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For the first few years of my sales career, I thought I had it figured out.

Just be nice and gracious. Say the right things. Keep the energy up. Build rapport. And, like magic, people will buy.

I didn’t know any other way. That was my entire strategy.

And for a while, I convinced myself it was working. In some ways, it was. I was closing some deals and it appeared like I was progressing.

But, it actually wasn’t. I was hitting the same brick wall over and over again.

If sales was the road runner, I was the coyote.

What I didn't realize was that I was doing the same call over and over again.

Sure, it was a different prospect with different needs but I had the same approach.

I'd hang up thinking it went well, wait a few days, follow up, get a soft response or maybe nothing. It was essentially ghosting before it had a name.

Sometimes the deals came in, most times they didn’t.

So, I did what came natural when I couldn’t explain it.

I complained and blamed.

I blamed the prospect.

Blamed the timing.

Blamed the market.

Took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out that the real problem was me.

I was talking when I should've been listening.

I was asking surface-level questions that got surface-level answers.

I was avoiding the hard questions because I didn't want to create tension.

I was bringing up pricing too late and discounting the second they pushed back./

I was letting calls end without clear next steps because I didn't want to seem pushy.

And then I'd get on the next call and do it all over again.

Like the Merry-go-round I grew up on at Highland Park.

You keep riding it. It keeps spinning. We ended up back in the same spot we started.

Nothing changes.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

You've heard the quote and agree it’s ludicrous to do that.

Then you got on your next sales call and winged it the same way you did last time.

The thing that finally changed it for me wasn't a new script or a better pitch deck.

It was being self-aware enough to look for the blindspots.

To get off the endless cycle of leaving a sales call, not sure what is happening next or what their real problems are, you have to be willing to look in the mirror and say, “I have no clue what I am doing.”

I didn’t go look for some new script. I started to analyze what I already had in front of me.

It was understanding what was happening on the call, from start to finish.

What the buyer really meant with the words they were saying.

How much their tone and body language told me if what they were saying was the entire truth.

When I started listening to the undertones of what people were saying, everything shifted.

I learned to ask the uncomfortable questions because that's where the real problem lives.

I learned to guide a prospect to see their situation differently instead of just agreeing with however they framed it.

I learned that the goal of a sales call isn't to impress someone. It's to help them get clear on their real problems and if it is worth solving right now.

But none of that came from a single good call.

How do you get out of the insanity loop?

It’s by not doing it over and over again.

→ It only happens when you pull out the microscope and take a sharp look at what you are doing.

It came from reviewing my calls.

Writing down the objections I kept hearing and practicing how I'd handle them.

Getting comfortable proposing next steps instead of waiting for the prospect to drive the process.

Doing what I said I was going to do, every single time, because that's how trust actually gets built.

That's how I ended up becoming a top performer.

I took the strengths I already had, sanded down the rough edges, and started trusting myself.

The founders I see improve the fastest aren't necessarily the most naturally talented.

They're the ones who treat every call and interaction as a learning opportunity.

They review. Then they ponder what could’ve been better. Then make an adjustment. They show up differently the next time, incrementally better, not miles ahead.

Remember that the merry-go-round has an off switch.

You just have to have the self-awareness to know that you control it.

That can only happen when you step back and analyze. You can’t do that when you are on the ride.

P.S. - If you struggle to do this on your own, I created the Sales Call Roasts to be your eyes and ears for improvement. Send me a call recording, Get an interactive and action-packed video response sharing exactly where you can improve.

Interested in getting roasted? Check it out here.

First off, for any of this to work you MUST be recording all of your calls. Use whichever tool you’d like, there are many. I’ve found Fathom’s recording tool is super easy: Sign up for free here

Now, listen to one part of your call that didn’t feel the best and answer two questions:

Be honest with yourself and write down the answers. Don't overthink it.

Do that consistently and after ten calls, you'll barely recognize the version of you that was winging it.

What's the one part of your sales calls you keep getting stuck on? Hit reply and tell me. I read every single one.

Need to get a quick W? Let me roast one of your sales calls so you can get immediate & actionable feedback to use on your very next call → Get Roasted Now

Want to build a repeatable sales foundation? Let’s see if the 90-day Sales Accelerator is right for you → Grab time to chat here