Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Know a Deal Is Dead

Question: Felipe from Quebec asks, "I have three deals that made it to proposal stage but all went silent. They said timing was good, budget was approved—now nothing. What's the best way to re-create urgency without sounding desperate?"

Book: The JOLT Effect by Matthew Dixon & Ted McKenna

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Question: Marcus from Toronto asks, "My company has rolled out several AI tools, but none of them actually save me time. How do I know which parts of my process I should automate and which I should never hand over to AI?"

Book: The AI-First Sales Rep" by Tony Hughes

Lightning Round: Top 10 Things You Are Grateful for in Sales

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Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways To Build Trust With Your Customers

Question: Panchal from Spotify asks, "I am from a different country. My English accent is a little different than the native. Will that delay building trust with the customer? If yes, what's the solution?"

Book: The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

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Lightning Round: Top 10 Things You Need to Do to Drive Sales BEFORE Year End

Question: Kelly from Austin asks, "Hey Meridith and Mark — I've been missing my numbers all year, it's killing my confidence. Now this government shut down, combined with the holidays—where and how can I get momentum?"

Book: A Mind For Sales Mark Hunter

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Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand

Question: Lisa from Austin, TX asks, "This year I've been trying to make my presentations more engaging. How do I know if my story is connecting — or if I'm just talking too much?"

Book: Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall

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Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Sales Effectiveness

Question: Peter asks, "As sales continues to shift from a traditional B2B supplier perspective (products focus) toward a more retail customer centric focus, I'm very interested to know if it would be more effective for field sales teams to understand their business partners' buyers or key decision makers' KPIs (excluding monetary incentives)? By doing so, they could better collaborate and align their strategies to help those buyers or decision makers achieve their KPIs, while also driving sustained growth for all involved."

Book: Endless Customers by Marcus Sheridan

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Lightning Round: Top Ways to Increase Customer Retention

Question: "Hi Meredith and Mark, this is Jenna from Chicago. Our sales team is crushing quotas, but customer churn is rising. How can we balance new business goals without losing the customers we already have?"

Book: Perspective by Meridith Elliott Powell

Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Follow-up Without Being Annoying

Question: Renee from Montreal asks, "I'm a VP of Sales at a growing SaaS company. Marketing generates a ton of leads, but my team says they're not qualified. What's the best way to get sales and marketing aligned without constant finger-pointing?"

Book: They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan

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