There’s another part of the “we’ll just build it with Claude” conversation that feels pretty familiar.
We’ve seen versions of this before.
When tools like Outreach and Salesloft came along, they were built around a pretty specific problem.
They went deep on it.
Then the bigger platforms looked a...
I’ve been thinking about the challenge a lot of SaaS sellers are hearing:
“We’ll just build it with Claude.”
One tactic I’ve seen work well* is getting the actual practitioner into the buying conversation early. First call if you can.
Because the buyer and the practitioner are often looking at this ver...
Several years ago I was working with a team of smart outbounders.
They had already mastered efficient research before I got there. This was pre-AI.
One of them, Holly Dunne, was a first-time BDR at the time.Â
She had already developed specific search criteria that served up:
- Whether the compan...
Leaders often think a playbook is a resource library.
A good playbook deliberately removes choice.
It tells reps:
- who to pursue
- what signals matter
- what problems to lead with
- what constitutes qualification
- what happens next
Creativity happens inside those constraints.
You think you have a champion. But have you tested them to be sure?
They like you.
They answer your emails.
They said the demo went well.
Great.
You have a point of contact.
Not necessarily a champion.
A real champion:
- Has a reason to get the problem solved
- Has enough influence to move th...
Many years ago, my neighbor watched me do a very dumb thing.
She waited four hours before pointing it out.
Her name was Marie, and she enjoyed busting my chops.
I was building a garden bed. I borrowed her truck, filled it with a yard of soil and shoveled all the dirt onto my driveway.
Then I sho...
Your sales process is perfectly designed...
...to produce exactly the results you're getting.
Before I recommend changes, I study how a sales team actually works.
A common conversation goes something like this:
"Our reps always..."
...demo too early.
...discount too quickly.
...qualify poorly.
The...
The fastest way to become an average salesperson is to copy great salespeople.
That probably sounds backwards.
After all, isn't that how we learn?
Only partly.
What most people copy are the tactics.
They copy the cold call opening.
The email structure.
The discovery questions.
The AI prompt.
What...
The biggest mistake companies make about culture?
They think culture is something that happens.
Hire good people.
Treat them well.
Have capable leaders.
Culture will take care of itself.
I've never found that to be true.
Recently I had the privilege of keynoting Luxor Workspaces' company summit o...
Most companies don't need a better ICP.
They need a better "Hell No" list.
I see sales teams spend a lot of time debating who they should target.
Very few spend time documenting who they should avoid.
A fast way to improve outbound performance isn't always finding more prospects.
It's stopping ...
AI First may actually mean AI F*cked.
…if you don’t know what the f*ck you’re doing.
Here’s the problem:
Expecting technology, even the smartest technology we’ve ever built, to compensate for weak strategy and poor planning only amplifies weak strategy and poor planning.
AI is powerful. But it s...
Every growing company eventually creates its own language.
And that’s usually when communication starts slowing down.
A simple way to keep your business moving at top speed as it scales is to invent as few acronyms as possible.
Yes, some acronyms are fine.
Use the industry-standard ones everyone...
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