In this discussion, Matt and Sam explore how sales leaders can instill a sense of urgency throughout their organization. They emphasize leading by example—being transparent about expectations and the rationale behind them—and modeling rapid response behaviors themselves. Sam adds that leaders must also articulate what they expect from reps, while clearly stating what reps should expect from leadership, such as immediate replies to proposals. They define "urgency" with concrete cadence guidelines, recommending follow‑ups within two to three days and pre‑booking proposal review meetings. The conversation also addresses the discomfort some reps feel about fast follow‑ups, framing it as a growth opportunity that requires honest, supportive coaching and difficult conversations. Throughout, they highlight the value of real‑world recordings and examples to illustrate the impact of urgency when applied correctly.
Chapters
I think, like a lot of other things from a leadership perspective, it's leading by example. Right. Like a lot of other things in leadership, it's just really being open and honest with the expectations. Right. You know, here is how we as an organization communicate with clients and prospects. Here's what the expectation is, but more importantly, here's. Here's the why, here's the rationale behind it. Let me show you this recording of Matt and Sam riffing for 10 minutes. I'm like, oh, my God. Here's what urgency could do if it's implemented appropriately, right? So I personally, Sam, I'd love your thoughts on that from how you drive this top down within the organization. But just going back to sort of the fundamentals of leadership in general, that's where I'm going to gravitate towards.
I think you're. You're dead on. I think also two things I'd say your expectations. Right. I think sometimes as leaders, we talk about expectations of our reps, but we often don't talk about the expectations they should have of us. And I think that's also a great way to define what's really important to you. So you can expect me to always respond urgently, right? If you have a deal, if you have something, if you've got a proposal out, always going to be really quick because that's so important that can make or break our deals, AKA I need you to do the same thing. I think the other thing to talk about, right. Is defining some of these kind of fluffier words, right? So urgency to me means something very, very different than a lot of people. And I think this. This hit home with one of my. Actually one of my old reps. She had sent out a proposal years and years ago. And then I was like, hey, I'm like, how's it going with this proposal? Whatever? And she's like, I haven't heard back yet. And I'm like, what was your last touch point? She's like, two weeks ago. And I'm like, and I died. I'm still upset about it. It's been like a decade. I said, oh. And so thinking about how do we define urgency? What's a cadence? And even just having that conversation. And I was like, we want to follow up in like two or three days. We want to make sure we have the meeting already booked to review the proposal. For whatever reason, we can't get that right. We want to bring some urgency to this. But also it came out, right. That it makes her really uncomfortable. Right. Your urgency, Sam. Is very different than my urgency. And that's just like following up that quickly makes me uncomfort. That's a great growth spot for somebody, right. Having a conversation, talking about the benefits of that. And then to your point, Matt, I would set. Set the example. Right. How quickly do you respond? How quickly do you make sure something goes out? That same day do you say, right. Do you even have the difficult conversation to say? I think this could have gone out a little bit sooner. It's really important that it does. Right. How can I help you make sure that this happens in the future?
