Building Your Sales Engine

Sales prospecting is never urgent until your pipeline is empty — Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford break down the habits, blocks, and manager moves that make prospecting consistent before it becomes a crisis. Sales prospecting is the number one constraint sales teams name year after year, and Josh Pitchford's line explains exactly why: "Prospecting is not urgent until it is." In this episode, Mark Mc...

Getting your CS team to sell starts with mindset, not skill — Steve Popp breaks down how customer success and service teams are being handed revenue responsibility, and how to make the transition stick. Getting your CS team to sell is one of the biggest shifts happening in sales right now. Revenue responsibility is moving away from traditional selling roles and landing on customer success, custome...

Head trash — the self-limiting beliefs salespeople carry — quietly kills more deals than any competitor, and simply recognizing it cures about 70% of the problem. Head trash is the psychological baggage salespeople drag into every call, and it costs more revenue than any pricing objection ever will. In this episode, host Mark McGraw sits down with co-host Josh Pitchford to work through a list of 5...

The habits of elite sales managers, unpacked in a full workshop replay — how the best sales leaders control their day, coach strategically, and build systems that make their teams self-sufficient. Elite sales managers don't work harder than everyone else — they run a different operating system. In this episode, Mark McGraw shares a full replay of his sales manager workshop on the habits of elite s...

Sales mastery isn't luck — Rob Fishman breaks down the 5 stages every top performer moves through, from first awareness to the "empty mind" of a seasoned pro. Sales mastery follows a predictable path, and in this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, Mark McGraw sits down with 18-year Sandler veteran and accomplished pianist Rob Fishman to map all five stages of it. Drawing on parallels from clas...

Relationship curiosity is the secret to connecting with anyone — Sandler's Rich Isaac reveals how making the conversation about them makes you unforgettable. Rich joins host Mark McGraw to unpack the deceptively simple mindset behind his uncanny ability to build rapport with prospects, clients, and complete strangers alike — without awkward small talk or a pushy sales persona. Rich shares how his...

Customer success is the new revenue engine — Mark McGraw, Kelly Ross, and Steve Popp unpack how to turn CS teams into commercially-minded contributors without losing trust, identity, or the client relationship. Customer success teams are being asked to drive revenue — and CROs are making it the #1 priority for 2026. In this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, host Mark McGraw sits down with Kel...

A 38-year sales management veteran breaks down his six-facet framework for building and running a high-performing sales team. In this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, host Mark McGraw sits down with Pete Fasulo -- a 38-year sales management veteran and fractional sales manager -- to unpack his six-facet framework for running a high-performing sales team. From hiring the right reps to discipl...

The movable middle — that 60% in the center of every sales team — is where leaders win or lose the year, and Kelly Ross joins Mark McGraw to unpack exactly how to elevate them. The movable middle is the 60% of your sales team that decides whether your year is great or just "okay." In Episode 62 of Building Your Sales Engine, host Mark McGraw sits down with Sandler enablement leader Kelly Ross to b...

A friendly, no-pressure tour of practical AI use cases for sales -- shared not by self-proclaimed experts, but by fellow learners passing along what's actually working. AI use cases for sales don't have to feel overwhelming. In this webinar-style episode, Mark McGraw opens up the toolbox and walks through a wide range of practical ways he and the Sandler Sales Engine team are using AI -- with one...

In this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, I sit down with Josh Pitchford to discuss the intricacies of team selling. We delve into strategies for managing the chaos that often arises when multiple team members participate in sales calls. Learn how to effectively prepare through pre-call planning, ensuring each member knows their role and how to contribute. We explore the importance of maintai...

In this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, I sit down with Steve Popp to delve into the critical topic of driving adoption within sales organizations. We explore the challenges sales leaders face when implementing new initiatives and the importance of prioritizing effectively. Steve shares his insights on how to engage team members, crowdsource ideas, and establish a culture of buy-in for new...

Discover why sales forecasts miss the mark -- and how curiosity, skepticism, and clear future commitments can fix your pipeline accuracy for good. Happy ears have ruined more sales forecasts than bad markets ever will. In this episode, Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford break down the real reasons sellers miss their forecasts -- starting with the dangerous habit of hearing only what they want to hear...

"If you're not committed to doing the work to get to a goal, don't set the goal. Because all you do is hurt your self-esteem and hurt your confidence." Discover the critical difference between desire and commitment -- the two ingredients of the will to sell that determine whether your sales goals drive you forward or drag you down. Every sales manager has seen it: a rep who knows what to do but wo...

"If you don't have a system, it's backyard football, after Thanksgiving dinner, everybody go out there and get open. You score touchdowns every now and then, but there's too much on the line to play backyard football." Discover why having a proven sales system beats winging it -- and how it transforms results for sellers and managers alike. Most salespeople default to the buyer's process without r...

Learn how to put a dollar amount on any sales problem -- the skill that justifies investments, creates urgency, and helps buyers sell internally. Quantifying pain is one of the most powerful skills in sales, yet most sellers avoid the financial conversation entirely. In this episode, Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford break down why putting a dollar amount on a problem changes everything -- from justi...

Discover the hidden weaknesses that sabotage sales hires -- and how assessments reveal the sales DNA that resumes can't show. Hiring the right salesperson is harder than it looks. 72% of salespeople say the job was misrepresented after they were hired -- and most hiring managers focus on technical skills while ignoring the beliefs and mindset that actually predict success. In this episode, Andy Mi...

In this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, I delve into the significance of conducting effective discovery calls. Joined by my colleague Josh Pitchford, we explore why many sales professionals struggle with this crucial aspect of the sales process. We discuss the common pitfalls of falling into pitch mode too early, the importance of understanding the prospect's needs, and how to avoid the tra...

Master WIMP Junction—the Sandler concept that separates top sellers from those who give away leverage—with a 5-step framework to stay in control of every deal. WIMP Junction is the Sandler concept every seller needs to master: that fork in the road where you either follow the buyer's system and lose leverage, or maintain control of your sales process. When prospects say "Can you send a quote?" or...

Inversion thinking helps sales professionals anticipate failure before it happens, creating prevention rules that guarantee goal achievement. What if the secret to hitting your sales goals was visualizing failure instead of success? In this episode, Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford explore inversion thinking, a powerful three-step framework that flips traditional goal-setting on its head. Instead of...

Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford reveal the six essential checkpoints every seller needs to crush their goals and start the new year with confidence. Are you ready to hit the ground running in the new year? In this milestone 50th episode, Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford break down the six critical areas every sales professional must address to start strong and finish stronger. From setting stretch go...

A proven 5-step framework for setting and achieving goals—from removing clutter to celebrating success along the way. Most people fail at goals because they start without a foundation. Dustin Schadt has developed the REACH method—a framework that helped him mentor 18 people, with 16 earning promotions, raises, or recognition as top performers. As a sales leader with 27 years in packaging, Dustin b...

Summary: The 7 biggest lies that keep salespeople stuck—and how to replace them with a winning mindset that closes more deals. Description: Mark McGraw sits down with Josh Pitchford to break down the 7 biggest lies that keep salespeople from reaching their full potential. From believing your job is to educate prospects to thinking you need to win every deal, these mindset traps are costing you sal...

How to build a repeatable channel sales engine—from partner selection to enablement to metrics—with a 30-year channel sales veteran. Selling through channel partners without a system feels like that old vibrating football game—everyone's running around hoping to score. John Rosati has spent 30 years building channel sales engines that create predictable revenue, and in this episode, he reveals exa...

Why traditional therapy can make emotional triggers worse—and how neuroscience-based techniques dissolve limiting beliefs in minutes, not years. What if reliving your past trauma actually makes it stronger? Rochelle Carrington explains why traditional approaches to emotional healing can deepen the very patterns you're trying to break—and reveals a faster, neuroscience-based alternative. As a coach...