Insights on conversations that matter
Research-backed articles on the sales and leadership behaviours that separate top performers from the rest — grounded in data, not theory.
Latest Articles
You Can't Read Your Way Into a New Mindset
New HBR research says mindset, not skill, is what holds leaders back as AI speeds things up. The authors' last step for changing one is practice, and it is the step most leaders never get the chance to take before the conversation counts.
Recording the Call Isn't Coaching the Call
Conversation intelligence solved a real problem and solved it well. It is just not the problem most sales teams have. Managers can usually name exactly what their rep does wrong, and it happens again anyway, because the correction arrives three days after the moment it was needed.
Most AI Rollouts Die on the Tuesday After the Demo
The technology is almost never the reason a tool goes unused. Fit is, and it fails in three specific ways: friction you pay for every single time, a why that was explained to the company rather than to the person, and a starting point set for the team you want instead of the one you have.
The Hook Matters More Than Your Pitch
A hook is not rapport, not a pain question, not a case study. It is the specific cost of doing nothing, named by the buyer in their own words. The three things reps mistake for one, the question that finds it, and why the score turns on whose mouth it came out of.
Yes, You Could Build This. Here's What Happens in Month Four.
An LLM can roleplay a prospect in a weekend, and the demo will be genuinely impressive. Then you ask it to score the same transcript twice and get two different numbers. Why a stable score is a test suite rather than a prompt — and the question to ask before you build.
If You Have to Close Hard, You Skipped a Floor
"Always Be Closing" had the right goal and the wrong execution. The hard close isn't a skill — it's a symptom of skipped discovery, and in bigger deals it makes you close less, not more.
Reading About Frameworks Doesn't Build Muscle Memory. This Does.
Everyone on your team can name the framework. Under pressure, almost nobody uses it. The knowing-doing gap, the forgetting curve, and why deliberate practice — not another workshop — is the only thing that closes them.
Why Car Buyers Ghost After the Test Drive
"I'll come back with my spouse this weekend" feels like a soft yes. It's a deal that already slipped — and a faster follow-up call will not bring it back. Cox Automotive, J.D. Power, and NADA on the real fix: a booked second visit with the co-buyer, set on the lot.
How to Handle Sales Objections Without Feeling Manipulative
The scripted rebuttal wins the point and loses the deal. APPA (Acknowledge, Probe, Prove, Advance), why Kahneman and Cialdini say acknowledgment beats the comeback, and the four objections every rep hears, handled without the fight.
Discovery Questions That Actually Work
Most discovery is an interrogation with a friendly voice. Schein's Humble Inquiry, the Curiosity Quotient's three dimensions, and ten discovery questions ranked by depth, from surface to the stake that moves the deal.
How to Give Feedback That Actually Changes Behaviour
Most feedback is too vague to act on or too blunt to hear. The BID model (Behaviour, Impact, Desired outcome), the difference between being nice and being kind, and a one-sentence template you can use this week.
Coaching the Top Quartile: What the Best Managers Do With Their Strongest Reports
Most coaching content is built for getting the middle 60% to engage. The top 20% needs a structurally different motion: calibrate to the next edge, provoke instead of probe, reflect the pattern back. Plus five questions to ask this quarter.
Why Wealth Clients Ghost After the Discovery Meeting
Most advisors blame the prospect when the second meeting never happens. Vanguard's Advisor's Alpha and Morningstar's behaviour-gap research explain why discovery is the deal — and the recommendation is the receipt.
The Premature Pitch Is Killing Your Close Rate
Most reps pitch after two or three discovery questions. Top performers wait until the prospect names the cost of doing nothing. SPIN, Huthwaite, and Gong on what changes when they do — plus five questions that find the Hook.
The Expert Trap: Why Managers Give Advice Instead of Coaching
Most managers fall into it within the first two minutes of a one-on-one. The advice is fast, confident, and well-intentioned — and it ends the coaching. Edgar Schein's Humble Inquiry shows the way out, plus four questions you can use this week.
Why Your Sales Team Gets Ghosted After "I'll Think About It"
"I'll think about it" feels like an objection. It isn't. It's a symptom of a missing close-plan — and the fix isn't a better follow-up cadence. Research from Gartner, Forrester, and HBR points to a Mutually Agreed Plan, secured before the call ends.
Coaching Is Your Most Underutilized Revenue Lever
The data from Gallup, McKinsey, Deloitte, and HBR has been available for years. Organizations that close the gap between knowing and doing will outperform the ones still running annual workshops.