Nick Kane is the co-founder of Janek Performance Group. Along with his partner Justin, Nick wrote Critical Selling, the book that forms the foundation of everything Janek teaches. Their team has trained more than 15,000 sales professionals across Fortune 100 enterprises and midsize businesses, and they run public workshops in 20 cities across North America.
I first heard about Janek from one of our largest customers, who had Nick and Justin deploy a program inside their organization. When I finally got Nick on the Conquer Local podcast, we spent our time on two ideas that I think every sales leader needs to understand: situational fluency and the real value of objections.
Why Sales Does Not Get a Seat at the Table
Nick and I both agreed on something that too many executives still miss. Sales is often viewed as less professional than operations, finance, or even marketing. That is changing as organizations invest in sales enablement and sales operations, but the gap is still wide.
As Nick put it:
“I think those organizations that are more sophisticated understand the true value of sales and the sales organization, and they’re starting to get that seat at the table more and more.”
If you lead sales, your job is partly to earn that seat. That means showing up to executive meetings with the same data discipline, the same process rigor, and the same accountability the rest of the business takes for granted. This is exactly the mindset I cover in why sales is a science, not a guessing game.
Situational Fluency: The Skill That Separates Pros from Rookies
This was the phrase Nick brought into our conversation that stuck with me. Situational fluency is the ability to read a buyer’s world and speak their language with precision. It combines product knowledge, industry context, and the emotional intelligence to know which lever to pull in real time.
I see situational fluency show up in:
- How the seller opens the conversation with specific, relevant context.
- The discovery questions they ask, which come from genuine curiosity about the buyer’s business, not a script.
- The way they connect one buyer’s story to patterns they have seen across similar accounts.
- The depth of their product knowledge and how cleanly they translate features into outcomes.
Emotional intelligence is the silent engine behind situational fluency. I wrote about that in detail in discovering emotional intelligence for sales and life.
Objections Are a Gift, Not a Threat
Nick and I share a deep respect for objections. I learned this years ago from a Xerox sales trainer named Elizabeth, who said the toughest prospect is the one who refuses to give you an objection at all. I call that presenting to a sphinx. Without an objection, you have nowhere to go.
Objections are a signal that the buyer is engaged. They are sharing the real blockers standing between them and a decision. The best sellers welcome objections, document them, and use them as the next step in the dialogue.
Private Engagements and Public Workshops
Nick explained that Janek delivers training in two formats. Private engagements are custom deployments inside an organization. Public workshops are open enrollment sessions in 20 cities across North America. The public workshops are smaller, more intimate, and perfect for individual sellers or small teams who want access to the same curriculum the Fortune 100 receives.
Whether you need a team deployment or want to send a rep to a public workshop, Janek gives you both paths. That flexibility is rare in the training space.
What Sales Leaders Should Steal From This Conversation
A few takeaways I jotted down during the interview:
- Earn your seat at the executive table by leading sales like a discipline, not an art.
- Build situational fluency into your enablement program and measure it.
- Teach your reps to welcome objections and treat them as the next step in the conversation.
- Mix public and private training to keep skills sharp across a growing team.
For another lens on trust inside the sales conversation, read my take on the Trust Matrix and how to build trust in every sales conversation.
Where is your team’s biggest gap right now: situational fluency, objection handling, or executive presence?