We Don't Have a Sales Tools Problem. We Have a Communication Problem.
Thirty years ago, they videotaped us during sales training.
Not your iPhone. Videotape. You couldn't delete it. You couldn't redo it. And you had to sit in a room with your peers and watch yourself on screen — confronting the gap between how you thought you showed up and how you actually did.
It was uncomfortable. It was necessary. And it made us better.
What Scarcity Taught Me
When I started my career, the internet had just arrived. No LinkedIn. No CRM. No AI writing your follow-up email.
If you wanted to know your client, you had to ask questions. Real ones. Knowledge came from curiosity, not a browser tab.
If you wanted to prepare, you had to think. You had to show up with something worth saying.
If you wanted to connect, you did it in person or on the phone. No hiding behind email.
And if you wanted to show results? You painted the picture with your words. You helped people believe in a future they couldn't yet see.
Those muscles were built because we had no choice.
The Abundance Trap
Today, B2B teams have more tools than ever:
Automation platforms
AI-generated outreach
Dashboards, decks, and templates for everything
And yet — they're pitching features when executives buy outcomes. They can research a prospect in 30 seconds but rarely take time to actually know them. They can generate a gorgeous deck in minutes but don't prepare with intention.
Scarcity builds resourcefulness. Abundance builds shortcuts.
And shortcuts never build mastery.
What Actually Closes Deals
After 28 years of closing complex B2B deals — and watching a lot of teams fail to close theirs — I've learned that the fundamentals haven't changed. What's changed is how rarely we practice them.
The teams I work with through my Master the Message framework come back to four things:
Know your audience — not their LinkedIn title, their actual business problem
Prep with intention — what does this person need to feel before they'll say yes?
Connect as yourself — buyers buy from people, not presentations
Show outcomes that matter — not what you do, but what changes when you do it
These aren't soft skills. They're revenue skills. And they are the difference between a team that wins work and one that wonders why they keep coming in second.
Try This Today
Pull out your phone. Record yourself delivering your pitch — or the idea you've been meaning to bring to leadership.
Watch it back.
I promise the gap between what you think you're saying and what you're actually communicating will surprise you.
That gap is where we start.
If your revenue is stuck and your team is technically excellent but struggling to communicate that value to buyers, that's exactly what a Fractional CRO engagement is built to fix — not with more tools, but with a clearer strategy, better positioning, and a team that knows how to win the room.
Monique Lecomte is a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer with 28+ years of B2B leadership experience and $100M+ in closed enterprise deals. She helps growing B2B companies build scalable revenue engines through her Master the Message framework and Fractional CRO engagements.
