Hello security and alarm professionals,
Sales teams are trained to pitch products, run demos, and recite features, but the skill that actually determines whether a deal closes is rarely taught.
What is it?
The ability to ask the right questions, listen without rushing to pitch, and lead a real discovery instead of a rehearsed presentation.
In today’s issue:
Qualification Beats Hustle Every Time
Discovery Closes Deals
Is a Financial Cleanup in Store?
Sales and growth can look healthy on the surface while the numbers underneath tell a very different story. Cash-basis accounting, sloppy job costing, and half-built systems create a version of the business that feels profitable, right up until someone actually audits it.
In the latest episode of Entry & Exit, I break down what it really takes to clean up your books for scale, senior debt, or an exit…and why “accrual-ish” accounting quietly kills deals before they ever close.
Check it all out here 👇.
Qualification > Hustle
Sales teams spend a huge amount of time running demos, building proposals, and chasing follow-ups. Without clear qualification around budget, authority, and timing, that activity creates motion but not progress, and pipelines fill up with deals that never close.
High-performing teams get specific early. They use anchor pricing to surface real budgets, confirm who actually approves the spend, and identify a compelling reason the buyer needs to act now.
When those answers are missing, it usually means the opportunity is not ready, not that the salesperson needs to try harder.
The shift is to qualify before you sell. Train reps to ask for commitment before doing proposal work, to walk away from deals without a decision window, and to judge performance by close rate instead of activity.
A smaller pipeline with real intent produces better results than a crowded one built on optimism.
Discovery Closes Deals
The overview: Product pitching feels productive, but discovery is what closes deals.
Sales teams are taught to demo features, explain benefits, and sound confident. They memorize scripts, run the same presentation, and assume better product knowledge will move deals forward.
That works. Until it doesn’t.
When conversations feel rehearsed, buyers disengage, objections surface late, and pricing suddenly becomes the problem. Not because the product is wrong, but because the salesperson never uncovered how the buyer actually thinks, decides, or buys.
Deals are won by understanding the customer’s reality, not by explaining yours (and with the help of a defined system).
The ability to ask strong questions, listen without rushing to pitch, and guide discovery is what separates real opportunities from polite conversations.
And that skill has to be trained deliberately.
The details: The issue is not effort. It is discovery discipline.
Many sales reps confuse activity with progress. Demos get run. Proposals get built. Follow-ups get sent. None of that matters if budget, authority, and timing were never clarified.
Strong discovery creates leverage across the entire deal:
Clear budget alignment using anchor pricing, not guesswork.
Confirmed authority so decisions do not stall at the end.
A real compelling event that explains why the deal needs to happen now.
Questions that surface pain instead of triggering early pitching.
Listening that allows buyers to explain their world before solutions appear.
The rep with the most information about the customer usually wins. Not because they talk more, but because they asked better questions and waited for real answers.
Weak discovery forces selling harder later. Strong discovery makes closing feel inevitable.
What comes next:
Train discovery as a core skill, not a soft trait. Question quality matters more than product fluency.
Force clarity early: budget range, decision-maker, and decision timeline should be known before proposals are built.
Use anchor pricing to prompt real reactions instead of vague budget conversations.
Disqualify faster: no compelling event, no urgency, no commitment means no deal.
Role play uncomfortable conversations in-house so reps are ready in the field.
Measure close rate on qualified opportunities, not total pipeline size.
Reward listening, not pitching.
Why it matters: Untrained discovery creates fragile pipelines.
When sales teams avoid hard questions, deals drag, forecasts miss, and close rates stay low. Time gets burned on opportunities that were never real, while strong deals get crowded out.
Teams that master discovery spend less time selling and close more of what they touch. They walk away earlier, price with confidence, and lead buyers through decisions instead of chasing them.
Teach it early, practice it often, and everything downstream gets easier.
Strong sales outcomes come from disciplined discovery that creates clarity and commitment long before a proposal is sent.
Disclosure: Some of the content and links in this newsletter are sponsored or affiliate links, which means we may receive payment or earn a commission if you click through or purchase. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.
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