Neil Martin · Beats, Business & Life

Sales

Illustration of an office desk at quarter past six, with a laptop full of empty form fields, a stack of paperwork and a sunset outside

Nobody ever wished for more time in their CRM

Salesforce says the average seller spends just 40% of their time selling. Where AI can take the admin off people who sell.

If I can’t help you make money, I don’t deserve yours. Why selling is serving, the loved-one lens, and why it pays to be proud of your price.

Selling Is Serving: If I Can’t Help You Make Money, I Don’t Deserve Yours

If I can’t help you make money, I don’t deserve yours. Why selling is serving, the loved-one lens for sales conversations, and why you should be proud of your price.

It’s not about getting people to understand you, it’s about them feeling understood by you. Henry Ford’s secret, and features, advantages and benefits.

Make People Feel Understood: Henry Ford’s Secret and the FABs of Selling

Most people work hard to be understood. The bigger win is making people feel understood by you. Henry Ford’s one secret of success, why being blind to other points of view costs you, and the difference between features, advantages and benefits.

Two empty chairs facing each other across a small café table with two coffees under a gold pendant lamp

Commission Breath: Would You Say Your Marketing Face to Face?

Hopkins said advertising is salesmanship. A coach called the problem commission breath. A face to face test you can run on any post or web page.

Illustration of an empty car showroom at dusk, a sensible grey estate car on one side and a bright orange two seater sports car under a spotlight on the other

Nobody buys because they understand you

People don’t buy because they understand you. They buy because they feel understood by you. Most businesses have it backwards.

Illustration of a long flight of stone garden steps lined with potted plants, leading up a hill to a front door with a warm porch light

Stop selling at hello

Most businesses try to sell before anyone has properly said hello. Marketing earns the conversation. Sales comes after.

Illustration of a small podcast studio table with two microphones angled towards each other, two pairs of headphones and two mugs, in front of a brick wall and a plant

Before you ask for the sale, earn permission

Marketing earns permission. Sales earns commitment. Get the order wrong and everything feels heavier than it needs to.

Illustration of a small office reception desk in morning light with a neatly wrapped gift box and a bunch of sunflowers in brown paper, a quiet high street through the window

Look after your existing clients before chasing new ones

On Chris Watkin’s Letting Agent Podcast I asked when you last phoned a client when it wasn’t bad news. Why keeping people beats chasing new ones.

The cover of The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “Implementation, not ideas, is the key to real success.” beneath it

Why I tell everyone about the Dream 100 in The Ultimate Sales Machine

Get the Dream 100 explained plainly: who to put on your list, why it attracts people like them, and how to work it today.

Illustration of a steaming cup of tea on a wooden desk beside a worn brown wage packet envelope and an open notebook, lit by soft morning light from a nearby window

You’ve already sold high-ticket: talking to Jamie Atkinson

Jamie Atkinson asked me for my secret to high-ticket sales. My answer: you’ve already made one, and the real sale happens in your own head.

The cover of Influence by Robert B. Cialdini, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason.” beneath it

Influence taught me the most useful word in sales: because

The photocopier story from Cialdini’s Influence, why one small word gets people to say yes, and the promise I ask people to make first.

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Neil Martin

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Hi, I’m Neil

DJing since 1987, three decades in business, and the author of Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.

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