4 Lessons from Our Top Sales Conversations in Q2

Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

The episode reviews four pivotal sales conversations from Q2, focusing on the intersection of integrity, tactical communication, and leaders

Key takeaways

• Mark Hunter's EGO framework stands for Empowering Greater Outcomes to elevate others.
• Selling with integrity attracts higher-caliber, higher-margin clients who are less likely to nitpick.

Main topics

• Sales Integrity
• Reducing Buyer Friction

Notable quotes

I want everybody to have a big ego. Well, it's not what you think it is. It's E-G-O, empowering greater outcomes.

Conclusion

The episode provides actionable psychological and tactical frameworks

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Every sales leader wants the same thing, a team that's in front of more prospects, following up faster, and closing more deals. But most teams are losing hours every single week to admin work that has nothing to do with selling. Belay's sales assistants are U.S.-based professionals who go through rigorous vetting processes before they even join the team. Less than 3 % make the cut. They're matched specifically to sales teams to take that operational weight off your reps so that they can do what you hired them to do, close deals. Download Belay's free guide called The 5 Reasons You Aren't Hitting Quota, The Sales Operations Gap Examined. Pick up that guide today at belaysolutions.com forward slash gravy or text gravy to 55123. Speaker 2 (0:42) This is the Sales Gravy Podcast. Hi, I'm Jeb Blunt, bestselling author, fanatical prospecting, objections, sales EQ, and inked, and I'm here to help you open more doors, close bigger deals, and rock your commission check. Welcome Speaker 3 (0:56) back to the Sales Gravy Podcast. I'm Jeb Blunt Jr., your host. I've got Ashley Bunt with me as a special guest today because we are going through the best episodes of Q2 2026 for the Sales Gravy Podcast. These are the highest viewed videos, and we wanted to give you some extra commentary, some extra resources. and ways that people have implemented these tips into their sales lives every single day. We're going to start with my first conversation with Mark Hunter. Because Speaker 1 (1:17) I tell you what, when we elevate others around us, it's amazing what happens. Speaker 3 (1:21) There's Speaker 2 (1:21) a phrase that Speaker 1 (1:22) I love to use. I want everybody to have a big ego. I want everybody to have a big ego. Well, it's not what you think it is. It's E-G-O, empowering greater outcomes. When I empower greater outcomes in other people. It is amazing at what happens. And this is really what you're doing with customers. You know, it's interesting. I have a phrase I use, sales is leadership, leadership is sales. And my definition of sales, my definition of leadership is exactly the same. It's helping others see and achieve what they did not think was possible. Stop and think about that for a moment. Show me a good salesperson. What are they doing? They're showing their customers how to see and achieve what they didn't think was possible. Show me a good leader. They're doing the same thing. So this is really. at the core of what it is that we talk about. And when you put the other person first, it is amazing at what happens. It's kind of what I refer to as quiet leadership. Speaker 1 (2:19) It's leadership that occurs when you're Speaker 2 (2:22) not there. Speaker 1 (2:23) And this is what a good salesperson does because you create relationships with customers where things happen when you're not there. They talk about you to other people. They talk, they share with other people how good your company is. And that's the mark of integrity selling. And this is what happens because I firmly believe that when you sell with integrity, you get clients who have integrity. If somebody is destined, is determined to take advantage of people, they're repulsed by people who demonstrate integrity. They are turned off by them. They just don't hang out. But what I find is when I sell with integrity, I attract a higher caliber of client that I could close at a higher price and a higher margin. And you know what? They're not the ones who come back and nitpick, nitpick, nitpick. You know, I'm sure you've had this experience where- You know what, Speaker 3 (3:18) finally, Speaker 1 (3:18) don't look at the, stop watching YouTube right now. I'm not reacting to this at all. It's that low price customer, right? The low-priced customer is the one who doesn't understand your value proposition and nitpicks you on everything. And you're never, ever able to satisfy them. And that is so tragic. It's funny. I coach some very high-level CEOs. And it's interesting. They pay me on a regular basis. We rarely connect. And when we connect, we connect for like a 10-minute call. their time is valuable and they just want a quick input. That's it. And it's people who I coach who are low level. It's like, oh man, you're draining me. You're killing me. You're killing me. Integrity allows you to play at a higher level. What's not to like about that? Speaker 5 (4:08) So I love what Marco was saying about the ego. I absolutely have an ego for my team. And I think it definitely elevates the customer experience that people have here at Sales Gravy. So encouraging greater outcomes within the team and like selling with integrity. You know, integrity is a value here at Sales Gravy. It's cool to see how that. leads through the team as a leader that like naturally encourages that. Obviously you had the interview. So thinking back to when you first started hearing him explain that, how do you see that when you're coaching your clients or how are you encouraging them to lead in that way? The Speaker 3 (4:42) big takeaway from that conversation about integrity. Yes, it's a value. And I think it's one of those words that we talk about a lot in business and everyone says they want to work with integrity. At least I don't know of any business that I've walked into where someone was like, yeah, let's use less integrity. At least in my experience, that's not just like, that's not the conversations that I'm having with business owners. But I think that integrity is a lot harder to hit than we give it credit for. Some of it's just the little details, how you treat somebody when they're in the interview process, how you get to understand someone's motivation. So for example, I had a coaching conversation with a director of sales for a small business that came to Augusta. And he was trying to learn how to build stronger teams. And while we were having this conversation, it wasn't that he didn't have integrity, but he was struggling with pushing people with KPIs and accountability without understanding their core motivations. If you look like disk profiles or working genius, which we use in our office to help understand why people make certain decisions, why they communicate in certain ways. Integrity is, as a leader and even as a salesperson, diving deeper into that person's motivations. People like me are not necessarily motivated by money. There are some people who are motivated by making a big paycheck. There are some people who are motivated by time spent at home. There are some people who are motivated by a big trip they can take or adventures they want to go on. There's lots of different ways that people are motivated. So if you have integrity in sales or integrity in leadership, you're taking that extra step and... helping people achieve what they want to achieve. You're not helping them achieve what you want to achieve. And as a sales leader, that's more sales, that's more revenue. As a business owner, that's more sales and more revenue because it helps you achieve your goals or whatever that is. But for the individual human being on your team, having integrity with them is being able to sit down and say, hey, you're not getting closer to proposing to your girlfriend with a nice wedding ring because you haven't been doing the prospecting, but you told me that's what you wanted to get done this year. How can we help you get there? and letting them have that conversation with you. So some of that conversation was around, you know, how do you take yourself out of the equation so that you can make room for others? And that works in so many different spaces. Speaker 5 (7:00) Maintaining integrity in sales for the. individual contributor as well as a, you know, a combination of like keeping your pipeline honest. What are the challenges that you're having? And then also, I think a lot of people focus in on the integrity with the clients when you're actively selling them, but you also have to implement that like within your daily process. Like, are you having those honest conversations with your leader when you need help? Because they can't help you if you're not. What Speaker 3 (7:24) are some ways that you are sold to with integrity or deal with, you know, customers? leadership that you believe has integrity, not just at Sales Gravy, but like extend a little beyond that? Speaker 5 (7:36) Ways that you can implement integrity into sales as the individual, not, you know, not just as a leader, but as the individuals, like, you know, being honest about your pipeline. Are you accurately documenting everything in there? So when it gets to post-sale, the client has a good experience. Is there something that you potentially miss? Like going back and reviewing those notes and then. On the client side of it, when you're interacting with the client, if there's something out of stock, let them know. If there's something that you're going to get back at a certain point, let them know. If there's a challenge while you're in the discovery and you start to find that, that's one of those things that you take to your sales leader and say, this discovery call is going great. Here's the challenge that I found, which could turn into a potential objection. How do we handle this versus just trying to sweep things under the rug? The integrity in sales goes on. both sides of the conversation with your leaders and with the client. I Speaker 3 (8:30) like the concept that you work for the clients that work for you. Creating value is not a one-sided equation. Integrity in a sales organization comes from your ability to sort out what is best for both parties. whether that's you and the customer themselves or whether that's your entire organization and maybe their KPIs that they're trying to hit. The challenge for most sales organizations is that they focus on the numbers. They focus on hitting the revenue goals, making the dials, getting the margin, getting the new logos in, creating more for their bottom line. And these are all great things. I mean, you can't do business without those numbers. Very difficult to have a business without profit. The challenge is that there are a lot of conversations that don't tie those numbers to the real outcomes you provide for your customer base. And I've worked with a lot of sales organizations and a lot of salespeople, and I've been the salesperson where you close the deal because it felt good to win, but not because it was the right thing to do. And it's not as black and white as, you know, you were doing a bad thing. And you should own up to it and be completely honest about how you made mistakes. Sometimes it's a slow burn. Sometimes it takes years for the consequences of a potential sale to hit a business. It was a bad fit because their organization wasn't aligned with yours in terms of your philosophies and core values. Maybe the margins were great, but they had expectations that didn't make any sense for what you can actually deliver. And as a sales rep, you have to be. someone who has enough integrity that there are times in a prospecting call, I have to be the one that says, you know what, this isn't going to work. I don't want to waste your time anymore. I know this is going to be something we can solve for you, but I can tell you that two years from now, this isn't going to be a good partnership. And though I can make money on it now, doesn't mean I should. The could and should are very different words. What Mark's talking about in this conversation is the difference between could and should in a lot of cases. And when you take yourself out of the equation, you actually use his ego framework. What you're doing is you're taking yourself out to give room for others. And he mentions in this Zig Ziglar's quote, if you help enough people achieve their goals, you'll achieve all of yours. The challenge is that achieving other people's goals is not making a sale with them. Sometimes it's not making the sale with them. And choosing those two different paths takes integrity. It's not a focus on numbers. It's a focus on. making sure you do the right thing, even when it's hard. Speaker 5 (11:08) This next clip is a great continuation with your conversation around integrity. So y'all take a moment, watch the clip, and we'll jump right in. And Speaker 6 (11:16) I think actually there was an example which I can probably share, which was challenging. It was actually probably one of the only times I've ever cried about a sale because I'm never that connected to the outcome. But it was more about the situation and the same client. And I remember quoting, we've been working with him for a number of years. quoted a solution that had taken long, you know, a long time to design. We've got a specialist involved. We delivered it. We were told that we were, that we were going to win this. And they ended up on the Friday and waiting. I'm in the office before, cause we go to the pub at lunchtime on a Friday. And I'm in the office waiting for this purchase order to come in. Nothing. So I ring him and I'm like, Hey, we still gain this. Oh yeah. Sorry. We've given the purchase order to somebody else. And it was like a punch in the stomach. And I remember I'm just on the phone, sat at my desk and I said, sorry, what do you mean? And he said, yeah, we got another quote and it was cheaper. It was better than yours. And I was so, just so astounded by the fact that A, it hadn't been communicated, but B, somebody that could beat me because I had deal registration, which means you're protected and you've got this pricing. I'm like tearing up on the phone. I was like, okay, all right, I'll speak to you next week. And hung up and I burst into tears. and the procurement manager's behind me. And he came over and gave me a hug, like awkwardly. And he goes, well, at least we know you're human. So he said to me, so there we go. Everyone learned that, you know, I do have feelings. But then after that, the way I turned it around was I... I then spoke to our rep from the vendor. I spoke to a couple of other people that had been involved. And I said, like, how has this happened? Because I never put anything as a done deal until I know it's a done deal. And this was a done deal. And so in the end, spoke to the rep. They looked at the quote that was provided by the other partner and said it was different. And so I was able to go back. I contacted our client and said, hey, just ahead, can you just send me the... the quote that you went with. And just because I would love to learn from it because I'm, you know, you either win or you learn. So I'm all about learning. So he sent me through, sent me through the quote. We spoke to the rep. They said, yeah, it's completely different. And they'd missed out three key things that the client had asked for. And it was extension