Sales Paranoia and Anticipating Loss

In this episode of Mostly Growth, Kyle Poyar and CJ Gustafson sit down with Jen Allen-Knuth to break down why “status quo” is the most dangerous competitor in B2B sales. They unpack the psychology of change, why buyers care more about confidence than features, and how sales principles show up in leadership, forecasting, and finance. The conversation covers qualifying real pipeline, running better discovery, smarter outbound, and how execs—from CROs to CFOs—can sell change inside their own companies.

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SPONSORS:

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com

Tropic is an intelligent spend management solution that consolidates your spend data and processes into one unified offering, enabling insights and decisive action. From spotting hidden optimization opportunities to automating painful procurement workflows and giving you the best market data to turn vendor negotiations in your favor, Tropic combines smart insights with real human expertise to keep you ahead of the curve. Visit https://www.tropicapp.io/mostlymetrics to learn how.

HockeyStack is an AI platform for modern go-to-market teams that unifies sales, marketing, and customer data into a single system of action. With AI agents that prospect accounts, support reps, improve forecasting, and automate what’s already working, HockeyStack helps teams move faster without guessing. Trusted by companies like RingCentral, Outreach, ActiveCampaign, and Fortune 100 teams—learn more at https://www.hockeystack.com

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LINKS: 

DemandJen: https://demandjen.com/

Jen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demandjen1/

Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/

Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/

Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9OCYOD-e9s

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RELATED EPISODES:

Can You Measure the ROI of a Super Bowl Ad?

https://youtu.be/YgWm4HqDlbw

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 Meeting Jen Allen-Knuth

00:01:12 Walkup Music, Conferences, and Setting the Vibe

00:03:34 Mostly Growth Show Intro

00:03:57 Meta Sales Lessons

00:06:20 Why Every Executive Needs Sales Skills

00:08:35 Sales Psychology, Loss Aversion, and the Cost of Inaction

00:11:09 Sponsors — RightRev | Tropic | HockeyStack

00:14:50 Why Great Sales Reps Assume Deals Will Fail

00:16:58 The Art of the Anti-Sell

00:19:03 Giving Buyers an Explicit Out on Price

00:21:00 The Three Strongest Signals a Deal Will Close

00:23:10 Asking How Buyers Reached Their Conclusion

00:25:34 Status Quo as the Biggest Competitor

00:27:24 How Much Pipeline You Actually Need to Hit Target

00:28:30 Shifting to What Actually Works in Outbound Messaging

00:31:52 Leading with Insight Instead of Pitching the Product

00:32:42 Why Every AE Needs to Generate Their Own Outbound

00:33:22 Business Blunders and the Problem with Breakup Emails

00:35:07 The Providence Place Mall Squatter Blunder

00:35:42 Reacting to the Providence Mall Squatter Story

00:36:40 Outbound Messaging as a Business Blunder

00:38:05 Solopreneur S-Corp and Payroll Pain

00:40:13 Using ChatGPT for Admin and Operations

00:42:33 Credits

#MostlyGrowthPodcast #B2BSales #OutboundSales #SalesPsychology #RevenueGrowth