“If I had a team of people spending time writing emails, setting up automations, or being on social media, I’d take away all their toys. I’d say: you’re no longer allowed to do any of that. For the next week, all you're allowed to do is reach out to people on LinkedIn. No automation. You have to actually message them. Or, here’s a telephone—let me show you how to use it.
Because when you do that, you're forced to develop real skills—skills that are actually translatable when it comes to marketing and selling like a human.
Most people have just never been put in a position where they have to build real relationships. And honestly? That keeps the people that understand that in business.” - Max Traylor
Automation. Funnels. AI-generated content. Scale at all costs. New leads.
You’ve been sold a load of garbage about what it takes to grow a business today. And in this episode of Aggressively Human, we’re getting back to the truth about sales.
Max Traylor—agency churn physician and LinkedIn truth-teller—joins us to break down why so much of what passes for “sales strategy” today was never actually working. (It just didn’t matter when money was cheap.)
We talk about how most of us have never learned (or needed to learn) real sales skills, why AI and automation are actually doing you a favor by making real humans stand out, and why your best sales strategy is still a damn phone call.
We also dive into what real client expansion looks like, how to expand your existing relationships (hint: the word you’ll stop using is “done”), and how agency owners and soloists can rebuild around human relationships instead of implementing software and tools that take us farther away from connections in search of “scale”.
But this isn’t just a teardown. Max also lays out a path for rebuilding:
Why two good phone calls are worth more than 200 “nurture” emails
How to stop selling deliverables and start creating value that expands over time
How to structure your client relationships so you don't have to start over every 6 months
Why your job isn’t to present results and updates—it’s to win a seat at the adult table
If you’re tired of busywork masquerading as business development, or just want someone to finally say what everyone’s thinking about the state of sales, join us for this honest take.
The sales myths we’ve been sold by venture-backed tech startups
The difference between "participating in a buying process" and actually selling
The missed opportunity of existing clients and why client expansion is the sales strategy no one talks about
How to start expanding your engagement from day one
Why quarterly business reviews aren’t admin—they're about getting invited to the adult table
How bad automation is making it easier for real humans to stand out
Why we need to become indispensable partners—and how do we do that
The sales "crisis" that was never new—it just used to be easier to hide bad sales processes when the market was hot
Max’s philosophy on LinkedIn: do it for yourself, not for the likes—and why IP creation > audience chasing
“If you’re getting referrals, or you’ve got a form on your website, or you sell something that’s a commodity—like content, or SEO, or a website—by the time someone gets to you, they’ve already decided. They’ve gone through the decision-making process with whatever trusted relationships they have.
You’re not selling. You’re standing at the checkout lane while someone hands you money for something they already decided to buy.
But when those referrals dry up, or there’s more competition than ever, that’s when they realize: they actually have to go get business for themselves. That requires choosing who you want to go after, having something interesting to say, building a human-to-human relationship, and waiting until someone’s actually ready to buy—because 95% of people aren’t. Most people have never even conceived of what a real sales process is.” - Max Traylor
About our Guest
Max Traylor: LinkedIn, Website
1,000 Routes with Nick Bennett Podcast Appearance
Resources Mentioned
Becoming an Indispensable Partner featuring Steve Lishansky (Beers with Max podcast)
Connect with Us
Connect with Meg and Jessica
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