Richard Harris™

3x Salesforce Sales Leader 5x AAiSP Top Sales Leader Teaching revenue teams how to #EarnTheRight to Ask Questions, which questions to ask, and when.

Do you desire customized sales training? Is your team behind on quota?  Are your teams' deals pushing?  Is your team struggling with qualification, discovery, negotiation, and closing deals?  Are you a founder trying to figure out found-led sales? 

And now you’re wondering how fix the problem?

You’re not alone.

I’ve met countless sales leaders and founders who face these struggles every day. 

If you're interested in learning or teaching your reps how to Earn The Right to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when to ask them, I have good news for you. This is exactly what we do. 

My Journey: 

► Seasoned SaaS sales leader, sales trainer and advisor with 20+ years of experience. 
► 5x Top Salesforce Sales Influencer ‘21 - ‘25
► 5x: Top 25 Influential Sales Leader AA-ISP’s
► Owner The Harris Consulting Group
► Co-Founder Surf and Sales

Clients: @Google @Visa @Zoom @Salesforce, @intercom @salesloft @terminus @gainsight @pandadoc @pandora @humaninterest, @doordash, and more

We focus on teaching your reps how to earn the right to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when. 

Whether you are an early-stage or expansion stage start-up, or a Fortune 500 company, we will increase sales funnel conversions to revenue faster.

"Humanizing Sales - Training that feels good and works" - Nicholas D - Enterprise Sales Leader

"Richard worked with me to create a new sales process we could call our own. He didn't try to make us fit a certain mold." Dave K - VP Sales

Contact us for a free consultation. If it doesn't fit, we will be the first to tell you.

https://TheHarrisConsultingGroup.com/contact-us/

Founder

Our clients ask us to help them with Full Funnel Sales Training and Operational Guidance. 

Whether you have SDRs with no sales experience, AE's who have been doing their role for years, Customer Success Reps where you want to focus on upselling and cross-selling opportunities, or you simply need a Sales Operations and Sales Process creation, review/audit with recommendations we will be able to speak to your unique use case and provide truthful feedback and guidance.

Clients tell us they like our ability to focus not just at strategic levels but also at tactical levels. The sales team exits training with a better understanding of WHY things work and more specifically what they need to say to their prospects to increase conversions throughout the funnel.

Our clients tell us that we improve the following:

► Increased Revenue
► Improved Pipeline Volume and Velocity
► Shortening Sales Cycles
► More Accurate Forecasting
► Faster Onboarding 
► Improved Sales Skills: Prospecting, Discovery, Objection Handling, and Closing Techniques

For a list of clients click here: www.theharrisconsultinggroup.com/clients 

@intercom



This is my latest cold email response.

"No, I am not doing well, my wife left me, my dog died, and I lost my job.  Now, please unsubscribe me from your terrible emails while I go write a country song."

►► 3x Salesforce Sales Influencer ‘23, ‘22, ‘21
►► 5x: AA-ISP’s Top 25 Influential Sales Leader
►► Co-Founder Surf and Sales
►► Owner The Harris Consulting Group

Remember, nobody cares what you do, they only care what pains you solve.

Clients: @Google @Visa @Zoom @Salesforce, @intercom @salesloft @terminus @gainsight @pandadoc @pandora @humaninterest, @doordash, and more

A seasoned  SaaS sales leader and inside sales trainer and advisor with 20+ years of experience. 

We focus on teaching your reps how to earn the right to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when. 

Whether you are an early-stage or expansion stage start-up, or a Fortune 500 company, we will increase funnel conversions to revenue faster.

Sales Trainer / Sales Coach/ Fractional Revenue Leader / 5xSalesforce Sales Leader to Follow / Teaching revenue teams how to #EarnTheRight to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when.

On a scale of 1-10, and you cannot choose 7, where is your fear factor on AI replacing your role in the next 12 months?

Seems like a lot of people may not be paying attention. 

The only thing that will stop it is based on how the customer buys. And even then, they are probably going to want to speak to a bot through a pre-qualification conversation than a human being. 

Thoughts?

My friends over at WINN.AI  sent me the greatest sales playbook I’ve ever seen.

WINN.AI

Stop hiring closers!

Closers exist when the sales process failed earlier. 

Closers are what companies hire when they don't knowhow to build a real sales process or sales team. 

The best reps run better conversations. Great sales reps diagnose problems so the buyer convinces themselves. 

Before you can be a storyteller, you must first be a story-asker.

Sales Trainer / Sales Coach / 5xSalesforce Sales Leader to Follow / Teaching revenue teams how to #EarnTheRight to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when.

🏄🏼‍♂️ Scott Leese supporting Return to Office?  

😱

Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to hear this.  

And yeah, you can hear it as well.

We are counting down to our 500th Surf and Sales podcast episode and we are changing things up.

Still the Same:

- No fluff
- No buzzwords
- Pure sales straight talk

What's New:
- 30 minute episodes
- No guests
- Just Scott and Richard in real conversations about sales, life, and what the future holds for all of us. 

Link below. 

And while you're there, Surf and Sales 2026 is open for registration and there are still a few slots left.

Entrepreneur | 15 Exits | 6x Sales Leader | 3x Author | 2x Podcast Host | Fractional CRO + RevOps

Sales ruins everything. 

Customers have concerns, not objections. 

It seems the competitive sales mindset completely misaligned the approach with this one simple word, objections.

They are not objections, they are concerns. 

There’s a difference between listening to respond and listening to understand.

Welp, that didn't work out as I planned.

So, you took that risk and bet on yourself.

You left a good gig where you're doing well and making money for a moonshot at a start up. And realized the following:

1. It not as exciting being the first sales hire as you thought it would be.

2. You got seduced by the founder and the technology. 

3. You were promised a bunch of things in the interview that never came to fruition. 

4. There wasn't product-market validation, much less product-market fit. 

5. You only lasted 6 months.

And now you're wondering what to do?

Try to give yourself the space and grace to recognize your bravery and courage.  You took a risk and bet on yourself. This is what it takes to truly be successful. 

A few things you can consider.

1. Write down your win list. At every job you've had write down on paper. Yes, old school with pen and paper every little success you've had. Went through a 7 interview process? That's a win. Your first ever sale?  That's a win. Your biggest sale? That's a win. 

All of this helps you refocus on the positive, and moves you several steps forward. 

2. Boomerang back to your old role. Let your boss know you needed to take a shot and that you definitely appreciate what you had at the old company and would love to come back. There is no shame in this especially if you need to pay your bills, take care of your family, have insurance (if you're in US).

3. Reach out to every sales leader you know and ask them for advice.  The good ones will be empathetic. And they may know of roles, or perhaps even be hiring. This is what it means to network. 

4. Hang in there. You aren't alone. Many have been right where you are and have come back to the land of the living. 

2.

Nothing says the LinkedIn feed has gotten so bad when other sales trainers reach out to me and wanting to know if my sales team needs training and coaching.

Hmmm, looks like some of you may need to cancel your Spring Break trip to Cancun.

What do you when you have a global sales team and you've gotta figure out the forecast?

Where do you even start?

How do you even start?

Everyone says their tool can do it. Many fail. 

Gonna have a chat with 11 year veteran Jamie Craig Gainey of Red Hat and how they are leveraging People.ai.  And I guarantee it works. 

She built it from the ground up. 

Not a product pitch at all. 

Use Case Specific Topics Include: 

1. Organizing the puzzle of how and where to start
2. How to evaluate vendors and tools with good due diligence
3. What it looks like in practice
4. How everyone from reps to execs utilize this in the real world. 

And yes, it will be recorded. So, if you can't make it you can still get all the goodness being shared.

Register Here... https://lnkd.in/gTtD5FeM

5 Ways I am suggesting people use AI in sales. 

What are other ways you're leveraging it so far.

A few areas:

1. Note taking tools. Big fan and user of Fathom. Does transcription, captures To Do lists, great summaries, and allows you to go back and ask "Now what was said about XXXX?" Also, it can review all calls and conversations for the bigger deals and help pinpoint who said what and when over the long haul.

2. Role Playing - Has several use cases, right now people are still too focused on the early stage of the sales cycle and onboarding. I am a big fan of role playing the very specific use cases deeper in the sales cycle. Discovery before a Demo, learning how to ask for next step, learning how to ask for the skeptics because asking for decision makers is useless early on. Also, delivering price and negotiation skills as well as closing skills.

3.Helping frame communications that are clear and concise and helping write the email as needed.

4.Research on prospects. Not just the company, but also their actual personality and how to communicate with them based on their ways of hearing information. Essentially, meet them where they are at and how they think, not how I think.

5. Re-aligning and looking for updates in my sales process based on how the conversations go, not the hypothesis used for making the process in the first place.

AI is terrible in sales so much these days. 

Creativity wins the day. Until AI can bring a level of real humanity back into sales the humans will prevail. 

And when the founder actually gets in the trenches, there is nothing better. 

Yesterday I got two deliveries. 

1. A box with a bunch of plastic fruit
2. Then about 30 minutes later a box of  fresh fruit delivered by the founder and CEO of TestBox, Sam Senior.

This is humanity in sales at it's finest. 

It was a little confusing at first and then realized it was part of TestBox' Series A announcement and a unique method of gifting to set demos. 

Congrats Sam and team on your success.  Was also cool to see that Kyle Norton, Nate Nasralla, Elizabeth Niemczyk, Benjamin Douablin were a part of it too.

Your leaders are drug addicts.

They are addicted to smoking hope-i-um.

1. Goals were based on kicking a 67 yard field goal to win the game with 1 time out and :55 on the clock.

2. Goals were based on thinking the keeper will kick from the penalty box perfectly so another player will bicycle kick the game winning goal.

3. They create goals about as well as they can knit a sweater. 

4. They think the goals are accurate because they read a sales book over the weekend and now know everything about sales. 

5. They set goals but can barely chew bubble gum and tie their shoes at the same time. 

And their only solution?

PIP you! 

Just remember PIP = Paid Interview Process

So much AI in sales it feels like Jurassic Park. 

Ever bought the tool?

Then sold your team on it?

Then implemented it but it had dirty data to begin with?

Just like Jurassic Park you expect you can sort of fill in the gaps into your sales data DNA. And now you're getting chased around by Velociraptors and T-Rex' who want to bite your head off. 

This is what I see happening with all the AI out there right now. Especially AI in sales.  And here's why it's happening...

1. Most AI tools are working with incomplete data. 

2. The AI, can't actually see what's happening in your deals.

So they fill in the gaps with guesswork, just like the messed with the DNA in Jurassic Park. 

Now you're Dinosaur-chow.


On March 19, I'm sitting down with Jamie Craig Gainey (Americas Manager at Red Hat) for an honest conversation about what's actually going on with AI in revenue teams.

No spin. No demo. No vendor talking points.

Just a real conversation about why AI keeps falling short — and what it actually takes to get it right.

It's free. It's an hour. And it might save you from a very expensive mistake or being gobbled up in one quick bite. 

https://lnkd.in/gb8iTPcS

Nothing is more impressive than getting a business meeting request from someone with a hotmail address.

Said nobody, EVER1

Severance vs PIP, which would you choose?

Recently saw this conversation and it definitely made me think.  

Here are my thoughts...

Severance is negotiable. 

Don't think it isn't. 

Remember:

1. They are playing on your fears and anxiety, which is real. 
2. Severance is about paying you to be silent. 
3. Well, then they have to pay for your silence. 
4. Anything they ask you to sign will be single sided in terms of non-disclosure, non-disparagement, and in some cases non-compete. 

So negotiate...

1. More money for your silence. 
2. Health care for yourself and family. 
3. A letter of reference. 
4. Bi-directional terms. 

And don't sign anything. 

Of course there are always personal circumstances where you feel you cannot negotiate, or in some cases they are "hugging you out the door" with a good severance offer. I get it. 

Do what's best for you.

What would you choose?

How to know your company is taking advantage of you. 

Tell me I am wrong.

Anxiety leads to burn out.

Burn out leads to anxiety. 

All of which fester into impostor syndrome. 

At least this has been my experience. 

Sometimes it's not even the sales motion that causes it. 

It's also the whole new technology advancement.  

And let's just say AI, while exciting, has also been one of these moments. 

So, this is how I try to tackle these moments.

1. Just start anywhere. Read something, listen to something. Anything is fine.

2. Keep expectations small. Just the first step, then the second and so on. You don't (and won't) become an expert overnight. 

3. Find people smarter than you.  Follow them, ask them questions, listen to what they have to say. 

4. Join a community where the conversation does exist. Even if you are just going to be a lurker. Find where the people are having the conversations, and just look, listen, and learn. 

Which comes to the other reason of this post.  

We all hear about AI getting rid of the manual tasks, and sadly not everyone knows what that really means, or where to even start. 

My friends from Salesforce asked me to help support this event, which I am happy to do.

As I said, just start anywhere.

Or if you have started, perhaps you will avoid learn something new, or even confirm what you've done so far has you on the right path. 

https://lnkd.in/gcWyMXGt

Here's how to not get caught up in the AI hype.  

Too many people buy the wrong sales tools or services based on emotion. 

To make the right decision every time, ask yourself the following. 

1. When we implement (AI tool) we expect ___, ___, and ____. to improve. 

(If you use buzz words like "forecasting" or "closing" you need to define those words at a use-case specific level for your organization. 

2. We will define success as an increase or decrease in ____ and ____,and ____.
(Yes, sometimes you want a decrease. Example: Decrease in unqualified opportunities in the pipeline and hurting forecasting)

3. True/ False - We have trustworthy baseline data from which to start measuring. 
 - If true, then define this. 
 - If untrue, you must sign on the dotted line... "We will commit to ____ months of data collection before we start coitizing the sales team."
 ---- And yeah, I will hold you to it. 

Now you can go and talk to the vendors about your sales training or ai needs and get them to PROVE they can accomplish this.

Tomorrow I will be speaking with Jamie Craig Gainey from Red Hat discussing how AI Actually Works for Revenue Teams. Shoutout to People.ai for sharing some goodness for the sales and revenue leaders. 

Click the magical link and we will sprinkle fairy dust on your pipeline.

And yes, it will be recorded.

https://lnkd.in/gb8iTPcS

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