Philip is a character licensing agent in the Philippines. He can close a deal in two weeks when a prospect already loves the brand he represents. But when he goes outbound to companies that do not know the character? He gets ghosted after the proposal every time.

In this episode of Ask Jeb on The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount explains why Philip's problem is not a closing problem at all. It is a qualification problem that has to be solved at the very start of the sales process.

In this episode, Jeb covers:

• Why fast buyers and slow buyers require completely different sales approaches
• How to identify a seeker before you hand over your best leverage
• The investment principle and why multiple checkpoints close more deals than a single proposal
• How to test engagement at every stage so your pipeline only carries deals that are actually moving

If your deals are going quiet after you send proposals, this episode will change how you run your entire sales process.

Have a sales challenge you want Jeb to answer? Submit your question at salesgravy.com/ask and you could be featured on the next Ask Jeb episode.

Most sales leaders are building good teams and calling it done. Cheryl Parks joins Money Monday to challenge that — breaking down the three levers that actually separate good reps from elite performers: nervous system regulation, the CAR Framework, and decision velocity. If your team is talented but stuck, this episode is worth your time.

👉 Read the blog!

📚 Explore courses from Cheryl Parks on Sales Gravy University.

📝 Download our free Leader's Guide to Sales Training

🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn!

Most salespeople treat LinkedIn like a digital brochure or a place to blast connection requests and hope something sticks. In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with Brynne Tillman, CEO of Social Sales Link and co-author of The LinkedIn Edge, and Dr. Lorenzo Bizzi, business strategy professor at California State University, to talk about what actually works on LinkedIn for salespeople right now.

They get into why cold outreach feels so painful and how LinkedIn changes that, the difference between fast and slow prospecting, and the LinkedIn outreach mistakes that are silently killing pipeline for sales teams everywhere. Jeb, Brynne, and Dr. Bizzi also break down what a good LinkedIn strategy looks like at the profile level, the message level, and the network level.

📚 Explore courses from Jeb & Brynne on Sales Gravy University.

👉 Read the blog!

📖 Purchase The LinkedIn Edge now!

📝 Download our free LinkedIn Profile Makeover Checklist

🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn!

Being asked to carry a quota AND lead a team at the same time is one of the hardest situations in sales. Zach Mofield, a solar sales rep navigating a merger and acquisition in Fort Wayne, Indiana, brings this exact challenge to Jeb Blount on this week's episode of Ask Jeb on The Sales Gravy Podcast.

In this episode, Jeb breaks down the player-coach problem and why so many salespeople silently burn out trying to do both without ever having the right conversations with their leadership.

You will learn how to protect your prospecting time, how to talk to your organization about compensation and structure without issuing ultimatums, and why you have to set boundaries with yourself just as much as you set them with your company. Jeb also explains why hoping the situation will fix itself is not a strategy and what to do instead.

If you are in a role where your individual sales responsibilities and your leadership responsibilities are pulling you in two different directions, this episode is for you.

Have a question for Jeb? Submit it at salesgravy.com/ask and you could be on the show.

A humbling moment on the ice forced Jeb Blount Jr. to confront a hard truth: he’d been coasting. In this episode, he shares how ego, comfort, and experience can stall growth—and how getting uncomfortable again can reignite performance in sales.

📚 Explore courses from Jeb Blount Jr. on Sales Gravy University.

👉 Read the blog!

📝 Download our free 25 Ways to Ask for an Appointment on a Cold Call Guide

🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn!

Most sales reps are busy every day, but still can't fill their pipeline. In this episode, Jeb Blount Jr. sits down with Brad Pearse, founder of Simplified Sales, to diagnose why — from the social media vanity trap to the research black hole that burns reps out without producing results. Brad breaks down his 5-3-1 prospecting framework, how to lead with the problem you solve instead of the product you sell, and how to turn daily LinkedIn activity into real pipeline.

👉 Read the blog!

📝 Download our free The LinkedIn Edge Book Club Guide

🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn!

AI is everywhere. Salespeople are using it every day. But are you using it the right way?

Caroline Cutter from Dayton, Ohio, calls in with a question a lot of sales professionals are wrestling with right now: how do you leverage AI efficiently without losing the human touch that actually closes deals?

Jeb's answer is going to challenge the way you think about technology in sales.

In this episode, Jeb breaks down the three types of salespeople in the AI era, and only one of them wins long-term. He explains why AI-generated emails are not just getting deleted; they are getting you blocked and costing you access to prospects permanently. He also shares how he personally uses AI to prepare faster, write smarter, and spend more time doing what only humans can do: connecting, reading the room, and building trust.

Here is the truth: AI is not going to kill sales. But it is absolutely going to punish mediocrity. The reps who survive and thrive will be the ones who use technology as a force multiplier without losing their humanity in the process.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why wisdom is scarce in a world of unlimited intelligence
• The three types of salespeople in the AI era and which one wins
• Why AI-blasted emails are burning lists and closing doors permanently
• How Jeb personally uses AI to prep, draft, and move faster without sacrificing quality
• Why right now is a boom time for in-person and phone prospecting
• How to use AI responsibly so it works for you, not against you

Have a question for Jeb? Submit it at salesgravy.com/ask, and you could be featured on a future episode.

Top-performing sales reps don’t just work hard—they protect their Golden Hours. In this episode, Brad Adams, senior master trainer at Sales Gravy, breaks down the Golden Hours framework and shows how to prioritize high-value activities, stop low-value busy work from stealing your time, and maximize your pipeline every day.

📚 Explore courses from Brad Adams on Sales Gravy University.

👉 Read the blog!

📝 Download our free Time Audit Log.

🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn!

Why do even high-performing sales teams plateau or collapse under growth? In this episode, Jeb Blount sits down with Dayna Williams, author of The Diligence Fix, to explore how disciplined leadership, aligned teams, and a resilient sales culture keep revenue organizations from breaking under pressure. Learn the ten dimensions of organizational diligence and practical strategies to build a high-performing, scalable sales culture that drives results.

📚 Explore Dayna Williams' courses on Sales Gravy University.

👉 Read the blog on "Why Your Best Salespeople Make Terrible Sales Leaders"

📝 Download our free Leader's Guide to Sales Training

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube

🔗 Follow us on LinkedIn!

Here’s a question that should stop you in your tracks: What do you do when you’re booking meetings but prospects keep ghosting you?

That was the challenge posed by Brittany, a sales rep watching her show rates crater quarter after quarter, on this week’s episode of Ask Jeb on The Sales Gravy Podcast featuring Will Frattini. Brittany was putting in the work, getting prospects to say yes on the phone, and then sitting alone on Zoom watching the clock tick. If you’ve been there, you know how demoralizing that is.

The first thing you need to understand is the math. The best show rate you can hope for on first-time appointments is about fifty percent. If you’re above that, keep riding it. But fifty percent is the benchmark. That means for every ten meetings you book, expect five no-shows. The fix isn’t magic. The fix is volume and process.

Stop Pushing People Into Meetings They Don’t Want

Before you even think about your confirmation sequence, go back and listen to your prospecting calls. Ask yourself honestly: did that prospect agree to meet because they were genuinely interested, or because you wore them down and they said yes to get off the phone?

If you’re so good at closing for the meeting that you’re talking people into it rather than compelling them, you’ve already lost. That’s not a show rate problem. That’s a buyer’s remorse problem. The prospect hangs up, questions their decision, and when Thursday rolls around they’ve convinced themselves they never really needed to meet in the first place. Strengthening your prospecting approach so that prospects are genuinely curious when they agree is the only real fix for that.

The Confirmation Process That Actually Works

Assuming you have a real reason to meet, the work doesn’t stop when they say yes. Here’s what actually stops prospects from ghosting.

Before you get off the phone, confirm the meeting out loud. Say it. “I’m looking forward to seeing you Thursday at two.” Get that verbal confirmation back. Then ask for their email address on the spot and send the calendar invite immediately. Do not wait. And when you title that invite, don’t put “Meeting with Will.” Put your name, your company, their name, their company, and what you’re meeting about. A prospect who sees a generic calendar placeholder will delete it without a second thought. A specific, descriptive invite looks like real business and that’s exactly the psychological signal you need to send.

The ten-and-two rule is worth using when you’re booking the meeting. Give two time options, not an open-ended “what works for you.” Something like: “I have Tuesday between ten and ten-thirty or Thursday around two. Does Thursday at two work?” Give a choice, take one away, let them pick. It creates agency and it creates commitment.

Stay Visible, Stay Relevant

Between the booking and the meeting, do not disappear. Send a short personalized video or email mid-week that reinforces why the meeting is worth their time. “I looked into your organization and I’m looking forward to learning more.” That’s it. No pitch. No agenda. Just warmth and presence. What you’re doing is building what I call the guilt asset. You’ve shown up. You’ve done the work. For most people, not showing up now would feel rude. You’ve made it harder for them to ghost you.

For high-stakes meetings, large accounts, or anything where you’re bringing additional executives, confirm directly. Call or email. The calculus changes when the cost of a no-show is high. But for a standard first-time appointment with a single stakeholder, skip the confirmation call because it hands them an easy exit. Instead, if you have their office number, call the night before after hours and leave a voicemail. Let them know you’re looking forward to it and you’ll see them tomorrow. Now they have to do the work to cancel, and most people simply won’t.

Keeping your pipeline full of qualified first-time appointments is the foundation. But turning booked meetings into actual conversations is where the money lives.

When They Still Don’t Show

You did everything right. They still ghosted. Now what?

Here’s the message: “Hey, I hope everything’s okay. I was on the meeting for about seven minutes. I’ve got time reserved Thursday and Friday morning between nine and ten. Just let me know if you’re okay, and if you don’t want to meet, I have really thick skin.” Keep it human. Keep it short.

Then, if they’re a real account worth pursuing, reach out to reschedule by suggesting the same time on the same day of the following week. They agreed to that slot once, which means it was likely open. Don’t make them think about a new time. Just reset the existing appointment.

Here’s the principle behind all of this: when you do the work, you own the moral high ground. And when you own the moral high ground, your prospect feels like they owe you. That means a higher probability they reset the meeting, and a much higher probability they actually show up next time. Treat them like a transaction and they’ll treat you the same way.

This is the system, the discipline, and the follow-through necessary to win. Not just activity for activity’s sake, but deliberate execution at every step of the process.

The Bottom Line

Stop blaming prospects ghosting you on bad luck. Most of the time it comes down to one of three things: you pushed someone into a meeting they weren’t sold on, you didn’t build enough relevance and visibility between the booking and the meeting, or you let the confirmation process fall apart. Fix those three things and your show rates will improve. Not to one hundred percent, because that’s not real life. But to a level where your pipeline starts working for you instead of against you.

Jeb and Will go even deeper on getting past the people standing between you and the deal. Watch their Reach Decision Makers Faster: Beating AI & Human Gatekeepers webinar and put these tactics to work today.

Have you ever had a moment where the answer you were looking for was right in front of you? I’m talking about a giant neon sign moment where you realize that a strategy is working, and the proof is undeniable.

Today, I want to share a quick story about an unexpected moment of validation that I recently had, and the valuable lesson that every top sales producer needs to keep front of mind.

The Annual Sales Summit That Changed Everything

I have a client that I’ve worked with for several years now. Each month, I deliver virtual training workshops focused on different areas of sales. Some months our topic will be on prospecting best practices, and other months we may focus on things like sales negotiation skills or how to advance deals in the pipeline. These workshops are optional for the sales team to attend at this particular company.

So recently, I was invited to attend their annual sales summit. It was the first time that I’d be putting faces to names and shaking hands with the people who showed up to my sessions, month after month. It was a pretty big event. There were hundreds of members of the sales team from around the US.

After grabbing my badge at the registration desk, I walked towards the main event space, and the sound of hundreds of conversations filled the room. It was that feeling of energy and the buzz of excitement when you’re surrounded by people who are having fun together.

As I walked through the mingling crowds, I saw it. There was a giant board, I’m guessing about five feet tall, and at the top it read “Top Producers of the Year.”

Now, if you’re in sales, you know what these boards represent. It’s the ultimate recognition and a testament to your consistency, grit, and incredibly hard work.

I found myself looking through the photos and the names. These were my clients’ top producers, the ones who really earned their spot. And as I looked at each photo, a pattern started to emerge. I noticed a face that I recognized and then another. And then another.

I couldn’t help but start to smile as I kept scrolling through this list of the fifteen names on the wall. All but one of them were people who were showing up to the monthly workshops month after month. I was shocked. Not just proud, but genuinely humbled.

Now, I’d like to believe that our training played a part in their success. But the truth is, they earned it. Their spot on that board, their results, their massive recognition—it was a direct reflection of the continuous investments that they had been making in themselves. They didn’t wait to be great. They were proactively working on stepping up their skills one month at a time.

What You Need to Remember

Now, if you take one thing from this article, let it be this: top producers don’t wait for success. They prepare for it.

That board wasn’t just a list of the most talented sales reps. It was also a list of the most intentional. It was a direct consequence of four behaviors that they had displayed:

1. Showed up to the monthly workshops even though they were optional.
2. Asked hard questions in these workshops.
3. Applied new techniques and tools and put them into action immediately.
4. Treated sharpening their skills as a non-negotiable.

Here’s the truth: the person who dedicates one hour a week to getting better will always beat the person who’s naturally gifted but a little lazy. Intention beats talent every single time.

6 Best Practices to Inject Intention Into Your Week

So how do you inject that kind of intention into your own week? Here are six best practices to help you:

Show Up Before You Need To

These top sales reps on the board didn’t wait for their production to dip before they started investing in training. They were already winning, and they still kept showing up. Skill building is like compounding interest. Small, consistent investments create exponential returns.

Treat Sales Training Like a Workout

You don’t go to the gym once and expect to be in shape. You show up three times a week for a year. That’s how you need to approach your professional development. Consistency is greater than intensity. Every session you attend adds a new tool, a perspective, or an edge to sharpen your game.

Decide That You Are Always a Learner

The reps who excelled weren’t afraid to ask questions that other people might consider basic. They were seeking clarity, not just validation. Remember, ego is expensive. Curiosity is profitable. Never stop being the most curious person in the room.

Don’t Confuse Activity for Growth

Many sales reps are busy; they’re active. But how many are truly intentional about growth? Top producers set aside uninterrupted time for professional development even when their schedule is getting full. So block out time to get better, not just to do more.

Implement One Thing Immediately

After attending a workshop or even listening to a podcast episode, challenge yourself to pick one tactic to put into action within twenty-four hours. Knowledge is power. Implementation is what turns that knowledge into results.

Surround Yourself with Other Top Performers

It’s easy in sales to get frustrated when we lose a deal or when things are not going our way. By surrounding yourself with other top performers, you’re going to help lift yourself up in those moments when you need a little extra support and motivation.

Why This Moment Mattered

Seeing that board of top performers, that physical printed validation, it really struck me—the emotion of realizing that the reps who had quietly and consistently invested in themselves all year long, had literally risen to the top. It was a powerful moment and reminded me why not only I do the work that I do, but it also absolutely confirmed that top performers are the ones disciplined enough to invest in themselves.

I encourage you to commit to just one of these six tips that I shared today. Write it down and put it into action within twenty-four hours. Momentum doesn’t come from waiting. It comes from action.

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The top performers on that board didn’t wait—they invested in training that got results. Explore my courses on Sales Gravy University and get the same strategies they used to reach the top.