131: How to Sell Without Feeling Salesy (with Stefani Pady)

If the word "sales" makes you want to crawl out of your skin, you are not alone — and this episode is for you. I sat down with my friend Stefani Pady, a former corporate sales leader turned coach and founder of GLS Coaching & Consulting and Women Worship & Work, to talk about why so many of us carry a "used car salesman" wound around selling, and how to reframe the whole thing around one word: help.

Stefani spent almost two decades in corporate sales and sales leadership before God used a cover-to-cover read of the Bible to completely rewire where she found her worth. Now she teaches leaders — many of whom would never call themselves "salespeople" — how influence, conversation, and genuine curiosity are the real engines behind selling well.

What you'll learnWhy "sales" gets such a bad reputation, and how to separate the tactic from the value underneath itThe difference between chasing urgency and choosing joy when you're overwhelmed with too much to doHow to ask better questions — including why "what keeps you up at night?" isn't actually the sharpest question you can ask a prospective clientWhy closed-ended questions ("do you," "can you," "will you") shut conversations down, and how open-ended questions keep them goingHow to identify your highest-and-best-use prospects instead of chasing everyone who could theoretically buyWhat it looks like to close a conversation on a next step — without that step needing to be a signed contract

Episode highlights(Timestamps below are pulled from the raw transcript — please verify against the final edited audio before publishing.)

[00:02] Catching up with Stephanie and her multi-passionate path from corporate sales into faith-based coaching[03:00] How reading the Bible cover to cover in 2019 changed where Stephanie's worth came from[08:29] Filtering tasks by joy instead of urgency — and how that changed Stephanie's week[11:24] Naming the "proverbial f-word": why sales feels slimy and where that reputation comes from[13:11] The mindset shift from "selling" to "helping" — and what that actually looks like in practice[18:47] The Challenger Sale model and why leadership tactics and sales tactics are the same tactics[21:26] Getting specific about your ideal client beyond the social-media version of an avatar[23:04] Why "what keeps you up at night" isn't the sharpest question — and what to ask instead[30:35] Stephanie's practical tips: open-ended questions, knowing decision-makers, and always closing with a next step[35:12] T