Sales Today
Why Quarterly Business Reviews should be about customer value, not sales pitches Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) are supposed to strengthen relationships, demonstrate value and identify future opportunities. Too often, however, they become little more than product presentations. In this episode, Fred Copestake is joined by Celia Sanchez Garcia (Celia SGAR), Founder of Vendor Manager Hub, to discuss why many QBRs fail and what salespeople can do differently. Drawing on over 16 years of supplier and vendor management experience, Celia shares why customers should often take the lead in...
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Take the free Collaborative Selling Scorecard Winning new customers is only half the story. The real commercial advantage comes from helping customers achieve the outcomes they were promised, long after the contract has been signed. In this episode of Sales Today, Fred Copestake is joined by customer success expert Anika Zubair to explore what sales professionals can learn from one of the fastest-growing disciplines in modern business. Together they discuss why customer success isn't simply account management, why discovery remains the most valuable commercial skill, and how focusing...
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Free Collaborative Selling Scorecard If you would like to assess how your sales approach aligns with today’s buying environment, you can take the free Collaborative Selling Scorecard: In this final episode of the Sales Today mini series, Fred brings the threads of the series together and explains the deeper issue sitting underneath many of the challenges explored in the previous episodes. Deals stall. Price becomes the focus. Conversations stay too low in the organisation. Teams struggle to engage senior stakeholders. Sales training makes sense, but behaviour doesn’t...
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If you would like to assess how your sales approach aligns with today’s buying environment, you can take the free Collaborative Selling Scorecard: In this episode, Fred explores a frustration shared by many engineering and technical businesses: You've invested in sales training. The team enjoyed it. The ideas made sense. But six months later… very little has actually changed. Fred explains why the problem is rarely the quality of the training itself. More often, it's the gap between understanding new ideas and applying them in real sales situations. In this...
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Free Collaborative Selling Scorecard If you would like to assess how your sales approach aligns with today’s buying environment, you can take the free Collaborative Selling Scorecard: In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred explores one of the most important moments in any sales conversation. It's not when the customer agrees to a meeting. It's not when they ask for a proposal. And it's not when they say yes. It's that subtle moment when they pause and say: "Ah... right, that makes sense." Fred explains why this seemingly small moment represents a major...
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Take the Collaborative Selling Scorecard: In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake explores a pattern he often sees in engineering-led sales organisations: What he calls The Engineering Super Ego. Despite the provocative name, this isn't a criticism of engineers. In fact, it comes from one of their greatest strengths: deep expertise, technical excellence, and the ability to solve complex problems. The challenge is that, in sales conversations, this strength can sometimes become a weakness. Fred explains why customers don't necessarily need more...
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Take the Collaborative Selling Scorecard: Connect with Fred: Watch Fred’s FREE YouTube Course: Sales Mastery for Engineers: Watch the full mini series playlist In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake tackles a challenge that many engineering and B2B sales teams face: Why is it so difficult to engage senior stakeholders? The common assumption is that senior decision-makers are simply too busy, too difficult to reach, or unwilling to engage. But what if the real issue isn't access at all? Fred explores why many sales conversations naturally sit...
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Take the Collaborative Selling Scorecard: Connect with Fred: Watch Fred’s FREE YouTube Course: Sales Mastery for Engineers: Watch the full mini series playlist Most engineering businesses already have strong products, strong expertise, and strong technical capability. So why do so many opportunities still fail to convert? In this 5th episode of the Sales Today Mini Series, Fred explores one of the biggest misunderstandings in modern B2B sales: A strong solution does not automatically create buying confidence. Customers are not simply evaluating products in...
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Take the Collaborative Selling Scorecard: Connect with Fred: Watch Fred’s FREE YouTube Course: Sales Mastery for Engineers: Watch the full mini series playlist In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake explores one of the most frustrating realities in modern B2B sales: The deals that never actually say “no” - but never really move forward either. The pipeline looks healthy. The conversations seemed positive. The proposal was submitted. And then… nothing. Fred explains why stalled deals are often misunderstood. In many cases, the issue...
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Take the Collaborative Selling Scorecard: In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake explores one of the most common frustrations in engineering and B2B sales: Why do so many deals eventually come down to price? While it is easy to blame procurement pressure, competition, or tighter budgets, Fred explains why pricing pressure is often only a symptom - not the real problem. The real issue usually sits in where the sales conversation begins and the level of value being discussed. In this episode: Why cost-focused conversations naturally invite comparison ...
info_outlineIf you would like to assess how your sales approach aligns with today’s buying environment, you can take the free Collaborative Selling Scorecard: https://collaborativeselling.scoreapp.com/
In this episode, Fred explores a frustration shared by many engineering and technical businesses:
You've invested in sales training.
The team enjoyed it.
The ideas made sense.
But six months later… very little has actually changed.
Fred explains why the problem is rarely the quality of the training itself. More often, it's the gap between understanding new ideas and applying them in real sales situations.
In this episode:
- Why good sales training often fails to create lasting behaviour change
- The difference between understanding and application
- Why engineers naturally revert to technical expertise under pressure
- How deeply embedded habits influence sales conversations
- Why classroom learning rarely survives real customer situations on its own
- The importance of connecting learning to live opportunities
- How practical application turns knowledge into lasting behaviour
Key Insight
Most sales training doesn't fail because the content is poor.
It fails because people understand the ideas…
…but never truly apply them.
Real customer conversations are unpredictable, complex and constantly changing.
Without practical application, people naturally fall back to familiar habits.
Why Engineering Teams Are Different
Engineering professionals are trained to:
- Solve problems
- Demonstrate expertise
- Explain technical detail
These are valuable strengths.
But when introducing a more collaborative sales approach, those existing behaviours often take over during real customer conversations.
The result?
The training is remembered.
The behaviour stays the same.
Key Takeaway
Information creates awareness.
Application creates change.
Real improvement happens when new ideas are connected directly to live opportunities, allowing people to see:
"This works here."
"This works now."
Because when people experience success, they gain confidence.
And when confidence grows, new behaviours begin to stick.
Questions to Consider
- Does your team understand collaborative selling…
or are they actually applying it? - Are sales conversations changing, or simply the language used to describe them?
- Is learning connected to real customer opportunities?
Connect with Fred
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredcopestake
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Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/y9STF2STmUg
Watch the full mini series playlist here
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxxcms2Z3FxOjuzT83uI08ZQdVIFq36tJ
Watch Fred’s FREE YouTube Course: Sales Mastery for Engineers: https://bit.ly/Sales-Mastery-For-Engineers