Sales, then logistics

That note you’re writing? It's probably a sales note in some capacity. Don’t jump straight into the logistics if your recipient isn’t sold yet.

👋 Hey, it’s Wes. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on managing up, career growth, and standing out as a high-performing leader.

⛑️ Work with me 1:1 for executive coaching. I typically work with tech leaders on managing up as a startup executive, communicating persuasively, and delegating to a team of junior/mid-level ICs while maintaining high standards. If you’re interested in how I can support you, learn more about my coaching approach.

Read time: 6 minutes

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Most communication at work requires a mix of both sales and logistics:

You need to get buy-in for your idea (sales) and you need to share details on what to do or how to do it (logistics).

But I often notice a common mistake: Messaging that focuses too much on logistics early on, when you should still be selling.

What’s the difference between messaging that focuses on sales vs logistics?

• The goal of a sales note is to get your recipient excited to take action. 

• The goal of a logistics note is to share the “how.” The tone is usually more matter-of-fact because it assumes your reader has already bought in.

A logistics-first note assumes buy-in. But you often have less buy-in than you think. It’s easy to overestimate how much your recipient wants to do what you’re asking them to do.

No one cares about how a process works, how a spreadsheet is structured, how to find X feature in your software, or how to hit an intense series of project milestones…. if they haven’t decided to take action yet.

It’s very possible that the people you are appealing to are not ready to comply:

• They are not sold on why this matters.

• They are not convinced why this is a priority.

• They are not sure this is worth the effort.

There’s an order of operations: Folks must be sold, and only then, will they find the logistics relevant and valuable. If you’re 100% sure your recipient is ready to comply with your request, then you can jump straight to logistics—but keep in mind, many people miscalculate this. Even when you think your audience is on board, they may be susceptible to buyer’s remorse. That’s why I recommend continuing to sell them during the initial stages of implementation to make sure they continue to stay on board.

In other words, sharing logistics is premature if your recipient isn’t fully convinced.

If you treat a sales note like it’s a logistics note, you will get frustrated by how people aren’t taking action, even though you’ve explained how to do so. You may try to solve this problem by sharing even more logistics—even more directions on the “how.” But you’d be solving the wrong problem.

This framework of “sales, not logistics” applies to any situation where you want to get a person or group of people to take action. It applies to both internal and external communication.

Last week, I pointed out an instance of “sales, not logistics” for one of my clients. She generously agreed to share some screenshots that illustrate this concept perfectly. Here’s one below.

My client is a leader at a Series A company with about 100 employees, and regularly needs to influence her executive team without formal authority.

NOTE: “SOTU” stands for “state of the union,” i.e. an all-hands meeting.

Screenshot of the original note from my client

Before: Morning! I'd like to get more input from across the team on wins to include in the all-hands meeting each week - participation isn't mandatory but I want to make sure we don't miss highlighting great things our folks are doing.

➡️ If you have a win you want to share or have one of your people share, can you please add to this deck and tag me in a comment by Sunday night at 8pm? This applies to any future all-hands meeting, not just this upcoming Sunday.

LMK if you have questions! And thanks for helping to highlight the great work our teams are doing!

This note is decent, and does a lot of things right. But there are a few minor adjustments that make a big impact if you view this through a sales-first lens:

• I’d like to… This is “me-focused.” This should be “you-focused” on the recipient. 

• ….get more input from across the team…: This feels like you’re adding yet another unnecessary process to everyone’s already-full plates. I can hear the collective groan.

• We, our: The “we” and “our” throughout the note don’t appeal enough to the individual reading this.

• Thank you for…: The note generally feels like the writer is asking for a favor. I am all for giving appreciation, but in this context, “thank you” aggrandizes this incorrect assumption.

Here’s a rewritten version to show what this message could look like if you applied the idea of sales, not logistics:

Screenshot of the note, rewritten through a sales-first lens

After: Morning! At the all-hands meeting each week, we’re going to start highlighting wins from across the company. Participation isn’t mandatory, but this is your chance to shine a light and bring more visibility to your team’s hard work.

The goals are two-fold:

• Help team members get a high-level sense of what’s happening outside their own org

• Boost morale by celebrating small wins, so your team feels motivated and recognized along the way to bigger milestones that often take longer to achieve

➡️ To be included in the update, add your wins to this deck and tag me in a comment by Sundays at 8pm. This applies to any future all-hands meetings. Also, anyone on your team can add wins directly to the doc.

LMK if you have questions. I’m excited to highlight the great work you and your teams are doing.

Why this works:

• The note is skimmable because of hot keywords: boost morale, visibility, shine a light, small wins, in the loop, etc. These aren’t just keywords—they also help with emotional signposting because they are all good things the reader wants.

• I removed “I’d like to get input from across teams.” Framing around “getting input” distracts from a more important point: how the recpients will benefit after giving their input.

• We’re going to start highlighting wins from across the company. I added this because it’s direct. This sounds more authoritative and confident because it sounds like there’s forward motion. The previous version felt tentative.

• Leverage FOMO: Notice I don’t say “IF you want to be included” because I assume you want to be included. I intentionally avoided the conditional if.

• I mention logistics in the third paragraph, but the majority of the note is written through a sales lens.

• I’m excited to highlight the great work you and your teams are doing… Yes there’s an “I,” but it’s in relation to the recipient. The focus of this sentence is on highlighting your and your team’s hard work.

Overall, the new version is more confident, persuasive, and powerful.

And the message for recipients is clear: Submitting wins is not you doing me a favor. If anything, it’s ME doing YOU a favor. Because I’m helping you motivate your team and giving you an easy way to help them feel recognized.

This shifts the power dynamics. It helps your recipient realize you are doing this in service of them.

In the “before” version, you were expending effort to help people—but they mistakenly thought they were helping you!

That’s a shame.

When they realize you are giving them a gift, they are much more likely to be grateful and motivated—and therefore, eager to comply with your request. 

This is not simply about sharing the “why”

“Just share the why” is overly simplistic. You can share the why AND still fail to convince people because not all why’s are created equal.

In the example above, the operator who wrote the Slack message did share a why:

“[We’re doing this] because I want to make sure we don't miss highlighting great things our folks are doing.”

The why was decent, but it wasn’t hard-hitting enough. 

You must share why’s that are most likely to compel your recipient to take action. Some reasons matter more to you than to your recipients.

The why is a means to an end—the end goal is to get their enthusiastic yes. Consider: What would get them excited to do this?

Share reasons that are rooted in logic, illustrate the pain of not doing it or the gains from doing it, and appeal to self-interest. For example, most leaders are always looking for ways to show how their team adds value and drives the business.

When I say “appeal to self-interest,” you don’t want to be too on-the-nose:

🚫 “This will make you look good in front of the CEO and company.”

✅ “This is an opportunity to highlight and bring more visibility to your team’s hard work.”

Use your judgment and finesse. Some things are more powerful when implied.

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You can apply the “sales, not logistics” framework to pitches, memos, emails, documents, DMs, strategy docs, etc.

Almost every situation benefits from selling your audience—and there’s very little downside if they’re already sold, and you end up reminding them of why doing X is important.

Now that you know this, I’m betting you’ll start seeing it everywhere. Try catching it in your own work.

Remember: Anytime you need to motivate someone to take action, ask yourself:

Is this a logistics note, or is this actually a sales note?

What’s resonating with you? How is this making you think differently? Feel free to hit reply. I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next Wednesday at 8am ET.

Wes

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