The 1:1 System That Builds Top Performers [Webinar]
The 1:1 System That Builds Top Performers
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[Video Recording]
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[Research Report]
Most sales call introductions fail because they sound exactly like sales call introductions.
You know the one. “Hi, my name is Lauren and I’m calling from XYZ Company, we’re the leading provider of blah blah blah…” The prospect checked out three seconds in. They’re scanning emails, mentally planning dinner, and looking for the fastest way off the phone.
That’s not a conversation. That’s a pitch disguised as a greeting. And it’s killing your pipeline.
After 20+ years of training Fortune 500 sales teams, I can tell you this: the reps who book the most meetings aren’t the ones with the best pitch. They’re the ones who get the prospect talking before they even realize they’ve taken a sales call.
Here’s how to use AI to craft a sales intro that’ll engage your prospects and get them talking.
Nobody wants to feel “salesy.” That word makes people cringe because of the stereotype: pushy, aggressive, slimy. A HubSpot poll found that only 3% of people trust salespeople. (Still just above politicians, so there’s that.)
But here’s what most people forget. Buying is fun. Think about the last thing you bought that made you genuinely happy. If buying feels great, then helping people get there should feel great too.
Selling is connecting one on one with another human to help them accomplish their goals. That’s the real definition. When you reach out to a prospect who’s stuck between “maybe” and “do nothing,” you’re not being pushy. You’re helping them get past the analysis paralysis. You’re making it easier to solve their problem.
Less than 10% of buyers will close themselves without any human help. That’s a lot of money left on the table because nobody picked up the phone.
WATCH: AI Sales Intros That Capture Leads in 30 Seconds
I know. You’d rather just email or DM people on LinkedIn. It’s more comfortable. It feels less intrusive.
It’s also three times less effective.
The noise in inboxes is deafening. Even with AI-personalized outreach, written messages alone don’t cut it anymore. The most efficient sales prospecting strategy uses all channels: social, email, and phone. But if you want the biggest results, you have to call.
Here’s the math. If you carve out one hour a day to reach out to 20 leads by phone, you’ll talk to one or two of them. Do that five days a week and you’ll touch 100 leads, have 5 to 10 real conversations, and rack up more than 200 first-base conversations in a year.
How many do you have now?
Research from CEB shows that 53% of the time, buyers will choose the seller who was first to add value. Not just first to reach out. First to actually be useful. That’s the key. Being first without adding value doesn’t work. Volume plus value does.
And here’s the thing most reps don’t realize: it takes 8 to 12 attempts to actually reach a decision maker. But nearly 50% of sellers give up after just one call. Less than 2% will make more than six. If you persist, you will be the first one to have a real conversation with that buyer. That’s a massive competitive advantage.
Before we build a better intro, let’s talk about what’s broken. And let’s be clear: don’t be like every other rep who shows up and throws up. You know the ones.
Pickup and Pitch. “Hey, my name is Lauren and we’re the leading provider of this and that and I can da da da…” They just pitch. It’s pickup and pitch, and it gives sales a bad name. They didn’t pick up the phone to get pitched at. They picked up because they thought it was their kid’s school calling.
“Are you the person in charge of…?” I’ll lie to you to get out of having a sales call. This one screams sales call so loud that your prospect will say anything to end the conversation.
The Value Prop Intro. “Hi, this is Lauren. I’m calling with #GirlsClub, and we’re the premier community for women in revenue to get promoted faster.” Ugh. Shut up. I did not pick up the phone to hear your positioning statement. This is another very popular bad intro.
“Just calling to introduce myself.” Your mom might care. Nobody else does.
“Just calling to touch base.” Drum roll please. This is the most often used intro line in sales, and it’s horrible. Don’t touch my base. Don’t touch anything.
All of these fail for the same reason. They make the call about you. Your company. Your product. Your agenda. The prospect doesn’t care about any of that yet.
DOWNLOAD: 20 Value-Add Reasons to Call Your Customers
SWIIFT stands for “So, What’s In It For Them”. It’s a call introduction framework designed to capture attention, get the prospect talking, and start a conversation before they realize they’ve taken a sales call.
A good SWIIFT intro does three things:
The goal of your introduction is not to pitch. It’s not to gain credibility. It’s not to check off items on your call sheet. The goal is to get them talking. Because the second they start answering questions, they stop doing email. They stop multitasking. Now you’re in a conversation, and you’re on first base.
Here’s the formula:
That’s it. No pitch. No product description. No “let me tell you about our award-winning platform.” Just enough to start a conversation.
The ear perk is the secret sauce of the SWIIFT intro. It’s one short sentence that hits a value your prospect actually cares about. We call them the SWIIFT Six:
And the bonus lever: a name. When someone hears “Mark in Legal asked me to give you a call,” they instantly give you credibility. Levers like referrals, mutual connections, or internal names are the most powerful ear perks you can use.
Pick one. Just one. Your instinct will be to cram your entire value prop into this sentence. Resist. When I teach this in workshops and ask people what they remember from each other’s intros, they always say the same thing: one word. “Risk.” “Easier.” “ROI.” That’s all they heard. Don’t overcomplicate it.
You can use AI to help pick the right lever. Ask ChatGPT or your AI tool of choice: “Which of these six business values would a VP of Sales care most about?” or “What does a working mom in operations value most?” Then build your ear perk around the answer.
Here’s where I’m going to go against what every sales training has ever taught you.
Most sales trainers say always ask open-ended questions. And in discovery calls, that’s great. But on a cold call introduction, open questions are a disaster.
Think about it. Your prospect wasn’t expecting your call. They’re busy. They accidentally picked up. And now a stranger is asking, “What’s keeping you up at night when it comes to hiring?” Their brain tries to process it, can’t come up with an answer fast enough, recognizes you’re a salesperson, and decides to get rid of you.
Instead, use closed questions. Yes or no. A number. One or two words.
There’s a scientific phenomenon called instinctive elaboration. When someone asks you a question, your brain stops what it’s doing and hunts for the answer whether you want it to or not. If I ask, “How old are you?” a number popped into your head just now. That means it’s halfway out of your mouth.
Closed questions exploit this. They’re fast, they’re easy, and they get the prospect talking before they’ve had time to put up a wall.
Compare these two:
Option A: “You’ve got over 50 sellers on your team these days, right?”
Option B: “How have you and your team managed to attack virtual onboarding ramp times given that they’re getting longer at most companies I work with now that work is remote?”
You stopped listening in the middle of B. So did your prospect. A is the winner, every time.
Let’s put it all together. Here are two complete SWIIFT intros side by side. One works. One doesn’t. If you’re using AI to generate intros, this is how you evaluate what it gives you.
Option A: “LB here with Factor 8. I’m calling to see if I can help your team hit quota sooner. Are you primarily B2B there? Do you outbound or inbound? How many sellers under you?”
Option B: “LB here with Factor 8. We’re the leading provider of virtual sales skills for inside sales teams. We work with companies like yours to shorten new hire ramp. Is that interesting to you?”
A is the winner. Hands down.
A leads with one value (hitting quota sooner), then immediately gets the prospect talking with three fast, closed questions. B leads with a company pitch and ends with a question that’s basically asking the prospect to reject you.
“Is that interesting to you?” is an invitation to say no. “How many sellers under you?” is an invitation to have a conversation.
Now here’s what it looks like when you add a lever:
“Mark? LB here with Factor 8. Your VP of Sales asked me to give you a call and I promised him I would. Have you worked with David for a while now? Are you running inside sales or field sales for him? How many reps on your team?”
That’s three easy questions. By the time they answer the second one, you’re in a conversation and they’ve forgotten they accidentally picked up a sales call. That’s first base.
AI is a fantastic tool for generating SWIIFT intros. But it’s a starting point, not the finish line.
Here’s how to use it well. Feed your AI tool these inputs:
Then ask it to generate a SWIIFT intro under 10 seconds with one value-based ear perk and two to three closed questions.
DOWNLOAD: The SWIIFT℠ Intro AI Prompt
What you’ll get back will be close. But you’ll need to do two things: cut it shorter (AI loves to be wordy) and make it sound like you. Read it out loud. If it sounds like a brochure, rewrite it. If it sounds like something you’d say to a friend’s colleague at a barbecue, you’re golden.
The best reps use AI to generate five or six variations, pick the best one, and then practice it until it feels natural. That’s the move.
Before you pick up the phone, run your SWIIFT intro through this checklist:
If you can check every box, you’re ready. If not, shorten it, sharpen the value, and simplify the questions.
Get the Conversation, Not the Pitch
You can’t close more deals until you talk to more people. You can’t talk to more people if your intro sounds like every other sales call they’ve gotten this week.
Stop leading with your company name, your product features, or your credentials. Start leading with what’s in it for them. Be SWIIFT. Keep it under 10 seconds. Get them talking. And remember: the goal of the intro isn’t to sell anything. It’s to start a conversation.
Because nobody ever bought anything during a sales call introduction. But plenty of deals started with one.
“I never asked!”
Margaret, a CMO, shared a phenomenal story at her company’s “Gals in Sales” event in Seattle.
In a previous role, she was asked to interview candidates to be her new boss. But halfway through the process, she realized…
“I can do this job.”
Problem was, she’d never let anyone know.
Margaret’s story isn’t uncommon. We see this all the time with high-performing sales reps and managers. They’re doing great work, hitting goals, and showing leadership potential… but they’re not actually communicating what they want next.
More than one-third of #GirlsClub participants say they hesitate to ask for development or discuss their career goals for fear of wasting people’s time. This fuels the “Confidence Gap” that HP identified a few years ago, showing that women tend to wait until they feel 100% ready before raising their hands for a role, while men often do so at around 60%.
What you may not realize yet is that Margaret is amazing. Microsoft. Intel. Wharton. Northwestern. I’m feeling more and more inferior as I type this. Ladies, if Margaret felt intimidated to raise her hand, it’s more than fair for the rest of us to feel that way too.
But this story has a different ending.
Because Margaret found the courage (I call this putting on my big girl pants) and asked her boss to be considered for the position.
Please note:
She didn’t complain that she wasn’t considered.
She didn’t blame him for the experience of interviewing people she felt less qualified than.
She didn’t assume she was being disrespected or marginalized.
She simply realized she hadn’t communicated and fixed it.
And his reaction?
“I had no idea.”
Margaret quickly found her way to the top of that organization and others. I won’t say it starts with raising your hand, because it doesn’t. It starts with being exceptional, working hard, having great ideas, following up. You know, all the things you’re already doing.
But the next part of your story starts with raising your hand and communicating what you want. Because confidence isn’t just personal, it directly impacts your performance, visibility, and career trajectory. If your manager doesn’t know what you want, they can’t help you get there.
Not sure how?
Check out our webinar, “Earn That Promotion: Asking For It The Right Way,” where we cover not only how to throw your hat in the ring, but the earlier step of letting people know you even have a hat and want to learn more about the ring. (And yes, this is something we coach sales teams and leaders on all the time.)
In summary, I hear this story over and over. Why aren’t there more women in sales?
Sure, there’s bias in job descriptions. There are still boys’ clubs that make us feel like outsiders. The numbers aren’t always in our favor.
But we are often our own biggest blocker.
If you’ve read this and haven’t talked with your boss in the past six months about where you want to go in your career, make that appointment.
Not to demand.
Not to complain.
Not to convince.
To discuss, learn, absorb advice, and consider.
This is one of the simplest, most overlooked skills we see in sales organizations. The people who grow fastest are the ones who communicate early and often about where they want to go.
It’s step one.
And it certainly worked for Margaret.
Scale revenue-driving behaviors with Gong Enable. Turn every rep into a top performer with enablement powered by real customer conversations. Gong uses conversation data to pinpoint winning behaviors and drive data-backed behavior change across your revenue team.
Check out their guide, ROI of sales enablement: Using AI to prove business impact, to tie enablement initiatives to growth.
Sales metrics are your early indicators, your coaching roadmap, and your proof of sales training ROI.
They show you what’s working, where your team needs help, and whether your sales training investment is actually paying off.
But not all metrics tell the full story.
Activity is easy to measure and quota attainment is easy to celebrate. But by themselves, those numbers don’t tell you if reps are building skills, progressing deals, or gaining the confidence to hold real sales conversations.
That’s why we’re breaking down the top sales metrics to track by role.
Because every sales position contributes to pipeline and revenue in different ways, and tracking the right metrics helps you spot success earlier, coach more effectively, and tie enablement wins to revenue.
Here are the roles we’ll cover:
Let’s take the guesswork out of performance and start measuring what matters.
Confidence shows up in activity. Skill shows up in conversion. That’s why the best BDR metrics don’t just tell you how many calls they made, but what actually happened after they hit “dial.” You won’t measure all of these, but pick 2-3 that are easily reported in your world. Focus on quantity and quality.
These metrics help you go beyond the mindset of “more dials = better rep.” You’ll see who’s dialing scared, who’s winging it, and who’s actually applying the skills from training.
When BDR/SDR training is working, reps get more voicemails returned, keep prospects on the phone longer, and confidently set next steps. These are your first signs that sales training or coaching is making an impact.
READ: How to Keep Prospects on the Phone
Inside Sales Reps do it all: prospect, qualify, demo, and sometimes close. That’s why tracking ISR performance requires more than just activity. You need to know if they’re creating pipeline, overcoming early objections, and setting up seamless handoffs (or closes).
*SaaS companies will track a few additional standard metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost, Lifetime Customer Value, MRR, and Customer Churn.
These metrics show you how effectively ISRs are turning conversations into qualified opportunities and moving deals through the pipeline. They help pinpoint where in the sales process training can create the biggest lift.
When ISR training is working, you’ll hear better discovery calls, improved demos, stronger objection handling, and confident next steps. And you’ll see it in stage-by-stage conversions in your pipeline.
READ: Call Bridging 101: Paving the Way for a Follow-up Sales Call
AEs get judged by the number, but that doesn’t tell the full story. You can close a big deal and still be losing pipeline behind the scenes. That’s why it’s critical to track not just what they’re closing, but how they’re progressing deals, and where they’re getting stuck.
These metrics give visibility into each stage of the sales cycle so you can see where deals are progressing smoothly and where they may need coaching or additional support to move forward.
When account executive training is working, you’ll see cleaner pipeline stages, stronger discovery, and tighter forecasting. It’s less “I think it’s coming in” and more “Here’s where we are, here’s what’s next.”
WATCH: How to Fix the Top 5 Mistakes Made During Sales Demos
Account Managers and Customer Success Managers are the face of your brand after the deal closes. But renewals and growth don’t come from check-in emails and good vibes. These reps need to earn trust, uncover new opportunities, and consistently demonstrate value. That’s how you keep customers, and grow them.
Here’s what to track:
These metrics provide a clear picture of account health and growth potential, helping you spot risks early and identify where strategic conversations can open new opportunities.
When account manager training is working, you’ll see AMs running stronger account reviews, finding new revenue inside existing customers, and proactively addressing risks before they become churn. They’re not just retaining customers, they’re growing wallet share, keeping renewal pipelines clean, and avoiding last-minute surprises.
READ: How to Ask Existing Customers for a Sales Referral
Good managers build great reps. That’s why your manager scorecard should go beyond team quota and focus on how well they coach, develop, and retain talent. The best metrics show whether their reps are getting better, faster, and sticking around. You don’t need all of these, but pick a few that help you measure both leadership impact and team performance.
These metrics measure a manager’s impact on team development, consistency, and overall performance, giving you insight into both leadership effectiveness and team health.
When sales manager training is working, you’ll see faster ramp times, stronger forecast accuracy, and more reps hitting quota consistently. Team skills improve quarter over quarter, retention goes up, and promotions happen more often. Great managers coach with purpose, run effective meetings, and keep their teams performing without the burnout rollercoaster.
READ: Build Your Sales Manager Cadence (& Save Time and Stress)
Tracking the right sales metrics isn’t just about managing performance, it’s how you prove what’s working, where to coach, and when your sales training is actually paying off. Whether you’re investing in new training programs or reinforcing skills with your current team, these metrics are your clearest window into what’s driving real behavior change and revenue impact. Because when you can connect skill development to pipeline movement, you’re not just improving performance, you’re proving sales training ROI.