Good Morning. CES is happening in Las Vegas right now, and tech companies are unveiling everything from laundry-folding robots to AI-powered toasters that probably don't need to exist. Nothing sells like a live demo that makes people stop and say, "wait, what the heck is that?" It’s a good reminder… the best pitch deck in the world can't compete with actually showing someone the product in action. Make it a spectacle, make it memorable, and make it cool. Now, let's get into today's Follow Up. (:
Start texting your prospects 📱
How to decide what to do today 📌
Why most marketing leads are garbage 🗑
Sales jobs & a meme 😂
Sales Tip of The Day 💡
After your first sales call, ask for permission to text your prospect.
Text messages get opened ~95% of the time. Email hovers closer to ~25%.
Texting gives you faster replies, a more personal line of communication, and an edge over competitors who are buried in the inbox.
One question. Big leverage.
Ever lost a deal because you didn’t have the right answer?
You’re on a live call.
A tough question comes up. A competitor is mentioned. An objection you didn’t expect.
Sales OS is an in-call AI assistant that gives you the right guidance exactly when you need it most. During live conversations, it helps you stay on the playbook, handle objections, and know what to say next without breaking the flow of the call.
Instead of thinking “I should’ve said that” after the call ends, Sales OS supports you in the moment while the deal is still alive.
If you want the right answer when it matters most, Sales OS was built for you.
The Exact Formula to Prioritize Sales Work
In one of my first ever interviews for a sales job, the manager asked me a question that I didn’t know how to answer.
He said, “If you had 10 tasks on your plate, how would you prioritize which one you’d do first, and then second, and so on?”
Simple question. But I completely blanked.
The question caught me off guard because I hadn’t really thought about it before. So I stumbled through some nonsense about "looking at what's most important and doing that first, then going down the list."
Safe to say, I didn't get that job. And it turns out "do the important stuff first" isn't actually a strategy.
Here's what I should have said. And more importantly, the exact three-list system you should be using every single morning to win the day.
Revenue-Generating Tasks Go First. Always.
These are the tasks that directly lead to money hitting your bank account.
Not tasks that feel productive or look good on your calendar. Tasks that generate revenue.
This includes:
Cold outreach and prospecting.
Discovery calls.
Product demos.
Negotiating contracts.
Following up with interested prospects.
Sending proposals to hot leads.
If the task could reasonably result in a closed deal within the next 30-90 days (or longer if you sell to an enterprise), it goes in this bucket. And this bucket gets done first. Period.
Most reps know this intellectually, but still find themselves answering internal Slack messages or updating their CRM before making a single call.
The discipline is doing the revenue work before anything else feels urgent.
Maintenance Tasks Come Second
These are necessary for keeping your pipeline healthy, but they don't immediately generate revenue.
They're the equivalent of changing your oil. You need to do it, but not before actually driving somewhere.
This includes activities like:
Nurturing warm leads who aren't ready to buy yet.
Updating your CRM (yes, it goes here, not first).
Researching prospects.
Internal handoffs with solutions engineers or customer success.
Pipeline reviews with your manager.
Checking in with existing customers for potential upsells.
The trap here is that maintenance tasks often feel more comfortable than revenue tasks. Researching a prospect for 45 minutes feels like work. And it is work. But it's not revenue work.
Do your prospecting calls first, then do the research to prep for tomorrow's calls.
Admin Tasks Get Whatever Time Is Left
These eventually need to get done. But they contribute exactly zero dollars to your quota. Which means they come last.
These are tasks like:
Submitting expense reports.
Completing compliance training.
Organizing your inbox.
Processing contract paperwork after the deal is already won.
Attending that company all-hands about the new mission statement.
If you finish your revenue work and your maintenance work and still have time, great. Knock out admin tasks. But most days, you won't have time. And that's fine. These tasks have a way of getting done when they absolutely have to.
What happens when you don’t prioritize
The State of Sales data backs all of this up. Reps spend about 70% of their time on non-selling tasks.
Actual selling time gets pushed to later. Later becomes tomorrow. Tomorrow slips into next quarter.
The calendar fills up fast. The pipeline does not.
How To Make This A Daily Habit
This priority system only works if you use it before your calendar and inbox take over.
Each morning, before jumping into emails or meetings, write down everything you could work on. Not what you should do. Just what’s there.
Then be honest about what actually creates revenue and what doesn’t.
Start your day with the work that moves deals forward. Prospecting, follow ups with active buyers, and live conversations. Physically check them off your checklist when done.
Then make your way to the maintenance tasks. Check them off when done.
Everything else waits until later, when selling is no longer the best use of your time.
What usually takes up most of your selling day?
