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GM to the Top 1% ☕
Saturday morning. Coffee, no calendar invites, no Slack.
A sales leader told me last week that he had been trying to fill one enterprise seat for five months. Forty-one applicants. He said he could only picture himself hiring two of them, and the reason was not pedigree. It was that only two had sent him a number.
💡 WHEN TALENT IS SCARCE, PROOF IS THE CURRENCY
In RAIN Group's 2026 Sales Challenges and Priorities study, 86.3% of respondents said recruiting and hiring strong sales talent is very or somewhat challenging. Almost as many, 86.1%, said selling in an uncertain economy is.
Hiring managers are overwhelmed by resumes that read the same. Everyone owns the pipeline. Everyone exceeded quota. Nobody can tell which sentences are true, so they fall back on logos and referrals.
You can get out of that pile without a new job title. You need a document that answers the only question a manager really has: what exactly did you do, how much did it move, and how do I know?
Most sellers cannot answer that on the spot. They remember the quarter was good but not the three decisions that made it good.
That is your opening. In a market where 86% of respondents struggle to hire strong sellers, the seller who hands over a clear proof file is not applying. They are removing risk.
🔧 THE PROOF FILE
Four steps to build a one-page record of what you can do. Takes 45 minutes this weekend, then 10 minutes a month.
1. Pick three wins from the last 12 months: Choose deals or programs where a specific action of yours changed the result. Skip anything where you were just present.
2. Write each as four lines: The situation, the move you made, the number it produced, and how someone could verify it. If you cannot verify it, find the CRM record or the email that does.
3. Add one loss: Include a deal you lost, what you misjudged, and what you now do differently. Hiring managers trust sellers who can describe a miss with precision.
4. Update it every month: Set a recurring reminder for the first Friday. Add anything new, remove anything stale. When someone asks what you have been working on, you send the page.
🎯 THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK
Draft your three wins today, even if they are rough, and reread them tomorrow. Send the cleaned-up page to one person you trust, ideally someone who has hired sellers, and ask which line they believed least.
❓ QUESTION OF THE DAY
What is the single best number you can put next to your name from the last 12 months?
Reply with it and one line on how you got there.
See you tomorrow.
Edward
Founder, Morning Sales