What differentiates sellers in mature, crowded product categories?

Clay Bavor · Jul 4, 2026

How a vendor treats a prospective customer in the sales and engagement process is the main signal that customer has for how the vendor will treat their own customers.

Customers are entrusting you with their most precious asset — their customers — and the only evidence they have of your care is the professionalism and detail you show with them.

42:10 Sales process quality is the proof of delivery quality

Harry Stebbings · Apr 12, 2024

It is easy to stand out and be great in sales and business today because most people are mediocre

Small efforts like a perceptive thank-you email after a first meeting take almost no effort but immediately differentiate you

69:44 Low bar means small extra effort stands out

Kevin Egan · Jul 12, 2023

The hardest part of selling today — at Atlassian and at any company — is providing customers with a genuinely opinionated view on how to make them successful

Jira has been out a long time; the challenge is getting into the weeds with engineering teams on shipping better products faster rather than just supplying tools

33:10 Opinionated pov beats supplying tools

Steve Goldberg · Dec 13, 2023

In noisy markets where everyone's messaging sounds the same, differentiation comes from being maniacally focused on the 'how' rather than the 'what'

There is a lot of 'what' out there — everyone states their value prop — so the differentiator is showing how you deliver and proving it every day

34:44 Prove the how not the what