To get meetings with busy leaders before her product was ready, founder Janice Omadeke explicitly stated, "I am too early for you to purchase this." This non-threatening approach lowered their guard, reframing the conversation from a sales pitch to a collaborative session focused on learning their problems.

Stop trying to convince executives to adopt your priorities. Instead, identify their existing strategic initiatives—often with internal code names—and frame your solution as an accelerator for what they're already sold on doing. This dramatically reduces friction and speeds up deals.

Instead of asking generic discovery questions, present prospects with a framework of common problems (e.g., '15 GTM challenges'). This immediately turns the sales call into a collaborative working session, building credibility and accelerating the path to a deal.

Prospects often decline meetings to avoid another bad sales experience. Counter this by explicitly stating the value they'll receive (e.g., free ideas, best practices) even if they don't purchase, making the meeting a low-risk proposition for them.

Adopt the mindset that the meeting's purpose is for you to determine if the prospect qualifies to be your customer, not for you to convince them to buy. This posture shifts control, positions you as the prize, and forces the prospect to prove they are a serious potential partner.

Instead of a feature-focused presentation, close deals by first articulating the customer's problem, then sharing a relatable story of solving it for a similar company, and only then presenting the proposal. This sequence builds trust and makes the solution self-evident.

In initial meetings with enterprise prospects, Nexla's founder didn't pitch a solution. He focused entirely on validating the problem. By asking, "Do you see this problem as well?" he framed the conversation as a collaborative exploration, which disarmed prospects and led to more honest, insightful discussions.

To sell effectively, avoid leading with product features. Instead, ask diagnostic questions to uncover the buyer's specific problems and desired outcomes. Then, frame your solution using their own words, confirming that your product meets the exact needs they just articulated. This transforms a pitch into a collaborative solution.

Instead of pitching a customer, ask them, "Why did you decide to get on this call?" and "Why now?" This forces the prospect to articulate their own pain and why they believe you are the solution, reversing the sales dynamic and revealing core buying motivations.