#128 - Cold Calls vs. Real Connections

Margaret Henney and Bryan Neale break down when cold outreach works and when relationships matter more. They discuss matching your sales strategy to deal size, using simple events to create warmer connections, and giving prospects real value instead of relying on generic follow ups.

Margaret Henney and Bryan Neale are back from summer and getting into one of the most overlooked sales skills: knowing when to stop talking. They discuss talk-to-listen ratios, active listening, and how curiosity and intentional pauses can lead to better discovery conversations.

Our summer kickoff catch-up episode: why the only real failure is never starting. Margaret and Bryan talk about fear, perfectionism, motivation in sales, and why you can't wait to "feel ready" before taking action. Sometimes all it takes is one move to create momentum, then the rest follows.

What do you do when a couple of sales reps drive most of the revenue and the rest of the team struggles to keep up? Bryan and Margaret break down how underperformance becomes comfortable, why excuses spread, and what sales managers must do to reset standards. If you want to close the performance gap, it starts with action, accountability, and a willingness to try something different.

This week, Bryan and Margaret share their biggest sales icks. They explore how low self-awareness and certain types of sales cultures can encourage disingenuous behaviors, and why authentic connection, real listening, and focusing on what actually matters to the prospect make all the difference.

In this episode of Sales Unscripted, Bryan and Margaret break down the marketing and sales dynamic during product launches and why marketing often acts as the sales coach. They discuss how the strongest launches are driven by research, empathy, humility, and real market feedback, not overconfidence or defensiveness. The tone marketing sets ultimately shapes how sales shows up and brings the product to market.

We're back in action on Sales Unscripted! In this episode, we talk about hitting the reset button, setting goals around habits instead of outcomes, and working backwards to focus on what you can control every day. Tune in to learn how to stay on track all year long.

QA isn't just for product and dev teams—it matters in sales too. In this episode, Bryan and Margaret talk about why it's important to regularly check and test the processes you use every day, from email signatures, to videos, and attachments, so you don't end up setting it…and actually forgetting it.

Success in sales isn't about waiting for marketing or blaming slow seasons — it's about putting yourself in motion. In this episode, we dig into why consistent activity matters, how to self-motivate when things feel quiet, and small actions that build real momentum.

In this episode, we dig deeper into reducing no-shows. Learn how to stay top-of-mind with your prospects by building an expert persona, setting automated appointment reminders, and having multiple people on demos to boost your show-up rate. Plus, tune in to hear Bryan's "scoop email" trick!