Josh Braun

Be the mint scoop in a sea of vanilla sales messages so you can start more conversations with skeptical prospects.

I created the Badass Growth Guide to eliminate commission breath. It gives you the best possible chance of starting conversations with people you don't know. It's a radically honest approach where prospects feel safe telling you the truth because they don't feel "sold" or "manipulated."

💥WHAT YOU GET:
➡️ More conversations with your ideal prospects.

I post weekly content about sales on LinkedIn.  
👍Like the content? Follow me. 👍

❤️I DON'T KISS AND TELL, BUT MY CLIENTS DO ❤️
"In one year, Josh has helped my company grow from 10 enterprise customers to over
200 with brand names like Twitter, Viacom, and Brown University" - Claire Coder, CEO at Aunt Flow

"We’ve got about 40 new meetings out of the training you provided." - Chris Murray, CEO at Oomph Inc.

“I used the email template from your playbook and it worked. I got to the decision-maker in one email and ultimately got the sale.” - Richard P. Perrott, WatchTower

💥NEWSLETTER💥
Join my list to get tips on being a red ❌ is a sea of white circle sales messages. 
https://joshbraun.com/newsletter/

💥WORKSHOPS💥
I facilitate workshops on two things: (1) cold calling + defusing objections (2) cold emailing. Inquire here -joshbraun.com/connect

💥PRODUCTS💥
THE BADASS B2B GROWTH GUIDE
https://courses.joshbraun.com/p/badass-b2b-growth-guide

POKE THE BEAR COLD CALLING METHOD
https://courses.joshbraun.com/p/poke

The Discovery Call Course
https://courses.joshbraun.com/p/discovery

TONGUE TIED SALES OBJECTION FLASHCARDS
Know what to say when prospects put you on the spot.
https://gumroad.com/l/objectionflashcards

💥INSIDE SELLING PODCAST💥
Learn sales tactics and strategies that will help you sell without selling your soul. 
Listen here -https://joshbraun.com/podcast
Learn more at joshbraun.com

Founder

Are you sending lots and lots of cold emails but getting little to no responses?

Wish you could start more conversations with skeptical prospects?  

Wish granted: https://academy.joshbraun.com/p/badass-b2b-growth-guide

Email me: josh@joshbraun.com

I pay $1,490 for Kit.

Today I tried to export my newsletters.
The articles I wrote. 

And Kit throws up a paywall:
“Upgrade to Pro to export.”
 $2,490 a year.

Translation:
 “If you want access to your own work, that’ll be an extra thousand bucks a year.”

There’s something gross about that.
Not annoying.
Not inconvenient.
Gross.

Any platform that locks creators out of their own content isn’t a partner.
It’s a landlord charging rent on the house you built with your own hands.

This isn’t “Creator Pro.”
This is “Creator Pay More.”

And once a company shows you how they see you,
not as a customer, but as a captive revenue line,
you don’t unsee it.

If my content needs an escape hatch, something’s wrong.

I'm out. 

Has a platform ever tried to charge you for your own work?

Struggling to book meetings? Getting ghosted? Want to sell without pushing, convincing, or begging? Read this profile.

Self-deprecating humor is underrated in sales.

Not the “I’m terrible at my job” kind.
The light, human, disarming kind.

I use it all the time with the rule of three.
Two expected options.
One unexpected one.

Like this:

“Would you be open to sharing what held you back, was it 
price, timing, my receding hairline?”

People laugh.
And when they laugh, they relax.

It drops their guard.
It evens the playing field.
It shows you’re confident enough to poke fun at yourself.

When you go first with a little vulnerability, they usually meet you halfway with honesty.

Six ways I practice patience.

1. At the grocery store, I choose the longest line.
Not to suffer, but to notice the part of me that wants to rush.
Standing still rewires the habit of hurrying.

2. When someone’s upset, I drop the instinct to fix.
Instead, I mirror what I see.
Naming their feeling allows it to breathe.

3. When a friend shares something that doesn’t interest me, I lean closer.
I listen as if the moment itself were the teacher.

4. When I’m looking for a parking spot, I take the one far away.
The walk slows me.

A small rebellion against convenience.
A reminder that life isn’t about getting to the front first.

5. When traffic stops, I stop with it.
The frustration is optional.
Traffic is just traffic.
My reaction is the turbulence.
Sometimes I imagine an accident ahead and silently hope everyone’s okay.

6. When I’m pitched the moment I accept a connection request, I pause.
Instead of feeding irritation, I watch it rise and fall.

Everyone is doing the best they can with the playbook they were handed.
Their rush reminds me to slow down.

We call it a “pitch slap” when in reality it’s words on a screen. 

Patience isn’t about calming down.
It’s the practice of staying with what is
even when your mind is already reaching for elsewhere.

I talked to a door-to-door pest control rep the other day.

I asked him how he stays motivated.
How he keeps knocking in the heat, the rain, the rejection.

He smiled and said:

“The law of averages.
If I knock on 50 doors, I know I’ll get three customers.
Some reps get more because they’re better.
Some get less because they’re newer.
But everyone has a number. And once you know your number, the job gets simple.”

That hit me.

Because most of us try to control the outcome.
The yes.
The contract.
The close.

But the truth?

You don’t control who opens the door.
You don’t control who says yes.
You don’t control the timing in someone else’s life.

All you control is how many doors you knock on.

And when you shift your focus from the outcome to the inputs
from the yes to the attempt
from the close to the conversation
selling gets lighter.

You stop taking rejection personally.
You stop gripping so tightly.
You start trusting the process.

Know your number.
Do your reps.
Let the rest take care of itself.

Imagine meeting someone for the first time and they stick their tongue down your throat.

That’s what it feels like when you start a cold call by pitching.

It’s too much too soon.
You don’t know me.

The way out?

Calm down.

Start by detaching from the outcome.

Why?

When your intent is to get a meeting you say things that feel pushy.
Intent shapes behavior.

And when you don’t get the outcome you expected you feel rejected.

Same intent.
Same behavior.
Same feelings.
Same results.

When you detach, you shift from selling to sorting.

Your intent becomes discovering if there is a potential problem, not assuming there is one.
Zero expectations.

Instead of sticking your tongue down the prospect’s throat, you lean back.

Instead of pitching, you ask a neutral question that illuminates a potential problem. Like this:

Help?
John?
Yes.
Hi John, this is Josh. Full transparency, this is a cold call. Mind if I ask you a question or would you prefer to hang up? Either one is totally fine. I know you were not expecting it.

Sure, what’s your question?

Are you still making coffee at home or do you pick it up on your way out?

I make it at home. 

A bit out of left field…
Coffee machines have lots of spots where bacteria like E. coli, staph, and strep can grow, especially the spout, water tank, K-cup slot, and drip tray. How do you usually keep yours clean?

Then you shut the front door and listen.

Some people lean forward.
Some don’t.
That is cold calling.
There are no objections to overcome.
Either they have the problem or they don’t.
Either way, it is okay.
You calmly call the next person.

Calm calling begins the moment you stop needing a yes.

Different intent.
Different behavior.
Different feelings.
Different results.

Salman Mohiuddin

Enterprise Account Executive, Marketing Cloud (Financial Services)

Helping sales pros + teams build healthy pipeline to close more deals faster | Sales Coach + Trainer @ SSA | 17 years as a quota carrier | ex-Salesforce, Asana and IBM | Interview Ace

Problem before Product. 

17 years of tech sales experience as an SDR + AE at Salesforce, IBM and Asana all as an individual contributor. There’s more 👉

Currently Founder at Salman Sales Academy.

#1 Sales Influencer in Canada 2025 (source: Favikon)

Coaching and training AEs, SDRs, BDRs + sales teams to find and close more deals.

Started as an SDR in 2006, moved to AE in 2007.

6 years at IBM
- SDR 
- SMB + MM AE
- small Enterprise AE

7 years at Salesforce
- MM AE (new logo)
- Enterprise AE

2.5 years at Asana
- Enterprise AE 

2 years at startups 
- SMB AE (new logo)
- Enterprise AE

I currently coach + train AEs, AMs, BDRs, SDRs and Sales teams on prospecting, problem enablement, discovery, demos, deal strategy and interviews.

DM me for:

- 1:1 Sales coaching 
- Sales team coaching + training for your company
- 1:1 Sales interview consults to help you land an offer
- Speaking engagements or sessions for your company
- Podcast guest 


✅ Widely recognized as a master prospector & hunter

✅ Experienced in consultative selling to C-level, Information Technology (IT), Marketing, Ops, HR and more.

✅ Sales Interview Ace - the interview playbook I've built has resulted in an 80% success rate in interviews

✅ Possess an Honors B.A., Economics

[Sales COACHING]

➡️ Problem Enablement [build confidence in truly understanding your persona and the problems your solution solves for]

➡️ Prospecting [cold email, cold calling, warm calling, objection handling]

➡️ Discovery [full 5-step discovery framework to help lead your calls with confidence and in the flow of the conversation]

➡️ Demos [full demo framework, engaging demos, justifying spend, taking control of deals, PoC/Pilot strategy, etc…]

➡️ Deal Strategy [multithreading, uncovering power, executive alignment + engagement, quantifying pain, business case, negotiation, dealing with objections throughout cycle, taking control of your deals, champion building, mutual plans, forecasting, etc...]

➡️ Interviews - I've refined my interview playbook that has help 80+ folks land offers [interviews, mock cold calls, mock discovery, mock presos, territory plans (that will wow a hiring manager)]

I've built an entire Sales playbook from prospecting to close in everything in between based on my 17 years of experience as an individual contributor in tech sales.

No fluff. All actionable sales insights and content, with real examples, that you can start using right away in your role and see immediate results.

Check out the coaching programs and testimonials here:  www.salmansales.com

or DM me. Happy to help.

Helping AEs, SDRs + Sales teams find and close more deals. 🚀 Boosting income and revenue. 

17 years of tech Sales experience, all as an individual contributor. I've been in your shoes as an SDR, Commercial, and Enterprise AE at companies like Salesforce, IBM and Asana. In the trenches. Exceeding targets. Even in economic downturns.

Documenting all of my learnings, I've built out a Sales playbook. Now I want to give back to YOU.

I teach individual contributors + Sales teams on how to sell better, exceed targets, boost income / revenue, and accelerate growth. All with actionable Sales content and insights that you and your team can start using right away. Seeing immediate results.

My AVP at Salesforce to me on last day of the fiscal year: “Thank you for not listening to me.” 😐

Let’s roll the clocks back 9 months prior.

I took over an account. Not just any, but the largest bank in the country.

My AVP - who was the AE on the account years ago - pulled me aside my first few weeks in role and said, 

“Salman, just take down the small deal in this account. We’ve sold them almost everything.” 

Not exactly what I wanted to hear from my AVP when I took over the account.

They’d already invested quite a bit with us, I get it. But I had a quota to hit. A big one.

Nobody thought we could sell them more. 

There was a small opp… and they recommended I just take it down

and move on.

……………………………………………..

Well, here’s what I did to prove them wrong 👇


BACKGROUND CHECK

- spoke to the CSM, SE, Core teams
- specialists, external partners, SI’s, etc…
- to get the lay of the land across the account


- identified a segment that had whitespace
- it was their Wealth management division


BUILT A POINT OF VIEW

- did some initial digging and discovery
- built PoV on how they may be losing rev to competiton
- because of insights not captured in real-time on digital channels


STARTED WITH THE PROBLEM

- focused on this business challenge
- uncovered a exec priority at risk because of problem
(increased market share)


MULTITHREAD

- the PoV + disco helped gain meetings with Dir/VPs
- leveraged our internal x-functional teams
- SE, CSM, Business Value, Product mgmt, etc…


VALIDATION + ALIGNMENT

- business problem, impact to the business
- uncovered metrics important to each stakeholder 
- how said metrics were being affected by problem
- impact to business if nothing actioned on


CUSTOMER’S BEST INTEREST BEFORE OURS

- shared pros and cons to each option
- options included ones that wouldn’t work in our favor
- we didn’t take one side or other, which built trust


CO-CREATED BUSINESS CASE

- with our champion
- got buy-in from each stakeholder


MUTUAL PLAN

- which was truly MUTUAL 


NO BUDGET WAS ALLOCATED

- we uncovered a problem that put a priority at risk
- they dug up budget from other areas of business

………………………………………..

The result?

Our champion achieved the 1% club, because of the impact the platform had on their segment.

I closed one of the largest deals of my career 

because our internal teams worked together to solve a big problem.

Hit almost 200% of my number (when I was told to take down the small deal)


The deal came on the last day of the fiscal year and the AVP sent me a message,

“Thank you for not listening to me”

………………………………………………………

I took my AVP’s statement at the start of the year as a challenge.

Don’t let a few words stop you from accomplishing something you believe you can do.

Helping Sales Pros Close More Deals + Crush Quota | 17 Years as an AE | ex-Salesforce, IBM + Asana | Founder, Salman Sales Academy | #1 Sales Influencer in Canada 2025

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

If I started a new AE role tomorrow, I wouldn’t open the CRM.

I wouldn’t review the product slides (for now). 
I wouldn’t watch demos of features & function. 

Here’s what I would do instead in my first two weeks (and why it works) 👇


1. Find the top 3 AEs in the org
 Buy them a coffee (virtual or not) and ask:
 → “What are you doing that others aren’t?” → “What would you do differently if you had to start over?”
 I used to let ego get in the way of these convos.
 I realized: replicating what already works saves you months of trial and error.


2. Skip product enablement (for now)
 You’ll get flooded with features anyway.
 Start with problem enablement.
 Build a simple doc:
 → choose 3-5 buyer personas → list out real problems they face
→ (not capabilities, jargon or buzzwords)
→ understand how they typically tackle them today → map out the negative impact on them and business  → identify what metrics they care about/how affected 
Document how those problems show up in their world.
 This helps you speak the prospects language, when everyone else is just pitching features.

Prospects will think “this person gets me”.


3. Study your competition (and status quo) 
Not just from a deck, go deeper:
 → where they win → where they fall short → what your product does better → what problems your differentiators actually solve

👆 that last one is the most important
 You can’t stand out if you don’t know what you’re up against.


4. Master 3 customer stories
 Not surface-level. Break it down:
 → what problem were they facing → what negative impact it had (think metrics)
→ bonus points if there was a priority it put at risk → what changed after they used your product → what were the positive business outcomes

(make the champion the hero)


5. Meet your internal teams
 SDRs, SEs, CSMs, Legal, Deal Desk, Partner team, etc
 Ask them: “What can I do to make your life easier?”
 It builds trust fast, and that pays off when deals get complex.

…………………………………

Do these 5 things and you won’t just ramp up super fast 
you’ll build your internal brand.


P.S. Problem Enablement (2) is an absolute game changer… my clients ramp up SO much faster

Got a verbal from a prospect, “We’ve decided to move forward with your platform.” My response:

“Sounds great! I’ll send over an order form later today.”

I forecasted the deal for the month and told my manager the good news.

Got the internal approvals and sent it out.

One day passed. Nothing. Two days. Crickets.

Finally got a hold of them:

“When can we expect a signed order form?”

Prospect: “It’s not that simple. We’ll need to go through vendor approval. You’ll also be hearing from InfoSec to fill out some forms. Plus, we need to get in touch with legal to discuss the MSA.”

Me: “How long do you think that’ll take?”

Prospect: “I’ve seen it take as little as 6 weeks and as long as 6 months.”

Head down. I had to break the news to leadership on a deal I’d committed

👆 This situation happened more than once for me earlier in my career. Lesson learned.

................................................

Don’t assume a deal is done because a prospect gives you the thumbs up.

It’s on us to uncover their buying process, early.

You could try something that sounds like this:

You: “Linda, you’ve been with the company for 5+ years. Fair to assume you’ve been part of evaluations like this in the past?”

Prospect: “Yup.”

You: “Could you walk me through how you typically evaluate, decide, and purchase tech? What are the steps and who’s involved?”

..................................................

Or something like this, for more complex deals:

“Linda - working with customers like you, I’ve noticed that once a platform gets the green light, there’s often a vendor onboarding process

which could include InfoSec, privacy assessments, and potentially getting legal involved.

Is that something you anticipate and if so could you walk me through the process and who’s involved?”

...................................................

Get ahead of the process in your deal cycles.

It’ll save you a headache and heartache.


P.S. who’s heading over to Sales Enablement Summit in downtown Toronto today?

See you there!

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The Battle

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Salman Mohiuddin

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The Battle

Josh Braun

Salman Mohiuddin

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Josh Braun's LinkedIn Performance

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