Should you quit sales and become an influencer?

Published: Wed, 01/29/25

Updated: Mon, 02/03/25

January 29, 2025

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning Quota readers, and congratulations on (almost) making it through the first month of 2025! In this meticulously-designed issue, we’ll look at how voice tone and rhythm can influence customer decision-making, share a Sales Fail about getting undercut for a job, and give some advice to a rep who wants to become an influencer, with all the bells and whistles in between. So sit back, enjoy, and let the sales content coarse through your body like caffeine on a Friday morning.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

3/4

Almost 3/4 of B2B customers say their relationships with sales professionals feel transactional in nature.

Source: Salesforce

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

A 37-year-old Florida man was arrested over the weekend after allegedly attacking a door-to-door home security salesman who was walking in his neighborhood. The victim advised that he had approached a house belonging to a man, identified in the report as Christopher Michael Ort, approximately 30 minutes before the physical altercation occurred. You can read more about what happened here.
Technology giant Oracle has announced their newest foray into the AI-sales-tech world, introducing AI agents designed to streamline tasks for sales professionals. According to Oracle, the agents specialise in specific functions, such as updating records after customer meetings and compiling detailed reports to assist with deal negotiations. The agents are available to customers starting this week at no additional cost. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

Acoustic Selling: How Voice Tone and Rhythm Can Influence Purchasing

Vocal characteristics can dramatically influence purchasing decisions, sometimes more significantly than the actual content of sales conversations. Albert Mehrabian, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA coined the 7-38-55 rule from his research that found communication is 7% words, 38% vocal, and 55% nonverbal. It’s difficult to pick up on nonverbals on Zoom and impossible over the phone, so let’s dig into that critical 38% of vocal communication.

The Neurological Impact of Voice

Researchers at the University of Glasgow found that speakers with voices in the lower-middle frequency range were consistently rated as more authoritative and trustworthy. In sales contexts, this translates to a tangible competitive advantage (perhaps try making cold calls as soon as you wake up while you still have your raspy morning voice).

More surprising, researchers at McGill University found that people form critical impressions about a speaker within 0.2 seconds of hearing their voice. This instantaneous judgment means that how you sound in your opening pitch is more important than what you say in that very first breath.
So how should you sound? Remember these two vocal influence factors:

Pitch Modulation: Voices with natural variations signal engagement and confidence. Extreme monotones (like you might hear from a rep reading off a script) or erratic pitch changes can make prospects skeptical and will send them running.

Speaking Rhythm: The pace of speech significantly impacts perception. Research from Gong.io found that the best sales reps speak at a pace of about 110-125 words per minute — which is about the same pace as a casual conversation you’d have with a friend. Moderate, measured speech patterns create a sense of confidence and reliability. Rapid speech can inadvertently signal nervousness or lack of preparation (sorry Gary Vee).

Practical Acoustic Selling Strategies

Try these techniques to sound more professional and build rapport with prospects when talking on the phone:

Resonance Matching: Subtly align your vocal characteristics with the customer's communication style. This creates an unconscious sense of compatibility and trust.
Emotional Calibration: Develop the ability to modulate emotional undertones while maintaining authenticity. The goal is to create a genuine connection, not manipulation.
Strategic Pausing: Intentional moments of silence can create psychological space for reflection and increase perceived thoughtfulness.

Voice is far more than a mere communication channel. It's a sophisticated psychological instrument capable of influencing how your leads perceive you (or rather hear you). By understanding and intentionally designing vocal interactions, you can create deeper, more meaningful customer connections.

Above all, however, the most successful sales conversations are those that sound effortlessly human—make sure you’re comfortable and confident in yourself, your customers can hear it in your voice.

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MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

Which car brand did record-holding car salesman Joe Girard sell for between 1963 and 1978?

A. Chevrolet
B. Ford
C. Toyota
D. Rivian

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

This was probably one of the most painful "fails" I've had in my career. I have my own general contracting business. A few years ago, I was bidding on a big job for a new residential development. I was friendly with one of the guys on the decision-making committee and he told me that I was practically a shoo-in to get the contract.

I was pretty excited and that night I went out to dinner with 3 of my other buddies who were also in the GC business. We all met through working different jobs together and had been passing each other jobs back and forth for years whenever someone was too busy and didn't have capacity to take on more work. Well, like I said, I was pretty excited about the job and the drinks were flowing that night so I ended up telling (maybe I was bragging a bit) everyone at the table about it and how much money I was going to make. Everyone seemed happy for me. I picked up the tab and we all went home.

3 weeks later, I got a call from my contact at the development company and he told me that they ended up going with a different contractor who came in at a much lower price. I found out it was one of the guys I had dinner with. I had been doing business with this guy for 15 years and he undercut me because he knew what I was bidding on the project. We were friends. We'd have dinner at each other's houses. Our wives had become friendly... and this guy completely snaked me for one big job. I couldn't believe it. I kept calling him but he wouldn't return my calls. I went to his house one day and knocked on his door but he never answered. I saw him a year later at a restaurant and he came up to me to apologize but I just told him to F off.

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- January 2025

WORTH A PEEK

Business podcasts are filled with execs spewing their career advice through rose-colored glasses. But how did they overcome the lows? Listen to the first episode of the new Show Me You Know Me® Show to hear host Sam McKenna interview Jess Szmadja about how she went from college dropout to GM at Amazon.

Listen now

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I've been selling for a few years now. I started right out of college. I really do enjoy my job and make a good living. But I've always wanted more freedom over my life and have been working on developing my social media presence as a fitness content creator over the last year, making educational and humorous gym content. I'm hoping to one day quit my job and fully support myself as my own boss doing something I'm truly passionate about.

I showed my fitness page to one of my coworkers who is also into lifting and he encouraged me to keep doing it. Well, word got around the office and a bunch of my other coworkers have seen my page and they've been making fun of me behind my back. I don't really care what they think, but my sales manager caught wind of it and told me I had to stop as it's "unprofessional" and not a good representation of the company as clients will google my name and might see my videos.

I'm not sure what I should do here. I'm thinking about quitting and going full time into trying content creation. But I'm not making any money from it yet. Would I be crazy to quit? I'm also worried that I'll fail and lose my opportunity to grow in my sales career. What should I do?

Unsure in Arizona

Dear Unsure,

Do you have 6 months of living expenses saved up? If you do and you really want to give content creation your full effort, go ahead and quit. If you fail, you can always find another sales job. If you don't have a financial safety net, you can:

1) Start interviewing for a new sales job—one that doesn't object to your side hustle. This is the best option as you'll be able to have a (somewhat) consistent income until you can monetize your content creation.

2) Suck it up for a few more months. Do what your manager says and live below your means to save up as much money as possible. Best of luck!

Quiz Answer: A. Record-holding car salesman Joe Girard sold for Chevrolet between 1963 and 1978 (you can read the source article here)

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Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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