Sales Prioritization Techniques

The biggest lie in tech sales is that more activity = more success. I’ve coached over 1,000 tech sellers. The reps struggling the most usually say the same thing: “I’m working my hardest but not getting the results” But when we actually look at their calendar… Most of their time is spent on things that don’t move deals forward. Internal calls E-mails Slack messages CRM cleanup Busy work High volume, low quality prospecting And when they are meeting with customers, it’s usually transactional deals with mid or lower level managers, not Senior Execs. It feels like hard work. But it’s not generating any revenue. Some of these sellers will scrape and claw all year to barely hit quota, but most will finish under. It’s a nonstop grind to get average results. Top performers think and work differently. Instead of thinking: “If I work hard all day I will get results” They ask: “What should I be working on that will lead to results?” Here’s what the top 1% focus on: 1. Executive conversations A single meeting with a VP or C-level leader can accelerate a deal faster than months of working with middle management. 2. Real discovery Not product demos. Understanding the business problem deeply enough to tie your solution to revenue growth, cost takeout, or risk mitigation. 3. Creating urgency by providing clients with a compelling reason to change Great sellers don’t wait for customer urgency. They help executives see the cost of doing nothing and calculate the monthly cost of delay to create natural urgency. Every month you delay costs you $500k is how this sounds. 4. High quality prospecting Developing a strong POV hyper-personalized at the account level, and sharing it with Senior Executives who stand to gain or lose the most from the outcomes in the POV 5. Protecting focus Top reps ruthlessly eliminate distractions. They structure their calendar around revenue generating activities, and say no to busywork. Because in enterprise sales: 1 great conversations > 10 random tasks. When I was early in my career, I thought success meant grinding harder. Later I realized the truth: Sales isn’t about working more hours. It’s about working on the few things that actually matter every single day. Less is more. High quality over high quantity. What’s the one activity you do that drives the majority of your revenue? Curious to hear from other top sellers.

Here’s the hidden pipeline killer most sales teams ignore. ~43% of deals aren’t lost to competitors. They weren't even lost to "no decision." They were lost to competing initiatives. While you're focused on beating your direct competitors, the real battle is for budget and attention against entirely different priorities. Your prospect has 25 projects competing for limited resources. Only 5-7 will get funded. Is yours one of them? Most sales teams are completely blind to this reality. They track competitive wins and losses but ignore the bigger threat. Here's how innovative sellers are addressing this hidden pipeline killer: 1️⃣ Map the priority landscape They ask directly: "What are the top 3-5 initiatives your team has committed to this quarter?" If your solution isn't aligned with one of these, you're already losing. 2️⃣ Identify the zero-sum game For every "yes" to your solution, something else gets a "no." The best reps ask: "What would have to come off your plate to make room for this project?" 3️⃣ Quantify the cost of inaction When initiatives compete, ROI isn't enough. You need to establish the cost of NOT implementing your solution. "What happens if this problem continues for another year?" 4️⃣ Connect to strategic priorities Tactical projects get cut first. Strategic initiatives survive. Top performers always tie their solution to the company's publicized strategic goals. 5️⃣ Prepare for budget reallocation Innovative reps build relationships with the teams who control resource allocation. "Who else is competing for the same resources? How are those decisions made?" Your competition isn't just other vendors. It's everything else your buyer could spend time and money on instead.

"I saw you liked Lenny's last post" isn't relevance. It's desperate. "I see you are passionate about B2B marketing" isn't rapport. It's stalking. "I am building a network of like-minded professionals" isn't networking. It's a lie. You think you are building a relationship, but you are just making noise. The team at Cannonball GTM calls this Email Cosplay. Most outbound emails fail for one reason. You think you are the main character. You think the prospect cares about your features, your impressive slide of logos, or that you went to the same college as them. They don't. They didn't wake up thinking about you. They woke up in a specific, painful situation. If you want to earn a reply in 2026, you need to follow the Cannonball Principles: 1/ 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧  Don't target people. Target conditions. Real personalization is: "We have seen this exact constraint in teams like yours, and it creates this predictable failure mode." 2/ 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬  No one cares about your logos. They care about peers who are in their exact same mess. Social proof isn't about brands they know. It's about problems they recognize. 3/ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟑-𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞 If you need paragraphs, you don't understand the situation. Cut it down with a machete. Structure: Situation → Insight → Inquisition. 4/ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐈𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧" 𝐂𝐓𝐀 Stop asking for "15 minutes." Ask for the truth. "Am I close?" or "Is it different on your side?" beats "Can we chat?" every time. Here is the only template you need (steal this): Subject: 2-5 words max (to the point) You are probably dealing with [Specific Situation] right now. Most teams get stuck because [Constraint / Tradeoff]. Am I close, or is it different on your side? That’s it. If you can’t say it that clearly, you don’t know their problem yet. Earn the reply. Then earn the revenue.

Instantly analyzed 1M+ cold emails. Campaigns getting 20-30% replies had one thing in common that campaigns getting ghosted didn't: Hyperenriched data + micro-targeted lists. Here’s the framework used by the companies that book the most meetings: 1️⃣ STRONG OFFER Your ICP isn't just titles and company size. It's: - The outcome they want - The specific pain keeping them up at night - The language they use to describe their problem Get this wrong, and nothing else matters. 2️⃣ HYPERENRICHED DATA Going beyond name + email is non-negotiable. Job postings. Tech stack. Recent funding. Case studies. LinkedIn activity. The more data points you collect, the more relevant your personalization becomes. 3️⃣ AI PERSONALIZED LINES "Hope you're doing well" → delete "Saw you're hiring 3 AEs after your Series B" → open Make them think you actually researched them. Because you did. 4️⃣ MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS Stop chasing 100 different angles. Get obsessive about three things: - Who exactly you're targeting (ICP) - What specific outcome you deliver (Offer) - How you communicate value (Copy) Depth > width. 5️⃣ SMALLER, SMARTER LISTS 500 hyper-targeted prospects > 100,000 spray and pray Smaller lists = more specific copy = better deliverability = higher reply rates. 6️⃣ FOLLOW-UP PROTOCOL Most replies don't come from Email #1. 4-touch sequence: Email 1: Personalized opener Email 2: Short bump (3-5 days) Email 3: Different angle (3-5 days) Email 4: Breakup email (3-5 days) Keep them short. Reference the original. Add new value. 7️⃣ VALUE-DRIVEN EMAILS Stop asking for their time immediately. Start offering value first: - "Happy to share what's working best right now" - "Would it make sense to send over a quick example?" - "Can I send you something that could help with [specific pain]?" Build trust. Then earn the conversation. 8️⃣ LONG GAME MINDSET Cold email isn't a magic pill. It's a compounding client acquisition system. Quality > rushing. Presence > pressure. Pipeline > quick wins. 9️⃣ DELIVERABILITY None of this matters if you land in spam. - Multiple domains - Multiple inboxes - 30-50 emails per inbox max - Proper technical setup - 30-day warm-up minimum Master deliverability or waste everything else. The top 1% don't use tricks. They master fundamentals, use better data, personalize at scale, and obsess over deliverability. What's the #1 mistake you see people make with cold email?

Most hotels are missing a huge revenue channel by ignoring email marketing. Here's what we've learned building email strategies for hotels 👇🏻 While I've spent the last year showing you how to leverage social media, email marketing remains criminally underutilized in hospitality. Unlike social media followers, your email list is something you actually own. Email gives you direct access to potential guests, allowing you to: ✔️ Send targeted campaigns based on location ✔️ Retarget previous guests ✔️ Personalize messages ✔️ Drive bookings without constant ad spend But for hotels, email marketing has been a black box... Most industries have countless resources for email strategy. For hospitality? Almost non-existent. Even big brands are just running basic discount campaigns and bland promotional emails. Here's what's working in our email strategy: ✅ Building Our List There are two main drivers - previous guests and website sign-ups. For website sign-ups, we skipped the typical discount pop-ups that would cheapen our brand. We focused on value-driven offers like free stay giveaways to build our list while maintaining luxury positioning. ✅ Weekly Content Strategy Weekly emails strike the perfect balance–keeping guests engaged without overwhelming them. Unlike retail where customers buy monthly, hotel guests book a few times a year. We don’t need to flood guests with emails–we're playing the long game. Mix local activities, events, and property highlights. ✅ Personalization That Converts Targeted messaging helped our email strategy standout. We created campaigns for: ✔️ Local guests seeking quick getaways ✔️ Past guests reminiscing about their stays ✔️ Engaged subscribers ready to book All without paid ad costs. ✅ Email Flows That Drive Revenue This is where email marketing became a game-changer. We created automated sequences to: ✔️ Welcome new subscribers with our story ✔️ Re-engage guests who haven't booked in 9-12 months ✔️ Keep inactive subscribers engaged Here's exactly how to get started: 1. Choose Your Platform Klaviyo is our go-to. While there are many options, we've found it works best for hospitality and is easiest to use. 2. Build Your Foundation Start by compiling past guest emails from your PMS. Then create compelling sign-up offers and popup forms for new subscribers. 3. Set Up Your Flows Top priority: a welcome flow introducing your property's unique experience & story.  Then add: - Flows targeting previous guests - Re-engagement campaigns for inactive subs 4. Plan Weekly Content Map out a calendar mixing: - Local events and activity guides - Behind-the-scenes content - Strategic promotions (but keep them minimal) 5. Design Your Template Create a consistent look: - Clean header with logo and booking links - Mobile-optimized layout - Strategic CTA placement Every property's email list is unique. Test different approaches, analyze what resonates, and find what works best for your property.

POST-4/7👉 Email used to be a megaphone. In 2025, it’s a whisper in a very specific ear. Gone are the days when “blast to all” could pass as a strategy. In fact, that approach in 2025 is actively hurting your deliverability. Email Service Providers (ESPs) like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook are no longer just evaluating your IP health—they’re scoring your sender behavior at the recipient level. That means if 40% of your list is cold or disengaged, Gmail sees you as the problem—not just the user. ⚠️ Real Consequence: 1. We audited an ecommerce fashion brand with 220K contacts. Over 92K of them hadn’t clicked a single email in 90+ days. Gmail flagged them for bulk spam behavior, and inboxing fell from 78% to 46% overnight. 2. They were running promos weekly. Nothing was technically broken—but nothing was relevant. That’s what got them crushed. What Micro-Segmentation Solves in 2025: ✅ Reduces spam complaints ✅ Increases engagement velocity ✅ Signals positive intent to inbox providers ✅ Unlocks higher revenue per send with smaller cohorts Micro-Segmentation Tactics That Work Now: 1. Behavior-Based Journeys: Forget static tags. If someone viewed winter boots but didn’t buy, your next 3 emails better talk about warmth, snow, or style—not your general spring lookbook. ✅ Klaviyo + Shopify data lets you trigger flow branches based on: Last viewed product category Cart abandonment by SKU group Pages viewed in session (via UTMs or on-site behavior) Pro Tip: Use dynamic content blocks inside campaigns to adjust hero sections based on browse activity without cloning entire flows. 2. Lifecycle Automation by Spend Velocity This isn’t “new vs returning” logic anymore. In 2025, flows shift based on: Time since last order AOV trends SKU replenishment cycles Example: First-time customer who hasn’t returned in 30 days → “2nd purchase incentive” High-value buyer within 7 days → “VIP early access” Customer inactive 60+ days → Winback + dynamic offer block + channel sync suppression 3. AI-Supported Clustering Tools like RetentionX, Lexer, and even Klaviyo’s predictive analytics are now building multi-dimensional customer clusters using: Purchase frequency Channel source Time to second order Category loyalty It’s loyal mid-value buyers who shop monthly but only when free shipping is offered. ✅ What to do: Export these clusters to your ESP Build messaging that maps exactly to their past actions Suppress low responders from paid channels and warm email instead. Ready to Execute? Create 5 foundational micro-segments: 1. High spenders 2. First-time buyers 3. VIPs (CLV > 2.5x avg) 4. Dormant >90 days 5. Active clickers, no conversion Test 2 cadences per segment: VIPs: 4x/month + early access Dormant: 1x/month reactivation with content—not promos Use Recency, Frequency, and Monetary score buckets to tag customers and let your automations react to movement between them. #EmailMarketing #email

The industry average for email marketing is $36 back for every $1 spent. So why is yours barely breaking even? I've audited 100s of email accounts across seven and eight-figure e-commerce brands. Usually the channel works fine. The problem is five things that look like normal email marketing, so nobody questions them. 1 - Chasing open rates with clickbait subject lines ↳ "You won't believe this" gets the open. Then the subscriber feels cheated, and the next time your name shows up they ignore it. ↳ It takes a long time to build trust and about 3 seconds to lose it. ↳ Fix: write subject lines that are honest and SPECIFIC. The right people will open. 2 - Writing like a corporate brand ↳ The moment your email reads like a legal team wrote it, the brain checks out.  ↳ Your subscriber's inbox is full of texts from actual friends, and then your stiff announcement lands in the middle of it. ↳ Fix: write like you're talking to one of your best friends. 3 - Cramming multiple CTAs into one email ↳ More options just freeze the reader. Psychologists call it the paradox of choice, and the brain's response to a decision it didn't ask for is to do nothing. ↳ Fix: give each email one job. Two buttons max, both pointing to the same place. 4 - Blasting your entire list ↳ Your list isn't one audience. Engaged buyers, one-time buyers, VIPs, and lapsed subscribers are all sitting in the same place. ↳ Sending all of them the same email tanks conversion, and the unengaged ones drag your sender reputation down for the people who actually buy. ↳ Fix: segment into those four groups and send accordingly. 5 - Treating email like a microphone instead of a conversation ↳ When every send is "buy now," you train your list to only open when there's a sale. ↳ Mix in educational, community, and behind-the-scenes emails and they open everything, because they don't know which one is the discount. ↳ Fix: email when you have something worth saying, not only when you want money. Clean these up and email becomes the most reliable revenue line you have.

In enterprise product AND sales, you’re often solving three different problems at once (whether you realize it or not). At Amplitude I lived this for 4+ years. 1. There’s the tangible, well-understood problem. A team knows their current spreadsheet setup is painful. They’ve tried three tools. They’re actively searching. They know exactly what the issue is. They just need a reliable, focused solution. 2. Then there’s the aspirational transformation. The leadership team wants to “become more data-driven” or “build a culture of experimentation” or “prioritize strategic bets.” These aren’t problems in the traditional sense; they’re blurry goals, fuzzy futures. But they drive buying behavior just as much as the tangible stuff. 3. And finally, there’s the story that needs to be told internally: the ROI narrative, the justification for budget, the ammo to win over skeptics. This is about solving the problem of helping your champion frame the problem in a way that clears organizational hurdles. The kicker? These three “problems” don’t always line up. In fact, they often live in totally different parts of the org. Your champion might be in pain (Tangible). The executive sponsor wants a big story (Aspirational). And Finance just needs a business case that checks the right boxes (Justifiable). That’s what makes enterprise sales and product so tricky. You have to thread all three needles. You can’t just be a “solution to a problem.” You have to be a bridge between today’s pain, tomorrow’s ambition, and the internal narrative that gets the deal done. Where it gets even more interesting: Sometimes you’re not just solving a problem. You’re offering a new mental model. You’re giving your buyer a language, a framework, a new lens for how they think about the work. This is especially true when customers are chasing aspirational goals but haven’t yet figured out how to operationalize them. You’re not just selling a product. You’re guiding them toward a new shape of thinking. And that raises an important question for product teams: Do you stay in your lane and build only for the tangible pain? Or do you lean into that educator role, helping buyers reframe their own reality, and making it easier for them to choose your path? It’s easy to say “focus on the problem.” But in enterprise, that “problem” is rarely a single thing. It's a messy stack of motivations, mismatches, and meaning-making. And if you want to win you’ll probably need to design for all three layers.

You think you know where your email revenue comes from... But do you really? Most brands look at Klaviyo’s dashboard and call it a day. But here’s the truth: not all revenue attribution is created equal. Here’s what you should know 👇 📉 “Attributed Revenue” Isn’t Always Accurate Just because someone opened an email and bought something doesn’t mean the email caused the purchase. Especially if you’re sending daily. ✅ Tip: Track click-based attribution and compare it to open-based to get a cleaner signal. 🔄 Flows vs Campaigns - Know the Split Flows usually outperform campaigns on paper. But if your flows are bloated with logic and delays, you’re leaking money. ✅ Tip: Audit your top flows quarterly. Shorten delays, optimize conditions, and check click rates. 📊 Look Beyond Klaviyo Use tools like Triple Whale or Northbeam to cross-reference revenue attribution. ✅ Tip: If Klaviyo says email drove $100k this month but Triple Whale says $40k - dig deeper. There’s gold in that gap. 🧠 Don’t Just Track Revenue - Track Margin That big BFCM revenue spike? Cool. But did you actually make money? ✅ Tip: Pair email revenue data with AOV, discounts used, and product cost to see the real ROI. 📈 Keep Testing, Keep Isolating Want to know what’s actually working? Test isolated segments, suppress overlapping flows, and test A/B content consistently. Revenue attribution isn’t just data. It’s how you make better creative, timing, and offer decisions. Want to build a smarter email strategy? Start by knowing what really moves the numbers. #emailmarketing #ecom #ecommerce

I grew my client’s best email month by 148% from €525K to €1,3M. Here’s how I did it: When I first took on this client, I loved his vibe and product. But it was tricky… • They only sell 1 product • My client hates being salesy • They sell in multiple countries using native languages Step 1: Audit Every client I take on goes through a thorough list audit. I audited his list with my 66-point Klaviyo checklist to: • Identify what’s leaking revenue • Pinpoint what’s working to double down • Develop a strategy plan to increase his sales Once done and discussed, we got to work on: Step 2: Building and optimizing flows He had multiple flows set up but only his welcome flow was good. The rest was non-existent or only had 1-2 basic emails. So we redid his flows. When I was done, we instantly saw an increase in email revenue. The secret? I used founder-led content. The emails feel like a 1:1 convo, and most of my time went into the copy because… Design attracts but copy sells. The next step was… Step 3: Proper segmentation For a brand that sells one product, it’s easy to neglect the ones who’ve bought. (especially since it’s not a replenishable product) But my client is working on new products. Neglecting anyone would be a HUGE mistake - it always is. Here’s how I segmented: • Language • Engaged vs non-engaged • Customer vs non-customer All emails are properly targeted and personalized with the right intention. It makes people feel like we’re talking directly to them. But this wasn’t enough as… Step 4: Ramp up campaign volume They weren’t sending campaigns which meant a lot of revenue was left on the table. I started with re-engagement campaigns to identify the engaged segment. (if you don’t know this your deliverability will go down the drain) Then I split the engaged segment into: • Non-customers • Everyone That’s how I ensure we don’t send emails that aren’t relevant to the reader. The more campaigns you send, the more touch points and familiarity you create. Which leads to closer relationships and more sales. Many eCom founders are scared of being annoying if they send too many campaigns. If you only send: 1/ Sales and discounts 2/ Things that people don’t care about Then yeah you’re being annoying. But if you do email marketing the quiet way, people want to hear from you. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. This job was brutal. But our hard work paid off because we… ↳ Topped his best sales day in Oct ↳ Grew total revenue by 69% to 4.51M ↳ Beat his best email month by 148% to 1.30M ↳ Grew campaign revenue from 0 to 414k (in Oct) ↳ Involved his customers in his new product development process And the best part? I’ve only been working with them for 3 months. We’re just getting started. -- If you’re an eCom owner who wants to scale your revenue: I’m looking to work with 2 eCom brands to help them increase their email revenue in the next 60 days. DM me “email” and I’ll get you the details.