Sales Tales - A podcast sharing epic stories that get you through your sales adventure.

Introducing Sales Tales - a podcast for people who want to:Grow their sales performance Increase their incomeLearn to cope with failureChallenge the traditional-selling mindset This is for sellers, those who manage sellers, or those who lead organizations toward future revenue outcomes.

Sales Tales - A podcast sharing epic stories that get you through your sales adventure. is a business podcast hosted by Josh Shirley, with 87 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Josh Shirley hosts Sales Tales - A podcast sharing epic stories that get you through your sales adventure., a business show with 87 episodes published.

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  Episode #86

  Episode 86 - The New Coke Mistake: Why You Can Win the Taste Test and Still Lose the Account

  Aug 20, 202640 minS4

  In 1985, Coca-Cola had the data. Thousands of blind taste tests, all pointing in the same direction: people preferred the sweeter formula over both Pepsi and classic Coke. So they made the switch. New Coke launched, and it became one of the biggest marketing failures in business history. Seventy-nine days later, Coca-Cola Classic was back on shelves. Coke optimized for taste. Customers weren't buying taste. They were buying nostalgia, identity, the memory of what a Coke was supposed to feel like. Coke measured the wrong outcome and paid for it. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the business outcome the customer cares about is often not the one you're tracking, and how that gap opens without anyone noticing Why adoption problems are rarely about the product, and what "people don't like change" actually means for your onboarding and training plan The difference between a commercial relationship and a day-to-day usage relationship, and why losing touch with the person who bought from you is what quietly turns an account reactive How a clean handoff between sales and account management protects retention, including the shift from briefing the incoming team to certifying them on it Why setting up quarterly business reviews at the start of the relationship, before anyone's uncomfortable asking for one, changes the entire tone of the account This episode is for account executives, account managers, and customer success or client success professionals who own an existing book of business and want a system for keeping it, not just servicing it. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real sales stories, real tactics, and zero fluff. If you want to know how to close deals, retain accounts, and think like a top performer, you're in the right place.

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  Episode #85

  Episode 85 - 3 Signs You're a Boss, Not a Leader (And How to Fix It)

  Aug 11, 202639 minS4

  In 1998 a Navy captain named David Marquette got his dream assignment pulled out from under him. He'd spent six months studying every wire on what he thought was the best submarine in the fleet, and the day he showed up to take command, it sailed off without him. His new ship, the Santa Fe, was the worst in the Navy, the one other crews used as a cautionary tale. Marquette didn't know the vessel. He couldn't lean on expertise. He had to lean on his people instead, and that's what turned him from a boss into a leader. Josh and Dave use that story to break down three pillars that separate a boss from a leader in sales management, with real signs for each one. In this episode, you'll learn: Pillar one: bosses sell, leaders build sellers. The specific habits, writing the deck, taking over the meeting, being the one customers call, that quietly train a team not to think for itself Pillar two: bosses create pressure, leaders create purpose. Pillar three: bosses build dependency, leaders build legacy. The one question that tells you which one you are: if you left tomorrow, would the business still run? Dave shares a story from his own career about a client account he took back from a rep every single year instead of coaching them to hold on to it, and what changed once he started handing over real authority rather than just responsibility. If you've ever wondered why your best people wait for your approval instead of bringing you a plan, this one's for you. This episode is about: sales leadership, sales management, coaching sales reps, delegation in sales, sales team development, sales manager mistakes, building a sales culture, sales coaching framework, leadership vs management, empowering sales teams, sales team accountability, and developing sales talent.

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  Episode #84

  The Four-Week Plan to Get Out of a Sales Slump

  Aug 5, 202635 minS4

  In 1997 Tiger Woods won the Masters by 12 strokes, the largest margin in tournament history. Then he rebuilt his entire swing anyway. Everybody thought he'd lost his mind. His scores dipped for two years while critics asked why he'd mess with something that clearly worked. Then came back to back majors in 2000 and 2001, four in a row, the Tiger Slam. Years later he hit the worst slump of his career. Couldn't finish 18 holes. People said he was done. He went back to basics and won the Masters again at 43. Every seller hits a sales slump eventually, and the part nobody expects: most slumps start right after your best stretch, not your worst one. In this episode, you'll learn: Why success is usually what sets up the slump, not failure The two lies that keep you stuck longer than you need to be: "I don't have time to prospect" and "I just need one deal to close" A four-week plan to climb out: recalibrate to daily goals, evaluate what worked, hold the line in week three when it feels like you're back, then recalibrate again If you've ever looked at a shrinking pipeline and felt panic instead of a plan, this one's for you. Episode: The Four-Week Plan to Get Out of a Sales Slump | SalesTales with Josh Shirley

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  Episode #83

  Episode 83 - The Watergate Rule: Why Explaining Yourself Makes It Worse

  Jul 28, 202638 minS4

  In 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee's offices to fix bugging equipment that wasn't even working. The break in itself barely registered. What turned it into the scandal that ended a presidency was everything that came after: the denials, the explaining, the explaining of the explanations. In this episode, Josh Shirley and Dave explain why sellers get pulled out of their 70/30 listening ratio during discovery calls. A buyer asks, "How does this work?" or tosses out, "Seems expensive," and the instinct to answer, defend, or educate takes over. Josh and Dave walk through the mindset shift they call the dummy curve, staying genuinely curious instead of rushing to prove expertise, along with real reversing language for turning a buyer's question back into a discovery question. They close with three rules for better discovery calls: every question you ask earns you the right to ask the next one, if the buyer doesn't say it out loud, it doesn't count, and prepare for the call instead of improvising it. Sales Tales is the podcast for salespeople who want real sales tips and strategies they can apply today. No fluff, no theory, just tactics that work.

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  Episode #82

  Episode 82 - The three Best Places to show Value in a Discovery Call

  Jul 21, 202626 minS4

  In 2000, Netflix offered to sell itself to Blockbuster for $50 million. Blockbuster passed. They even had their own streaming idea years before Netflix launched it. The reason it never happened: late fees made up 16% of Blockbuster's revenue, and no one inside the company built enough urgency around the cost of standing still. Hosts Josh Shirley and Dave unpack three specific spots in a sales conversation where value quietly slips away. First, stopping on surface-level pain instead of digging into what it's actually costing the buyer emotionally. Second, putting the financial impact into the buyer's mouth instead of letting them say the number themselves, using a simple framework they call SVIC: summarize, validate, identify, capture. Third, failing to build urgency by never asking who else is affected or what happens if nothing changes. Skip any one of these and you end up with a prospect who agrees you're right and still does nothing. Sales Tales is the podcast for salespeople who want real sales tips and strategies they can apply today. No fluff, no theory, just tactics that work.

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