How to define your B2B sales activities (and whether they're working!)

In this episode, Jess Lorimer breaks down the difference between a sales activity and a marketing activity, and why confusing the two is one of the most common reasons a B2B sales process gets stuck. She walks through the Selling to Corporate® 5 step sales framework stage by stage, explaining the single, specific purpose behind each one, so you can diagnose exactly what's working, what isn't, and why, instead of throwing out something that was already working.   A sales activity is any activity designed specifically to relate to or lead to revenue being generated. In a B2B context, that means building and leveraging one-to-one relationships to generate revenue. A marketing activity is different. It's primarily designed to build brand awareness and build relationships at volume, which is why marketing campaigns lean on social platforms, newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube channels. Copywriting, campaign creation, social media marketing, and content creation all fall under marketing, because they create relationships at scale. Sales activities, like cold email outreach, networking for leads, speaking for leads, and holding sales calls with a decision maker, are designed to build or leverage one-to-one relationships so they turn into revenue. Marketing is a genuinely useful tool, but when you're selling B2B as an individual consultant, it shouldn't be your primary source of activity, because it isn't designed to convert. Jess is direct about this: if you're spending all your time on LinkedIn chasing more leads and more relationships, the real question is whether you're already converting the relationships you have. If you've got a database of 100 people, or 50 LinkedIn connections, and you're not converting them, you don't need more, you need to look at the quality of your sales activities instead. Putting more leads into a sales process that doesn't work just means spending more time, money, and energy on marketing that isn't producing revenue.   This is where the Selling to Corporate® 5 step sales framework comes in, a process Jess developed while training corporate sales teams and has since used with clients in over 21 countries. It works because every single part of the process has a specific, measurable outcome. Stage one is Clarity: knowing who you're selling to and the transformation you're offering them, so your sales messaging across lead generation, follow up, proposals, and sales calls is consistent rather than trying to be everything to everyone.   Stage two is Lead Generation, and its only purpose is booking qualified sales calls with decision makers who have both responsibility for your area and budget authority. If your lead generation isn't producing fewer than 5 qualified sales calls a month, it isn't working, and mass marketing methods like newsletters or LinkedIn posts that don't convert into consistent calls don't count as functioning lead generation. Stage three is the sales call itself, and its only purpose is a clear next step, either a qualified proposal or a defined no. Vague outcomes, like being asked to send over a website link or a one-pager, mean the prospect still doesn't understand what you do or how it helps them, so the call hasn't done its job.   Stage four is Offers and Proposals, the written sell that articulates and presents an offer that meets the client's need and converts the sales call into a signed contract. And stage five is Delivery and Upsell or Resell: delivering a great client experience with the specific purpose of identifying further transformation for the client and further revenue for you. Jess's core point is that when an activity isn't hitting its purpose, that's the actual problem to fix, not a reason to abandon the whole process and chase a new strategy. Understanding what each part of your sales process is supposed to achieve is what lets you troubleshoot accurately instead of guessing. Key Takeaways ●  A sales activity and a marketing activity are not the same thing, and confusing them wastes time and money. A sales activity is designed specifically to lead to revenue through one-to-one relationships. A marketing activity is designed to build brand awareness and relationships at volume. Treating time-consuming marketing work as if it were sales activity is one of the most common reasons a B2B pipeline underperforms. ●  More leads won't fix a broken sales process. If you already have a database or a set of LinkedIn connections you aren't converting, the answer isn't more volume, it's fixing the quality and structure of your sales activities. Adding more leads into a process that doesn't convert just means spending more time and money for the same result. ●  Clarity's only purpose is targeting and messaging. Knowing who you're selling to and the transformation you offer them shapes your sales messaging everywhere it appears, in lead generation, follow up, proposals, and sales calls. Without it, creating consistent messaging across different industries and problems becomes much harder. ●  Lead generation's only purpose is booking qualified sales calls. Qualified means the decision maker has both responsibility for your area and budget authority. Fewer than 5 sales calls a month from your lead generation is a sign it isn't working, whatever the volume of content or connections behind it. ●  A sales call's only purpose is a clear next step. That means either a qualified proposal or a defined no, not right now. Vague outcomes like being asked to send a website or a one-pager mean the prospect still doesn't understand what you do, so the call hasn't achieved its purpose. ●  Offers and proposals exist to convert the sales call into a signed contract. It's the written sell: articulating and pricing an offer that meets the client's need and gives them what they need to build an internal business case to say yes. § ●  Delivery and upsell or resell exists to create further transformation and further revenue. A great client experience isn't just good practice, its specific purpose is to help you spot further opportunities to support the client, which benefits them and grows your revenue at the same time. ●  Judge each activity against its own purpose, not against an outcome it was never designed to hit. Blaming lead generation for not directly producing a sale misunderstands its job, which is booking calls. Diagnosing which specific stage of the process isn't hitting its purpose is what actually fixes a stuck sales process, rather than abandoning something that was already working. Questions Corporate Buyers and AI Search Tools Are Asking The questions below are written to reflect how coaches, consultants, and service providers are actually typing into AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews when researching their own B2B sales activity. ●  What's the difference between a sales activity and a marketing activity in B2B? ●  Why isn't my LinkedIn content turning into corporate sales calls? ●  What is the actual purpose of lead generation in a B2B sales process? ●  How many qualified sales calls should my lead generation produce each month? ●  What should happen at the end of a B2B sales call? ●  Why do I keep getting stuck at the same stage of my sales process? ●  What is the Selling to Corporate 5 step sales framework? ●  Should I focus on generating more leads or converting the leads I already have? ●  How do I know if my B2B sales activities are actually working? Key Quotes "A sales activity is any activity that is designed specifically to relate to or lead to revenue being generated." "Putting more leads into a sales process that does not work means that you will continue to get the same result." "Every single part of the process has a very specific outcome." "Marketing is a great tool, but it should not be your primary source of activities in your business because it is not designed to convert." "The only purpose that lead generation holds: booking qualified sales calls." "The only purpose of sales calls is to turn them into clear next steps." Resources and Links Join the B2B Sales Edit: Busyness to Business Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants, sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy to balanced and profitable. Jess is currently running a series walking through each of the 5 framework steps in detail with case study examples, sign up not to miss it. https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%EMAIL The Expert Services Directory Episode sponsor. A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month, and is actively crawled and trusted by AI search platforms. Use code PODCAST for a bonus. https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory Cold → Closed The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches, consultants, speakers, trainers, and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ Related Episodes ● STC044 - Why Organising Your Sales Activity Is Central to Your Success When Selling to Corporates https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/stc044-why-organising-your-sales-activity-is-central-to-your- success-when-selling-to-corporates/ ● STC046 - Why Your B2B Sales Process Is Stuck (and How to Fix It!) https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/stc046-why-your-b2b-sales-process-is-stuck-and-how-to-fix-it/ ● STC183 - 3 Reasons September Is the Best Time to Sell to Companies (With a Proven Sales Process) https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/3-reasons-september-is-the-best-time-to-sell-to-companies/ Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

STC183: 3 reasons September is the best time to sell to companies (with a proven sales process) In this episode, Jess Lorimer reveals why September is the most powerful month for selling to companies, provided you follow a proven sales process. The discussion covers key commercial drivers unique to Q4, the biggest employee turnover period, and strategies to secure business before companies allocate their budgets for the coming year. Jess breaks down the three commercial reasons that make September the single best buying period for anyone selling services to corporate clients, provided you're running a best practice B2B sales process alongside it.  She explains why unfinished projects from the start of the year suddenly become urgent, why September triggers the biggest staff attrition period of the corporate calendar, and why companies are already planning six months ahead toward their next financial year, making now the moment to have budget conversations before funds are locked away.  Jess also revisits her decision to keep The C Suite ® running rather than retire it, and shares why a proactive, proven sales process, not luck, social media, or waiting for referrals, is what actually converts September's opportunity into signed contracts. If you're a coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, or done for you service provider selling to corporate clients, this episode is your reminder to get proactive before the year ends. Timestamps 00:00 Why September is best for sales 03:21 Avoiding Shiny Object Syndrome 09:49 Transformations in Sales Confidence 12:00 Importance of September for Sales 17:25 Importance of external support in Q4 18:53 Proactive sales in busy September 22:05 September sales opportunities and employee turnover 26:15 Decision-making and budget planning 28:24 Timing sales conversations for budgeting   Key Takeaways ●  September only works if you're running a best practice sales process. September isn't automatically the best sales month, it only works when it's paired with a proactive, structured sales process. Without that structure, the same commercial conditions create opportunity for prepared providers but pass by unprepared ones. ●  Reason one: unfinished start-of-year projects create urgent demand for external support. Returning from summer, organisations review progress against the goals they set earlier in the year, and unfinished projects, from talent retention and technology upgrades to succession planning and awareness initiatives, need delivering before year end. Internal teams rarely have the spare capacity, so companies turn to external coaches, consultants, and service providers.   ●  Reason two: September is the biggest staff leaving period of the year, and it creates urgent capability gaps. September is reliably the year's largest attrition period. Departing staff leave projects and deliverables behind, and recruitment can take months, so organisations lean on external providers to keep critical initiatives moving while the gap is filled. ●  Reason three: companies plan roughly six months ahead, so September conversations decide who gets next year's budget. Companies typically plan around 6 months ahead of where entrepreneurs do, so by September many are already thinking about the following March or April financial year end. That means deciding how to allocate remaining budget, a genuine use it or lose it dynamic, while also starting to plan next year's spend. ●  The Selling to Corporate® 5 step sales process is what actually shortens the buying cycle in September. The five stages, Clarity, Lead Generation, Business Development, Offers and Proposals, and Delivery and Upsell or Resell, run consistently rather than switched reactively, are what allow the buying cycle from cold lead to signed contract to shorten significantly in Q4. ●  Chasing a new strategy every time something feels stuck usually means abandoning something that was already working. Business owners often jump between strategies, assuming whatever isn't converting must be broken, when the real issue often sits at a different stage of the process. Diagnosing where a process is genuinely stuck, rather than restarting from scratch, is a more reliable route to a strong Q4. ●  Passive visibility alone won't win this business, because decision-makers are too busy to go looking. Decision-makers returning from summer still have their own day job to do, and aren't scrolling LinkedIn or websites hoping to find a supplier. A proactive approach that demonstrates commercial understanding is what wins the work, not credibility alone. Key Quotes "I talk endlessly and relentlessly about the fact that September is the best time of  year to sell to corporate companies." " In the corporate space, if you don't use it, you lose it." "You must, must run a best practice sales process." Resources and Links The C Suite® Ready to leverage the September sales opportunity? Explore The C-Suite® program to implement a scalable, proven sales process that secures high-value corporate clients. Click here: https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/the-c-suite-2027/ Join the B2B Sales Edit: Busyness to Business Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants; sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy to balanced and profitable. https://sellingtocorporate.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=applepodcasts&utm_medium=podcast_shownotes&utm_campaign=stc-podcast-shownotes-2026 Episode Sponsored by The Expert Services Directory Access The Expert Services Directory here: https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month. Standard listings reach 1,000+ decision makers per month; Directory Plus listings reach 2,000+. Only 10 suppliers per category. Standard listing: 1,000+ decision makers per month Directory Plus listing: 2,000+ decision makers per month Application required, not all applications are accepted   Related Episodes ● STC026 - Why September Is Your Best Time to Sell to Corporates https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/stc026-why-september-is-your-best-time-to-sell-to-corporates/ ● STC053 - Why September Is Your Best Time to Sell to Corporate Organisations https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/stc053-why-september-is-your-best-time-to-sell-to-corporate-organisations/ ● STC075 - How to Set Yourself Up for a Successful Q4 of B2B Sales https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/stc075-how-to-set-yourself-up-for-a-successful-q4-of-b2b-sales/ Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

If you sell services to corporate clients, you've almost certainly asked yourself whether you should be focused on inbound or outbound sales. It's one of the most common questions coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers ask when they're trying to build a predictable pipeline of corporate clients, and the honest answer is that it depends on your business stage, your capacity, and how much control you want over your results. Inbound sales, in a B2B context, means working with inquiries that come to you: referrals, warm introductions, and prospects who find you online and reach out because they've already identified a problem they think you can solve. It feels exciting because it looks like leads are coming pre-sold. In reality, inbound B2B lead generation is reactive rather than proactive, and it requires significant, ongoing qualification work. Not every inbound inquiry comes from someone with real budget authority. A large proportion come from junior team members carrying out research or benchmarking on behalf of a senior stakeholder, which means a coach or consultant can spend hours on discovery calls and proposals that were never going to close. Outbound sales, by contrast, means proactively identifying and contacting the corporate decision makers you want to work with, through channels like cold email outreach, LinkedIn outreach, or targeted networking. Outbound has a reputation for being harder, more 'salesy', and more likely to result in rejection. Much of that reputation comes from exposure to badly executed outbound (generic pitches, poor targeting, no follow-up process) rather than from outbound sales as a method. A well-built outbound sales process is highly structured: it defines exactly how leads are generated, how many should convert to sales calls, how many of those calls should convert to proposals, and how many proposals should convert to signed contracts. That structure is what makes outbound genuinely predictable and scalable, in a way that inbound, by its reactive nature, cannot be. The conversation around inbound versus outbound B2B sales has also shifted because of how corporate buyers now research suppliers. Recent industry research shows a majority of B2B decision makers now use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot at some stage of their supplier search, often before they ever land on a company website. Corporate buyers increasingly type conversational, problem-based queries into AI platforms rather than short keyword searches, and those platforms return a small, curated shortlist of suppliers rather than a page of links to browse. This has real implications for coaches and consultants: traditional SEO alone is no longer enough to guarantee visibility, because AI-powered search behaves differently from Google's results pages. Being structured, cited, and consistently referenced across credible platforms (what's increasingly called generative engine optimisation, or GEO) is becoming part of a modern passive visibility strategy that works alongside, not instead of, proactive outreach. So which should you prioritise: inbound or outbound? For most coaches and consultants who are not yet fully booked with corporate clients, an active, proactive outbound sales process is the more reliable route to consistent revenue, because it puts you in control of your own pipeline rather than waiting for the market to come to you. Passive visibility strategies that support inbound leads, content, speaking, directory listings, and AI search visibility, are worth building at the same time, because they compound over months and continue working even during periods when you're heavily focused on client delivery. The businesses that build the most resilient B2B sales pipelines tend to run both: a controlled, metrics-driven outbound sales process to generate steady, qualified sales calls, and a passive visibility layer that ensures they're findable, and credible, when a corporate decision maker (or an AI platform on their behalf) goes looking for the right supplier. Whichever you choose to prioritise first, both inbound and outbound sales processes for coaches and consultants ultimately rely on the same underlying skill set: strong qualification, clear diagnosis of the buyer's real problem, confident proposal writing, and considered objection handling, particularly around pricing. Building a predictable B2B sales pipeline isn't about picking a side in the inbound versus outbound debate. It's about understanding the workload and the trade-offs behind each, and choosing, deliberately, where to invest your limited time. Questions This Episode Answers What's the actual difference between an inbound and an outbound B2B sales process? Is an inbound inquiry always a qualified lead? How much work does it really take to generate a steady stream of inbound leads? Why do outbound sales processes feel harder, and is that reputation deserved? What sales skills do you need for inbound leads versus outbound leads? How is the rise of AI-powered supplier search changing the inbound vs outbound decision? Should you focus on one sales process or build both? Key Takeaways An inbound inquiry is not automatically a qualified lead. Everybody loves an inbound inquiry, but Jess is clear that the quality of that inquiry has to be established before you get excited about it. A genuinely qualified inbound lead comes from a decision maker who controls budget and has correctly identified their own problem. A high proportion of inbound inquiries instead come from junior team members carrying out benchmarking or procurement research, who don't have the authority or budget context to move a deal forward. Jess illustrates this with a client story: a leadership development proposal was rejected as too expensive because the buyer was benchmarking it against a £70-an-hour massage therapist, having equated 'stress reduction' services as interchangeable. Filtering for real, qualified opportunities is a significant, ongoing part of running an inbound sales process well. A predictable inbound pipeline requires becoming your own media channel. To generate a steady, predictable volume of inbound leads (rather than the occasional lucky referral), you need consistent visibility: regular LinkedIn posting, contributed articles, speaking, and networking, sustained over time. Jess is upfront that this is a significant and ongoing workload, closer to running a personal brand than to 'just having a good website'. It's well suited to business owners who have the time and capacity to commit to content creation consistently, but it is not a fast or low-effort route to revenue. Outbound sales processes require more thought at the start, but deliver far more predictability. Where inbound is reactive, outbound is proactive and controllable. A well-built outbound sales process defines each stage clearly, lead generation, sales calls, proposals, and close, so you can predict how many leads convert into calls, how many calls convert into proposals, and how many proposals convert into signed contracts. That means metrics can be monitored and troubleshot at every stage, and, crucially, the process can be handed off to someone else because it doesn't rely on the founder's personal relationships or improvisation. Outbound's bad reputation usually comes from watching it done badly. Most negative associations with outbound sales, being pushy, salesy, or a burden, come from exposure to poorly executed cold outreach rather than a well-run process. Jess points out that people rarely see good outbound in action, only the badly targeted pitches that land in their own inbox. Inexperienced business owners who are desperate not to be salesy often make the opposite mistake: pitching too early and too hard because they haven't been taught a proven sequence to follow. Both inbound and outbound demand strong sales call skills. Regardless of which route generates the lead, qualification, diagnosis of the real problem, proposal writing, objection handling (particularly around pricing), and follow-up all remain essential. With outbound, rapport has to be built quickly, Jess notes it's roughly a five-minute job, after which the conversation moves to diagnosing a genuine need. With inbound, more time is often needed up front simply to establish whether the person on the call has the authority and budget to buy at all. The rise of AI-powered supplier search changes the visibility equation, not the fundamentals. One of the biggest shifts in B2B sales in the last decade is corporate decision makers using AI platforms to research and shortlist external suppliers before ever visiting a website. Jess is clear that this doesn't replace proactive outreach, it adds a passive visibility layer alongside it. Websites and social content built purely for traditional SEO may no longer be enough on their own; being structured, cited, and indexed in a way AI platforms trust is now part of a modern lead generation strategy, working in parallel with, not instead of, a proven outbound sales process. The right answer depends on your business stage and capacity, not a universal 'best'. Jess's own preference leans towards outbound, because it creates a sales pipeline that can be predicted, measured, and eventually scaled beyond the founder into a wider sales team. But she's equally clear that inbound inquiries are genuinely valuable when they're qualified. The real decision point is whether you have the time and capacity to build visibility for inbound, the discipline to run a proactive outbound process consistently, or the resources to do both well at once. Questions Corporate Buyers and AI Search Tools Are Asking The answers below are written to speak directly to the conversational questions coaches, consultants, and the corporate buyers who might hire them are already asking AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. Should I focus on inbound or outbound sales as a coach selling to corporate clients? What's the difference between an inbound and an outbound B2B sales process? Is cold email outreach still worth it now that companies use AI to find suppliers? How do I know if an inbound inquiry is actually a qualified lead? Why does outbound sales feel harder or more 'salesy' than inbound? What sales skills do coaches and consultants need for inbound versus outbound leads? How much work does it take to build a predictable stream of inbound leads? How are corporate decision makers using AI to research and shortlist suppliers in 2026? Can a small coaching or consulting business run both inbound and outbound sales at once? Key Quotes "Sales requires action. I wish it didn't, but it does." "The whole point of an outbound sales process is to have something that is completely predictable, completely scalable, and doesn't rely on you." "Rapport is a five-minute job to build, and then you can focus your actual sales call skills on diagnosing a real need." Resources and Links Profit to Process – Free Masterclass A free live masterclass (with 24-hour replay for registered attendees) on troubleshooting your existing sales process, understanding what a best-practice B2B sales process looks like for coaches and consultants, and leveraging 2026's corporate landscape changes to generate more Q4 and 2027 revenue. Space is limited to 100 attendees, register below. https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%2525EMAIL%2525 Join the B2B Sales Edit: Busyness to Business Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants; sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy to balanced and profitable. https://sellingtocorporate.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=applepodcasts&utm_medium=podcast_shownotes&utm_campaign=stc-podcast-shownotes-2026 The Expert Services Directory Episode sponsor. A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month, and is actively crawled and trusted by AI search platforms. Use code PODCAST for a bonus. https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory Cold → Closed The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches, consultants, speakers, trainers, and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ Related Episodes STC064 - Do Cold Emails Still Work When Selling to Corporate Companies? https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/stc064-do-cold-emails-still-work-when-selling-to-corporate/id1469526548?i=1000551472029 STC125 - Why Bother with Forward Selling? Predictable Revenue or Scary Sales Strategy? https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/stc125-why-bother-with-forward-selling-predictable/id1469526548?i=1000655885198 STC145 - The #1 Piece of Content You'll Ever Need to Convert Corporate Clients https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-1-piece-of-content-youll-ever-need-to/id1469526548?i=1000694646263   Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

Every August, Jess hears the same story on repeat: decision makers are on holiday, budgets are frozen, nobody's picking up the phone, so why bother? In this episode, Jess pushes back on that, hard. More decision makers and stakeholders are booking sales calls this August than she's seen in the last two years, and her own clients, working across leadership, performance, executive coaching, and fractional HR, are signing forty thousand pound retainers and hitting their entire annual revenue targets in six or seven months. It's not quiet out there - not even close! Jess is clear that when a sales process stalls, or a sales pipeline stops converting, it's rarely the market's fault, and it usually comes down to one of three things.  First, contagious negativity: doom and gloom talk spreads through business communities faster than success stories do, the same way an unhappy customer tells far more people about a bad experience than a happy one tells about a good one. If everyone around you is agreeing that nothing's working, it's easy to absorb that as fact instead of checking it against your own numbers. Second, strategy hopping: jumping from cold email outreach, to LinkedIn outreach, to networking, to trade shows, without ever giving a single method the time, volume, or clearly defined success markers it needs to prove itself. Most coaches and consultants haven't been taught what a lead generation channel is actually supposed to produce.  Its job is to book qualified sales calls, not close deals on its own, so judging an outreach campaign by how many sales it generated directly, rather than how many qualified conversations it opened, is an unfair test from the start. When that test fails, the channel gets written off and the search for a new one begins again, wiping out whatever progress had already been made. Third, and often the reason the other two happen at all, is not having a proven, best practice sales process to troubleshoot against in the first place. Without one, there's no baseline to compare results to, no way to tell whether a tactic is underperforming or simply hasn't had enough time, and no way to tell a genuine problem apart from ordinary variation.  This is made worse by a gap that rarely gets talked about: most coaches and consultants have invested heavily in qualifications for their specialism, whether that's leadership, HR, nutrition, or executive coaching, but very few of those qualifications include any formal sales training. Learning to sell on top of learning to deliver is a genuinely big undertaking, and struggling with it in year one is normal, not a personal failing. The real cost of strategy hopping isn't the time spent on any single failed attempt. It's staying stuck in the hardest, least comfortable phase of selling to corporate clients for far longer than necessary, because every reset means relearning lessons that a fully implemented, properly measured process would only have taught once. Coaches and consultants who commit to a single proven process, follow it as designed, and give it defined time and volume before judging it, tend to move through that difficult first phase once and into a far more sustainable place: referrals, inbound leads, and account maximisation with existing clients. So if you're heading into the final stretch of summer wondering whether to pause lead generation until September, the evidence points the other way. Corporate decision makers are still active, still booking calls, and still signing contracts. The businesses seeing the strongest results right now aren't the ones with an easier market. They're the ones executing, and honestly troubleshooting, a sales process they actually trust. Key Quotes "The purpose of lead generation is to book qualified sales calls." "That attitude is contagious. Happy customers will talk about their experience with a company to one or two people. Unhappy customers tell on average ten people how unhappy they are about something." "The hardest bit of selling to companies is the first year doing it, because in the first year selling to companies, you are learning and implementing all new skills."   Key Takeaways 1. The Market Isn't the Problem. The Story About the Market Is. A slow market isn't universal, it's what happens when a proven process isn't being run. 2. Negativity Is Contagious, and It Spreads Faster Than Success Does. One unhappy voice in your peer group can talk ten more people into believing the market's dead. 3. There's a Real Difference Between Positive Critique and Defeatist Thinking. Diagnosing a specific gap fixes your process; writing off a whole channel after one bad week doesn't. 4. There's a Clear Divide Between People Who Fully Implement a Strategy and People Who Hop Between Them. Chasing a quick win means never finishing anything long enough to know if it actually works. 5. Customising a Proven Template Often Breaks It. Tweak a proven template and you lose the ability to tell whether the strategy failed or your edit did. 6. Very Few People Selling to Companies Have Ever Been Taught to Sell. Nobody trains coaches and consultants to sell, so struggling with it in year one is normal, not a failure. 7. Every Sales Activity Is an Experiment, and Experiments Need Defined Success Markers. Without defined success markers upfront, you can't tell if a tactic is failing or just unfinished. 8. Strategy Hopping Keeps You Stuck in the Hardest Part of Selling to Corporates, on Repeat. Every reset sends you back to the hardest, least profitable stage of selling to corporates. 9. August Is a Genuine Opportunity, Not a Dead Zone. Waiting for September to restart outreach guarantees a slow start to Q4.   If you've enjoyed listening to Doing everything but your sales process still isn't converting in the way you want? Check out these episodes. STC146 – Surprising Ways Your 30 Day Sales Mindset Is Impacting Your Revenue https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/surprising-ways-your-30-day-sales-mindset-is-impacting/id1469526548?i=1000698230229 STC147 – 90 Day Sales Reset: Quickly Analyse Your Sales Process to Create Powerful Results https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/90-day-sales-reset-quickly-analyse-your-sales-process/id1469526548?i=1000700230322 STC176 – The Most Important Skill Professional Salespeople Have (And How You Can Use It!) https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-most-important-skill-professional-salespeople/id1469526548?i=1000770129000 Join the Selling To Corporate B2B Sales Edit: Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants; sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy -> balanced and profitable. https://sellingtocorporate.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=applepodcasts&utm_medium=podcast_shownotes&utm_campaign=stc-podcast-shownotes-2026 Cold -> Closed The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches / consultants / speakers / trainers and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ Episode Sponsored by The Expert Services Directory Access The Expert Services Directory here: https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month. Standard listings reach 1,000+ decision makers per month; Directory Plus listings reach 2,000+. Only 10 suppliers per category. Standard listing: 1,000+ decision makers per month Directory Plus listing: 2,000+ decision makers per month Application required, not all applications are accepted Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

You might be following a proven sales process, you might even be generating consistent revenue. But if you are not building in a regular strategic thinking space, your sales results are almost certainly not as strong as they could be and they are more fragile than you realise. In this episode of the Selling to Corporate® podcast, Jess Lorimer addresses one of the most common and costly problems she sees across the sales processes of coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers: the failure to stop, think strategically, and work on the process rather than just in it. Jess explains why this matters whether your sales are going well or badly, what specifically goes wrong when strategic thinking space is absent, and what you need to do differently in the second half of 2026 to make September and Q4 the most productive quarter of your year. Who This Episode Is For Coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers selling to corporate clients Anyone who feels busy in their business but is not seeing the sales results they expected Those who have invested in a sales strategy or programme but are not consistently reviewing whether it is working Business owners who are generating some revenue but want to make the second half of the year significantly stronger Anyone who has been experimenting with different sales approaches and wondering why nothing is gaining traction Service providers who want to understand why their sales process is difficult to troubleshoot or improve Questions This Episode Answers What is the number one problem in B2B sales processes, even for people already making sales? Why does testing and experimenting with sales strategies cost more than buying a proven one? What does strategic thinking space mean in a sales context, and why does it matter? What are the three specific problems that arise when coaches and consultants skip strategic thinking in their sales process? Why does a lack of specificity in B2B sales make everything harder? How do I know whether my sales process is working or whether I am working around its gaps? What should I focus on in the second half of 2026 to have a stronger September and Q4? Key Takeaways 1. The Number One Problem Is Not the Market. It Is the Absence of a Proven Process. Jess opens this episode with a direct challenge to one of the most common narratives she hears from coaches and consultants in 2026: that the market is slow, budgets are frozen, and decision makers are not signing things off. Her clients are signing 40k, 60k, and six-figure retainers. People are charging over 3,000 pounds for a 45-minute corporate session. First-time corporate workshop sales are happening every week. The difference between those results and the experience of people who feel stuck is not the market. It is whether or not they are using and consistently implementing a proven sales process. If your sales are not producing the results you want, the answer is not to wait for the market to improve, jump to a new specialism or test a new strategy. It is to implement something that is already proven and implement it properly. 2. Experimenting With Your Own Sales Strategy Is More Expensive Than Buying a Proven One One of the patterns Jess challenges directly in this episode is the tendency among intelligent, cost-conscious business owners to build their own sales strategy using AI tools, borrowed frameworks, or pieced-together advice, rather than investing in something with a verified track record. When you test an unproven strategy, you have no baseline for what results to expect, no reliable metrics to monitor and no way to troubleshoot what is or is not working. That means that when it does not produce results, you cannot tell whether the strategy failed, whether you executed it incorrectly or whether you simply did not give it enough time or volume. The real cost of testing unproven strategies is not the time spent on the activity itself. It is the confidence lost when nothing works, the motivation that erodes and the months or quarters where no revenue is generated because the strategy was never set up to succeed in the first place. A proven strategy removes that uncertainty and gives you something concrete to follow, measure, and improve. 3. Strategic Thinking Space Is Not Procrastination. It Is a Sales Action. The central concept in this episode is what Jess calls strategic thinking space: the deliberate practice of pausing to assess, analyse, and plan before and during sales activity, rather than simply executing tasks and hoping they produce results. Strategic thinking space is not sitting still, overthinking decisions, or using reflection as a reason to avoid action. It is the opposite: it is taking calculated, informed action rather than reactive, rushed action. In sales, speed and volume matter, but they only produce results when they are applied to the right activities with the right foundations in place. 4. Three Specific Problems Arise When Strategic Thinking Space Is Missing Jess identifies three concrete ways that the absence of strategic thinking space damages a sales process: Problem One: Jumping Into Activity Without Laying the Foundations The most common version of this is outreach. A business owner decides to do email outreach, sends 10, 20, or 50 emails, receives little or no response, and concludes that email outreach does not work. What they skipped was the foundational thinking: who specifically to target, what messaging would resonate with that person commercially and how to position themselves as a credible and relevant resource worth speaking to. The task was completed. The foundations were not. Without the foundations, the activity produces poor results, the person loses confidence in the method, and they move on to the next thing, repeating the same pattern. Problem Two: Lack of Specificity Without thinking space, most coaches and consultants default to broad, generalised positioning: their services work for any organisation, at any level, in any industry. They are afraid to narrow down because it feels like ruling people out. In reality, the absence of specificity makes everything harder. Lead generation becomes unfocused. Sales calls lack the diagnostic depth that comes from specialised expertise. Proposals feel generic rather than tailored. And when a genuine specialist appears in the same shortlist, the generalist loses. Specificity is not a limitation on who you can help. It is what makes it possible to identify the right people, ask the right questions and create offers that convert because they speak directly to a defined problem in a defined context. Problem Three: Troubleshooting Becomes Impossible For those operating a proven sales process, strategic thinking space is what makes it possible to spot early warning signs that something needs adjusting, before the problem becomes a crisis. Without that thinking space, you remain in constant doing mode, unable to step back and assess whether the activity is producing the right indicators at the right volume. The risk is that you miss early signals that something is working exceptionally well and could be scaled, or that something is underperforming and needs to change. Both missed opportunities cost revenue. For those not yet on a proven process, troubleshooting is even harder because there are no established benchmarks to compare against. 5. Corporate Clients Want Specialists, Not Trend-Followers Jess addresses a temptation she sees frequently in the online business space: when sales slow down, pivot to something new. Launch a different course, rebrand to a different specialism, or chase whatever appears to be gaining traction in the market right now. She is clear about why this does not work for people selling to corporate clients. Organisations are not buying generalists or people who shift their positioning with market trends. They are buying specialists: people who have depth, consistency and a track record in a specific area. Changing specialism under pressure signals exactly the opposite of what corporate buyers are looking for. The answer to a difficult market is not a new direction. It is a more focused, better-executed version of the proven process you already have, or one you should be implementing. Key Quotes  "The market is not the problem. The people I work with are signing 40k, 60k, six-figure retainers right now. The difference is that they are using a proven system and following it properly." "Not allocating thinking space is a real problem in sales. Thinking strategically and allowing yourself that time and energy to do so is an action in sales." "In being valuable to everybody, your offer is valuable to absolutely no one. Strategic thinking space gives you the specificity that then lets you action every other part of your sales process effectively." If you've enjoyed listening to #1 problem in sales processes (even if you're generating revenue!) Check out these episodes. STC176: The Most Important Skill Professional Salespeople Have (and How You Can Use It!) https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/the-most-important-skill-professional-salespeople-have-and-how-you-can-use-it/ STC177: 3 Important Sales Actions to Complete Before Summer Starts https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/3-important-sales-actions-to-complete-before-summer-starts/ STC171: The Simple Sales Technique I Use to Sign Corporate Clients Every Month https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/the-simple-sales-technique-i-use-to-sign-corporate-clients-every-month/ Join the Selling To Corporate B2B Sales Edit: Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants; sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy -> balanced and profitable. https://sellingtocorporate.beehiiv.com/subscribe?utm_source=applepodcasts&utm_medium=podcast_shownotes&utm_campaign=stc-podcast-shownotes-2026 Cold -> Closed The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches / consultants / speakers / trainers and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ Episode Sponsored by The Expert Services Directory Access The Expert Services Directory here: https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month. Standard listings reach 1,000+ decision makers per month; Directory Plus listings reach 2,000+. Only 10 suppliers per category. Standard listing: 1,000+ decision makers per month Directory Plus listing: 2,000+ decision makers per month Application required, not all applications are accepted Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

If your B2B sales process relies on one enthusiastic contact inside an organisation to champion your work, you are one resignation away from losing everything you have built. In this episode of the Selling to Corporate® podcast, Jess Lorimer makes the case that single champion selling is not just risky and is a strategy that actively limits the size of deal you can close and the speed at which you can close it. Jess explains the concept of multiple internal champions: who they are, why they matter, and how building relationships with three to five key people inside each target organisation transforms your lead generation, protects your pipeline, and unlocks bigger, more premium deals. This episode is essential listening for any coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, or done-for-you service provider who is serious about building sustainable B2B revenue in the second half of 2026. Who This Episode Is For Coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers selling to corporate clients Anyone whose B2B sales process depends on a single point of contact inside each organisation Those who have experienced a deal stalling or collapsing because a key contact left, went quiet, or was unable to get internal sign-off Anyone looking to close larger deals, including retainers, licensed content, premium speaking fees, with corporate clients Service providers who want to understand why corporate decision making takes longer than expected, and how to fix it Questions This Episode Answers What is single champion selling and why is it holding back my B2B sales? What is a multiple internal champions strategy and how does it work? Why do corporate deals take so long to sign, and how do I speed up the process? What happens to my sales pipeline when my main contact leaves an organisation? How do I identify and build relationships with multiple decision makers inside the same company? Why are bigger deals harder to close with just one contact, and what should I do differently? How do proactive and passive lead generation work together to support multi-champion selling? Key Takeaways from STC179 1. Single Champion Selling Is a High-Risk Strategy Relying on one internal contact to champion your work inside an organisation is one of the most common and costly mistakes coaches and consultants make when selling to companies. Jess is direct: if that person leaves, takes sick leave, is ghosted by their colleagues, or simply lacks the internal influence to push a decision through, your entire sales process resets to zero. This is not a rare scenario. Decision makers change jobs regularly, take on new roles, or move on to organisations that feel like a better fit. The risk is not theoretical, it is a pattern Jess sees consistently in the businesses of the coaches and consultants she works with. The solution is not to find a better champion. It is to build multiple ones. 2. What a Multiple Internal Champions Strategy Actually Means Multiple internal champions is a term Jess has used since early episodes of the Selling to Corporate® podcast. It refers to the practice of building relationships with three to five people inside each target organisation, not just the primary decision maker. Importantly, not every internal champion needs to control a budget or hold formal authority over the purchasing decision. What they need is relevance: they should be people who would feel the commercial impact of your work, who sit adjacent to the decision making process, or who could provide useful context, internal support, or continuity if something goes wrong. Examples of how internal champions add value: If your main contact is unavailable, another champion can receive a follow-up or help chase a proposal If your main contact leaves, a champion can help you identify who has taken on their responsibilities For larger deals, champions can help build internal consensus before the final decision is made Different champions often have visibility over different budget pots, enabling shared budget conversations that support more premium pricing 3. The Bigger the Deal, the More Decision Makers Are Involved For deals under approximately £15,000, a single decision maker with their own allocated budget and a clear commercial case may be sufficient to sign off. Above that threshold, organisations almost always involve additional stakeholders before committing. Jess frames this plainly: if a company is spending £40,000 or $100,000 on an external supplier, it would be unusual for one person to carry that decision alone. In the same way that a business owner would consult a partner, a financial advisor, or a trusted peer before making a large investment, corporate decision makers sense-check significant spend with colleagues. If those colleagues do not know you, they will go and research alternatives. And if you are not visible when they do, you lose ground even when your proposal is strong. This connects directly to the importance of passive lead generation: if secondary decision makers search for your specialism on Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude and you do not appear, your primary champion is left doing a much harder internal sales job on your behalf. 4. Lead Generation Is the First Point of Quality Control in Your Sales Process A core principle Jess returns to in this episode is that lead generation is not just about volume, it is about qualifying correctly from the very first touchpoint. A qualified lead in the corporate space meets two specific criteria: The person is responsible for your area of specialism within the organisation The person has authority over the budget to pay you Anyone who does not meet both criteria is not a qualified lead. They may be useful to your sales process in other ways, but time spent in extended conversations with unqualified contacts is time not spent building relationships with the people who can actually say yes. Jess is clear that this distinction is not about being dismissive of relationships, it is about protecting the efficiency and effectiveness of a sales process that has to produce consistent results. Lead generation done well sets the quality of everything that follows: business development, proposals, and delivery. Weak or unqualified lead generation makes every subsequent stage harder. 5. Why Deals Appear to 'Take Ages' in the Corporate Space: and the Real Reason One of the most common complaints Jess hears from coaches and consultants new to B2B sales is that corporate deals take too long. Jess challenges this directly: in most cases, slow decision making is not a feature of corporate sales. It is a symptom of talking to the wrong people. When a service provider is speaking to someone too junior to understand the commercial relevance of what they offer, or to someone who lacks the internal influence to advance the decision, the process stalls. It is not the organisation being slow. It is the wrong entry point. The solution is not to wait longer or follow up more aggressively. It is to qualify more rigorously at the lead generation stage and to build relationships with multiple internal champions who can help navigate the real decision making process inside the organisation. 6. Both Proactive and Passive Lead Generation Are Now Essential Jess closes the episode with a clear directive for the second half of 2026: coaches and consultants need both proactive and passive lead generation working simultaneously. Neither alone is sufficient. Proactive lead generation, including cold email outreach, LinkedIn outreach, and other active methods, puts you directly in front of decision makers in a controlled, measurable way. Passive lead generation, such as being featured in curated directories and building AI search visibility, ensures that when secondary decision makers go looking for you independently, they can find you. The risk of relying solely on proactive outreach and a single champion is that when that champion tries to build internal support for your proposal, the other stakeholders who search for you find nothing. At that moment, your champion is carrying the entire weight of selling you in, with no external evidence to support their case. The Selling to Corporate® Five Step Framework The Selling to Corporate® Five Step Framework is the structured sales process Jess teaches to coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers: Step 1: Clarity: Deciding who you are selling to and what transformation you are selling them Step 2: Lead Generation: The process of identifying, targeting, and approaching qualified decision makers to generate sales calls Step 3: Business Development: Building, maintaining, and leveraging relationships so they convert to revenue Step 4: Offers and Proposals: Creating solutions that meet the client's need and articulating them in a way that closes the contract Step 5: Delivery and Resell: Delivering a great client experience and maximising revenue through upsell and resell In this episode, Jess focuses on the intersection of lead generation and business development, specifically how building multiple internal champions at the lead generation stage makes every subsequent step faster, stronger, and more resilient. Key Quotes  "If you don't have multiple internal champions at an organisation, you're going to find that sales processes stall, go back to zero, and are much more difficult to be picked up." "The bigger the deal, the more decision makers who are involved. If a company is spending £40,000 or $100,000 on something, do you honestly think they're going to have one person who just says, yeah, cool, I'll make that decision?" "Lead generation is the first point of quality control in your sales process. A qualified lead is a decision maker who is responsible for your area of specialism and has authority over the budget to pay you. Anyone else is not a decision maker."   Key Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Expert Services Directory: Get listed and improve your AI search visibility with corporate buyers. Apply at expertservicesdirectory.com Amplify with AI workshop: A paid, interactive virtual masterclass on Friday 17th July showing coaches, consultants, speakers, and trainers exactly how to leverage generative engine optimization and AI-assisted lead generation in your B2B sales process. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/amplify-ai/ Join the B2B Sales Edit https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%EMAIL% If you've enjoyed listening to Single champion selling is dead; replacing enthusiasm with strategic sales! Check out these episodes.   STC178: Why Corporate Buyers Can't Find You (Even When They're Looking) https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/stc178-why-corporate-buyers-cant-find-you-even-when-theyre-looking/ STC175: Two Types of B2B Lead Generation That Coaches + Consultants Need to Use! https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/two-types-of-b2b-lead-generation-that-coaches-consultants-need-to-use/ STC173: B2B Sales Trends for Q2: Which One Are You Actioning? https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/b2b-sales-trends-for-q2-which-one-are-you-actioning/   Episode sponsored by The Expert Services Directory: A key resource for coaches / consultants / trainers and done-for-you service providers to generate inbound leads. Access The Expert Services Directory here https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory and use code PODCAST for a special bonus.       Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

In this episode of Selling to Corporate, Jess Lorimer explains why 66% of corporate decision makers are now using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot to research and shortlist external suppliers before they visit a single website. If you are a coach, consultant, speaker, trainer, or done-for-you service provider selling to corporate clients, this episode covers what that shift means for your lead generation strategy and what you need to do right now to stay visible. Who this episode is for Coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers who sell services to corporate clients Anyone who has a strong reputation and great client results but is not generating consistent inbound enquiries Business owners who want to understand how AI search is changing the B2B buying process Those who rely heavily on referrals or proactive outreach and want to add a passive visibility layer to their lead generation Anyone preparing for a strong September who wants to be findable by active corporate buyers before the summer ends How are corporate buyers using AI to find coaches, consultants, and trainers? The way corporate buyers source external suppliers has changed significantly over the last 12 to 18 months. Traditionally, a decision maker would ask for internal referrals, then send a junior employee to Google to find and benchmark potential suppliers. That process has shifted. Corporate buyers are now going directly to AI tools and typing conversational queries such as "find me a leadership coach who works with financial services firms" rather than searching for short keywords. The AI platform does not return a list of website links to browse. It returns a shortlist of three to five named suppliers it considers relevant, credible, and well-documented. If you are not being indexed, cited, and recommended by AI, you are not part of that shortlist. You do not exist to that buyer, regardless of how good your website is or how often you post on LinkedIn. What is passive visibility and why does it matter for B2B coaches and consultants? Passive visibility is the ability to be found by corporate decision makers who are actively searching for what you offer, without you having to actively reach out to them at that moment. With the rise of AI-powered search, passive visibility has taken on new importance. When a buyer asks ChatGPT or Perplexity to recommend a consultant, coach, or trainer in your specialism, AI platforms surface experts based on structured, credible information it can find and verify about you across the web. This is different from passive income. Passive visibility means building the conditions so that when corporate buyers are actively looking, your name comes up, even while you sleep. What is generative engine optimization (GEO) and how does it help you sell to corporate? Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the practice of structuring and distributing your content and professional information so that AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google Gemini can index, cite, and recommend you. It is different from traditional SEO (search engine optimization), which focuses on ranking on Google's results pages. GEO focuses on appearing in the AI-generated answers that corporate buyers are now receiving when they search for external suppliers. In practice, GEO involves creating structured, expert-led content that directly answers the questions your ideal corporate buyers are asking. It involves building a consistent presence across high-quality, curated platforms that AI tools trust and crawl regularly. One example of this is being listed in a specialist directory like the Expert Services Directory, where AI is actively crawling listings every day and surfacing relevant specialists to corporate buyers. Why isn't my website getting me found by corporate decision makers? Having a well-designed website is no longer enough to guarantee visibility with corporate buyers. Traditional search engine optimization was built for Google, and Google returns website links. AI-powered search platforms work differently. They synthesize information from multiple trusted sources and return a curated answer. If you are only relying on your website and social media posting to generate inbound enquiries from corporate clients, you are optimizing for a search behaviour that corporate buyers are increasingly moving away from. The coaches and consultants getting shortlisted by AI are those who have consistent, structured information across multiple authoritative sources. Your website is one piece of that picture. It is not the whole picture. Should coaches and consultants stop doing proactive outreach now that AI search exists? No. And in this episode, Jess is very clear about this. Proactive outreach remains the most predictable, measurable, and scalable way to identify and approach corporate decision makers. AI search and passive visibility are not a replacement for proactive lead generation. They are a complement to it. Proactive outreach gives you control over your pipeline. Passive visibility through AI search gives you additional inbound opportunities from buyers who are already actively looking to buy. The most effective B2B sales strategy for coaches and consultants in 2026 uses both together. How do I use AI in my B2B sales process without outsourcing my strategy? Jess is known for her strong views on AI usage in sales, and she addresses them directly in this episode. The issue is not AI itself. The issue is outsourcing your critical thinking, your creative strategy, and your outreach messaging to AI tools that are only as good as the generic, often poor-quality sales content that exists on the internet. Your methodology, your intellectual property, and your client relationships are not things AI can replicate. What AI can support is the manual, administrative, and research-heavy parts of your lead generation process. That includes improving your passive visibility so you are being found by active buyers, and targeting better qualified cold corporate contacts more efficiently. These are very specific, intentional uses. They are not a shortcut to replacing a proven B2B sales process. What is the Expert Services Directory and how does it help coaches get found by corporate buyers? The Expert Services Directory is a curated directory of specialist coaches, consultants, speakers, trainers, and done-for-you service providers who work with corporate organisations. It is limited to 10 specialists per category per location, which means it is a high-quality, structured resource that AI tools actively crawl and trust. Being listed in the Expert Services Directory means you are part of a curated platform that AI is already indexing and citing when corporate buyers search for external specialists in your area. This is one of the most straightforward ways to improve your passive visibility and start showing up in AI-generated shortlists for active corporate buyers. You can apply at expertservicesdirectory.com.   Key Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Expert Services Directory: Get listed and improve your AI search visibility with corporate buyers. Apply at expertservicesdirectory.com Amplify with AI workshop: A paid, interactive virtual masterclass on Friday 17th July showing coaches, consultants, speakers, and trainers exactly how to leverage generative engine optimization and AI-assisted lead generation in your B2B sales process. Use code PODCAST for a discount (valid until Monday). https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/amplify-ai/ Join the B2B Sales Edit https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%EMAIL% If you've enjoyed listening to Why Corporate Buyers Can't Find You (Even When They're Looking) check out these episodes.   STC175 - Two types of B2B lead generation that coaches + consultants need to use! https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/two-types-of-b2b-lead-generation-that-coaches-consultants-need-to-use/ STC173 - B2B sales trends for Q2: Which one are you actioning? https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/b2b-sales-trends-for-q2-which-one-are-you-actioning/ STC158 - Sharing insights: 2025 B2B sales trends for the second half of the year https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/sharing-insights-2025-b2b-sales-trends-for-the-second-half-of-the-year/ Episode sponsored by The Expert Services Directory: A key resource for coaches / consultants / trainers and done-for-you service providers to generate inbound leads.  About Selling to Corporate Selling to Corporate is the podcast for coaches, consultants, speakers, trainers, and done-for-you service providers who want to build a predictable, profitable pipeline of corporate clients. Hosted by Jess Lorimer, founder of Selling to Corporate® and the Expert Services Directory, the show covers B2B sales strategy, corporate lead generation, and how genuine experts can win consistent high-value contracts with corporate organisations in the UK and beyond. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one. Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

What this episode is about Summer is closer than you think, and if you want a spectacular September and a strong Q4, the work starts now. In this episode of the Selling to Corporate® podcast, Jess Lorimer shares the three essential sales actions that every coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, and done-for-you service provider needs to complete before UK decision makers head off on their summer holidays.  Whether you are hoping to book sales calls before mid-July or planning ahead for a September pipeline, Jess gives you the clear, practical framework to get it done, without the chaos and catch-up that so many entrepreneurs experience every autumn. Who this episode is for Coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers selling services to corporate clients Anyone who wants to take time off over summer without coming back to an empty pipeline Business owners who have been putting off reviewing their revenue and sales activity Anyone who regularly finds themselves scrambling in September, wondering why Q4 never gets off to a strong start Those relying on referrals or inbound leads and wondering whether that will hold in the second half of the year Questions this episode answers What should I do before summer to make sure I have a strong September? How do I know whether my current outreach strategy is actually working? What does a revenue recap involve, and how do I use it to plan my sales activity? How should I analyse my half year sales process, and which activities should I be reviewing? When is it too late to book corporate sales calls before the summer break? What is proven outreach, and why does experimenting with outreach in June and July carry real risk? Key takeaways         Start your proven outreach now: the summer window is closing fast The episode is released on 12 June, and the viable window for booking corporate sales calls before the summer slowdown closes around 21 to 22 July which gives you roughly five to six weeks. In the UK, decision makers are largely unavailable from mid-July through to the end of August, which means that if you want sales calls booked for that window, your outreach needs to land now and produce responses within four weeks.    Jess is clear that this is not the time to experiment with new or unproven outreach approaches. Proven outreach, for the purposes of this episode, means targeted, specific outreach with clear, measurable metrics that has an established track record of results. If what you have been using has not been booking five or more qualified sales calls per month, it is not yet proven, and it needs changing before you invest more time in it.    If you are happy to be booking calls into September rather than July, you still need to start now so that responses arrive in time to set up your September calendar before Q4 begins. Do your revenue recap: know exactly where you stand before you head into       summer A revenue recap means sitting down, reviewing your numbers objectively, and answering three questions:    How much revenue have you made this year? What was your original target?  What revenue is still confirmed or expected to arrive?    Using this client example, a solo higher education consultant who had reached 78% of their annual revenue target by May.   That number gave them genuine options:  Stretch the target Relax their sales activity over summer Use the headspace to plan a stronger Q4, depending on what their pipeline looked like.    The revenue recap is not a stick to beat yourself with. It is a planning tool. Looking at both invoiced revenue and pipeline revenue together tells you whether you can afford to ease off, whether you need to intensify your outreach, or whether you need to focus on closing existing proposals before the summer. If your pipeline is slim, go back to the outreach piece and act now.         Analyse your half year sales process: find out which specific activities to improve The half year sales process analysis is the most granular of the three actions, and it is the one most likely to show you where you can win more contracts without doing more work.    Rather than simply asking whether you made the revenue you wanted, Jess recommends drilling into the individual activities that make up your sales process.    Has your lead generation been producing five or more qualified sales calls per month, with decision makers who have access to budget and are relevant to your specialism?  If not, that is the activity to address.  Have your sales calls been converting into proposals and revenue at a rate of 50% or higher?  If not, the issue may lie in call structure, the questions being asked, or the calibre of the people on those calls.  Have you been relying heavily on referrals or warm inbound leads in the first half of the year?  If so, how confident are you that those sources will continue to perform at the same level in the second half?    Asking these specific questions, rather than looking only at the revenue total, shows you precisely where to direct your time and energy before summer, rather than working harder on the wrong things.   Key quotes "Now is not the time for more experiments. Now is the time to do proven outreach." "It takes 90 days to see a cold contact convert into a corporate client. If you are not running a proven process, it might take you longer. So you cannot afford to miss these opportunities to control the variables." "This is not just looking at your numbers and going, oh gosh, I have got to beat myself up about this. It is also looking at what pipeline you have built and what is still to come." Resources + links Join the Selling To Corporate® B2B Sales Edit.  A weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants sharing the real B2B sales techniques to build a balanced, profitable business. https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%EMAIL% The Expert Services Directory  A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month. Standard listings reach 1,000+ decision makers per month; Directory Plus listings reach 2,000+. Only 10 suppliers per specialist category. Use code PODCAST for a special bonus. https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory Cold to Closed  The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches, consultants, speakers, trainers and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ If you've enjoyed listening to xxx then check out the following episodes. STC133 - Why your B2B revenue is stalling this summer (and what to do about it!) https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/why-your-b2b-revenue-is-stalling-this-summer-and-what-to-do-about-it/ STC154 - How to make the next 6 months of your sales strategy EPIC https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/how-to-make-the-next-6-months-of-your-sales-strategy-epic/ STC158 - Sharing insights: 2025 B2B sales trends for the second half of the year https://sellingtocorporate.com/podcast/sharing-insights-2025-b2b-sales-trends-for-the-second-half-of-the-year/ Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

What This Episode Is About You've invested in a sales strategy. You've done the training. So why aren't you getting the results you expected? In this episode of the Selling to Corporate® podcast, Jess Lorimer reveals the single most important skill that professional salespeople use to create consistent, replicable results - and it's almost certainly not what you'd expect. Jess makes the case that the gap between coaches, consultants and professional salespeople isn't intelligence, experience or even strategy. It's one surprisingly simple skill that most business owners overlook, underestimate or quietly choose to ignore. This episode explains exactly what it is, why it matters more than any tactic or technique and what happens to your sales process when you don't use it. Who This Episode Is For Coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers, and done-for-you service providers selling to corporate clients Anyone who has invested in a sales strategy or programme and felt it 'didn't work' Business owners who find themselves constantly tweaking, adjusting, or second-guessing their sales process Those who are great at selling one offer or to one type of client, but struggle to replicate that success elsewhere Anyone who suspects their sales process isn't producing consistent results but isn't sure why Questions This Episode Answers What is the most important skill in B2B sales? Why does a sales strategy that worked stop working over time? How do professional salespeople create replicable results across different industries and offers? What's the difference between buying a sales strategy and actually executing one? Why does tweaking a sales process - even slightly - make results impossible to measure or replicate? Key Takeaways  1. The Most Important Sales Skill Is Following Instructions The single most important skill professional salespeople possess is the ability to follow instructions precisely and consistently. Not prospecting. Not objection handling. Not closing. Following instructions. Jess is direct: in her experience working with thousands of professional salespeople and thousands of coaches, consultants, speakers, trainers, and done-for-you service providers, the difference in results almost always comes down to this. Professional salespeople follow a proven process exactly as written. Most coaches and consultants - however intelligent and however well-intentioned - don't. This isn't a criticism of intelligence. In fact, Jess argues that high intelligence can be a liability here. Smart people are more likely to spot what feels 'wrong' about a set of instructions, more likely to rationalise a small adjustment and more likely to believe their version of the process is 'good enough'. It usually isn't. 2. Any Proven Strategy Has the Ability to Work - If It's Executed Properly Jess teaches seven different methods of B2B lead generation. She has clients who generate all of their corporate revenue from cold email outreach. She has clients who generate all of their revenue from networking alone - a method she personally dislikes. The method is not the determining factor. Execution is. The two reasons a sales strategy fails are almost always the same: The strategy being used is not proven. It was built in an AI tool, borrowed from a B2C context or sold by someone without hands-on B2B sales experience. The strategy is proven but it is not being followed correctly. Steps are skipped, wording is changed, volume is reduced or the process is quietly adjusted whenever something feels uncomfortable. If your sales process is not producing results, the first question to ask is not 'what strategy should I try next?' It is 'am I executing my current proven strategy exactly as intended?'   3. Small Changes to a Sales Process Create Big Problems One of the most common patterns Jess sees with experienced clients is a gradual drift away from the original process. It rarely starts as a conscious decision to change strategy. More often it starts with a lost deal, a knock to confidence, and a small adjustment made under pressure to 'save' the next opportunity. That one small change leads to another. The language shifts. The attachment changes. The objection handling softens. The reassurance given increases. None of it feels significant in the moment. But cumulatively, the process becomes unrecognisable - and critically, it becomes impossible to measure, troubleshoot or improve. Standardisation is not a constraint on creativity. It is what makes it possible to know whether your sales process is working, identify where it is breaking down, and fix the right thing. When every part of the process is slightly different, there is nothing consistent to evaluate. 4. Sales Should Be Boring - Creativity Comes in the Conversation Jess uses the analogy of Picasso: before he painted eyes on the sides of heads, he spent years learning the rules of perspective, line and composition. The creative leaps came after the foundations were mastered, not instead of them. The same principle applies to B2B sales. Your lead generation process, your outreach approach, your proposal structure, your pricing framework - these should be repeatable, measurable and consistent. They should feel a little boring, because boring is what makes them scalable. The creativity, the consultative problem-solving, the bespoke solution-building - all of that happens in the sales conversation itself, and in the delivery of the work. That's where you get to be brilliant and distinctive. Your process is what gets you to that conversation in the first place. 5. Following Instructions Builds the Confidence That Creativity Cannot When a sales process is followed precisely, it produces predictable metrics. Those metrics tell you what is working and what is not - early enough to make useful adjustments rather than emergency ones. That predictability is what gives professional salespeople confidence, even in difficult markets. When a process is modified and the results decline, the person executing it has no way of knowing which change caused the problem. That uncertainty erodes confidence and often leads to further changes, making the situation worse. Following instructions is therefore not just a technical requirement - it is the foundation of sustained confidence in your own sales ability. 6. Replicatable Success Requires Transferable Process, Not Transferable Luck Jess draws on her own sales career across jewellery, recruitment, tech, and sales training - including becoming the top diamond salesperson in her region at 16, and a top performer within her first year at a company operating across 30 countries - to make a specific point: success that can be replicated across industries, offers, and client types is built on process, not personality. If you are excellent at selling one particular offer but cannot replicate that success with other offers or other types of decision maker, it is a signal that your results are not yet built on a transferable process. They are built on familiarity, repetition or relationship - which are not scalable. A proven, correctly executed process is what creates results that transfer. Key Quotes "The most important skill professional salespeople have in their arsenal is following instructions." "Literally any proven strategy has the ability to work if it's being done properly. The problem is that most people aren't using proven strategies - or they're not following the instructions for the ones they have." "Your sales process shouldn't be where you feel creatively satiated. It should be where you are able to replicate a clear process and be given consistent metrics so you know what is working and what isn't." Resources + Links Mentioned in This Episode Cold -> Closed The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches / consultants / speakers / trainers and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ Join the B2B Sales Edit: Busyness to Business Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants; sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy -> balanced and profitable. https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%EMAIL% Episode Sponsored by The Expert Services Directory Access The Expert Services Directory here and use code PODCAST for a special bonus. https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month. Standard listings reach 1,000+ decision makers per month; Directory Plus listings reach 2,000+. Only 10 suppliers per category. Standard listing: 1,000+ decision makers per month Directory Plus listing: 2,000+ decision makers per month Application required — not all applications are accepted If You've Enjoyed Listening to The Most Important Skill Professional Salespeople Have, Check Out These Episodes STC159 - Mindset Wobbles That Stop Your B2B Sales Progress (and How to Fix Them!) https://bit.ly/SellingToCorporate159 STC162 - 3 Things That Will Help You Maximise Any Sales Training You're Embarking On https://bit.ly/SellingToCorporate162 STC171 - The Simple Sales Technique I Use to Sign Corporate Clients Every Month https://bit.ly/SellingToCorporate171   Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.  

What this episode is about If you've been relying on warm referrals and introductions to bring in corporate clients, this episode is your wake-up call. Sales strategist Jess Lorimer breaks down the two distinct types of B2B lead generation that every coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, and done-for-you service provider needs to understand - and crucially, which one to prioritise depending on where you are in your business right now. With the summer window for reaching corporate decision makers closing fast, Jess explains why now is the time to audit your lead generation approach and plug the gaps before September. Who this episode is for A coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, or done-for-you service provider selling services to corporate clients Currently relying on warm referrals or introductions to generate B2B sales leads Experiencing the feast-and-famine cycle in your business - busy with delivery, then suddenly with nothing in your pipeline Unsure whether your lead generation is failing, or whether the problem lies elsewhere in your sales process Planning your B2B sales strategy for Q3 and Q4 2026 Questions this episode answers What is B2B lead generation and how is it different from just 'doing outreach'? Why isn't my lead generation converting into sales? What's the difference between active lead generation and passive visibility? When should I use active lead generation vs passive lead generation in my business? How do I stop the feast-and-famine cycle in my B2B sales pipeline? How are corporate decision makers searching for external suppliers in 2026? Key takeaways  1. Lead Generation has one job - and it's not to close sales One of the most common mistakes coaches and consultants make is judging their lead generation by whether it produced a sale. Jess is clear: the job of lead generation is to book qualified sales calls, not to close contracts. When you blend the two, you end up blaming your lead generation for problems that might actually live elsewhere in your sales process - such as your offer, your pricing, or your proposal. 2. Active lead generation: The strategy you control Active lead generation is any lead generation strategy that works while you are implementing it, and stops when you stop. Examples include: Cold email outreach LinkedIn outreach Any proactive, volume-driven outreach to decision makers Active lead generation is entirely within your control. You set the metrics, monitor the results, and can troubleshoot what's working. This makes it the right approach when you are not yet fully booked with corporate clients - because you have the time, energy, and capacity to execute it consistently. The risk: if you become too busy with delivery to keep it running, it stops. Which is exactly when many coaches and consultants find themselves with an empty pipeline.   3. Passive visibility: Lead generation that works without you Passive visibility is Jess's term for lead generation strategies that build brand awareness, visibility, and inbound leads over time - without requiring you to execute them week in, week out. Examples include: Speaking on internal company podcasts Being featured in a curated directory with proactive marketing (such as the Expert Services Directory) Activities that help you rank in AI search tools (GEO - Generative Engine Optimisation) and Google Presenting at awards events or industry panels Passive visibility strategies are compounding: they build over time. They are not designed to produce a sales call every single week, but they ensure that when a corporate decision maker goes looking for an external supplier, you show up. In 2026, decision makers are actively searching for external suppliers online. If you are not visible in those searches, you are invisible to them. The risk: passive visibility alone is not enough if you have no clients yet. You need to understand your messaging and what works before you can hand it off or systematise it.   4. You need both - at different stages of your business Active lead generation and passive visibility are not either/or. They serve different purposes at different stages: Not yet fully booked with clients? Prioritise active lead generation. Use the time and capacity you have now to fill your pipeline before it's too late. About to be fully booked or in a heavy delivery period? Start building your passive visibility now so your brand continues to generate leads while you're delivering. Relying only on warm referrals? You are not in control of your lead generation - and your business is more vulnerable than it looks. 5. The summer window is closing If you are based in the UK, you have roughly until the second week of July before corporate decision makers become significantly harder to reach. For those in Central Europe or the US, that window closes around mid-June. If you do not have a pipeline of qualified leads generating sales calls now, you need to act before that window shuts. Key Quotes "The job of lead generation is to book qualified sales calls, not to make sales." "Decision makers are searching actively for external suppliers. If you're not doing anything on that passive visibility front, you're not going to show up in search." "Active lead generation is completely within your control. And there are times in your business when you have the time and energy to be able to implement it - use them." Resources + Links Mentioned in This Episode Join the B2B Sales Edit: Busyness to Business Weekly newsletter for coaches and consultants; sharing the real B2B sales techniques that have taken over 30,000 sales processes from busy -> balanced and profitable. https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/988ac64b-5875-4924-9d10-50faad2aa4ad?email=%EMAIL% Episode sponsored by The Expert Services Directory: Access The Expert Services Directory here https://bit.ly/ExpertServicesDirectory and use code PODCAST for a special bonus. A curated directory that proactively markets your services to corporate decision makers every month. Standard listings reach 1,000+ decision makers per month; Directory Plus listings reach 2,000+. Only 10 suppliers per category. Standard listing: 1,000+ decision makers per month Directory Plus listing: 2,000+ decision makers per month Application required - not all applications are accepted Cold -> Closed The self-paced B2B sales experience for coaches / consultants/ speakers / trainers and done-for-you service providers who want scalable, sustainable sales from brand new corporate clients in 90 days or less. https://smartleaderssell.thrivecart.com/-cold-to-closed-product/ If you've enjoyed listening to Two types of B2B lead generation that coaches + consultants need to use, check out these episodes. STC173 - B2B Sales Trends for Q2: Which One Are You Actioning? https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/40894390 STC169 - Why 'Normal' Communication Is Stopping You Feeling Confident with Sales Communication https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/40172105 STC167 - Are You Speaking to Decision Makers or Influencers (and Why It Matters) https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/39846375 Content Disclaimer The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.