Sales has changed dramatically in the age of AI, but success still comes down to having the right strategy. That's why I sat down with Tom Stearns and Peter Cleary, co-authors of Graphic Sales: How to Build a Prospecting Playbook. They shared how sales teams can move beyond vanity metrics and build a data-driven prospecting process that helps reps focus on the right opportunities and generate better results.

Meet Tom Stearns and Peter Cleary

Tom Stearns and Peter Cleary are the co-authors of Graphic Sales: How to Build a Prospecting Playbook, a book designed to help sales professionals build more effective prospecting strategies through visual storytelling and practical frameworks.
Tom is a consultant who has worked with companies across dozens of industries, helping sales teams improve performance through data-driven prospecting. His work focuses on building prospecting playbooks, analyzing sales metrics, and helping organizations identify the behaviors that lead to consistent results.
Peter previously served as a Director and Senior Director of Engineering. He believes great salespeople focus on solving business problems and that success comes through collaboration and teamwork.
Together, Tom and Peter combine sales strategy, data analysis, and real-world business experience to help organizations create more focused and effective prospecting processes.

Building a Strong Ideal Customer Profile

One of the biggest lessons from this discussion is the importance of knowing exactly who you should be selling to.
The best way to build an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is by studying your most successful customers. Look at the clients who stay the longest, get the best results, and genuinely enjoy working with your company.
From there, you can identify the traits that predict success and use those insights to guide your prospecting efforts.
We also talked about creating a "hell no list." While many organizations focus on ideal customers, it's just as important to recognize the types of accounts that consistently create challenges, consume resources, or simply aren't a good fit.

Why Every Sales Team Needs a Playbook

A sales playbook provides structure and consistency for an organization.
It helps teams document what works, align around proven processes, and create repeatable success. More importantly, a playbook should never be treated as a static document.
Markets change. Buyers change. Strategies evolve. The most effective sales teams regularly review and update their playbooks to reflect what's happening in the real world.

Become a Student of the Market

For individual sales reps, one message stood out throughout the conversation: pay attention to the data.
Successful sellers study their market, analyze which conversations move forward, and look for patterns in their results. They don't abandon a strategy because of a bad week or a few difficult prospects.
Instead, they remain consistent while gathering enough information to determine whether adjustments are truly needed.

Winning in the Modern Sales Environment

Sales has always been about helping people solve problems, but today's environment requires a more disciplined approach.
The sellers who thrive are the ones who combine curiosity, consistency, and data-driven decision-making. When you understand your ideal customer, follow a proven process, and continually learn from the market, you put yourself in a much stronger position to succeed.

"Don't think of it as a project; think of it as a discipline." — Tom Stearns

"If you try to do it alone, you'll probably fail. Sales is a team effort, and success requires a lot of open communication and collaboration." — Peter Cleary

Resources

Buy the guests' new book, Graphic Sales: How to Build a Prospecting Playbook, which is available globally through online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Visit the website stearns.io to read the first chapter of their book for free.
Reach out to Tom Stearns and Peter Cleary on LinkedIn to stay updated on their latest sales insights.
Keep track of your sales activity and boost your results with the Prospect Pro sales tool.
Step up your sales game with Sales Mastermind. Get accountability, stay motivated, and tackle the blockers keeping you from hitting your goals.
Visit Blue Mango Studios for help in creating podcast production content.

Sponsorship Offers

This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey . We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and produced by Brightseed and Hill.