Sales Tales - A podcast sharing epic stories that get you through your sales adventure.

Josh Shirley
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

Introducing Sales Tales - a podcast for people who want to: Grow their sales performance Increase their income Learn to cope with failure Challenge the traditional-selling mindset This is for sellers, those who manage sellers, or those who lead organizations toward future revenue outcomes.

  1. Episode 79 – Three Pressure Points That Make or Break the Meeting

    6d ago

    Episode 79 – Three Pressure Points That Make or Break the Meeting

    Steve Jobs had a working iPhone prototype weeks before launch. His engineers said ship it. He switched to Gorilla Glass at the last minute, causing an operational nightmare and changing the world. That stubbornness is what Josh Shirley calls equal business stature, and it shows up in three very specific moments in every sales meeting. In this episode, you'll learn: Why agreeing to a shortened meeting almost always produces a worse outcome than rescheduling, and how to frame the reschedule so it lands as being in the buyer's interestWhat's actually happening psychologically when a prospect cuts your time, and how the parent, adult, and child ego states fight for control in those three secondsWhy "can you stay a few more minutes?" feels like a win and why it almost never isHow to redirect a buyer's overtime energy into the next meeting without losing momentumWhat "go talk to my team" actually signals, and the one move that keeps you from abandoning the relationship that got you in the roomWhy equal business stature has nothing to do with your LinkedIn profile, your title, or your product knowledge, and everything to do with how you respond to pressureThis episode is for account executives, sales managers, and anyone who has ever agreed to a bad 30-minute meeting because they were afraid to lose the deal. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real sales stories, real tactics, and zero fluff. If you want to know how to close deals, handle objections, and think like a top performer, you're in the right place.

    41 min
  2. Episode 78 - 4 Phrases That Kill Sales Deals (And What They're Really Telling You)

    Jun 23

    Episode 78 - 4 Phrases That Kill Sales Deals (And What They're Really Telling You)

    Some deals don't die with a rejection. They just disappear. Everything looks right. The conversations were good, the fit was real, the buyer seemed engaged. And then one day you check on it and it's just floating there. Nobody on board. Nothing happening. A ghost ship in your pipeline. In this episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley and Tom Niesen decode the four phrases buyers use instead of saying no, and what to do when you've already gotten one of them and the deal has gone quiet. Opening with the true story of the Mary Celeste, the merchant ship that vanished without explanation in 1872 with cargo intact and crew gone, Josh draws one of the sharpest parallels in Sales Tales history: the ghost ship in your pipeline looks just like a real deal, until you get close enough to see that nobody's home. In this episode, you'll learn: What "send me some information" actually means, and why buyers ask for something they already found on your websiteWhy "circle back next quarter" is almost never a timeline and almost always a polite exitWhat's really going on when a buyer says "I need to think about it," and the invisible fence story that explains it perfectlyWhy "let me ask internally" means the seller is missing from the deal, not just the decision makerThe upfront contract move that makes buyers comfortable enough to tell you no, before they disappearHow to re-engage a ghost ship deal without putting the prospect on the defensiveThe breakup voicemail formula that gets a real answer when nothing else willTom Niesen brings one of the best reframes of the episode: it's not just about you being okay with no. It's about making the prospect comfortable enough to give you one. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real stories, real tactics, and zero fluff. New episode every week.

    35 min
  3. Episode 77 - 5 Things Sellers Do That Make Buying Harder (And How to Stop)

    Jun 16

    Episode 77 - 5 Things Sellers Do That Make Buying Harder (And How to Stop)

    Most deals don't die because of bad products, bad pricing, or bad timing. They die because of what the seller did, or didn't do, in the room. In this episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley and David Doherty break down five seller behaviors that make the buying process harder on buyers, drawing on a LinkedIn poll result that revealed something most salespeople already know but rarely act on: when a prospect says "sometime in Q3," they almost never mean it. From failing to read the room to selling to the wrong people entirely, these five patterns show up in every sales environment, and they're more common than most sellers want to admit. In this episode, you'll learn: Why reading the room isn't just about personality, and what DISC profiles tell you about how to actually show upHow forcing your sales process onto buyers slows deals down and creates friction you can't seeWhat "transferring pressure" really means, and how the pressure you feel becomes the obstacle your buyer createsWhy presenting too much doesn't just overwhelm buyers, it invites competition and analysis paralysisHow selling to the wrong people traps you in a loop of comfortable conversations with people who can never say yesJosh and David bring real stories from the field, including a furnace sale that ended perfectly because one guy had zero stake in the outcome, a five-year dinner relationship that never became a deal, and a window salesperson who explained Argon gas to someone who just wanted new windows. This is the Sales Tales episode for anyone who has ever left a meeting feeling great, and then watched the deal quietly disappear. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real sales stories, real tactics, and the Sandler selling methodology.

    45 min
  4. Episode 76 - 6 Sales Metrics That Look Good But Mean Nothing

    Jun 9

    Episode 76 - 6 Sales Metrics That Look Good But Mean Nothing

    Your pipeline is full. Your metrics look great. So why isn't anything closing? In this episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley and Tom Niesen, aka the Conjurer, take on one of the most overlooked problems in sales leadership: the vanity metrics that show up in forecasting meetings, create false confidence, and quietly distort how salespeople behave. There is a sharp distinction that changes everything: the difference between a sales funnel meeting and a pipeline meeting. One is full of hopes, dreams, and optimism. The other is short, factual, and built on what's actually about to close. Most teams are running funnel meetings and calling them pipeline meetings, and it's costing them. In this episode, you'll learn: The difference between a sales funnel and a pipeline, and why getting it wrong leads to bad forecasting, bad coaching, and bad cultureWhy number of quotes sent can actually create more quoting behavior, not more revenueHow credit applications become a feel-good vanity metric that appease salespeople and mislead managersWhy demos shown is only a meaningful metric when it's tied to a specific next step, and how AOL accidentally explains whyWhat conversations as a metric gets right, what it gets wrongWhy meetings booked is the metric most SDR teams get wrong, and how chasing it produces bad meetingsTom's number one: why measuring sales instead of customers is the most expensive habit in the businessJosh also shares a story about a deal he closed with an urgent care clinic that he absolutely should not have closed, and exactly what went wrong when the implementation team showed up. Tom Niesen is a 30-year Sandler franchisee based in Texas. He is also, not coincidentally, a magician. This episode is both. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast for salespeople and sales leaders who want real sales tips and strategies, not theory. No fluff. Just the stuff that actually works.

    37 min
  5. Episode 75 - 7 Discovery Questions Buyers Secretly Hate (And What to Ask Instead)

    Jun 2

    Episode 75 - 7 Discovery Questions Buyers Secretly Hate (And What to Ask Instead)

    Your buyers have heard your questions before. And they have answers ready. In this milestone 75th episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley and David Doherty pull back the curtain on seven of the most common discovery questions in sales, the ones buyers see coming, prepare for, and use against you. Pulled from real sales communities, Reddit threads, Gartner forums, and B2B buyer feedback, these are the questions that are quietly costing you deals, not because they're wrong, but because of when and how you're asking them. This is not about throwing out your discovery process. It's about getting smarter with it. In this episode, you'll learn: Why "What keeps you up at night?" is overused, ill-timed, and how to replace it with something that actually worksThe right moment to ask about budget, and why asking too soon gets you stonewalled every timeWhy "What don't you like about your current vendor?" puts buyers on the defensive, and the simple flip that opens them up insteadHow "Who besides yourself is involved in the decision?" can backfire, and what process-first questioning gets you furtherWhy "How do you do that today?" kills your pain funnel momentum right when you've built itThe lazy question you're probably throwing out too early and how to make it actually landWhy "When should we get started?" creates pressure instead of a real timelineJosh and Dave also share real stories from the field, including a cold call that went sideways when a seller asked about revenue too fast, and an executive meeting in Houston where a reversed question came at completely the wrong moment. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast that brings you real-world sales tips and strategies grounded in the Sandler methodology. 75 episodes in, and we're just getting started.

    43 min
  6. Episode 74 - The $200K Deal That Ended in Handcuffs: Real Sales Horror Stories with Tom Niesen

    May 26

    Episode 74 - The $200K Deal That Ended in Handcuffs: Real Sales Horror Stories with Tom Niesen

    What happens when you're so sure you have a deal that you stop selling, and then everything falls apart? In this episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley sits down with Tom Niesen, 30-year Sandler trainer, magician, and veteran of some of the most memorable sales disasters you'll ever hear. Tom brings two real-life stories from the field that are equal parts entertaining and educational, plus the lessons packed inside them are ones every salesperson needs to hear. In Story 1, Tom is on the one-yard line of a $150,000 sale that should have been a lock. Three of his company's machines already in the plant, no real competition, until he shows up to collect the contract and finds out his champion is in Vegas. With the competitor. And things escalate from there, all the way to the CEO's office and a pair of handcuffs. In Story 2, Tom is deep in a pursuit and starts deploying one of Sandler's most powerful tools, negative reversing, one too many times. The prospect finally takes him at his word. And just like that, the deal is done. In this episode, you'll learn: Why "beware the happy prospect" is one of the most important rules in salesHow assuming you have the sale can open the door wide for your competition (without you even knowing it)The difference between a selling process and a features-and-benefits pitch, and why it mattersWhat negative reversing is, how it works, and exactly when NOT to use itWhy the deals you're most confident about are sometimes the ones you're about to loseHow to use judo logic in a sales conversation to get a prospect to overcome their own objectionsTom Niesen is a Sandler franchisee based in Texas with 30 years of experience training sales teams. He paid his way through college doing magic at a bar he helped open after convincing the city council to grant him a liquor license. He is exactly as good as this sounds. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real sales stories, real tactics, and zero fluff. If you want to know how to close deals, handle objections, and think like a top salesperson, you're in the right place.

    41 min
  7. Episode 73 - Why Your Deal Went Dead, And What You Did to Kill It

    May 19

    Episode 73 - Why Your Deal Went Dead, And What You Did to Kill It

    Most salespeople blame the deal. The real problem is what happened in the cockpit. In this episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley and David Doherty break down a listener poll that asked: when a deal dies, what really killed it? The results were eye-opening. Nearly 80% of the time, lost deals trace back to qualification failures that were entirely within the seller's control. And the biggest culprit? Giving the controls to the wrong person too soon. Built around the story of a passenger who had to land a plane after the pilot collapsed mid-flight, this episode is a masterclass in why sellers need to stay in the cockpit, and exactly how to do it. In this episode, you'll learn: Why asking "are you the decision maker?" is the wrong first question, and what to ask insteadHow to map the real decision process without putting your champion on the defensiveWhat to do when someone insists they make the decision, and you know they don'tWhy fake timelines kill deals and how to smoke out a vague Q3 before it costs youHow to use upfront contracts early to avoid the decision-maker trap altogetherWhy 50% of lost deals come down to the wrong person, 29% to bad timelines, and what that means for your pipelineThis episode is essential for B2B salespeople, account executives, sales managers, and anyone who has watched a solid deal quietly disappear and wondered what went wrong. Because in most cases, you already had what you needed to save it. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast for people who want real sales tips and strategies they can use today, built on the Sandler selling methodology and real-life sales experiences from the field.

    38 min
  8. Episode 72 - How to Get More Referrals Using LinkedIn (The Rule of Seven)

    May 12

    Episode 72 - How to Get More Referrals Using LinkedIn (The Rule of Seven)

    Most salespeople treat referrals like luck... something that just happens to them. But what if you could build a repeatable process to generate referrals on demand? In this episode of Sales Tales, Josh Shirley breaks down the LinkedIn Rule of Seven, a systematic framework for turning your existing network into a predictable referral engine. Whether you've got a handful of clients or a book of hundreds, this process will show you how to stop waiting for referrals and start producing them. In this episode, you'll learn: Why 8 out of 10 of your clients will give you a referral, but only if you askWhat the LinkedIn Rule of Seven is and how the math actually works in the wildThe three applications of the rule: one-to-many, many-to-one, and one-to-one, and when to use eachHow LinkedIn Sales Navigator supercharges your referral prospectingThe exact process Josh uses to hit a goal of 75 referrals in 90 daysHow to make it effortless for someone to refer you (including ghost-written intro text)If you've ever wondered how to close more deals, build a stronger pipeline, or finally tap into the warm leads that are already sitting inside your network, this episode is your blueprint. Sales Tales is the podcast for salespeople who want real sales tips and strategies they can apply today. No fluff, no theory, just tactics that work.

    27 min
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Introducing Sales Tales - a podcast for people who want to: Grow their sales performance Increase their income Learn to cope with failure Challenge the traditional-selling mindset This is for sellers, those who manage sellers, or those who lead organizations toward future revenue outcomes.

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