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

Hosted by Josh Shirley

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Aug 2026

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About the show

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

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60 recent

September 3, 2026Episode 8832 min

Episode 88 - The Pizza Tracker Rule: Why I Retired From Following Up

In 2008, Domino's had a problem. Customers kept calling to ask where their pizza was. The obvious fix was answering the phone faster. Instead, Domino's asked a different question: what if the customer never had to call in the first place? They built the Pizza Tracker. Within two months, a million people used it. Six months ago, Josh asked himself the same question about his sales process: what would I do differently if I could never follow up again? On this episode, he and Dave break down the five things that changed. They cover why most upfront contracts sound professional but don't actually define what gets decided, what separates a real clear future commitment from a polite "let's stay in touch," why BAMFAM (book a meeting from a meeting) has to happen before you hang up or it doesn't happen at all, how a quick post-sell step after every yes keeps a deal from quietly unraveling, and why the most successful email in most sequences is usually the last one, and what happens when you send it first. By the end, you'll have a five-step way to build follow-up out of your process instead of getting better at doing it. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real stories, real tactics, and zero fluff. New episode every week.

August 27, 2026Episode 8725 min

Episode 87 - 4 Steps to Turn Vague Buying Signals into a Real Commitment

In 1961, President Kennedy didn't tell the nation he'd like to try to get to the moon sometime. He said the country would land a man on the moon before the decade was out. A deadline. A commitment. And on a hallway visit to the Space Center, he asked a janitor what he was doing. The man didn't say he was mopping the floor. He said he was putting a man on the moon. That's the difference between a maybe and a clear future commitment, and it's the whole subject of this episode. Josh and Dave break down why phrases like "we're ready to move forward" or "we'll circle back after we talk internally" feel like agreement but carry almost no information. They bring in Robert Cialdini's research on restaurant no-shows: when reservation lines changed one question, from "call us if you need to cancel" to "will you call us if something comes up?", show-up rates jumped, because one is a passive request and the other is an actual commitment the person has to agree to out loud. We dive into SVIC, a four-step tool for turning vague buying signals into commitments you can actually build a forecast on: Summarize what you heard Validate it with the buyer Identify how important it really is to them Capture the specific next step. By the end, you'll know exactly what to listen for to tell a real commitment from a polite maybe, and a simple mechanism to make sure the ones you get actually stick. Sales Tales is the sales training podcast built on real stories, real tactics, and zero fluff. New episode every week.

August 20, 2026Episode 8639 min

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

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.

August 11, 2026Episode 8539 min

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

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.

August 5, 2026Episode 8434 min

Episode 84 - The Four-Week Plan to Get Out of a Sales Slump

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

July 28, 2026Episode 8338 min

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

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.

July 21, 2026Episode 8225 min

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

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.

July 14, 2026Episode 8132 min

Episode 81 - The Inbound Lead Trap: Why Interest Doesn't Mean They're Ready

You're stranded on the side of the road. Three tow truck companies get the call. One answers right away. One takes four hours. One doesn't call back until next Thursday. You already know who you're using. That's the standard every inbound lead is holding you to, whether you like it or not. In this episode, Josh Shirley and Dave break down the four ways interest lands in your lap: the web form fill out, the voicemail callback, the referral, and the trade show booth stop, along with the mistake that trips up sellers on almost every one of them, treating someone's excitement as permission to skip the process. A demo request doesn't earn a demo. A referral doesn't earn instant trust. Josh and Dave walk through real scripts for slowing each of these moments down, from a stranger calling back off a cold voicemail to a networking contact who "already knows all about you." Plus, how to use mini upfront contracts so the ask for a meeting doesn't feel weird. 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.

July 7, 2026Episode 8040 min

Episode 80 – The KARE Framework: A System for Managing Every Account in Your Territory

80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. Most sellers already know this. What they don't have is a system for managing the other 80%. In this episode, Josh and Dave introduce the KARE framework — a four-quadrant model for managing every account in your territory with intention, not just the ones you're comfortable with. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the Pareto principle creates a comfort zone trap for salespeople, and how most territories quietly shrink because of it The four KARE quadrants: Keep, Attain, Recapture, Expand, what each one means, and who belongs in each Why your Keep accounts and your Expand accounts aren't the same thing, even when they look like it, and the questions that tell you which is which How to think about Recapture accounts, including former customers you didn't lose, customers whose key contact moved to a new company, and accounts that are slipping from Keep into decline Why the Attain quadrant is where most sellers spend the least time, and why that's the most expensive habit in the business How your calendar is the real test of your territory priorities, and what it means if 80% of it is focused on keeping what you already have The business objective questions that turn account servicing into account growth This episode is for account executives, account managers, territory managers, and any seller who manages an existing book of business and wants a system for growing it, not just protecting 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, handle objections, and think like a top performer, you're in the right place.

June 30, 2026Episode 7940 min

Episode 79 – Three Pressure Points That Make or Break the Meeting

Steve Jobs had a working iPhone prototype weeks before launch. His engineers said ship it. He switched to Gorilla Glass at the last minute, causing an operational nightmare and changing the world. That stubbornness is what Josh Shirley calls equal business stature, and it shows up in three very specific moments in every sales meeting. In this episode, you'll learn: Why agreeing to a shortened meeting almost always produces a worse outcome than rescheduling, and how to frame the reschedule so it lands as being in the buyer's interest What's actually happening psychologically when a prospect cuts your time, and how the parent, adult, and child ego states fight for control in those three seconds Why "can you stay a few more minutes?" feels like a win and why it almost never is How to redirect a buyer's overtime energy into the next meeting without losing momentum What "go talk to my team" actually signals, and the one move that keeps you from abandoning the relationship that got you in the room Why equal business stature has nothing to do with your LinkedIn profile, your title, or your product knowledge, and everything to do with how you respond to pressure This episode is for account executives, sales managers, and anyone who has ever agreed to a bad 30-minute meeting because they were afraid to lose the deal. 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, handle objections, and think like a top performer, you're in the right place.