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The Most Expensive Second in Sales


August 15, 2026 | Read online

The Most Expensive Second in Sales

by Kevin 'KD' Dorsey

There's a moment in almost every sales call that looks completely harmless.

The buyer asks a question.

The rep says, "That's a great question. Give me one second."

Then they look down.

Maybe they open the CRM.

Maybe they check their notes.

Maybe they search Slack.

Maybe they pull up the pricing sheet.

Maybe they're trying to remember what happened on the last call.

It's only a few seconds.

But something just happened.

The rep left the conversation.

And the buyer noticed.

Sales Is a Game of Attention

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what separates average sellers from great ones.

It's not always product knowledge.

It's not always talk track.

It's not even confidence.

A huge part of it is attention.

Great sellers are paying attention to what the buyer is saying, what they're not saying, where their energy changes, which words they repeat, and where the conversation starts moving toward a decision.

That's incredibly difficult to do when half your brain is trying to remember which document has the answer.

Every time you switch from the buyer to a screen, you're asking your brain to change contexts.

Listen.

Look.

Search.

Read.

Remember.

Go back to listening.

That's a lot of cognitive switching in the middle of a conversation where the stakes are high.

And sometimes the information you were looking for wasn't even the important part.

You just missed the important part while you were searching for it.

The CRM Wasn't Built For The Conversation

Don't get me wrong.

I love a good CRM.

But your CRM is designed to store information.

It's not necessarily designed to help you think while you're talking to another human being.

Same with your sales playbook.

Same with your Google Drive.

Same with the 17 tabs every AE somehow has open before a big call.

We keep putting more information into the sales stack and then wonder why reps struggle to use it.

The problem isn't always access.

It's how you access it.

That's Where Wearables Get Interesting

I've been testing Even G2 from Even Realities, and this is the part that caught my attention.

Even G2 are AI display glasses designed to put useful information into your line of sight while you're actually doing the work.

Before a call, you can prepare account context, questions, reminders, and key details. They can then be available directly in your Even G2 glasses throughout the conversation.

And when something unexpected comes up, like a competitor, a technical term, or a new business challenge, AI Cues can surface relevant context in your line of sight without breaking your focus.

That's a very different interaction with technology.

Your computer asks you to leave the conversation.

A wearable can bring the information into the conversation.

And that distinction matters a lot in sales.

Because the buyer doesn't care how good your CRM is.

They care whether you're listening.

The Best Technology Should Disappear

This is something I think about a lot with sales technology.

The best tools shouldn't make the rep think about the tool.

They should make the rep better at selling.

If I'm looking at my laptop, clicking through tabs, trying to find a note while a buyer is explaining their biggest business problem, the technology has become the distraction.

If the technology helps me stay focused on the buyer while still giving me access to what I need, that's different.

That's useful.

That's where Even G2 gets interesting.

Not because smart glasses are futuristic.

Because staying present is valuable.

Think About What Happens In A Real Discovery Call

The buyer says:

"We tried solving this last year, but adoption was terrible."

That's the moment.

You could acknowledge it and move on.

Or you could recognize that there's probably a much bigger problem underneath the statement.

Why was adoption terrible?

What happened?

Who resisted?

What did it cost?

What changed since then?

That's where great discovery happens.

But you need to be present enough to notice it.

You can't be simultaneously thinking:

"Where did I save my discovery questions?"

That's the difference between information and enablement.

Information tells you something.

Enablement helps you do something.

And This Isn't Just A Rep Problem

Sales leaders should pay attention to this too.

Because when reps struggle on calls, we often respond by giving them more information.

Another training.

Another playbook.

Another battlecard.

Another certification.

Another 60-page PDF.

Meanwhile, the rep already knows more than enough.

They just can't access the right thing at the right time without disrupting the conversation.

Maybe the answer isn't another training program.

Maybe it's redesigning how the information gets into the workflow.

That's a much more interesting problem to solve.

The Goal Isn't To Make Reps Smarter

It's To Make Their Existing Knowledge More Accessible.

That's the distinction I keep coming back to.

If I've spent years teaching a rep how to run discovery, I don't want them spending the call trying to remember my framework.

I want them thinking about the buyer.

If I've trained them how to handle pricing, I don't want them searching for the pricing playbook when the CFO asks about cost.

I want them listening to the question behind the question.

If I've taught them how to close, I don't want them worrying about what comes next.

I want them reading the room.

That's what good enablement should do.

It should reduce the cognitive load around the work so the seller can focus on the work.

Try This On Your Next Call

Pay attention to every time you leave the conversation.

Did you look at another screen?

Search for a note?

Check the CRM?

Look at your agenda?

Try to remember something from training?

Add them up.

You might be surprised how often you're technically "on the call" while your attention is somewhere else.

Then ask yourself:

What if the information I needed could come to me instead?

That's the promise I find interesting about AI wearables.

Not replacing the seller.

Not automating the conversation.

Not turning sales into some weird robot-human interaction.

Just reducing the distance between the seller and the information they need.

Because the most valuable thing you can bring into a sales conversation isn't another tab.

It's your attention.

And if technology can help you keep it there...

That's worth paying attention to.

If you want to check out Even G2 and see what the wearable can do for yourself, you can get it here:

KD


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