I was sitting in front of a CEO the other week. We were having a discovery conversation about his team.
I stopped him and asked:
"No," he replied.
"You have now."
Why I Walked Away From a Deal
Sounds counter-intuitive, doesn't it?
I run a business. I sell cold calling training. Why would I walk away from a CEO who was willing to talk?
He had a small sales team, but when we dug into the numbers, the dials and conversations were already there. His reps were booking 3 meetings a day each. They had an 85% show rate. The deals were converting.
His product was new and highly reliant on massive immediate activity before an upcoming legislative change.
Could their actual cold calls improve? Yes. There is always room for refinement.
But interrupting their high-velocity activity at this exact moment to run them through a comprehensive SDR Sales Training program would have probably been a hindrance, not a help.
So, I decided not to pursue the deal.
Stop Begging for the Sale
Your job as a salesperson is not to convince, push, or beg for the sale.
Your job is to create an environment where the prospect feels comfortable enough to open up to you with the truth. You need to uncover their real problems.
If they cannot convince you that they urgently need your help, then there isn't a deal on the table.
This is a fundamental shift in mindset. We are so often taught to chase every lead and fill the pipeline with vanity metrics. But clinging to deals that are not a perfect fit is the fastest way to waste your time and burn your credibility.
The Power of Disqualification
We teach this constantly in our Account Executive Training:
Qualify hard. Disqualify harder.
If you have the confidence to disqualify early, you earn the respect of your prospects. You stop acting like a desperate order taker and start acting like a trusted consultant.
Stop wasting time on prospects who don't need you right now. Go find the ones who do.