Business-to-business commerce is broken. Today’s customers find themselves overwhelmed by too many options, too much information, and too many obstacles. The result is often an inability to execute any but the safest of purchase decisions, frequently resulting in no decision at all.

Today’s guest is Brent Adamson, he’s a world-renowned researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives around the world.

He’s here to argue that the real key to B2B sales success is to focus on boosting customers’ confidence in themselves and their ability to make large-scale, collective decisions on behalf of their company rather than sticking with how traditional sales have worked.

In this episode, you will learn:

Why sales success hinges on buyer self-confidence, not seller expertise
How “frame making” helps reduce decision friction in complex buying groups
What to do when content marketing becomes part of the customer’s confusion
How emotional calibration can humanize your pitch and build trust faster
How to coach customers through their own internal process using a simple audit

Timestamps:

00:16 – The surprising origins of The Challenger Sale

01:30 – Why segmentation research gave way to selling insights

02:51 – The seller crushing quota in the middle of a recession

05:07 – How Neil Rackham predicted Challenger’s longevity

06:21 – Pushback: “Relationships still matter!”

08:12 – From product to solution to insight as the competitive edge

10:18 – Why leading with “you’re selling wrong” fails

11:20 – Framing the shift: Selling must evolve because buying has

12:46 – The rise of buyer indecision in a world drowning in content

15:06 – “Smartness arms race” and the downfall of content overload

16:05 – 20-person buying groups that don’t know how to decide

17:38 – Why decision fatigue is killing commerce

20:30 – The real opportunity: Making buyers confident in themselves

21:55 – Coach vs. expert: The power of preserving buyer agency

24:35 – How younger or newer sellers can still bring massive value

25:58 – Use this phrase to add instant credibility as a new seller

26:09 – Playing the role of connector, not expert

29:08 – Personalizing outreach through social proof and curation

30:05 – Adding subtle emotional language to increase engagement

33:41 – The Frame Making model: Establish, Engage, Execute

36:11 – “It turns out that…” audit: Avoiding surprise buyer stalls

38:26 – Build a customer-facing “sequence of events” map

40:15 – Expedient’s frame making mindset: Win by helping customers decide faster

42:26 – “If we’re going to lose, let’s lose early”

44:00 – The most powerful thing a customer can feel after a sales call

45:56 – Teaching empathy through language and emotional calibration

49:45 – Hypothesis-led empathy: How to learn what customers feel

51:18 – The overlooked ROI of solving for what customers feel

Resources Mentioned:

Buy The Frame Making Sale: https://www.amazon.com/Framemaking-Sale-Boosting-Customer-Confidence/dp/1541705823/

HBR article on the Sense Making for Sales: https://hbr.org/2022/01/sensemaking-for-sales

Follow Brent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/

Watch Brent’s Frame Making Sale YouTube series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HKcZiOSrso

Connect with Us:

Uplevel yourself and your team with our trainings: www.learnit.com
Email us: podcast@learnit.com
Follow Damon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damonlembi/
Follow Damon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/damonlembi/

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