Sorry! My bad! Forgive me!  These “apology” words and phrases are all too common on sales calls. Salespeople apologize All. The. Time. We (salespeople) apologize for reaching out, being late, and “taking up valuable time.” We even apologize for our product/service and pricing! Apologizing is rampant amongst sales professionals with 57% of sales calls contain ANY form of […]

My hands were sweating again. Of all the things I expected from this sales meeting, an “easy win” was not one of them. I spent six months working on a deal with four tough senior managers. Each of them voiced a flurry of objections at every turn. And now I had my shot with the […]

Social proof can be one of your most powerful sales techniques. If used the right way. Many of the top sales methodologies include its use at some phase or another. But unfortunately, it’s often misapplied. And when it’s misapplied, it creates some formidable sales objections that you’ll need to handle. Let me walk you through […]

In the Gong Labs series, we publish what we learn from analyzing sales conversations with AI. Subscribe here to read upcoming research. Everything that follows is true. As far as I know. There was once a regional sales manager—a rising star in her company. Everyone knew she was destined to be crowned VP Sales. One of her […]

In the Gong Labs series, we publish what we learn from analyzing sales conversations with AI. Follow me to read upcoming research. I’m not a natural salesperson. I had to learn to sell manually. And I’m going to tell you about the time I went from good to great in sales. It happened in July 2014 during a one-on-one with […]

In the Gong Labs series, we publish what we learn from analyzing sales conversations with AI. Subscribe here to read upcoming research.   The words “list price” signal that your price is wobbly and movable. They telegraph that you have a fat margin with more than enough room to negotiate. When these words pass your lips, you’re practically begging your buyer to […]

“Can I pencil you in for next week?” I was wrapping up a sales meeting with a new account. Even though they seemed interested, they were hurrying to get off the call. They all had other meetings to get to, and I was holding them up. “Sure,” said my main contact, feeling rushed. “Send me an […]

Highly successful salespeople deploy tiny persuasive language techniques to sell more. Some of these techniques are so subtle, they’re barely perceptible: Like using “I” or “we” language at the right time. It’s a small switch, but these two first-person language types create completely different dynamics in your sales conversation. When you predominantly use “we” language (referring to your company rather than […]

I have some bad news — by the time you try those slick closing techniques you read about online, it’ll be too late. Your deal’s fate will already have been sealed. The actions you take earlier in the sales process define your outcome. Not even the fanciest closing technique can change that. Imagine an asteroid on a collision […]