Quick thing before we get into it.
This week I kept coming back to the same idea: most of the problems I write about (the activity trap, the weak CTA, the ICP built from vibes and a LinkedIn filter) aren't really about tactics. They're about what happens when nobody stops to ask whether the thing we're doing is actually connected to the result we want.
We're very good at being busy. Significantly less good at being honest about whether the busyness is working.
And the conversation where someone looks at the dashboard and says "wait, none of this is connected to pipeline" is the one that almost never happens until it's too late to do much about it.
That's what this issue is about.
Also, Cynthia Handal says something later this week that will make you want to forward it to your entire leadership team. Keep an eye out.
This Week on the Blog
Post 04 · Targeting
Your ICP Is a Lie.
Marcus has 9 tools telling him who his ICP is. He has zero opinions about it. Last quarter: $340K pipeline, 0.4% reply rate, 6% meeting-to-opp. The stack is working perfectly. The problem is the human stopped doing the part the tools can't do.
Read the full postFree Tool · Frameworks
The Pipeline Health Diagnostic
A 12-signal scan that tells you exactly where your pipeline is leaking, and what to do about it. Covers the four things that actually matter: Coverage, Velocity, Conversion, and Source Mix. Built for leaders and reps. Takes about two minutes. Considerably more useful than your last pipeline review.
Read the full postFeatured Interview · Vol. 01
Coming later this week
An interview with Cynthia Handal
Sales leader. Enablement coach. The person who said the quiet part loud about micromanagement, women in sales, and why the title everyone's chasing might be the thing that makes them miserable. She added that last part unprompted. I'm glad she did. She didn't give me packaged answers. She gave me real ones. Keep an eye out, it's worth the read.
Run This Monday · ICP Audit
The ICP audit. Run this before you build another sequence.
Pull your last 20 closed-won deals. Pull your last 10 churned accounts. For each one, answer these three questions, not from a dashboard, from memory. If you can't, that's already the answer.
- 01
What triggered the buying decision?
Not the industry or the headcount. The thing that changed at the company in the 60 days before they took the first call. That trigger is your ICP. The firmographics are just the wrapping paper.
- 02
Why did the churned accounts churn?
Churn data is ICP gold and almost nobody uses it. The segments that keep churning at six months don't belong in your ICP. Your scoring model doesn't know this. Your renewals team does. Talk to them.
- 03
What signal would have told you the timing was right?
Funding, hiring spike, leadership change, competitor churn. That list of signals is your ICP's signal layer. Feed it into your scoring this Monday and watch what changes about who you're actually calling.
73%
Of B2B buyers say outbound messaging feels less relevant than two years ago. More tools. More automation. Less signal. The answer isn't more infrastructure.
Gartner B2B Buyer Report · 2026
Unsolicited Recommendations
Podcast · The Revenue Builders Podcast
Sales leadership, GTM strategy, hiring, operating models. More executive than tactical, which is exactly why you should be listening. If you want to sound like you understand the whole revenue engine and not just your lane, this is the one.
Apple Podcasts
Book · Gap Selling by Keenan
Stop pitching. Diagnose the problem. This book is essentially the manual for everything we talked about in the urgency post, finding the gap between where a buyer is and where they want to be, then making that gap impossible to ignore. Required reading if you coach reps on discovery.
Amazon
Website · Cynthia Handal
Our interview drops later this week, but go follow her now so you're not behind. She says the things most people in sales edit out before they hit publish. Her website is worth a proper browse too.
cynthiahandal.com
One Bad Joke · Except It's Not
This is not a joke. This is a pipeline review.
Same thing.
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