Sovereign Seller #13: Massive Action vs. Average Action

Welcome to Issue #13 of The Sovereign Seller. A weekly email with practical tips on how to use inbound + outbound marketing to generate leads, and get the attention of, and appointments with … your most in-demand prospects.

Sunday, November 30th, 2025

7:11 AM

Indianapolis, IN

Every company I’ve ever worked for didn’t have a real new business strategy.

Shockingly ... Most B2B sales organizations still have no defined strategy for winning new clients.

When I sold advertising for media companies they relied on their brands to open doors to new clients.

Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, college athletics programs.

Most try to hire good salespeople - those with experience, with market and product knowledge, with established relationships etc.

Then they give them some accounts, and a variety of goals or budgets.

To hit those goals and budgets (and maximize their compensation) these salespeople will always have to find new business.

And once they exhaust their “network” and other low hanging fruit, they are left with nothing but their wits to go find new clients.

And this is when most stall, get frustrated, and often quit or get fired.

In every industry, you are competing against a tidal wave of competition, technology, and resistance.

Yet most sales organizations not only fail at having a strategy, they fail at taking the proper amounts of “action” to even get noticed.

The following 3 tactics are what 99% of sales organization rely on to get the attention of their best cold prospects. I would classify this as "average action."

• Email - it’s free, the most abused, and the most cluttered space. AI won’t change this.
• Cold Calling - smart phones and remote work have made this less effective. AI won’t change this.
• LinkedIn (Social) - you should connect with your prospects on LinkedIn, and share helpful content on your profile. But using LinkedIn like email is not a good strategy, it rarely works, and annoys people … because it abuses the “intent’ of social media.

The most advanced sales organizations take "massive action", they don't leave out the following efforts to break through the noise and get the attention of their most desirable prospects:

• Canvassing - Physically stopping into your prospects place of business can be more impactful than ever especially if you are a territory salesperson.
• Direct Mail - This is the most effective and affordable 1-to-Many advertising tactic available to any business yet few take advantage.
• Content Marketing - Individual salespeople should be active on relevant social channels. But employers should also embrace social media not just for HR and boasting - but for positioning and lead generations. Most don’t.

Grant Cardone put a framework to this in his book The 10X Rule. He outlines the 4 degrees of action ... most live in #1-3:

1. Do nothing
2. Retreat
3. Normal levels of action (using/abusing tactics 1-3 above)
4. Massive levels of action (using all 6 tactics described above)

At the age of 29 when Grant started his seminar business, he would visit a city and call on every business.

And he didn’t just sit in his hotel cold calling, cold emailing and LinkedIn-harassing everyone.

He used direct mail and canvassed too.

Grant also does a ton of content marketing - he’s on every social platform positioning his business and generating leads for his sales team.

I created a simple cadence that uses all six tactics - massive action in a world where most reps take normal levels of action.

Doing this will get you more appointments than not doing it - it’s the only thing I can guarantee.

Committing to this system - or a recurring cadence - will also free you up to spend more time on warm selling opportunities.

The Cold 2 Warm Cadence - Your 4-Week Rhythm

Month 1

Week 1: Send a sales letter in the mail to a curated list of ideal prospects. A few days after your sales letter is delivered - follow up with a phone call - mention the letter.

Week 2: Connect on LinkedIn - in your connection message …. mention you are posting relevant content about your industry and wanted to share it with them. No selling.

Week 3: Send a Follow-Up Email - refer to the letter - offer to educate.

Week 4 – Leave them alone, you’re not a stalker - focus on warm targets and existing clients.

Month 2 and Beyond ...

Rinse and repeat AND now add in content marketing. Start posting weekly to your LinkedIn feed.

I get posting on LinkedIn can be scary, or seem like too much work. For starters, just search your feed and re-post relevant industry news BUT make your own comment on each post. Just one or two sentences. Do this a few times per week - won't take more than 30 minutes.

The letter is important too, because it becomes your monthly "hook" making all of your other outreach "following up".

Very few … if any … of the people calling on “your” prospects will send a letter.

How you follow is up to you, be creative, but be consistent, and space it out respectfully so you aren’t a stalker.

Whenever it's possible, stop in and visit your prospects. If you're a territory sales rep for example - you're already visiting clients - stop in on a few prospects too.

Expect the Metrics — and Trust the Math

You won’t win them all. You don’t need to. If you did nothing but cold call and cold email it will take you much more time and effort. And you will convert maybe 1-3% into appointments.

If you follow this rhythm for 6 months you will triple your response rate - at worst.

That’s how curiosity turns into conversation.

And conversation turns into cash.

Thank you for reading Sovereign #13.

To your success,

Shane

P.S. Don’t be average.