Taylor Brown

Prospect grins: "Well... the other broker came in at half the price you quoted." ❌ Weak Frame: Panic Mode "Yeah but… not apples to apples… probably cut corners on coverage… jacked up the deductibles…" → Game over. You sound desperate. ✅ Strong Frame: Calm & Cool "Ah yes. Seen this movie before. Without running a proper comparison, all I'll say is this—they're not half the price because they woke up feeling generous." (Shut up. Let it sit. Brain itch begins.) Bottomline: Chase = lose frame. Hold your ground = own it.

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5 Comments

Every AE needs to understand this: 1) OTE is largely a function of quota 2) Larger OTE means larger quota because ratios are consistent 3) Larger quota/OTE doesn’t mean you’ll have what you need to even get close to the quota/OTE Don’t be the AE that falls for a big OTE with a 7:1 quota to OTE ratio and 80% of reps badly missing target. It’s the laziest recruiting tactic (we’ll give you a higher OTE!) that takes advantage of AEs that don’t know the math.

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42 Comments

A bunch of ENT reps are making $1M+ this year because their companies actually trained them. You're in sales because you like money. It's fine. I like money too. But when you're trying to figure out where to sell, most people obsess over OTE and miss the actual predictor of whether you'll hit it. Training. Sure, easy for someone like me to say that given, ya know, what my company does and all. But I went down a RepVue rabbit hole last week and the pattern is pretty clear: Not every company with a good RepVue score ranks high on training. If your product sells itself, training can suck and reps still print. But basically every company where reps say the training is gangster-level elite? Those orgs look like money machines. Check this out: - AlphaSense - 98% training… SMB reps making $500K+: https://lnkd.in/gDVYRkYe - Owner.com - 98% training… 71% hitting quota: https://lnkd.in/gYqRjMHr - Chainguard - 97% training… ENT Reps taking home $1M+: https://lnkd.in/gxP4GJZ7 - TripleWhale - 97% training… 84% hitting quota: https://lnkd.in/g8xQry8W And sure - you could also find a bunch of other companies where reps are making bank and the training sucks, but in this market sometimes you need to zig where others are zagging.  You may have never heard of most of those companies that I listed.  Kinda proves a point that you need to look for something that most people are overlooking. If you’re early in your career - or even if you’ve been selling for awhile - see if you can find an org that gives a shit enough to actually build a real training program. https://lnkd.in/gjdn2FrJ It will pay off, and you’ll be much more likely to make that $1M.

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83 Comments

If your sales reps can't explain their comp plan in 10 seconds, you have a problem. Not a communication problem. A design problem. I've seen comp plans with 4 accelerators, 2 clawback clauses, a quarterly bonus tied to a metric the rep can't control, and a "team multiplier" that nobody has ever hit. The logic: more levers = more alignment. The reality: reps spend their energy gaming the plan, not selling. Here's what a good comp plan actually does: - 1 primary metric (ARR, revenue booked -> pick one) - A clear accelerator above quota (make it feel worth it) - No ambiguity on timing (when does commission pay out?) - Nothing the rep can't influence If you need a 10-slide deck to onboard your reps to their own comp, start over. Complexity is usually a proxy for indecision: too many stakeholders, too many objectives, no one willing to make the trade-offs. The best comp plans I've seen fit in 3 lines. The worst ones have a FAQ section. If a rep has to ask "wait, how does this work again?" in month 3, you've already lost them.

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3 Comments

Good selling feels more like talking with a therapist than with a salesperson. Traditional Selling Prospect: “Our reps get off balance whenever they hear objections.” Seller: “I understand how you feel. I hear that all the time. And it’s exactly why companies like ACME and BETA bring us in to help. Let me explain how it works.” Therapist-Style Selling Prospect: “Our reps get off balance whenever they hear objections.” Seller: “That sounds frustrating.” Prospect: “It really is.” Seller: “You’ve had a long and successful career in sales. What’s your take on why that happens?” Prospect: “Well, for starters…” Why this matters: When you jump to fixing, you stop listening. And when you stop listening, people stop opening up. Why? Because people won’t trust what you say unless they feel undestood first. And without trust there’s no transaction. Trust is why people choose you over a competitor with a indentical prodcut. The sticky note? People don’t buy because they underststand you. They buy because you understand them.

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10 Comments