protippartners

Facebook-f Instagram Linkedin
Schedule Our Chat!

Now Available!

Now Available!
A Book for Every Professional Who Communicates, Persuades, or Needs to Get to Yes

Wait, What?
I'm in Sales?

Why the Worst Salesperson You Know Is You — and the Blind Spots Even Great Sellers Miss

You are already selling every day. Your ideas. Your point of view. Your value. The question is whether you are doing it on purpose or by accident. This book is for the professional who is great at their work but keeps losing ground to people who are great at the conversation around their work.

Order on Amazon → Order Direct
20+ Years in the Field
3 Parts, 12 Chapters
50% Faster Sales Cycles
2 Formats Available
Wait, What? I'm in Sales? by Karlyn Kieffer — Book Cover
Official Launch Date: June 9, 2026
The Real Problem

You are already selling.
You just do not know you are doing it.

Every professional who has ever pitched an idea, asked for a budget, tried to get a team on board, or convinced a client to trust them has been in a sales conversation. Most of them lost ground they did not have to lose because of three blind spots nobody ever told them about.

01

You Think Sales Is Something Other People Do

Doctors, engineers, teachers, consultants, executives, creatives. None of them consider themselves salespeople. And yet every single one of them is in conversations every day where the outcome depends entirely on their ability to influence. Opting out of the label does not opt you out of the game.

02

You Lead With What You Know Instead of What They Need

The instinct to prove expertise is completely understandable. It is also the fastest way to lose a room. When you lead with features, credentials, and capabilities before you have connected to the problem your listener actually has, you are talking to yourself. Confidently. Out loud. In front of other people.

03

You Mistake Preparation for Presence

Scripts, decks, talking points, rehearsed answers. Preparation is not the problem. The problem is when preparation replaces the ability to actually listen and respond to what is happening in the room. In the age of AI, the one skill that cannot be automated is the ability to think on your feet. Most professionals are quietly losing it.

This book does not teach you to sell. It teaches you to stop leaving value on the table in the conversations you are already having every single day.

Get the Book →
-->
Inside the Book

Three parts. Twelve chapters.
Zero fluff.

A practical field guide built for people who communicate for a living and want to get better at the conversations that matter most.

Part One

Everyone Is in Sales

Dismantling the biggest myth holding professionals back from their own influence.

Ch 1
Wait, What? I'm in Sales? Why every professional is already selling, whether they know it or not.
Ch 2
The Sales Equation The simple formula that separates people who win conversations from people who lose them.
Ch 3
Features vs. Benefits: What People Actually Buy Nobody buys what you sell. They buy what it does for them.
Ch 4
Your Elevator Pitch How to answer "What do you do?" in a way people actually remember.
Part Two

The Skills That Close

The tactical toolkit for high-stakes conversations, from the first call to the final ask.

Ch 5
How to Actually Listen Active listening is not waiting for your turn to talk. Here is what it actually looks like.
Ch 6
The Art of the Question The questions you ask reveal more about your capability than the answers you give.
Ch 7
Objections Are Not the Enemy How to hear "no," "not yet," and "I'm not sure" as the information they actually are.
Ch 8
Closing Without Feeling Like a Closer Asking for what you want clearly, confidently, and without the cringe.
Part Three

The Edge That Cannot Be Automated

The presence, agility, and adaptability that AI cannot replace and most professionals are quietly losing.

Ch 9
Improv Is Not Just for Comedians How the principles of improvisation make you sharper, faster, and more persuasive in real time.
Ch 10
Reading the Room The signals most professionals miss and what to do when you catch them.
Ch 11
Presence Under Pressure How to stay grounded, clear, and compelling when the stakes are highest.
Ch 12
Building Your Sales Habit How to make these skills stick so they work when you need them most.
The Framework at the Core

Introducing the ACTION Sales Framework

Every high-stakes conversation has a structure. The ACTION framework gives you that structure so you stop winging it and start winning it, every time.

A Achieve
C Challenge
T Timeline
I Influencers
O Optimal Solution
N Next Steps
Karlyn Kieffer, Author of Wait, What? I'm in Sales?
Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
CPTM Certified Certified Professional in Training Management
Top Rated Former Television News Anchor of #1 5 p.m. News
Founder, Pro Tip Partners Leadership Training and Sales Enablement Consultancy
About the Author

Karlyn Kieffer

Sales Communication Expert. Trainer. Former Television News Anchor.

Karlyn Kieffer is not a sales theorist. She is a practitioner who has spent more than two decades inside the rooms where deals are won and lost, reputations are built, and professionals either grow into their potential or quietly settle for less than they are capable of.

As the founder of Pro Tip Partners, Karlyn has helped individuals and teams across industries sharpen how they think, communicate, and close. Her work has reduced sales cycles by up to 50%, helped build high-performing teams, and launched a company's first-ever President's Club. Her clients include AWS, Hearst Television, and FilmNation, among others.

Her approach is not about scripts. It is about mental agility: the ability to think on your feet, adapt in real time, and respond to what is actually happening in the conversation in front of you. She combines core sales fundamentals with improvisation techniques to make professionals more effective, more confident, and far more influential. In the age of AI, she argues, that skill is the last true competitive edge, and most people are quietly losing it.

Before building Pro Tip Partners, Karlyn was an Emmy-nominated television news anchor and reporter, a Chief Diversity Officer at the USTA, and a sales enablement leader at Appian, where she helped compress enterprise sales cycles from 18 to 24 months down to 9.

🎙
Host of "The Road to Greatness" Podcast Conversations on influence, communication, and what it takes to perform at your best.
Get the Book

Choose your
format

Available in paperback and eBook. Order from Amazon or direct from the publisher.

📖 Paperback

Print Edition

The full book in your hands. Perfect for annotating, dog-earing, and keeping on your desk where you will actually use it.

$22.98 Order on Amazon → Order Direct
📱 eBook

Kindle Edition

Read anywhere, on any device. Instant access the moment you order. Highlight, search, and reference on the go.

$9.99 Get Kindle Edition →

The conversation you were never
taught to have is holding you back.

Every day you walk into meetings, pitches, and negotiations without the skills this book gives you is a day you are leaving influence, opportunity, and money on the table.

Order on Amazon → Order Direct
Scroll to Top