Why Great Sales Conversations Are Built on Process, Not Personality
Release Date: 12/30/2025
Are You Prepared for The Buyer Revolution?
Sales Today
The way buyers buy has changed - but most sellers haven’t. In this episode, Fred is joined by Steve Knapp (co-founder of PLAN.GROW.DO) to explore what the Buyer Revolution really means for modern sales. From buyers being 83% through their journey before speaking to you… to why most sellers are preparing for the wrong conversation - this episode challenges traditional thinking and offers a more practical, buyer-led approach. Key Takeaways Buyers are further ahead than you think Your first job is to validate, not qualify Preparation must match the buyer’s reality ...
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3 Steps to Combat Struggles in Sales (and Life)
Sales Today
In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake is joined by Marc Baladi, sales and senior leadership coach, and co-host of the podcast Beyond Enough. Together, they explore a challenge many people in sales quietly face: feeling overwhelmed, behind, or not good enough - even when they’re capable and putting in the effort. Marc’s argument is simple but powerful: You are probably not struggling with capability or effort. You are struggling with cognitive load - and not knowing what “good enough” looks like. In this episode Why...
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The Overlooked Sales Tactic That Builds Trust Fast
Sales Today
In this episode, Fred Copestake is joined by Ollie Whitfield of Slingshot Content to explore a sales tactic that surprisingly few salespeople use: running webinars themselves. While marketing teams often lead webinars, salespeople can use them as a powerful way to stand out, demonstrate expertise, and create valuable conversations with prospects. The key is doing them well. Not product demos. Not long introductions. And definitely not disguised sales pitches. Instead, the best webinars focus on insight, useful ideas, and real problems your...
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The Overlooked Sales Tactic That Builds Trust Fast
Sales Today
In this episode, Fred Copestake is joined by Ollie Whitfield of Slingshot Content to explore a sales tactic that surprisingly few salespeople use: running webinars themselves. While marketing teams often lead webinars, salespeople can use them as a powerful way to stand out, demonstrate expertise, and create valuable conversations with prospects. The key is doing them well. Not product demos. Not long introductions. And definitely not disguised sales pitches. Instead, the best webinars focus on insight, useful ideas, and real problems your...
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3 Ways to Improve Your Sales Prospecting Overnight
Sales Today
In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake speaks with Alex Nicholls-Gray, founder of The Prospect Experience Company, about why the prospect experience has never been worse and what salespeople can do to fix it. With automation tools and AI making it easier than ever to send thousands of messages, buyers are overwhelmed with generic outreach across email and LinkedIn. The result? Lower response rates, more spam complaints, and prospects who ignore most messages. Alex argues that the solution isn’t sending more outreach it’s improving the experience of...
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LinkedIn Is Not a Template Factory (Here’s What Actually Works)
Sales Today
Fred is joined by Mark Young, whose LinkedIn headline says it all: “A cat person helping technical AI founders earn trust before the first call.” This episode is a lively (and refreshingly sceptical) conversation about why so much LinkedIn advice is formulaic, outdated, or simply irrelevant - especially for technical founders and specialists who need trust, not vanity metrics. What you’ll learn Why a lot of LinkedIn “best practice” is recycled templates and pseudoscience The danger of chasing quick wins like “20,000 followers in 90 days” claims (and...
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Do Salespeople Need FBI Hostage Negotiation Skills?
Sales Today
In this episode of The Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake is joined by Sebastian Hidalgo, co-founder of DURINDAL and creator of the SWAT method - a sales framework influenced by hostage negotiation principles. Fred admits he’s often sceptical when crisis negotiation gets blended with commercial sales, so this becomes a lively, grounded conversation: what genuinely transfers, what doesn’t, and how to use “hostage” techniques ethically to improve trust, discovery, and positioning. What you’ll hear in this episode Sebastian’s unusual origin story: becoming...
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Surprisingly simple ways to use AI in sales
Sales Today
In this episode, Fred is joined by Tom Ridley, an AI sales coach, for a refreshingly grounded conversation about AI in sales. Instead of racing through a list of tools, Tom makes a different point: AI isn’t the story - being human is. The real value of generative AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) is that it removes the admin-heavy work salespeople hate and frees them up to do what matters most: have better conversations, build stronger relationships, and help customers make sense of complex decisions. They explore how to use AI to research accounts, focus on the right...
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Ethical marketing meets ethical selling
Sales Today
In this episode, Fred is joined by Chelsea Burns - marketing psychologist, brand ethicist, and non-manipulative marketer to explore where ethical marketing and ethical selling overlap… and where they can go wrong. Chelsea introduces a practical way to draw the line between persuasion and manipulation: Agency - a person’s genuine ability to choose. From there, the conversation goes deep into real-world examples of questionable tactics, why “FOMO” can backfire, and how the brain evaluates purchases immediately after the transaction. Chelsea also shares her four...
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The secret to faster training and coaching result
Sales Today
In this episode, Fred is joined by John Richardson, Co-Founder and Director of Coaching at My Sales Coach, to explore a key question: how do you get faster, more meaningful results from training and coaching? Their answer is simple but powerful: start with the right assessment. They unpack why great coaches are always assessing (without judging), how the right diagnostics can shorten the path to meaningful improvement, and why revenue alone isn’t a useful starting point for development. John explains how My Sales Coach uses assessments to build coaching plans with focus,...
info_outlineIn Episode 3 in this five part mini series of Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake and James Michael explore a question that challenges another long-held belief in sales: do great sales conversations succeed because of personality - or because of process?
This episode looks at how the most effective salespeople consciously select their mode during conversations, switching between listening, questioning, sharing insight, and guiding the discussion - always with the buyer’s outcome in mind.
Rather than restricting creativity, process and structure create the space for better thinking, deeper understanding, and more human conversations.
In this episode, they explore:
- Why the ability to “select the mode” matters more than personal style
- The principle of seek first to understand, then to be understood — and why it’s more relevant than ever
- How process gives permission to listen before presenting
- Why modern sales conversations must earn the right to ask questions
- The role of hypotheses and insight in opening meaningful dialogue
- How frameworks reduce cognitive load and free salespeople to focus on the buyer
- The balance between structure and creativity in complex B2B sales
Key insight
Great sales conversations aren’t improvised.
They are guided by process, supported by structure, and brought to life through human judgement.
Process doesn’t turn salespeople into robots.
It removes uncertainty, so attention can stay where it belongs — on the customer.
Why this matters today
Buyers are busy, informed, and often sceptical of traditional sales behaviour.
Structure helps salespeople:
- Know when to listen and when to speak
- Lead with insight rather than interrogation
- Create clarity instead of adding noise
In complex sales environments, process isn’t a constraint.
It’s a competitive advantage.
About the guests
Fred Copestake
Founder of Brindis and author of Selling Through Partnering Skills, Hybrid Selling, and Ethical Selling. Fred has spent over 25 years working with sales teams across 38 countries, helping them move from personality-led selling to structured, collaborative approaches.
James Michael
Founder of Justified Talent, James uses behavioural psychology and psychometric assessment to identify what truly predicts success in modern B2B sales. His work challenges outdated assumptions about personality, performance, and selling capability.
Connect with James
· LinkedIn: James Michael (Australia) https://www.linkedin.com/in/smesalesrecruiter/
· Website: www.justifiedtalent.com
Part of the Sales Today - CEMMT Sales Series
This is Episode 3 of a 5-part series exploring how selling must evolve to reflect how buyers think, decide, and behave today.
Subscribe to Sales Today to continue the journey.
Follow Fred: https://linktr.ee/fredcopestake
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5F3NyWR1tEI
Watch Fred’s FREE YouTube Course: Sales Mastery for Engineers: https://bit.ly/Sales-Mastery-For-Engineers
Useful resources
- Take the Collaborative Selling Scorecard – free
Check how well your sales approach fits today’s buying environment https://collaborativeselling.scoreapp.com/