I had a video call with a vendor last week, and within the first 30 seconds, I knew this wasn’t going to go well. The salesperson was sitting in what appeared to be his hotel room, wearing a hoodie, with an unmade bed visible in the background. When I asked him what he wanted to discuss, he said, “I just wanted to touch base and see how things were going.”

No agenda. No preparation. No reason for me to invest my time. I ended the call after five minutes, and I guarantee he logged it in his CRM as a “customer contact.” What he actually did was waste both of our time and ensure I’ll never take another call from him. This isn’t an isolated incident. I see salespeople diminish their own importance every single day, and many of them don’t even realize they’re doing it.

The Generational Disconnect on Professionalism

Here’s where things get interesting: There’s a massive generational divide on what constitutes “professional” in sales. Many younger salespeople have been told that formality is outdated, that “authenticity” means being casual, and that Millennial and Gen-Z buyers prefer a relaxed approach.

That’s partially true, and it’s also dangerously misleading.

Yes, younger buyers are less formal than previous generations. But there’s a huge difference between “less formal” and “unprofessional.” Modern buyers value authenticity and genuine connection, but they also value competence, preparation, and respect for their time. Looking like you just rolled out of bed doesn’t communicate authenticity. It communicates that this meeting isn’t important to you – so why should it be important to them?

How Salespeople Kill Their Own Importance

Here are the most common ways I see salespeople undermining themselves:

1. Appearance – Yes, It Still Matters

When I started in sales, the philosophy was “dress one notch better than your customers.” I always had a jacket and tie available. I might remove them for certain calls, but I started with them. Today’s standard has dropped from “casual” to downright sloppy. When I bring this up, salespeople protest: “My customers wouldn’t like it if I dressed better!” Really? You’re positioning yourself as a business resource, but you think looking professional would offend them?

Here’s the updated standard: Dress in a way that shows this meeting matters to you. For most business settings, that means a well-pressed shirt and professional attire – whether you’re on video or in person. Show that you put thought into your appearance because you put thought into everything you do for this customer.  You’re not doing your laundry or slopping the hogs, you’re selling.

2. Going in Empty-Handed (or Screen-Sharing Nothing)

I’ve always carried a briefcase or at minimum a professional padfolio with relevant materials. Some salespeople say, “I don’t want to intimidate my customer with a briefcase.” That’s ridiculous. Your customer knows you’re a salesperson. Going in prepared with materials that facilitate the conversation isn’t intimidating – it’s professional.

The modern version of this is screen-sharing during video calls. If you’re going to share your screen, have something prepared to share. Don’t fumble through files trying to find something relevant while your prospect watches you search (ask me how I learned this one).

Use AI tools to help you prepare. Before a call, use Claude or similar tools to research the prospect’s industry, recent news about their company, and relevant trends. Have that information organized and ready to reference.

3. The Word “Just”

“I was just calling to check in…”

“I just wanted to see if…”

“Just” disempowers everything that comes after it. It signals that what you’re about to say isn’t really important. Stop using “just.” Be direct. “I’m calling because…” “I wanted to discuss…” Your time and your customer’s time are valuable. Communicate like you believe that.

4. The “Stop By” Instead of the Appointment

“Stopping by” is not professional selling. It’s hoping someone has time to talk to you because you didn’t plan well enough to schedule an appointment. An appointment is a commitment to meet at a specific time and place to discuss a specific topic. It shows respect for your time and theirs. It signals that something important is going to happen.

Stop-bys fill CRM stats. Appointments move the Buyer’s Journey forward.

5. Agenda-Free Sales Calls

Every sales call should have an objective. We covered this in a recent article, but it bears repeating: “I’m just checking in” is a waste of everyone’s time. Your customers are busy. A call with no purpose signals nothing important is happening. And if nothing important is happening, why should they take your future calls?

Before every call, ask yourself: What do I want to accomplish? Then prepare accordingly – and yes, use AI to help you research and prepare questions.

What Modern Professionalism Looks Like

Here’s what younger buyers actually want: They want salespeople who respect their time, come prepared with relevant information, and conduct themselves like professionals. They don’t care if you’re wearing a three-piece suit. But they do care if you look like this meeting matters to you.

They don’t need formal language. But they do need you to be clear and direct about why you’re there. They appreciate authenticity. But authenticity doesn’t mean unprepared or casual to the point of unprofessional.

The bar hasn’t been lowered – it’s shifted. Professional today means:

• Being prepared (use the tools available to you, including AI)
• Having a clear purpose for every interaction
• Respecting their time
• Looking like you take your role seriously
• Communicating with confidence, not apology

Why Salespeople Undermine Themselves

All of these behaviors – the sloppy appearance, the “just stopping by,” the agenda-free calls – have their root in shame about being a salesperson.  This is also the reason for wishy-washy job titles like “Business Development,” “Territory Manager,” and the like.

There’s no reason to be ashamed. Selling is a profession that’s both proud and incredibly important. Professional salespeople help customers make successful buying decisions. They provide expertise, insights, and solutions.

But only if they act like professionals.

Making Yourself Important

Ask yourself: What signals am I sending that my sales calls are important? And what signals am I sending that they’re not? Your appearance, your preparation, your language, your approach – all of these communicate whether this interaction matters.

Make it matter. Dress professionally. Come prepared. Have an agenda. Use the tools available to you – including AI – to do your homework before the call. Your prospects will notice the difference. And so will your results.

Because when you treat your sales calls as important, your customers will too.

“Sales is a numbers game.”

You’ve heard it a thousand times. Probably said it yourself. It’s become one of those accepted truths in sales that people repeat without thinking about what it actually means. And like most accepted truths, it’s only partially correct.

Yes, sales involves numbers. Yes, you need activity. But calling it a “numbers game” is dangerously incomplete thinking that leads salespeople to waste massive amounts of time on low-quality activity that produces mediocre results. Here’s the reality: Sales is an equation, not a game.  And here’s the equation:

Quantity of activity multiplied by quality of activity equals results.

Notice the word “multiplied.” That’s critical. It’s not addition – it’s multiplication. You can make a hundred prospecting calls, but if the quality of those calls is poor, you’re multiplying your effort by a fraction. A hundred calls times 0.2 quality gives you the equivalent of twenty good calls.

Conversely, if you make fifty calls with excellent execution, you’re multiplying by a higher number. Fifty calls times 0.8 quality gives you the equivalent of forty high-quality interactions. Same time investment. Dramatically different results.

When people dismiss sales as a “numbers game,” they focus only on the quantity side of the equation. They’ll tell you to make more calls, send more emails, reach out to more prospects. And when that doesn’t work, they’ll tell you to do even more of it.  Heck, you may even tell yourself that sometimes! That’s like telling someone to dig faster when they’re digging in the wrong spot.

What Quality Actually Means

Quality in sales isn’t some vague concept about being “good” at your job. It’s specific. It means properly executing the five steps of navigating the Buyer’s Journey.

Step One: Motivation. Creating or highlighting dissatisfaction with the status quo and helping the buyer envision a better future state. If your prospecting calls don’t accomplish this, you’re just making noise.

Step Two: Investigation. Asking comprehensive, customer-centric questions to help the buyer define their needs and priorities. If you’re doing surface-level qualifying instead of deep investigation, you’re missing 80% of what determines whether you’ll win the sale.

Step Three: Solution. Presenting a customized solution that directly addresses what you discovered in Investigation. If you’re giving generic presentations that ignore what the buyer told you, quality is zero.

Step Four: Evaluation. Providing clear, confident pricing and terms that allow the buyer to assess value. If you’re babbling before stating your price or afraid to talk money, you’re sabotaging yourself.

Step Five: Decision. Asking for the business when you’ve properly executed the previous four steps. If you’re not asking, all the previous work was wasted.

This is what quality means. Proper execution of these steps. Not charm, not personality, not even product knowledge – though those things help. Quality is navigating the Buyer’s Journey effectively.

What the “Numbers Game” Lacks

The problem with the “numbers game” mentality is that it encourages volume without regard to execution. Make a hundred cold calls where you fail to create motivation? You’ve burned through a hundred prospects who now associate your company with annoying interruptions.

Send a thousand emails that don’t address specific buyer needs? You’ve trained a thousand prospects to delete your messages.  HINT:  Don’t send cold emails at all these days.  Even the best email gets deleted and gets you blocked as a spammer.

Give fifty presentations that ignore what buyers told you in Investigation? You’ve wasted your time and theirs.

High quantity with low quality doesn’t just produce poor results – it actively damages your reputation and future opportunities.

The Multiplication Effect

Here’s where the equation gets interesting: When you improve quality, results don’t increase arithmetically – they increase exponentially.

A salesperson making fifty calls per day with 0.3 quality execution is getting the equivalent of fifteen quality interactions. That’s their baseline.

Improve their execution to 0.6 quality, and suddenly they’re getting thirty quality interactions – double the results with the same activity level.

Improve to 0.8 quality, and they’re getting forty quality interactions – nearly triple the original results.

Same number of calls. Same time investment. Dramatically different outcomes.  This is why focusing on quality multiplies your results while focusing only on quantity adds to them.

The Investigation Phase Is Everything in the Buyer’s Journey!

If there’s one step where quality matters most, it’s Investigation. This is where 80% of your chance to win or lose the sale is determined. Comprehensive, customer-centric questioning that helps the buyer define their needs and vision of success – that’s the difference between winning and losing. Between being seen as a salesperson and being seen as a person of value.

You can’t make up for poor Investigation with a great presentation. You can’t overcome shallow questioning with aggressive closing. If you don’t correctly capture, interpret, and understand the buyer’s needs in this phase, nothing else matters. The “numbers game” crowd will tell you to rush through this phase to get to more prospects. That’s exactly backwards. Invest the time. Ask the questions. Do the Investigation right. Then multiply those results across your activity.

Going Forward

Stop thinking about sales as a numbers game. Start thinking about it as an equation. Yes, you need quantity. Activity matters. You can’t succeed by making five perfect calls per week. But you also can’t succeed by making a hundred terrible calls per day. The equation is quantity times quality. Both matter. Both multiply each other.

Focus on executing the five steps of the Buyer’s Journey with every prospect. Create real motivation. Conduct thorough investigation. Present customized solutions. Provide clear evaluation. Ask for the decision.

Do that consistently, and you’ll discover something the “numbers game” crowd never figures out: Quality doesn’t just improve results – it multiplies them. That’s not a game. That’s mathematics.

Let me be clear from the start: I’m not anti-AI. I use it. I appreciate what it can do when deployed intelligently. I’m tech-forward and believe artificial intelligence has legitimate applications that can make businesses more efficient and effective.

But we’ve already hit the tipping point of overuse, and the consequences are starting to show up everywhere.

Does it Really Make You More Productive?

A recent Harvard Business Review study revealed something startling: even as more companies implement AI-driven processes, 95% see no increase in productivity. Think about that. Companies are investing heavily in AI tools, reorganizing workflows around them, and training employees to use them – yet productivity remains flat or actually declines.  When you factor in their investment, they’re actually losing money.

The culprit? What researchers call “workslop” – AI-generated content that fills pages but says nothing meaningful. Or worse, says inaccurate things with complete confidence.

Deloitte just had to refund a significant portion of a $440,000 government contract because their report contained numerous AI-fabricated citations. Someone – likely multiple people – reviewed that report before delivery. Nobody caught the fabrications because nobody actually vetted the AI’s work.

That’s the core problem we’re facing: people are treating AI as a replacement for human judgment rather than a tool that requires human oversight.

AI as Your Brilliant Intern

From the start, I’ve advocated thinking about AI the way I think about a brilliant intern: high IQ, multiple degrees, access to vast amounts of information – but zero street smarts and no real-world experience.

You wouldn’t hand a critical project to an intern and assume the output was correct without review. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening with AI across industries. People are accepting AI-generated work as finished product rather than first draft that requires human refinement and verification.

The intern needs supervision. They need context. They need someone with judgment and experience to review their work, identify the gaps, catch the errors, and add the nuance that only comes from actually understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.

AI is no different. It’s a powerful tool for research, initial drafts, data analysis, and pattern recognition. But it requires human intelligence to deploy artificial intelligence effectively.

AI Suspicion – It’s Real.

I’m seeing another dynamic emerging that should concern every business leader: AI suspicion.

Watch any remarkable video on social media and within seconds, you’ll see comments saying “That’s AI.” Sometimes they’re right. Sometimes they’re wrong. But the suspicion is real and growing.

I recently saw a post from an executive coach whose daughter wrote a college paper entirely herself. It scored 70% AI-generated on the professor’s detection tool. The professor’s policy? Anything over 50% gets a zero.

Her daughter spent two days trying to “dumb down” her writing to game the detector. Let that sink in – a college student learning to write worse to avoid being falsely accused of using AI.

This is what happens when we outsource evaluation to algorithms. The detection tools don’t actually detect AI – they detect patterns associated with AI, which often means clear, well-structured writing gets flagged while actual AI-generated garbage slips through because it’s been prompted to “sound more human.”  Remember – AI is an information aggregator, first and foremost.  If the “AI Detector” decides that most college writing is junk, then the student who turns in something that’s not junk gets penalized.

The same dynamic is playing out in business. Authentic human work is getting dismissed as AI while AI-generated content is accepted as authentic. We’re creating a world where people are incentivized to produce lower-quality work to avoid suspicion.

What Your  Empowered Buyers Actually Want

Here’s what this means for business relationships: your customers and prospects are developing sophisticated detection skills for AI-generated content. They can tell when they’re reading generic, AI-produced responses to their inquiries. They can hear the lag in AI phone calls. They recognize template-based outreach that’s been “personalized” by inserting their name and company.

And increasingly, they’re making buying decisions based on whether they feel like they’re dealing with a real person who understands their situation or an automated system that’s trying to appear human.

Today’s empowered buyers – especially younger, tech-savvy decision-makers – have grown up surrounded by AI and automation. They’re not impressed by it. They’re suspicious of it. What impresses them is authentic human expertise, genuine understanding of their challenges, and real intellectual curiosity about their business.  Gen-Z, in particular, likes the “adults in the room” feel.  AI doesn’t give them that.

The generational dynamics here matter enormously. Millennials and Gen Z buyers can smell AI-generated content from a mile away. They value authenticity precisely because it’s becoming rare.

The Coming Correction

I predict that by 2027, we’ll see AI move back to where it belongs: a valuable tool used strategically, not a core process to be blindly relied upon.

Companies will realize that:

• AI without human oversight creates legal and professional liability
• Audiences increasingly distrust AI-generated content
• Productivity gains require thoughtful implementation, not wholesale replacement
• Authenticity is becoming a competitive advantage in a world saturated with AI content

This doesn’t mean abandoning AI. It means being authentically intelligent about how we deploy artificial intelligence.

How to Use AI Intelligently

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Automate research, not relationship building. Use AI to gather data, identify patterns, and surface insights. Use humans to build connections, understand context, and make judgments.

Treat AI output as a first draft, not finished product. This is HUGE. Every AI-generated piece of content should be reviewed, refined, and verified by someone with actual expertise in the subject matter.

Maintain human touchpoints where they matter most. Customer communication, sales outreach, problem-solving, and relationship building should remain primarily human activities, supported (not replaced) by AI tools.

Be transparent about AI use. When you use AI for certain functions, be upfront about it. Trying to pass off AI-generated content as human-created erodes trust when people figure it out – and they usually do.

Invest in human skills that AI can’t replicate. Judgment, empathy, creativity, strategic thinking, and genuine relationship building are becoming more valuable, not less, in an AI-saturated world.

The Bottom Line

AI isn’t going away, and it shouldn’t. Used properly, it’s a powerful tool that can eliminate grunt work, surface insights, and improve efficiency. But we need to be authentically intelligent about how we use artificial intelligence.

That means recognizing its limitations, maintaining human oversight, and understanding that in a world increasingly filled with AI-generated content, authentic human expertise and genuine connection are becoming differentiators rather than commodities.

The companies that win in the next decade won’t be the ones that automated everything. They’ll be the ones that thoughtfully combined AI capabilities with human judgment to create experiences that feel genuinely helpful rather than artificially intelligent.

We don’t need less AI. We need more wisdom about how to use it.

That’s not retreating from technology. That’s being smart about it.

“But Troy, younger people aren’t using LinkedIn. It’s perceived as something for old people.”

This objection comes up almost every time the topic of LinkedIn strategy gets raised in sales meetings. It’s become the go-to excuse for salespeople who don’t want to invest time in building a LinkedIn presence. Here’s the problem: It’s completely false. And the salespeople clinging to this myth are missing out on connecting with the exact demographic they claim to be trying to reach.

The Numbers Don’t Lie – I Checked.

Current LinkedIn demographics paint a very different picture than what these skeptics believe. Worldwide, 50.6% of LinkedIn users are aged 25-34, with another 24.5% falling into the 18-24 age group. In the United States specifically, 47% of LinkedIn users are Millennials and 29% are Gen Z.

Do the math: roughly 75% of LinkedIn users are under 35. If LinkedIn is “for old people,” then apparently three-quarters of its users didn’t get the memo. (Maybe the memo wasn’t posted on LinkedIn.) These aren’t passive users either. Young professionals are actively networking, engaging with business content, sharing career updates, and building their professional brands. They’re commenting on industry discussions, following thought leaders, and researching potential vendors and partners.

In other words, they’re doing exactly what salespeople should want their prospects to be doing – being active and engaged on a professional platform where they can be reached.  Think of LinkedIn as a networking room where nobody is sitting on the sidelines, people are having engaged, professional conversations, and are open to contact.  Want to be in that networking room?  Me, too.

Where This Myth Really Comes From

Here’s what’s telling about this “LinkedIn is for old people” objection: It never comes from people who actually use LinkedIn regularly. It comes from salespeople who aren’t on the platform and don’t want to learn something new. This isn’t really about demographics. This is about fear of change disguised as market analysis.

It’s about preferring “tried and true” methods that are now just tried. It’s about laziness masquerading as strategy. It’s about salespeople who would rather stick with cold calling and email blasts than adapt to where their buyers actually spend their professional time. I see this in many other areas of sales right now, not just LinkedIn.  The irony is thick: salespeople complaining that they can’t reach younger buyers while simultaneously refusing to engage on the platform where younger buyers are most active professionally. On a certain level, I get it – change can be scary, and it can be time-consuming.  But if you want to stay relevant, change is mandatory.

The Participation Problem

Even among salespeople who claim to be “on LinkedIn,” most are spectators, not participants. They have a profile – often outdated and poorly optimized – and they might scroll through their feed during coffee breaks. Some share the occasional company blog post or industry article. But posting original thoughts? Commenting meaningfully on prospects’ content? Engaging in industry discussions? Building relationships through consistent value-driven content? That’s rare.

Most salespeople treat LinkedIn like a business card directory instead of the dynamic relationship-building platform it actually is. They’re present but not participating. They’re watching the conversation instead of joining it. This passive approach explains why so many salespeople don’t see results from LinkedIn and conclude it “doesn’t work” for their industry or demographic.  Like many other elements of selling, you get out of it what you put into it.

The Real Opportunity For You

While these skeptics debate demographics and make excuses, their competitors are building relationships with exactly the buyers they claim to be targeting. Young B2B decision makers are on LinkedIn researching solutions, following industry trends, and engaging with content that helps them do their jobs better. They’re also evaluating potential vendors based on their thought leadership, industry knowledge, and professional presence.  Remember – the average age of a B2B buyer is 36.  Slot that into the demographics above.

When they’re ready to buy, who do you think they’re more likely to engage with – the salesperson who’s been sharing valuable insights and engaging thoughtfully with their content, or the one who shows up out of nowhere with a cold email or phone call?  Many times, I see buyers researching salespeople on LinkedIn before engaging. The generational disconnect isn’t about the platform. It’s about salespeople who refuse to adapt to where their buyers actually spend their professional time.

What Real LinkedIn Engagement Looks Like

Sales professionals who actually succeed on LinkedIn (and there are many of them) understand that success requires genuine participation, not just presence. They commit to spending at least 20 minutes daily on the platform – not just reading posts or sharing company material, but actually engaging as thought leaders and industry participants. This means:

Posting original thoughts about industry trends, customer challenges, or lessons learned. Not company press releases or recycled motivational quotes – actual insights that demonstrate expertise and perspective.  Salespeople are the best collectors of success stories and best practices in the business world.  And here’s a ready-made platform for using these stories and practices to make yourself a thought leader.

Commenting meaningfully on prospects’ posts, industry discussions, and relevant content. Adding value to conversations instead of just hitting the “like” button.

Reacting and engaging with content from their network in ways that keep them visible and top-of-mind with prospects and referral sources.

Starting conversations through direct messages that reference specific posts, shared connections, or genuine business interests – not generic sales pitches.  But stay away from the generic “pitch slaps.” This level of engagement takes time and effort. It requires thinking about what to say and how to add value. It’s much easier to stick with the familiar routine of cold calls and email blasts. But easy doesn’t mean effective.

The Cost of Staying on the Sidelines

The sales world is changing rapidly. Buyers have more information, more options, and less patience for traditional sales approaches. They’re researching solutions independently, building vendor shortlists without sales input, and making decisions based on reputation and thought leadership as much as product features. In this environment, salespeople who aren’t building their professional brand and engaging with prospects where they spend their time are becoming increasingly irrelevant. They’re watching opportunities go to competitors who invested in building relationships through consistent, valuable engagement.

The “LinkedIn is for old people” myth isn’t just wrong – it’s costly. Every day spent clinging to outdated assumptions is another day competitors are building relationships with the prospects these skeptics claim don’t exist.

The Bottom Line

Your prospects are on LinkedIn. The younger decision makers you want to reach are actively engaging on the platform. The question isn’t whether they’re there – the question is whether you’re there in a meaningful way. If you’re not fully participating, you’re missing out. Stop making excuses about demographics. Stop treating LinkedIn like a passive business directory. Start engaging like the professional platform it is.

Twenty minutes a day. Original posts. Meaningful comments. Genuine engagement. Do that consistently, and you’ll discover what successful salespeople already know: LinkedIn isn’t just where younger buyers are – it’s where relationships are built and deals are won.

The choice is yours: adapt to where your buyers are, or keep making excuses while your competitors build the relationships that should have been yours.

A LinkedIn poll caught attention recently with this question: “Who makes better B2B salespeople?” The options were:

• Former athletes – They live for competition & teamwork
• Theater kids – Natural performers who command attention
• Engineers – They speak the customer’s language
• Career salespeople – Nothing beats pure sales DNA

Within hours, hundreds of sales professionals were debating the merits of each option, sharing stories about their backgrounds, and defending their favorite candidate types.

Here’s the problem: This entire conversation reveals everything wrong with how most salespeople think about their role in the buying process, and it exposes the identity crisis in sales.

The Backwards Focus Problem

The poll focuses entirely on what the salesperson brings to the table – their competitiveness, their performance skills, their technical knowledge, or their supposed “sales DNA.” What it completely ignores is what actually matters: the customer and what they need from a salesperson.

This backwards thinking explains why so many talented people from impressive backgrounds struggle in sales while others with no “obvious” sales traits consistently crush their numbers.

The reality? Success in sales isn’t about what you say or how well you say it. It’s about what you ask and how well you listen to the answers.

What Buyers Actually Want

Here’s what the poll should have asked: “What do B2B buyers actually want from salespeople?”

The answer isn’t someone who can out-compete them, entertain them, or speak technical jargon at them. Buyers want salespeople who understand their world, ask intelligent questions about their challenges, and provide insights they haven’t considered.

They want someone who’s more interested in solving their problems than showcasing their own skills.

This is where the poll’s options fall short:

Former athletes bring competitiveness, but buyers aren’t looking for someone to beat them – they’re looking for someone to help them win.

Theater kids know how to command attention, but modern buyers are overwhelmed with people trying to get their attention. They’re more likely to value someone who gives them attention instead.

Engineers might speak technical language, but only when selling to other engineers. More importantly, technical knowledge without business acumen often leads to feature-focused presentations that miss the buyer’s real concerns.

Career salespeople might have experience, but if that experience consists of outdated techniques and seller-focused approaches, it’s actually counterproductive.

The One Trait That Actually Drives Sales Success

The best salespeople, regardless of their background, share one crucial characteristic: intellectual curiosity.

This is the trait that makes you want to know more about your prospect’s situation, ask better questions about their challenges, and dig deeper into their world. When you do, you discover needs, uncover pain points, and identify opportunities that your less curious competitors miss entirely – which means that you really don’t have competitors on that particular Buyer’s Journey.

Intellectual curiosity isn’t just nice to have – it’s the foundation of everything that works in modern selling.

Think about it: 80% of your chance to win or lose the sale is determined by the time you ask your last question. The salespeople who understand this – who are naturally driven to keep asking – are the ones who consistently outperform their peers.

How Curiosity Changes Everything

When you approach selling with genuine intellectual curiosity, everything changes:

Your prospecting improves because you’re researching prospects to understand their world, not just to find contact information.

Your conversations get deeper because you’re asking follow-up questions instead of jumping to your next talking point.

Your presentations become relevant because you actually understand what matters to this specific prospect.

Your proposals address real needs because you’ve uncovered the problems that keep your prospects awake at night.

Your follow-up creates value because you’re sharing insights and resources, not just checking in.

None of this requires being a former athlete, a natural performer, or a technical expert. It just requires being genuinely interested in understanding your prospect’s situation.

The Generational Reality Check

This focus on curiosity becomes even more critical when you consider today’s buying environment. Modern B2B buyers – especially Millennials and Gen-Z decision makers – have already done their research before they talk to you.

They’ve read your website, checked out your competitors, and probably know as much about your product features as you do. What they can’t get from Google is someone who asks thoughtful questions about their specific situation and helps them think through implications they haven’t considered.

The old-school approach of launching into a polished presentation is going to lose every time to the curious salesperson who helps them discover new angles on their challenges.

The Questions That Actually Matter

Intellectually curious salespeople ask different questions:

Instead of “What’s your budget?” they ask “What happens if you don’t solve this problem?”

Instead of “When are you looking to make a decision?” they ask “What would success look like six months after implementation?”

Instead of “Who else are you looking at?” they ask “What criteria are most important in your evaluation process?”

These aren’t clever techniques or manipulative tactics. They’re the natural questions that come from genuine curiosity about the prospect’s situation.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

In an age where buyers can research solutions online, compare vendors through reviews, and even make purchases without talking to salespeople, the value you bring isn’t product knowledge or presentation skills.

Your value is your ability to help prospects think through their situation more thoroughly than they would on their own. That requires understanding their world well enough to ask questions they haven’t thought of and provide perspectives they haven’t considered.

You can’t do that by performing, competing, or reciting technical specifications. You can only do it by being genuinely curious about their challenges and invested in helping them succeed.

The Bottom Line for Salespeople

Forget the LinkedIn poll categories. Forget worrying about whether you have the “right” background for sales. Focus on developing the one trait that actually drives success: intellectual curiosity about your prospects and their challenges.

Ask better questions. Listen more carefully to the answers. Dig deeper into their situation. Connect dots they haven’t connected. Do that consistently, and your background won’t matter. Your prospects will see you as the salesperson who actually understands their world – and that’s the only credential that really counts.

The next time someone asks what makes a great salesperson, the answer should be simple: Someone curious enough to ask the right questions and smart enough to act on what they learn.

Everything else is just noise.

I’m going to start with a confession that might make some of you uncomfortable: I think cold email prospecting is 100% dead. Not struggling. Not “needs some tweaking.” Dead. Gone. Finished.

Yet everywhere I look, I see salespeople cranking out dozens of cold emails every day, convinced they’re doing productive prospecting work. It’s like watching someone try to light a fire by rubbing two wet sticks together – lots of motion, lots of effort, zero results.

But here’s the thing that really gets me: When I tell salespeople this, they nod along like they agree, then go right back to their desks and fire off another batch of “personalized” prospecting emails. Why? Because cold email has become the security blanket of modern sales. It’s comfortable. It feels like work. And nobody tells you “no” to your face.

The problem is, it’s not working. At all.

The World Changed. Email Didn’t Keep Up.

Let me paint you a picture. The average business professional gets over 120 emails per day. Most of those are marketing messages, newsletters, and yes – cold sales emails just like the ones you’re sending. Your “highly personalized” outreach is landing in an ocean of digital noise, and your prospects have become ruthlessly efficient at hitting delete.

Think about your own inbox for a minute. How many unsolicited sales emails did you get yesterday? How many did you read all the way through? How many did you respond to? I’m betting the answers are “too many,” “none,” and “zero.”  As I write this, it’s 1:15 PM.  I’ve received 38 so far today.  None have been read in their totality.

But it gets worse. Everyone has gotten those Nigerian prince emails, those fake lottery notifications, those “urgent” messages from people they’ve never heard of. This constant barrage of scam emails has made everyone hyper-suspicious of unsolicited messages. When your cold email lands in someone’s inbox, it’s immediately viewed through the lens of “Is this person trying to scam me?”

You’re not just fighting inbox overload. You’re fighting years of conditioning that tells people to be wary of strangers bearing digital gifts.

Technology Isn’t Your Friend Here

Modern spam filters have gotten scary good at identifying commercial emails. They don’t just look for keywords anymore – AI-powered systems analyze sending patterns, engagement rates, even writing styles. They’re learning, and they’re learning fast.

Even if your email somehow makes it past the filters, platforms like Gmail automatically sort commercial messages into folders that most people never check. You could craft the perfect email, spend twenty minutes personalizing it, only to have an algorithm ensure it never sees daylight.

And then there’s the legal minefield. CAN-SPAM Act, GDPR, state privacy laws – the regulatory environment gets more complex every year. Get reported as spam just once, and you could damage your entire domain’s reputation. Suddenly, every email from your company looks suspicious to the filters.

Ask me how I know this matters.

The Snuggie Effect

So if cold email is so broken, why do salespeople keep using it?

Because it’s like a snuggie for salespeople. You know what I’m talking about – those blankets with arms that make you feel like you’re doing something productive when really you’re just keeping yourself warm with false comfort.

Here’s how it works: You sit at your desk, bang out 50 emails in an hour, update your CRM with 50 new “prospecting activities,” and suddenly your weekly report looks fantastic. Your manager sees those numbers and thinks you’re hustling. You feel productive. Nobody hung up on you. Nobody told you “no” to your face. The silence actually feels better than rejection.

But here’s the brutal truth about that silence: It’s not neutral. It’s negative.

Many salespeople tell themselves they’re “warming up” prospects with email before calling. This is backwards thinking. When that prospect deletes your email without reading it – and trust me, they will – you haven’t warmed anything up. You’ve just made yourself another faceless spam sender. When you do eventually call, you’re not warm. You’re tainted.

The Math Doesn’t Lie

Let’s talk numbers, because numbers cut through all the comfortable self-deception.

Cold email response rates are abysmal. We’re talking 0.1% if you’re lucky. That means you send 1,000 emails and maybe – maybe – get one response. There’s no guarantee that response will be positive or lead to anything meaningful.

Meanwhile, you’ve spent hours crafting those emails, building lists, tracking opens and clicks that ultimately mean nothing. You’ve potentially annoyed hundreds of prospects who now associate your company with spam. And you’ve convinced yourself you’re prospecting effectively.

Here’s what really hurts: Even voice mail outperforms email. Voice mail! The thing most salespeople have written off as “dead.” When a prospect hears your voice, even on a recording, you become real. Human. Authentic. That 15-second message does more to establish credibility than any email ever could.

Quality cold calling – actual phone conversations – still delivers better results than email. At least when someone answers the phone, you’re having a conversation. When someone deletes your email, you have nothing.

What Actually Works in 2025

If you want to prospect effectively, you need to abandon the snuggie and embrace methods that actually work.

Slow-play LinkedIn prospecting is where smart salespeople invest their time. Connect with prospects, engage with their content, share valuable insights, build relationships over weeks or months before making any sales approach. It takes patience, but it works because you’re earning the right to be heard.

Educational content marketing positions you as a resource instead of a pest. Create content that helps prospects succeed whether they buy from you or not. Make them fans first, customers second.

Referral systems remain the gold standard. One warm introduction beats a thousand cold emails. Invest in your existing relationships. Turn satisfied customers into your prospecting partners.

And yes, quality cold calling – actual phone calls with actual humans – still works when done thoughtfully. Combine the two, and you can still fill your funnel – maybe even better than you used to.

The Bottom Line

Cold email prospecting isn’t just ineffective. It’s actively harmful to your reputation and your relationships with prospects. Every deleted email is a missed opportunity to make a real connection.

I know the snuggie feels comfortable. I know those CRM activity reports feel good. But comfort isn’t the same as effectiveness, and activity isn’t the same as productivity.

The business world changed. Customer behavior changed. Technology changed. It’s time for your prospecting methods to change too.

Your prospects will thank you. Your pipeline will thank you. And your commission checks will definitely thank you.

Picture this: You’re sitting in a conference room, listening to yet another speaker drone on about “relationship selling” and “building trust.” Meanwhile, your prospects are three clicks away from buying from your competitor on Amazon. Sound familiar?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: In the age of Amazon, your spot in the buyer’s journey isn’t guaranteed. It must be earned. And one of the most powerful ways to earn it is through education-driven marketing – something most salespeople are terrified to try.

I recently attended a LinkedIn Mastery workshop in Las Vegas, paying good money to learn from Richard Bliss. Why? Because months earlier, he’d taught me more about LinkedIn’s algorithm in 45 minutes than I’d learned in years of fumbling around on my own. That’s education-driven marketing in action. He made me a fan first, then a customer.

Yet when I suggest this approach to salespeople, I’m met with two predictable objections. Both are dead wrong.

Fear #1: “I Don’t Want to Give Away Free Consulting”

This is the granddaddy of all sales excuses, and it needs to die.

Here’s what salespeople who cling to this fear don’t understand: You’re not giving away your secrets. You’re demonstrating your expertise. There’s a massive difference between teaching someone what to do and actually doing it for them.

When a plumber explains why your pipes are backing up, he’s not doing free plumbing. He’s proving he knows what he’s talking about. When you teach a prospect how to evaluate software solutions, you’re not doing free consulting – you’re positioning yourself as the expert they should hire to implement that solution.

The “free consulting” crowd fundamentally misunderstands buyer psychology. Today’s buyers are drowning in options and starving for guidance. They don’t want you to do their thinking for them – they want to know you can think at their level.

Think about it: Would you rather work with the salesperson who guards their knowledge like state secrets, or the one who demonstrates expertise by sharing valuable insights? The answer is obvious.

Fear #2: “I Don’t Have Anything to Teach”

This one makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Salespeople are walking encyclopedias of industry knowledge, and most don’t even realize it. You’ve seen dozens, maybe hundreds of implementations. You know which approaches work and which ones fail spectacularly. You’ve collected war stories, success patterns, and tribal knowledge that your prospects would kill for.

But somehow, you’ve convinced yourself that because you didn’t invent the product, you have nothing valuable to share. Nonsense.

Your prospects don’t need you to be the original inventor. They need you to be the experienced guide who’s seen this movie before. They want to know:

• What mistakes do other companies make when implementing solutions like yours?
• What should they expect in months two through six?
• How do successful companies structure their teams for this type of initiative?
• What questions should they be asking vendors that they haven’t thought of?

You know these answers. You live these answers every day. The fact that you take this knowledge for granted doesn’t make it worthless – it makes it invaluable.

The Opportunity Hiding in Plain Sight

While your competitors are still playing feature-and-benefit bingo, you could be positioning yourself as the trusted advisor who educates before they sell.

Here’s how to start:

Webinars aren’t just for marketing departments. Host a monthly educational session on industry trends, implementation best practices, or common pitfalls. Make it genuinely helpful, not a thinly veiled product pitch.

Turn lunch-and-learns into knowledge transfers. Instead of showing up with a slide deck about your company, bring case studies and lessons learned. Teach them something they can use regardless of whether they buy from you.

Own your space at trade shows. Stop manning the booth waiting for badge scans. Get on stage. Run workshops. Become the person attendees seek out for insights, not the person they avoid making eye contact with.

Document your tribal knowledge. Write down the patterns you see. Create simple frameworks. Turn your experience into teachable moments.

The New Sales Reality

Amazon changed everything. Buyers can research, compare, and often purchase without ever talking to a salesperson. In this world, you can’t just show up and expect to be included in the buying process.

You have to earn your seat at the table by proving you bring value beyond order-taking. Education-driven marketing does exactly that. It transforms you from a vendor into a resource, from a cost center into a value creator.

The salespeople who embrace this approach will thrive. The ones who don’t will find themselves increasingly irrelevant, wondering why their phone has stopped ringing.

So here’s my challenge: What can you teach your prospects about being more successful? What knowledge are you hoarding that could make you indispensable?

Answer that question, and you’ve got the foundation for an education-driven approach that will fill your pipeline and differentiate you from every other salesperson calling on your accounts.

The choice is yours: Keep guarding your knowledge like a jealous dragon, or start sharing it like the expert you already are.

Your prospects – and your commission checks – will thank you.

This week, I was speaking at a conference and I referred, in an offhand way, to giving your LinkedIn profile a self-audit.  When I was done, one of the attendees came up to me and asked, “What does a LinkedIn audit consist of?”  My jaw dropped, because I realized that this was a concept worth explaining.  So, I spent a few minutes explaining it to him, and now I’ll explain it to you.

Your LinkedIn profile is working around the clock.  It could be working for you, it could be working against you, or it could not be working at all.  The difference is in your approach.  Today, your LinkedIn presence isn’t just nice to have; it’s essential sales infrastructure. It’s as important as your business card – maybe even more so now.  When prospects research you (and they will), your profile needs to build credibility, demonstrate expertise, and make it easy for them to take the next step.  Here’s how to conduct a comprehensive LinkedIn audit that transforms your profile into a powerful sales tool and expression of your professional personality.

Start with the Foundation: Your Professional Headshot

No profile picture equals no credibility. It’s that simple. Your headshot is your digital handshake, and prospects make snap judgments based on what they see—or don’t see.  If they don’t see you, there’s a great chance that they’ll assume that you aren’t even real.  We’ve all seen social media bots, right?

Invest in a professional headshot or, at minimum, get a high-quality photo taken in business attire against a clean background. The image should be recent, clearly show your face, and convey approachability. That vacation photo with your spouse cropped out won’t cut it, and neither will a blurry conference selfie. Your headshot sets the tone for everything else.

Craft a Headline That Works

Your headline has 220 characters to grab attention and communicate value. Most people waste this high-value real estate with basic job titles: “Senior Sales Representative at XYZ Company.” That tells prospects nothing about what you actually do for them.

Instead, focus on the problems you solve or the outcomes you deliver: “Helping manufacturing companies reduce supply chain costs by 15-25%” or “I help restaurant owners improve food safety compliance and reduce waste.” Your headline should make prospects think, “I need to know more about this person.”

Optimize Your “About” Section for Impact

Your “About” section is prime territory for demonstrating expertise and building trust. Many professionals make the mistake of writing this section like a job application, focusing on what they’ve accomplished for their employers rather than what they can do for customers.  Helpful hint:  your prospective customers don’t care that you’ve blown away your quota.  They do care what you can do for them.

Lead with the problems you solve and the value you deliver. Use “I help” language consistently, and include specific examples of results when possible. For instance: “I help textile rental companies solve their biggest retention challenges. Many of my clients struggled with 40%+ annual turnover before we worked together to build sustainable cultures that keep their best people.”

End your “About” section with a clear call to action. Tell prospects exactly how they should connect with you, whether that’s through a direct message, a phone call, or a link to your scheduling tool.

Reframe Your Experience for Customer Value

Your work history should demonstrate expertise and results, but frame everything in terms of customer impact rather than employer achievements. Instead of “Exceeded sales quota by 125% for three consecutive years,” try “Helped 150+ manufacturing clients reduce equipment downtime by an average of 30% through preventive maintenance programs.”

This approach serves two purposes: it shows prospects what you might accomplish for them, and it helps you avoid the common trap of making your profile sound like a job application rather than a professional showcase.

Leverage LinkedIn’s Features

Use LinkedIn’s Services section to list what you offer, using language that customers would search for. Be specific: “supply chain optimization,” “regulatory compliance training,” or “employee retention consulting.”

Add contact information and links strategically. Include your company website, personal website, scheduling tool, or YouTube channel—anything that makes it easier for interested prospects to take the next step. The goal is moving conversations off LinkedIn and into real business discussions.  LinkedIn has a lot of ways to help you promote yourself; find out what they are and use them!

Show Consistent Professional Activity

A dormant profile suggests you’re not actively engaged in your industry. Profile viewers can very easily scroll down and see your “activity” tab; all too many salespeople will have tabs that read “This person has never posted.”  Professional salespeople should post original content at least twice per week and spend 15 minutes daily engaging with others’ posts.  “Original content” doesn’t mean just sharing a post from your company’s profile; it means creating a post with words that you yourself have typed.

Share industry insights, customer success stories (with permission), or helpful tips that demonstrate your expertise. Avoid overly promotional content—focus on being educational and valuable. Comment thoughtfully on posts from prospects, clients, and industry leaders. This activity keeps you visible and positions you as an engaged professional worth knowing.

Build Your Network Strategically

Your network should include current clients, prospects, industry colleagues, and strategic partners. Don’t just collect connections—actively engage with them. Share their successes, comment on their updates, and congratulate them on professional milestones.

Recommendations from current clients provide third-party credibility that no amount of self-promotion can match. Regularly ask satisfied clients for recommendations, and offer to write them for others. This reciprocal approach strengthens relationships while building your professional reputation.

The Google Search Advantage

Here’s a benefit many people overlook: a well-optimized LinkedIn profile significantly improves your Google search results. When prospects search for your name, your LinkedIn profile often appears at or near the top of the results. This gives you control over the first impression prospects get when they research you online.

Make sure your LinkedIn profile reinforces your professional brand and expertise. Use keywords that prospects might search for, and keep your content current. Your LinkedIn profile essentially becomes your digital business card, visible to anyone who looks you up.

Audit Your Results

Your LinkedIn profile is either working for you or against you—there’s no neutral position. Regularly review your profile analytics to see who’s viewing your page and how they’re finding you. Pay attention to which posts generate engagement and which connections lead to business conversations.

The goal isn’t just to look good online; it’s to generate real business results. Your LinkedIn presence should support your sales efforts, not just exist as an afterthought.  It’s core to what we do now as salespeople.

Take Action Now

LinkedIn optimization isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing process. Start with your headshot and headline, then work through each section systematically. The investment in time pays dividends in credibility, visibility, and ultimately, business results.

Your prospects are already looking you up online. Make sure they like what they find.