Sales [UN]Training

Why are so many sales teams built around underperformers? Kelly breaks down the hard truth behind marginal reps, the hamster-wheel excuses that keep them on payroll, and what it really takes to fix it. Every sales leader has faced it: the likable but ineffective rep who never quite makes quota—and never quite gets fired. In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly hits the uncomfortable truth that most managers don’t want to confront: your loyalty to marginal performers is killing your team's performance. Kelly walks through the excuses sales leaders give—“I don’t have time,” “They’re not that bad,” “I haven’t done enough”—and tears them down one by one. He explains how this inertia traps you on a hamster wheel of constant reactivity, leaving little time for what actually grows the business: developing A players and building a high-performance culture. Need Real Sales Feedback? Let’s Talk. Got a specific sales challenge you can’t solve in a Slack thread or weekly meeting? I’m opening up a few 30-minute, no-pitch consults to talk shop—off the record, outside the chain of command, and 100% focused on your world. No fluff No selling Just you, me, and the problem that’s costing you time and margin 📅 Book your time now at BLKR.co/30 Let’s fix what’s stuck. You’ll also hear four hard diagnostic questions that reveal whether a rep belongs on your team, and a 3-step framework to ensure your development process actually drives results. Kelly doesn’t just talk sales strategy—he challenges you to lead like your job depends on it. If you're ready to build a team that sells and stop babysitting those who don't, this is the episode you’ve been avoiding—and absolutely need to hear. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Kelly and Jeff Bajorek team up with a unique guest—ChatGPT—to explore how AI can actually train sales reps. From role play to resilience, this episode challenges everything you thought you knew about sales development. Together, the trio breaks new ground, asking whether AI can play a real role in sales development and coaching. Spoiler alert: the answer isn’t what you think. The conversation pulls no punches. Kelly challenges ChatGPT on what it really knows about sales, drilling into topics like emotional intelligence, tactical skills, and the glaring flaws of traditional corporate sales training. Jeff puts ChatGPT to the test with questions about roleplay, personalization, and feedback loops—and is surprised by what he hears in return. You’ll hear real insights into: How AI can help reps prep for cold calls, improve objection handling, and analyze conversations post-call. Why most sales training misses the mark by focusing on product instead of people. The irreplaceable human elements—empathy, intuition, timing—that AI can’t mimic. If you're a sales leader who’s tired of hearing the same tired strategies and wondering how to get actual results from your team, this episode is for you. Stick around to hear Kelly’s plan for future roleplays with ChatGPT—and how sales pros can use this tool without losing their edge. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Why do so many salespeople miss their numbers—even after training, reporting, and CRM rollouts? Because too often, sales leaders are solving symptoms instead of real problems. In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly shares a powerful metaphor that starts with chronic back pain but lands squarely on why your team isn’t performing. You’ll hear the three root causes that are likely sabotaging your revenue—people, planning, and prospecting—and why each one matters more than any new tactic, tool, or motivation play. Kelly unpacks why visibility reports and CRM systems don’t move the needle unless your team is having the right conversations with the right people. He breaks down why objection handling, product knowledge, and closing skills won’t matter if your reps aren’t doing great discovery or consistently prospecting. Plus, he challenges the feel-good “action bias” that tricks sales managers into thinking they’re leading when they’re really just papering over cracks. If you’re tired of investing time and money into training that doesn’t move the needle—or frustrated by a team that has a few stars and too many underperformers—this is the episode for you. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

The market’s unpredictable—but your sales team still has a number to hit. Kelly outlines 3 must-do actions for sales leaders navigating tariffs, inflation, and buyer hesitation. Interest rates. Tariffs. Economic chaos. Sales leaders are facing real headwinds—but does that give your team a free pass? In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly lays it out plain: leading in tough economic conditions requires more than empathy. It demands clarity, consistency, and the kind of mindset that refuses to let external chaos derail performance. If you're fielding complaints about supply chains, pricing pressure, or budget freezes, this episode is your wake-up call. Kelly breaks down 3 non-negotiables every sales leader must put into practice when uncertainty is high: Spend more time in the field – drop the spreadsheets, hit the calls. Get obsessive about planning – strategy is oxygen in a downturn. Audit your language – stop feeding excuses and start setting tone. You’ll also hear a story from Kelly’s media sales days that proves a simple change in meeting cadence and mindset can completely change results—even in a down market. The bottom line? You’re either reinforcing a culture of ownership or enabling one of excuses. This isn’t a motivational speech. It’s a tactical guide for leaders who don’t want to get left behind. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Sales managers often dream about turning their best technical minds into sales machines—but more often than not, it falls flat. Why? Because it takes more than product expertise. In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly sits down with Kermitt Francis, a former auditor and coder turned Director of Business Development, who shares exactly what makes that rare technical-to-sales transition actually work. Kermitt didn’t just memorize the features. He built relationships by caring more about the person than the pitch. His story is packed with practical insight: how to identify technical folks with sales potential, the three traits to look for before making the leap, and why most “big personality” reps crash and burn. You’ll also hear how Kermitt trains his team, how he uses personal experience to connect with clients, and how to keep your emotional energy steady through the highs and lows of sales. This isn’t theory. It’s a masterclass in how empathy, listening, and genuine care create trust—and trust closes deals. If you’re looking for a new approach to building a sales team from your technical bench, this is your playbook. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Most sales kickoff meetings are a massive waste of time and money — and worst of all, they’re not actually training your team. Kelly breaks down why we keep getting it wrong and what sales leaders can do to finally make these meetings matter. Sales kickoff meetings have become a staple in the corporate world — packed hotel ballrooms, slick presentations, motivational speakers, product updates... but very little actual sales development. In this episode, Kelly calls out the elephant in the room: these meetings are often a “sales dumpster fire,” with little thought given to real learning, retention, or performance improvement. Kelly shares personal stories from his early days in sales that show just how little real training takes place — and how easy it is to confuse product knowledge with sales skills. He challenges sales leaders to stop patting themselves on the back for content crammed agendas and start asking the hard questions: What are we trying to achieve? Where’s the actual skill development? Why is there no plan before or after the event? But this isn’t just a rant. Kelly offers a practical, high-impact strategy: bring in your top reps to share real success stories — complete with Q&A — so the entire team learns from the field, not just the front of the room. You’ll walk away with a simple but powerful idea that can instantly upgrade your next kickoff meeting and actually move the needle on sales performance. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Most salespeople never get the real information they need to close deals—and it's not their fault. In this episode, Kelly breaks down how poor discovery training sabotages your team and what to do instead. Discovery is the most important phase of the sales process—and the one most salespeople get totally wrong. In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly explains why most reps don’t get the depth of information they need to win deals and how sales leaders are unintentionally setting them up to fail. Kelly explains how typical sales training programs overwhelm reps with product knowledge but never teach them how to have meaningful conversations. The result? Salespeople lead with product, fire off a list of generic questions, and turn discovery calls into interrogations. The prospect feels like a target, not a partner—and the deal dies right there. You’ll hear why the answer behind the answer is the real key to closing deals, how curiosity and emotional intelligence drive effective discovery, and why most reps struggle to ask deeper follow-ups. Kelly also shares a practical example of how to turn a basic “we’re having a challenge with X” response into a full, trust-building dialogue. If you’re a VP or manager responsible for a team, this episode is a masterclass in rewiring your sales training approach. Learn how to equip your reps to create real conversations, uncover personal and professional motivators, and win in competitive markets. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Most salespeople are using AI wrong—and it's showing. Kelly and guest Jeff Bajorek of Outbound Squad unpack how to stop getting generic junk from ChatGPT and start using it to actually improve your sales game. Salespeople love shortcuts—but AI isn’t one. In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly is joined by Jeff Bajorek to dismantle the lazy approach most reps are taking with ChatGPT. Spoiler: If your prompts are weak, your outputs will be worse. Jeff shares how he pulled the most common AI prompts from sales pros—and why they’re failing to move the needle. You’ll hear the top 10 things reps are asking AI to do (hint: it’s mostly their job), and the smarter way to leverage the tool. They break down why ChatGPT is not a better Google and how it can become your best practice partner. Jeff walks through how he’s using AI for personalized role play—complete with real-time feedback, tone analysis, and escalating difficulty levels. No awkward team huddles, no judgment—just pure reps. Kelly jumps in with stories from the field, how he’s spotting AI in job candidate submissions, and why using AI to "act human" might backfire if you’re not ready for the follow-up questions. If you're a VP of Sales or a frontline manager wondering how to integrate AI into your training without dumbing things down—this episode is your roadmap. Plus, Kelly closes with a reality check: AI is here to handle the tasks that aren’t human, so your people can do what only humans can—build real trust and relationships. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Most companies completely ignore their best sales tool—one that’s right in front of them. In this episode, Kelly breaks down why sales success stories are the key to effective training and how they separate top sellers from the rest. Instead of training sales reps to memorize product specs and generic value statements, companies should be arming them with real-world wins. Kelly explains why success stories boost confidence, increase credibility, and make salespeople far more effective in conversations with prospects. He shares how companies are wasting this invaluable tool and gives a step-by-step approach to making it a core part of sales training. You’ll learn how to: Use success stories to accelerate onboarding and training Differentiate yourself from the competition without sounding like every other salesperson Turn real wins into powerful closing tools Shift sales meetings from complaining sessions to confidence-building opportunities If you want to help your sales team break out of the cycle of generic pitches and start winning more deals, this episode is a must-listen. Don’t keep making the same sales training mistakes from 40 years ago—fix it now. Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson

Salespeople love to say that selling is all about relationships—but they’re wrong. In this episode, Kelly breaks down why trust, not just relationships, wins deals and what salespeople must do differently to stop losing on price. For years, sales trainers have drilled the idea that "selling is all about relationships." But what if that’s not just misleading—it’s outright wrong? In this episode of Sales [UN]Training, Kelly Riggs dismantles one of the most overused and abused concepts in sales: the relationship myth. Yes, relationships matter—but they’re not what closes deals. Trust is. Kelly explains why most salespeople confuse rapport with real relationships and why being “liked” isn’t enough. If you’re still relying on small talk and common interests to build relationships, you’re already losing. What actually creates trust? Kelly lays out a proven approach to building credibility and expertise in sales conversations. He reveals why most salespeople fail—they jump straight to pitching without first establishing real value. You’ll learn how to flip the script and make your conversations about the customer, not about you. Plus, Kelly shares the biggest trust-killers in sales, why most managers avoid addressing underperformance, and the simple mindset shift that will change how you sell forever. If you’re tired of losing deals on price, this episode is a must-listen.   Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada. He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.  Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.  Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.  Music and Editing by Pod About It Productions @dougbranson