Mark Gordon + The Intentional Life

Sales isn’t about pressure. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.

You’re building a bridge between a prospect’s 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦. Then positioning your offer as the only vehicle that can cross that distance safely, predictably, and profitably.

Every prospect lives in two realities:

• 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 - “o𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵,” “m𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬.”
• 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 - 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘐𝘊𝘗, 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺.

Your job is to map both. Transformation only happens when your system connects those two without confusion or contradiction. Align the systems to build the bridge.

Talk about distance. Show that staying put costs more than moving.

When your offer becomes the infrastructure of change, not just a service, 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲.

You’re not selling a CRM, training, or a campaign.
You’re selling the certainty of transition. From chaos to clarity. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.

That’s what real persuasion looks like. 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Grab 30 minutes with me and let's build that bridge!

We’re so proud to be part of Temple-IT’s success 🤝

Over the past months, we worked side by side with the Temple team to rebuild their GTM foundation using the IGTMS Core 4 system.

✅ Defined their Ideal Customer Profile and story
✅ Rebuilt the site, CRM, and LinkedIn engine
✅ Unified sales and marketing under one message

Seeing their progress and how they have completely transformed and built on momentum has been incredible.

Every founder that is racing to bolt AI onto their sales and marketing stack to solve messaging is about to fail harder and faster...

Auto-prospecting. AI emails. AI sequencing. AI chat.

Faster workflows. Tighter cycles. More volume.

But here’s the problem:

Speed only helps when you’re headed in the right direction.

If your ICP is vague, your positioning is unclear, and your offer doesn’t land...
AI doesn’t solve that.

It just makes sure more people experience it.

Your outbound gets ignored faster.
Your brand erodes faster.
Your funnel gets clogged with the wrong leads... faster.

Before you automate anything, answer this:
Who are we really for?
What painful problem do we solve?
Why are we the best option right now?
What message will stop our buyer in their tracks?

If you can’t answer that with confidence, AI won’t help.
It’ll just accelerate the wrong motion.

AI is not a strategy.
It’s an amplifier.

Fix your foundation first.
Then let AI scale what already works.

Your new sales VP isn't the problem. You are.

A founder I know recently hired a 'killer VP of sales' from a big-name company. Great resume. Big salary. Gone in 7 months. Zero results.

The issue?

He came from a Fortune 500 sales machine.
He's never build a team, created a playbook, or run point on GTM.
He was a manager of systems, not a proven builder who thrives in chaos.

But here is the real problem:
The founder didn't know how to support a sales leader because they didn't know what good sales leadership looks like in a startup.

No vision.
Poor understanding of ICP.
No reframing of what the product solves.
No offer clarity.
Hired a marketing team that made pretty fliers that never got sent out.
No sales culture.
Just vibes and a quota.

If you’re blaming your salespeople, but haven’t built the system, culture, and leadership they need to succeed, then YOU are the bottleneck.

Fractional CROs exist because you can’t keep lighting money on fire while you figure it out.

You don’t need another "rockstar."

You need a builder with scar tissue and a plan.

🚨 He proudly told me he eliminates any candidate who uses AI to write their resume.

I was talking to a mid-sized tech company exec—sharp guy, early 50s, decades of experience.

We started discussing AI.

He admitted he hadn’t gotten into it yet. “Not really my thing,” he said.

Then, almost proudly, he told me he now uses software to detect AI-generated resumes—and when he finds one, he immediately disqualifies the candidate.

“The resume is how I get to know the person,” he said. “Not their AI.”

I bit my tongue at first. But I couldn’t stay silent.

“You’re hiring engineers,” I said. “People who will be expected to use AI to solve complex problems, automate tasks, and move faster than ever before. Are you sure you’re not just weeding out the most forward-thinking, resourceful candidates?”

You could see the wheels turning in his head. He has just told me he saw himself working for another 15 years—it was time to update his thinking.

The truth is: AI is no longer optional for top performers in most parts of a business.

The best people in sales, engineering, marketing, and operations are already using it to outpace everyone else.

Hiring people who don’t use AI?

That’s like hiring an accountant who’s “not really into spreadsheets.”

If you're leading a company and not building AI fluency into your culture, team, and go-to-market ex*****on, you’re already behind.

As a Fractional CRO, I help companies fix revenue by combining proven strategy with practical AI adoption—across sales, marketing, and beyond.

Because winning today means thinking forward, not clinging to old rules.

Happy Birthday to my wife, who is so wonderful I sometimes believe I dreamed her into existence. For 19 years you have been my partner in every conceivable meaning of the word. Cheers to celebrating another trip around the sun.

I wanted to share this exchange I had on Twitter/X. First, I am very active on there, so if you are on please give me a follow. Secondly, I think this exchange highlights differences in how people see the world. How we perceive risk, and our individual tolerance for discomfort shapes our world view.

I was reminded of this again today on a coaching consultation I did this morning. I started to give advice based on my risk tolerance, caught myself and checked in, and the potential clients answer completely shifted what I ended up advicing them to do.

If relationships are important to you or your business I think learning someones tolerance for risk is wise, and should be done before trying to sell them something or give them advice. That doesn't mean you have to ask them directly, but you should have questions in your bag that when asked shed light on the mindset of the person sitting across from you.

Fun thread from the man who took a pill in Ibiza.

https://x.com/mikeposner/status/1757637670254105075?s=46

If you ever feel stuck just remember that things change…keep moving forward and never be afraid to ask for help!

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I think we are just going to stay here forever. 🇮🇹