"I Fix Problems"
When Insight Sells Better Than Pressure
The Official Podcast of Salesman Summer was back to it’s usual line up on Sunday, with myself and TheLionGlass broadcasting live on X - and this was easily the most actionable and insightful information we’ve dropped in a long while.
This email is sent out every Monday to cover key points from the Official Salesman Summer live chat. We discussed cold calling, the B2B and ‘info product’ industry and absolutely smashed the myth that sales (and life) is about waiting for opportunities to fall into your lap. You have to go out and earn them.
We also fielded a compelling question from a live listener in our Q&A. You can catch the Official Salesman Summer Space here if you haven’t already.
Product Knowledge, Product Knowledge, Product Knowledge
LionGlass and I opened the episode with one of our favorite myth-busting topics- whilst sales skills are important, the highest earners will always be those who know the most about their product and industry. It’s that simple. The kind of deep, real insight which provides value to buyers will beat out the latest ‘closing technique’ 100% of the time.
“If you know what you’re talking about, you can show up late to a call, with no camera, no slides, and still close. Because you have something they want, and you understand it better than they do.”
The above quote neatly captures what most sales training misses. Whilst it’s great to have a professionally written slide deck and an elevator pitch you’ve practiced a thousand times, someone who simply knows more than you is always going to be able to sweep in and take the deal from under your feet.
Why? Because legitimate knowledge builds trust.
This is why I’m always very very cautious when someone tries to ‘one shot close’ me - whilst there are legitimate reasons for an organization to use a one shot close system, all too often the rep is simply trying to tie you down and get your money before you speak to someone who understands your pain better and actually knows what they’re talking about!
I shared a couple of examples of this in action from my own career.
A 7-figure earner I worked with in the tech industry was a genuine expert in Kubernetes and cloud systems. He’d simply walk in the office wearing a Batman t-shirt covered in donut dust and start talking about the mistakes the prospect’s IT crew were making and how he’d fix it, and what would happen if it wasn’t fixed. He wasn’t a slick presenter.
He probably has no idea what a ‘5-Step Pitch’ or MEDDICC System is. He just knows his stuff better than anyone else in the country.
When I myself entered the roofing and solar industry I quickly discovered a gap in the training we were given - every rep knew everything about the product (panels or insulation foam) but knew nothing about roof construction. I spent weeks watching YouTube videos of roofers and soon learnt the lingo, so I was able to talk to prospects in the language of a roof expert rather than an insulation salesman.
I became the top seller in the biggest company in the UK in my second month on the job.
LionGlass described his approach as being like Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction – the fixer. The guy who shows up calm, unbothered, and immediately starts laying out what needs to happen next. That persona wins because it lowers resistance and boosts confidence in the same breath. Everyone just picks up that they should do exactly what this guy says, and fast.
Closing with Insight, not with Pressure
I’ve heard this story before, and I’m always delighted to hear it again.
The energy industry (where LionGlass became the sales leader he is today) is probably the most competitive industry in the world, and salesman are always looking for a foot in the door with a prospective buyer.
Early in the Ukraine war energy buyers where very keen to know how and why the conflict would affect electricity prices and so LG saw an opportunity to deliver true value to clients. There was a missile strike on a critical metal-processing facility in Ukrane, and that same metal was being used for nuclear reactor maintenance in France. LG then instructed his team to start contacting potential clients and ask for an opportunity to give a presentation on how this event would affect the energy spend of their particular company.
Prospects were keen to find out more - anything - about this fast-moving situation. So when LG and his team showed up and delivered a genuinely expert insight… buyers where practically begging to become clients before their energy costs spiraled out of control.
No ‘hard sell’ needed.
“I didn’t try to sell urgency. I just explained what was happening. The urgency was obvious.”
That’s the difference between selling with pressure, and selling with urgency.
You don’t need to artificially insert pressure if the facts already lead the prospect to it.
I shared how I pitch prospective clients in a similar way at my marketing agency; once I know they’re qualified I simply invite them and their team to a custom proposal pitch.
I walk them through exactly what my agency will do for them. Bottlenecks we identified, how we’d overcome them, how we’ll build their brand. Every idea and how it will be executed, step by step. This presentation alone is probably worth thousands of dollars to them - but I provide it with no obligation.
Then we get to the end and I simply say
“So do you want to do that yourself, or have us do it for you?”
It’s hard to say no to a process which already feels like it’s well underway.
Selling Info Products, from the Ground Up
We had a great listener question this week from a guy who’s built an amazing product; a full instructional process to help prospective professional pilots pass their exams. And get this- 100% of the people who’ve tried it out have passed with ‘flying’ (excuse me) colours.
A great product with great outcomes, but he wasn’t sure how to sell it.
LionGlass and I broke it down for him live, and this applies to anyone trying to get a new info brand off the ground:
Lead with proof
You’re a new face and nobody knows your logo. So come out the gates swinging with testimonials and make the success rate front and center. There’s your headline.
Be specific about the value
How is this product different from anything else on the market? Lead with full clarity on your USP and make sure anyone reading your sales page can answer that question.
Use both sides of the marketing engine
Go digital - cold traffic via ads and email, all leading to a show-stopping sales funnel. But don’t forget about the analog - get on the phone and forge real-world partnerships with industry experts who can recommend your product, and set up an attractive affiliate scheme to encourage them to do so.
The truth here is that ‘info products’ are no different to any other product.
They still need to be positioned properly. They still need to lead with proof to earn trust.
And if you can make it easy for fans of your product to evangelize it for you… they will.
Gatekeepers: Still Human
We got talking about cold calls next, and LionGlass gave us all a proper clinic on getting past gatekeepers (i.e. receptionists and other professionals employed to screen calls and make sure their boss doesn’t get pitched by reps!).
This isn’t about silly tricks but rather confidence mixed with good tonality.
I really encourage you to listen to this section on the recording - and make sure you take notes.
In summary, LionGlass gave us these two highly actionable openers both of which are designed to give the gatekeeper the impression that you already know the prospect, and they’d be making a huge mistake by not letting you through to them.
I also gave my own advice on how to get information out of gatekeepers during the information gathering section of a pre-sale process. In some industries this is crucial and can save you months of chasing a deal that was never there in the first place.
The key is sounding like a human, not a closer. The minute you sound like a rep, their guard goes up. But if you sound calm, friendly, and semi-familiar? They start giving you things they don’t give to the others.
I really can’t do this justice in a newsletter format - so make sure you give this episode a listen with the link on top of this page.
Outbound: a Salesman’s First Love
This cold call chat led to a wider discussion on outbound sales, and this is an important part to listen to if you think that you can build a career in this profession without knowing how to Smile & Dial when you need to.
“No B2B director cares that you sold some info products through Instagram DMs. But if you’ve survived outbound in a hard market? They’ll hire you.”
To some, unfortunately, this is a controversial statement.
But it’s true.
And regardless of your CV, there’s something special about spending a few years as an outbound specialist. You get tough. You learn to handle silence, rejection, objections, and stalls. You become better at qualifying fast and disqualifying faster.
The paradox here is that the better you get at outbound, the better you’ll be at inbound.
There’s nothing wrong with being a pure ‘closer’ relying on inbound leads. If you’re making 15k a month closing for a fitness offer with Zoom calls magically landing in your calendar, never having made a cold call in your life, you may think that those grinding away on the phones with a corporate B2B role are chumps.
And maybe you’re right.
But when the market moves - and it is moving at a rapid pace - don’t complain when you get left behind.
“If you can get good outbound, you’re never out of a job. That’s why I still rate outbound over everything.”
True Grit
As usual we finished with a focus on mindset.
Last time out we discussed Teddy Roosevelt and choosing ‘the hard way’ and we recapped this on Sunday. Because after all - if you can’t choose discomfort when you’re safe, how will you stay composed when you’re not?
Train your brain to accept discomfort without flinching.
Unpleasant cold showers aren’t a meme, they really work. The cold shower, the extra pushup, the delayed dopamine, the slightly awkward conversation you’d rather avoid.
All of these make you not just a better salesperson but a better person altogether.
LionGlass put it best:
“Building your mindset is like the moth pushing out of the cocoon. If you helped the moth out of the cocoon, it would be too weak to ever fly. That struggle is where the muscle builds. Don’t rob yourself of that by taking the shortcut.”
In other words - choose the hard way.
Take the stairs.
Make sure you join me and The Lion Glass every Sunday for the Live Sales Space - set a reminder on your phone - and look forward to a new Sales Letter from me every Monday, right into your inbox.
If you’d like even more sales advice from some of the UK’s top closers, access to a sales and lifestyle academy, opportunities for regular exclusive Q&As and the chance to make life changing connections in a supportive community of salespeople and business owners; feel free to join us in The LionsDen by clicking here
Thanks for reading.
Love to you all,
The Sales Bull x