Unlimited Time, Zero Altitude
Hot Take: urgency lives where threat is concrete. Fear fades, threat compounds.
Happy Fourth of July
A quick pause before the fireworks: take the break. Close the laptop. Enjoy the people around you. Then come back with fresh eyes…because the work we do next matters more than ever.
The Takeaway
Twelve thousand sales roles disappeared last over the last couple weeks—first at Microsoft, then Amazon. Both companies said the same thing in different words:
“AI can handle what most reps do today.”
Activity is no longer job security. Capability is.
Capable reps surface a risk the C-suite already feels.
They frame it before another vendor (or an AI assistant) does.
That early insight still commands margin. Everything else collapses to price.
The Real Lesson – Where Human Sellers Win
AI adds capacity by the hour: instant research, auto-drafted outreach, proposal templates.
What it cannot add is these four capabilities that protect margin:
How Revenue Path Group closes the gap
Prepare — threat-framed narrative tied to the buyer’s top priorities
Equip — a Priority Pitch that earns altitude and defends price on slide one
Develop — daily practice in Navi so upstream conversations become instinct
Try This — Capacity Audit in 15 Minutes
Print last week’s calendars for every seller.
Highlight minutes spent on tasks AI could do today.
Total the time. If the number scares you, pick one rep and coach threat framing for thirty minutes.
Re-check next week—did they book one higher-level meeting? If yes, repeat. If no, coach again.
Small lifts in capability compound faster than any AI plug-in.
In the Wild
As usual, we tracked some great conversations on LinkedIn last week. Here’s some of the takeaways:
Door-knock to dog-risk
A post showed a pest-control rep winning attention by surfacing a threat to the homeowner’s dog, not pushing discounts/benefits. Lesson: relevance climbs when you anchor risk that already matters.
AI ≠ Differentiation
One post claimed AI adoption is now a competitive advantage. We disagree. It’s the baseline. The only differentiator left is how your team uses AI to deliver unique insight early—before the RFP drops.
“How Can I Help?” Debate
A popular thread said curiosity beats pitch. We agree… but only if curiosity surfaces a board-level risk. Otherwise AI can ask the same polite question at scale.
Sales Team ≠ Marketing’s Execution Arm
A popular post praised sales teams that simply “execute the playbook.” That’s a red flag. Teams that just execute lose margin. Teams that challenge, question, and reframe the playbook win upstream.