Title: 6 Mistakes That Quietly Sabotage Founder-Led Sales

Read Time: 2.5 min

Today, I will discuss the most common mistakes I hear founders make on sales calls and how to correct them immediately.

On average, my team and I listen to about two dozen calls per week, with about 97% from founders. Over time, I’ve noticed the same patterns repeatedly sabotaging deals and diminishing a founder’s authority. Understand that prospects constantly evaluate you, assessing how you present yourself through your language, tone, confidence, and competence. Everything you say and how you say it signals your strength or exposes weakness. To close deals consistently, you must project authority and eliminate behaviors undermining your position.

The issue we work through with our founders is to identify what they’re doing wrong because they don’t know what they don’t know. The first thing we do when they come onboard is review their call recordings. And, without fail, the same patterns show up in every call. But once we highlight their specific mistakes, everything shifts; almost immediately, their calls start going differently.

The patterns that undermine you are often the ones you’re least aware of, but once exposed, they lose their power over you.

~ Jordan Peterson

Let’s look at six of the most common mistakes I hear.

1. Leading the witness.

2. Being way too agreeable.

3. Selling a product rather than solving a problem.

4. Asking rhetorical rather than open-ended questions

5. Doing Bio’s at the beginning of discovery/demo calls.

Leading The Witness
Leading the witness is giving them the answer before asking the question.

An example would be, "So what are you doing to generate business at the TOFU? Are you doing things like LI and cold outreach?" This is leading the witness. You’re giving them the answer. Don't do this. Ask a question directly, and stop talking. Don’t add commas. An example would be — “What are you doing now to generate TOFU?”

Being Too Agreeable

Saying things like: “aha, ok, yeah, right, I see”, etc.

You're trying to be agreeable, but in fact, you're conveying to the prospect, "Hurry Up And Stop Talking Because I Want To Share," and it's disruptive. Instead, don't say a word or make any gestures. Just listen. Everything you’re trying to convey to the prospect will come naturally if you are quiet while they’re talking, listen, and ask great follow-up questions.

Asking Rhetorical Rather Than Open-Ended Questions
Don't ask questions with yes or no responses. You're trying to extract info to understand. Don’t make it easy for them not to provide context.

Instead, begin questions with, “Help me understand..., Can you walk me through..., What has been your... How do you currently…”

Selling a Product, Rather Than Solving a Problem.
Throwing s**t against the wall and seeing what sticks is not selling. Asking well-crafted questions and unpacking their responses is the path to solving. Don't sell - solve.

The key to successful selling is first identifying the source of pain/frustration. This is done through asking questions and listening (i.e., discovery) Then, you can show them a path out of that pain (i.e., a demo.) If you try to sell them on your product as the right solution without first understanding their pain, it becomes tough to close deals.

Interrupting The Prospect when They Divulge Useful Info.
Don't interrupt prospects when they’re speaking. Let them flesh out their thoughts; often, they give you all the information you need if you just let them talk. There are cases where the prospect can go into left field. In this situation, you get them back on the path by asking a question. That’s how you regain control of the conversation.



Doing Bio’s At The Beginning Of a Call
Bio’s at the beginning of a call are arguably the most significant waste of time. No one cares. If they explicitly ask youabout your background or why you built the company, provide that context. Other than that, it’s completely unnecessary. You have 30 minutes to extract all the necessary information and schedule the demo. Every minute is precious. You have to use it wisely. Prospects are interested in one thing. Can you help me solve this problem so I can stop thinking about it? That’s it. The entire customer buying journey should be grounded in answering the question of how you will do so through a process. Do not share bios unless asked.

Key Takeaway
Correct these if you’re doing any of them. On a sales call, you’re always coming from a place of strength or weakness, whether you realize it or not. Prospects are sizing you up from the first to the last touchpoint. The small, unconscious habits stack up fast and signal competence or insecurity.

You don’t always want to show up like a golden retriever. Sometimes you need to show up like a pitbull. Know which moment you’re in. And if you don’t, get help.

That’s it for today!

See you all next week.

Darren

P.S. If you’re a Venture-Backed company interested in coaching, book a call here.