Founder & CEO @ Close
I call it the squeaky wheel fallacy: When you run a startup, there will always be vociferous customers and team members. They’ll be very vocal about all the challenges, problems, and struggles they encounter with you. And because they ask for your attention, they get it. On the other hand, there are those that are …
If you’re the kind of ambitious person that’s always looking ahead, there might be one thing you can do to grow even more: reflect on your successes and count your blessings. In today’s episode, I share how I train my brain to be grateful for the good in my life—both profesionally and personally. I’ve never …
Thousands of people apply join my team at Close every month. Lots of “why you should hire me”-style pitches coming my way. Once you’re on the receiving end of screening job applications, you realize: CVs suck. Almost nobody is good at writing CVs—even badass marketers and great sales people are surprisingly bad at it. I’m …
The future of work is going to be more and more remote. Not just for designers, developers, and marketers, but also to sales people. But you can’t execute the same remote playbook that you applied with your remote engineering team—sales is a very different kind of work, and sales people are uniquely different creatures. There …
Prefer to just listen? Here’s the audio-only version: Steve Jobs wasn’t the only person who could create reality distortion fields. Most really good sales people do it all the time. And while it can be a great blessing in life—it can also be a curse. I know this from firsthand experience. At some point, you become …
What are you grateful for today? It’s one of the most important questions I ask myself every day. I once said that appreciation is the currency we pay the universe with—and I still think that’s true. So at the end of each day, I ask myself: Have I paid what I owe? Have I settled …
No matter what you sell and who you sell it to—sales ultimately boils down to a transfer of emotional energy. That’s how you win deals; by changing the way people feel about buying your solution. Everything else is not a sale—it’s merely a transaction. And the kind of sales person that is basically a “transaction …
Have you ever been in the middle of negotiating a deal, trying to close a contract, and then something stalled the deal—but you didn’t know exactly what? Maybe the client has gone quiet and is unresponsive even after you’ve followed up multiple times already. And you’re starting to get worried. Has this deal fallen apart? …
If you’re facing a lot of rejection, here’s an old-school hack I learned early on in my sales career. You might have heard this before: The trick is to just turn every rejection as a stepping stone on the way to your goal. Work out the math. If out of 100 people you ask for …
Most of us are spending too much time searching for a better way of doing things, and not enough time actually doing them. Yes, there might be a better, more efficient way to lose weight than eating more broccoli and breaking a sweat at the gym. Eating better and working out more works. And it …
It’s one of the most valuable skills in my life: The ability to get rejected, and keep moving on. In today’s episode, I share my principal thoughts on dealing with rejection. Most importantly, how to not let rejection slow down your momentum. If you feel that your reaction to rejection has been holding you back …
Content is so obvious, so often. Useless. No value. Yet, others are touched, amazed, impacted, and inspired by the most obvious truth of content consumed. Different people, perspectives, and points in their content journey: Sparks interest Generates surprise reaction Feels compelled to share message Challenge of crappy vs. quality content: Practice creating and sharing content …
The first time I knocked someone down during a fight, they collapsed and couldn’t continue sparring. I‘m not bragging or super tough, but it felt good. It inflated my ego. My opponent was younger, shorter, bulkier, muscular, and aggressive. Every gym has a few of them. Those guys who didn’t get the memo that sparring …
Here’s a Steli Efti exclusive just for you! Never, ever, ever stop in the middle. I’ve given that piece of advice several times, but never publicly; until now. No matter what you’re doing—a sales presentation, keynote speech, podcast recording—finish it. Keep going, even if your inner voice tells you to stop: This isn’t going well. …
It’s late at night. I’ve been waiting for hours to be produced. Be excited. Be motivated. To create content! Before you start a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel, ask yourself: Why do I want to put myself out there? Why do I want to create content for other people to consume? Can I make a …
When creating and preparing for speaking engagements, my process is brief, but painful. I suffer a lot during each “joy of birth,” but always follow the same formula: Open laptop, open PowerPoint, and think about what to say. It’s fun for me to step on a stage and interact with the audience. I’m good at …
Welcome to the first episode of The Steli Efti Podcast. Steli is the co-founder/CEO of Close.io, startup/entrepreneur advisor, and author of The Ultimate Startup Guide To Outbound Sales. Once again, Hiten Shah, is by Steli’s side to offer support and content. Hiten has successfully started two SaaS companies, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. He’s also an …