Sales Between the Lines is an approach to understanding the information that exists beyond what customers explicitly say. It explores how changes in communication, behaviour, context, stakeholder dynamics and decision friction can provide clues about what is happening beneath the surface of a commercial conversation.

It is primarily aimed at people working in complex B2B sales, where decisions often involve multiple stakeholders, competing priorities and incomplete information. Many of its ideas originate in technical sales, but the underlying principles apply much more broadly.

No. Technical sales provides much of the context from which the ideas developed, but the underlying challenge is universal: customers rarely communicate every concern, priority or constraint explicitly. Wherever understanding the situation matters as much as understanding the words being spoken, the principles can be useful.

No. It does not prescribe a sequence of steps or a script to follow. The book is about observing what happens around the explicit conversation, interpreting those observations in context, and validating your interpretation before deciding how to respond. It is intended to complement existing sales methodologies rather than replace them.

It does not mean guessing what someone is thinking or assigning fixed meanings to body language or individual signals. It means paying attention to what changes, what appears inconsistent, what is left unsaid and what the wider context may tell you — while treating any interpretation as something to be tested rather than assumed.

It is intended to complement rather than replace them. Methodologies can help structure discovery, qualification, account management or negotiation. Sales Between the Lines focuses on another question: how do you make sense of the information surrounding those processes when the situation is ambiguous?

Yes. The book brings these ideas together and explores them in depth through observations, examples and situations from complex sales. You can learn more about it on the Book page.

Yes. The ideas can also be explored in a team or company setting, particularly where complex sales, technical decision-making or multiple stakeholders play an important role. If you would like to discuss this, please get in touch.

You can reach out through the Contact page for questions about Sales Between the Lines, the book, articles, team sessions or other enquiries.