Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

Most value propositions stink. They’re boring, generic, feature-heavy garbage that make buyers’ eyes glaze over. And the worst part? Most salespeople don’t even realize their value proposition messaging is hurting them. On this week’s Sales Gravy Podcast, Lisa Dennis breaks down her process for building value propositions that actually work—the kind that grab buyers by the heart and don’t let go. But before we get to the solution, let’s talk about why most value propositions fail miserably. Reason #1: You’re Talking About Yourself, Not Them Here’s the fundamental problem with 90% of value propositions: They’re all about you. “We’re the industry leader with cutting-edge technology and award-winning customer service that delivers best-in-class solutions…” Blah, blah, blah.  Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of your prospect mentally checking out. Here’s a hard truth about human nature: Nobody cares about you. They care about themselves. Every buyer wants to talk about their problems, their challeng

John Buehler from Jacksonville asks: "How do you maintain the consistency and intensity with prospecting? I find myself doing these sprints to get momentum, but struggle to keep that momentum going for long, sustained periods of time." John's question gets to the heart of one of the most significant challenges in sales: maintaining disciplined, consistent, daily prospecting over the long haul. It's a challenge that plagues even experienced sales professionals. In this Ask Jeb article and Sales Gravy Podcast I dig into why this happens and how to fix it. The Prospecting Paradox Prospecting is the lifeblood of sales success, yet it's the activity most salespeople hate and avoid. This creates a dangerous pattern I call the "desperation rollercoaster" - a cycle that wreaks havoc on your results, your mental health, and ultimately your career. Here's how it works: You prospect hard for a while, fill your pipeline, and start closing deals. Life is good. Then you get busy servicing those new clients and tell you

On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Looking at the final scoreboard, his five-stroke victory seemed like total domination. But I was there on the ground, and what I saw wasn't domination. It was something far more valuable for you as a sales professional and has everything to do with success. What I witnessed was a master class in mental resilience. And in this Sales Gravy podcast and article, I'm going to break down exactly how Scheffler's approach to adversity can transform your sales results. The Brutal Grind Quail Hollow is beautiful, but make no mistake—this course has teeth. It chewed up and spit out many of the world's best golfers without an ounce of remorse. Just ask Bryson DeChambeau, who on Saturday watched his lead evaporate on the "Green Mile" – the brutal final three holes of the course. Or ask Jon Rahm, who briefly held the lead on Sunday before plummeting to eighth place after getting absolutely bitten by those same closing holes. If you just looked at Sch

Sales is a trust game. Always has been; always will be.  It’s not about features, price points, or flashy presentations. It’s about conviction. And conviction is born from trust: deep, unshakable trust across four critical fronts.  Ignore even one, and you’re leaving deals on the table. The First Deal You Close Every Day is YOU Before you ever make a cold call, send an email, or walk into a meeting, you’ve got to sell you to you.  Self-doubt is a silent killer. It creeps in, erodes confidence, and betrays you in your voice, your body language, and that split second when you hesitate to ask for the close. Top performers don’t have fewer fears—they just trust themselves to push through them. They build self-trust the hard way: doing the reps, facing objections, pushing through rejection until they're bulletproof. Self-trust isn’t optional. It’s the launchpad for everything else you do. Trust in Your Product If you don't believe in what you're selling, neither will your prospect. Prospects can smell when y

Brian Kemski wants to know how to stop prospects from ghosting him. He asks a question that plagues salespeople everywhere: "What can I do about prospects who go through the process, seem interested, and then disappear into the witness protection program after I give them my information?" If you've been in sales for more than a week, you know exactly what Brian is talking about. You have a great discovery call, you build rapport, you send over your proposal or pricing...and suddenly—radio silence. The prospect ghosts you, leaving you frantically checking your email every five minutes and wondering what the hell happened. In this Ask Jeb episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast I'm going to teach you how to prevent it. You Gave Away Your Leverage for Free During our conversation, I asked Brian to consider what he'd do if I offered him $100 to go get me a Big Mac. He wasn't interested. When I upped it to $200, he started considering it. At $500, he was ready to make the trip. Why? Because at $500, the value exchange

Your quota doesn't take a summer vacation, so your pipeline-building efforts can't afford to either. This is a reality check. Summer is coming fast, and if you don’t get your pipeline positioned for success now, you’ll be scrambling come mid-July. The summer sales slowdown is a documented phenomenon across almost every industry. According to data from HubSpot, prospecting response rates can drop by as much as 25% between June and August.  Appointment conversion rates decline by similar percentages. And overall deal velocity—how quickly opportunities move through your pipeline—slows dramatically during this period. Why does this happen? It's simple: Decision-makers take vacations. Buying committees become fragmented with staggered time off. Business momentum slows as organizations shift to a summer mindset. And you are distracted with the pool, the beach, your kids, and fun travel.  Salespeople Wait Until it is Too Late That’s reality. Now, here's the brutal truth. Each summer salespeople make the

Here’s a hard truth most salespeople never hear: The most dangerous thing you can do is think like an employee. On this week’s episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, business consultant for entrepreneurs David Neagle says: “You've got to see yourself above the place that you actually want to accomplish.” The highest-earning reps? They think like owners. They take responsibility for their number, their mindset, and their mission. They don’t wait for leads to be handed to them or settle for “good enough.” They build a pipeline like a business, because it is.  So whether you run a company or just run your territory, these lessons from a successful entrepreneur will harden your mindset and help you sell with more purpose, more urgency, and more grit. Making Money Isn’t Hard. You need to come around to a simple idea: Making money isn’t the hard part. Getting over your mental baggage about making money is infinitely more difficult. Most salespeople riding the feast-or-famine rollercoaster find themselves desperate

Tyler Goss, from Tampa, has two critical sales questions: 1) How do we achieve those "crazy" prospecting numbers I talk about in my books? 2) When should a lead become a pipeline opportunity? In this podcast, I break down these answers in plain English. When to Create a Deal: Finding the Sweet Spot There's no shortage of opinions on when to create a deal in your CRM. Some sales leaders will tell you to create a deal before you even make the first call (ridiculous). Others won't let you create one until the contract is practically signed (equally absurd). Here's my take: Both extremes are problematic. You need a pipeline that gives you meaningful data. Here's how we handle this at Sales Gravy: For Inbound Leads: We categorize inbound leads into three distinct groups: 1. List Leads These are people who sign up for our newsletter or download basic resources where we only ask for a name and email address. They're joining our community, and while some might become customers down the road, they're not pipeline op

During a practice round at a major golf tournament recently, one of the players hit an exceptionally beautiful shot. A fan in the gallery exclaimed, "Man, I wish I could hit a shot like that!" The player walked over to the fan and said, tongue-in-cheek, "No, you don't." The fan looked confused. "What do you mean?" The player replied, "You don't want to hit a shot like that because that means hitting a thousand balls a day, every day, for the next 20 years. That's what it takes to hit a shot like that." And that's true for pretty much everything you want to accomplish life—whether it's playing golf, the piano, selling, investing, or mastering AI. If you want to be elite, you have to do a lot of repetitions of the same thing to reach the top.  Adopt The Mamba Mentality You've got to practice constantly. And this is what a lot of people miss. See, the truth is you can have anything in life you want—pretty much within reason—as long as you're willing to do the boring work. You know what separates Warren Buffe

Here's the brutal truth: Self-awareness is the ultimate sales skill. We obsess over skills like closing techniques, objection handling, and prospecting cadence. But self-awareness is the real make-or-break. Self-awareness is the lever that separates ethical, high-performance sellers from out-of-touch order takers. If you’re not self-aware, you’re leaving money on the table and damaging trust. Sales Without Self-Awareness is a Wrecking Ball Let’s get honest. Lack of self-awareness is a deal-killer. It’s what causes reps to: Over-talk and under-listen Project their objections onto the buyer Miss subtle cues because they’re too focused on a static script Push when they should pause This isn’t just a skill gap—it’s a blind spot. When you don’t know how best to connect with your prospect because you’re not listening—that’s a dangerous place to sell from. Self-awareness is your internal compass. Without it, you can’t navigate objections, establish trust, or conduct a real discovery conversation. You ca

If you're doing any kind of cold calling or prospecting, you'll eventually hear this objection: "I'm in a meeting right now." Paul Wise, a heavy cold caller from Normandy, France, targets product managers at software companies and says that nine times out of ten when he gets a decision-maker on the phone, they claim to be "in a meeting." Three Ways to Handle the "I'm in a Meeting" Prospecting Objection As I explained to Paul, how you respond in that moment can make or break your opportunity to move forward. First, let's acknowledge something important: If someone is genuinely in the middle of an important meeting, they typically don't answer calls from unknown numbers. The fact that they picked up your call suggests they might not be as unavailable as they claim. That said, they might be between meetings, heading into a meeting, or simply using this as a brush-off technique. Regardless of their true situation, you need an objection handling strategy. Based on my conversation with Paul, here are three effec

Self-talk, what you say to yourself internally, manifests itself in your outward attitude and actions. As any elite athlete will tell you, the mental games you play with yourself between your ears will make or break you. When all things are equal, mindset is one thing that separates winners and losers. This is one of the reasons that I love golf so much. Once you understand the basic mechanics of the golf swing the only thing that really matters is mindset. On every shot your ability to focus, calm your mind, and remain mentally disciplined is the thin line between brilliance and disaster. Allow the wrong thoughts to creep in and before you know it you’ve shanked your shot into a water hazard.  You Become What You Think In golf and in sales, you cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought.  Self-talk is crazy powerful. You become what you think. When you expect to win, you’ll win far more often than the person who believes they are going to lose. When you learn how to block out negative thoughts and inpu

Let’s kill the myth: sales coaching isn’t just for newbies or underperformers.  It’s for closers, leaders, and the ones who want more—more pipeline, more wins, more control over their career. If you're in sales, you need coaching. Period. This isn’t feel-good fluff. Sales is a performance sport. Every high-performance athlete has a coach, and every inspiring performer has a mentor for a reason. Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs a coach. From the elite to the desperate, everyone can benefit from guidance. 1. The Desperate: The Bottom 20% You know who you are. You’re missing quota—again. Every call feels heavier, your confidence is tanking, and you’re out of answers. Here’s the truth: you don’t need more time—you need better habits, tighter processes, and someone to call out your excuses. You need guidance. Sales coaching forces you to stop guessing and start fixing. A good coach will rip the blinders off: Are you dodging the phones? Are you hesitating at the close? Are you talking too much and listenin

Kyle, a field sales rep from British Columbia, is struggling with a common prospecting challenge: how to consistently prospect when you're constantly on the move. Kyle's situation likely resonates with many of you in outside sales. He described his typical day—starting at job sites at 7:30 AM, running between appointments, sending proposals from his truck, and working from Starbucks in between meetings. Sound familiar? He had read my book, Fanatical Prospecting, where I advocate for dedicated time blocks for prospecting. But Kyle's reality made traditional time blocking nearly impossible. So what's a field rep to do? What follows is the advice I gave Kyle, cleaned up and expanded so every field seller, territory manager, and outside sales road warrior can put it to work—right now. Focus on Activity Count, Not Time Blocks If you're in Kyle's shoes (or truck), here's my advice: Stop obsessing over time and start focusing on activity counts. Instead of trying to carve out a rigid one- or two-hour block, set a d

On this Money Monday, we're going back to Augusta where Rory McIlroy finally won The Masters and in doing so gave us 5 lessons for chasing and achieving dreams. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean. It was gritty, emotional, and one of the most unforgettable moments in sports history.  Rory stepped onto the first tee looking calm, focused. Like a man who’d been here before, and this time, was ready to finish it. He was 12-under. Two shots clear. It was his tournament to lose. Then it unraveled almost immediately. A loose drive. Bad bounce. Scrambled recovery. Double bogey. That kind of start can break a player, especially at Augusta National, especially when the stakes are this high. But this year would be different. Here are five lessons we can learn from Rory Mcllroy's journey to immortality at the Masters: Lesson #1: Pressure Doesn’t Break You—It Reveals You That double bogey on the first hole could’ve crushed him. It has crushed players before. It’s crushed him before. But this time, Rory leaned into the

You crushed your quota. Commission check hits the account.  Your first instinct? Celebrate! You earned it, right? Not quite. You’ve earned a reward, sure. But if every check disappears faster than a cold call prospect can hang up the phone, then you’re just renting a lifestyle. Here’s the truth: Top sales pros don’t just sell like professionals—they manage their money like professionals. They know the high of a commission check can’t replace long-term financial freedom. I’ve got the financial low-down. 1. Don’t Spend It All in One Place—Or All at Once When a big check hits, it’s tempting to splurge. New watch. Fancy dinner. Extra drinks on you. But here’s the catch: commission highs come and go. Quarters fluctuate. Markets shift. Now more than ever, you can’t treat every paycheck like a lottery win. Try this instead: Split your check. A solid money rule: 50% to lifestyle, 30% to savings/investments, 20% to debt. Set auto-transfers. Remove temptation. Have a percentage automatically move to savings

Ross from Houston faces a common challenge in channel sales: how do you create brand preference for your product when you’re selling through distributors who carry multiple competing lines and competitors who undercut your price? His company builds industrial dust-collection equipment and ducting, but they don’t sell direct—meaning they rely heavily on distributors, contractors, and engineers to choose their brand over cheaper alternatives. Below, you’ll find key insights on how to drive more “pull-through” sales to your channel partners and convince every stakeholder—from designers to installers—to pick your product. Why Pull-Through in Channel Sales Matters When you sell through distribution, you lose a lot of direct control. Your product is on the shelf (literally or figuratively) alongside competitors, and the distributor or contractor can often steer buyers toward any brand they choose. Pull-through happens when the end user, contractor, or engineer specifically requests your brand—making your distribut

There is a big challenge in today’s marketplace that’s popping up left and right for sales professionals—Decision Deferment Objections. If you’re running into stakeholders who say, “Let’s just hold off a bit,” “We need more time,” or “We want to wait until the market settles,” then we're going to dive into why this is happening and, more importantly, how you can handle these sales objections with confidence and skill. Turbulent Times Breed Buyer Fear The market is swinging like a pendulum on steroids, and it’s making everyone skittish. You’ve got tariffs, trade wars, and a spike in economic uncertainty. Buyers read The Wall Street Journal or check their news feeds, and the headlines scream “Turmoil!” They panic. So they defer decisions, walk away from deals, or play the “wait and see” game. Decision deferment objections are a natural consequence of fear. People want to avoid making the wrong move. It’s easier to hit the pause button than to commit to something they’re not 100% sure about. That fear, in man

Everybody wants the hacks. The quick fix. The shiny new tool. The LinkedIn post that magically draws leads like moths to a flame. But let me give it to you straight: Sales isn’t won with hacks. It’s won with habits. And the habits that win are the ones most reps abandon the minute things get uncomfortable or boring. If you’re not hitting your number, it’s probably not because you need better leads, better tech, or better timing. It’s because you’ve drifted from the basics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnoVAopK8U The Fancy Stuff Is Failing You We see it all the time—salespeople hiding behind automation tools, social selling gimmicks, and relationship-building fluff. They talk a big game on Zoom, but when it’s time to dial the phone or ask for the sale, they freeze like a deer in headlights. Let’s call this what it is: avoidance. You’re avoiding real sales conversations because they’re uncomfortable. You’re hoping your sequence will “nurture” your prospect into buying without you having to actually s

Steve from Portland, Oregon, faces and an all-too-common consultative selling dilemma: how to sell to prospects who claim they already know everything, have already “done the research” and question what value he can bring. In this Ask Jeb episode we break down what true consultative selling entails, how to detach from “always be closing,” and why being a genuine expert is more vital now than ever. From Information Scarcity to Information Overload Not long ago, salespeople had the upper hand simply by having more data or insight than their prospects. Today, everyone has a blog, video, or TikTok to help them “figure it out.” This can leave a buyer believing, “I know just as much as you—so why should I trust your approach?” That’s where consultative selling comes in, but only if you do it right. Consultative selling isn’t about showing off your expertise. It’s about guiding the customer to understand the real nature of their problem—often one they didn’t fully realize or that’s more complex than they initially