Marketing @ KlientBoost - The Performance Marketing Agency

Struggling to make your paid ads profitable? I can help.

I've generated $50M+ pipeline (& counting) for B2B Tech and SaaS companies through content marketing, paid search, and paid social demand generation and GTM strategies.

"We've never been able to make paid ads work for us." — common feedback from happy B2B clients.

Some of the leading minds in B2B follow my content for fresh LinkedIn and Google Ads growth recipes.

Right now, I'm leading marketing @ KlientBoost to add $250K MRR using the exact same strategies, principles, & processes we roll out for clients.

Here's how we can help you: 
- Done for you marketing—starts with a free marketing plan
- Fresh growth recipes to your inbox—klientboost.com/kitchen
- Follow me on LinkedIn to learn the latest winning B2B strategies

Got a burning question about B2B paid ads? My inbox is always open too.

LFGTM 🤘

Patrick Cumming

8 years ago, landing page projects took 8+ weeks and $20k+.

Yesterday, I did the same work in under 2 hours with AI and got a better output.

Here's what changed:

Back then, agencies would spend weeks learning your audience, translating insights into positioning, and building a page that would bomb on launch day.

3 months later, you'd roll back because it performed worse than the original.

Yesterday, I rebuilt our entire B2B SaaS positioning strategy and landing page from scratch.

And the output is better than I saw from traditional agency work when I first started out 8 years ago.

Here's the exact 7-step process:

1. Fed Claude 182 ICP interviews, closed/won call transcripts from 2025, and Wynter feedback on our existing site.

2. Asked Claude to build a positioning strategy using April Dunford's Obviously Awesome framework plus competitive differentiation gaps. 

3. Got a 21-page positioning doc that's genuinely excellent.

4. Applied that positioning to the 5-act landing page framework through Claude.

5. Received landing page copy that needed minimal tweaking.

6. Uploaded our homepage to Replit for style reference and had it build a new page matching our brand guidelines.

7. Made minor tweaks, pitched it to our VP Growth same day, got approved.

Total time: under 2 hours.

It'll take me another hour to build it in WordPress tomorrow. Live by end of week.

While competitors spend months in revision rounds, we'll have this launched and running split-tests with real market data.

And I'll have more time to create the content that actually drives traffic to the page.

That's the shift: from laboring over details the market won't care about to testing what actually works.

Speed to market beats perfect every time.


P.S. Swing me a DM if you wanna read the full positioning doc 😎

If I had $1 for every time a B2B SaaS exec didn't believe marketing was contributing to pipeline...

I wouldn't be that much richer.

It's happened maybe 20 times in my career. But it's still a huge problem for most B2B marketers despite having more tools to measure it than ever.

The problem is 3-dimensional:

1. Execs think every impression and click is trackable because it used to be. But those wild west days are over. Privacy changes killed that.

2. The funnel concept we pitched made execs believe we could nurture any lead into a customer with the right flow. That's not how buying journeys work.

3. We defend marketing instead of showcasing a data-driven narrative that highlights the multiple ways marketing contributes to revenue.

This leads to execs who don't understand marketing, real buyer journeys, or how to measure performance.

I'm teaming up with Fibbler's Adam Holmgren on a livestream to fix this... or at least make your life a little easier. 

We'll cover:
- Why it's so hard to prove marketing is working
- The pros and cons of influenced attribution
- Frameworks for building convincing exec-ready reports

I'm not promising this will solve all your attribution problems. But you'll walk away with actionable tools to strengthen your case and win over your exec team.

Hit the link to sign up: https://luma.com/mvbujb74

In 2025 we turned $190K of LinkedIn Ads spend into ~$2.5M influenced ARR. That's a 13X ROAS and we did it using campaign types most B2Bs are afraid to use. Read the document for a detailed breakdown of the playbooks:

KlientBoost - 13X ROAS From LinkedIn Ads

7 predictions for B2B demand generation in 2026:

1. More B2Bs will abandon LinkedIn Ads as CPMs rise, chasing "cheaper" B2C channels. Smart B2Bs will stay put and use the cheaper LinkedIn ad formats everyone's afraid to touch: CTV and ungated document ads. They'll get LinkedIn's unmatched targeting without paying the premium that companies running boring single image conversion ads are stuck with.

2. B2Bs will become obsessed with in-market intent signals to spam weak offers that don't convert to revenue. We'll see a rise in integrated high-intent campaigns pushed to Reddit, YouTube, and Meta. It'll be AI-slop at scale. Smart B2Bs will use intent signals tactfully, but the bulk of pipeline will come from campaigns following foundational principles: broad targeting with messaging pulled directly from what the market is asking for, refined every quarter.

3. We'll have more measurement tools than ever, but it'll get harder to prove marketing's influence. There's a 30-50% loss in click data from cookie rejection and ad blockers. Platforms are missing half the value they deliver. More B2Bs will cut spend based on incomplete data and watch pipeline collapse next quarter. Smart B2Bs will triangulate: use MTA for insights, then validate with incrementality testing and lift analysis.

4. There will be a bigger push to improve marketing efficiency. And it needs to happen. Many teams use "it takes time" to justify marketing that isn't working. The most successful teams will obsess over lead quality, pipeline, and contribution to revenue.

5. AI will finally create complex imagery. Our feeds will flood with AI-slop infographics on topics prospects never asked for. Smart B2Bs will use AI for wireframes but add an inimitable human touch to every piece of published content.

6. B2Bs will obsess over GEO and AI visibility rankings. Many will fail for the same reason past SEO and paid ads strategies failed: skipping foundational ICP research on pains, gains, and jobs to be done. They'll flock to tools promising the world instead of doing the deep strategy work.

7. Competition will get fiercer. Ad costs are rising, price sensitivity is rising, fear of risk is rising. More deals get lost to inaction. B2Bs without clear differentiation will push spend to retargeting competitor visitors and matching feature sets, instead of listening to customers to find out what they actually need.

I'm at the end of that and it sounds doom and gloom.

But I do think it's gonna be a ludicrously fun year for marketers who love chaos, uncertainty, and challenge.

But there's no two ways about it. It's going to be tough.

What would you add?

If I was planning a 2026 paid ads strategy for a B2B SaaS company, I'd skip the shiny tactics and focus on the boring stuff that actually drives pipeline.

Here's the 7 step process that works:

Step 1: Before you launch anything, fix your foundations

1. Targeting: Use Primer or Clay to build company lists. Push 80% of spend to proven segments, 20% to testing new ones.

2. Messaging: Pull first-call transcripts from closed deals. Build a POV on every pain point prospects actually mention.

3. Attribution: Set up multi-touch or self-reported attribution. Last-click misses 90% of what influenced the deal. B2B buyers now touch 76 interactions across 6.8 stakeholders before close.

4. Tracking: Send MQL, SQL, and Closed/Won data into your ad platforms. Set conversion windows to max (365 days for LinkedIn, 90 for Google).

Step 2: You need an optimal platform split

Check Google's search impression share. Under 10%? Scale budget. Over 90%? You've maxed out.

For LinkedIn, look at audience penetration and frequency over 90 days. Below 80% penetration and 10 frequency? Room to scale.

Start with 60:40 weighted to LinkedIn. Lower CAC, more scalable, compounds over time.

Step 3: Optimize for the 95:5 rule

80% of LinkedIn spend goes to saturating cold audiences with pain-focused content. Hit 80% penetration and 10+ frequency to reach in-market buyers now while building demand for next quarter.

20% goes to high-intent audiences: page visitors, existing pipeline, buying committees.

Use engagement, video views, and awareness objectives. Website visits and conversions have insane CPMs.

Google is for high-intent search only. Run keywords through Ahrefs to find transactional intent. Start with exact match, add phrase match after 90 days.

Step 4: Ditch generic branded ads

Branded single image ads had 4X higher CAC in 2025. Worst performers by miles.

For cold prospecting, run three campaign types: Ungated Document Ads, Thought Leader Ads, CTV Ads.

For retargeting, single images work better since you've built trust.

Step 5: Be careful with shiny AI tools

On LinkedIn, switch off audience expansion and LinkedIn ad network. They'll burn budget on low quality impressions that don't drive pipeline.

For Google Ads, you can test Performance Max, but most B2Bs should avoid it. Lower cost product-led SaaS products see better results since volume is higher and barrier to entry is lower.

Step 6: Cautious channel expansion

Most B2Bs don't need this yet. Max out LinkedIn and Google first.

But if you've hit 80%+ penetration on LinkedIn or 90%+ impression share on Google, try Reddit, YouTube, or Meta.

Use Primer or Vector to target matched ICP audiences.

Step 7: Measure what matters

After 90 days, cut anything with 2X higher CAC than average. Push 80% of spend to what's left. Use 20% to test new bets.

Paid Ads planning isn't rocket science. Master the fundamentals, trust the process, and watch pipeline follow.

KlientBoost B2B SaaS Paid Ads Strategy 2026

LinkedIn's campaign objectives don't work the way you think they do.

Most marketers see "conversions" and assume it'll drive more demos. See "website visits" and expect more traffic.

The theory: LinkedIn's algorithm knows who's likely to complete specific actions and serves ads accordingly.

The reality: After 3 years of testing, I've learned to ignore the labels entirely.

Here's what I found analysing a client's campaigns last week:

Single image ad (website visits objective): 1% CTR
Single image ad (brand awareness objective): 0.9% CTR
Video ad (website traffic objective): 0.8% CTR
Thought-leader ad (engagement objective): 1.7% CTR

The awareness campaign reached 6X more people with basically the same CTR as the website visits campaign.

And it outperformed the video campaign that was literally optimised for website traffic.

The engagement objective campaign crushed everything, despite being designed for post interactions and page follows.

We ran similar tests on our own accounts last year. The brand awareness objective drove 10X higher conversion rates than the conversion objective.

Here's why it happens:

LinkedIn's algorithm isn't sophisticated enough to understand B2B buying intent.

It can't distinguish between someone clicking out of curiosity and someone ready to book a demo.

So stop trusting the objective labels.

Test multiple objectives. Measure what actually moves you closer to your goals.

The objective name doesn't matter. The results do.

3 paid ads audits in 27 days.

All mid-market B2B SaaS.

Same problem: high-intent non-brand keywords aren't converting enough. CAC is unsustainable.

Here's the fix I recommended:

1. Stop chasing form fills. Focus on pipeline.

One account was burning 60% of spend on keywords that never converted to pipeline. I recommended an all-star campaign with only proven pipeline-generating keywords and to push 80% of budget there.

Most B2B SaaS need fewer high-intent keywords, not more.

2. Use conversion-focused bidding with caution if you're under 30 conversions/month.

The algorithm needs data. Without it, you're limiting reach.

Experiment with max clicks or target impression share to get in front of more high-intent searchers. You're trying to find the sweet spot of high search impression share with low CPCs.

3. Use phrase match for keyword mining.

Stop guessing which keywords work. Let the market tell you.

Add phrase match variations of your all-star keywords. Mine search terms monthly for new pipeline converters. Add them back to your all-star campaign.

This is how you develop a Google Ads account that actually improves over time.

CPCs are up 29% vs last year. Efficiency goals are getting harder. But Google Ads still works when you stop spreading budget thin and double down on what's proven.

After 2 weeks intensive filming in LA, 100+ takes of the same screen recording, and more caffeine than I thought it was humanly possible to drink, we're pumped to launch Boost U today.

It's a learning platform for marketers who want the stuff they don't teach you at marketing school.

How to actually use ad platforms. How to create better ads. And then translate it all into real marketing results that help you get promoted and grow.

Here's what makes it different:

Every course is built on validated playbooks from working with hundreds of clients. Not theory. Not outdated tactics from 2019. Real plays that work right now.

We're starting with our LinkedIn Ads course (the one I had 15 diva-level tantrums filming every time I messed up a click 😅). More courses coming soon.

If you've ever felt like traditional marketing education skips the actual useful bits, this is for you.

Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gq_H_Y6s


P.S. If I never have to "act" on camera again in my career, it'll be too soon. But massive credit to the Deadpan 💀 🎬 team for absolutely nailing the video work.

Last week I posted a 7 step AI-powered workflow B2B's could use to build a data-driven repositioning strategy AND turn it into a landing page in <2 hours.

Most people found it helpful, a few folks HATED IT (#sorrynotsorry), and a handful of people DM'd me asking for more details.

I promised them I'd record a full walkthrough of the process. Watch the full process in <3.5 mins below:

We reduced paid ads CAC 14% in 2025 using 3 processes that most B2B SaaS companies completely ignore.

Here's the exact playbook:

1. Efficiency Farming

Stop launching new campaigns every week.

Start reading your data over 90, 180, and 365-day windows to see what actually drives revenue.

Pause campaigns with high CAC. Double down on campaigns with low CAC.

Scale winners by testing variations of what already works.

Do this monthly.

2. Segment Optimization

Targeting is the most overlooked lever in paid ads.

Most B2Bs spread budget across their entire TAM because they're scared of missing prospects.

This kills performance.

Instead, analyze which segments close fastest with the lowest acquisition cost. Build audiences of only these segments using a tool like Primer.

Then exclusively target them.

Do this quarterly.

3. Reverse ICP Exclusions

If you know your ICP, you also know who isn't your ICP.

Build exclusion lists of companies outside your ideal size, industry, or profile.

Upload them to your ad platforms so they stop serving ads to bad-fit audiences.

Example: Only targeting $10-100M IT companies? Exclude everyone under $10M and over $100M.

Update this every time your ICP changes.

The biggest irony in B2B marketing is that most companies think they need to do more when the real gains come from doing less but better.

Paid ads costs aren't dropping. But with these processes, you can stay ahead.

We closed 4 deals from AI platforms in H2 2025.

44 qualified leads came through ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Not massive numbers, but enough to pay attention.

Here's what surprised me: our AI visibility sits at 0.5% in our category. That ranks us #6 against competitors.

We're getting deals despite barely showing up in AI responses.

So we ran the math on what happens if we fix that gap.

Q1 target: increase AI citations by 50%. If the conversion rate holds, that's 8-10 additional qualified leads per quarter from a channel that's still growing.

The play is simple:

1. Track where competitors appear in AI responses
2. Identify which content AI platforms cite as sources
3. Build content designed to get picked up by these systems
4. Monitor citation frequency across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, and Gemini

We're testing Search Intelligence AI to handle the tracking and citation analysis. It scrapes real responses from live AI interfaces and shows exactly which pages get cited.

Early mover advantage matters here. Most brands aren't tracking AI visibility yet. The ones who start now will own the category recommendations before this becomes table stakes.

If you're seeing inbound from AI platforms, you're probably underindexed too. Worth checking where you actually rank.

Get 50% off if you join in the first 7 days: https://lnkd.in/gfKcDJsS

B2Bs are obsessed with "B2C" channels like Meta, Reddit, and YouTube this year for the cheap CPMs promising better efficiency. 

But it's a bad strategic move for most of them. 

Here's how to know if you're ready to expand outside of LinkedIn Ads and Google Ads:

Paid ad costs are getting unsustainably high.

LinkedIn CPMs are up 28% and Google Ads CPCs are up 19% vs 2024. Not exactly in-line with inflation.

But many B2Bs aren't just dealing with rising costs. They're also wasting what budget they do have on bad targeting.

On LinkedIn Ads, it shows up as spreading budget too thin across large audiences. Reach and frequency stay too low to build trust and recall. No trust = no pipeline.

On Google Ads, it's spreading budget across too many keywords that don't convert at a sustainable CPA. More spend, same (or worse) results.

The good news is both problems are fixable with the right approach.

In the latest KlientBoost Kitchen podcast, I break down:

• How to calculate the budget you actually need to win
• Why audience FOMO is killing your pipeline efficiency
• How to target in-market buyers more effectively
• When B2C channel expansion makes sense

These are the same principles we used to reduce marketing CAC 14% in 2025 vs 2024. And the same playbooks our team uses to help clients do the same.

Hit the link in the comments to watch the full breakdown 👇

audience & revenue growth tips for B2B startups and creators

My mission is to build predictable pipelines for B2B startups. I share what I learn along the way. 

Read more if you are ready to build your pipeline 👇

💡 I am super relevant if you are:

→ Indie Hacker
→ Freelancer
→ Early Startup Founder
→ B2B Sales Person
→ Creator (any profession)

✍️ I write about:

→ B2B sales
→ Go to market strategies
→ Signal-based prospecting

Little more about me:

Cryptocurrency Investor. SaaS Enthusiast. Agriculture Business Owner. 

Lived in 3 countries.

I'm a T-shaped growth person who has experience in sales, content marketing, and growth.

Drop me a LinkedIn message if you need any help.

We will keep it simple.

Twitter: @sehaokudan

https://calendly.com/sehaokudan/30min

Seha Okudan

Sales is stressful.
Turkey built an industry around it.

Every job is stressful. 

I get that.

But the stress of a salesperson is different.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲:

- Pressure
- Rejection
- Judgment
- Uncertainty
- Expectations

Still not convinced?

Every deal can die last minute.
Every “maybe” keeps your mind busy.
Every quota resets the clock.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼:

-Detach from outcomes
-Handle rejection calmly

Don't lose your hair.

If this was your reality in 2025, I’ll see you in Istanbul this year.

I'm sure Turkish Airlines can help. 😅 

Jokes aside, what part of sales stresses you the most?

--
Inspiration: Tosin Jan

Building Outbound & RevOps systems for B2B companies

Prospects hate to give bad news.
(And it costs you time)

They don’t reject you.
They delay you.

They hope the problem fades.
They hope you stop following up.

Most sellers miss this.

You chase wrong deals for months.

Hoping to get positive news.

Bad discovery hides the truth.

One "I'm interested." costs you months.

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼:
-Get to “no” fast
-Pressure-test intent
-Disqualify with care
-Learn to walk away early

Money is in the follow-up. That's 100%

Not in chasing the wrong deals.

Bad news early saves months.
Good sales feels honest.

Agree or disagree?

Video Credit: @sales_humor /Instagram

BANT is outdated.
Here’s why 

BANT is a sales qualification criteria. 
Budget, authority, need, timing. 

Especially if it is outbound, the budget is rarely allocated for outbound as an example.

Last week, I saw someone in my network say,
 “BANT is the key to winning deals.”

Coming from an Enterprise C level, you'd believe.

Maybe 10–15 years ago, it was a silver bullet.

Today? 
Buying processes are no longer as simple as they used to be.


BANT is problematic because:

1️⃣ 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱

BANT was built for sellers, not for buyers. 
Buyers don’t want to be qualified for you
They want to be understood by you.

2️⃣ 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿

Buyers move in and out of priorities fast.
Your job is to show impact and move the solution up in the list.
Not learning if it's the right time.
It is rarely the right time.

3️⃣ 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆

If there’s real pain, the budget appears.
If there’s no pain, no number will matter.
Show how much their pain is costing them.

4️⃣ 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱

Usually, there’s no single decision-maker anymore.
Users, champions, legal, finance, etc.

Modern frameworks, such as MEDDPICC, shift the focus from qualification to alignment.

But religiously following a framework is a mistake.

Sales involve psychology and emotions.

Never forget that.

How do you qualify prospects?

Build quality lists.
(Or outbound fails.)

Outbound is harder now.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲:

-Good offer
-Great copy
-Reliable infra
-Warmed up emails

None of this works if three things are wrong.

- Bad timing
- Wrong people
- Old contact data

You waste time.
You hurt deliverability.
You miss opportunities.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝘅𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀:

1️⃣ Pick intent that matters
2️⃣ Build pre-verified lists
3️⃣ Find real decision makers
4️⃣ Sync natively with your sequencer
5️⃣ Launch without cleaning chaos

I was part of the Prospeo V2 beta program, tested with one of my clients, and we LOVED it. (thanks for inviting me, Matthew!)

It did what outbound tools should do.

No hacks. No patchwork.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀:
99% contact data accuracy, up to 30% call connect.

That changes outcomes.

If lists are weak, outbound dies.

Check out Prospeo.io V2, you won't regret it.

----
PS: Clay ranks Prospeo as the most accurate data provider. Not a surprise.

Sales is easy.
(is it?)

"If the product is good, it'll sell itself."

Ok, fair enough.

If you're not in sales, it is easy.

- You send a message
- Book a meeting
- Send your pitch deck
- Impress with your product
- Send the quote
- Get the money

Oh, sometimes they even come to you to buy!

If you're on the buyer side, it is even easier to say it is easy.

"They just show the product, send a quote, anyone can do it"

But here is the part they don't see:

- You get rejected every day
- You lose deals to competitors
- Prospects ghost you after 4 calls
- Legal stalls your contract for weeks
- Champions go silent before signing

Competition is bigger than ever.
Everyone is building fast now.
Buyers have more power than ever.

Sales isn’t easy.

It just looks that way when it’s done right.

What part of the job do people underestimate the most?

The biggest sales mistake is simple.
(but still overlooked)

Talking too much about yourself.

Everyone knows this.

Some still forget it.

𝗡𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁:

- Your offer
- Your service
- Your product
- Your new feature
- How great you are

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴:
Does this help me hit my goals?

You learn that by talking less and by asking clear questions.

Sales gets easier when it is about them.

Not you.

Agree or disagree?

Selling a no-product market fit SaaS?
It is not a sales job.

It is a founder job without equity.

In those companies, your role is not just closing.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼:

- Find the real ICP
- Fix weak positioning in live calls
- Turn vague value into clear outcomes
- Surface feedback no one wants to hear

You'll face blockers that kill deals before they start.

Especially if you're working with a founder who loves the product.

They're going to blame you when you can't sell.

They’ll defend features.
They’ll call it a “sales problem.”
They'll call prospects stupid for not getting it.

Sellers can't sell a product nobody needs.

Only the founder can sell to his/her network.

Sellers don’t fail here.

The product does.

Is your problem a “sales problem” or a product problem?

Never pitch the solution first.
-here's why

Problems have many fixes.

An umbrella works.
A roof works too.

Both protect from rain.

But only one fits the buyer’s world.

If you pitch early, you guess.
Guessing kills trust.

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴:

-Fear they want gone
-Desire they want fast
-Challenge blocking progress

Then do one more thing.

Show the impact.

What breaks if nothing changes?
What slows down?
What costs them money, time, or status?

When they feel the impact, they pull the solution from you.

Not the other way around.

Sell less.
Diagnose more.

➡️ How do you diagnose before you pitch?

Sales sucks.
(It is true.)

Closing, prospecting, the whole thing sucks, too.

- You’re ghosted after a “great” call
- Quota pressure eats at your sleep
- You’re rejected 13 times before lunch
- People assume you’re pushy before you speak

All true.

The worst part? 

Some people see you as order takers.

Send email → show product → send quote → done

But here’s the thing.

It’s also a life skill.
There’s no way around it.

Start shifting your perspective.

Because it is also awesome:

- It can get very lucrative
- You meet cool people every day
- You get paid to solve real problems
- It’s the fastest path to building a business
- You build grit that most jobs will never teach
- You learn to read people better than a therapist

Most people can’t handle both sides.

But if you can?

Sales will change your life.

Be honest, do you love it or hate it?

Just "do more” is lazy manager advice.
Here's why:

Just do "do more" is a lazy manager advice.

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople:
(Even for the top ones.)

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople

5 worst sales discovery questions:

Outbound is changing.
Before 2019, spray & pray worked.

Send thousands of generic emails → get leads.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴:

- Deliverability got stricter
- Prospects got smarter (sales methods)
- Email channels got flooded

Now, in 2025, we can create high-quality emails in bulk.
With AI.

And yes, it still works for now.
(If your deal size is small + TAM is huge.)

You can also have the best cold email infrastructure.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻:
It is getting easier to create mass email campaigns,

So history will repeat itself.

-Buyers will get “immune”
-ESP rules will tighten (even more strict)

Even good emails will start to see fewer replies.

For me, sending mass messages isn’t sales. It is a form of marketing. And it’s starting to look a lot like paid ads, only through inboxes.

I think email service providers will regulate and monetize it pretty soon.

LinkedIn avoids spam as much as possible with InMail ads, Sales Navigator credits, message limits, and verifications.

What are your thoughts?

How are you future-proofing your outbound?

-
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲:

Signal-based, hyper-relevant, multichannel approach. 

8-13 step sequences - 40-50 business days.
(cold call, LinkedIn, email)

And leveraging referrals, my network, and multithreading when/if needed.

Sales skill is a life skill.
(not just for more revenue)

Sales is not just a revenue skill.

It can help you:

- Negotiate better pay
- Build trust with people
- Sell ideas to your team
- Get buy-in from your boss
- Handle rejection with grace
- Build better personal relationships

Most importantly:
It helps you communicate with intent.

You can be a teacher, designer, engineer, or founder.

You’ll always move faster if you know how to sell.

Investing.
Copywriting.
Communication.

All life skills.

What life skill paid off most for you?

“Do you have a budget?”
(don’t ask this)

Yes, budget matters.
Every sales framework says so.

But asking it directly is lazy and self-serving.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀:

1️⃣ Outbound:

No one has a budget for something they just heard about. They didn’t plan for you. They didn’t ask for you.

So the answer is probably “no”, even if the pain is real.

2️⃣ Inbound:

Asking about budget too early kills momentum. You turn discovery into a price check.

𝗠𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲:
If there is a big pain, a budget can be found.

---

Asking “Do you have a budget?” is really asking:

“Do you have money for me?”

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱:

“Why hasn’t it worked?”
“Who is affected by this?”
“What have you tried so far?”
“What happens if this stays unsolved?”
“What does success change for the business?”

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗸:

“What priority would this have if it worked?”
“How do you usually fund problems like this?”
“Who would need to be involved to move forward?"

When the pain is clear, the budget becomes a logistics problem.

Budget is usually the outcome of good discovery.

How do you uncover budget without asking for it?

Objections are opportunities.
Many feel bad after an objection

I was like this back in 2018.

Telling myself:
"Not going to happen again."

I was terribly wrong.

You should feel good about objections.
They help you close.

𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻:

-Real interest
-Serious buyer
-Active thinking
-Risk awareness

Gives you a chance to discover more.

And SOLVE.
(or disqualify fast)

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲:

Asks nothing
Shows no concern
Says "great product
Says yes to everything

I learned this two months later. A prospect said they would buy. - “100% sure.”

Then they vanished.

Waste of time...

Handle objections well.

This gives you a chance to solve. Or disqualify fast.

Focus on better-fit clients.

Agree or disagree?

Ideas are worthless.
(until someone pays for it)

Building products is easy now.

Every day, we see a new SaaS project.

“Let’s build first. We’ll sell later.”
“People loved the idea.”

That is how you burn resources.

Selling is the only real validation.

7+ years in B2B sales.
One failed micro-SaaS.

Almost nobody told me that my product/idea is bad.

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴:

1️⃣ Sounds like a great idea, we'll consider it when you build the product.
2️⃣ We'll subscribe when it is ready!
3️⃣ We'll try it once it is live!

None of this is validation.
None of it is good news.

Because people hate to give bad news.

𝗠𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
Make people take their credit cards out in advance.

Is it easy? Absolutely not.

This is why you can ask people to make small commitments first.
(Waitlist, for example)

Yes – people can buy later too, but that’s a big risk.

You might waste your time, energy, and resources.

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿:
Money is proof. Everything else is just talk.

If the money is not in your account, there is no deal.

If you don't have any sales before building;
Don’t build it.

How do you get real commitments from prospects?

What is one thing AI will never be able to do? 
(In sales)

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