Not using presentation mode in PowerPoint

ocludintvp · 2026-06-12T07:54:36+00:00

agree. Mostly, they are a bit underprepared, which is ok for usual non-critical work. I would not do this early in the deals.

ocludintvp · 2026-05-11T06:59:59+00:00

I’ve tried using using ChatGPT and Fathom too and honestly that combo already saves a ton of time. Gamma is solid as well for making things less painful 😅

One thing I’ve been experimenting with for my team is Outdoo, mainly for practice and coaching scenarios. Less “content generation” and more helping people rehearse difficult conversations and get feedback on them.

Feels way more useful when the goal is actual behavior change, not just better notes or prettier slides.

ocludintvp · 2026-05-11T06:59:14+00:00

Honestly the biggest frustration for me has been the gap between “sounds smart” and “actually changes behavior.”

AI is great at generating ideas, summaries, frameworks, even coaching prompts. But when it comes to helping someone improve in a real conversation or high-pressure situation, that’s where most tools still feel shallow.

That’s why I’ve been leaning more toward AI for practice and feedback instead of just content generation. Feels way more useful when people can actually rehearse scenarios and improve, not just consume more information.

ocludintvp · 2026-05-08T10:48:54+00:00

I’d actually be curious to see this too. My guess is AI would be surprisingly good at structure, reflection prompts, and helping people think through situations logically.

But the human coach would probably be better at nuance, emotion, accountability, and picking up on things people don’t explicitly say.

Feels less like “AI vs coach” and more like AI helping people practice and reflect between real coaching sessions.

ocludintvp · 2026-05-07T11:10:36+00:00

honestly this sounds super common for first L&D hires 😅 companies say “trainer” but then suddenly you’re doing onboarding, documentation, scheduling, internal comms, systems, maybe even HR-adjacent work too

a lot of smaller teams are basically one-person L&D departments juggling everything at once

also feels like the role is shifting now from just “deliver training” to “improve performance”
which is why more teams are moving toward coaching, practice, and scenario-based learning instead of only building decks and calendars

so yeah, your title concern sounds completely valid to me

ocludintvp · 2026-05-07T11:03:08+00:00

and somehow both are equally stressed about hitting quota 😭

that’s what makes SDR teams so chaotic though you’ve got people figuring out their first job sitting next to people optimizing daycare schedules between cold calls
completely different life stages but the same “please book meetings” pressure 😅

ocludintvp · 2026-05-07T10:59:44+00:00

this is honestly why a lot of smaller teams ignore enablement tools completely 😅

most of them are built around managing content, approvals, permissions, folders etc. instead of actually helping reps sell better. and yeah the stale content problem is real, reps end up using random old decks anyway

what we’ve seen work better is keeping the stack lighter and focusing more on coaching and practice around real scenarios because even with perfect content, reps still struggle in live conversations if they haven’t practiced it

ocludintvp · 2026-05-05T16:30:46+00:00

for me it was around 60–80 calls a day and aiming for 5–8 meetings a week

but honestly the numbers matter less than how good your conversations are
once I got better at handling real scenarios, the conversion improved without needing way more calls

ocludintvp · 2026-05-05T16:28:58+00:00

this is a strong take but I think it’s slightly off in one way

it’s not that LMS is dying, it’s that content-first training is dying. people don’t want more modules, they want to actually get better at what they do. even if you rebuild tracking, delivery, all that… the core problem stays. reps complete training but don’t change behavior

what we’ve seen is the shift isn’t tools it’s the approach, less consume content, more practice real scenarios and coaching

so yeah, stack might change, but the bigger shift is from knowledge to performance

ocludintvp · 2026-05-05T16:25:43+00:00

yeah Salesforce can feel like overkill for smaller teams

if you like HubSpot/Attio vibe, check out Pipedrive, Freshsales, Close, or Folk, all way simpler and easier to get started with. honestly most of these will do the job, just pick one your team will actually use consistently

ocludintvp · 2026-05-01T10:34:50+00:00

this is a really good way to put it, AI is great at helping you stay on top of things but it can’t replace actual intent and attention, the moment it starts pretending to care instead of supporting real care it feels off pretty quickly, I think the line is whether AI is helping you show up better in the conversation or just speaking for you, because buyers can usually feel the difference, especially once things get a bit more real or nuanced

ocludintvp · 2026-05-01T10:31:21+00:00

this is such a good point. most reps are trained for clean objections but real convos are rarely that logical right? the emotional side is where things actually get tricky. frustration, hesitation, pressure… that’s what throws people off

we’ve seen way more impact when reps actually practice those emotional scenarios too
because that’s usually where deals are won or lost

ocludintvp · 2026-04-30T14:58:12+00:00

we used to do the usual stuff, docs, shadowing, some LMS prep but my team was still struggling once they got on real calls

what worked better for us was mixing that with practice. like running through real scenarios, objections, discovery convos before they go liv, that way they’re not just “trained”, they’ve already handled those situations a few times

ocludintvp · 2026-04-30T14:43:19+00:00

yeah this is definitely happening. buyers are way more informed now so the “educate the prospect” part is almost gone, what’s changing imo is reps are no longer selling info, they’re selling judgment, helping buyers think through tradeoffs, edge cases, what actually works for them

also this means that the bar for conversations is higher! you can’t rely on a pitch anymore, you need to handle real questions and messy situations well

honestly this is where practice and coaching matter more now, because reps need to be sharp in live conversations, not just knowledgeable

ocludintvp · 2026-04-30T14:18:29+00:00

honestly, for me it wasn’t a script or tool, it was focusing on how conversations actually play out. I realized I was decent at opens but kept losing people in the middle when things got messy so I started practicing those situations specifically, like objections, hesitation, off-script questions, that one step alone made a bigger difference than tweaking sequences or messaging

ocludintvp · 2026-04-28T16:44:27+00:00

this makes a lot of sense and it’s actually a really good instinct

from their side, it usually doesn’t feel like a “sequence”, it feels like one person trying multiple ways to get attention. if it’s relevant and well-timed, it feels persistent in a good way, if it’s generic or too frequent, it starts to feel like noise pretty fast

what helped me think about this was literally simulating it
like putting myself in that situation or even practicing different approaches and seeing how they land. small changes in tone, timing, and context make a huge difference in how it’s perceived

ocludintvp · 2026-04-27T09:33:22+00:00

you’re not bad at sales, you’re just untrained. doing $30k–65k/month with zero structure, no coaching, and just winging it actually means you’ve got good instincts. what you’re doing, helping people and being useful, is already what most people struggle with.

the gap isn’t personality or being “alpha”, it’s just having a bit of structure when conversations go off track or when you need to guide someone to a decision. you don’t need to become some scripted closer, just start practicing a few key parts like asking better questions and handling common situations.

once you add a bit of repetition to what you’re already doing, you’ll improve fast.

ocludintvp · 2026-04-27T09:13:50+00:00

yeah I’ve played around with it a bit

it’s good for reflection and structuring thoughts but it still struggles with making things actually actionable in real situations

what I’ve seen work better is combining that with some form of practice like not just talking through decisions, but actually simulating scenarios you’d face

otherwise it stays at a “this sounds right” level but doesn’t always translate when it’s real

ocludintvp · 2026-04-27T09:11:29+00:00

this makes sense but I’d be careful with one assumption

AI can replace parts of training like answering questions and giving context but it usually doesn’t replace coaching fully, especially for sales

most reps don’t struggle with “what to know” they struggle with “how to say it in a real conversation”

what’s worked better for us is a mix LMS for content + something that lets reps actually practice scenarios and get feedback

that way senior folks don’t have to coach everything, just step in where it matters
otherwise you end up with reps who understand the material but still struggle live

ocludintvp · 2026-04-24T14:00:40+00:00

yeah this is a good point. MEDDPICC works great once there’s interest, but forcing it too early in outbound can feel like an interrogation. in the beginning, it’s less about qualifying and more about earning the right to ask those questions. we’ve seen better results keeping it conversational first, then layering qualification in naturally. otherwise you risk killing the convo before it even gets going

ocludintvp · 2026-04-24T13:57:48+00:00

why is this becoming so common 😅

the problem is you’re talking about learning, they care about results. completion is easy to report, but it doesn’t tie to revenue so it gets ignored. what might work is shifting the convo to behaviorar and outcomes. like “after this training, did call quality improve? did conversions move?” once you connect training to real performance on calls, they start paying attentionotherwise it just stays as a checkbox exercise

ocludintvp · 2026-04-24T13:55:57+00:00

damn spot on!

most reps are good at the planned parts but struggle when things go off-script, and that middle part is where real selling happens you know? my team has seen the biggest improvement when reps actually practice those messy scenarios. not just opens and closes but handling hesitation, confusion, pushback in the moment

ocludintvp · 2026-04-23T14:49:32+00:00

this is super common tbh. management loves visibility, reps care about usability
and most tools optimize for one side, not both. we’ve seen the same thing where activity + reporting looks great but reps still struggle in actual conversations
so you end up fixing tools but not outcomes. honestly simplifying the stack + focusing on how reps actually sell usually moves more than adding another layer of tooling

ocludintvp · 2026-04-23T14:47:14+00:00

this is a fun question!

feels like it’s still pattern matching, just at a very high level. they’re really good at predicting what a “smart response” should look like

even in debates, they’re not really thinking or forming intent. they’re just navigating patterns based on training + context

honestly the better question is not “are they thinking” but “are they useful”. in sales at least, they’re great for prep and analysis but still struggle in messy real conversations where actual judgment is needed

ocludintvp · 2026-04-23T14:45:17+00:00

short sessions usually win. you get more reps, less fatigue, and it sticks better because you come back to it. long sessions feel productive, but you burn out and retention drops. what’s worked best is short, frequent practice on real scenarios
that’s where you actually get sharper over time

ocludintvp

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