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- If You’re Still Selling on Calls, Read This
Welcome back to The Intelligent Marketer, where growth-minded founders, agency owners, and marketers go to learn modern marketing strategies.
“What does your prospect need to believe before they ever get on a call with you?”
That one question simplifies everything.
Because the goal of content isn’t just attention.
It’s alignment.
The Real Job of Content
Most founders use content to generate leads.
That’s fine.
But the best founders use content to pre-sell.
Meaning by the time someone books a call, they’re not asking:
“Why should I hire you?”
They’re asking:
“How do we get started?”
That’s a completely different conversation.
And it doesn’t happen by accident.
It happens when your content does the heavy lifting before the call ever starts.
What Actually Needs to Happen Before the Call
When someone gets on a sales call with you, there are a few things that need to be true:
They understand the problem
They believe the problem is worth solving
They trust that you understand it better than they do
They believe your approach actually works
If those boxes aren’t checked, you’re selling.
If they are, you’re just guiding the decision.
And your content is what determines which version of that call you get.
The 3 Types of Content That Change Everything
Here’s how we think about it now.
Not content for engagement.
Content for belief-building.
1. Objection Content
You already know the objections.
“It’s too expensive.”
“We can do this in-house.”
“Now’s not the right time.”
Most founders wait until the call to handle these.
That’s too late.
The best move?
Handle them publicly.
Write the post explaining why in-house usually breaks down.
Talk through the real cost of waiting.
Explain what “too expensive” actually looks like when nothing changes.
Now, when someone gets on a call, they’re not bringing objections.
They’ve already worked through them.
2. Proof Content
You don’t need to tell people you’re good.
You need to show them.
What happened with a client.
What changed.
What the timeline looked like.
What the outcome was.
It doesn’t need to be polished.
In fact, the simpler it is, the better it usually performs.
“Here’s what happened in 60 days” will outperform a designed case study most of the time.
Because it’s real.
And the more your prospect sees proof before the call, the less convincing you have to do during it.
3. “How You Think” Content
This is the one most people miss.
Your prospect isn’t just evaluating your service.
They’re evaluating your judgment.
How you see the market.
What you believe works.
What you think people are getting wrong.
When someone reads your content and thinks:
“That’s exactly how I see it.”
You’ve already built trust.
That kind of alignment is hard to manufacture on a sales call.
But it’s easy to build through consistent content.
If you’re still doing most of the selling on your calls…
Your content isn’t working hard enough.
Because the best content doesn’t just attract attention.
It moves someone closer to a decision before you ever speak to them.
A Simple Filter
Before you post anything this week, ask:
“Does this help my ideal client trust me before we ever meet?”
If the answer is yes, publish it.
If not, it’s probably just noise.
And noise doesn’t close deals.
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Learn how HubSpot's engineering team achieved 15-20% productivity gains with AI
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See you next Friday.
– Eric
Intelligent Marketer Newsletter
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