COVID-19 has shaken up every aspect of our lives over the past few weeks.  And sales conversations are not immune.  The Corona Virus has been mentioned in 34% of Gong’s own sales calls in the past four weeks:  * Includes sales development, new business, and post-sales teams As a result, there’s been an increase in […]

60-something years ago, sales was a very different game.  Back then, salesmen – I mean salespeople (glad that’s changed) – would button up their best suits, court prospective clients in-person with bone-in steaks, and discuss business over a handful of dirty martinis.  Back then, the customer was always right, and calling them “sir” or “ma’am” was the norm. Fast forward to […]

There’s no shortage of sales tips online. In fact, Google returns 1,370,000,000 results when you search “sales tips”. Yeah. That’s 1.37 BILLION articles. Some of those results are Gong’s articles, and what sets them apart is our focus on data-backed sales tips. Toss anecdotes and opinions out the window and let data tell the REAL […]

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 […]