By Marc Pickren, CEO of Springbot
There’s a dead moose on the table.
It’s called “B2B sales engagement,” and it stinks of good intentions, PowerPoint decks, and buzzword-ridden strategy PDFs no one reads.
Let’s say it plainly: most sales teams are chasing ghosts. They’re slinging generic cadences, half-hearted personalization, and praying their CRM automations don’t break mid-sequence. The problem isn’t effort—it’s approach. Engagement has turned into a soulless routine. And routine doesn’t sell.
So how do you fix it?
You start by asking better questions.
What Even Is Sales Engagement?
It’s not rocket science.
Sales engagement is just how you show up.
Every email, call, LinkedIn message, calendar link, or GIF-laced follow-up. It’s the whole performance—minus the jazz hands.
But too many reps treat it like a checklist, not a conversation. They think showing up is enough.
It’s not.
Buyers are smarter now. They’ve already Googled you, read the reviews, stalked your leadership team on LinkedIn, and asked ChatGPT to write your pitch better than you can.
So the real question is:
Are You Saying Something Worth Hearing?
Most aren’t.
They’re firing out one-size-fits-all sequences and calling it strategy. They’ll tell you they’re “multi-channel.” What they mean is: we spam your inbox, DM you on LinkedIn, and leave you robotic voicemails.
Sales engagement isn’t about volume. It’s about resonance.
John Eckman, CFO at Outbound Engine, said it best:
“You can’t automate authenticity. Engagement without insight is just noise.”
That’s the game.
You don’t need more tools—you need more clarity. Who are you selling to? What do they care about? What are they avoiding? What’s keeping them up at night?
Build the Damn ICP
If you can’t name your ideal customer in 15 seconds flat, your team’s wasting time.
Spray-and-pray is over. Build your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Make it real. Make it human. Give them a name, a job title, a fear, a KPI, a golf handicap—whatever helps the rep see the person they’re selling to.
If you don’t know them, you won’t sell them.
Data Isn’t Strategy
Tech stacks are bloated. Everyone’s got fifteen tools and zero alignment.
More dashboards won’t save you. Neither will another SaaS plugin claiming it can “10x engagement.”
What matters is the signal. Are you tracking meaningful metrics? Not open rates. Not vanity clicks. We’re talking about real signals—meetings booked, conversations started, deals advanced.
Your CRM is full of ghosts. Chase the living.
Personalization That Doesn’t Suck
You’re not fooling anyone with “Hi [First Name], I saw you went to [University Name]…”
That’s not personalization. That’s lazy data merge.
Try this instead:
- Mention a problem they actually have.
- Reference something real—an article, a competitor’s move, a public earnings report.
- Ask a question they haven’t been asked before.
- Better yet, lead with an insight they haven’t thought about yet.
That’s how you create tension. That’s how you earn a reply.
The Forgotten Channel: Courage
Everyone’s zigging—emailing, sequencing, automating.
You want to win? Zag.
- Pick up the phone.
- Send the risky message.
- Go off-script.
- Speak like a human.
There’s a fine line between courage and recklessness, sure. But in today’s landscape, the risk isn’t being too bold. The risk is being forgettable.
Content That Punches, Not Poses
Everyone wants to “educate.” Great. So do third-grade teachers.
But your buyer isn’t looking for a whitepaper on Tuesday morning. They want clarity. They want confidence. They want to know if someone gets it.
Give them that.
- Case studies that aren’t fluff.
- Stories that name the pain.
- Content that tells them something they didn’t know—or says what others won’t.
As Eckman puts it:
“If you want to be trusted, stop sounding like everyone else.”
Stop Worshipping Process
Reps are buried in systems.
- One for logging calls.
- One for sending email.
- One for sequencing.
- One for tracking opens.
- One for analytics.
And they’re still missing quota.
Why?
Because tools don’t create urgency. Conversations do.
You want more pipeline? Train for curiosity. Hire for intensity. Reward effort that converts. Not just motion.
Process is important, sure. But it’s not sacred.
Final Thought: Burn the Playbook (If It Doesn’t Work)
Sales engagement isn’t a department. It’s a mindset.
It lives in the reps, the content, the culture.
If what you’re doing isn’t working—stop.
- Rebuild.
- Get weird.
- Have some guts.
Because in the end, this isn’t about volume or velocity. It’s about impact.
And impact, my friend, is never accidental.
Want to talk about sales engagement that actually works?
We do this for a living. Reach out. No fluff. No pitch decks. Just straight conversation.
– Marc Pickren
CEO, Springbot
