The Pipeline Fixer

Field playbook2026October 2026

Same pitch, three rooms. Three different calls.

What works on a call in Johannesburg can stall in London and lose you New York. This is the playbook I wrote for South African teams selling into the UK and the US: what the research says, what changes on the call, and the checklists to get it right before you dial.

Get the playbook See what’s inside
Manifestsame-pitch-three-rooms · 2026
contents
21 pages · 4 research pages · 3 market guides · 7 tools · 1 checklist · 1 scorecard
markets
South Africa · United Kingdom · United States
for
Reps on the calls, and whoever runs the team
the_trade
First name, company, work email and the markets you sell into
sources
Every number linked on the last page
released
8 Oct 2026
// Patterns, not rules. A starting guess for each room, then check it with questions.
01 · Why the same pitch lands differently

Trust starts in a different place.

Pew asked adults in 25 countries one question in 2025: can most people be trusted? The three markets in the playbook sit far apart.

  1. ZA27%

    Know me first.

    Relationship before the deal. Slow to trust a stranger.

  2. UK64%

    Show me the evidence.

    Polite and measured. The real objection is in the hedge.

  3. US55%

    Get to the point.

    Proof first. The friendship starts after the yes.

// Share of adults who say most people can be trusted. Pew Research Center, 2025. What that changes on a call is in the playbook: the habit that wins at home, warming up first, is the one that reads as stalling in New York.

02 · What’s inside

Read it before a new market. Use it before a call.

The first half is what the research says about each room. The second half is what to do about it with a call in the diary.

Pages 03 to 09Free

The research and the markets

For the month before you open a new market, or the week you work out why the calls there keep going quiet.

  • 4 research pages
  • 3 market guides
  1. 03
    Trust starts in a different place
    Who trusts strangers, and why being foreign is the thing to overcome abroad, not being unknown.
    research
  2. 04
    The relationship moves
    Before the deal or after it. Same effort in every market, in a different order.
    research
  3. 05
    A friendly room still has one decider
    First names and an easy manner are not shared authority. Includes the question that finds the decider.
    research
  4. 06
    What is the same everywhere
    How B2B buying works now, before you adjust anything for culture.
    research
  5. 07
    At home: what travels, what stays
    The habits that are an advantage abroad, and the ones to leave behind.
    market
  6. 08
    Selling into the UK
    Polite is not a yes. What to do, what to avoid, and when to count a deal as qualified.
    market
  7. 09
    Selling into the US
    Proof first, friendship later. What to do, what to avoid, and when a deal counts as qualified there.
    market
Pages 10 to 18Free

The tools and the checklists

For the day before the call. Keep it open beside the dialler, or print the checklist and the scorecard.

  • 7 field tools
  • 1 checklist
  • 1 scorecard
  1. 10
    Same sentence, three meanings
    “Send me a proposal” and three other lines, with the next move in each market.
    tool
  2. 11
    Words that don’t travel
    “Just now”, “revert”, “shame”, 03/04 and 16:00: what they hear, and what to say.
    tool
  3. 12
    When to call, in your time
    Each market’s working day in South African time, the clock changes and the quiet weeks.
    tool
  4. 13
    Before you prospect, check the rules
    Email and calls in each market, and call recording in the US. A pointer to what to check, not legal advice.
    tool
  5. 14
    One email, written three ways
    The same first approach, tuned to each market. Frames to adapt, not scripts to paste.
    tool
  6. 15
    The first call, prepared and run
    What to have ready the day before, and where the minutes go once you are on it. Two pages.
    2 tools
  7. 17
    Ready to dial abroad
    The rep’s checklist: set up once, language and format, then before and after each call.
    checklist
  8. 18
    Is your team ready?
    Ten questions for whoever runs the team, scored out of twenty.
    scorecard
03 · Get the playbook

Four details. The playbook opens here.

Markets you sell into (tick all that apply)

The playbook opens the moment you send this. Then the “Things I notice” notes, roughly monthly, which you can stop with one click. Nothing else. Privacy.

The playbook tells you what changes. A recorded call shows where it went wrong.

I sold to South Africans first, then into the US, then coached South African reps selling internationally. Bring your scorecard, or one recorded call.

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