from Canva did this well: Her signature included a short note and link about their new mobile app. It subtly informed me of their latest offering without a dedicated email.

You can do the same by linking to your newest blog post, a product update, or an upcoming feature launch. It’s a low-key way to spark curiosity about what’s new at your company.

Best for: Teams with frequent updates or launches. Every email becomes a chance to share a bit of news and drive traffic to your latest content or product page, without any extra effort.

9. Include a slogan or value proposition.

A one-line value proposition or mission (even paired with a small award badge or certification) acts like a mini elevator pitch, giving recipients a quick sense of what you or your company delivers beyond just your job title.

Best for: Entrepreneurs, consultants, or reps with a strong value prop. A good slogan is an effective way to reinforce your key message or promise on every single email touchpoint.

10. Promote events or webinars.

Your signature can be a great way to boost attendance for upcoming events, helping you generate additional leads without additional work. I’ve had plenty of contacts sign up for an event after noticing the invite in my email signature, and it can make the invite feel more personal than the ones in your formal marketing emails. Just remember to update or remove the line after the event is over!

Pro tip: UTM links are a great way to track any signature CTA, including how much event attendance your signature is generating.

11. Include your photo.

Business is personal, but email often isn’t. That’s why including a small, professional headshot in your email signature can be so powerful. In the example below, Donald Kelly, founder of The Sales Evangelist, includes a sharp photo, a link to his website, and social media icons to guide his peers to other channels of connection. This signature is friendly and invites the reader to connect over more than just email.

Source

Best for: Sales reps who want to build trust and personal connection, especially when working with clients remotely. A photo humanizes your outreach, making you both more memorable and more approachable.

12. Embrace a minimalist design.

Sometimes, less is more. A minimalist email signature — just your name, title, company, and perhaps one contact method or link — can look clean and professional. It also eliminates any risk of images not loading, since pure text will always show up.

Best for: Professionals who prefer a no-nonsense approach or work with executive-level clients. A clean signature is universally appropriate and keeps the focus on the content of your email.

13. Add a video or interactive element.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from minimalism, I’ve seen GIFs included in signatures that were eye-catching and effective. When a colleague of mine embedded a clickable thumbnail in her signature that opened a 30-second intro video, she saw an uptick in responses. You could do something similar by linking to a short welcome video or a one-minute product demo.

Best for: Reps who want to create a more personal connection or showcase their product directly.

Pro tip: This innovative touch can set you apart in an industry saturated with plain text signatures, but pay close attention to deliverability to ensure you’re not getting dinged.

If you’re hungry for more ways to improve your sales emails, HubSpot has a handy resource with 23 sales email templates proven to get high open rates.

Signing Off on the Sign-Off

After years of tweaking and testing my own email sign-offs (and admiring others’), I’m convinced that this little block at the end of our emails is valuable real estate. In fact, I occasionally have prospects schedule a meeting with me directly from my signature link without even replying to the email itself. Each time these meetings result in closed deals, it proves that the email signature can move business forward.

My advice: Treat your sales email signature as an evolving part of your outreach strategy. Don’t set it and forget it. I periodically update mine with new content or tweaks based on my goals (more demo bookings, event signups, etc.), and I always keep it authentic to my voice. It only takes a few minutes to refresh your signature, but that small effort can pay off in a big way.

So go ahead and give your email signature a little TLC this week. You might be surprised at the results. Good luck putting your newly revamped signature to work!

Pipeline Management Training 101 — Everything You Need to Know

Rachael Nicholson — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Pipeline management training (or sales pipeline training) can increase your sales manager’s effectiveness. It can also provide the necessary structure and knowledge to help sales teams improve their account management processes. Better sales management coupled with robust account-led processes puts your company on track to meet and even exceed revenue goals.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But as a professional who’s been in sales in varying capacities — from administrator to manager — for nearly a decade, I’ve seen these benefits firsthand. So have the sales experts I interviewed for this piece.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the top benefits of pipeline management training, explain what a healthy pipeline looks like, and share practical tips for training your sales team.

Table of Contents

What is pipeline management training?

How to Train Your Team on Pipeline Management

What does a healthy pipeline look like?

The Benefits of Pipeline Management Training

Online Courses for Pipeline Management

When you focus on pipeline management training, you’re giving reps and managers a solid game plan. They learn how to notice warning signs, adapt their approach, and keep every opportunity on track. They also get better at picking which leads deserve the most attention, sharing resources wisely, and adjusting their sales strategy based on real data.

In the end, strong pipeline management training sets everyone up for success. It explains the “why” behind each step in the sales process and keeps your team aligned, so you don’t lose deals to simple mistakes. This approach not only builds confidence but also keeps your sales cycle steady and predictable.

What does a healthy pipeline look like?

According to Gartner, most chief sales officers (CSOs) cite improving pipeline creation as their top priority. But how can your sales managers and team build a better pipeline if they don't know what a healthy one looks like for your organization?

Luckily, Jason Jordan, a sales management expert and co-author of Cracking the Sales Management Code, can help.

He recommends three metrics to assess pipeline health.

Metric 1: Size

Most sales managers err on the side of “bigger is better,” but smaller can actually be more productive. The reason is that smaller pipelines often have bad deals weeded out. It's also essential to tailor pipeline size to the individual salesperson rather than rolling out a team-wide mandate.

Metric 2: Content

A big pipeline isn‘t worth much if the prospects in the funnel aren’t aligned with the company’s goals. What prospects is your company trying to target? What products or services is it trying to sell? If those opportunities aren’t in the pipeline today, they won't be sold tomorrow.

Metric 3: Movement

Keep a close eye on prospects' progress and look for sticking points. If you can identify trouble spots, it naturally leads to a coaching conversation.

The Benefits of Pipeline Management Training

Now that you know what a healthy pipeline looks like, let's dive into why pipeline management training matters for your sales team.

More Effective Sales Teams

When I was fresh out of university, I got my first “real” job as an admin in a local college's business development (BD) department. I was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and had no clue about BD or admin. I was, however, fortunate enough to work under a business development manager who was previously an IT tutor. Because of her background, she was incredible with systems and processes.

But she had been away on maternity leave, making my first week on the job her first week back. During her absence, the reps had been left unmanaged and half-heartedly kept up with data/admin. Process-wise, the department was a mess.

Each sales rep had a different system to track the pipeline and manage accounts. That meant they would sometimes chase the same leads, and key accounts weren't nurtured because the reps were too busy chasing new business. It was also a nightmare for the BD manager to track progress and report to other departments or, even worse, the college directors.

After about a week, the BD manager set us both a task to create a master spreadsheet for tracking new leads. She also trained me in data entry, Excel, formulas, and how to source, qualify, and track leads related to the spreadsheet.

I was then in charge of this area going forward. This allowed me to generate more leads in the background, even when the reps were busy in sales meetings.

Source

We also invested in a CRM to track individual pipelines from start to finish. We got caught up with the backlog between ourselves. After that, once a month, the BD manager would deliver pipeline management training for us all in the morning. Then, the reps would do pipeline management through the CRM in the afternoon.

The BD manager was more effective because she could track team-wide pipeline progress and spot new opportunities. I was more effective as an admin because I wasn't constantly chasing reps to deal with a pipeline backlog. I could then focus that time on helping generate new leads for the sales reps.

The reps were more effective because the training and processes gave them clarity. That meant they never let a qualified lead or upselling opportunity slip through the net.

Pro tip: A pipeline management tool, like HubSpot's pipeline management software, can track every deal in one place, allow you to customize your pipeline based on buyers’ needs, and point out where to focus your efforts. This way, your team can spend less time guessing and more time selling, leading to a stronger, more effective sales operation.

Revenue Growth

“Pipeline management is one area that’s particularly important for sales managers to be trained on. Why? Because it impacts the bottom line,” says Jason Jordan.

When you give sales managers the right training to spot stalled deals and resolve roadblocks, you create a positive chain reaction. Reps know where to focus, time is spent more wisely, and deals don’t slip through the cracks. The results show up in your revenue figures.

Good pipeline management keeps sales on track and gives you greater control over your forecasts, so you can make better plans for growth. It also helps managers find the best approach for each rep, turning average performers into high achievers and consistent earners.

Accurate Forecasting

“Pipeline management training is so beneficial because it allows us to keep our pipeline up to date, therefore improving our ability to forecast,” says Revenue Operations Manager at Qwilr, Dustin Martin. Martin also emphasizes the importance of having all sales team members operate under the same pipeline assumptions.

When everyone agrees on what each pipeline stage means and updates deals in real time, you get a single source of truth. This consistency not only builds trust in your pipeline data but also helps you spot trends early and plan ahead. You’ll then have “a reliable metric that should directionally be able to help the business anticipate future results and plan accordingly.”

Source

Pro tip: You can use forecasting tools to improve your forecasting results. For instance, HubSpot’s customizable and easy-to-use forecasting software gives you a holistic view of your entire pipeline, so you can quickly see how your month/quarter is shaping up and check deals to ensure your team stays on track.

You can also view monthly or quarterly revenue, while service teams monitor renewals and upgrades in their own pipeline. The tool also tracks performance metrics and connects with sales analytics to give you a complete picture of your team’s progress.

Profit Margins

“Your sales pipeline is what pumps life into your revenue stream,” says Vito Vishnepolsky, founder and CEO at Martal Group.

“Think about how much each lead costs your company. In B2B sales, paying $200 or more per lead is not uncommon. Now, imagine losing half your leads due to a faulty pipeline. How deep would that cut into your profit margins?"

Even with all the technology available, automation doesn’t always catch every issue. As Vishnepolsky points out, it can miss the mark nine times out of ten when it comes to effective pipeline management. That’s why it’s so important to train your sales teams to identify weak spots themselves.

This hands-on approach not only saves you from wasting money on lost leads but also keeps your profit margins strong.

Strategic Planning

“As a small startup, we're very agile, and we have already changed direction multiple times in reaction to market conditions,” says Louise Horscroft, former commercial director at AquaSwitch.

“There is no set recipe for strategic planning at a startup, so besides understanding the key aspects — lead numbers, lead conversion rates, etc. — the rest is learned on the job."

Because so much is learned on the job, Horscroft cites pipeline management training as a way to help you plan more strategically. Even if you train people on the job, it helps you handle the unknowns of being a startup by teaching your team to see potential hurdles before they become major issues.

Whether you’re a startup or a corporation, accurate forecasting and a well-managed pipeline support smarter decisions. When you base your plans on what your pipeline actually looks like, instead of what you hope it will be, you’re more prepared for whatever comes your way.

Better Resource Allocation

As a result of pipeline management training, Horscroft enhanced the way AquaSwitch distributed its sales team. Vishnepolsky reports a similar experience. “Through training, your sales team is equipped with everything they need to keep your lead data accurate and applicable so you can allocate your resources accordingly,” he explains.

Part of that is because a well-managed pipeline makes it easier to predict which leads and opportunities will close. Sales managers can then allocate resources against the goals of the pipeline while factoring in higher-priority leads.

From prospecting to winning or losing the deal, the pipeline should align with your business goals and values at every stage.

Here's how to train your team on pipeline management to help you achieve that and convert more prospects into purchasers.

Don't neglect existing sales managers.

“Sales managers often get selected and promoted for being exceptional reps, but just because they‘ve mastered one role doesn’t mean they're naturally adept at the other,” says Jason Jordan.

Jordan explains that sales management includes coaching, creating forecasts, running reports, and many other things reps don‘t have in their job description. That said, there’s a common assumption that if a company promotes its best salespeople, those former sales reps will just figure it out. But Jordan doesn't think this is true.

“From my perspective, new sales managers promoted from the rep level should be treated as new hires and trained as such. Our observation is that organizations spend a lot of time teaching managers on the sales methodology and showing them how to work in the CRM, but they don't get much in the way of practical training.”

Make the training hands-on.

Every sales team I’ve ever worked on has been high energy, with most reps having outgoing personalities. Now, that’s not to say only outgoing extroverts work in sales. I‘ve met some incredibly talented salespeople who would tell you they’re naturally introverted.

That said, an extroverted salesperson won‘t appreciate being buried in manuals for hours. And in my experience, endless theory isn’t a great approach to sales training, regardless of personality type. So, if you want your pipeline management training to work, make it hands-on.

Of course, you don‘t want to skip the theory entirely — it matters. But don’t have your sales team reading handouts for hours. Instead, deliver a bit of theory and then embed the learning with practical activities. Get your team using new tools (or existing tools in new ways) and working on actual leads at various stages of the pipeline.

Establish what a pipeline is and set clear expectations.

Coaching up a team on pipeline management requires discussing what constitutes a pipeline in the first place,” says Dustin Martin. Martin explains that pipeline is a confidence metric, and if the pipeline is inflated, the business will have unwarranted confidence.

Your team needs a shared understanding of what belongs in the pipeline — and what doesn’t. When everyone has different ideas about what counts as a legitimate deal, the pipeline becomes unreliable. That’s why Martin emphasizes the importance of clarifying exactly what criteria a deal must meet to enter your pipeline.

“After that, make it clear what requirements must be met to advance a deal, and discuss how to appropriately size a deal,” he continues.

By setting clear guidelines upfront, you help reps make better decisions about which opportunities deserve their attention. The result is a pipeline you can actually trust — and more accurate forecasting for your business.

Go over CRM/admin best practices.

Martin also emphasizes that consistency is vital when it comes to CRM use. “Make the fields known and required in Hubspot so that everyone is filling out the same data in order to create and advance the pipeline,” he says.

Of course, that‘s easier said than done. As a former admin for a lovably rowdy business development team, I can tell you firsthand that some salespeople just don’t like admin or data entry. Whether it’s updating spreadsheets, filling out the CRM, or carefully crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s on paperwork, it’s just not their thing.

Advanced Pipeline Management in HubSpot (Combining Deals with Workflows)

I overcame this hurdle by clearly showing how doing these tasks actually improved sales results. I'd explain that, yes, entering data might feel mundane. But correctly filling out CRM fields could be the difference between banking your commission in two months or waiting six months to see that money.

This was especially true for our sales team in the public sector. Any missing data meant compliance wouldn‘t clear the paperwork. That delayed reclaiming funding, which then delayed reps from getting their commission checks. Even in the private sector, other departments often need clear data to approve commission payments. How can they confirm a deal has closed if there’s no clear record in the CRM?

Include key parameters and sales fundamentals.

“At AquaSwitch, we‘re all about data, so I’ve taken a lot of time training my sales reps on keeping track of key parameters to have the ‘big picture’ when making key decisions and managing expectations,” says Horscroft.

In real life, this means tracking things like average deal size, sales cycle length, conversion rates between pipeline stages, and win rates. With these numbers in hand, reps can make smarter decisions about where to focus their time and energy.

Martin mirrors this approach. “You must get the team to agree across the board on what metrics and qualifications to rely on,” he says. Doing this is essential to keep everyone “working in the same way.”

There are so many different metrics and KPIs to track, so your reps have to decide as a group which KPIs matter most to your pipeline, such as the volume of leads entering the pipeline weekly, response times to inquiries, or specific qualifications for moving leads forward. When your whole team aligns around these metrics, there's less confusion and more predictable results.

Horscroft emphasizes that experience remains paramount here. That's because “differentiating soft versus hard leads still leans on intuition.” Even with clear data, reps still need good judgment to understand which deals have real potential versus those that look good on paper but might not close.

Still, you must recognize specific key indicators and sales metrics within pipeline management training. If we’re following Jordan’s advice to assess pipeline health, these might include the overall size of your pipeline (number of active deals), pipeline content (deal quality), and movement (velocity of deals progressing).

Aside from outlining and tracking key parameters, other fundamentals to include in your training would be sales phrases, lead qualification methods, lead nurturing strategies, and accurate sales forecasting. These areas help get everyone on the same page, so you can manage your pipeline more effectively as a sales team.

Don't confine all learning to the classroom.

“At AquaSwitch, we operate with a compact sales team, and most training unfolds on the go,” says Horscroft. She explains that because their sales team is small, they must be agile in all areas. Part of this ‘on the go’ approach means constantly collaborating to “refine our pipeline 'habits’.”

An informal style works well because pipeline management isn't static — it evolves daily. By talking regularly about real-world deals, challenges, and successes, your team learns to manage their pipeline naturally. It becomes part of their everyday conversation rather than something isolated to occasional training sessions.

Vito Vishnepolsky takes a similar stance. “We have a remote team of over 50 sales executives, all in different regions and time zones. As you may assume, it's not always easy or practical to schedule team training sessions.”

To counteract this, Vishnepolsky recommends amassing a repository of online training videos. Having resources available on demand lets your reps access relevant guidance exactly when needed. He also emphasizes that quick and comprehensive answers trump formal classroom-style training every time when it comes to pipeline management training.

When yo

Does Cold Calling Have a Place in the Future of Sales? Here's What One Sales Pro Sees Down the Line

Michael Welch — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Ask any salesperson with some gray hairs if cold calling works, and they’ll probably tell you to smile and dial. That’s because cold calling indeed “works.” If you spend enough time calling, you’ll book a meeting. With enough meetings, you’ll make a sale. But, everything has an opportunity cost. Time spent cold calling is time not spent on something else.

But, does cold calling have a place in the future of sales? In my opinion, cold calling that’s purely focused on volume is as good as dead. If you’re asking reps to make hundreds of dials per day, you should ask why you don’t have a better strategy.

Cold calling, as we know it, will have to change. Here’s what I see down the line.

The State of Cold Calling Today

I started cold calling more than a decade ago in what feels now like a completely different time. It was never my favorite way to spend a few hours, but it worked well enough that I would use cold calling regularly to keep my pipeline full of prospects.

Over time, I’ve watched the effectiveness of cold calling deteriorate, at first slowly and then rapidly in the last few years. Of course, you’ll still see rookie reps book meetings from cold calls by sheer luck. But, I’m seeing more veteran sellers get stonewalled because the prospect on the other end was sick of unsolicited pitches.

Once we started carrying our phones with us everywhere, call volume increased exponentially, both from “legitimate” telemarketers with actual products and spammers. Now, after being spammed about car warranty extensions ad nauseam, most people I know won’t even answer an unknown number.

According to research from Zippia, it took an average of 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect in 2007. By 2021, that number had risen to eight tries. Today, it’s likely even higher. Ask yourself, if someone called you eight or more times to sell you something, how receptive would you be to their message?

To put it simply, it’s a different world than it was when I started dialing, and the modern challenges are making the ROI of cold calling more dubious than ever.

Modern Cold Calling Challenges

You can put your reputation at risk.

Most cold calls these days aren’t legitimate sales efforts. They’re spammers hoping to con people into pulling out their credit card or some other valuable piece of financial information that can be exploited.

You could have the best intentions in the world and be calling someone who’s a perfect fit for your service. But in your prospect’s eyes, you’re lumped in with all the rest who make their phones ring constantly with unwanted calls.

To make matters worse, they’ll remember the experience, and if your approach to low connect rates is increasing volume, you can cause real reputational harm to your company in the long run.

More people are on the Do Not Call (DNC) registry.

The FTC created the DNC list in 2003 to help combat out-of-control telemarketing. As of 2023, it had nearly 250 million numbers on the list.

So, you need to cross-reference the DNC list before you dial with an autodialer or prerecorded message and demonstrate clear consent to call the person on the other end. If you don’t, you may face massive fines (up to $1,500 per violation) from failure to adhere to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

FCC guidelines explicitly advise against answering unknown calls.

Want to avoid receiving unwanted calls? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommends that you never pick up calls from unknown numbers. In my peer group, this practice has become widespread. If someone wants to reach me and they know I don’t have their contact information, they’ll text me first and let me know to expect a call.

Cold calling has gotten more expensive.

It’s easy to assume dialing is cheap. All you need is a phone and a number, right? Data costs money, and the plummeting win rates of cold calling mean you’ll need more of it, along with an autodialing software, to pump up the volume.

You’ll probably also use local presence numbers to boost pickup rates, and you’ll need software to cross-reference lists like the DNC registry to avoid lawsuits. And perhaps most costly, you’ll need to find people who are actually willing to make hundreds of dials per day, plus a constant stream of replacements when those original sales reps get burnt out. Still sound cheap?

How Cold Calling Has to Change

Sales departments will inevitably continue cold calling, but it’s only going to get harder. To turn the phones back into a source of real revenue, try these steps.

Warm up cold calls.

Back to that Zippia research I mentioned earlier: 84% of buyers say they’re primarily influenced by the recommendations they get from people in their circle. At the same time, 91% of customers express willingness to make a referral, but only 11% of salespeople actually ask for them.

In my mind, this chasm between referrals and requests is the biggest opportunity in sales today. Whether you’re picking up the phone, sending an email, or sending a message on social media, modern sales outreach simply shouldn’t be cold.

Add context immediately.

If a cold call isn’t warmed up by a direct referral, it should at least include immediate context that shows the prospect why a connection is relevant. “I saw your business just expanded into [new market] and I wanted to offer some support,” or “I’ve seen some of your job postings sit open for a while and thought I could help you fill those vacancies.”

If you can quickly communicate the context behind your outreach, you’re at least demonstrating that there’s a point to the call beyond a hope and a prayer they’ll buy something from you.

Use the phone strategically.

Perhaps the biggest shift in mindset for the future: The phone should be a strategic weapon, not a default crutch.

For years, sales teams treated cold calling as a numbers game, and it really was a reliable staple of prospecting. But as we’ve seen, blindly relying on the phone alone is no longer sufficiently productive. Instead, the phone needs to be one channel among many, used at the right moments rather than as a constant battering ram.

Ways Reps Can Adapt to the Future of Cold Calling

I realize this whole take has probably felt a little pessimistic, but I want to stress that it’s possible for reps to adapt to the new reality of dialing and turn the phone back into a valuable tool.

Leverage every channel.

If you ever find yourself relying on one channel for all your sales outreach, you’re probably doing it wrong. In my experience, the best sales strategies incorporate a variety of tactics and touchpoints because you never know what will resonate with the prospect.

If they haven’t logged on to LinkedIn in years, that InMail message probably isn’t going to get you anywhere. If they have 1,000+ unread emails in their inbox, yours is probably going to get buried like the rest.

In this situation, a strategic phone call could be a great option — just never let it become your only option.

Look for signals to improve timing.

Did a prospect just visit the pricing section of your website or download a whitepaper? That’s a great time to call, and it will feel like much less of an interruption to them because it was prompted by a legitimate trigger event.

Signals don’t have to be related to your company, either. A prospect getting promoted or a press release being sent out are icebreakers you can mention that will immediately show the call recipient you’re paying actual attention and not just reading from a script.

Build a referral flywheel.

Referrals are pure gold because they fast-track you through the hardest stage of sales: Building trust. When you’re referred to a prospect, you won’t have to make a cold call. They’re expecting to hear from you, and they might even be welcoming it.

Every time my digital marketing company wraps up a website project, I reach out to our primary point of contact and ask for a referral. In my experience, if you’re doing good work, people are almost always willing to make an intro. And if you ask me, that’s the future of sales.

The best “cold callers” tomorrow will actually be master networkers who never really have to cold call at all.

Don’t Get Blinded by the Basics

It’s a tough sales environment in many industries, and I see a lot of sales leaders wanting to get back to the basics that worked at the beginning of their careers. That means more call blitzes, more dials, more conversations. I get the appeal. It’s a tangible activity. But busier reps absolutely don’t mean more sales.

Looking ahead, I’m convinced that the cold call of tomorrow won’t really be cold at all. The core takeaway is that sales is evolving from blind interruption by bots (human or technology) to informed, context-rich connection. The call might be unexpected, but if the prospect knows your company or, even more ideally, your name? Your odds of closing a deal just skyrocketed.

In the end, sales requires two ingredients: connection and timing. Cold calling in its old form was a brute-force attempt at connection and sheer hope that the timing was lucky.

The future belongs to those who can combine some of the old-school hustle with strategies that engage prospects in the right way at the right time. Warm up your cold calls, or better yet, never let them be cold in the first place, and you won’t have to wonder if cold calling has a place in the future.

Sales pipeline stages: My blueprint for what to look for at each stage

Mark Burdon — Thu, 29 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Well-defined sales pipeline stages allow reps to track their deals and nurture their prospect from lead to customer. Whether you’re just getting started in B2B sales management, want to improve your team’s performance with repeatable, proven practices, or anything in between, you need a sales pipeline in place.

In this post, I’ve assembled a step-by-step guide to help you create a blueprint for your sales pipeline stages. After all, when it comes to sales, following a well-defined process is more effective than winging it and trying to engineer your sales pipeline stages while your team looks to you for leadership.

Let’s explore the B2B sales pipeline stages below and review some common scenarios that indicate it’s time to move a step forward towards a closed deal.

Table of Contents

The 7 Sales Pipeline Stages

1. Lead Generation

2. Lead Nurturing

3. Marketing Qualified

4. Sales Accepted

5. Sales Qualified

6. Closed Deal

7. Post-Sales

1. Lead Generation

The lead generation (aka lead qualification) stage of your B2B sales pipeline is likely packed with prospects like:

Event attendees.

Website collateral downloaders.

Campaign responders.

Email newsletter subscribers.

Social media followers.

SaaS trial subscribers.

Partner referrals.

Consultants, research analysts, and influencers.

Public demo audiences.

Finding ways to identify these species in the wild is key to becoming a high-performing sales professional. Like most sales careers, my experience has involved connecting with prospects ranging from hot prospects to cold tire-kickers and everything in between. I used a range of lead qualification techniques such as the BANT and CHAMP frameworks.

When I worked for IBM, prospects in the lead generation stage fulfilled on or more of these criteria:

Were in decision-making or decision-influencing roles.

Had expressed an interest in speaking to someone.

Had interacted with a campaign asset like a landing page.

Attended a webinar.

Seemed to have some pain points Big Blue could solve.

If I called the prospect and they confirmed their interest in working with us, but didn’t have a defined timeframe, need, or budget, I would shift that lead to the Lead Nurturing stage.

If a customer met BANT requirements and was eager to meet with an IBM industry or solution specialist, I often qualified the prospect as a marketing qualified lead, and asked the senior salesperson to “take ownership” of an opportunity so it could be tracked against a marketing campaign.

2. Lead Nurturing

Creating a comprehensive customer profile is critical to getting the prospect into the right lead nurturing stream based on:

Their role in the decision-making process.

Their industry.

The scale and immediacy of the project.

The customer’s ability to use their own staff for the project relative to their need for consulting, premium support, or a customer success manager.

Which solution tier would best serve the prospect at onboarding.

What their long-term needs would be for tier upgrades or add-ons.

In a competitive sales pursuit, automated nurturing activities shouldn’t feel automated (even when they are). It’s easy to lose a prospect to a competitor in the nurturing stage if you don’t demonstrate you value the opportunity to do business with them, or if your nurturing messages aren’t personalized to their needs.

The relationship hasn’t had a chance to take root, and objections over matters like pricing, features, and contract terms could lead to lost deals.

Using lead scoring in the HubSpot CRM is a good way to determine whether it’s time to push the lead further along the pipeline. Other indicators are:

Repeated website visits.

Rapid response times to sales outreach.

Requests for trials or ROI-related content.

Using the right tools to recognize this kind of prospect behavior is critical to understanding that a prospect is eager to do business with your company and to acting on that interest.

Pro tip: I used my company’s CRM for documenting calls, emails, and meetings for many years. Visibility on when a prospect opens a proposal, opens an email, or clicks on a call-to-action is a great trigger for a follow-up call.

Source

3. Marketing Qualified

You might be wondering: If a salesperson is already nurturing a lead, how is it only marketing qualified now? Well, account development reps (ADRs) and sales development reps (SDRs) are often given a set of questions to determine if a lead meets their company’s definition of an MQL.

This sales pipeline stage may work for companies with ADR and SDR teams before sending to a more senior sales rep in stage 4.

For decades, salespeople have called for better quality leads from their marketing counterparts. Yet (as I mentioned above) sales teams gather vital market intelligence during the lead-nurturing stage to personalize marketing campaign messaging, content, and offers. It is a testament to how much sales pipelines have changed that sales qualified leads (SQLs) and MQLs have shifted down the pipeline.

In a perfect world, a salesperson would only do outreach to SQLs that are deemed ready to make a purchase. Yet in reality, few salespeople consider themselves order takers, and there is usually a lot of work left to do to motivate SQLs to order your products and contract your services.

4. Sales Accepted

In my experience, this sales pipeline stage is determined when a lead becomes a tracked opportunity, and an account executive takes ownership of closing the deal.

Once a rep completes their qualification process and a prospect expresses an interest in speaking to a solution specialist, a lead may be routed automatically for follow-up in a platform like HubSpot CRM based on lead scoring.

When I was an SDR many years ago, it could be challenging to get senior sales reps to formally accept leads until they felt there was a high probability the deal would close. Thankfully, CRM platforms and sales practices have evolved since then. Lead scoring and workflows often accept leads on a sales rep’s behalf if the lead score is high enough.

When the Sales Accepted pipeline stage is used, it tends to be fairly short-term, while the field salesperson:

Validates the lead information and ensures it meets lead quality criteria.

Rejects the lead if it doesn’t meet the criteria to maintain sales pipeline hygiene.

Contacts the prospect and provides feedback to improve lead quality.

Qualifies the lead and shifts it to the next stage.

5. Sales Qualified

The name of this sales stage tells most of the story: it’s when sales engagement begins, and the prospect is giving strong signals of purchase intent.

Sales qualified leads are tracked in the forecast, and marketing provides lead nurturing support with content assets, case studies, and testimonials. Negotiating price, deliverables, and contract terms is a topic worthy of its own article, but suffice it to say that sales managers should be ready to put their experience to the test and help their reps close deals with confidence and consistency.

6. Closed Deal

The rush of receiving a signed contract or purchase order in your inbox (and the commission payment that follows) is a powerful sales motivator. The relationship transforms from at this point from hunter to farmer.

Each closed deal is a learning opportunity for the next — not to mention the possibility of follow-on sales — and ideally, a testimonial, case study, or reference-worthy client to accelerate future opportunities through the sales pipeline.

Pro tip: Salespeople need to listen and watch for buying signals to know when to ask for the customer’s business. It is better to drop subtle hints or trial close questions along the way than to wait so long to close the deal that you miss out entirely.

7. Post-Sales

A smooth handoff to onboarding teams or customer success managers is vital to a lasting customer relationship.

It’s more important than ever for companies to provide a smooth onboarding process, which doesn’t make the customer feel like they need to restate everything they discussed with the sales specialist.

A salesperson can help their customer success counterpart to learn what to focus on, and what sensitive topics to avoid to ensure a positive onboarding experience.

I recommend having systems and processes in place for tracking things like:

A new customer’s top business priorities for acquiring your solution.

Pain points that were identified during discovery.

Any milestone dates that are important to the customer’s conditions of satisfaction.

How do your sales pipeline stages compare?

Your company’s sales pipeline may differ from the stage names listed above, and you may have fewer (or more) in your process. However you apply this information, keep in mind that a repeatable, systematic approach to sales can help a sales rep know:

What questions to ask

What buying signals to watch out for.

When to move a lead forward (or backward) in the pipeline.

Here’s a question I think it’s important to ask yourself: Does your sales pipeline resemble how you do business today? If your pipeline needs some tweaking, take the time to iterate and ensure your processes, systems, and people are aligned.

Stop sending “just checking in” emails. Here are 22 alternatives for your follow-ups

afrost@hubspot.com (Aja Frost) — Wed, 28 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Hi, it’s me again, just checking in. Following up. Circling back.

Despite the temptation to try this easy follow-up opener, I never recommend that salespeople send “just checking in” emails. The simple reason? They don’t work. It feels like a guilt trip, and doesn’t add new value or pique the prospect’s curiosity.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow up with prospects. In fact, a thoughtful follow-up email boosts the chance of a reply by 49%.

Try these “just checking in” alternatives that add value to the prospect while restarting a sales conversation.

22 Alternatives to “Just Checking In”

Have you thought you had a hot lead come in, only to hear crickets after sending your first email? It’s normal — leads need as many as 28 touchpoints before making a purchase.

Lead nurturing, or following up with a prospect by email, plays a key role in getting sales closer to the finish line.

Here are some cold outreach benchmarks from Belkins for context:

The average cold email reply rate is 5.6%.

The average reply rate after a follow-up email is 6.9%.

The optimal waiting time for a follow-up email is 3 days.

The first follow-up increases reply rates by 49%.

A second follow-up only increases reply rates by 3.2%.

Sending three or more follow-ups has a negative effect on reply rates.

But your choice of words is also crucial.

Next time your email goes ignored, try these “just checking in” alternatives to connect with the prospect. In addition to the ideas below, I also recommend checking out this list of 50 proven sales email templates to give you a strong starting point.

Follow-Up Email Templates for Leads Who Ghost You

1. Send them a short piece of actionable advice.

One common mistake I see salespeople making is pointing out a weakness or error a prospective customer has made. For example, “I saw your most recent product launch. Here’s where I think you could improve ....” This is insulting, assumptive, and raises the prospect’s defenses. Instead, try a more relaxed and positive approach.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

You likely deal with [business pain], so I thought I’d share a quick tip many of my clients have found helpful: [1-2 sentence actionable piece of advice].

I have a few more ideas around [improving X]. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing them.

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Sofia,

I’m sure that your email open rate is a number you watch closely, so I thought I’d share a quick tip many of my clients have found helpful. HubSpot’s data found that email engagement is the highest between 9 AM and noon, Tuesday and Thursdays. This helped client La Petite Luna increase its opens by 30%.

I have some more data and ideas I can share about boosting email open rates. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing them.

Best,

Jamie

2. Send over a longer how-to guide and offer to follow up in person if they want.

I’ve seen that it takes many touchpoints in a customer journey for them to build trust and warm up to your brand. If they aren’t ready to hop on the phone yet, they might read a piece of content relevant to their role. You’ll educate and help them with one simple email.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

Do you [deal with X/want to improve Y]? Here’s an ebook about [dealing with X/improving Y].

There’s a lot of invaluable advice in there — you might find [specific tip or section] especially helpful. If you’d like to discuss these pointers or anything else around [topic], let’s set up a call.

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Jordan,

Would you like your new sales hires to get off the ramp faster? Here’s an ebook about shortening ramp time.

There’s a lot of invaluable advice in here — check out page 30 for an in-depth training cadence. If you’d like to discuss these pointers or anything else around sales hiring and training, let’s set up a call.

Best,

Cara

3. Point to areas for growth.

As we’ve covered, you don’t want to harp on your prospect’s weaknesses. However, I have found that there’s room for gentle suggestions of ways to grow and improve.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

[Company] sounds like it’s doing well — just stumbled across this quote on [Glassdoor/Yelp/Angie’s List/other third-party review site] from one of your [employees/customers]:

[1-2 sentence quote].

[Company] would be even stronger if you [fixed X]. Would you like to follow up about this on a call?

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Oleana,

Trusthealth sounds like it’s doing well — I was impressed by this quote on Glassdoor from one of your employees: “This is the best, most supportive office I’ve ever experienced.”

Your company could be even stronger if you offered flexible work policies, which typically increase retention for 89% of companies. Would you like to follow up about this on a call to hear about how this has worked at other companies I work with?

Best,

Kendall

Pro tip: Be sure to write compelling subject lines to get your message opened!

4. Respond to a social post, then follow up with more resources.

You never want to be that salesperson pitching someone in the comments section of a LinkedIn post. Engage with your prospect, yes. Respond to their post with a thoughtful, personalized response. But then, take the conversation offline and follow up with valuable feedback.

Template:

Hey [prospect],

Great post on [social network] about [topic]. Your comment about X was particularly astute — [additional comment].

Here are a couple of resources about [topic] you might find interesting:

Link 1

Link 2

[Connection between resources and the value the salesperson can offer].

Let me know what you think,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hey Annette,

Great post on LinkedIn about banking software. Your comment about fraud detection was spot on.

Here are a couple of resources about online financial programs you might find interesting:

Link 1

Link 2

They cover several unique strategies for preventing cybercrime.

Let me know what you think,

Mark

5. Answer one of their questions on an online forum, then follow up with more resources.

Don’t use online forums like Reddit or Quora to close a deal. On many of these platforms, pitching is not allowed and could get you booted as a user. Instead, use them as a first touch and follow up offline. This keeps your name familiar when you do connect elsewhere.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

Great [online forum] question about X. [1-2 sentence answer]. (Make sure you link to the post, especially if it’s more than one day old.)

Here are a couple of resources about X that will also help:

Link 1

Link 2

Let me know if you’d like to discuss this on a call,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Tim,

Great Reddit question about finding freelancers. Many of the startups I work with hire college students to freelance for them — the students get experience, and the companies get good content at an affordable rate.

Here are a couple of places where my coworkers have successfully hired freelancers from:

Contently (a content marketing platform)

Dribbble (a design community with many active freelancers)

Let me know if you’d like to discuss this or get a few more suggestions on a call.

Sydney

6. Send them a blog post your company has just published.

If a prospect downloads a certain piece of your content, follow up with other resources they might find valuable.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

You [previously downloaded or read X piece of content/likely deal with Y problem/belong to Z industry], so you might get value from this blog post my company just published: [title].

If you’re in a rush and can’t read it all, [tip, section X] seems like it’d be particularly useful for [company].

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Amanda,

You previously downloaded our guide to designing an intranet, so you might get value from this blog post my company just published containing interviews with the winners of Nielsen’s 10 Best Intranets of 2023 awards.

If you’re in a rush and can’t read it all, example #4 seems like it’d be particularly useful for Cloudius, since it features another energy firm.

Best,

Julian

7. Recommend an event in their area.

If you’re in the same city as your prospect, share local industry events and tell them you’d love to see them there. If it’s a ticketed event, you can even offer them complimentary tickets. This tactic provides your prospect with a valuable networking event and sets you up to meet them in person.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

What are you doing on [date]? Noticed [event] will be taking place next month — it seems like a great fit for you because [value of event].

Here’s the link to the website if you want to check it out: [link].

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Jon,

What are you doing on October 3? Noticed there’s an IT professionals meetup on that day in Framingham — it seems like a great opportunity to network and potentially recruit more folks for Kerchief.

Here’s the link to the website if you want to check it out: [link].

Best,

Harold

8. Invite them to an upcoming webinar or educational event your company is hosting.

Similarly, you can keep them updated about events that will help them do better at their job. You’ll immediately build trust and add value to their working lives, and a virtual event is often an easier ask than taking a large chunk out of their day for a physical event.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

Last time we spoke, you mentioned you’re currently focused on [improving X/solving Y/refining Z]. Would you like to attend the [webinar/event] that [rep’s company] is hosting?

The speakers, [name] and [name], will be delving into [topic 1 and topic 2].

It’s taking place on [date] — here’s the link to sign up.

I hope to see you there.

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi June,

Last time we spoke, you mentioned you’re currently focused on incorporating iPads into the classroom. Would you like to attend the webinar that CurrentFront is hosting?

The speakers, Hakan Staff from Harvard University and Sheila Thomas from Yale University, will be diving into tech-based learning models and how they’ve incorporated them into their classrooms.

It’s taking place on January 14 — here’s the link to sign up.

I hope to see you there.

Best,

Yusef

9. Send them a book, podcast, newsletter, or publication recommendation.

Is your prospect an avid content consumer who’s always sharing the latest book or podcast recommendations online? It only takes a few minutes to find this information and share a few recommendations back. It’s quick, easy, and thoughtful to share your favorite industry resources.

Template:

Hey [prospect],

I saw on your [LinkedIn/X/other social network] account that you’re a big reader. Have you heard of [related publication/book/newsletter/podcast]? If you liked X, you’ll probably enjoy Y.

I couldn’t put it down and loved the interviews with real-world examples. I recommend starting with [issue/edition/episode] Z: [linked].

Let me know what you think,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hey Terry,

Judging by your LinkedIn account, you’ve got a great eye for industry content. The podcast you posted about the rise of consumer loyalty programs was really insightful.

Have you heard of the Brave Commerce podcast? If you like Shopify Masters, you’ll probably enjoy Brave Commerce. I recommend starting with the episode with Ferrero.

Let me know what you think,

Darcy

10. Call attention to something their competitor is doing and ask how they plan to address it.

Knowing what your competitor is doing well is one thing. Having someone outside your business tell you what your competitor is doing is another. This might just be the kick your prospect needs to make a change.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

I saw that [competitor] has been doing [recent initiative] lately. Do you have any plans to do the same?

I have some benchmarks to look at and ideas to fill the gap — if you want to hear them, let’s schedule a call.

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Sean,

Gladup has been aggressively hiring new developers. The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you’re also trying to grow your team — do you have any plans in place for staying competitive in the Chicago area?

If you’re interested, I have some benchmarks about hiring at Gladup and other close competitors. Want to schedule a call to go through them together?

Best,

Sarah

11. Bring up a common challenge your buyers face and ask if they’re experiencing it.

Do your research, understand what makes your prospects tick, and know the right questions to ask to open a conversation.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

The clients I work with often face [business challenge]. Has [company] experienced anything similar?

If so, I have several ideas that might help — like [tip #1]. If you’d like to hear more, I’m free for a call on [date and time] or [date or time].

Best,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Hayle,

The clients I work with often struggle to find creative, low-cost ways to engage with their local communities. Has Shake Advertising experienced anything similar?

If so, I have several ideas that might help, like organizing an employee volunteer program. If you’d like to hear more, I’m free for a call on Thursday at 4 PM or Friday at 10:30 AM.

Best,

Claire

12. Send a breakup email to close the loop.

Sometimes, they’re just not that into you. If that seems the case, here’s a Hail Mary you can try — it just might prompt them to respond if they’re still curious, but haven’t taken action yet.

Template:

Hi [prospect],

I haven’t heard back from you, so you must be busy or no longer interested in [achieving X]. Mind if I close your file?

Thanks,

[Your name]

Here’s the same template after I filled it out for a prospect:

Hi Liam,

I haven’t heard back from you, so you must be busy or no longer interested in expanding to the San Jose area. Mind if I close your file?

Thanks,

Kevin

Follow-Up Email Templates for a Lapsed Customer

If your customer lapsed after a trial period or an initial purchase, there’s still a chance to bring

them back.

13. Reference a relevant blog post they just published.

To re-engage a lapsed customer,

How Cold Calling Transformed My Life (and How It Can Transform Yours Too)

Throughout my 19 years in sales, I’ve had the honor of working alongside some of the top sales professionals in the world.

I’ve coached over 50 sales development representatives who went on to become account executives, SDR Managers, and even leaders in completely different industries. I’ve run mock calls with reps and watched their confidence shift in real time. That transformation — that spark when someone goes from hesitant to hell yes, I can do this — is why I love this work.

Cold calling used to be all about numbers. Volume over value. But today? The bar is higher. With so much tech and automation in the mix, human connection stands out more than ever. And the phone is still the fastest, most effective way to get real insights, real reactions, and real relationships.

What most people don’t realize is that cold calling isn’t just about getting the meeting. Half the time, it’s about fact-finding. As a caller, I need to identify the mobilizers, champions, and decision-makers who can move the needle. That kind of strategic intel doesn’t come from a spreadsheet. It comes from real conversations with real humans.

But here’s the part that gets me fired up: Cold calling doesn’t just make you a better seller. It makes you bold.

You build the muscle of initiative. You stop waiting for permission. You stop fearing that you don’t add value. And once that switch flips, it spills into every other part of your life.

When I figured this out, I:

Asked people to be guests on my podcast.

Pitched myself to speak at events.

I launched a blog, a YouTube channel, and a business.

I stepped into more of who you’re meant to be because I know how to face rejection, adapt, and keep moving forward.

And it all starts with picking up the phone.

How I Get Fired Up for Cold Calls

Let’s be real. Cold calling is a mindset game just as much as it’s a skill game. You can have the best list, the best script, and the best product. But if your energy is off, it won’t land.

Over the years, I’ve learned how to generate that energy before every call block. From personal development work at Tony Robbins conferences to breakthroughs through Landmark and Accomplishment Coaching, I’ve built rituals that help me step into a more powerful version of myself before I ever pick up the phone.

Here’s how I get fired up.

I prime my state. (Thank you, Tony Robbins.)

At Tony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within, I learned the concept of state management, which basically means that your physiology shapes your psychology.

Now, before a call blitz, I take two to three minutes to change my body: I stand up, stretch, bounce, or put on a high-energy song. I personally like EDM, Avicii, Hardwell, and Gareth Emery. These artists take me back to my younger years with less gray hair.

These simple changes make me cognizant of my physiology. And, when I physically feel good, I feel more confident. That shows up in my tone, my curiosity, and my presence.

One time, after a rough morning, I procrastinated and put off prospecting, one of the most important tasks in my role. Instead, I turned on my “power playlist,” did a Wim Hof Breathing Exercise, and said out loud: “I am doing meaningful work that is literally saving marriages.”

That energy helped me book seven meetings in one day — a personal record. The experience helped me realize the power of using music to change my mood.

I set an intention (Landmark-style).

I learned my next tip from Landmark, a personal development company. Their coaching emphasizes that we all have contexts — the beliefs and personal histories that shape how we see the world. I think of context like extreme self-awareness.

My context is that I‘m a great cold caller. I’m super resilient and scrappy. In the past, I had self-limiting beliefs that affected the context of how I viewed myself. I believed that because I didn’t grow up with rich parents, it would be hard for me to work at great companies, like LinkedIn.

Knowing my context allows me to reshift and reframe negative beliefs. Now, I’m more confident going into calls.

Beyond that, I don’t just go into cold calls trying to book meetings. I create an intention. I tell myself, “I’m here to connect, to serve, to be curious and present.”

This helps me detach from the outcome. When I stop chasing the result and focus on the person, I actually get better results.

Too often, we are focused on ourselves. I need these meetings to pay my mortgage or be able to provide for my family. While all of that is important, I perform better when I let go of my ego and just be present. I can actively listen, serve from the heart, and genuinely listen to my prospect’s concerns. They can see that I actually care.

I revisit my wins.

When it comes to motivations, I recommend that reps keep track of all their wins. Put compliments you receive in a document or add a screenshot with praise to a folder. These victories add up and can help you push through a sales slump. My mentor calls it the “Good sh*t” list!

Before my cold call sessions, I pull up my list of past successes. I look at my handwritten notes from clients who got value from my coaching and landed more fulfilling jobs. I remember that SDR I coached who finally got promoted to AE.

Chris B. said, “I’m so glad you reached out. Even though every time you call, you’re trying to get me to spend money. It was worth the investment.” That reminds me that I’m good at what I do, so I can keep going.

I remind myself that I’ve done this before. I do create value. This next call could change someone’s day or career. This one habit is a game-changer for confidence and consistency.

I do a 90-second research sprint.

When I’m getting ready to make a call, I don’t over-prepare. But, I do enough homework to feel intentional. I give myself 60 to 90 seconds to check my prospect’s:

LinkedIn headline or About section.

Company news or recent milestones.

Shared connections or interests.

This gives me at least one personalized insight to start the call with curiosity, not a pitch.

In the age of automation and AI, People are getting calls so much more than they used to. That makes people naturally skeptical. That personal insight can help you break through and connect human-to-human.

For example, I may say, “Hey Brandon, I saw that you recently started at a new company. Congratulations! When they kick off a new job, reps will often leverage our program to start healthier habits.”

I pretend I’m coaching myself (Accomplishment Coaching mindset).

I signed up for Accomplishment Coaching so I could grow my career and change my life. I grew up poor and wanted to change my life by breaking through in business. The coaches who graduated from this program were vulnerable and authentic. They had a different aura about them. That inspired me to change my life in the face of uncertainty.

From these sessions, I learned how powerful it is to coach from possibility. Instead of being bogged down by current circumstances, you can picture a brighter future and inspire yourself to achieve it. So before a call, I imagine my best self — future Davidson — coaching me through the situation.

He’d say, “I am the possibility of heart, partnership, brilliance, optimism, and acceptance.”

That mantra helps me step into my confidence. I can get out of flight-or-fight and worrying about my quota all of the time. I can picture a future me who has already hit these goals, and I know everything will work out.

Find Your Rituals and the Calls That Will Change Your Life

I see cold calling as more than just part of my job. It’s life training.

Getting rejected on a call? That’s practice for entrepreneurship.

Getting negative feedback from a boss? That’s courage you can bring into your content creation. When your stuff goes viral and you have to deal with haters, you can cut through the noise and find something constructive.

Nailing your tone on a cold open? That's the presence you carry into your relationships.

Cold calling isn’t just about sales. It’s about becoming someone who takes initiative. You can become someone who doesn’t wait for life to come to them.

Cold calling has changed my life. It’s allowed me to book business, start my own ventures, and build my career. So on days when I find myself in a slump, I rely on my tried and true tips to get fired up. So, find your rituals and get started.

30+ statistics about sales email subject lines you need to know

Doug Bonderud — Thu, 22 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

When it comes to sales emails, the old adage holds true — you only get one chance to make a first impression. To help you stand out in people’s inboxes, I’ve rounded up a list of sales email statistics to help you shape your subject lines, boost your open rates, and get potential customers to follow through and hit “buy.”

When you’re ready to craft your next email, take a gander at HubSpot’s free, AI-powered email template builder. This tool helps you craft eye-catching emails, track performance, and save time by taking your most successful templates and tweaking them for your next campaign. Why mess with success?

Ready to dodge the spam folder? Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Sales Email Statistics

Email Subject Line Statistics

It’s time to craft your own email subject lines.

Sales Email Statistics

Year after year, email is still a powerful tool for marketers to promote products and services and engage new and current customers.

Email marketing campaigns have historically given businesses a high ROI, but with their many different uses, there are other benchmarks that businesses could and should be paying attention to.

Here are some stats that show how and why marketers love to use email.

Source

The Return on Investment

On average, businesses net $36 for every dollar spent on email marketing (Litmus, 2024).

40% of marketers say email is the most effective sales channel (HubSpot 2024 State of Sales report).

In 2023, the global email market was valued at $8.3 billion (Statista, 2024)

30% of companies plan to invest more in email marketing in 2024 (Litmus, 2024).

25% of marketers say that they get the highest quality leads from email marketing (HubSpot 2024 State of Sales report).

How AI is Changing Email Marketing

With the rise of AI, marketers now have a new slate of tools to help optimize emails and boost their open and click-through rates. These statistics show that marketers are readily incorporating AI into their workflows, and they are seeing positive results.

Source

45% of companies use artificial intelligence (AI) to help them with their email marketing (Litmus, 2024).

21% want to start using AI in their email workflows in 2024 (Litmus, 2024).

47% of marketers said that using AI had an extremely positive impact on their email campaigns (Forbes, 2023).

45% of marketers say that the use of AI will be integral to their email marketing moving forward (Forbes, 2023).

50.7% say that emails enhanced with AI tools are more effective than emails created with more traditional methods (Statista, 2024).

What about open rates?

As of 2025, the average open rate across all businesses has increased to 42.35% — but don’t get too excited or too depressed. Industry averages can vary widely.

According to Mailerlite, some sectors have high average open rates. Religious institutions, in particular, had the highest open rates at 59.70%, while travel and leisure had the lowest average open rate at 22.57%.

Check how your numbers compare with these open rate statistics.

The average email open rate across all industries is 42.35% (Mailerlite, 2025).

The average email open rate in the marketing and advertising industry is 39.05% (Mailerlite, 2025).

When it comes to welcome emails, open rates are 83.63% (GetResponse, 2024).

The average click-through rate of all emails for all industries is 2.00% (Mailerlite, 2025).

Click-through rates ranged from 0.77% to 4.36% across sectors (Mailerlite, 2025).

Adding images boosts both the open rate — 43.12% compared to 35.79% — and click-through rate — 4.84% compared to 1.64% (GetResponse, 2024).

Automated emails generated 41% of email orders, despite accounting for only 2% of the emails being sent (Omnisend, 2024).

Automated emails are incredibly successful at making sales. One in three people who open an automated email end up purchasing something. One in two people who open welcome cart and cart abandonment emails end up making a purchase (Omnisend, 2024).

Email Subject Line Statistics

Time to focus on what catches a reader’s eye first — the email subject line.

There’s a lot of debate online about how long subject lines should be, what words should be in them, and even to emoji or not to emoji, but I’ve gathered some statistics that clear these debates up and help you achieve the KPIs you’ve been yearning for.

What You Need to Know

43% of people open an email based on the subject line (Zerobounce, 2025).

47% of marketers A/B test their subject lines (Zippia, 2023).

Emails with shorter subject lines are more likely to be opened (GetResponse, 2024).

The average subject line contains 44 characters (Aweber, 2024).

Subject lines between 61-70 characters had the highest open rate at 43.38% (GetResponse, 2024).

Emails with shorter subject lines also had higher click-through rates. The sweet spot seemed to be around 41-50 characters, as they had the highest click-through rate at 17.57% (GetResponse, 2024).

What to Add and What to Avoid

Thankfully, multiple studies have revealed the best ways to make eye-catching and scroll-stopping email subject lines. Personalized subject lines are a big one. Luckily, HubSpot allows you to add personalization tokens to your email subject lines.

There are also other ways of jazzing up your subject lines, like mixing in certain keywords or adding numbers. On the flipside, beware of certain things that could hurt your KPIs.

Personalized subject lines increase open rates by at least 50% (Zippia, 2023).

36% of marketers say that they personalize the subject line or preview text the most (Litmus, 2024).

Adding the word “free” on a subject line boosted open rates by 10% (Zippia, 2023).

Urgent subject lines increase open rates by 22% on average (Zippia, 2023).

Adding the word “video” to your subject line increases open rates by 7-13% (Zippia, 2023).

Adding numbers to subject lines boosts open rates by 57% (Zippia, 2023).

The word “newsletter” decreased open rates by 18.7% (Zippia, 2023).

Sadly, emojis in subject lines don’t seem to help increase open rates or click-through rates. Emails with no emojis in their subject lines had higher open rates (42.23% vs. 37.5%) and click-through rates (4.16% vs 3.32%) (GetResponse, 2024).

Only 5% of email subject lines have emojis (Zippia, 2023).

Pro tip: Check out this HubSpot article if you want more open rate statistics.

It’s time to craft your own email subject lines.

Now that we have reviewed some sales email statistics, it’s time to craft your own email, engage current and potential customers, and bag some conversions. While benchmarks and statistics are helpful to guide and gauge your strategy, I recommend you keep testing, experimenting, and iterating as you go.

How B2C sales could shift in a recession [new data]

Erin Rodrigue — Wed, 21 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

Sales is a tough job under normal circumstances, but throw in a recession and things get even more complicated.

As whispers (or shouts) of an economic downturn persist, salespeople need to shift from defense to offense. This means retiring the old playbook and getting creative with your sales strategies.

I surveyed 200+ U.S. consumers to ask how they spend their money during a recession and used their insight to outline key strategies for successful B2C selling during an economic downturn. Let's dive in.

Table of Contents

Top Consumer Spending Trends in 2025

Strategies for B2C Selling in a Recession

Top Consumer Spending Trends in 2025

1. US consumers are spending more conscientiously right now.

We last surveyed U.S. consumers about recession spending in 2023, and more than a third said they were planning to make fewer purchases due to a possible recession, and 28% were spending more conscientiously than in previous months.

Today (mid-2025), there was a switch: in the shadows of a potential recession, consumers spend more conscientiously than in previous months (28%). 22% are making fewer purchases overall.

Although it was a small change, I think consumers feel more confident waiting and preparing (being conscientious) than stopping spending altogether because they dealt with the post-2020 economic changes and know that being more intentional about how they spend is the most helpful strategy.

2. In response to a recession, 59% of U.S. consumers are planning to decrease their home budget.

57% of consumers in 2023 said they would decrease their home budgets within the first three months of a potential recession. Today, 59% say they would decrease their home budgets, but a majority say it would only somewhat decrease.

At the same time, 1 in 3 respondents say their home budget will stay the same, but they’ll reevaluate spending priorities. For instance, they might delay larger purchases or switch to more cost-effective brands.

3. During uncertain financial times, the majority of U.S. consumers spend the most money on essential items.

Unsurprisingly, most US consumers spend the most on essential items, like groceries and food, during uncertain financial times. Home bills (rent, mortgage, utilities, etc.) share space at the top of the list, followed by essential personal care and hygiene items.

Even with meals, Americans are shifting away from eating out and opting to spend more resources on breakfast and earlier meals. In a report from Toast, they noted that "Late-night spending has also seen a shift, with some cities experiencing sharp reductions. Oklahoma City, for example, saw a 15% drop in late-night meal spending.

So, to summarize the key findings I mentioned above, consumers will change their spending habits if we enter a recession in 2025. They’re pulling back on “discretionary spending,” like travel and luxury items, and other “non-essentials” (like entertainment spending) vs. necessities (like medication and health care).

For salespeople, you’ll need to be more flexible and creative in the face of changing market conditions. Let’s look at a few strategies for B2C selling in a recession.

1. Your value proposition is key.

Consumers are tightening budgets, so persuading people to make purchases, especially of products or services deemed as “non-essential,” will be more difficult. They want less risk and more reassurance, and you might have to work harder to earn trust.

In this situation, your value proposition becomes your main selling point. Consumers want less risk and more reassurance (that your product or service will meet their needs), and if you can clearly show exactly how what you’re selling will meet their needs, you’re more likely to convince them that it'll be money well spent.

I know B2C salespeople aren’t always speaking directly to consumers, so sales and marketing alignment becomes more important than ever here. Marketing teams need to know to focus on making value propositions incredibly clear in marketing materials.

If you speak to consumers, I recommend a consultative approach where you take the time to understand your prospects' pain points, including new ones that have emerged in response to economic conditions. Then, you adapt your pitch accordingly to focus on the value and benefits customers will get from your offer.

You can also hammer down on your value proposition in sales materials by providing evidence, like testimonials, reviews, or even UGC from real consumers. If a prospect feels confident about your product or service, it becomes much easier to cross the sales line.

Continue being consultative post-sale by sharing educational content that helps them get the most out of their purchase.

2. Don't ignore your existing customer base.

Acquiring new customers is important during economic uncertainty, but not at the expense of your existing customer base. Never assume this group is “safe,” especially if these relationships have gone stale. After all, it’s your loyal customers who carry you through the downturn.

Given this, I wasn’t surprised to see that small business owners' #1 preparation for potential economic downturns in 2025 is focusing on customer retention.

It’s common for rep-customer relationships to fall into a routine, so I recommend putting in extra effort and time during periods of economic instability to initiate communication, iron out any issues, and deepen relationships with existing customers.

From these conversations, you may even find opportunities to upsell or cross-sell. At minimum, a quick note of appreciation for their business can go a long way. At a minimum, a quick note of appreciation for their business can go a long way.

3. Expect more touchpoints in the sales process.

B2C sales typically have a quicker path to purchase than other types of sales. Consumers are more impulsive and make quicker decisions compared to the extended length and multiple stakeholder involved cycle of B2B sales.

However, during a recession, it’s safe to expect a longer B2C sales cycle as prospects have a slower decision-making process that allows them to be as sure as possible about the benefits of a product before making a payment. Consumers might return to your website over and over to read product pages and reviews before adding to their cart, or they may even have products sitting in their carts for longer periods so they can truly weigh their options.

As a result, it’s important to understand that there might be more touchpoints in the sales process, and to ensure you’re nurturing potential customers at every single stage to give them the information they need to move closer to purchase.

Also, instead of chasing down every lead behind an abandoned cart, I recommend concentrating your efforts on a smaller pool of the most qualified users and nurturing them more frequently. By doubling down on those more likely to convert, you can prioritize your time and maximize chances of closing a sale.

4. Incentivize potential customers with compelling perks or flexible pricing.

In times of economic uncertainty, it can be tempting to slash prices and offer deep discounts. While some discounting is normal, it's important to approach this strategy with caution. You don't want to devalue your product or hurt profit margins too much.

Fortunately, you can incentivize your prospects without offering steep discounts. For instance, consider providing additional services or perks, such as extended free trials or complimentary tech support.

On top of that, you can offer flexible pricing plans. Tiered pricing, for example, can capture customers with a wide range of budgets. They can start with a lower-priced tier and upgrade later once they're in a better financial position.

Another option is the freemium model, which divides users into a free or premium tier. The goal is to attract users with the free version of a product or service, often in a limited capacity, and then convert them into paying customers with the premium version.

32% of sales professionals offer prospects freemium options, and about 90% of them say it's moderately to extremely effective at turning prospects into paying customers.

Back to You

Instead of being reactive or defensive to market changes, salespeople need to adapt to them. This requires equal parts creativity, flexibility, and persistence. By nailing this balance, you put yourself in the best position to push through.

10 best sales goal tracker tools & templates

Michael Welch — Tue, 20 May 2025 12:00:00 +0100

Calendars, planners, to-do lists. These are just a few of the tools we use to stay on top of our day-to-day activities. But how can you stay on top of your sales activities? With sales activity trackers.

If you’re a sales leader, it’s important to determine the key metrics for evaluating your sales team. By using sales goal and activity tracking tools, you can more accurately monitor your business performance and achieve sales goals with a clearer picture of what they actually require.

In this post, I’ll define what a sales activity tracker is and how to use one. Plus, I’ll give you some of my favorite tools to help your sales team streamline its process.

Table of Contents

What is a sales activity tracker?

Sales Tracking Tools (Free & Paid)

Why Tracking Sales Activity Matters

The Three Elements of Sales Tracking

Sales Activity Trackers: Comparison Chart

Make Smart Decisions With a Sales Activity Tracker

Why Tracking Sales Activity Matters

As the adage goes, “what gets measured gets improved.” Whether I’m aiming to hone my sales skills or I’m managing a team of individual contributors, a sales activity tracker or sales team tracker that connects behaviors to tangible wins is essential to keeping and closing a healthy pipeline.

In my experience, without the proper tracking processes and tools in place, the sales department can feel like a black box where indeterminate inputs yield obscure outputs — a recipe for burnout in any organization. That environment also makes realistic goal-setting for managers nearly impossible.

To create a culture where your sales talent actually wants to stick around, you need to implement unobtrusive tracking solutions where success and the processes that produced it are both identifiable and repeatable.

In my role as the sales lead for ALINE, a web development and marketing agency, no tool has been more important for growth than the sales activity tracker. With our tracker, I manage sales contacts, the workloads of individual contributors, and monitor deals as they flow through the sales pipeline.

When I started my role, the sales department was disjointed, with a few different reps using their own preferred solutions to track their activities. One of my first steps was to implement HubSpot’s Sales Hub along with an equally robust training program to bring the team under one umbrella and ensure everyone understood the capabilities of our new tool.

The complexity of your own sales team tracker will of course vary with the size and budget of your organization, ranging from a simple spreadsheet (it can work, don’t knock it!) to a dedicated piece of your tech stack that operates seamlessly in the background. Wherever you are on the spectrum of scope and complexity, the main components of sales tracking are the same.

Here are the sales tracking elements I’ve found most important.

The Three Elements of Sales Tracking

1. Organizational Sales Goals

From a top-down view, the sales activity tracker should be designed to help your team achieve measurable organizational sales goals (outlined in your sales plan).

If the goal for Q3 is a 10% increase from $3MM in quarterly revenue, the sales team needs to produce an additional $300K in sales. By establishing a realistic average deal size, sales leaders can determine how many deals will need to close to achieve the organizational goal they were handed.

Along with death and taxes, another certainty is that the C-suite will always want more sales. This fact is precisely why I’ve found it’s essential to have a sales activity tracker that can show how it will look to actually attain goals that are often generated somewhat casually.

When you’re being pushed to achieve more in the sales department, whether it’s 10% or 50%, the sales activity tracker will help decision-makers understand what additional inputs are required to hit those numbers, whether it means increasing your SDR headcount, automating your quoting workflows, or investing in new tools to scale quality outbound efforts without increasing headcount proportionally to the increase in demand.

2. Individual Quotas

Once a sales team has a target in sight, determining individual quotas is as easy as dividing the total desired revenue by the number of reps on the team.

In some cases, you’ll want to take into account some territory differences across the team, and you should try to adhere to the general rule that roughly 70-80% of your reps should be able to meet their quotas — otherwise your established quotas might not be realistic.

This balance is a critical one to strike, because a sales floor where only 10% of reps achieve quota is going to be a revolving door where luck ultimately plays a bigger role than skills and determination. And if that sounds like a recipe for burnout, it is.

Measuring quota attainment is a vital component of a sales team tracker because it helps you determine performance and calculate the compensation of your sales reps — but I’ve found it comes with a benefit that’s often overlooked. When a few contributors on your team are consistently exceeding their quotas, the rest of the department is going to take notice.

If you’ve hired the right people, average reps will realize they need to imitate the behavior of your top performers, not out of fear for their jobs but because it’s the path to unlocking accelerators and additional income. In an organization where communication and collaboration are valued, a rising tide really can raise all ships.

3. Performance Benchmarks

Once you know how much revenue each individual contributor should be generating, you can break down the activities that have historically been required to produce that revenue.

Whether your sales team is made up of full-cycle reps or SDRs filling an AE’s calendar with qualified leads, work backward from the sales target to determine the necessary inputs and outline those benchmarks in your sales activity tracker templates.

If it takes 20 outbound calls to schedule a qualified demo and your AEs convert 20% of demos on average, your SDRs need to make 100 calls to generate a closed deal. Your numbers will vary, of course, but benchmarks let you turn sales into a math problem. Sales activity tracker templates can also be repurposed for individual reps, so if you have a rep who sees more success over email than on the phone, you can determine their inputs to reach certain outputs as well.

The value of deals and the size of your sales team will inform how many dials, emails, or activities need to be made per month, and the activity tracker will summarize the inputs from your individual contributors, the progression of deals through the stages of your pipeline, and the net new business that emerges as a result of both the individual and collective sales efforts over time.

Sales, like all professions, has both high performers and laggards, with most reps falling somewhere close to average. In my experience, nothing improves the performance and longevity of those in the middle of the bell curve quite like piercing the veil of “luck” and breaking highly desirable results down into actionable inputs.

That breakdown is ultimately the reason a sales activity tracker is so important in any organization that’s currently flying blind. By tracking activities and the closed deals they produce, leaders can hone in on a formula for lasting sales success instead of winging it and hoping the numbers add up at the end of the year.

How to Keep Track of Sales

More generally, a tracking tool, spreadsheet, or template makes it easy to have all the information you need to review in one place. You can then use these resources to quickly identify trends and any corrections needed in one-on-ones and team meetings to review performance.

To top it off, I’ve found seeing where you need improvements means you can put a plan in place that optimizes sales performance and team time.

On a more granular level, you and your team can use sales activity trackers to keep tabs on key activities that drive sales performance, including the following.

Prospecting

Here’s the deal: Prospecting can be a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating activity. Without it, though? Your sales pipeline is liable to dry up — and fast. So finding prospects is necessary, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be more efficient with this task.

Of course, use a sales tracker to log the basics, such as company/decision maker names, contact numbers, pain points, outreach activities, etc.

But beyond that, log where and how you and your sales team find potential customers. Then, note down how many hours this activity takes each day. Once you’ve gathered enough data, spotting ways you and your team can optimize prospecting will be easier.

Hint: If you haven’t already, why not take AI out for a test drive? According to our State of AI Report, nearly 80% of sales pros say AI helps them spend more time on the most critical parts of their role. Further, finding data-driven insights (34%) and helping to write prospect outreach messages (31%) are two of the most popular AI use cases in sales.

Outreach

Like prospecting, cold calling is a time-consuming but necessary sales activity. Again, like prospecting, tracking this task opens up the potential for better efficiency. To start, note down things like if/when you’ve reached out to a prospect and how (e.g., cold calling, email, or in-person).

Want to track your hit rate? Note the number of prospects who answered your calls, read your emails, or took a card if you went door-to-door. Then, track the volume of meetings you booked based on your outreach.

After a month or so, you might also uncover trends, such as specific days of the week when more prospects pick up the phone. You can then dedicate more time to prospect outreach on those days.

Hint: To improve your or your team’s outreach hit rate, consider inside sales training. For example, a simple lesson on using the Voice of Customer (VOC) in sales prospecting could make a difference.

Meetings

Do you know how many meetings you or your team held this week at a glance? If not, would you have to start snooping through people’s diaries to find out? If you answered “No” followed by “Yes,” then you need a sales tracker to start logging this information.

Aside from logging the number of meetings that took place, you can use a sales tracker to log the number of those meetings that had a positive outcome. The number of meetings booked highlights whether your prospecting and outreach are working. And the number of meetings leading to a positive outcome highlights whether your meetings require improvement.

Hint: If prospect meetings aren’t resulting in deals, it might be time to revisit different sales closing techniques.

Now I’ll share the best software, templates, and tools to help you track your sales activity, monitor your team’s effectiveness, and make data-driven decisions for your business.

Sales Tracking Software

1. HubSpot Sales Tracking Software

If you’re looking for more than just a template to work with, HubSpot’s Sales Hub offers sales tracking software to better automate and streamline your sales process as prospects move through your pipeline.

This is my sales tracking happy place, and it includes powerful automation tools and robust reports at an incredibly approachable price for most organizations. I use the Professional tier ($100 per user/month) to manage sales at ALINE and have never felt limited by its capabilities whatsoever.

Get started with free sales tracking software

I love how easy it is to organize every part of the sales pipeline with HubSpot’s sales tracker. Plus, with the amount of details you can add to each card, you and your teammates can easily make sure you have high-level info with just a glance at each Deal board.

Best for: Sales teams looking for a collaborative way to track sales and goals, and accomplish so much more besides.

What I like:

Gives you a better understanding of how much of your pipeline is caught up in each stage of your sales cycle at any time, so you can eliminate bottlenecks and close deals faster.

Makes automation of basic tasks and workflows more straightforward — freeing up your sales team to build relationships and close deals.

Allows you to connect your email inbox automatically, so documents and communications sent to prospects are automatically logged in the HubSpot CRM.

2. HubSpot Sales Dashboard

In addition to Sales Hub software, your sales team can use free interactive dashboards to track sales activity using HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub. With this tool, you can track your pipeline using different metrics and manage the data for transparent deal forecasting.

Source

Data should guide everything you do in business, but that’s especially true in sales. In my experience, staying on track with my goals is easier and more motivating when I can see how I’m doing. That’s what I like about HubSpot’s sales dashboard: The charts provide a visual understanding of my performance, and enable me to quickly regroup and get back on track if I’m falling behind.

Best for: Visual deal forecasting and sales tracking.

What I like:

Offers deal forecast reporting to show you the amount of forecasted revenue by deal stage.

Helps you to monitor how prospects move through the pipeline with multiple reports based on sales performance.

Allows you to spend less time building reports in spreadsheets and more time accurately answering your business’s strategic questions.

Comes with pre-built template boards, so you don’t have to create your pipeline dashboard from scratch.

Includes built-in automation to help complete repetitive tasks.

Offers over 150 integrations with tools that can level up your sales pipeline and goal tracking.

Allows customization of view style, choosing from Gantt, Kanban, and more.

3. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is a work management platform with powerful sales tracking capabilities. What caught my eye first was how similar the tool is to a spreadsheet. This can be useful for anyone who’s spent a lot of time tracking their sales goals and data in Excel but is ready to upgrade to a more comprehensive solution. When you make the switch, it won’t feel like a completely alien landscape which is nice.

Source

The platform is also designed to provide greater visibility and consolidation, which makes it useful for large teams where transparency and accountability are key.

Best for: Enterprise-level sales leaders and executives looking for more visibility and alignment with sales rep activities.

What I like:

Offers real-time sales forecasting and visibility into tasks.

Has an Excel-style interface that makes it easy for Excel or Google Sheet users to get familiar with it right away.

Collaborative task management features make it easy for teams to work on sales goal tracking tasks simultaneously.

4. Trello

Trello is a project management tool that you can customize to your needs. I personally find that it works great for tracking my sales outreach with clients. The Kanban-style board makes it easy to visualize outreach and stay on top of sales goals.

Source

The free plan works great for individuals or small teams working on fewer deals at once. You may be limited to 10 boards (which I would use to represent different steps or stages in the sales pipeline), but you can add unlimited cards (I’d use these for every task and client interaction).

Pro tip: Sales stages should always be actions that are in your court — that way you’re never waiting on a prospect to progress a deal to the next stage.

Best for: Small teams looking for a visual pipeline dashboard.

What I like:

Good for tracking basic information for a small volume of leads.

Very visual platform, so it’s easy to overview the full pipeline, including key tasks and task status related to each stage.

User-friendly, and the pre-built template boards and built-in automation make it easier to get started with the software.

Over 150 integrations with tools that can level up your sales pipeline and goal tracking.

5. Monday.com

Monday.com has its own Sales CRM, but you can also use the free plan to access some workflow planning features.

I like how Monday’s boards are organized. They’re a more visual version of a spreadsheet, in my opinion — great for people whose eyes tend to glaze over if they’re looking at cells and numbers for too long.

create a professional headshot. Chances are what you used was an AI model — a tool designed to assist with a specific task.

AI agents, on the other hand, take things several steps further.

Unlike AI models that simply generate outputs based on prompts, these so-called AI agents act on it. They don’t just assist — they remember, learn, and make decisions on behalf of the user. Just like a human colleague would.

And businesses have taken notice.

In this article, I’ll explore what these AI agents are, how businesses are using them, and what this means for how professionals exist and execute.

Table of Contents

What is an AI agent?

How AI Agents Are Revolutionizing Businesses

How to Use AI Agents in Your Business

Examples of AI Agents for Business

Should your small business invest in AI agents?

AI agents are shaping the future of business.

What is an AI agent?

An AI agent is more than just a chatbot or automation tool. It’s an autonomous system that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take action to achieve specific goals.

These agents are tailored to have a specific expertise and operate with minimal human input while continuously learning and adapting.

“Think of agents as the new apps for an AI-powered world,” says Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for AI at Work.

Traditionally, completing a task requires navigating multiple apps, each with a specific function. AI agents change this by managing entire workflows, pulling information from various sources, and adjusting to user needs in real time.

Instead of simply assisting, they execute, making work more seamless, efficient, and intelligent.

How AI Agents Are Revolutionizing Businesses

AI agents “...open up a whole set of opportunities for working with people to get tasks done, and that’s what we expect from AI systems,” says Ece Kamar, managing director of Microsoft’s AI Frontiers Lab.

“AI agents are not only a way to get more value for people but are going to be a paradigm shift in terms of how work gets done.”

And we can see this taking full effect in the market trends for AI agents.

The global AI agents market is projected to reach $7.6 billion this year, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 45.8% from 2025 to 2030.

This growth, according to research, is driven by the rising demand for personalized customer experience, automation, and advances in natural language processing (NLP) — all of which AI agents are designed to deliver.

And that’s across different business functions and industries. From customer support to ecommerce, logistics, etc., businesses are using AI agents to streamline workflows and do better work.

1. Customer Service

In customer service, AI agents are replacing conventional chatbots by delivering human-like interactions that are well beyond human capabilities.

As Alan Paton, CEO of Qodea, explains in conversation with Forbes, “An AI agent will provide any startup with instant scale. Suddenly, they can offer global customer support, in any language, that exceeds the standards of their biggest competitors.

“Customer questions and complaints can be responded to at any time of day and answered in such a sophisticated way that the customer won’t be aware that they are not talking to a human at all.”

2. Sales and Ecommerce

Consumer trust in AI-driven shopping is also growing and this, of course, affects the way salespeople interact with their customers.

A recent survey revealed that when it came to online shopping, customers were likely to use AI agents to book flights (70%), find and book hotels and resorts (65%), clothes (53%), beauty products (56%), and even over-the-counter medicine (51%).

With this kind of statistic, the demand for AI sales agents will undoubtedly grow.

In an interview with McKinsey, Jorge Amar, senior partner at the firm, shares, “It used to be the case that dedicating an agent to an individual customer at each point of their sales journey was cost-prohibitive. But with the latest developments in gen AI agents, now you can do it.”

And this is because these agents are not just designed to recommend products but to manage the entire purchasing process, offer tailored suggestions, handle payments, and even coordinate returns when necessary.

3. Business Operations

AI agents are also changing the way businesses run their internal operations. Especially with procurement.

According to the 2025 ProcureCon Chief Procurement Officer Report, 90% of procurement leaders have considered or are already using AI agents to optimize operations in the coming year. These agents help these professionals automate complex contracting tasks, analyze procurement data, etc.

According to the head of research at ProcureCon Insights, Chris Rand, procurement leaders are moving from reactive to proactive approaches.

As a result, this new set of leaders are “not only embracing AI, but demanding a tech-first approach to sourcing and contracting processes that welcomes AI as a coworker in the ongoing race to capture more revenue.”

How to Use AI Agents in Your Business

The way businesses use AI agents depends on how the agents are developed. Here are some of the use cases for AI agents and how businesses are implementing them.

1. Automatically handle customer support queries.

If you’ve ever sat on hold waiting for a human agent, you already know how valuable instant help can be.

AI agents are brilliant at handling repetitive customer service queries like checking order status, updating shipping info, or explaining return policies. This doesn’t just save time; it seriously improves the customer experience.

Moreover, as Paton pointed out, AI support agents have become so sophisticated that customers won’t be able to tell that they’re not talking to a human.

According to Gartner, by 2029, these systems will be resolving 80% of common customer service issues completely autonomously with zero human intervention.

2. Transcribe, summarize, and generate action items from meetings.

The first time I used an AI agent for meeting management, I was starstruck. It recorded the meeting (audio and video), transcribed everything, pulled out the highlights, and even suggested next steps.

It honestly felt like I’d just hired a personal assistant with an Ivy League degree, the world’s sharpest ears, and a dash of superpowers.

Since the shift to hybrid and remote work, our time spent in meetings has nearly quadrupled. No surprise, then, that AI for meetings is booming. According to Fellow’s State of Meetings 2024 report, usage of AI tools in meetings grew 17x between January and August 2024.

AI agents now help teams stay aligned, cut down meeting fatigue, and make follow-ups effortless.

3. Customize product and content recommendations.

Netflix’s recommendation engine is the classic example of AI-driven personalization. These AI agents learn what you love and surface just the right product or content, right when you’re likely to want it. McKinsey reports that personalization like this can boost revenue by up to 40%.

And it’s not just movies. Wine apps like Vivino and Hello Vino use AI to recommend bottles based on taste, labels, and reviews.

In retail, Carrefour Belgium tested a virtual wine assistant called Sommelier Benoit, built in just three weeks using Google Cloud, Dialogflow, and Google Assistant. It handled 600 customer interactions in the first 10 days.

4. Extract data from official documents.

No one enjoys combing through contracts or spreadsheets — but AI agents do. They’re built to scan, understand, and pull out exactly what you need, almost instantly.

JPMorgan Chase built a tool called COiN (Contract Intelligence), which can read and interpret complex legal documents in seconds. It analyzes text, tables, and even scanned images to extract key information. This is work that used to take legal teams over 360,000 hours annually.

By using AI in this way, companies not only save massive amounts of time but they also reduce human error and free up their people to focus on higher-value work.

5. Support employee onboarding.

Starting a new job is exciting but also full of “Where do I find that?” moments. AI agents smooth out onboarding by answering common questions, helping with benefits enrollment, and walking new hires through tools and policies.

American Addiction Centers used Gemini for Google Workspace to cut down their onboarding time from three days to just 12 hours.

I think Sumit Sehgal, their CIO, put it best: “If you can take something that used to take two or three days and take it down to a couple of hours, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes, that’s amazing. That’s a force multiplier.”

With AI agents acting as always-on HR buddies, new hires get up to speed faster and with less friction.

6. Search and knowledge access.

Sometimes the most powerful AI agent is the one that simply helps you find the right answer, fast. These search agents can comb through massive knowledge bases, Slack threads, documents, databases, and more to surface exactly what you’re looking for in seconds.

It’s like having a company-wide expert in your pocket — one that never sleeps, never forgets, and always knows where everything lives.

NewsCorp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, uses Vertex AI to search and process data across 30,000 global sources and over 2.5 billion news articles daily. That’s a great example of how AI can unlock insight at scale.

As Sateesh Seetharamiah, CEO of EdgeVerve, puts it, “We see AI agents as augments for human potential, not replacements. We use them internally to automate workflows, process large amounts of data, and support real-time decision-making.”

I believe this perspective is key to understanding how AI agents can be deployed effectively within your business.

Examples of AI Agents for Business

1. HubSpot's Breeze Prospecting Agent

Get Started With Breeze Prospecting Agent.

This is for the sales team.

Breeze is built to make prospecting feel less like cold calling in the dark and more like having a GPS straight to your best leads. It automates outreach, personalizes messaging, and engages prospects at just the right moment.

If I were running a sales team, I’d be all over this. No more endless guesswork.

Pro tip: Check out HubSpot’s other AI tools for your business.

2. Aisera AI Agent

Source

Aisera is an AI-driven customer service and IT support agent that provides conversational AI and automation for enterprises. It helps businesses resolve support tickets autonomously, reducing the need for human intervention while ensuring personalized and intelligent responses.

Imagine a support agent that never sleeps, never gets frustrated, and actually gets what customers want. That’s Aisera. It’s the AI agent companies deploy when they’re serious about cutting response times and improving customer satisfaction.

With its self-learning capabilities, Aisera continuously improves interactions, making it ideal for IT help desks, HR support, and customer service teams looking to enhance efficiency and user experience.

3. Onyx

Source

If you’ve ever wasted hours hunting for that one email, document, or Slack message buried under an avalanche of files, you’re not alone. That’s where Onyx AI comes in.

It’s like having a supercharged personal assistant that knows where everything is across your company’s apps, whether it’s Google Drive, Notion, Slack, or any other platform you use daily.

What makes Onyx a role model AI agent is its ability to go beyond basic keyword searches. It understands context, meaning you don’t have to remember exact phrases. Just ask naturally, and Onyx finds it for you.

It’s also open-source, which means companies can tweak and customize it to fit their workflow, making it perfect for teams handling large amounts of data and those in knowledge-heavy industries like law.

4. Agentforce Service Agent

Source

Agentforce is Salesforce’s AI platform designed to create and deploy autonomous AI agents across various business functions, including customer service, sales, marketing, and commerce. Agentforce Service Agent is a specific application within this platform, enabling businesses to enhance customer service operations.

Unlike traditional chatbots that rely on pre-programmed responses, Agentforce Service Agent uses generative AI to understand and address a wide range of service issues autonomously, operating 24/7 across self-service portals and messaging channels.

This agent can manage returns, track orders, troubleshoot issues, and even escalate problems when needed, all while keeping interactions natural and context-aware.

And since it’s built on Salesforce, it integrates smoothly with existing CRM systems. That’s a huge plus because nobody wants yet another disconnected tool that doesn’t talk to the rest of their business software.

5. William by StoryChief

Source

Built by StoryChief, this AI agent helps brands create, manage, and optimize content. It’s like having a marketing strategist who never runs out of fresh ideas. From blog posts to SEO recommendations, William ensures businesses put out high-quality content without burning out their teams.

I also find it interesting that William can audit existing content and identify relevant issues like underperforming content, outdated content, trending topics, as well as opportunities for expansion.

Should your small business invest in AI agents?

If staying competitive while saving time and money means anything to your small business, then absolutely!

AI agents aren’t just for big corporations anymore. Small businesses are now using them to do their work better. In fact, data from the United States Census Bureau shows that businesses with just 1 to 4 employees are among the biggest adopters of AI, second only to large companies with 250+ employees.

While big corporations have been leading the way, small businesses have been quietly stepping up th

Awkward intros to cringey DMs: 10 networking mistakes experts say you need to avoid

Kiran Shahid — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

You know networking matters. Everyone says so. But when you're in the moment — sending a connection request, making small talk at an event, or following up after a meeting — it’s easy to second-guess yourself.

Am I coming across as too eager? Too transactional? Should I even reach out at all?

I’ve been there. When I first started networking on LinkedIn, I thought I had to impress people with long, detailed messages. So I sent 500-word InMails, packed with my background, why I admired their work, and exactly how I thought we could collaborate.

I was sure they’d be impressed. Instead? Crickets. No responses.

Over time, I learned what works and what doesn’t, both from experience and from observing people who do it effortlessly. Let’s break down the biggest mistakes and how to do better.

Networking Mistakes to Avoid

Not too long ago, networking mostly happened at conferences, coffee meetings, and industry events. You had to shake hands, make eye contact, and navigate small talk in real time. Now, with LinkedIn, you can connect with anyone, anywhere, at any time.

That’s a huge advantage — but it also means more ways to make a bad first impression.

I contacted my LinkedIn community and asked them to share their biggest networking blunders. I’m also sharing some examples (sent to me and by me).

In this section, you’ll learn the virtual and in-person mistakes that make networking feel awkward, ineffective, or even damaging your professional reputation.

In-Person Networking Mistakes

Conferences, industry meetups, coffee chats — anywhere professionals gather, there’s an opportunity to make helpful connections. But in-person networking comes with its own set of challenges. You’re juggling first impressions, real-time conversations, and the pressure to be memorable, all while trying not to come across as awkward or pushy.

The good news? Most networking mistakes are easy to fix once you know what to look out for. Here are five common missteps to avoid.

1. Showing up without a plan.

If you don’t know why you’re attending an event or who you want to meet, you’ll struggle to make genuine connections. Without a plan, you risk feeling out of place, missing key opportunities, or leaving early without any takeaways.

Harshala Chavan, founder of Merrative, a community of industry and academic experts, experienced this firsthand:

To avoid this, set clear goals before attending. Research attendees or speakers, identify a few people you’d like to connect with, and prepare a couple of conversation starters. Having a plan makes networking feel intentional rather than overwhelming.

2. Mistaking quantity for quality.

I’m naturally social, but at one conference, I cranked it up to another level, talking to as many people as possible and exchanging LinkedIn connections left and right.

The problem? Most of those connections didn’t mean anything. I was so focused on meeting everyone that I barely had any productive conversations.

A week later, I looked at my LinkedIn inbox — dozens of new contacts but barely any replies when I followed up.

Quality connections come from genuine conversations where you learn about someone's challenges, share relevant insights, and establish actual rapport.

One thoughtful 15-minute conversation can be worth more than 20 rushed introductions. Focus on making a few people remember you rather than forgetting dozens yourself.

3. Holding back and missing opportunities.

Networking can be draining, especially if you’re not naturally extroverted. But if you let that discomfort keep you from engaging, you might leave an event without making any new connections.

Saloni Ordia, a B2B SaaS freelancer writer, recalled attending her first big industry event, only to leave regretting that she hadn’t introduced herself to anyone.

Similarly, Kuba Czubajewski, Founder of content agency StoryAngled, admitted:

It’s easy to stick to what feels safe, whether it’s standing on the sidelines or talking only to people you already know. But pushing yourself just a little outside your comfort zone can make all the difference.

Instead of aiming to meet everyone, set a small, achievable goal: introduce yourself to three new people, ask one speaker a question, or join a conversation already in progress. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

4. Oversharing your research.

There’s preparation — and then there’s oversharing.

Before a conference, I had a few leads in mind and did my homework. I checked out their LinkedIn posts, read their articles, and noted discussion points I could bring up. So far, so good.

Then I met them. And in my eagerness to show I was prepared, I blurted out that I had read all of their posts before coming.

Their smile froze, and they nodded awkwardly before quickly shifting the conversation.

Yikes. Stalker-level.

Research is great — it helps you start important conversations — but you don’t need to lay it all out. Instead, use your knowledge naturally. Mention a recent post of theirs if it fits the conversation, but don’t make it sound like you’ve been studying them for weeks.

Keep it casual, and they’ll appreciate the interest without feeling like they need a restraining order.

5. Making the conversation one-sided.

Networking is about building relationships, not delivering a monologue. But in the moment, especially when you’re trying to make a strong impression, it’s easy to fall into the trap of only talking about yourself — your work, your projects, your goals.

The problem? People remember how you make them feel, not just what you say. And if the conversation feels like a one-person TED Talk, they’ll tune out fast.

A good conversation leaves the other person feeling valued and heard.

Try the 70/30 rule: spend 70% of your time listening and asking thoughtful questions like “How did you get into this industry?” or “What’s the most exciting project you’re working on?” and only 30% talking about yourself.

LinkedIn Networking Mistakes

Consider this my version of LinkedIn Lunatics. I’ve seen it all — and I’ve got receipts.

LinkedIn, at its best, is an incredible place to build meaningful professional relationships. But at its worst? It’s a playground for networking missteps that range from mildly awkward to outright cringe.

As Sara Stella Lattanzio, Head of Marketing at professional services firm Stryber says, bad networking happens more often than we’d like to admit.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of bad LinkedIn networking, but let’s be honest — most of us have probably made a few of these mistakes ourselves.

So here are five of the biggest virtual networking missteps you’ll want to avoid.

1. Messing up the follow-up.

Following up is good. Following up badly is a fast way to burn a bridge.

Our 2024 State of Sales Report highlights how 36% of sales managers say that follow-ups sent to high-quality leads are the most important tracking metric. That means follow-ups are a key factor in whether a conversation turns into an opportunity.

Freelance copywriter Laura Ilioaei learned this the hard way:

A good follow-up is polite, thoughtful, and adds value. A bad one is pushy, impatient, or too informal for the situation. Instead of a one-word nudge, try re-engaging with something useful:

“Hi [Name], I know you’re busy, but I wanted to follow up on my message. No rush at all—just wanted to see if you might have time to connect when it works for you.”

Timing and frequency matter just as much as content. That follow-up email you're itching to send 24 hours after your initial message? Hold off.

Give busy professionals at least a week before your first follow-up, then space additional attempts 2-3 weeks apart.

And know when to take the hint; after two or three unanswered messages, it‘s time to move on. The professional world runs on mutual respect, and part of that is recognizing when someone isn’t interested in connecting right now.

2. Asking for too much right away.

Networking isn’t a shortcut to free coaching. But some people treat it that way, skipping the relationship-building part and jumping straight to big asks.

I get countless DMs from other freelancers who want advice, referrals, or a full breakdown of my client strategy — without ever engaging with me before. Here’s one I received:

No introduction. No effort to build a connection. Just an immediate request for insider knowledge.

Instead of cold DMs asking for a favor, try warm pitching. Engage with their content, comment thoughtfully, and offer value first. For example, if you admire someone’s work, share how it’s helped you.

Build genuine rapport, and when the time comes to ask for advice, they’ll actually want to help.

3. Coming across as desperate.

There’s no way to sugarcoat this: desperation is a networking killer.

For example, you might think offering an incentive makes your request more appealing, but in reality, it can backfire. Sam Wright, Head of Operations and Partnerships at AI resume builder platform Huntr, shared his experience:

Another cringey way you can approach connections is by oversharing personal struggles to get a favor.

I’ve received many messages from people saying they’re struggling to find jobs and support their families. It puts me in a tough position. I understand the struggle, but when a complete stranger frames their request this way, it feels less like networking and more like emotional pressure.

Instead, create mutual value. Show genuine interest in the other person‘s work or expertise. Ask specific, thoughtful questions that demonstrate you’ve done your homework.

Or better yet, offer something helpful first — share an article relevant to their recent post or introduce them to someone in your network who might be valuable to them.

4. Leave AI-generated comments on their posts.

Now, this is something new … and painfully obvious when it happens.

You’ve probably seen them — bland, generic LinkedIn comments that sound robotic and offer zero value. Something like:

Or worse, AI-generated comments that repeat the post almost word for word.

We notice when comments feel inauthentic. And if your first impression on someone is an AI-generated reply, you’ve already signaled that you’re not invested in the conversation.

Content strategist and writer Tanaaz Khan summarizes the problem with AI-generated comments perfectly:

Instead, take a few extra seconds to add a real thought. React to something specific in the post, share a quick related experience, or ask a follow-up question. Thoughtful comments start honest conversations — copy-paste ones get ignored.

5. Sending mysteriously empty messages.

I recently received this complete LinkedIn message:

That's it. Nothing else. No context, no introduction, no question, no call to action — just those two words floating alone in my inbox.

What exactly am I supposed to do with “Hi, ma'am”? Reply with an equally vague “Hello”? Guess what they might want? Play a digital version of 20 questions to extract their actual purpose?

This lazy networking puts the entire burden of interaction on the recipient.

The strangest part is that the sender likely believes they‘ve initiated a conversation when, in reality, they’ve created a dead end. Without substance, there's simply nowhere for the conversation to go.

If you're reaching out, include your purpose, a specific question, or, at minimum, a complete thought. Your message should give the recipient something concrete to respond to, not a communication riddle to solve.

3 Tips to Get Networking Right

Networking doesn’t have to feel forced. At its core, it’s just about having genuine conversations and building relationships over time.

The problem? A lot of people either overthink it or rush into it without a concrete strategy.

If you want to network in a way that actually leads to opportunities (without feeling awkward or desperate), here are three key things to keep in mind.

1. Read and respond to conversational cues.

Iryna Kutnyak, Director of Operations at content agency Quoleady, shares a relatable moment many of us have experienced:

Iryna's story highlights a crucial networking skill: the ability to read conversational cues and pivot accordingly.

People give off subtle signals about their comfort level, interest, and familiarity in networking situations. Picking up on these cues — confused expressions, hesitant responses, or enthusiastic engagement — lets you adjust your approach in real time.

When someone seems uncertain or uncomfortable, create space with open-ended questions. When they show excitement about a topic, dig deeper. And when you sense they don't remember you (or vice versa), offer context without making it awkward.

This adaptive approach keeps conversations flowing naturally and helps build genuine connections, even in potentially uncomfortable situations.

2. Use small talk as a gateway to deeper conversations.

A simple “How are you?” might seem like just a polite opener, but it’s an opportunity to steer the conversation in a constructive direction.

As content strategist Lara Eviota shared:

Instead of defaulting to a one-word answer, use “How are you?” as a chance to introduce something interesting about yourself.

Try: “Good! Just wrapped up a project on [topic]—it made me rethink how [related insight]. What about you?” This gives the other person something to latch onto, making it easier to spark a real, engaging conversation.

3. Don’t be too transactional.

The transactional networker's mindset is obvious: they appear when they need something and disappear until their next request. They treat relationships as purely utilitarian, focused solely on what others can do for them.

I get it — we‘re all in it for professional growth. But it shouldn’t be limited to just your own.

Networking is about genuinely connecting with others. Our data shows that 82% of sales professionals say building strong relationships is the most crucial and rewarding aspect of the sales process.

That applies beyond sales. Strong professional relationships open doors to referrals, collaborations, and unexpected opportunities, not just one-off transactions.

I regularly share insights on LinkedIn, things like actionable advice, workflow improvements, or lessons learned. I also actively connect people with opportunities, whether that’s recommending a freelancer or introducing someone to a potential mentor.

Building genuine professional relationships means staying connected even when you don't need anything. For example:

Share resources that might help people in your network

Congratulate connections on their achievements without expecting anything in return

Introduce people who could benefit from knowing each other

These small acts of generosity create a foundation of goodwill that transforms networking from a series of transactions into an ecosystem of mutual support. When you consistently show up for others, they're naturally more inclined to help when you eventually do need something.

Good Networking Doesn’t Feel Like Networking

Whether in-person or online, small changes in how you approach conversations can make all the difference.

Avoid the common mistakes, focus on genuine engagement, and remember: the best networking doesn’t feel like networking at all. It feels like connecting with people who share your interests and goals.

Do that consistently, and opportunities will follow naturally.

How Entrepreneurs Navigated (& Survived) Recessions [New Data & Expert Tips for Economic Slumps]

Trends Team — Wed, 14 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

All kinds of economic changes affect businesses, whether full-blown recessions or market fluctuations. Unfortunately, financial uncertainty can cause companies to fail entirely, but it’s possible to push through the storm and succeed.

Who better to learn how to weather economic uncertainty than those who have already done it?

For this piece, we surveyed hundreds of owners who led their businesses through the Great Recession of 2008, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, and asked them for the strategies that propelled their companies through.

Table of Contents

How Entrepreneurs Navigated Recessions

Current Economic Downturns & How to Prepare for the Next One

How Entrepreneurs Navigated Recessions

Let’s dive into what business owners told me about how they successfully navigated through the Great Recession.

1.Cut The Lard

The most common strategy adopted by business owners who survived the Great Recession was to cut unnecessary costs.

A quarter of survey respondents said that operating lean saved their businesses.

While keeping a team intact where possible is a priority, many business owners reduced headcount, trimmed the number of hours worked, or gave essential staff furlough days in lieu of layoffs.

Managing inventory and payables was another popular cost-cutting measure, including:

Not purchasing new equipment

Only buying what you need to get by for 30 days

Paying essential vendors

Many business owners reduced their advertising costs, and, where possible, eliminated their rent by going fully remote.

Ernest Montgomery, founder of the creative agency Tmg, adopted a more drastic cost-cutting measure — he relocated from New York to the Dominican Republic to reduce his living and business costs.

While these hard cuts are often painful, business owners such as Samantha Blumenthal, former director of Communication at thredUp, recommend making them “quickly to keep the business running: “Don‘t wait, and make sure they’re deep enough that you only have to do it once."

2. Offer Discounts

Many respondents said they offered free or discounted services during the recession to grow their customer base, which makes sense because a larger customer pool leads to increased sales as the economy recovers.

“We endeared ourselves to our local community,” said Bill Tobin of New York's Tribeca MedSpa. “At one point we offered free facials. Many of these customers we have today. We funded the company at a loss for a while believing that times would be good again.”

It wasn’t always easy, but it paid off.

Revenue dropped nearly 50% during the recession, down to just $350k per year. “We were at the end of our rope by the time things started to come back,” Tobin wrote, “I am glad we stayed the course because we had regular 20% YoY increases in revenue for the next decade.”

3. Make Strategic Acquisitions

When your competitor closes, their clients are left in the lurch. Some respondents found that a recession was a good time to make a strategic acquisition.

“Don't be afraid to reach out to competitors that are struggling to try to purchase their market share,” said Michael Moore of TJM Promos, Inc., a marketing company that was started in 2004.

By acquiring customers this way, Moore kept his business steady through the recession, and has quadrupled in size since then, growing from $3m to $13m per year in revenue.

4. Stay Young at Heart

The average age of companies that increased revenue during the Great Recession was three times lower than that of companies that suffered significant loss in revenue over the same period.

One hypothesis: Younger companies are often leaner and more agile than their more established counterparts.

A clear takeaway from successful business owners was this: Don’t wait for an economic crisis to be lean.

“Do not over-hire or get yourself locked into expensive recurring costs,” said Scott Baker of Baker Hesseldenz Studio in Arizona. “Resist the urge to overspend during the good times.”

5. Be Nimble

Willingness to adapt, put ego aside, and pivot where necessary proved to be a successful strategy for many companies (18% of all respondents) that survived and prospered in the Great Recession.

Brad Emerson, of St. Louis, Missouri, owner of FixYourOwnBindery.com, attributed his survival of the recession in part due to “follow[ing] where the market took the business."

6. Create Strategic Partnerships

Of the companies that pursued strategic partnerships as a way of staying afloat, nearly all (88%) saw revenue either increase or stay the same.

North Carolina-based 2 Hounds Design, for example, partnered with dog trainers, veterinarians, and behaviorists to build influence and promote its products.

Pre-recession, the company's revenue was around $300k. By 2010 it was $1m, and in 2012, it reached $2m. The business continues to use this influencer approach today.

7. Pick A Winning Strategy Based on Your Business

There were two very clear and distinct approaches taken by business owners to survive the recession.

Aggressive, “promotional‘’ companies with the means and extra cash to do so took full advantage of changing market conditions by expanding, buying competitors, pivoting, or developing strategic partnerships.

Other companies with less wiggle room, perhaps as a result of already low margins, focused on minimizing downside risk by cutting costs, pivoting, or digging into their emergency cash stash to keep operations afloat.

8. Avoid Debt

While only 2% of respondents reported using traditional SBA loans to keep their business afloat during the recession, several mentioned borrowing from friends, or charging up credit cards, and several reported that this kind of leveraging was one of the hardest and most stressful decisions they had to make.

Others report having a strong aversion to debt, a habit which they believe may have saved their businesses.

“Debt is never a good thing,” said Tom Villane, president of Design 446, a New Jersey-based marketing company. His company saw its business drop from $15m to $4m during the recession. “Had we carried a lot of debt into the recession, we would have never survived.”

9. Promotion Beats Prevention

Overall, those that chose a defensive strategy reported losing revenue more often than those that chose an offensive strategy.

Roughly 47% of respondents that implemented a defensive strategy reported that revenue went down a lot, with only 5% saying that it went up a lot.

Meanwhile, among those that chose an offensive, or promotion-based strategy, only 13% reported that revenue went down a lot, while 30% saw dramatic increases in revenue either during or shortly following the recession.

10. Communication Is Key

Companies that grew placed a lot of focus on communication and transparency with their teams. Of the respondents that expressly mentioned the importance of communicating with employees, 80% saw revenues grow during the recession, sometimes tremendously.

“During tough times, you genuinely realize what a difference a good team makes and you want to work to keep that team strong,” said TJM Promos‘ Moore. “Let them know what’s going on, make sure no one is blindsided with tough decisions — be vulnerable."

Others echoed this sentiment.

“Beyond focusing on your plan, be close and over-communicate during rough times with your team, vendors, and the community,” said Grant Rowe, CEO of Arizona-based Valor Healthcare, which doubled its revenue from 2007 to 2009. “Be positive, transparent, and real.”

Current Economic Downturns & How to Prepare for the Next One

I asked small business owners exactly how they’ve handled current economic downturns (period between 2020 and now), and how they’re preparing for whatever is to come throughout this year (2025).

Most respondents who ran a business during the pandemic or unstable financial times that followed (pre-2025) told me that their most significant preparation was cutting operating expenses. 23% restructured their budget, and 22% increased their focus on customer retention or temporarily shut down their business.

These results didn’t surprise me: consumers tighten their budgets and are more intentional about spending during economic downturns. So, businesses trying to stay afloat need to make up for potential loss of cash in other ways, and cutting expenses and restructuring budgets can help do that.

I’m also not surprised by the focus on customer retention, as keeping those you already have is a guaranteed revenue source during a time when acquisition becomes more challenging.

Outside of their preparations, the key strategies business owners used to keep their companies moving during uncertainty remain (unsurprisingly) similar: cuts to operating expenses (40%), focusing on customer retention (35%), and raising prices (23%).

Regardless of preparation strategies, a majority of owners say the most significant change to their company during that era (COVID-19 through to the end of 2024) was a decrease in overall revenue (39%) which adds up because of what I mentioned before: consumers are strict about their spending habits and they tend to spend the most money on essentials (food, housing and bill payments, and personal care needs) and businesses that didn’t fall into that category likely saw it reflected in profit numbers.

Now, nearly halfway through 2025, we’re back in “uncertain financial times.” For example, the S&P 500 dropped more than 2% in April before picking back up. A majority of the results for “Are we in a recession?” Google search says no, not right now, but if markets continue to drop and fluctuate, we could be in one by the end of the year.

Either way, a majority of small business owners told me that, yes, their company is already seeing the effects of 2025’s economic fluctuations. One anonymous respondent said, “Yes, less business is happening so [our] income has decreased,” and another stated, “High inflation is cutting our profit and causing us to lose clients.”

I followed up and asked how they’re preparing for the rest of the year, and the top three priorities make sense:

Focusing on customer retention (44%), since keeping existing customers around is a guaranteed way to retain revenue when potential new customers might be cutting back their spending.

Planning to raise prices/already raising prices, which can help counteract any revenue losses that can come from lower acquisitions.

Cutting or reducing operating expenses, which ensures that you’re only spending money on the most critical business functions that help you stay afloat.

Just 12% of respondents said they aren’t making any preparations at all.

B2B Sales Experience: 12 Best Ways to Delight Prospects [Examples]

Osama Zahid — Tue, 13 May 2025 12:00:00 +0100

B2B sales is a fun experience for me. I get to interact with different people, understand their personalities, and see how they perceive things. I try my best to help solve their challenges while also making a profit for my company and, of course, earning my living.

When I say fun, I mean it’s all about how I choose to see it. I can either take it as just a job or as an experience where I get to have meaningful conversations with people from different backgrounds — many of whom are in senior managerial roles. No other function in a company gives me this kind of exposure.

I’ve realized that when I love what I do, I perform much better. I don’t wake up every day dreading work (okay, some days, yes). But for the most part, I enjoy it. When I put myself first and make sure I’m engaged, I do a great job at making others happy. My excitement rubs off on the people I talk to, and that makes all the difference.

So, based on my experience in B2B sales, I’ve put together a few simple yet effective steps to impress and delight your prospects, but first I’ll start with the top-three challenges of B2B sales.

Table of Contents

Challenges of B2B Sales

How to Create A Positive B2B Sales Experience

B2B Sales Examples

Please your customers throughout the sales experience.

Challenges of B2B Sales

Here are three key challenges B2B sales reps must navigate to ensure a seamless and engaging brand experience for prospects. I have also written practical strategies to overcome them.

Challenge 1: Not Being Pushy

Meeting sales quotas is always the goal, but there’s a fine line between being persistent and coming off as pushy. Prospects don’t want to feel pressured into a decision. This is especially true nowadays that buyers want to feel in control of their buying journey.

If a sales rep is too aggressive, it can create resistance, making the prospect disengage or even reject the offer outright. I feel that bombarding them with constant follow-ups and lengthy sales pitches is a thing of the past. Now, everything should feel organic rather than forced.

How to solve it: Let the prospect make the next move.

The best sales conversations happen when the prospect expresses genuine interest in the solution. I’ve found that this happens most when I showcase real industry examples and how someone in their space implemented the solution. Then, I mention the measurable impact it had on them.

That said, not every prospect fully understands the value of my product up front. But forcing a full demo on them isn’t the answer either. Instead, I take a more tailored approach: I share small, relevant snippets of the product (customized to their specific problem) while positioning just one key feature and a budget-friendly package.

This way, prospects are more open to engaging with me, lowering their defenses, and making the next steps feel natural rather than forced.

Pro tip: Avoid pushing a prospect further down the buyer’s funnel before they are ready. This results in a sale where the client doesn’t feel like they are in control of their brand goals.

Challenge 2: Creating a Personal Experience At Scale

Relationships are everything in B2B sales. Whether you are walking a tradeshow floor or engaging with someone online, getting prospects to “like you” is the best way to create a positive sales experience.

Being likable doesn’t mean constantly telling jokes or showering the prospect with false compliments. Likability is a hard thing to quantify, but if you look at behavioral research, certain commonalities appear again and again. Some common traits of likable people include:

They remember names and details.

They ask insightful questions and actively listen.

They smile and maintain open, positive body language.

They don’t pretend to know better and aren’t afraid to admit if they don’t know something.

So, I suggest keeping these qualities in mind as you strive to create a personal experience.

How to solve it: Lean on technology.

Personalization is about timing and relevance. Use a CRM to track when prospects visit your website or engage with emails — a CRM that speaks to you. Take some of the following CRM-related suggestions:

Company Activity Alerts. Notify sales reps when new contacts are added to a company they’re already working with.

Follow-up Tasks. Automate follow-ups based on call and meeting outcomes to keep the process moving.

Relevant Engagement Tracking. Instead of unreliable email opens, focus on meaningful interactions like visits to pricing or product pages.

Data Quality & Automation. Set up workflows to flag missing CRM fields and prompt reps to update them. The more you know about the prospect, the more personalized you can be. Below is an example of HubSpot’s Breeze Intelligence, allowing users to populate properties for the potential prospect’s business.

Finally, use personalization tokens to craft messages and make prospects feel valued.

Challenge 3: Keeping Up With Technology Trends

The pace of change has never been faster. Especially in the tech industry, with AI, it feels like everything is accelerating even more. Businesses now have endless choices, making it harder to stand out.

AI has sped up development cycles, automated problem-solving, and increased competition across industries. Even if your product has a unique edge today, how long before a competitor catches up?

On top of that, businesses themselves struggle to keep up with shifting market trends. A company might need your product today, but a management change or strategic pivot tomorrow could render it irrelevant.

How to solve it: Embrace the change.

Simply put, you can’t slow down the rapid pace of AI-driven change, but you can leverage it to your advantage. The key to staying ahead is adaptability. Instead of resisting rapid technological advancements, embrace them. Keep a close eye on industry trends and competitor innovations.

Integrate AI into your sales strategy. Understand how AI can complement different features. Even if the product you’re selling has no direct link to AI, staying informed and adaptable will give you a competitive edge.

Position your product as a long-term solution rather than just a current fix. Focus on how your offering can evolve alongside a business’s needs. I suggest showing prospects that you’re not just selling a product. In fact, offer a partnership that helps them stay ahead of the curve.

I’ll share 12 strategies to help you delight your customers throughout the B2B sales process. Take a look and see which ones you can start applying to your own approach.

How to Create A Positive B2B Sales Experience

1. Care about the prospect.

According to Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, “If you care deeply about your customers’ career versus your career, you will be successful. To do that, you need to bring insights, tailor to your customers’ business, and deeply understand their priorities.”

I think the foremost thing is to do your homework. Today, salespeople have to know their ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer personas. There is no other way around it.

Genuinely understand their challenges, goals, and what success looks like for them. Stop pushing a one-size-fits-all solution. Take the time to tailor your approach. Research their industry, company, and even their individual role to provide valuable insights that resonate with their needs.

Prospects become delighted when I present myself as a trusted advisor who is invested in their success. The only goal I have in mind is to foster a long-term relationship that can lead to repeat business.

Fact: Repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers.

2. Differentiate between a good fit prospect and a bad fit prospect.

A great sales person also has to be well-versed with the ways their competitors can potentially be a better fit and provide more value so they bring on the right good fit customers. I like to do that by creating custom fields in the CRM.

Each field comes with a dropdown menu, allowing me to select the most relevant option. If I reach out to a prospect and it’s not the right time for them, I can specify the exact reason using the dropdown.

This way, if someone from my team follows up later, they have all the necessary context. I’m of the opinion that repeatedly contacting a prospect who has already shown disinterest won’t just waste time, it could also damage the brand’s reputation.

Pro tip: Prospecting is the biggest challenge for 42% of sellers. If you want to stand out, I suggest mastering this skill. One way to improve? Dedicate time to maintain lead statuses and sales-driven marketing activities to keep track of how effective you are in engaging potential buyers.

3. Solely focus on listening to your prospects.

Unlike the old days, I don’t need to take notes while on calls. Previously, I had to split my focus between actively listening and jotting down keywords (I later framed those keywords into coherent sentences).

Now, my full attention is on the prospect. My CRM cannot only record and transcribe calls but also generate summaries of key takeaways. This makes it easy to reference important details and share insights with other stakeholders when needed.

During follow-ups, I can simply open the CRM and quickly revisit previous discussions. When a prospect shares their needs, I can reinforce my understanding by repeating what I’ve heard while also incorporating key points from my notes. This also keeps the conversation productive.

4. Ask good questions and really dig into the answers.

Show genuine curiosity. The aim is to uncover valuable insights. The more you understand their pain points, the better you can position your solution as the ideal fit.

If you make sales calls regularly, my recommendation would be to take a page from the top performers. On average, their calls last an average of 33.6 minutes — but it’s not just about time spent. The real differentiator? They ask an average of 32 questions per call, ensuring they deeply understand their prospects’ needs. It all comes down to asking the right questions.

Being a thinker, listener, and problem-solver can make a difference in delighting your customers.

5. Include prospects in your ecosystem.

Make prospects feel like they’re already part of your community. For instance, if your company has an active Discord channel, invite potential clients to join. By engaging with existing members, they can gain valuable insights and validation from others.

Encourage prospects to attend your webinars, customer events, product updates, user groups, and explore your online resources.

Rather than withholding information or adopting an “I can’t give this to you until you buy” mentality, try a more inclusive approach. For example, say, “Why don’t you take some time to explore our customer knowledge base?” This opens the door for prospects to interact with your current customers and feel like a part of your community even before they commit.

6. Gauge the financials of your prospect.

Understanding a prospect’s budget requires emotional intelligence and observation. Without directly asking, I try to gauge affordability by considering the size of their company and the decision-making influence of the buyer.

For instance, reviewing their LinkedIn or X (Twitter) activity can offer insights into their company’s priorities, financial health, and growth trajectory. I have seen that small businesses have more transparent communication about their operations, and it is easier to assess their financial standing.

Once you’ve done your research, if you suspect your product is out of their budget, be upfront. This honesty has two key advantages for the overall sales experience:

The prospect will appreciate your transparency and remember you positively.

You’ll avoid investing time in demos and meetings only to realize later that they can’t afford what you are selling.

7. Have a strategic plan for the sales process.

Before heading into a sales meeting or conversation, I mentally map out possible scenarios. I think of it like writing a pseudocode for the discussion. I anticipate different responses from the prospect and plan my replies accordingly:

If the prospect raises concern A, I’ll respond with solution X.

If they ask about B, then I’ll offer Y.

More often than not, their actual responses align closely with what I’ve anticipated, allowing me to stay prepared and confident.

I try to give all the necessary information to guide the prospect toward their final decision without unexpected roadblocks. I also use this planning phase to outline the deal’s sales process upfront, helping both me and the prospect stay aligned and proactive.

8. Understand your prospect and align with them.

To create a positive sales experience, focus on making your prospect feel understood and supported throughout the process. Here I try to learn the way they think. Then I share common points of connection to build rapport. As I mentioned in the above section, if they like me, they’re more likely to be receptive to what I’m offering.

I like to tailor my communication style to match their preferences (whether they prefer emails, phone calls, or even WhatsApp messages). With this personalized approach I tend to create a stronger connection.

It’s also important to understand where they are in the sales process. Are they new to the product or a seasoned buyer? Recognizing their background and stage allows you to provide the right level of information and avoid overwhelming them.

9. Offer to connect your prospects to your customers.

I feel that simply providing references isn’t as impactful as it once was. If a prospect is engaging with you, chances are they’ve already done their research or received a recommendation from a trusted source.

Instead, facilitate meaningful connections. If my prospect is seriously considering my solution, I would offer to introduce them to an existing customer who has faced similar challenges and successfully implemented the product.

The prospect is bound to be happy if you say, “It might be helpful to speak with two or three people who went through this process last year. They can share their experiences — the good, the challenges, and what they wish they had done differently.”

A real conversation with a satisfied user can be far more persuasive than any case study or testimonial.

10. Help your customer understand some of the common potholes previous buyers have faced.

Define each step of the purchase and implementation of the technology. Along the way, share best practices and lessons learned from past deals.

If my customer knows when to expect a plug-and-play implementation or when to expect some challenges, the sales experience can be more positive overall.

Assisting in the deployment or suggesting a partner can take a lot of the anxiety out of the sales process.

11. Stay engaged throughout the process.

Timely communication makes all the difference. I’ve noticed that responding to emails promptly leaves a lasting impression. No matter how busy I am, I make it a priority to send what a prospect needs as soon as possible (especially if they have requested something).

Delays can create distance, and in sales, that can mean the difference between closing a deal or losing the prospect entirely.

A well-timed follow-up can deepen relationships and create new opportunities.

I think that generic emails like “What can I do for you today?” rarely get a response. To truly engage prospects, your follow-up should be specific, relevant, and add value. Otherwise, it’s just another email in their inbox.

12. Ask for feedback after a deal is won.

Getting feedback after a purchase demonstrates that I genuinely care about their success. It also sets the stage for long-term success on both sides.

Ask what you could have done differently and what you need to improve. I recommend using a net promoter score (NPS) survey to make sure I know what people like and what missed the boat.

B2B Sales Examples

Each day brings new examples of B2B sales in action, where one company’s products or services help drive the success of another business. Here are a few scenarios where B2B sales make more sense than selling directly to individual consumers.

Corporate Recreation

Let’s assume I am selling for a sports company that provides padel or pickleball courts and related services. My approach in a B2B sales setting would be completely different from targeting individual players. Instead of trying to attract one-off customers, I would focus on businesses that could integrate my courts into their corporate wellness programs.

For example, I could pitch to companies looking to enhance their employee benefits by offering access to my courts as part of their recreational or extracurricular activities.

By structuring my offering as a corporate membership or a bulk booking package, I’d create a win-win situation: The company gets to provide a valuable perk that promotes employee well-being and team bonding, while I secure consistent, high-volume bookings instead of relying on sporadic individual reservations.

To make my offering even more attractive, I could customize packages to include exclusive corporate tournaments, branded events, or coaching sessions, giving companies an extra ince

7 cold calling mistakes I see sales reps make (& how to avoid them), according to The Eagle Mindset's founder

Diego Mangabeira — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:00:00 +0100

I’ve made over 11,000 cold calls. I’ve booked 335 meetings, closed over $287k at a startup company and $40m in an enterprise multinational company, and saw what works. I’ve also seen what burns out reps fast. I remember one call early in my career that still haunts me — in a good way.

I dialed a prospect I’d researched for hours. I thought I had the perfect pitch. I started strong, hit all the value points, and delivered what I thought was a flawless opener. I was proud of it. But before I could even ask a question, I got hit with a brutal, “Not interested. Take me off your list.”

I froze. I didn’t push back. I didn’t clarify. I just said “Thanks for your time” and hung up. I felt the rejection hard. I told myself I had failed. But instead of brushing it off, I replayed the call. I asked myself what went wrong. And, that’s what I’ll talk about here today.

Table of Contents

My Time At the Phone

Common Cold Calling Mistakes I've Seen Reps Make

Pivoting From Mistakes to Success

My Time At the Phone

I’ve spent 17 years in the outbound sales trenches — and I mean the real trenches, the ones where your day lives and dies by that first 30 seconds on the phone.

I’ve made 11,519 cold calls. Sent over 650k emails. And I’ve learned that success doesn’t come from talent. Instead, it comes from pattern recognition, consistency, and a willingness to get punched in the mouth and dial again.

I didn’t start off great. I used to talk too much. I’d come in trying to prove value before earning the right to be heard. I thought I had to sound like I knew everything. But the truth? I didn’t need to sound smart. I needed to be curious. I needed to make it about them, not me.

So I made the shift. I began opening with relevance, not rapport. I asked better questions. I focused on timing, context, and urgency. I wanted to learn why now, not just why us. From there, everything changed.

Over time, I started noticing patterns. I saw reps over-script and under-listen. I watched reps freeze when objections came up, or worse, avoid them entirely. I saw people mistake politeness for the pipeline.

I realized I didn’t want to be that rep. I didn’t want to manage feelings. I wanted to drive outcomes.

So I built a system. I tracked every metric. I A/B tested intros. I treated every “no” like a feedback loop. I turned cold calling into something structured, repeatable, and scalable.

That’s how I’ve booked 335 meetings, converted 69.1% into SQLs, kept my no-show rate below 18%, and closed over $287k in new business from cold outreach alone.

But beyond the numbers, what really matters to me is this: I’ve coached SDRs, AEs, and founders who felt stuck in their outreach, who were burnt out from the constant rejection, who were tired of the same empty scripts that didn’t reflect their voice or their value.

Together, we fixed that. We rewired their mindset. We redesigned their messaging. And we rebuilt their confidence.

I’ve done this across every continent I’ve worked in, from startups to corporates, across industries. I’ve supported teams in the USA, Brazil, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, helping them sharpen their outbound playbooks and land meetings with people they never thought would pick up the phone.

This isn’t theory. This is lived experience.

So if you’re making cold calls or leading a team that does, I’ve probably seen your exact challenge before. And, I’m here to tell you: cold calling isn’t dead. It’s just misunderstood.

Beyond that, cold calling is like science, meaning it’s always evolving. Today, the trend is a multi-channel approach plus hyper-personalization, using ABM (account-based marketing) strategies.

It’s like a sales funnel idea, when you have more opportunities of contacting that lead, you can increase the chances of having better conversations and conversions, so your KPI’s and sales improve with a solid strategy.

Common Cold Calling Mistakes I've Seen Reps Make

1. Pitching Too Early

I used to jump into the call like it was a 100-meter sprint. As soon as someone picked up, I felt this rush to pitch. I thought, “I have 30 seconds. I'd better say something brilliant before they hang up.” So I led with features, results, big client names, all the things I thought would grab their attention.

It didn’t work. Not because my pitch was bad, but because I hadn’t earned the right to give it yet.

People don’t want to be pitched. They want to be understood. They want to know why you’re calling them specifically, right now, and whether it’s worth their time to stay on the line.

Once I stopped trying to impress, I started to engage. I learned to open with context. I showed that I knew the company by mentioning a funding round they just raised, a new initiative their company launched, or a role they recently stepped into. Then, I asked a smart question, one that opened a door instead of slamming one shut.

That approach changed everything. When the first 10 seconds feel tailored, people stop bracing for the pitch and start listening for value.

2. Over-Relying on the Script

I’ve seen this play out across so many teams. The rep prints out a script, memorizes it word for word, and reads it like a customer service manual. No pauses. No personalization. No flexibility.

I used to do this too. Especially when I was new, the script gave me confidence. It felt safe, that is, until it didn’t.

The moment someone interrupted me or said something I wasn’t prepared for, I froze. The call derailed. I didn’t know how to recover, because the script didn’t give me permission to think.

That’s when I made a shift. I stopped treating the script like gospel. I started using it like a compass. Something to guide direction, not dictate every word.

I created frameworks instead, with openers that had modular parts. Objection responses that could be adapted. A structure that gave me freedom to be human, while still staying intentional.

The result? I sounded more natural. More confident. More in control. The person on the other end noticed, and they stayed on the line longer.

3. Mistaking Politeness for Pipeline

Early on, I celebrated every polite response.

“Interesting.”

“Send me more info.”

“Sounds like a good fit.”

But guess what? None of those people replied to my follow-ups. None showed up to meetings. None converted. I learned that these platitudes weren’t real signals. They were soft deflections — ways for the prospect to end the conversation without conflict.

I learned that politeness isn’t a commitment, and vague enthusiasm isn’t a pipeline. So, I started clarifying.

“When you say interesting, what stood out to you?”

“Is this something you’re actively exploring or just a general interest?”

“Would it make sense to schedule something now, or is this not a priority?”

When you start qualifying early, you stop wasting time. Your calendar gets tighter. Your pipeline gets healthier. Most importantly, your energy stays focused on real opportunities, not on chasing ghosts.

4. Panicking at Objections

Early in my career, objections scared me. A “no budget,” or “we already use someone,” or “we’re not interested” would throw me off completely. I’d feel defeated. I’d try to defend or overexplain. Worse, I would just end the call and tell myself, “They weren’t ready anyway.”

Then, I realized something: Objections aren’t rejection. They’re engagement.

If someone pushes back, it means they’re thinking. It means they heard you. They care enough to have a perspective.

So I changed my relationship with objections. I tracked them. I studied them. I wrote down every common pattern and created responses to reframe pushback. Now, when I hear an objection, I lean in with curated responses.

“Oh, that’s exactly why I’m reaching out.”

“Totally understand. Can I ask you something about that?”

“What would need to change for this to be more of a priority?”

Objections became my signal that I was getting closer, not further.

5. Talking More Than I Listen

In the beginning, I treated every call like a performance. I thought I had to drive the entire conversation, always have the next point ready, and sound confident.

Then, I realized that the more I talked, the less they did. The less they talked, the less I learned. The less I learned, the weaker my pitch became. In the end, I was pitching to assumptions, not real context.

So, I flipped it. I trained myself to ask, pause, and wait. I practiced listening to both their words and their tone. Their energy. Their timing. I used techniques like mirroring, summarizing, and layering my questions. Prospects opened up. They told me what they actually cared about. What was urgent? What was blocking them?

From there, it stopped being a pitch and started becoming a real conversation — one built on curiosity, not control.

6. Not Personalizing the Opener

I used to start every call with “How are you today?” or “Do you have 30 seconds?” And while it felt polite, it also felt … forgettable. Because, that’s what everyone says.

In cold calling, sounding like everyone else is the fastest way to get ignored. So, I stopped being generic. I started being specific. If they just hired a new CRO, I opened with that. If they announced a new partnership, I mentioned it. If they posted something on LinkedIn, I referenced it in the first line.

Personalization isn’t fluff. It’s friction removal. It shows you’ve done your homework and that this call isn’t just random. You came prepared to speak to them, not just a persona.

When you do that, people listen. Not because they owe you time. But because you’ve earned their attention.

7. Giving Up Too Soon

There was a time when every “not interested” felt like a wall. I’d thank them, hang up, and move on. I told myself, “They’re just not ready.” But in reality, I gave up too early.

Then I started treating every call, good or bad, as data. I tracked my tonality, my timing, my opener, even the time of day. I started noticing patterns.

Sometimes, a quick “no” was actually a timing issue.

Sometimes, I could re-engage the same contact two weeks later and get a yes.

Sometimes, I wasn’t even getting rejected. I was just poorly positioned.

Now, I use every no to improve the next yes. I refine the script. I test new angles. I follow up smarter, not just harder.

In cold calling, you’re not looking for approval. You’re collecting intel. If you treat every objection as insight, your strategy sharpens with every call.

Pivoting From Mistakes to Success

Let me close this with something I wish someone had told me earlier in my career. It would’ve saved me from a lot of stress, burnout, and second-guessing.

The real difference between the rep who dreads cold calling and the one who turns it into a predictable pipeline machine? It’s not experience. It’s not talent. It’s not even confidence. It’s perspective.

Cold calling isn’t punishment. It’s power.

When I saw it as a grind, it drained me. When I saw it as a numbers game, I rushed it. When I treated it like a race to quota, I burned out faster than I hit my goals. But now? I treat cold calling like a craft. It’s a skill set I keep sharpening.

Cold calling, done right, is strategic. It’s personal. It’s one of the last places in business where real human connection still happens in real time. That alone makes it valuable, and rare.

That call I mentioned earlier — the one that crushed me at the time — taught me valuable lessons. The experience showed me that rejection doesn’t define you, but rather it redirects you. I learned that connection is always more powerful than performance. And, it reminded me that if you’re willing to pause, listen, and learn, every failure becomes part of your system.

So to every SDR, AE, founder, or sales leader reading this:

Don’t just make dials, craft conversations.

Don’t just chase pipeline, build momentum.

Don’t just listen for gaps, listen for growth.

Because, cold calling isn’t just about getting the meeting. It’s about becoming the kind of rep who knows how to earn attention, build trust, and open doors that most people gave up on.

That’s what I’ve committed the last 17 years to. That’s what I teach. And if you’re serious about leveling up, just know, I’ve been where you are. I’m here to walk with you, call by call, pattern by pattern, breakthrough by breakthrough.

And, once you learn how to create that? You never look at the phone the same way again.

Sales POC: Experts Share the 5 Essential Steps for Success

Lauren Dean — Sat, 10 May 2025 01:05:21 +0100

If you’re looking for a way to show off the value of your product or service to potential customers, proof of concept (POC) in sales is a real-world method with tried-and-true results. Although I wasn’t well-versed in the subject going in, by talking to sales experts I discovered how POC can help you connect with customers, set yourself apart, and lock in that first sale.

Whether you’re selling a software, service, or product supply, the process is the same. Here, I’ll guide you through what the experts had to say when I asked how they demonstrate POC in sales and what they learned through trial and error.

The biggest takeaway? POC isn’t about securing a one-time sale. It’s about building trust, confidence, and ongoing relationships — and it’s a pivotal part of an overarching sales methodology.

Table of Contents

What is proof of concept in sales?

Importance of Sales POC

Types of Sales POC

How to Demonstrate Proof of Concept in Sales

What is proof of concept in sales?

Proof of concept (POC) is a way to demonstrate value in a real-world setting. But — as I found out firsthand — the term can be confusing because a POC will look very different depending on the life stage of your product or idea.

Say you’ve just come up with a new business concept, and you have nothing tangible yet. In that case, a POC is a chance to test your idea’s real-world potential and validate it for stakeholders.

In a sales context, though, POC is a demonstration of an offering’s value to potential customers in order to propel their purchase. (You might also hear the term “customer POC”).

Unlike a sales demo, which can be generic, a sales POC focuses on solutions specific to a client within their unique environment. The point is to allow the potential buyer to interact with the product or service before investing in it, enabling them to make a more informed decision.

Importance of Sales POC

But how does a sales POS actually translate into a sale? It’s all about lowering risks (and anxieties) on the side of the customer.

Since buying is dependent on trust, a POC ensures that what you’re selling speaks for itself. There’s no need for a prospect to trust in a rep, or even a product description, when they can gain trust in the product directly. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.

POC in sales goes further than just showcasing your product’s hypothetical value. Instead, firsthand user experience demonstrates its real-world value by solving an individualized problem, integrating into a particular context, and impacting actual results. This makes it an important step in your sales process, as you move a prospect from lead to closed customer.

Types of Sales POC

How you demonstrate POC will depend on what you’re selling, but there are two broad categories that a POC can fall into.

Limited: This type of POC offers a test or sample version of your product or service, but limits the functionality, quantity, or engagement.

This can look like a digital product with fewer features than the paid version, a service that offers a complimentary first-time experience, or a tangible product distributed as a free sample. Sometimes these are self-service (without a rep there for guidance), but in general, a POC involves communication between buyer and seller.

Pilot: A pilot offers a full version of your product but on a smaller scale.

For example, let’s say a business wants to implement your product throughout all its departments, but it seems pretty high-risk to do so. A pilot can allow the company to test it in just one department, at full scale, for a given amount of time, to ensure it’s a good fit.

While a pilot may permit greater customization, communication, and iteration, both approaches work to build credibility and trust — as well as momentum.

How to Demonstrate Proof of Concept in Sales

After learning about the underpinnings of POC in sales, I reached out to experts to ask about their experience with putting these ideas into practice. What goes into an actual POC demonstration? And how does POC fit into their overall sales strategy?

Drawing from their success stories, here’s a list of five essential steps for an impactful POC.

1. Identify client needs.

The first step to setting up a successful POC is understanding the prospective client’s specific needs and challenges.

“Proof of concept always comes down to demonstrating value how the customer defines it,” says Elisa Montanari, head of organic growth at Wrike.

“To understand their needs, you must gather data through marketing, interactions, discovery calls, and the like so you can tailor your POC in a way that makes sense and adds the most value for them. Showing how the solution works in their context sets you up for better relationships and success.”

“I prioritize learning their goals and pain points by asking the right questions during discovery,” adds Harry Morton, founder of Lower Street. “Once I have that, I create a POC to address their problems. Whether creating pilot episodes, presenting solutions, or highlighting ROI, every detail is designed to speak to them.”

My key takeaways: No matter how you go about collecting information, detailing pain points at the start ensures that what you present matches what the client needs.

2. Define success metrics and show tangible results.

Once you understand the customer’s needs, the next step is to decide how a successful POC will be defined, so that you can be sure to deliver results.

“Getting input from their key people right from the start helped us define what success looked like for the POC,” Lloyd Pilapil, founder of Pixelmojo, tells me.

“By demonstrating clear improvements in their response times and overall productivity during this phase, we not only proved that our solution worked but also showed how it could provide a strong return on investment.”

While working with a client hesitant about investing in their SEO services due to past disappointing experiences with other agencies, Shoaib Mughal, managing director of Marketix Digital, Australia, offered a focused POC that contributed to measurable sales growth.

“This success demonstrated not only the effectiveness of our methodology but also gave the client confidence in our ability to deliver on a larger scale,” says Mughal.

My key takeaways: Quantifiable solutions are an opportunity to get customers on board for the long haul.

3. Customize your POC to solve one critical problem.

Successful POC is all in the personalization. On one hand, it’s about focusing on a client’s specific needs. And on the other, it’s about tailoring your offering so it addresses only those critical needs.

Carl Jacobs, co-founder and CEO of Apicbase, describes “a classic mistake” his company made during a POC.

“We tried to show them everything Apicbase could do at once,” says Jacobs. “It didn‘t land. Instead of building excitement, we overwhelmed them. What they needed was simple: proof that we could fix their most pressing problem. And that’s exactly what got lost in our over-ambitious POC.”

“Somehow, they didn‘t lose faith in us altogether,” he continues. “So, we regrouped. This time, we focused the POC entirely on their central production unit. That was the turning point. The leadership team saw not just the improvements, but the potential to scale these results … What I learned was that it’s best to start small, solve one critical problem, and let the results do the talking.”

My key takeaways: Laser focus on a crucial need can have greater impact than trying to solve all of the customer’s problems at once.

4. Communicate throughout the POC process.

One thing that distinguishes a POC from other types of sales demos or trials is the ability for reps to be in continuous conversation with potential customers. This is an opportunity to answer questions, show how certain features add value, and also develop relationships.

At PWA Media, during a POC where the company advised a client to concentrate on a specific niche within their business, the importance of “focusing on strategy and timely communication” became clear, says content writer Rachel Hansen.

“By reducing the size of the POC to what was possible to control, and through constant communication, we gained credibility and verified our reputation,” summarizes Hansen.

CEO of Brand Ignite, Muhammad Imran Khan, agrees: “Collaboration matters. I invited constant feedback, which helped refine the direction and kept the client engaged.”

My key takeaways: Frequent check-ins are fundamental to keeping the POC process on track and establishing trusted relationships.

5. Gather feedback, assess results, and iterate.

When a POC is complete, the primary goal is to close the sale. But beyond that, a POC can provide invaluable information to guide future product iterations, as well as adapt your sales methodology.

“Post-POC, we collect and act on feedback to refine both product and sales approach,” Morten Bruun, CEO and co-founder of FlashDocs, tells me. “We treat POCs as part of an ongoing dialogue, not a one-off event, leading to better conversions.”

Similarly, Michael A. Monette, founder of Office Furniture Plus, describes for me a time early in his career when he set up a functional workspace using a sample of proposed furniture for a large-scale office redesign. “The feedback was immediate: they recognized the tangible benefits and approved the full project.”

“Going forward, I incorporated POC as a standard practice for larger projects. It refined our methodology by emphasizing personalized solutions and proactive client engagement. Whether through mock-ups, temporary setups, or detailed product trials, this hands-on approach consistently led to higher client satisfaction and repeat business,” he says.

As Harry Morton concludes, “I treat every POC as an opportunity to learn.”

My key takeaways: While closing the sale is the principal goal, it’s not the end of the process. The POC is only a jumping off point to build connections, iterate on your product, and refine your sales strategies.

Taking It into the Real World

Now that you know the inside scoop on proof of concept in sales, you’ve got a leg up on getting started yourself. And that means taking this approach into the real world. But luckily, that’s exactly what POC is all about: moving a concept off the page and proving its worth in everyday experience. By following these tips for success, you’re ready to do just that.

How to (Almost) Predict the Future With AI Financial Forecasting

Mandy Bray — Sat, 10 May 2025 01:03:12 +0100

Imagine if you could pinpoint when you’ll have the cash flow to hire another employee, or how a supply chain disruption would affect your business.

As a small business owner, I’m not a financial expert and I can’t predict the future. What I can’t learn or do myself, I automate. That’s how I started using AI for financial forecasting.

While AI in finance is useful for entrepreneurs, it’s helping companies of all sizes make more accurate predictions and better, data-based decisions. Join me as I explore the basics of AI financial forecasting and how you can test and adopt it yourself.

Table of Contents

Why Use AI for Financial Forecasting?

How to Use AI for Financial Forecasting

8 AI Financial Forecasting Tools to Try

How to Get Started With AI Financial Forecasting

Automate Forecasting for Faster, Smarter Decision-Making

Why Use AI for Financial Forecasting?

According to Gartner, 58% of finance functions are using AI in 2024, up 21% since 2023. More than a quarter of companies (28%) use AI for finance analytics, including forecasting. That number is rising fast. They’re using AI for everything from sales and demand forecasting to risk assessment to budget forecasting.

Here’s why companies are clamoring to add AI-powered financial forecasting to their toolbox.

1. Better Efficiency

AI models process data faster than humans — far faster. This speed saves time and costs from manual forecasts. Companies have reported lower operational costs and greater operational efficiency after implementing AI for finance.

“Our finance team spends 40% less time with AI forecasting compared to manual work,” reports Chunyang Shen, co-founder of Jarsy, Inc. “This saves time and leaves us with more time and effort to make key business decisions instead of doing computations.”

2. Fewer Errors

You can use AI to find anomalies and human errors in large datasets like expense reporting and invoices. One study found that machine learning models reduce forecasting errors by approximately 30% over traditional statistical approaches.

3. More Accurate Forecasts

With better data analysis, AI can create more accurate forecasts. Infosys reports that 80% of financial planning and accounting teams are now projecting more often and more accurately with AI tools.

4. More Timely, Data-Backed Decisions

Better, faster forecasts mean companies can make smarter decisions in real-time. AI can alert companies when forecasts change or key performance benchmarks are breached. That means that instead of waiting for monthly or quarterly forecasts, you can take decisive action now to reach your benchmarks.

And how do AI tools impact financial performance? Nearly 60% of companies using AI for corporate finance reported growing revenue, with 10% reporting growth of over 10%. Additionally, 31% of the same companies found that AI implementation cut costs, with 7% cutting costs by over 10%.

Limitations of AI in Financial Forecasting

AI is good at speed, scalability, and pattern identification. But it’s not without limitations. Inaccurate data inputs or not enough baseline data can result in faulty results. Then, there can always be outlier events.

“The future patterns are very useful and the algorithms can work with real-time data, but AI does not exclude all unexpected factors,” warns Shen. “Human management is still required for monitoring these factors or market fluctuations.”

How to Use AI for Financial Forecasting

All of this is exciting, but before diving in, I want to take a minute to understand how AI in financial forecasting works and how it differs from traditional forecasting.

“Historically, financial forecasting and analysis were predominantly qualitative, relying on small sample data and human expertise,” writes researcher Olubusola Odeyemi. “The methods employed were largely based on fundamental and technical analyses which involved scrutinizing financial statements and market trends to make predictions about future market behaviors.

“The advent of AI and machine learning has ushered in a new era, characterized by the processing of vast amounts of data and the application of sophisticated algorithms to uncover deeper insights and patterns,” she explains.

Welcome to the new paradigm — out with manual processes, and in with predictive intelligence.

So does AI financial forecasting work? In a nutshell, AI models use machine learning to analyze inputs from internal and external data sources to create future predictions.

Financial forecasting depends on inputs from historic and external data to produce outputs. AI models process, prioritize, and analyze financial data to help companies predict revenue, cash flow, expenses, and more. Here are the steps.

1. Data Collection

An AI model collects input from large amounts of data. This starts with your own historical financial data from costs to transaction histories to financial performance. You can also use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to connect your current sales or accounting software to AI to pull new data in real-time. The models then clean and process the data for analysis.

Some models also consider external data like stock prices, economic indicators, and social media sentiment.

2. Identifying Key Patterns

Next, the model uses feature engineering to identify the most important data points, like price trends or seasonality, to make the best predictions.

3. Choosing a Model

Based on the goal, AI financial forecasts may use different models. A time series model predicts trends over time like season sales, while deep learning models like LSTM can predict stock prices from historical data.

4. Testing and Training

The model learns from historical data, tests, and fine-tunes its model.

5. Forecasting

Now, we get to the output — the forecast. Once the model is ready, humans can prompt it to make specific predictions, set it to run at regular intervals, or send alerts if a prediction changes.

I think it’s helpful to see this in action. Here’s an example of how a forecast could look:

8 AI Financial Forecasting Tools to Try

I’ve got good news for you: You don’t have to build your own AI model to leverage AI financial forecasting.

The tools I curated below can integrate with your existing systems and analyze your financial data.

AI Financial Forecasting Tools for Small Businesses and Startups

1. Quickbooks

If you already use Quickbooks for accounting, great! No need to add a separate tool. Quickbooks apps like Fathom, LivePlan, and Clockwork can take your financial data and generate powerful cash flow and revenue predictions without messing with spreadsheets.

Quickbooks has also announced it’s adding AI forecasting features to the Quickbooks Online Advanced plan, so an upgrade could eliminate the need for a third-party app.

2. Upmetrics

If you’re a founder creating a business plan and projecting financial scenarios, Upmetrics will give you financial forecasts and a whole lot more. Built for collaboration, the tool leverages predictive analytics from historical data to anticipate future trends.

I love that the software walks you through financial planning, like identifying when you will have the cash flow to make a hire or purchase equipment.

3. Cube

Cube integrates with Google Sheets, Excel, and other systems so you can aggregate your financial data into a single source. Its AI tool can flag data anomalies, highlight variances, and even create multiple forecasts based on different scenarios.

AI Financial Forecasting Tools for Mid-Sized and Large Businesses

4. Datarails

Live in Excel? Datarails may be your sweet spot. Rather than replacing existing tools or documents, Datarails turns your Excel files into beautiful, intelligent forecasts.

One feature I like is its customizable dashboards and visualization options for reporting. Its “what-if” scenario modeling helps teams anticipate potential outcomes based on variables.

5. Vena Solutions

Vena Solutions uses AI pattern analysis and pattern recognition to analyze large financial data sets and model scenarios. Its automated forecasting frees financial teams up to focus on other activities and react quickly to real-time insights.

One feature I like is the integration of Microsoft Copilot so users can request forecasts and information with unstructured language (i.e., chat).

6. Planful Predict

Planful Predict uses machine learning to generate accurate forecasts based on historical data to identify trends and make predictions. I think scenario planning and a user-friendly database are the top benefits of the platform, along with its wide range of integrations.

Planful Predict has 1,400 pre-built connectors with software including Salesforce, Workiva, Workday, ADP, and NetSuite.

AI Financial Forecasting Tools for Enterprises

7. Anaplan

If you need the enterprise package of financial planning solutions, this is it. Anaplan integrates scenario planning, revenue planning, and headcount planning together in a complete connected planning software. Model “what if” scenarios to your heart’s content with Anaplan’s AI-powered tools.

8. IBM Planning Analytics

This software harnesses the power of IBM Watson to help finance professionals model multiple scenarios to ensure their business stays on track. One distinctive feature: IBM Planning Analytics can run several algorithms side-by-side to find the best fit.

How to Get Started With AI Financial Forecasting

If you’re bullish about the power of AI financial forecasting, slow down. I believe it’s best to take a measured approach to AI testing and implementation. So let’s see how you can take it one step at a time.

1. Set goals and priorities.

First, be sure to set clear goals for the implementation. Do you want it to save time and operational costs, or grow revenue?

Next, assess your current tech stack to determine which financial tools you already have at your disposal and which new forecasting tools could enhance those. Identify any must-haves for your product search.

2. Allocate resources.

Consider whether you have the expertise and resources in-house to start a program or whether you need to hire a consultant or data scientist.

In a Nvidia study, companies reported that their top challenges in implementing AI financial forecasting are data issues (privacy and disparate locations), AI talent shortages, and budget shortages.

“Using AI comes with its own set of hurdles, as with any tool,” says Marin Cristian-Ovidiu, CEO of Online Games, who recently adopted AI forecasting. “The initial integration into existing financial systems can be quite daunting at best and often demands a good amount of resources. There’s also a continuous requirement to update and train the AI models to keep pace with evolving market conditions.”

3. Train your team.

Shen underscores the importance of training your team for success. “Teams have to know how to properly analyze AI outputs together with qualitative data,” he shares. “I suggest introducing comptrollership skills through training sessions for corporate teams, using group education and training that merge the financial and technological teams.”

For instance, HubSpot Academy offers training for sales forecasting and analytics. I definitely recommend checking out these resources!

4. Run an AI financial forecasting pilot.

To test the waters before implementing at scale, start with a pilot. I find this true for any new technology you’re adding to your stack.

“I highly recommend starting with a more targeted approach,” says Cristian-Ovidiu. “Try to pick a specific financial aspect where AI can immediately demonstrate its value, and expand from there.”

Identify your top-priority area to test, like sales forecasting, and pilot the platform, then compare results with your traditional forecasts and actual financials. Once you’ve assessed the results and made any necessary adjustments, you can roll it out to other financial areas.

5. Learn and adjust.

Of course, just like traditional forecasting, AI forecasting isn’t perfect and can make mistakes. It’s important to set up your model and tools correctly, monitor trends, and double-check numbers when they don’t seem right or when using them to inform major decisions.

“The most effective feature was the feedback loop, where other members of the team contributed ideas that allowed for the improvement of the AI model’s outputs,” shares Shen, who led a pilot with a dozen members of Jarsy, Inc.’s team for AI financial forecasting.

“After a lot of brainstorming by our team and continuous fine-tuning, it became natural to include AI in our finance work.”

Automate Forecasting for Faster, Smarter Decision-Making

While researching for this article, I learned that AI financial forecasting has the potential to reduce human error, make predictions faster, and marry your financial data with market intelligence. Huge benefits, in my opinion.

While no tool can eliminate uncertainty, AI can reduce it significantly, helping you make data-backed decisions faster and with more confidence.

Grammarly Review – Is It Good For SEO?

Lucas Hawro — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:58:09 +0100

Before reviewing Grammarly, let’s talk about what is it? Grammarly is a technology company that helps with digital writing by detecting spelling, punctuation and grammar errors (among other things). They have a refined AI system that not only corrects spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, but can help your writing become more understandable depending on the audience. This Grammarly review will explore how useful it is in terms of a SEO perspective and whether paying the price is worth it.

Grammarly review

Who Uses Grammarly?

Grammarly can be useful not just for SEO purposes, but for many people including both native and non-native speakers of English. Those who do not regularly write in English can especially struggle, so Grammarly may be extra helpful to them. However, other people who use Grammarly can include:

Students
Bloggers
Authors
Copywriters
Workplace professionals drafting emails, reports, presentations, etc
Academics to check student plagiarism

But really, it’s for anyone who wants to write and doesn’t want writing mistakes popping up to anyone else who may read it.

What Does It Do?

As previously stated, Grammarly can detect and aid in many writing issues:

Spell Checking – their spell check tool combs through your text so you know which words you have accidentally misspelled so all mistakes can be corrected.
Grammar and Punctuation – from basic to advanced, Grammarly detects mistakes in your grammar and punctuation, then provides suggestions on how to correct them.
Writing Style – it can give insights to you by providing a readability score and highlights things based on sentence length (sentences of a similar length repeatedly made sound monotonous to readers).
Plagiarism – Grammarly uses billions of web pages on the Internet to compare yours and check for plagiarism.

Grammarly SEO copywriter

Pros of Grammarly

You may already know of Grammarly’s popularity among the online writing community and here’s a long list if reasons why:

Integrates with your browser, Microsoft Word and Google Docs
Explains your mistakes to you
Easily accessible
Free version available to those who do not need all of the tools
Dictionary included
Guides your tone and formality in writing
Checks for inconsistencies in your writing style
Calculates work usage
Attention to sentence structure
Checks for plagiarism
Vocabulary support
Automatically saves your work
Document encryption included

Cons of Grammarly

Nothing is perfect, Grammarly may have plenty of advantages, but there are still some flaws:

More expensive than other grammar checkers
Can lag when editing large pieces of text
No offline editing option
Does not always work perfectly
Cannot replace a human editor
Adaption to the tools can take a long time
Only works on the English language
No translation options like other grammar checkers

Grammarly Goals Feature

The Goals Feature

With the paid version, you are able to set writing goals which include audience, formality, domain, tone and intent. Let’s dive into what these categories mean and why they are important.

Audience – you are able to choose from general, knowledgeable or expert. Grammarly can determine the delivery of your content based on this selection. For example, there is jargon and technical terms in certain fields which experts will understand, but the general audience probably wouldn’t.
Formality – this can be informal, neutral or formal. The formality of your work could make or break your writing. Different formalities are used depending on the task, examples of work requiring different levels of formality include assignments, emails, proposals or blog posts. Certain language and words can be used when it is informal such as slang terms, but you wouldn’t find these in a professional document.
Domain – categories in this are academic, business, general, email, casual, and creative. Depending on these domains, Grammarly assesses the writing based on the rules and conventions of writing. Academic writing would strictly apply to all writing rules and conventions, whereas creative writing allows for intentional bending and stylistic flexibility of rules and conventions.
Tone – this is based on emotion and Grammarly allows you to pick multiple options in this section, such as; neutral, confident, joyful, optimistic, friendly, urgent, analytical, and respectful. This is all dependent on how you want your writing to sound as another person reads it. However, this feature is still undergoing work by Grammarly to improve suggestions.
Intent – the choices are to inform, describe, convince, and tell a story. This also allows for multiple choices by us and is still undergoing work to be improved by Grammarly, but its basic function is to set your narrative of writing.

Grammarly copywriting tool

Why is Grammarly Good For SEO?

So, we have discussed plenty of features for Grammarly, but why is it so important for SEO?

Not only is Grammarly a great tool for checking general writing mistakes, for SEO, it can:

By correcting basic mistakes, Grammarly helps you rank in Google. This is because the Google bots are getting smarter, so people who used AI generators in the past, cannot rely on this method anymore. The text must make sense now to both readers and Google and Grammarly can help review that.
The plagiarism check that Grammarly uses checks billions of web pages, some of which you may have used for research. It can sometimes be difficult to phrase a sentence and this may lead to phrasing your writing just like the research you conducted, which is counted as plagiarism. Google doesn’t like plagiarism which can only be bad for your SEO so Grammarly can help.
Grammarly uses an analysis tool to score the quality of your text. If the Grammarly bot likes the readability of the writing and you gain a higher score, it is more likely that the Google bots will also like it and have positive impact on your SEO campaign.
The cost of Grammarly is reasonable. Although the cost of Grammarly was included in our cons list, it is actually still worth it for businesses. The cost is a small expense considering how much it can aid you in SEO and eliminate costs of other tools used for plagiarism checks like Copyscape.

So, is Grammarly worth it? This has to be an unequivocal yes. The positives greatly outweigh the negatives and it helps so many people. The tool not only makes your writing life much simpler, but it can teach you how to improve your writing and gives confidence that your writing is strong before sending it off. The fact that so many of its features help with SEO campaigns, Grammarly is a strong tool. From the perspective of a SEO agency who uses Grammarly on a regular basis, I love it and I even checked this article with Grammarly!

This article was originally posted on Colorpeak: Grammarly Review – Is It Good For SEO?

How Better Visual Content Can Help You With Conversions

Lucas Hawro — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:36:29 +0000

It’s a fact that visual content helps with engaging potential customers on social media, but did you also know that brands that use videos and other visual content can help with conversions? Whether you’re just trying to get people to sign up for your newsletter, take a survey, or make a purchase, you’re probably looking for sure-fire ways to build your conversion rate. Better visual content can do just that; here’s how.

How Better Visual Content Can Help You With Conversions

First of all, your conversion rate isn’t necessarily how many of your site visitors end up buying something. If you’re trying to get people to your website, you could have any number of goals, like trying to convert a visitor into a lead (i.e. get them to request a free quote). Conversion rates are heavily tied to the effectiveness of your marketing; effective marketing can help convince a person that they need what you’re selling.

Visual content can do that in a way that words often can’t. Humans process visual images much faster than a block of words, so even though good copy is critical, you can get a lot more customers through visuals (which is one of the reasons you should spend some time creating a great logo with a free tool like Logo Creator). Couple that with more and more people spending more and more time watching videos online, and you can’t afford not to create engaging content.

Convincing you to boost your conversion rate by incorporating visuals into your marketing is easy enough, but that leaves the question of how? Here are five quick tips on creating engaging visual content for online marketing.

5 Top Tips on How Better Visual Content Can Help You With Conversions

1. Choose a consistent colour palette – Your visuals should align with the colour you choose for your logo, to create a consistent message for customers. Pay attention to the colours you choose, because colours elicit different emotions for people.

2. Practice with design apps – You’re probably not an expert on visual design, but luckily, there are free apps out there to help you. The only way you’ll get better at using them is to practice and work with them on a regular basis. You also should have a basic idea of visual design, like the Rule of Thirds.

3. Stay on your brand message – Hopefully, your business is adopting a specific voice and tone, particularly in your marketing. You might adopt a more humorous voice or a serious, scholarly voice. The actual voice doesn’t matter, but your visuals should capture that voice. You should also pay attention to keeping a consistent message to help your customers trust you.

4. Engage your customers – Creating engaging content that people want to interact with online can help build conversions for you as well. Humour is almost always a win, but it’s also important to stay on the message (see number 3). You can achieve this by being creative, incorporating animations, using stunning imagery; anything to get people to share your content and spread your message.

5. Use videos – You’ve probably heard the statistics on videos on social media, but they keep getting more popular every year, and there’s no reason to think that trend won’t continue. A helpful video to help explain your product can help convince a potential customer that they want it, which will drive them to your site and turn them into a conversion. If they don’t understand what you’re selling, why would they buy it?

Conclusion

Putting together better visual content is easier said than done, but it’s not impossible, and it can really pay dividends in converting clicks into action. Great visuals should be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy.

This article was originally posted on Colorpeak Blog: How Better Visual Content Can Help You With Conversions

How Better Visual Content Can Help You With Conversions

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:22:14 +0000

via COLORPEAK Web Design & Marketing https://colorpeak.co.uk

Tags: COLORPEAK Web Design & Marketing

Frase Review – AI for Content Writers

Lucas Hawro — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 12:39:59 +0000

FRASE TOOL REVIEW

This review of Frase was originally posted on AppSumo, and since it made it to the top 3 of the most helpful reviews, I thought it’s worth sharing here as well. Especially since it became our main copywriting tool since then.

From an SEO Agency perspective, this is truly a no-brainer. Learning about many different workflows and content optimisation techniques over the years and using several “mainstream” content-creation tools we’ve realised that – regardless of anyone’s approach – you will arrive at the same point as everyone else – content briefs, planning and research.

Frase attempts to tackle all three of them. And they’re doing an amazing job at it.

Frase interface

Frase Pros

Clean interface and no-fluff

Super intuitive and clear FAQ/Tutorials (as they should, given what the tool is for… )

I can’t see any apparent bugs and the tool looks robust – all the features I tried worked immediately

Within the first minutes of use, I already know that I will be saving 80-90% of my time on the research, planning and briefs

“Paste Brief” options – wow, just wow!

Frase Cons

I am missing Google Ads scraping. You got everything you need to add “Ads Writing Assistant” feature – I hope the developers will consider it…

Same as a current one-click option “Paste Brief”, the tool should have “Paste Content” with an adjustable keyword count, where H2-H4 headers (including Questions) are all added automatically from the brief. It would be a perfect one-click article generator ready for rewriting or spin.

Tools/workflow we’re using currently and where I see Frase replacing them:

Google (obviously…) – Frase will replace manual searches and scrapes;

Grammarly Pro – works with Frase;

CognitiveSEO – I don’t think Frase can replace that yet (CSEO is on another level);

PageOptimizerPro – same as Cognitive, not going anywhere;

Ahrefs Keyword Research – I’ll probably still use it, but Frase does a good job in providing the most relevant keywords/questions;

Keywords Everywhere/Answer the Public (for “related searches”/questions) – Frase replaces that;

Ahrefs Content Explorer (and SocialAnimal) – maybe not as good as Ahrefs but for content writing, Frase is excellent;

AutomaticScript.com – I’ll keep using it for Ads and newsletter content, I guess…

and

SEO Content Machine NEXT:
SCM’s “Article Writer” comes closest to Frase but you don’t get a brief, and the scrapes are just too overwhelming in my opinion – even with filtering, provided snippets require a lot of manual sifting through. SCMN is amazing for other SEO-things, and it’s a subscription with a desktop-only application (no cloud, no extra “seats”).

Use case:

Last Monday I was assembling content for a solar panel company and using all tools above it took me a total of 12 hours to put together a medium-size company website with additional services, silo structure and MVP-keyword research.

For fun, I’ve plugged “solar panels” to Frase’s “OpenWeb” – and right away, I can see that I could gather almost everything I need in 2-3 hours tops. That is 9-10 hours of free time I’d be getting using Frase.

If you’re doing SEO and don’t see a value in this tool – you’re either using a better alternative tool or… you’re doing something wrong – in which case I recommend you trying Frase – it might be a game-changer for you. It is for us.

Frase Review - AI for Content Writers

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 12:09:58 +0000

via COLORPEAK Web Design & Marketing https://colorpeak.co.uk

Tags: COLORPEAK Web Design & Marketing

Closed-ended question	open-ended question
Instead of: “Do you like your current vendor?”	Ask: “How has your experience been with your current vendor?”
Instead of: “Is price important to you?”	Ask: “How do you typically evaluate the ROI on investments like this?”
Instead of: “Are you ready to move forward?”	Ask: “What would need to happen for you to feel confident about moving forward?”

	Business Owner’s Policy (BOP)	General Liability Policy
Coverage	Combines general liability, property insurance, and business interruption coverage	Covers third-party bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury; that includes defamation, libel, slander, copyright infringement
Property Insurance	Yes, includes coverage for business property and equipment	Does not cover business property
Business Interruption	Yes, covers loss of income due to a covered event, such as a storm or fire	Does not cover business interruption
Customization	Can be customized with additional coverages, including professional liability, data breach, and employee dishonesty	Can be customized with endorsements for specific risks, but only relative to liability
Ideal For	Small- to medium-sized businesses looking for comprehensive coverage on many aspects of the enterprises	Businesses needing basic liability protection

	Buyer’s Journey	Customer’s Journey
Focus	Converting prospects into customers	Building loyalty after the sale
Primary Emotion	Curiosity, skepticism, excitement	Trust, satisfaction, empowerment
Stages	Awareness, Consideration, Decision	Onboarding, Adoption, Success, Advocacy
Relationship Status	Stranger to customer	Customer to advocate
Key Question	“Why should I choose this?”	“Was this the right choice for me?”
Ownership	Usually led by marketing and sales	Usually led by customer success and support
Typical Content	Educational blogs, webinars, case studies	Onboarding guides, FAQs, loyalty programs
Main Goal	Win the deal	Earn long-term loyalty and referrals
Common Pitfalls	Over-promising, unclear messaging	Under-delivering, neglecting support
Typical Metrics	Lead conversion rate, sales closed	Customer retention, churn rate, lifetime value, NPS

Debits	Credits
Increase assets	Decrease assets
Decrease liabilities	Increase liabilities
Decrease revenue	Increase revenue
Increase the balance of expense accounts	Decrease the balance of expense accounts
Decrease the balance of equity accounts	Increase the balance of equity accounts

Date	Account	Debit	Credit
7/31/24	Rent	5000
7/31/24	Accounts Payable		5000

CRM	Best For	Key Features	Pricing	Free Trial
HubSpot	Growing real estate teams seeking an all-in-one solution	Integrated marketing, sales & service hubs Customizable deal pipelines Email tracking & templates Meeting scheduler Lead scoring & automation Mobile app Website integration	Free: $0 Starter: $9/month/seat Starter Customer Platform: $9/month/seat Sales Hub Professional: $90/month/seat	Yes, 14 days
Follow Up Boss	Teams focused on lead response and conversion	Automatic lead distribution Text & email from one inbox Lead source tracking Action plans & workflows Call recording Integration with lead sources	Grow: $58/user/month (two free months included) Pro: $416/user/month (includes 10 users, additional users can be added at $41/month, two free months included) Platform: $833/user/month (includes 30 users, additional users can be added at $17/month, two free months included)	Yes, 14 days
Property Matrix	Luxury real estate & international markets	IDX website integration Multi-language support Commission tracking Marketing center Transaction management MLS integration	Custom pricing only (must request a demo for price quote information; see here)	Yes, 14 days
Monday.com	Teams wanting lead generation and CRM capabilities combined	Built-in lead generation tools AI-powered lead scoring Behavioral automation Smart campaigns Custom-branded apps Open house tools	Free CRM: $0/user/month (maximum two users) Basic CRM: $9/user/month Standard CRM: $12/user/month Pro CRM: $19/user/month Enterprise: Custom pricing only (must request a demo for price quote information; see here)	No, demo scheduling required
Real Geeks	Budget-conscious agents and small teams	Video email & texting Drip campaigns Transaction management Lead distribution Power dialer AI assistant	Establish: $399/month (includes $250 sign-up fee) Grow: $699/month (includes $250 sign-up fee) Expand: $1,199/month (includes $500 sign-up fee) Conquer: $1,799/month (includes $500 sign-up fee)	Yes, 14 days

Category	HubSpot Payments	Stripe via Commerce Hub
Support	Connect with a commerce expert for support anytime	Use existing Stripe support
Pricing Transparency	No hidden fees for billing, invoicing, or integrations	Additional fees may apply (e.g., 0.75% platform fee)
Fraud Protection	Includes fraud detection and chargeback support — 100% free	Not specified on this page
Platform Integration	Manages commerce and payment data within HubSpot’s unified platform	Uses Stripe for processing; integrates with Commerce Hub invoicing and billing
Payment Methods	Credit/debit cards, ACH Bank Transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay	Credit/debit cards, ACH, SEPA, BACs, PADs
Currencies Supported	130+ currencies	130+ currencies
Credit/Debit Fees	2.9% per transaction + 0.5% platform fee	Stripe’s standard fees + 0.75% platform fee
ACH Fees	0.8% capped at $10 + 0.5% platform fee (also capped at $10)	Stripe’s ACH fees + 0.75% platform fee
Availability	Any Starter, Professional, and Enterprise Hubs	Any Free, Starter, Professional, and Enterprise Hubs
Promotions	No platform fee for 60 days (limited time offer)	Not mentioned

Plan	Monthly Cost (Annual)	Core Seats Included	Deal Tags	Sales Automation	Onboarding Fee
Free Tools	$0	2 seats	N/A	N/A	None
Sales Hub Starter	$9/seat (annual) or $15/seat (monthly)	Per user	10 deal tags per account that apply to all pipelines	Trigger tasks and email notifications when deals change stage	None
Sales Hub Professional	$90/seat (annual) or $100/seat (monthly)	Per user	10 deal tags per account with rules for specific pipelines	Up to 300 fully customizable workflows	$1,500
Sales Hub Enterprise	$150/seat	Per user	10 deal tags per account with rules for specific pipelines	Up to 1,000 fully customizable workflows	$3,500

Feature	Free Tools	Starter	Professional	Enterprise
Deal Pipelines	1	2	Unlimited	Unlimited
Calling Minutes	None	500	3,000	12,000
Email Templates	3	5,000	5,000	5,000
Documents	5 per account	5,000 per account	5,000 per account	5,000 per account
Sales Automation	None	Basic	Advanced workflows	Advanced + quote approvals
Custom Reporting	None	None	100	500
Forecasting	None	None	Default and custom forecasting	Default and custom forecasting (with recurring revenue)
Sequences	None	None	5,000 per account and up to 500 email sends/user/day	5,000 per account and up to 1,000 email sends/user/day
Custom Objects	None	None	None	Available
Permissions & Team Hierarchy	None	None	Basic Teams	Advanced Roles

B2B Sales mix

97 key sales statistics to help you sell smarter in 2025

Sales Prospecting Statistics

Sales Follow-Up Statistics

Sales Closing Statistics

Inside Sales Stats

Sales Email Statistics

Sales Call Statistics

Sales Performance Statistics

Inside the world of AI BDRs — can AI replace human business development representatives?

What is an AI business development representative?

How AI BDRs Work

Can AI BDRs replace human reps?

Why hire an AI BDR?

1. They take over the manual tasks (so your team can actually sell).

2. They enhance client conversations by making reps smarter.

3. They never forget to follow up.

4. They scale what humans can’t.

26 professional voicemail greetings to help you record the perfect one [+ expert tips]

What to Say in a Voicemail Greeting

Work Voicemail Greetings

1. Sales Results Voicemail Example

2. Email Option Voicemail Example

3. Alternative Contact Voicemail Message

4. Parental Leave Voicemail Script

5. Resignation Voicemail Message

Short Voicemail Greetings

6. Short Sales Voicemail Greeting

7. Short Voicemail Script with Requested Reason

8. Short Classic Voicemail Greeting for Landlines

9. Short Classic Voicemail Message for Cell Phones

Business Voicemail Greetings

10. Front Office Voicemail Script

11. Customer Service Voicemail Script

12. Business Hours Voicemail Message

13. “For More Information” Voicemail Script

14. Sales Team Voicemail Greeting

15. Promise to Get Back Voicemail Greeting

Vacation Voicemail Greetings

16. Classic Vacation Voicemail Greeting

17. Adventurous Vacation Voicemail Message

18. Short Vacation Voicemail Script

The most helpful AI agents for small businesses, according to business owners

How Small Businesses Can Use AI Agents

1. Supporting Customers Better

2. Marketing the Business

3. Handling Parts of the Sales Process

4. Managing Financial Processes

Best AI Agents for Small Business

1. Breeze by HubSpot

2. Jasper AI

3. Intuit Assist for QuickBooks

4. Lyro by Tidio

5. Microsoft Copilot for Small Business

Build Your Own Agents

Distribution Channels

Types of Distribution Strategy

1. Intensive Distribution Strategy

2. Selective Distribution Strategy

3. Exclusive Distribution Strategy

4. Direct Distribution Strategy

Selecting the Right Strategy

Internal Considerations

Market Considerations

Product Considerations

Distribution Strategy Examples

1. Dawn Dish Soap: Intensive Distribution Strategy

2. Jeni’s Ice Cream: Selective Distribution Strategy

3. Local Pet-Sitting Service: Exclusive Distribution Strategy

The cold calling framework every rep needs to beat the summer sales slump

Why Cold Calling Is So Challenging

The Cold Call Framework That Actually Works

1. Open with “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

2. Deliver a tight elevator pitch.

3. Handle objections and repeat the ask.

The Three Critical Elements of Successful Cold Calling

1. Embrace scripts (even if you hate them).

2. Master the objection flywheel.

3. Adopt an authentic tone.

The mindset shift: You're not there to make friends.

4. “What team’s budget would this tool fall within?”