For my first 16 years in tech sales, I averaged 240K/year W2 income. In my last 4 years, I averaged 720K/year. In order to triple my income, I had to change my sales approach entirely. Here's what I changed: I started using a new approach that I now call Yo-yo selling: 🪀 Yo-yo selling emphasizes starting at the executive level, conducting thorough discovery within the organization, and then returning to the executive with a tailored business case. Like holding a yo-yo, you are constantly in communication with the Executive Sponsor and updating them as you collect information and conduct deep discovery lower down in their organization. You are literally going up and down the organization, but always taking everything back to the Executive Sponsor to surface your findings along the way. Here's a breakdown of the framework: 🎯 𝐈𝐚𝐧 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐤’𝐬 “𝐘𝐨-𝐘𝐨 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠” 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 This strategy involves a three-step process: 1. Start at the Top (Executive Engagement) Initiate contact with a senior executive to understand their most pressing challenges, the reasons behind the need for change, and the consequences of inaction. If your solution aligns with their needs, secure their sponsorship for further discovery within their organization. To secure the Executive Meetings, it's essential to create a tailored POV (point of view) on where you think you may be able to help them based on your initial research of their highest level goals and priorities. Chat GPT has made this research a LOT faster now. 2. Conduct In-Depth Discovery (Middle Management) Engage with department heads and key stakeholders to uncover the day-to-day challenges they face. Focus on understanding their processes, pain points, and the implications of current inefficiencies. Gather direct quotes and insights to build a comprehensive view of the organization's needs. 3. Return to the Executive (Present Findings) Compile the insights gathered into an executive summary and business case. Present this to the executive sponsor, highlighting how your solution addresses the identified challenges. Tailor your demonstration to focus solely on relevant aspects that solve their specific problems. 🚀 Why It Works 1. Accelerates Sales Cycles: Engaging executives early ensures alignment and expedites decision-making. 2. Builds Credibility: Demonstrates a deep understanding of the organization's challenges and showcases a tailored solution. 3. Facilitates Internal Buy-In: By involving various stakeholders, you ensure that the solution meets the needs of all parties, increasing the likelihood of adoption. I'm pleased to share that that Yo-yo selling was recently awarded as a Top 15 Sales Tactic of All Time by 30 Minutes to President's Club, and I received a cool plaque for entering the 30MPC Hall of Fame. Since I have no chance of entering the Hall of Fame for my baseball or golf game, this is a nice consolation prize 😁
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It’s humbling: 17 years in sales, $44M+ in B2B deals closed… and I still get ghosted after pouring 40 hours into a pitch. 2 months ago, I sat down with my leadership team and told them: our sales process is broken. Currently: → A “quick chat” turns into 3 Zoom calls. → Weeks of back-and-forth email threads. → Too many proposals that go nowhere. By the time we finally send over pricing, they've either: • Ghosted • Picked someone else • Forgot why they reached out in the first place As much as I hate to admit it, many of our deals at @Incepteo still undergo this process. So, we're making a significant change: Productizing our services. Yes, I know it's a huge buzzword – but here's what we're planning to do: 1) Make it easier for the client to say “yes” People buy when they are excited. People buy when they trust you. They don't buy when they have to wait 2 weeks to understand what they're getting. Imagine if the only way to book a flight was to: → Call the airline → Explain where you're going → Wait 3 days → Then get a quote No one would fly. But, that's exactly what the typical service business' sales process looks like. Proposals (quotes) take hours for us to prepare AND prevent buyers from quickly accessing the information they need. If someone’s interested in working with us, we want to show them exactly what we do and why it works in minutes. To do that, we'll… 2) Build online estimators for our core offers Not every client needs something 'totally unique.' In reality: → 80% of what we do is repeatable → 20% is custom (but can still live inside a well-defined package) So, we're building an online estimator that help prospects get: • A transparent price range • A ballpark timeline • An overview of deliverables This information comes in a few clicks on our website. No calls or weeks of waiting needed. We’ll still add human oversight before onboarding, but this reduces lead time drastically. 3) Communicate the “how” (not just the “what”) Even with clear pricing and timeline, there's still a trust gap. They still need to know: • Why we’re different • What our values are • How we actually deliver the work. Otherwise, we’re just another AI solutions firm with a nice landing page. Clients buy on outcomes AND the process. Now that we've reduced repetitive discovery calls, we can use that time to connect deeply on values and vision. We'll share our 'how' across our website, leadership content, and direct messaging. If prospects can’t tell us apart from 3 other firms charging wildly different rates—that’s on us. It's our job to visualize the invisible. Productizing services makes the buying experience better for you and your customer. • Shorter sales cycles • Less ghosting • Better-fit clients who are aligned with how we work Clarity → confidence → conversions. We're still building our estimation system, but the early signs are promising. Curious to hear your feedback on productizing in the comments.
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I was ready to quit. My startup was flatlining. Sales were a rollercoaster—one month we were celebrating, the next we were scrambling to make payroll. Then, everything changed. We discovered a systematic sales approach that transformed our struggling venture into a thriving powerhouse. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: ↳ It wasn’t flashy. ↳ It wasn’t revolutionary. ↳ It was just consistent, measurable, and repeatable. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝘁: 1️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 We defined our ideal customer profile and launched targeted campaigns. 2️⃣ 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 We built a scoring system to prioritize high-value leads. 3️⃣ 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 We created templates for every touchpoint—cold emails, follow-ups, you name it. 4️⃣ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 We developed a framework to uncover customer pain points. 5️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 We standardized our pitch decks and demo scripts. 6️⃣ 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 We set clear guidelines for discounts and terms. 7️⃣ 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 We implemented a smooth handoff process to customer success. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀? ↳ 37% shorter sales cycles ↳ 52% higher conversion rates ↳ 215% revenue growth YoY ↳ 28% lower customer acquisition costs But the real win? Predictability. We could forecast with accuracy, scale efficiently, and sleep at night knowing we had a repeatable path to success. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱: Consistency > Charisma Data > Gut Feelings Process > Luck This systematic approach didn’t just save our startup—it became our competitive advantage. 👉 Want to transform your sales? Stay tuned for the launch of “The B2B Sales Playbook”—a step-by-step guide to building a scalable, predictable revenue engine. P.S. What’s your biggest sales challenge? Drop it in the comments, and let’s brainstorm how a systematic approach could help. #SalesTransformation #StartupGrowth #B2BSales
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If my CEO asked me to bring $1000 MRR by tomorrow 5PM, here’s exactly how I’d do it. No fluff. No theory. Just actions that actually move the needle. First, the math: $1000 MRR = 5 deals at $200/month. Or 10 deals at $100/month. Assuming: 20% close rate after conversation 10% reply rate on first touch 30% pickup rate on cold calls I need about 400 multichannel touches to be safe. Not impossible. But no time to waste. Here’s the plan: 1️⃣ List Building (3 hours max): → Define ICP: SaaS founders with 5–50 employees, $500k–$5M ARR → Pull 300–500 contacts using Linkedin Sales Navigator or Clay → Verify emails via lemlist or NeverBounce by ZoomInfo - Enrich phone numbers using Lusha or lemlist No random contacts. Only high buying-intent people. 2️⃣ Offer Crafting (1 hour): The message is simple: “Hey [FirstName], noticed [specific pain point]. Helping [similar companies] fix this with [outcome]. Can show you in 5 mins if you want.” No links. No PDFs. No decks. Just a conversation starter. 3️⃣ Channel Strategy: Forget cold emails alone. Go full speed on: → LinkedIn DMs → Cold calls → Cold emails (only if no reply elsewhere) Tools: lemlist (for multichannel outreach and automation) Pipedrive or HubSpot (to track conversations) The goal before noon: 150 LinkedIn DMs 100 cold calls 150 cold emails Personalize the first line. Automate the follow-ups. 4️⃣ Execution: 8AM–12PM: Prospect 12PM–1PM: Lunch + quick reply check 1PM–5PM: Qualification calls + Closing Speed-to-call is king. If someone replies, call them within 5 minutes. Book same-day meetings. Not “next week.” 5️⃣ Pitch Framework: Ask: “What’s your #1 priority today around [pain]?” Then pitch: “Here’s how we solve it. Here’s the price. You can start today. Want to see it live?” Simple. Direct. No overtalking. 6️⃣ Closing: Send Stripe link,Docusign, or PandaDoc quote on the call. Push for same-day signature. If they say “let me think,” ask: “What’s missing for you to decide today?” 7️⃣ Follow-up (4PM): Use manual LinkedIn voice notes for high touch follow-up. One follow-up nudge can close the deal. In short: 400 touches → 25 conversations → 5 closed deals → $1000 MRR. All inside 24 hours. Speed wins. Volume wins. Clarity wins. If you had to bring $1000 MRR by tomorrow, how would you approach it?
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When I started coaching an SMB AE, he was a quota ghost—5 months straight, barely cracking 25% close rates. His company could have fired him. Instead they brought me in We tore into 1:1s, call replays, deal autopsies. By month 7, he was closing 60% of his demos and got promoted to Sr. AE. Here’s the 5-step gut-punch playbook we used to turn his sales around: 1/ Kill the Product Hype: He’d lead with ‘Let me give you a walkthrough of [product]’—and lose them in 5 minutes. We flipped it: ‘Out of [all the problems mentioned], whats #1 on your list to solve in next 90 days?’ Discovery became the star; the product waited its turn. 2/ Name the Bleed, Then Bandage It: He’d rattle off features like a spec sheet. I taught him how to alley-oop it to the feature. Example: "You said [PROBLEM] is killing you—here’s how we stop it." Pain-first hooks them; solutions seal it. 3/ Drop the Commission Chase: He’d oversell every deal, gunning for the fattest paycheck. We flipped it: "This solves your headache—nothing more, nothing less." Honesty built trust, and deals started closing faster. 4/ Cut to the Chase: His demos dragged with fluff—prospects checked out. We slashed the word salads, hit their pain point in 3 minutes: Example: "This is why you’re here; here’s the fix." Speed won them over. 5/ Sell the Win, Not the Widget: He’d geek out on feature details—felt like a CS onboarding call. We reframed it around solving the prospects problems in the shortest period of time. Example: "Here’s how this gets you [GOAL] faster." He stopped being a demo monkey. SMB reps have the chops—they just need the right lens.
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The most underrated sales tactic? Speed. I remember losing a deal back in June last year. They were completely right. I fucked up. It really stung. I was taking days to get back to the customer when they wanted to move in hours. You need to move at the speed of the customer. I realized most buyers are speed shoppers, not price shoppers. The price just needs to make sense—but most people aren't looking to nickel and dime. They're looking for a good product at a fair value that can solve their problem… QUICKLY. So why was I so slow? I had a good reason—I was preparing the answer or figuring it out. But where I went wrong was in 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. I used to wait until I had the perfect answer before responding to clients. Big mistake. I've been on both ends, and I’ve noticed the best salespeople are fantastic communicators. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝: • A quick “I’ll look into this” beats radio silence • Even “I don’t know, but let me get back to you” builds trust • Aim for a response within 12 hours • Speed and consistency builds trust 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦: • Set clear response time expectations • Create template responses for common scenarios • Respond quickly and keep the other party in the loop! The hard truth: maintaining quick response times is more challenging than most realize. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. How quickly do you get back to emails?
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