Sales Today

In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast , Fred Copestake challenges one of the most accepted assumptions in B2B and engineering sales:   That an RFP or tender represents the start of an opportunity.   The reality?   By the time an RFP reaches your inbox, many of the most important decisions have already been made.   Fred explores why tender-led sales processes often create pricing pressure, red...

In this first short episode of the Sales Today Mini Series,   Fred Copestake explores a challenge many sales teams are currently facing:   Why does it feel like sales teams are doing everything "right" - yet deals still move slowly, margins tighten, and opportunities stall?   Fred explains why the issue often is not capability, effort, or product quality. Instead, the real friction comes from a gr...

You've just come back from a trade show. You're exhausted, your feet hurt, but you've got a list of leads. It feels like progress. But here's the uncomfortable truth most of those people are not going to buy. Not because they're bad leads. But because that's not why most people attend trade shows. They're there to explore, learn, compare, and figure things out. And that single shift in perspective...

This episode of The Sales Today Podcast is a little different - a live webinar recording where Fred Copestake breaks down a practical approach to closing more sales without compromising how you do business. At the heart of it is a simple idea: ethical selling isn't about being "nice" or "soft"… and it's definitely not about making things complicated. It's about finding the balance - what Fred call...

In this episode, Fred is joined by Gearoid Cox, founder of Sales Pipeline, to explore why selling feels harder in a world full of noise, new vendors, and empty promises.   From early-stage founders doing all the selling… to the challenge of building trust when buyers are more cautious than ever, this conversation digs into what actually helps sales teams stand out today.   The big theme running th...

What really happens when a top salesperson gets promoted into leadership?   In this episode, Fred is joined by Amanda Downs , Director of Commercial at The Uspire Partnership and author of Step Up to Sales Leader , to explore the challenges of moving from individual contributor to sales leader.   From letting go of old habits… to leading former peers… to creating the right structure for growth, th...

What if selling wasn't about speed… but about timing?   In this episode, Fred is joined by Mark Kempf, author of Unfurl Your Sales , to explore a different approach to selling -one that is gradual, progressive, and deeply personalised.   From slowing down to speed up… to building relationships that last decades, this conversation challenges the pressure to rush and reframes what effective selling...

The way buyers buy has changed - but most sellers haven't. In this episode, Fred is joined by Steve Knapp (co-founder of PLAN.GROW.DO) to explore what the Buyer Revolution really means for modern sales. From buyers being 83% through their journey before speaking to you… to why most sellers are preparing for the wrong conversation - this episode challenges traditional thinking and offers a more pra...

In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake is joined by Marc Baladi, sales and senior leadership coach, and co-host of the podcast Beyond Enough.   Together, they explore a challenge many people in sales quietly face: feeling overwhelmed, behind, or not good enough - even when they're capable and putting in the effort.   Marc's argument is simple but powerful:   You are probably no...

In this episode, Fred Copestake is joined by Ollie Whitfield of Slingshot Content to explore a sales tactic that surprisingly few salespeople use: running webinars themselves .   While marketing teams often lead webinars, salespeople can use them as a powerful way to stand out, demonstrate expertise, and create valuable conversations with prospects.   The key is doing them well.   Not product demo...

In this episode, Fred Copestake is joined by Ollie Whitfield of Slingshot Content to explore a sales tactic that surprisingly few salespeople use: running webinars themselves .   While marketing teams often lead webinars, salespeople can use them as a powerful way to stand out, demonstrate expertise, and create valuable conversations with prospects.   The key is doing them well.   Not product demo...

In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake speaks with Alex Nicholls-Gray, founder of The Prospect Experience Company, about why the prospect experience has never been worse and what salespeople can do to fix it.   With automation tools and AI making it easier than ever to send thousands of messages, buyers are overwhelmed with generic outreach across email and LinkedIn. The result...

Fred is joined by Mark Young , whose LinkedIn headline says it all: "A cat person helping technical AI founders earn trust before the first call."   This episode is a lively (and refreshingly sceptical) conversation about why so much LinkedIn advice is formulaic, outdated, or simply irrelevant - especially for technical founders and specialists who need trust, not vanity metrics.   What you'll lea...

In this episode of The Sales Today Podcast , Fred Copestake is joined by Sebastian Hidalgo, co-founder of DURINDAL and creator of the SWAT method - a sales framework influenced by hostage negotiation principles.   Fred admits he's often sceptical when crisis negotiation gets blended with commercial sales, so this becomes a lively, grounded conversation: what genuinely transfers, what doesn't, and...

In this episode, Fred is joined by Tom Ridley , an AI sales coach , for a refreshingly grounded conversation about AI in sales.   Instead of racing through a list of tools, Tom makes a different point: AI isn't the story - being human is. The real value of generative AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) is that it removes the admin-heavy work salespeople hate and frees them up to do what matters most: hav...

In this episode, Fred is joined by  Chelsea Burns - marketing psychologist, brand ethicist, and non-manipulative marketer to explore where ethical marketing and ethical selling overlap… and where they can go wrong.   Chelsea introduces a practical way to draw the line between persuasion and manipulation: Agency - a person's genuine ability to choose. From there, the conversation goes deep into rea...

In this episode, Fred is joined by John Richardson , Co-Founder and Director of Coaching at My Sales Coach , to explore a key question: how do you get faster, more meaningful results from training and coaching?   Their answer is simple but powerful: start with the right assessment.   They unpack why great coaches are always assessing (without judging), how the right diagnostics can shorten the pat...

In this episode of The Sales Today Podcast , Fred Copestake is joined by sales thought leader, author, and one of the kindest people in the profession, David Brock .   Together, they explore David's new book "Is Good Enough, Good Enough?"   and why it's not another "do this, do that" sales methodology book. Instead, it focuses on the mindsets and behaviours that separate high performers from those...

In this episode of The Sales Today Podcast , Fred Copestake is joined by communications and speech coach Susie Ashfield , author of Just F**king Say It and a third-time guest on the show.   This is an "emergency podcast" sparked by a moment on LinkedIn: Susie posted a video where she stumbled and left it in. No polishing. No AI. No pretending.   Because as AI-generated content gets smoother, faste...

In the final episode of the Sales Today mini-series, Fred Copestake and James Michael step back to answer a deceptively simple question: Has selling really changed? The answer is both yes - and no. This closing conversation brings together the themes explored across the series and reframes selling not as persuasion or pressure, but as something far more human, thoughtful, and aligned with how buye...

In Episode 4 of the Sales Today mini series, Fred Copestake and James Michael tackle a growing tension in modern selling: the contrast between SaaS-led sales thinking and the realities of selling in CEMMT industries - construction, engineering, manufacturing, mining, and transport.   At the heart of the discussion is Fred's work on Ethical Selling and why ethics isn't an abstract concept, but a pr...

In Episode 3 in this five part mini series of Sales Today Podcast , Fred Copestake and James Michael explore a question that challenges another long-held belief in sales: do great sales conversations succeed because of personality - or because of process? This episode looks at how the most effective salespeople consciously select their mode during conversations, switching between listening, questi...

In Episode 2 of the CEMMT Sales Series, Fred Copestake and James Michael challenge one of the most persistent stereotypes in sales: that success comes from being loud, charismatic, and constantly talking.   Focusing on technical and specialist industries such as construction, engineering, manufacturing, and logistics, this episode explores why many highly capable professionals feel uncomfortable w...

In this opening episode of a 5 part mini series of Sales Today , we do things a little differently.   Instead of the usual host-led interview, Fred Copestake is in the hot seat as James Michael turns the tables and leads the conversation. Chatting from opposite sides of the world – Fred in the UK and James in Australia – the discussion reflects a wider theme of this episode: sales has been turned...

In this solo episode, host Fred Copestake conducts a live, first-reaction review of the My Sales Coach "State of Sales Coaching in 2026" Report .   Fred reads the executive summary, explores the data, and offers unfiltered commentary on what the findings mean for sales leaders, salespeople, and the future of coaching - human and AI.   He dives into coaching frequency, quality, barriers, performanc...