Some deals aren't worth winning. That customer you knew you should have walked away from? They're still costing you. A bad fit doesn't just kill your margins, they crush your soul at the same time. When you know who you're for, you also know who you're not for.

It's an arms race for access, and as the tech advances, so do the obstacles placed between our prospective clients and us. Going to your network is a massively underutilized way to grow your book of business. 89% of customers would be willing to provide a referral if asked, but only about 10% of sales reps are willing to ask. Choose your hard.

You've excavated what your best people actually do. You've validated it with your best customers. Most companies never get this far. But you have. Now what? Without integration, the knowledge stays in a slide deck. That's not transformation. That's a workshop.

If I asked 100 salespeople why their best customers buy from them, 5 would actually know, 15 would guess correctly, and 80 would be completely shocked by the real answer. Everything is an assumption until you meet reality. Here's how to stop guessing and start knowing.

The best salespeople do things that many others don’t, but few can actually explain what those things are. It takes work to excavate these differentiators, and you need to go 2-3 levels deeper than you think you do. You know you're still on the surface when your differentiators sound like "relationships," "trust," and "we really care." Those aren't wrong, but they're not different. Here's how to excavate what's underneath.

The biggest problem in sales isn't effort. It's knowing when your effort is actually enough. In 2008, I discovered a simple point system that transformed how I approached sales. By tracking four key activities with a weekly point goal of 25, I tripled my territory revenue in 17 months while cutting my work hours in half. That's a 9x return. The system helped me focus on leading indicators—prospecting, scheduling meetings, meaningful conversations, and getting commitments—instead of obsessing over lagging indicators like revenue. More importantly, it gave me peace of mind. I finally knew when "enough was enough," which let me stop spinning my wheels and start actually growing. Whether you're carrying a bag or leading a team, this scorable sales system can help you measure what matters and know exactly when your efforts are sufficient to drive results.

Most companies struggle to articulate what makes them different. They talk about "white-glove service" and "deep expertise"—things their competitors also claim. When everyone says the same thing, no one says anything. The solution isn't just knowing your value proposition; it's being hyper-specific about it. And there's a cheat code most people ignore: writing. When you're forced to put words in black and white for someone outside your business, you can't hide behind shared context or assumptions. You have to be precise. That's where real clarity happens.

Most salespeople think it's inevitable—they'll have to discount near the end to close the deal. They plan their concessions instead of laying proper groundwork upfront. But here's what that assumption costs you: margin, leverage, and customer trust. The best negotiation is no negotiation at all. When you build an airtight business case from the start, you rarely need to make concessions. And when discussions do happen, you hold all the cards.

Most mid-market B2B companies have a couple of reps who consistently crush it. But getting anyone else to that level? Nearly impossible. Here's why it's not a people problem—it's more systemic.

Adopting new skills and frameworks feels uncomfortable because real change requires you to become unrecognizable for a while. Welcome to the goo stage.

Working with an LLM isn't just helpful—it's transformative. Here's why arguing with Claude has made me a better thinker.

I used to sell with a guy who would say, "Jeff I can sell our product in 2 1/2 hours. The problem is I only get it 5 minutes at a time."

It was an important dose of perspective to a young seller like myself.

I was standing in an operating room with someone who had been a surgeon longer than I had been alive.

He turned around and asked me, "What am I supposed to do now?"

I see a lot of reps rush through their delivery as soon as they get the chance.

It could be on a cold call when somebody answers. It could be during discovery when you feel like you have too much to talk about in a short period of time.

"Jeff, can I sell something I don't love?"

Of course, you can make a good living doing it, too, but you won't be able to do your best work.

Another year is in the books.

Personally and professionally, my year had some significant peaks and valleys. I learned a lot and gained a lot of clarity as we go into the next year.

With my Sunday message falling on Christmas Eve this year, it feels like the perfect opportunity to tell one of my favorite stories about magic and belief.

It gets even more difficult when you feel like you need to lean into something that isn't aligned with your own talents. That's like swimming upstream with one hand tied behind your back.

The world opens up when you recognize that you get to define your own greatness.

Last weekend in Nashville, my wife and I were waited on by an aspiring musician. After chatting, we checked some of her music out on Spotify, and the streaming data didn't seem to match the talent. She looks the part, her music is well-produced, and it sounds like something you could hear if you turned on the radio and landed on any of a handful of stations.

Something has come up a few times over the past week, and I didn't expect it- longevity.

A lot of sellers are moving around trying to advance their career, and I absolutely advocate that you find the right spot for yourself, because you'll never do your best work if you're not in the right position with the right company.