Your weekly dose of Alluviance!
Years ago, I walked into a third sales call feeling like I had it nailed.
Discovery done.
Pain mapped.
Stakeholders clear.
Next step in mind.
They brought in their SVP of Sales and I thought, “Perfect. I know exactly where this needs to go.”
I framed up the conversation.
Walked through the pain.
The business case.
Why they were here.
Where I thought this was heading.
And then he stopped me.
“Alex, none of that is true. That’s not why we’re here today.”
Cool cool cool.
My whole plan fell apart in about 12 seconds.
I had the script. I had the talk track. I had practiced the conversation in my head over and over again.
And none of it mattered.
Because in that moment, I wasn’t present enough to pivot.
I went straight into my head and got caught on my heels.
I was trying to get back to the conversation I had prepared for instead of listening to the conversation that was actually happening.
Classic “Pretender Alex” took over.
And that’s the thing about sales.
The call is never just the call.
It becomes a mirror.
You get to see your relationship w/ rejection.
You get to see how badly you need to be seen as competent.
You get to see whether your confidence is rooted in something real, or if it disappears the second a buyer pushes back.
That’s the work beneath the work.
Most people want the surface-level fix.
Better scripts.
Better objection handling.
Better questions.
And yes, craft matters.
But at some point, the deeper question becomes impossible to avoid:
Who are you being while you’re doing the thing?
Are you attuned and actually listening?
Are you present?
I lost that deal.
I had a plan, but I didn’t have presence. I had a script, but I didn’t have enough trust in myself to let it go.
I wish I could tell you I learned all this once and moved on.
I did not.
I still try to force things that probably need more space.
I still catch myself making the outcome mean too much.
That is an exhausting way to sell.
And that’s where the real reps begin.
It's the hardest work there is.
And if you’re willing to do that work, sales becomes more than a performance.
It becomes a practice.
A practice in presence.
That’s the work beneath the work.
And it changes far more than your calls.
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2. Quote to fuel your Alluviance:
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." — James Baldwin