Read Time = 4 minutes
There is obviously a lot of talk & hype currently all around AI, especially in the tech sales world - from Anthropic to OpenAI.
It is allowing orgs to mass blast emails, automate CRM functions, & do all the account research for sales reps in minutes. You can now have an account’s tech stack, key decision makers, any recent funding & news, open roles, and anything else you would want in 5 minutes…. rather than 5 hours doing this manually as a rep.
It is a great to time to be a tech sales rep.
However.. this isn’t what will take reps to the top of the leaderboard. Everyone has access to it nowadays, every competitor has the same buying & intent signals, and has a very similar strategy as you do.
But, do you know what will make the best sales organizations in 2026 & moving forward?
It can build trust faster than any perfect email can describing all their pains & what they need.
Moving forward I think it is all going to be about getting in-person.
Now that everything is more remote, automated, and behind screens, actually showing up will be a massive edge in sales cycles & building champions.
These things are cyclical.
Everything used to be in-person & people like my Grandparents can’t wrap their brain around how I work remotely. Then we had a huge push for remote work in the early 2020s… obviously. We as humans are now more connected than ever. At this very moment you are reading this… the human race has never been more connected (at least that is how we understand it 👽).
However, at the same time we are very disconnected. Human touch is a real thing. Shaking hands, getting to read body language. There are A TON of human cues that we miss in a remote world.
This week I spoke to a guy at my gym who owns his own IT-shop. Once a week he goes around town and stops into local shops. He says hi, introduces himself, and hands them his business card. He told me that his phone doesn’t stop blowing up from people reaching back out when they need IT help.
The beauty of all of this is that most people won’t do it. That is why it works. The few that get it & are willing to put in the time to visit them in person is what will separate them from all of their competition.
My company now makes it a requirement for the reps to fly out & see their champions, EBs, and other important stakeholders when a deal gets to the contracting stage. Typically this is over dinner or an event, but sometimes it is golf. It really doesn’t matter as long as there is human touch.
This is also where the real negotiation can happen. The ‘off the record’ conversations without anything being recorded. It’s where you can discover things that might blow up the deal.
So, as we continue to a become a more remote society, in-person interaction will only become more valuable.
If you are interviewing for a new role, trying to join a new company as a sales rep, ask this during the interview process.
ie. “Do you have budget / plans to get sales reps in-person with their prospects to help close deals?”
Believe it or not this is an incredibly important question & conversation to be had. If companies aren’t willing to do this going forward, I would have some serious reflection on whether the org is truly willing to do anything to get the deals across the finish line.. because if they’re not, then I wouldn’t be so sure I’d want them in my corner.
Something to think about. Go get in-person.
Until next week.
– Rook ♜
ps… I respond to all messages