Sales Reinvented

There are a handful of genuinely useful, actionable tips buried in mostly conventional advice - Paul Smith's 'don't announce it's a story' and Roy Furr's 'start in the middle of the action' stand out, but much of the episode is padded with obvious platitudes about humility, brevity, and matching audience.

“don't use the word story. Like never tell your buyer, let me tell you a story. Now that sounds like something that's exciting and captivating to say but it almost always turns them off.”

“Start in the middle of the action instead of at the beginning”

The 'never apologize for or announce a story' advice is mildly counterintuitive and the Eugene Schwartz 'hail of bullets' reference adds a copywriting lens not often heard in sales podcasts, but the bulk of the content - be vulnerable, match story to audience, keep it short - is well-worn territory.

“if you don't think it is as important, well, don't say it, right? Just get back to the bullet points on slide 72 or whatever”

“There's a classic copywriter, Eugene Schwartz, who wrote a book called Breakthrough Advertising. At one point in a speech, he talked about every good sales message should open like an action movie with like a hail of bullets.”

The three guests are genuine practitioners - Paul Smith is a published author with direct personal selling experience, Roy Furr is a working direct-response copywriter with named campaign results, and Mary Jane Copps is a sales consultant - but none are scaled operators or C-suite executives whose credibility is established in the transcript itself.

“working with a gentleman named Brian Kurtz on an event called the Titans of Direct Response”

“we brought hundreds of the world's best marketers into the room for this event based on this story based promotion”

The illustrative stories are commendably specific - named individuals, real locations, and a concrete dollar figure for Boardroom Inc. - but the actionable sales advice itself stays almost entirely abstract, with no data on conversion lifts, win rates, or measurable outcomes from applying the storytelling techniques.

“My wife and I were at an art fair in Cincinnati, Ohio... this guy named Chris Guglielmello. He's an underwater photographer”

“over $150 million a year at its peak”

The host asks the identical formulaic question set to each guest, offers zero pushback, and responds to every answer with enthusiastic but empty affirmations that add no depth or challenge - this is a PR-friendly clip show, not an interview.

“I love it. That is a phenomenal list of do's and don'ts. It really is.”

“So Paul, we're actually at my favorite part of the show. This is our audience's favorite part of the show.”