What the research actually says.
Selling is drowning in statistics that nobody can source. Everything here is traced back to a primary study, and where a famous number turns out to be folklore, we say so.
Knowing the method is not running it
Your reps can pass the quiz on every technique you have ever taught them. Then, at minute nine of a hard call, they do the opposite. That gap — not ignorance — is where deals are actually lost.
Rafi AttiasThe discount that kills the deal
When a deal stalls, the fastest tool on the shelf is a discount. It is also the one most likely to confirm the buyer's fear, reward their hesitation, and give away the strongest number you had.
Yossef ZilberbergStop handling objections
The entire objection-handling industry is built on a verb that gives the game away. You do not "overcome" a person's concern. When you try, the evidence says they hold onto it harder.
Rafi AttiasIt takes five follow-ups. Says who?
Eighty percent of sales need five follow-ups, but forty-four percent of reps give up after one." It is the most-quoted number in prospecting. We went looking for the study, and found the same empty trail as always.
Yossef ZilberbergThe myth of the born closer
Every sales floor is built on the belief that the loudest, most charismatic person in the room will sell the most. The evidence has tested that belief for thirty years, and it does not hold.
Rafi AttiasThe 87% that never existed
Every sales-training company on earth will tell you reps forget 87% of what they learn within a month. We went looking for the study. There isn't one.
Rafi AttiasHow much should a seller actually talk?
The famous numbers on talk ratio and question counts are softer than they look — and the strongest evidence points somewhere the sales industry rarely bothers to look.
Rafi AttiasYour real competitor is nobody
Most of the deals your team loses are not lost to a rival. They are lost to a buyer who could not decide — and to a rep who made that worse by trying harder.
Yossef Zilberberg