It's Hard Out There Right Now

It’s hard to sell out there right now. Like, US Open hard. It feels like every aspect of your sales game is being tested, and a lot of people are not going to make the cut.

I apologize to many of you who don’t necessarily appreciate the golf reference right off the top, but our national championship concludes today, and it’s had my attention all week. While I’ve been thinking about this idea for quite some time, the metaphor hit me yesterday while we had some friends over for dinner.

Deals are getting pushed out, sales cycles are significantly longer, and the whiplash because of all the chaos is real. Your buyer can’t make a decision because the industry outlook is uncertain, so they deliberate a little longer. By the time they’ve had long enough to feel good about moving forward, something else could pop up and potentially wreck the party.

For a while, it was tariffs (remember them?). Over the last few months, it’s been inflation and fuel prices. The AI landscape (and the way people feel about it) casts an ever-present shadow over everything.

The problems you solve still exist. Your solution is still valuable. It’s just harder than ever to get and keep someone’s attention long enough to win.

The temperature in this cauldron is rising pretty quickly. You can feel it too, right? Or is it just me?

A New Competitor Has Entered the Tournament

I think everyone selling anything right now is competing against AI. It doesn’t show up in your competitor analysis, or on your battle cards, but we’re absolutely competing for attention with a technology that seems to create more magic every day.

You know I’m bullish on people, and always will be, but for some folks, it literally feels like they’re one Claude update away from losing their entire business. And for some of them, it’s true. How do you compete with that?

Here’s the real kick in the teeth… for all of the noise it’s creating and attention it’s stealing, AI is still largely a hype machine. For most purposes, it’s much more sizzle than steak.

The hype about its potential is also overshadowing the fact that most companies (your customers) aren’t ready to implement the thing that they’re giving so much attention to.

All of these processes they’re trying to automate? They’re not even unified and written down yet. People are thinking about scale before they recognize they don’t have anything worth scaling.

Take a Look Around

Another layer of difficulty is hiding in plain sight. Just take a look around. A quick tour of the Internet will show you everybody’s wins.

I’m not going to lean too hard into the “social media is a highlight reel” trope right now, but the lack of people publicly sharing their struggles is real. Yes, there are some real wins happening, but anybody not winning is trying to look like it without lying about it. The whole truth just isn’t on display.

I look around sometimes, and it feels like I’m missing something or doing it wrong because I don’t have a waiting list. But get into the private communities and the DMs, and it comes through pretty readily. It’s one thing to have a hard time out there; it’s quite another not to feel like you have the outlet to talk about it.

The safe spaces with people who can actually relate to you are fewer and further between than they should be. They’re out there, and I hope that this can be one.

Never Let Them See You Sweat

For a seller, saying all of this out loud feels like making an excuse. We’re trained not to do that, and the judgment of everyone around us who expects us to make magic happen is ingrained in us.

If Sarah can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat every quarter, it must be because she “can’t close.” When Bob’s nearing the end of his career, and his pipeline looks a little lean, he must be “fat and happy,” or he's gotten lazy. In most cases, those things aren’t true, but the echoes of those judgments are almost impossible to escape.

The best sales pros will tell you that the whole gig is a balance of staying off the radars of those who would judge you, and learning not to sweat it when they occasionally do. You get good at saying the right things when things aren’t going your way, and you find the way to believe in yourself when you know your current results aren’t reflecting the great work you’re actually doing. Then you close that monster deal and know you’ve bought yourself a quarter or two away from the scrutiny.

The Hard Truth

There’s a big difference between saying the thing out loud (which you should be able to do) and feeling sorry for yourself (which you can’t afford to).

Yes, it’s true that we sell in a wildly changing environment where the whiplash is real. Yes, it’s true that attention is split and tensions are high. It’s also true that those statements have been made before, and will be made again.

Telling the truth doesn’t change the situation as much as it helps to change how you feel about the situation. We still have to deal with the “and now what?” part…

So remind yourself of what you know to be true…There are still problems to solve for people who need your solutions. There are people still buying. There are sellers still winning.

Selling’s always been hard. That’s why we’re paid well to do it well, and frankly, a certain number of you reading this just like the challenge of it.

The way we’ve done things to win in the past is not always going to be the way we win in the future. I think we’re in a transition period right now, and it’s our collective responsibility to react and respond.

Out of a field of 156 players to start the week, only 72 made the cut, and only 5 are under par going into play today. The best players are up there because they’ve made the adjustments.

What I’m Into This Week

Aside from the aforementioned golf tournament, which is probably my favorite of the year, it’s been a busy week.

• I announced a summer webinar series that starts this Thursday. I believe I have the building blocks to combat what I mentioned above, and I’m sharing them with you. I’m also making an offer this summer that would be too ridiculous to refuse, so I think you’ll want to tune in.
  These three different sessions will be brief, provocative, and immediately actionable.

• My first fireside chat in my Chosen Vision charity series was 🔥🔥🔥. Lindsay Rios brought a ton of perspective to the discussion and did not disappoint. I’ve been thinking differently about my messaging ever since.

• I was on the Sales Leadership Lab podcast earlier this week, where I talked about a variety of things, including my sales origin story, how I’ve been on over 1000 podcast episodes, and how we should be talking to each other about how difficult it is to sell right now. Ignoring the truth doesn’t equip you any better to deal with it.
  Spotify | Apple | YouTube

The Shoutout

I met Kaleigh Conners in 2020, at the virtual edition of the Sales Success Summit. She was an eager young seller putting herself out there and was an absolute sponge for knowledge. She's come back every year since, and it's been really cool to watch her grow as a sales pro, a mom, and now an entrepreneur.

This woman is fearless. She just... does stuff. I don't know where she finds the energy. She's also not afraid to ask for help, which is something I'm trying to get better at myself.

On ThankfulThursdays, I shout out people I feel lucky to know. Kaleigh's one of them. If you don't follow her yet, you should. She'll inspire you too.

The Nudge

This week’s entire piece was a nudge. You’ve got what it takes; now take the steps forward to make the impact you know you can. If you don’t know where to start, I’d suggest right here.

Cheers, and Happy Father’s Day,
JB