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Sales Advice from Jeff Bezos
How using obsession let's you sell things customers didn't know they wanted
Good Morning! Here’s a plot twist: College professors are now getting caught using ChatGPT, not just their students. Remember when teachers said, ‘Learn math, because you won't always have a calculator in your pocket’? Now, we have supercomputers in our pockets AND our professors are cheating with AI. What a time to be alive. 😁
The follow up after pricing 💳️
Jeff B’s sales advice 📦️
Feeling like an impostor 👀
Sales jobs & a meme 😂
Sales Tip of The Day 💡
When you share your pricing and proposal, but hear nothing, try giving them an out.
❌ Just following up to see if you had any questions...
✅ Hey Bob, usually when I don’t hear back, it’s either a “no” or there’s something else standing in the way. Which one are we working with?
This question gives them a graceful way to re-engage and surfaces the objections holding up the deal.
Polite silence is the enemy. Push for the truth.
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Sales Advice from Jeff B.
Jeff Bezos never carried a quota or logged his calls in a CRM.
Yet the principles he used to build Amazon into a $2 trillion beast might be the most valuable sales advice you'll ever get.
Most founders and reps obsess over competitors and how they can beat them. Bezos did the opposite. He was maniacally focused on just the customers.
"The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer," he famously said.
Today, we're breaking down Bezos's customer obsession playbook and how you can use it to crush your sales.
1. Start with the Customer, Work Backwards
"We start with the customer and work backwards."
This simple mantra drove Amazon's biggest hits. Instead of asking ‘what can we build?’, they asked ‘what would make life easier for our customers?’
That's how they came up with 1-Click ordering and Prime. By obsessing over customer pain points, not their current capabilities.
In sales, this mindset flips your approach. Instead of leading with ‘Here's what we do,’ start with ‘What are you trying to fix, and what's getting in your way?’
Customer obsessed reps ask questions like:
What would make this project a win for you personally?
Where do you lose the most time or money today?
If I could only help you solve one thing, what would it be?
Then, they do the magic trick: they shut up and listen. They take notes. They tailor their pitch. They cut irrelevant features. They send follow-ups that connect back to the customer's actual goals, not just the product roadmap.
When you really understand what the customer wants to accomplish, you can position your solution as the bridge to that outcome.
The best part? This approach works even when you don't have the perfect product.
2. Earn Trust With Long-Term Value
One of Bezos's best-known lines: "We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions."
Not when we close the deal. Not when we hit quota. Those are lagging indicators.
Amazon earned customer loyalty by doing what was right for the customer, like keeping negative reviews on product pages, even if it hurt short-term sales.
Because it built trust.
Sales reps can do the same thing.
Non obvious ways to build trust in sales:
Tell a prospect when something's not a fit
Recommend a cheaper tier if it's the better choice for them
Admit when you don't know the answer, then follow up fast with the real one
Ways to destroy trust in seconds:
Using fake urgency ("this offer ends Friday" when it doesn't)
Claiming your tool does something it doesn't
Pretending competitors don't exist
Buyers, especially experienced ones, can smell commission breath from a mile away.
When you play the long game and act like a trusted advisor instead of a quota-chaser, they'll come back. And they'll bring their friends.
3. Listen to Customer Feedback… It's Usually More Accurate Than Your Data
Bezos once sat in a meeting where his team claimed customer service was doing great. But Bezos was skeptical and asked them to call the 1-800 line on the spot.
They did... and waited on hold for several painful minutes.
His takeaway: "When the data and anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right."
Sales reps live in the same world. Your CRM might say a customer is healthy or a deal is stuck. But that doesn't tell you what the customer is actually saying.
Questions reps can ask to get real feedback:
Can I ask, what's giving you pause about moving forward?
If this didn't work out, what would be the reason?
What's been your experience with tools like ours in the past?
Bonus tip: Track feedback like it's gold. Create a "friction log" of common objections, hesitations, and post-sale complaints. Use that to tweak your pitch, preempt objections, or give better product feedback to your team.
*Author note: During my time at Amazon, our team was tasked with logging a minimum of 5 customer anecdotes per week. These anecdotes served as the most trusted source of truth when deciding on future features and focuses for our team.
What piece of Jeff's sales advice is your favorite? |
