B2B Sales Methodology Differentiators: How Does Your Approach Compare to Top Performers?

How does your sales methodology stack up against the best?

In this article, I’ll explore B2B sales methodology differentiators—the mindsets, skills, and behaviors that top performers use to win more deals and build lasting customer relationships.

The content was forged from 16 years of conducting Top-Performer Analyses, so you can compare how your sales methodology and sales force stack up against the best of the best.

NOTE: This post was originally published in my LinkedIn newsletter, Sales Enablement Straight Talk. It’s been edited significantly here but drawn from the same content. You can see the newsletter version here. And actually, I first covered this topic in June 2025 using a methodology I co-created with a colleague as the comparison. With the upcoming 2026 launch of my book, The CoNavigator Method for B2B Sales Mastery, I’m now using my own methodology as the benchmark—reflecting everything I’ve learned from those Top-Performer Analyses and fully representing my intellectual property. For simplicity, I’ll sometimes abbreviate the method as TCM as we proceed.

An Important Disclaimer

This may sound “salesy” to some of you, since this is a sales methodology I developed and sell. I get it. And if you’re interested in exploring methodologies and include mine, I won’t be heartbroken. But the point of this newsletter is to share what I’ve learned. Because those learnings are baked into my methodology, it’s the best example I can use.

Also, this is the written word. I’m not twisting your arm, and there’s no obligation to do anything. So take advantage of the knowledge and worry less about me hypnotizing you into buying workshops (“You are feeling very sleeeepyyyy…”). Fair? I hope so.

INTRODUCTION

Top-Performer Analysis

Let’s start by defining Top-Performer Analysis (TPA).

 Top-Performer Analysis is a study designed to identify the mindset, traits, knowledge, skills, and behaviors that set top performers apart from other sales representatives.

 TPA reveals both the similarities and differences among top sales performers. These insights can then be translated into practical guidance for average performers: what to continue doing, what to start doing or do differently, and what to stop doing.

What is a Top Sales Performer?

A Top Sales Performer is a seller who consistently demonstrates right blend of results, mindsets, traits, knowledge, skills, and behaviors you want to replicate across your sales force. (Someone you would clone if you could.) They succeed on merits vs. fortunate circumstances.

The Difference Between a Top Performer and a Top Producer

 This article highlights the difference between a Top Sales Performer and what I call a Top Producer: Do You Know the Difference Between a Top Producer and a Top Performer?

In short, a top producer may be putting up the numbers, but it’s due in whole or part to fortunate circumstances. This could mean inheriting great orphaned accounts, taking over a resigned top performer’s territory, working with a sales manager who swoops in to close major deals, or any combination of these factors. By contrast, you could drop a true top performer into the middle of the Sahara Desert, and they would find a way to rebuild their territory.

In the above article, you may also be interested in the concept of a Hidden Top Performer, who has the right stuff and is doing all the right things (and doing well), but whose success is limited by unfortunate circumstances, much like a top producer’s performance is boosted by fortunate ones.

If you’d like to learn more about Top-Performer Analysis, download this deck: Top-Performer Analysis.

With that foundation, let’s segue into the review of topics in The CoNavigator Method for B2B Sales Mastery, where I’ll share some of the key differentiating behaviors of top performers, as we go. I can’t share every single differentiator from the program, but I’ll call out those I’ve seen repeatedly in my Top-Performer Analysis work over the years.

Review of the Top-Performer Practices in The CoNavigator Method

As you progress through the four sections of the method, it’s worth noting that there is some cross-pollination of topics. Breaking these skills into sections is not an exact science. The course is designed to cover the entire customer lifecycle, which teaches all the skills, but we recognize that doesn’t work for all roles. So, when teaching a subset of the course for a specific role, we always customize for the role, which may include mixing and matching modules across sections. Keep that in mind as you go through the below.

Also, I will describe each module but will highlight certain ones that are most impactful based on patterns I saw in the Top Performer Analyses.

CORE PRINCIPLES: Buyer-Centric Selling – The Key to Sustainable Success

 The Core Principles section lays the foundation of mindsets and skill sets essential for buyer- and customer-centric selling. Even if a client wants to customize a path through TCM for a specific role that doesn’t require every skill taught in the course, I always recommend completing this section.

THE MODULES & DIFFERENTIATORS

Introduction to The CoNavigator Method:

 This module introduces buyer‑centric selling and B2B buying research that shows why it is needed. There is nothing skills‑based or differentiating here, other than recognizing that most buyers are dissatisfied with sellers. If we want that to change, we must change how we sell.

Aligning with the Buyer:

Buyers have grown weary of poor sales behavior. Many are disappointed with salespeople.

This module, and the entire TCM methodology, is designed to change that.

I teach three frameworks to help with this:

• NASA (Need And Solution Alignment)
• COIN‑OP (Challenges, Opportunities, Impacts, Needs, Outcomes, and Priorities)
• ACC (Acknowledge, Clarify, and Confirm)

These models help you understand buyers and customers better than your competitors ever will. NASA ensures you operate in your buyer’s best interest, which is the essence of buyer‑centric selling. COIN-OP is a framework for understanding their current state and desired future state (this reappears later in the Discovery module). ACC is an active listening and communication model that ensures your buyer feels deeply understood.

 These simple but powerful concepts appeared repeatedly in Top‑Performer Analyses over the years.

The Value Stack:

 This module introduces the concept of AIR (Awareness, Interest, and Relationship). The Value Stack refers to the idea that, for buyers to move from one stage to the next in their buying journey, they must experience enough AIR to feel confident about moving forward. There are decision thresholds at every step of their buying journey, and the seller must meet those thresholds. This is a powerful reminder that the focus is on the buyer—not just you or your sales process. I’ve used AIR for years and the concept that the seller must build AIR to meet the buyer’s next decision threshold, to be willing to move forward.

 The Value Stack is also a great diagnostic tool when you sense resistance. Going deeper, the Interest portion of AIR is defined by four Value Drivers: Business, Execution, Purpose, and Personal.

 Almost every buyer has a primary Value Driver and often one or more secondary drivers. This concept appears again in the Navigating Value Conversations module, where we emphasize learning to speak about solutions in multiple ways, based on how each buyer perceives “value.”

I’ve also used Bain’s B2B Elements of Value Pyramid, which is excellent and very detailed with 40 elements. While I still appreciate Bain’s work, the four Value Drivers are far easier for the average sales rep to remember and apply.

Interpersonal Communication:

This has been a popular module. Not because it introduces anything groundbreaking, but because it’s a great reminder to use the interpersonal skills we already have, with purposeful intention. Top performers don’t just rely on natural ability—they apply those skills consistently and intentionally. That’s what I saw again and again in Top-Performer Analyses.

Influence & Persuasion:

 Here, I teach Aristotle’s classic model: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos—or credibility, emotion, and logic. Average sellers tend to keep emotion out of their interactions. Top performers bring it in on purpose, and it makes a difference.

Your Value Story:

 Here’s where I introduce POSE for the first time (you’ll see it again in Navigating Appointment Setting with POSE). POSE stands for Problem, Outcome, Solution, Explore and is a story format that starts from the buyer’s perspective with the problems they face (that you know you solve). This is an incredibly powerful model that came straight out of Top-Performer Analysis and has made quite an impact for my clients. It works for both prospecting and presenting.

Want to take it a step further? Weave Ethos, Pathos, and Logos into your Value Story (especially emotion), and use the right Value Driver for the buyer. This is advanced, but the kind of “Multilingual Selling” and tailored value communication is what I saw top performers consistently do far better than average.

Navigating and Resolving Concerns:

Too many reps handle concerns like Al Jaffee’s “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” from MAD Magazine: snarky, combative, tricky, or manipulative. TCM takes a different approach with a buyer-centric communication model: ACCRC, which stands for Acknowledge, Clarify, Categorize, Respond, and Confirm. (If you’re paying attention, you can notice ACC is built into this model. Acknowledge is all about empathy and the entire model is about demonstrating understanding before responding.)

This focuses on understanding vs. being combative or clever, and matching the right response to the type of concern. The deeper reps understand the concern, the better chance they have of resolving it. I have rarely seen this behavior and process used outside of the top 20% of sales reps, and it’s a key differentiator.

By the way, I refuse to use words like “objections,” “overcome,” or the phrase “handle objections.” Do you know any buyers who want to be “overcome” or “handled?” No, you don’t. But once buyers feel deeply understood, helping them resolve their concerns is almost always welcomed.

PROSPECT DEVELOPMENT: Generate New Business Like a Top Performer

The New Business Development section teaches the knowledge and skills needed for developing new business with modern buyers. As I tell sales managers as I prep them to support the program, the content in this section is aimed at bringing in new logos, but much of it also applies to growing current accounts.

 Whether you’re upselling, cross-selling, expanding, or working your way into other divisions of an existing customer, these principles matter. Some of what I teach here can also apply to Opportunity Management and Account Management, so don’t think of it as limited to prospecting alone.

THE MODULES & DIFFERENTIATORS

Customer Lifecycle:

Most reps don’t think about the overall customer lifecycle. Yet if they can identify where the prospect is in their lifecycle, relative to the problems the rep can solve and the solutions they sell, reps can adapt their approach to meet the buyers where they are.

 If your buyer doesn’t recognize the seriousness of the problem, you’ll need a different approach than if they’re already pursuing a solution or have just purchased one. Top Performers observe the cues and clues that reveal where the buyers are in their lifecycle and adapt accordingly.

Researching Prospects:

Research (and Sales Call Planning in the next section) gets talked about a lot but isn’t done nearly enough. The level of research varies based on several factors, and that’s the first decision top performers make.

Sometimes they spend up to 5 minutes finding up to 3 facts they can use to personalize their approach. Other times, they’ll invest hours deep-diving to build a critical, executive-level approach for one of only 25 named accounts. In either case, or somewhere in-between (it’s a sliding scale), the point is to do the right amount of research to make a compelling approach, based on the situation and potential account value.

Appointment Setting:

Problem-based prospecting is far more effective than product-based prospecting, and top performers know it. Using the POSE Value Story from Core Principles—combined with what they learned from their research or their understanding of their ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and Buyer Personas—top performers craft relevant and compelling POSE Value Stories. These stories may be infused with Ethos, Pathos, and Logos and relevant Value Drivers, for deeper personalization.

Then they deliver their story in interactively, checking and confirming along the way, especially after P and O. They keep the Solution discussion brief (this isn’t the time for a presentation or deep dive into features and benefits). Instead, they simply ask the buyer if it makes sense to explore further.

Top performers also prepare and use POE for voicemails (leaving out solution talk for concise messages), and leverage omnichannel approaches (phone, voicemail, email, LinkedIn, even drop-bys). See Omnichannel Prospecting below for more.

Savvy reps have more than one POSE Value Story ready in case the first doesn’t resonate. If the second falls flat, they ask an open question about the issues the buyer is facing about X (the thing they can help with).

Navigating Disinterest:

Anyone who has ever prospected understands the level of both real and smokescreen or defensive statements buyers use, such as “I’m not interested” or its cousins, “We’re all set” or “We’re working with XYZ and aren’t interested in switching.”

My model and process for navigating disinterest is similar to what I taught in Resolving Concerns. This time, it’s Acknowledge, Clarify, Explore, Recommend, Confirm.

Top performers know that they have a limited time before the window of opportunity shuts on their fingers, so they Acknowledge and Clarify quickly in one breath, asking why they’re not interested with a multiple-choice question instead of an open one:

“If there’s no way for me to deliver value from your perspective, [Name], a lack of interest makes sense. I don’t want to waste your time or mine. Just to ensure we don’t miss a chance to help you get better results, may I ask why you’re not interested? Is this not a problem you need to address? Do you have other priorities? Or is it something else?”

You’ll learn quickly whether the buyer is putting up a smokescreen or has a legitimate reason for not being interested (or not interested right now). If they respond, you can walk through the rest of the model. It will usually end in one of three ways:

1. Pursue: You move forward to a discussion or set an appointment.
2. Nurture: You learn why it’s not the right time and nurture the buyer until it is.
3. Discontinue: The buyer firmly reconfirms their lack of interest and ends the conversation.

Omnichannel Prospecting:

As mentioned earlier, top performers prepare and approach buyers through multiple channels. One differentiating thing that sets them apart is how they connect the dots between channels.

A voicemail using POE might mention an upcoming LinkedIn invite. The LinkedIn invite (with no overt selling) mentions an email coming soon with more detail. The email (perhaps a brief POSE Value Story with social proof and a relevant resource) mentions when you’ll call again. And so on. Each touch builds on the last, creating a connected, seamless experience for the buyer.

Nurturing Prospects:

When buyers aren’t interested right now for a legitimate reason or go quiet after several days of omnichannel outreach, top performers shift into nurture mode. They don’t “check in” or “just follow up.” Instead, they share information that is relevant to the buyer’s role or ideally, to whatever they’re working on.

This mix might include company and product insights, plus other unrelated content the seller believes would be interesting or helpful for the buyer.

“[Name], when we last spoke you mentioned you were working on XYZ. I saw this article in Harvard Business Review and thought you might find it helpful.”

This approach keeps the relationship warm and positions the seller as a helpful resource—not a pest.

Other Modules That Apply

• All of the modules in Core Principles apply to prospecting or new business development.

OPPORTUNITY MANAGEMENT: Mastering the Sales Process – What the Best Do Differently

The Opportunity Management Section teaches the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the sales process successfully and win the opportunities you’ve generated. These are core sales skills that truly differentiate sellers from the average.

Many of the practices in this section also apply to Account Management, and a few can even support Prospect Development. The goal is simple: help you manage deals with precision and confidence so you can close more business.

THE MODULES & DIFFERENTIATORS

Navigating the Buying Process:

 This module is a subset of the Customer Lifecycle and includes two primary differentiators:

Seller Focus on the Buyer’s Journey

• Top performers pay attention to the buyer’s journey—not just their own sales process.

Recognition of Buying Process Exit Criteria (BPEC)

• Each decision maker has specific exit criteria at every stage of their buying process. These criteria must be satisfied before they are willing to move forward. This concept extends the Value Stack’s decision threshold, where the buyer needs enough AIR—Awareness, Interest, and Relationship (trust)—to advance.

Buying Process Exit Criteria represent whatever a decision maker needs to see, hear, feel, understand, or believe in the current stage to proceed to the next. In some stages, all buyers may have the same exit criteria. In other stages, different buyers may have different exit criteria. This is why multi-threaded deals are often called “The Complex Sale.”

Top Performers recognize this and work to:

• Uncover each buyer’s exit criteria in each stage.
• Clarify to ensure they deeply understand it.
• Satisfy the criteria by providing what the buyer needs.
• Confirm their satisfaction intentionally before seeking agreement to move forward.

Sales Call Planning:

Most everyone seems to understand the importance of sales call planning, yet it is often ignored, downplayed, or done half-heartedly. Time and again, strong sales call planning has proven to be a key differentiator for top performers.

 One of the most powerful distinctions? Intentionally including the buyers’ objectives for the meeting. This approach syncs with the concept of Buying Process Exit Criteria mentioned earlier. When buyers feel the meeting is as much theirs as yours —and see your focus on helping them make a great decision—everything gets easier for you as the seller.

Sales Meeting Management:

An A-grade plan bumbled is almost always beaten by a C-grade plan executed flawlessly. That’s the essence of sales meeting management. The ultimate goal, of course, is an A-grade plan executed with discipline and focus.

 With a solid plan in place, top performers act like orchestra conductors—facilitating the meeting as intended. Some key differentiators include:

• Review the plan and confirm whether anything has changed on the buyer’s side.
• Capture key notes, even if you’re recording or using AI transcription, so you can reference them later.
• Keep the meeting on time—and if it’s clear you won’t, call it out and let buyers decide the best course of action.
• Leave time to summarize, including decisions made, open topics, and next steps.
• HAM-BAM (Have A Meeting, Book A Meeting) to avoid the post-meeting scramble of scheduling the next session.

Navigating Discovery (Situation Assessment with COIN-OP):

 The discovery method I teach is the most compelling I’ve seen. (That may sound egotistical but remember that I documented it by observing the best. I didn’t cook it up in my kitchen.)

It leverages COIN-OP back (from Section 1) to frame the Current State (with Challenges, Opportunities, Impacts) against the Desired Future State (with Outcomes and Priorities) with the Needs bridging the gap.

Top performers use this framework to:

• Conduct a Gap Analysis to identify what’s required to close the gap between the two states (the Needs).
• Get buyers to dollarize the Impacts and Outcomes, creating a highly compelling business case—or revealing that the problem isn’t significant enough to tackle (which is equally valuable to know).
• Perform an Impact Analysis to determine the ROI of making the move (comparing Impacts and Outcomes against the cost of the solution).

The questions asked are obviously around the problems that you solve, unless you are a management consultant with an almost unlimited number of things you can do to support your clients.

Discovery done this way is a powerful differentiator. As my friend Kurt Haug says, this framework operates on what he calls the Accordion Principle. It can flex down (squeeze in) to support a simpler, more transactional sale, or flex up (expand out) to support a highly complex and detailed sale. It’s a flexible model that top performers maximize to get the best possible results.

Importantly, these sellers don’t float ideas or present solutions prematurely. They remain patient, build the framework until they confirm NASA and ensure it’s compelling. Later, they refer back to this foundation when presenting or co-creating solutions.

In comparison, average performers leap at the first sign of something they can sell. Top performers lay back, waiting patiently, building the story, almost as if they are setting up bowling pins one by one, so they can knock them down later.

Navigating Opportunity Qualification:

Sometimes it feels like there are more qualification models than car models. The truth is, if it’s a solid model, it almost doesn’t matter which you use, as long as you use it well. That’s where top performers stand out.

 In TCM, I teach starting with NASA—Need And Solution Alignment—meaning you’ve confirmed you can solve their problems. From there, I introduce DM-DC, UT-OOE (which rhymes to make it easier to remember—see the image above).

 Regardless of the exact model, the most critical differentiator is consistent application. I’ve seen MEDDICC implemented with CRM scoring systems where reps rated everything a 4 or 5 on a 1–5 scale—and most of it was nonsense. When managers finally started peeling the onion and digging into the ratings and what was behind them, most of the ratings dropped to 1 or 2.

Having a qualification method is one thing. Using it well is what matters most. And having managers test reality? Priceless.

Navigating the Buyer Landscape:

This is the business version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Start by noting each buyer’s:

• Position/title
• Buying Role
• Value Drivers
• Level of Influence
• Attitude Toward You (including your company and solution)

Then, you map these factors on a chart:

The matrix of level of influence and attitude toward you and your solution allows you to plot your buyers or current customers on the chart, adding the other factors where they are plotted.

This allows you to translate what you see into a tactical action plan to address any potential challenges, such as having a high-influence Decision Maker in the Neutral or Negative zone, or a bunch of Performance Buyers on the chart when you have only communicated about Execution Value.

Top performers map these factors and their relationships and act accordingly. Others assume they know or do nothing.

Co-Creating a Solution:

Whether it’s a simple transactional sale or a complex solution design process (the Accordion Principle applies here—it flexes), co-creation is about engaging buyers in making choices and decisions along the way. This involvement gives them a sense of ownership in the final solution.

Top performers embrace this approach. Others don’t—they may confirm NASA (Need and Solution Alignment) and present to communicate problem/solution fit, but they rarely co-create.

Navigating Communicating Conversations:

 Several critical elements converge here. First, understand that like beauty, value is in the eye of the beholder. What matters is what each buyer values and whether they see that value delivered by your solution.

Key factors include:

• Whether your buyers are Performance, Operational, or Experiential buyers (as shown above).
• The impacts they want to avoid from and the outcomes they seek (from the Situation Assessment).
• Their Value Drivers: Business, Execution, Purpose, and/or Personal.
• What they liked about your POSE Value Story with the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos you wove in.
• Their individual Buying Process Exit Criteria in the current process stage and what they need to move forward.

This brings us back to “Multilingual Selling,” or being able to communicate value in multiple ways about the same solution, tailored to what matters most to each buyer.

Top Performers excel at this. Average sellers do the same thing, the same way, each time, in each stage, with every buyer. And they always message the same way about the solution.

Navigating Commitment:

I avoid the term “closing” because of the baggage from outdated methods and stereotypical closing techniques. Instead, I talk about gaining commitment.

The recommend approach:

• Summarize buyer requirements and how you’ve met or exceeded them.
• Confirm acceptance of your summary.
• Recommend a logical next step and check for confirmation.

It’s mostly about good, human, communication skills. If concerns arise, use the ACCRC model to resolve them, and regain agreement.

No magic formulas. No rolling the pen across the table. No Ben Franklin charts. No Puppy Dog closes. (Although interestingly, Product-Led Selling is a form of the Puppy Dog Close, if you’ve never connected that dot before.)

This works well for interim commitments (along the buying/sales process) as well as for final purchase commitments. Remember HAM-BAM? That’s an example of an interim commitment to schedule the next meeting before leaving the current one.

Other Modules That Apply

• All of the modules in Core Principles apply to Opportunity Management

While not applied to prospecting specifically, most of the modules in the Prospect Development section can be helpful in Opportunity Management.

• The Buying Process is part of the larger Customer Lifecycle
• Researching applies when new decision makers enter the deal.
• Resolving concerns is likely, but you may also need to navigate disinterest occasionally.
• Nurturing individual buyers in various ways can support their journey through their buying and decision-making processes.

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT: The Long Game – Account Management Excellence

The Account Management section teaches the knowledge and skills needed to purposefully and successfully manage your accounts, whether you are managing a territory, key accounts, or a few strategic accounts.

It’s about:

• Analyzing potential within each account
• Setting logical account objectives based on that analysis
• Developing actionable plans to achieve those objectives.

Account management is the long game—building relationships, creating value, and driving mutual success over time.

THE MODULES & DIFFERENTIATORS

Account Objectives:

It’s hard to hit a target you don’t see. Top performers assess account potential using whatever metrics matter for the business. I teach PCF-L, which stands for

• Past account performance
• Current account performance
• Best-possible Future account performance
• Likelihood of achieving that rosy future, based on what you know today

Then, based on the analysis, the account objective typically falls into one of four categories:

• Grow: Expand the relationship and revenue.
• Retain: Maintain the business when growth potential is limited.
• Reactivate: Reinvigorate an account that has slowed or stopped doing business with you.
• Retire: End the relationship when it no longer makes sense to do business together.

 A fifth objective, Acquire, applies to accounts you want to win rather than current ones.

To remember all five, I use the mnemonic AG-R3: Acquire, Grow, Retain, Reactivate, Retire.

Account Planning:

Like prospect research and sales call planning, top performers develop and maintain active account plans. I teach reps to use Force Field Analysis to assess:

• Driving Forces: the factors moving them toward the desired future state with the account
• Restraining Forces: the factors holding them back.

Things you should know about the account but don’t yet, automatically are listed a Restraining Forces.

Then, they develop plans to:

• Reduce or eliminate restraining forces.
• Add or strengthen the driving forces.

The documentation of these actions becomes your account plan.

This is a very logical, effective process, as long as the plan remains a living document, not something that sits in a drawer or a forgotten file folder, unused or outdated.

Obtaining Referrals:

Consider these stats:

• 84% percent of B2B decision-makers start the buying process with a referral, and companies with referral programs report 71% higher conversion rates. (Source: Heinz/Influitive)
• 91% of customers would be willing to provide a referral to a company or brand they are satisfied with. However, only 11% of salespeople actually ask for referrals (Source: the Dale Carnegie organization)

It’s no surprise that I saw a statistically significant uptick in referral-seeking behavior from the top performers I studied.

Customer Value Reviews:

The difference in the number and quality of Customer Value Reviews (you may think of them as Quarterly Business Reviews or QBRs) between top performers and others in my analyses, was significant. Top performers consistently:

• Plan and conduct these meetings strategically.
• Get the right people involved—on both sides.
• Work to make their Champion and key decision makers the heroes of the story (and when possible, get them to present or report the value from the company’s perspective in front of their bosses).
• Use these meetings to uncover or address any problems or issues, to increase satisfaction and foster loyalty.
• Explore growth opportunities.
• Ask for referrals.

The frequency of these meetings varies. You may hold them monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annually based on account size, importance, and objectives. But top performers always hold these meetings and conduct them using the methods taught in Sales Call Planning and Sales Meeting Management, while adhering to their Account Plan.

The meeting venue may vary from visiting the customer site, to inviting them (periodically) to the rep’s company HQ, to conducting the meeting over Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or Cisco Telepresence—again, varying based on the size, importance, and objectives for the account.

Other Modules That Apply

• All of the modules in Core Principles apply to Account Management

While not originally presented for account management, most of the modules in the Opportunity Management section and some in Prospect Development are highly relevant. That’s why this section only contains four dedicated modules. It’s not that there isn’t more to managing accounts effectively, it’s just that the other concepts and skills have already been taught. For example:

• Sales Call Planning and Sales Meeting Management
• Conducting a Situation Assessment (from Discovery).
• Navigating the Buyer Landscape.
• Co-creating Solutions.
• Communicating Value (and being able to tell a POSE Value Story).
• Nurturing your key contacts (versus prospects).
• And more.

A Note About Negotiating

If you negotiate price and/or terms, this is a critical skill that is often neglected in sales methodologies. I don’t teach it in the The CoNavigator B2B Sales Mastery course because I believe it is a separate skill set and that selling should be completed before negotiations begin. If you fail to establish value before you negotiate, you will always give away more than necessary. (Savvy and better-trained B2B buyers know this and push sellers to negotiate early and often).

I do, however, have a negotiation program that covers both:

• Tactical negotiation: I call this the “put your hand on your wallet” method. It teaches sellers how to protect themselves from common tactics and gambits.
• Collaborative, win-win, partnership-style negotiating: This is always the goal, though success depends on the buyer’s mindset.

Some buyers want a collaborative partner to forge win-win solutions, and others simply want to wrestle you to the ground. With TCM, you’ll be prepared for both.

Whatever programs you choose, if your sales team negotiates prices and terms, don’t neglect training your sales force on professional negotiation.

My one caution to you: select something focused on B2B buying situations that teaches how to identify, deflect, and redirect tactics or gambits toward a more collaborative, win-win, approach (often referred to as integrative negotiation). Negotiating hostage situations is not the same as a buyer-centric B2B selling environment, nor is using manipulative techniques from the 1980s. While some of these outdated methods are still currently popular, they’re not the direction I believe we should be taking our profession. Caveat emptor.

Closing Thoughts

How did you do? Or, if you’re in leadership or enablement, how are your sellers doing? Does your current sales methodology address all of these differentiators? Does it cover the full customer lifecycle? What are your sellers best at and where can they improve?

Higher levels of adoption of a formal sales process and sales methodology result in higher revenue plan attainment, higher rep quota attainment, and higher win rates. – CSO Insights

Since we know this from multiple sales research studies, it’s worth your attention and focus.

It’s also true that most methodologies only cover part of the customer lifecycle, leaving gaps where sellers “do their own thing” instead of mastering best practices. That means there’s opportunity for improvement—and better results.

In my experience, these mindsets, skills, and behaviors have a cumulative effect. The more things you do well, and the more you demonstrate that you operate in your buyers’ best interest, the more trust and goodwill you build. As a bonus, that trust makes it far more likely you’ll survive a mistake and be forgiven.

I hope this has helped you reflect on how your sales methodology and sales force compare to what the best-of-the-best top performers do differently.

RESOURCES

Research

• The Fifth Annual Sales Enablement Study from CSO Insights (ungated; with the data cited in this newsletter). This includes
  key insights on methodology adoption and revenue impact.
• The Top-Performer Analysis Deck (ungated). This is a summary of the process I used to conduct TPA.

Related Newsletters

• A Collection of 12 Newsletters & 5 Videos on B2B Selling (Process + Methodology)
• How to Ensure Sales Methodology Coverage Across Your Customer Lifecycle
• How to Adapt & Optimize Your Sales Methodology Based on Buyer Context
• What Top-Performer Analysis Taught Me About Adaptive Selling
• Buyer-Centricity is Not an Excuse to Avoid Selling!

Need Advice or Want Help?

Want to improve methodology coverage or boost seller performance?

Connect or DM me on LinkedIn or scroll to the bottom of this page: https://www.mikekunkle.com/services to request a meeting or send me a message.

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About Mike

Mike Kunkle is an internationally recognized expert on sales training, sales effectiveness, and sales enablement. He’s spent over 30 years helping companies drive dramatic revenue growth through best-in-class enablement strategies and proven-effective sales systems—and he’s delivered impressive results for both employers and clients. Mike is the founder of Transforming Sales Results, LLC, where he designs sales training, delivers workshops, and helps clients improve sales results through a variety of sales effectiveness practices, sales systems, and advisory services. Mike collaborated with Doug Wyatt to develop SPARXiQ’s Modern Sales Foundations™ curriculum and also authored their Sales Coaching Excellence™ and Sales Management Foundations™ courses. His book, The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement, is available on Amazon, and The CoNavigator Method for B2B Sales Mastery will be published in 2026.