This past week, three themes kept showing up across the sales teams I’m working with:
- Discount requests
- Meeting agendas
- Pitch decks
None of them are tactical issues. They’re discipline issues.
Discounting
If your first move in negotiation is a discount, you don’t have a pricing problem.
You have a value problem.
Strong sales teams:
- Lead with value, not price
- Bundle before they discount
- Time-limit any pricing flexibility
- Always trade something in return
And most importantly…
They understand that discounts are not a favour. They are a commercial lever. Used deliberately.
Meeting agendas
If you don’t set the agenda, you don’t control the meeting.
Own the calendar invite.
Send a Proposed Agenda.
Add “Any other business” to show flexibility.
It sounds basic.
But disciplined agenda-setting increases meeting quality, stakeholder alignment, and deal progression.
Control the meeting and then control the momentum.
Pitch decks
If your pitch deck is 20 slides, it’s not a pitch. It’s a brochure.
You only need three things:
- Who you are (proof, scale, credibility)
- The value you create
- How you work
Clear. Visual. Aligned to marketing. Anything more is noise.
Sales success isn’t about doing more. It’s about being more deliberate.
If any of these are live issues in your team right now, we should talk.
https://www.youtube.com/@Steve-Victor
#SalesLeadership #RevenueGrowth #CommercialDiscipline #Negotiation #SalesStrategy
