Let’s be honest about something.
Most salespeople wing it.
Not because they’re lazy. Not because they don’t care. But because winging it has a seductive efficiency: you open the LinkedIn tab, skim for 90 seconds, then dial. You’ve been doing this long enough that you can usually hold a decent conversation, and the prospect doesn’t know what they’re missing.
The problem is you do.
You leave calls with the feeling that it *almost* went well. That you should have opened differently. That their pushback caught you off guard. That you’re not quite sure where the deal stands or what you should have done.
That feeling has a name: it’s the cost of unpreparedness. And it compounds.
What Winging It Actually Costs
The cost of winging it isn’t one bad call. It’s:
– Inconsistency. Your best days happen by accident. You can’t replicate them because you don’t know what you did differently.
– Missed signals. You were so focused on what to say next that you didn’t hear what they were actually telling you.
– Lost deals that felt close. The deal that went quiet after a call you thought went well. You’ll never know exactly why.
– Slower trust-building. When you show up unprepared, buyers feel it — even if they can’t articulate it. They just sense that you didn’t think about them before walking in.
What Intentional Prep Actually Looks Like
Here’s the thing: preparation doesn’t have to be a 45-minute research marathon.
Five focused minutes — the right five minutes — is enough to fundamentally change how you show up.
Specifically:
1. Know their behavioral style. Are they analytical and skeptical? Relationship-driven and warm? Direct and time-pressured? This shapes your entire opener, tone, and pacing.
2. Know your likely objections. Based on their profile and company context, what resistance will probably come up? Have a response that feels natural, not scripted.
3. Know your one goal. Not ‘get the deal.’ What’s the one thing you need to learn or advance in this specific call?
That’s it. Three things. Five minutes. And you show up as a completely different seller.
Before vs. After
Before intentional prep:
You open with: ‘So, tell me a bit about what you’re working on right now.’
They give a polite, surface-level answer. The call stays shallow.
After intentional prep:
You know they’re a high-C buyer — analytical, cautious, detail-oriented. So you open with: ‘I looked at a few things before this call. Can I share a couple of observations and get your reaction?’
They lean in immediately. Because you did the work. And they can feel it.
Making It Sustainable
The reason most reps skip prep isn’t laziness, it’s that good prep used to take too long.
Dextego’s Chrome extension changes that equation. It sits inside LinkedIn and surfaces a full behavioral profile; DISC type, OCEAN traits, compatibility score, talking points, and likely objections — in seconds. No extra tab. No copy-paste. No 20-minute research session.
You have no reason to wing it anymore.
Stop winging it. Start prepping smarter. 👉 Install the Dextego Chrome extension free here.