How to sell when nobody knows you
attack the 800 lb. gorilla
Read Time = 3 minutes
I've been struggling to frame up our product in prospect convos.
Selling a new offer. in a new category. to a new audience.
So at an event this week, I used an analogy:
me: "what's your favorite fast food restaurant?"
him: McDonald's
me: Imagine this… IT services = burger, security = fries
Every managed services shop offers those. We're the MCafé -
A high margin differentiated offer for your clients.
He smiled and walked over to his friend...
Then retold 'what we do' word for word.
The Briefing
Stories you should know
Accenture is tracking weekly AI tool logins for senior staff. If you're not using AI regularly, you're not getting promoted to leadership.
My take: If you're in consulting and not using AI to draft decks, clean data, and prep for client calls — you're working harder than you need to. Accenture is just the first company to say it out loud.
The average worker sits in twice as many meetings per year since RTO mandates spread. A quarter of all meeting time lands during peak deep work hours.
My take: Nobody canceled the Zoom meetings for remote team members when they came back to the office. They just added in-person ones on top. That's how meetings double without output changing.
Golf Digest dropped their biennial ranking of America's best public courses. Pebble Beach held the top spot. See which courses are near you.
My take: I’ve checked off 7 of the top 100. The goal this year is three more and a Scotland trip. If there's one course on this list you need to play, it’s Pasatiempo. A true gem.
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How to Sell When Nobody Knows You
I've spent my entire career doing outbound for companies most of you have probably never heard of when I joined. Here's what I’ve learned…
Talk to your customers before you talk to prospects.
Most early-stage teams build positioning in a conference room and wonder why nobody responds. We talked about The Interview Method last week — or you can just sit down with customers and ask them why they bought (CEO to CEO works well here). What were they Googling before they found you. What they almost bought instead. What words they use to describe the problem. Then convert that into your sales messaging.
Punch up. Name the giant.
Rillet is a three-year-old accounting startup going directly at NetSuite — a product Oracle has owned for years. Their website has an entire page that says: "NetSuite was built over 20 years ago. Why work with a legacy system?" Attacking the 800-pound gorilla that happens to be the status quo is controversial. That's why it works. Punch up to your competition — they're the old way. You're the new way.
Build presence while you start outbound.
A founder I know posts original content on LinkedIn 2-3 times a week. Then he runs an AI workflow that scrapes everyone who engages with the posts, filters them against his ICP, pulls context from their LinkedIn profile, drafts a personalized message, and drops it into his inbox for approval before it sends. Sounds complicated, but the hardest parts are actually creating the content and sticking to it long enough to see the returns — at least 6 months.
Use the pricing frame.
Whether you're the expensive option or the cheap one, the play is about risk. Selling premium? Shift focus to what the prospect loses without your differentiator. Selling cheaper (which most of you are) shift their focus to what they're overpaying for. "You're paying for 200 features. Your team uses 11. Why?" Kyle Asay has a great visual breakdown on this (below). The core idea: stop selling features. Start selling the risk of choosing wrong.
For the reps — one thing you can control.
The one thing you control when nobody knows your company? Understanding exactly what makes you different. You're either cheaper or you're better at something specific. Pick one and own it. HubSpot didn't try to out-enterprise Salesforce. They went after SMBs, gave away the CRM for free, and built a fanbase with the companies Salesforce ignored. Find the gap your biggest competitor leaves open and build your entire outbound around it. Make it the first thing a prospect hears.
Sales Tip of the Week
How to win back a churned customer.
The Best Thing I Heard This Week
I'll be honest, I'm not a Savannah Bananas guy. It's fun and great for kids, but it's not for me. Maybe I’m a purist when it comes to sports (don’t get me started on Topgolf).
That said, I respect the hell out of Jesse Cole. The guy started with 200 fans and $260 in the bank. He and his wife sold their house to keep the dream alive. Now there's a waitlist of over a million people to watch “Banana ball”.
This conversation covers everything from how to build an audience to how to building a morning routine. Throw it on in the background during work today or your commute.
Until next week,
TG
P.S. I reply to all emails.