Let’s be honest:

There’s nothing like the feeling of flying high after closing a massive deal.

But if you’re like most salespeople out there, you’ll also face times where every lead you touch feels colder than a Siberian winter (brrr!).

However, there are sales pros out there who are absolutely shattering their sales goals.

So to find out what keeps them going, I got in touch with 70 of these experts and asked each one:

What’s the single top sales advice you’ve ever received or shared?

Let me tell you, the responses I received were nothing short of amazing.

So whether you’re looking for instantly actionable tips or career-altering advice, here are all 70 of their responses – in their own words:

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Throughout my career as a sales rep (and later as a manager), I was always puzzled by whether a deal could close or not. Was there a way to constantly deliver on forecast? What could potentially increase my deal close rate?

Was there a more effective way to qualify my deals?

In my search for an answer, I came across a ton of whacked-out theories and complicated probability calculations. But in the end, most of my forecasts (and those of my reps) were still based on gut feelings and wishful thinking.

That was until I worked with John McMahon.

John was (and still is) an almost legendary sales leader who consistently increased company revenues by 100% year after year wherever he went. (He even grew PTC, a software company, from $1.1M to $1.1B in just nine years). Since then he built sales team in Bladelogic or BMC and sits on the board of many great performing companies like MongoDB or Snowflake.

He was phenomenal at building teams and helping sales managers to scale. But one of the things that stood out the most about John’s performance were his shockingly accurate forecasts.

What was his secret?

He always focused on the fundamentals of a deal.

“Before going into the details of any opportunity,” he said, “there are three questions you need to ask. Know their answers, and you’ll know the chance of closing a deal this quarter.”

These questions are so simple, yet incredibly powerful. After I started implementing them, my forecasts became more accurate than a Swiss-made clock.

And they are the exact questions that executives at your account will ask before approving any decsion.

They are The 3 Why’s That Open Your Eyes.

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