What I wish I'd Known About Sales with Tom Boston

Speaker A: Hi, everyone, and welcome to what I Wish I'd Known About Sales, the show where we learn all about the highs, lows and lessons from the front lines of selling. I'm Martin from Lead Forensics, and today I'm joined by Tom Boston. Tom is the brand growth manager at my sales coach, and if you spent any time on LinkedIn in the last couple of years, you're likely to have seen his content. It's honest, relatable, funny, and always grounded in real sales experience. Tom built his career from calling in the trenches to becoming a trusted voice in the sales community. Along the way, he's used humor, storytelling and his own journey to show that you don't have to choose between being effective and being yourself. Today we're going to talk about what he wishes he'd known starting out, how he built a personal brand without even really trying to in the early days, and why making sales more human or maybe just a little bit quirkier might be edge we're all looking for. So, so welcome to the show, Tom.

Speaker B: Thank you so much, Martin. Thanks for that intro. Uh, making sales quirkier. I might have to steal that as a tagline. I like that. Quite like that.

Speaker A: Thank you very much. Um, so, uh, you describe yourself as accidental in the sales influencer world. What, um, did that journey kind of look like to get to where you are now?

Speaker B: Yeah, the reason I often say accidental is because even then when you said the word influencer, there was a little piece of me inside that was just. He was laughing, right? I still, I still to this day go, you know, I am a million miles away from what I would think of as a, as an influencer. But, but people keep calling me at Martin, and I think, you know, after, after so many times, if the, if the shoe fits, then, then I'm gonna, I'm gonna wear it. But it was never the. It was never the plan, you know, you know, I did, I did not sit down and go, okay, how do I become influential on LinkedIn? How do I start to get, you know, tens of thousands of followers? How do I go viral like that? That wasn't the plan. I was just trying to book more meetings, you know, back in. What was it, 2019, when I, when I started LinkedIn. Connection request was a step on my outbound cadence. And I kind of looked at my profile and I was like, well, this. There's nothing. There's nothing there. I'm gonna sound like a, uh, I'm not a real person. You know, this guy, he doesn't post Anything. He's con. There's no content there. Like, his profile doesn't really explain the service, the product. So I just did the complete revamp. Um, and then, yeah, here we are, like, what? No, nearly seven years later, and I'm, and I'm still, still posting, still going. So it's been a, it's been an interesting one.

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you do tend to do quite a lot of very funny little sketches and that kind of thing, like.

Speaker B: Well, I appreciate you saying that, that's

Speaker A: very kind, but the. What was the, the first sort of leap of faith on that?

Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, it didn't, it didn't, um, kind of come out of the box like, ah, that, you know, definitely not a early content was, um, thought leadership.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Well, what I thought was thought leadership. Talking. Talking down the lens. And you know, bear in mind, I'm an SDR at this point and I'm sort of going, you know, in sale, in the world of sales, you know, in B2B, this is what I found. Like, I just did what everyone does, which is like monologue to the camera, and try to like, outline myself as an expert. Like, unsurprisingly, those kind of videos didn't do very well. I, I knew I wanted to explore video because I've always kind of been interested by video, but I thought that that would be the way. But, but yeah, it was when I tried to bring humor in and I saw a huge spike in a video that I did about, uh. What was it about? It was a. It was about like hidden spreadsheets. Right. So it was about excuses that reps make when they have not updated the CRM, you know, and some of the excuses like, oh, I think it got lost somewhere on the cloud. Like, it must be. I did it, but it must be up in the cloud. Or like, oh, it's not on the CRM, but I've got it in a, in a spreadsheet that only I got access to. And it's password protected. Please don't ask me any more information. So, like, when I, when I started to do that, I got all these comments and it was literally just a paint drop. Martin. I just kind of went, oh, okay. So this video got like tens of thousands of impressions. There's something here. You know, I didn't quite know what it was, but I thought there's this. There's something there. When it comes to highlighting a, uh, problem or a pain or something that's relatable, doing it in a kind of funny way. And most Importantly, inviting other people to kind of give their, their opinion.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, you know, pain, there's quite a lot of humor that comes from the pain. And I think particularly in sales, there is a lot of, There is a lot of content to mine there.

Speaker B: Right? Yes. Well, if we think, if we think about, if we think about comedy being pain, you know, fundamentally, uh, we like to laugh at things that go wrong. A lot of things go wrong in sales, like you say, Lots of, lots of things to mind. Lots of opportunity. People sort of say to me, uh, are you not going to kind of run out of ideas? I'm like, no, there is, there is so much to highlight in the world of, you know, the grind of sales that I, I don't think there's uh, we're gonna ever run out of ideas because, um. Yeah, it is, it is a painful job and it is a tough job. Toughest, uh, job in the world.

Speaker A: So what were you doing before you got into sales, Tom?

Speaker B: Yeah, so I've had a kind of varied, varied career. Um, it's been quite heavily rooted in retail. I worked, I worked in a DIY store for uh, for a long time after, after university. Not really sure what I wanted to do. Uh, I'd done a drama degree and uh, I thought potentially acting. But you know, when you, you're in Leeds, there's not a lot of, uh. There's not a huge amount of open opportunities. So I found myself in this, in this retail store and then. And kind of. Yeah, experiment with a few other options. So worked at the Apple Store for a while. I thought maybe I could be a genius, you know, at the, uh, at the Apple Store. But you know, as always, when you start to get a little bit older, you start to need to afford things like weddings. You have to kind of really look at what you're doing. And that's uh, when I took a job in, uh, a job in sales. So I'd. I kind of, yeah. Flirting around with things like radio. So I'd worked for a radio station. I had a, I had a radio show at one point at a breakfast show, which I really enjoyed. But. But ultimately, yeah, getting into B2B sales was like my, uh. Okay, I'm, uh, I've got a real job now. This is time to. This is time to kind of knuckle down. And interestingly, I kind of thought all the creative stuff that I'd been doing in the past. So I used to write a blog and I used to radio and I'd messed around on YouTube I kind of put all that away. I was like, okay, so I work in B2B sales now, so that part of my life is, is over. But like, but like, all things tend to do. It kind of came crawling out of that box and was like, no, no, Tom. Um, you know, there's still an opportunity here to be creative, to have fun and to, you know, to hopefully make people smile.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And yeah, all those skills, you bring it to very good use, I would say.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's an interesting one. Right. Because we talk about the radio show, for example. The task was to create content every morning that was kind of fresh and relevant and interesting and funny. And now I find myself doing the same thing, but for LinkedIn. Like, okay, so what could we put out there today? So, yeah, it's funny the skills that you pick up along the way that you, you don't think you'll end up using, but that you do.

Speaker A: Yeah. So looking back, what's the one thing you wish someone had told you just straight out, uh, when you were starting in B2B sales?

Speaker B: Yes, a piece of advice to put me on the right track. Um, maybe not to take it so seriously because, you know, it's hard to believe that actually When I started B2B sales, I did take it very seriously. I was tasked with speaking to CEOs, and, you know, leaders moved out to London. Was very aware of my accent. I actually toned down my accent quite a lot just to speak to real people, real, real CEOs. You know, I kind of laugh about you thinking, thinking back, um, but I'd kind of like taken my personality and gone. That's not really for work. Like, if I'm going to be successful at work, all these kind of fun, kind of, you know, silly side of me, you know, that's, uh, as I talked about, that's kind of gone away. And now it's time to be, you know, serious B2B seller Tom Boston. But, yeah, if I, if I could have someone kind of have a real chat with me and go, you know what, Tom? You're, you're quirky, to use your word. Your quirky approach to sales is, uh, is your superpower. And actually that's what you want to kind of lean, lean into, not kind of try to be like everyone else, then that kind of, that's, that's the way to, to do it. So, yeah, I wish someone would have told me that I had to figure that out for myself over many years.

Speaker A: Yeah. And, um, you've talked about surviving thousands of Calls. So what was the turning point where it stopped feeling like kind of painful torture and, uh, you started to actually enjoy it.

Speaker B: And, yeah, it's. I. I don't think there's a specific turning point, but I always tell the story of, um, I used to sell gas and electricity, right, in a big warehouse in the northeast of England with hundreds, uh, of sales people on this huge sales floor. And I used to sit next to someone and I'd hear her on the phone, and she was making cold calls, but she was, like, barely laughing, right? And you listen back to the calls and the, the prospect was, Was. Was belly laughing too. And I kind of thought, you know, I'm here sweating, I'm going home with a headache. Like, I would get home and be like, I need some paracetamol. Like, I've had. I made 100 calls, and I looked over at her, and so she's having the time of her. She's, uh, having the time of her life, but more importantly, the people that she's. The people that she's calling having the time of her life. So I was like, okay, so maybe I need to kind of steal a few of those techniques, you know? So that was a real, A real turnaround for me when I was like, okay, maybe I could just try to make the aim of the call to make the other person smile. Like, I don't know about you, Martin, but the last person that cold called me, like, didn't make me smile. So, like, if you, if you do, if you do do manage to get a little, even a half smile or a little bit, like, that was. That was kind of quite memorable. It's like half the battle, right, because no one's really going to close on the first call. Uh, like, remembering that's really important, but also knowing that, you know, if you can be the person that was memorable, then maybe you will have a good conversation on the second call, the third call, the fifth email, the. The LinkedIn DM that you send the video, whatever it might be. But it's all about just sounding a little bit. A little bit different. Uh, and what you want from people is for them to finally go, okay, Tom, what. What. What do you actually want? You know, because a lot. A lot of people just too busy. No, thank you, we're good. And, you know, you know that you've got someone's attention when they go, okay, well, what. What are you actually reading for? Like, you know, and then that's your opportunity to kind of shoot your shot. And I often find that to get to that moment. You have to humanize the conversation. You have to, and in my experience, make the person kind of feel good in whatever way that you, that you can and be. And be memorable. You know, be someone who, um, who sticks in somebody's mind.

Speaker A: Definitely. So, um, you know, when you feel stuck or struggling, uh, in sales now, what's the first thing that you do to kind of reset? Get back to square one?

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, luckily for me, I call myself a reformed salesperson. I'm not in the trenches anymore. You know, I'm not actively going over the, going over the hill. But what I would say to anyone who does need a reset is to speak to somebody that's, that's, that's the most important thing. And, you know, I've had many, many experiences of being really down in sales, taking myself off and just kind of internalizing it and kind of being like, what, you know, what am I doing? Like, how am I going to survive this? As you talked about there, but, but speaking to someone, and which is why I love, um, the work that we do at my sales coach, like having someone to bounce ideas off, to have that kind of reset that you, that you talked about, uh, someone that you trust, someone who understands you and the way that you work, really, really important. And it's helpful if that's not your wife, because I don't know about everybody who's listening, but, you know, my, my wife, she's got a lot on a plate, right? So me coming over and kind of being like, well, this cold call didn't quite go well. Like, that's not her job. So having, having someone, um, who you can, who you can trust in, can steer back on the right path to give you that reset, that's, that's really, really important, I think.

Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. And, um, just kind of going back to the, the kind of people biting people side of things and, you know, making people smile and all the rest of it. Um, it's very weird. I sort of feel like I know you a little bit, even though I don't really know you. Like, this is the first time we've proper, um, know I've done. You've done stuff with us before, but, um, there is something, isn't there, around kind of being active on LinkedIn and, and people feeling like they kind of know you a little bit, that it's going to be helpful in, in sales.

Speaker B: I, I think there's a lot to that. I'll give you an example. My, my misses she saw that a, uh, um, an influencer that she follows on Instagram, has broken up with her boyfriend. She was. She was devastated. She couldn't. She couldn't believe it. You know, we don't know. We don't know these people. We know. Oh, I can't believe she was speaking to me. I can't believe they broke up. They've been. They've been together for 10 years, right? It's because you're invested, right? You. You kind of feel even though you don't know them well, actually, I've been following this person for. It could be. It could be 10 years, right? So you're almost like you said, you're almost like, in the loop and. Yeah, I take that as a compliment. If I jump up on a call and someone says, oh, I feel like I already know you. You kind of like, okay, well, I've done. I've done the work, right? The, the whole point of building a personal brand is to, yes, get yourself out there. And yes, it feels good to get likes and to go viral, but the kind of way that it adds to a, uh, sales call when you're almost starting on call five, call six, because they feel like they've got to know you. You've got that kind of trust that's worth its weight in gold, right? You. You kind of not having to start from. From scratch. And, um, in sales, there's a lot of starting from scratch, right? You've got someone's details, you've got the product. They don't know you. You don't know them. Okay, here we go. Let's get on the phones. And, you know, a big reason for me to continuing to build the brand is I was like, well, actually, you know, and now I'll. I'm very lucky that I get to help salespeople. That's really. That's really tough, the amount of people are in that situation. So to kind of build that brand on the platform, I just think gives you. Gives you a leg up. And, um, you know, the pushback from people is. I could never do that, Tom. I don't want to put myself on the Internet tomorrow. What do I say? What do I post? I don't like my face. That's the one I get a lot. I don't like my voice. Uh, you know, as someone who's, uh, bald with a ginger beard and a nasal northern accent, I. I've not let those things hold. Hold me back. Uh, I've just kind of gone, well, you know, these are the. These are the cards I've been dealt, and I'M gonna play them like, you want to get, you want to get one life, right? So, like, I'm gonna play my hand and I encourage everyone to do the same.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Uh, what would you say other than just not posting? What would you say is like a common mistake you see people make when they start posting on LinkedIn?

Speaker B: Posting too much, you know, right? Posting every day, posting thought leadership. Uh, you know, we see SDRs who are 20, 21 year old. As I, you know, as I was early in my career, I'm going to educate the market, right? I'm selling to CEOs. Let me tell them a little bit about their industry. Like, you could never, you could never know more. I always say this. You could never know more about your prospects, business and, um, their industry than they could, you know, they are, ah, the experts. So rather than try to create content on the platform, which puts you, um, out as an expert, just be the person who asks questions of that, of that space. Be curious, start conversations. You know, you can raise ideas and encourage people to, to kind of comment. But yeah, I think that's, that's where a lot of people go wrong. They'll either try to be experts on, on the industry, or they'll just post about their product or service. Right? So, like, here's a screenshot of the product. Here's why I like it. Uh, you know, and those, those two words stick out for me that someone gave me as a piece of advice years ago. Nobody cares. It's really, really tough piece of, piece of advice. But think about, I think about that every week. Think about that every time I write anything, right? Because if you start with nobody cares, you can kind of go, okay, well, what, what do they care about? Well, they care about themselves, their problems. Um, they like to give their insights. You know, that's a real shift that worked for me. Rather than trying to be the expert, why don't you try to ask what other people think? You know, all I've done mine for seven years is create content, which is, as you said, rooted in humor that highlights a problem that salespeople go through and invites the audience to give their opinion. You know, you do that for long enough, people start, people start calling you an influencer, uh, an expert, but really you're just leading the, leading the charge. You're leading the conversation. And when salespeople do that, prospects look on their profile and go, oh, uh, wait a second. This, this Tom guy who just sent me an email, he's practicing what he preaches because a lot of the Things that he said he could solve on an email. I can see he's bringing up those conversations on, on the platform. So it's just like bringing those, Bringing those two worlds together.

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, they might see Tom, they might see Larry, they might see Barry, depending

Speaker B: what, Depending what mood I'm in. Yeah. And if. No, if someone's listening to this and not seeing my content, that's, uh, that's very confusing. But I have, um. I do have. What's. What's the word? Uh, Martin, Is it, um, alter ego. Alter egos. I was going to say doppelganger, but that. That's not right. That's not the right word.

Speaker A: They do look very much like you.

Speaker B: Well, it's a funny one, right, because, um, if anyone doesn't know, when I put on this flat cap, this is me playing a sales manager. And if you find me in a headset, this is me playing a sales rep. That wasn't a, uh, kind of conscious decision. You know, I just kind of picked up a hat that I'd want to work that day, and I was like, okay, this will be how I'll be identified as a, ah, as a sales manager on the, on the platform. But yeah, over the years, they've become Larry and, and Barry, and I. I have a lot of fun playing those, those characters stuff.

Speaker A: Um, is there a skill that today's SDRs or AES need more than anything else? They're just not really focusing on enough that you've. That you've seen?

Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good question. Is there a skill that STLs or AAs need to focus on? I think learning the language of their, uh, buyer like that would be. That's the first one that sprung to mind when you said that it's really easy to know the language of your product or service. Right. You've probably sat through two weeks, three weeks of onboarding. If you work for a company, they've told you about the product, they've told you how, uh, how great the product is and how it helps with xyz. But actually, I think it's more beneficial to spend time joining the webinars that your prospects are attending. Listen to the podcasts that your buyer is listening to that's relevant in their space. Because when you do that, you start to jump on calls. You can, you can kind of speak. Speak their language. And, and when you do, it kind of adds instant authority. You could be a young sales rep. It could be your first sales role. But if you, if you're outbound messaging hits the fields. I'll use a, uh, a young person's word hits, hits them in the fields. You're kind of on track to have that, to have that good conversation. For me, the only way to do that is to kind of walk in there in their shoes, attend the events that they attend, you know.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's an interesting one, isn't it? The fields. And it is about, I suppose, an emotional connection. And quite often I think that when you get, we're talking about, you know, start of B2B, you're trying to be like really super serious and actually I think there's, there's something about that kind of shared emotional connection that's actually, you know, good for helping everyone have a good day but also really useful in, in business.

Speaker B: Mhm. Yeah. Because it, it's the kind of conversations that they're having day to day in, in meetings that, in, in the office. Right. So if you can kind of join that, that conversation, you start to have chats with prospects and they'll go, we were just talking about this last week. Uh, it's interesting that you, that you mentioned that because that's one of the, one of the key focuses for the year. And you know, it's, it's because you're kind of speaking in the way that they'll, that they'll be speaking in internally rather than. As I talked about before, I'm someone that you don't know. I'm bringing new ideas that you've kind of not, not discussed. And also I'm speaking the kind of product, product or service language. But, but actually yeah, you should be um, you should be able to join one of the internal meetings and not kind of sound out of place. I think that's a, a really good thing to think about.

Speaker A: Yep. And um, what would you say is something that salespeople should stop doing now if they want better outcomes? What are the things that people just plow on doing and they're not necessarily helpful to them?

Speaker B: Well, it has to be the um, it has to be the relentless follow up. Right. And we, we know, we know there's power in the follow up. We, we know that there is and we've all seen success from it. I've seen some success from it. But when you start with a message that's completely irrelevant and you don't get a response, there is no value in following up 3, 4, 5, 6 times. There is no value in saying, tom, this is the last email I'm gonna send you. Okay. And you know that, that this is your last, your last chance, I think just like exploring other ways to, to capture attention, you know, using platforms like LinkedIn, getting creative. You know, I've, I've got emails in my inbox right now with those relentless follow ups, but not um, not one of them have gone. You know what, you're not replying. Like here's a voice. Not, Let me just get like here's 20 seconds. Like this is what I'm trying to speak to you about. Oh, uh, hey Tom, look, I'm not replying. I made a quick video like this, this might kind of bring it to life a little bit more. Instead we just get those again. Here's, here's pretty much the same email I sent you last Wednesday. I've just changed the words a little bit with A.I. you know, we need to stop. That needs to stop. If I could leave that in 2025

Speaker A: then I would think that's fair because I think also it signals that, you know, if you're not kind of putting the time in, why should the person on the receiving end of the message, why should they care? You know, as she said earlier. Right, so just um, got a little quick fire, um section now. So, um, what's your favorite cold call opener if you have one?

Speaker B: Yeah, I, I was reflecting on this when you sent the questions to have a look at. I think everyone's looking for uh, for the magic words, aren't they? You know, every, everyone's looking for what are the words that I can say when I, when I call someone up for them to go, yes I will, I will listen to you. And there's a lot of debate on LinkedIn about like what those, what those perfect words words are. Uh, but yeah, I, I never really had one that I sort of pinned to the wall and was like this is, this is the phrase. I, I see a lot of my team who are making cold calls right now, they will, they will use things like, um, you know, could I grab 27 seconds of your time to, to um, explain the reason why I've called. If ah, it's not relevant, you won't hear from me again. Like, I quite, I quite like that. But I used to, I used to say some, some strange things on the openings of cold calls. Right? Because the whole point for me was like, let's just make it so different in the person's ear as to something that they've like I would be like, sorry Martin, you've just caught me finishing a biscuit. Just give me, give me a second. Uh, I'M making cold calls and I'm eating custard creams. I'm glad I. I'm glad I managed to catch up. I'm trying to speak to you for a while. You know, it's Tom Boston. Have you heard of my sales coach? Right. So, like, just. Just doing some. Something like that, it's not going to work for. For everybody. Um, but just. Just something. And what you could do, Martin, is you could hang up on that call, right? You could go, that was. That was bizarre. But what that allows me to do is to call you next week and go, hey, Martin, it's the biscuit guy. I had. I. I've. I've put the biscuits away for this call. Right. Is this a better time for us to speak? And, uh, what I'm hoping for you to do. Go, Tom, Why? What is the reason? Tell me what you're trying to, like, you know, get hold of me today. So I would. I would try and do anything that sounded a million miles away from. Hello, Martin M. My name is Tom. I'm calling from my sales coach, and we offer sales coaching for individuals. If you can give me some time, I'll explain why, you know, I was like, okay, well, super scripted. Like, you know, a lot of people are making those kind of cold calls. They've got the script in front of them. So anything I could say that sounded like I'd, um, lost my script like that. For me, that was like a. That was a win, you know?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: I remember John Barrows told me once that his favorite voicemail was to sort of swear halfway through and pretend he'd messed up the voicemail.

Speaker A: Right, Right.

Speaker B: So he would say, like, hey, it's Tom Boston calling from my sales coach. I'm ringing you today, Martin. I'm sorry. Oh, I shouldn't have said, oh, um, that has not gone well. And then he would. And then just hang up. Right. He. He sort of said the responses to those voicemails were, like, way better than anything that he'd ever done, which sounded thought out, unprofessional, because exactly what just happened there, you just burst out laughing, right?

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: That was hilarious. No one on a cold call or a cold voicemail has ever gone, oh, I've messed that one up. You know, And I. I just loved, uh. That really stuck with me. When he said that I was on a live session with him, I was like, I love that. Like, that's my favorite thing ever. Because again, you might tell that story in the office, right? Yeah. You might play it. That's it. This guy, this guy just listened to this, right? It allows me to ring you back up. As I sort of talked about. We're not trying to close on the first call. It allows me to ring you back up and go, mine. I've got my lines this time. I'm not gonna mess this one up. Let me. Let me make sure I shoot my shot and get it right. I don't want to be swearing on your voicemail again. Right?

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: Just. Just humanizes it. Just anything that's a little, little bit different, a little bit quirky, I'm a really big believer in.

Speaker A: And it's more human as well. Like, you can't really imagine AI doing that. Excuse me, I was in the middle of a biscuit.

Speaker B: Yes, and we've got. We've got to think. We've got to think about that in, in 2026, how do we write an email that AI could not write? How do we send a video to someone that AI could not, could not create? I've started leaving spelling mistakes in LinkedIn posts now because I'm going, well, at least it proves that I, that I wrote it, you know, whereas three years ago I would be, you know, spell check this. Let's make sure that's. That's perfect. But, like, perfect easily accessible now, like, perfect is instant. So I think a key theme, what we're going to see as we move forward is actually imperfection becomes, uh, a bit of. A. Bit of a tool that the salespeople can use. Yes. I could send a thousand perfect sales emails, but why not send three imperfect ones that don't read like anything you're going to see that day?

Speaker A: Yeah, that's really interesting. Um, what's a sales training myth that makes you roll your eyes?

Speaker B: Oh, how long have you. How long have you got? Um, this is my favorite one. Well, it's my least favorite, but that makes it my favorite. Every no is one step closer to a yes. I don't know how many times you've heard this on sales training, right? Every time you hear a no, you're. You're one step closer to getting that yes. Uh, and I'm going, well, actually, no, you're just kind of normalizing being told no and kind of being okay with, well, I'm just gonna, you know, throw enough at the wall and hope that some of it sticks. Like, for me, I'm going, no. Let's. Let's focus on getting the yes right? Not just. Not just powering through because really, really easy to get the nose but how do we focus on getting the. Yes. So I think that's, that's the myth that always sticks out for me. This idea that anybody with a headset, if they call enough people, they'll eventually get someone to go, okay, then, yeah, that, that sounds good to me. Um, yeah, a. I think that that's just not, not true. And be like, how, how good is that lead? How good is that lead gonna be? Right. We don't really want the, the lead that just will. We'll speak to anyone. We want the person who. Yeah, that's caught my attention. That sounds super relevant. Uh, I liked the approach. Like, tell, tell me more. So. Yeah, that's the one that's, uh, I've heard that a lot in sales training and I just, I hate that one.

Speaker A: I think that is a good, A good one. Um, so what's something every sales leader should stop saying in 2026?

Speaker B: Sales leaders stop saying in 2026. You know what I don't like the sales leaders say, and I've probably said it as Larry before. It's. It's the one that's about like, just keep, keep, keep going, you know, keep the, the grind. I hate that. I hate that word. Like, just keep powering through and with grit and determination and more effort, you kind of will get there. And I've, I've had sales roles where people will kind of get there at 7:30, 8 o' clock in the morning and not leave till half 7, 8 o' clock at night. And that's like celebrated, you know. Oh, uh, that person is. They're putting in the grind. Whereas I'm like, well, actually, you know, with a family and kids, I don't, I don't want to put in the, put m in the grind. I want to, I want to go home at like a reasonable, reasonable time and still be able to achieve my goals. So I think, like, not encouraging that kind of, that mentality that you have to throw your heart, uh, and soul into a sales role, it has to consume you. Like. Yeah, I think that would be it. And also got another one.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, don't, don't send messages to your sales team on an evening how. However important it is. Right. However much you think this cannot wait until 9 o' clock tomorrow. Like, it probably, it probably can. It's really easy to get kind of blinded and have those kind of binoculars on. Right. That like, sales and deals are the most important thing. But one thing I love about my wife is she really helps me to kind of zoom out and realize that, you know, Tom, there is so much more to life, uh, than this deal, you know, There really, really is. So, yeah, that would be another one. Stop. Stop messaging. I'll just wait. So you speak to them in the morning like this. It can wait, you know.

Speaker A: Yeah. Great. Um, Tom, thank you so much for joining us today. Um, for everyone listening, go and Follow Tom on LinkedIn if you haven't already. And that's it for today's episode of what I Wish I'd Known About Sales. Don't forget to share this with a rep on your team who really needs to hear it. Thanks for joining us today.