The First Half Is Written. The Second Half Is Still Open.
Chris Sund is a mid-year sales meeting speaker and mid-year kickoff keynote for sales teams that need to reset the second half. As President and COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula, he helped grow Uniti Med 10x in revenue in two years. At your midyear sales conference he helps reps close the gap to the annual number and re-energizes a team that is behind or coasting, using his LOCKS sales framework to show where the second-half deals are actually stuck.
A Mid-Year Meeting Has One Job: The Second Half
A sales kickoff is about a fresh number and a clean slate. Six months later the slate is not clean. Some reps are ahead, some have quietly written off the year, and leadership needs everyone pointed at the same second half. Chris builds the session around where your team actually is.
The Team That Is Behind
The pressure is real and the story in the room is getting worse. The message: what is still winnable, and the activity that wins it.
The Team That Is Coasting
Ahead of plan and starting to protect the lead. The message: hitting the number is not the same as doing what you are capable of.
The Split Room
Most rooms are both. The session gives the top half and the bottom half the same language for the next six months.
The Reset After a Change
A new territory map, a new product or a leadership change mid-year. The meeting is where the team decides how to sell the second half.
Close the Gap With LOCKS
The fastest way to close a second-half gap is usually not more pipeline. It is finding out why the deals already in it have stalled. LOCKS names the five conditions a buyer has to meet before a deal closes, so every stalled opportunity gets a diagnosis instead of another follow-up email.
Love the Product
The buyer has to want what you sell. Necessary, and the only condition most sales training ever covers.
Own Belief
The buyer has to believe they personally can get the result. Doubt about themselves is not a pricing problem.
Confidence in You
Trust in the rep and the company. Without it, the buyer still buys the category, just from someone else.
Kickoff Plan
A clear picture of what happens the day after yes. Buyers commit to a first month they can see.
Stakes
The real cost of doing nothing. When the buyer says they need to think about it, this is usually the tumbler that has not turned.
For the objection that shows up when a tumbler sticks, Chris pairs LOCKS with the LAARC method. Leaders planning the meeting can use the same structure as the sales kickoff planning guide.
Resetting a Team That Is Behind or Coasting
When a team is behind, Chris does not treat it as a skills problem. Ability does not disappear between the first quarter and the second. What usually changes is the story reps tell themselves after a run of no’s, and then the activity drops. He covers it in A Slump Is Almost Never a Skills Problem. When a team is coasting, the work is the opposite: raising a ceiling the team set for itself.
- Separating what is still winnable this year from what is not
- Running every stalled deal through LOCKS to find the missing condition
- Protecting an activity floor for the worst weeks of the second half
- Making the cost of doing nothing visible to buyers who keep saying not yet
- Asking top performers to set the second-half bar themselves
- One deal each rep commits to reopening the week they get home
For the sales leaders running the meeting, the companion read is How to Motivate a Sales Team.
The Brewery Buyer and the Cost of No
Before healthcare, Chris sold beer for a brewery that was on the shelf at every major store except the biggest retailer in the country. One buyer decided, so Chris kept calling him. When the buyer finally picked up, he told Chris that to him the beer was paper clips: one more item on a long list.
Chris did not argue about the beer. He explained that it was a top seller in its category everywhere else, and that loyal fans would drive to a competitor to buy it and do the rest of their shopping there. The buyer’s reply: get me your best sellers, every store, and I want a display. That is the S in LOCKS, Stakes, and it is the conversation most second-half deals are waiting on.
Where the Keynote Fits
Chris shapes the session around the agenda you already have. These placements work well at mid-year meetings.
After the First-Half Review
Right after leadership shares where the year stands. The keynote turns the gap into a plan the reps own.
Keynote Plus Breakout
The main stage for everyone, then a working breakout where reps bring stalled deals and run them through LOCKS.
Half or Full Day, In Person
Reps work their own second-half pipeline and practice the conversations. See the sales training workshop.
Proof: Sales Rooms Chris Has Spoken To
Chris delivered You Are Capable of More: Sales at the Definitive Healthcare sales kickoff in Boston to more than 800 sellers and sales leaders, and has taught objection handling at the emPower Breakfast. More on the testimonials page.
Chris was the consummate professional with an excellent stage presence. Not only did he work with our change in scheduling, topics, and even how many speakers were onstage at the same time — but he did it with grace and tact. Chris resonated with the audience to the point I had many attendees come up to me and ask where we got him. I would recommend Chris for any speaking needs as he’s versatile, flexible, and professional.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Chris speak a few times now, including at our company’s Sales Kickoff in front of 800+ people — which he crushed. Each time he finds a unique way to connect with his audience on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
Having Chris Sund as a Sarpy County Empower Breakfast speaker was a breath of fresh air. He was amazing — brought up all the things that make us all a little crazy and gave us new ways of handling objections. Definitely a great start to a day. I would always be happy to recommend Chris.
Programs for Mid-Year Sales Meetings
Every session is customized with your sales leadership around your numbers, your buyers and where deals are getting stuck.
You Are Capable of More: Sales
The flagship sales keynote, built on LOCKS, with the brewery story and the habits of producers who keep raising their own ceiling.
How to Handle Objections
A focused session on the moment a buyer pushes back, using LAARC to keep the deal moving.
Sales Training Workshop
A half or full day in person where reps work their own second-half deals through LOCKS.
Sales Leadership
A manager track on coaching, deal reviews and keeping top performers through the second half.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: National Sales Meeting Speaker · Sales Kickoff Keynote Speaker · Company Kickoff Speaker · Sales Keynote Speaker · Sales Leadership Speaker · SDR & BDR Team Speaker · Customer Success Speaker · The LOCKS Framework · How to Plan a Sales Kickoff
What Mid-Year Meeting Planners Ask
How is a mid-year sales meeting keynote different from a sales kickoff?
A sales kickoff opens the year and sets the number. A mid-year meeting comes after half the year has already been written, so the job is different: reset the second half, close the gap to the annual number and re-energize a team that is either behind or coasting.
Our team is behind plan. Will the keynote just be motivation?
No. Chris pairs belief with a diagnosis. Reps run their stalled deals through the LOCKS framework to find the condition that is missing, and the room talks honestly about the slump without treating it as a skills problem.
What if the team is ahead of plan?
Then the risk is coasting. Chris speaks to the gap between hitting a number and what the team is actually capable of, which is the core idea of his book, and asks top performers to set the second-half bar themselves.
Is this the same as the national sales meeting page?
They overlap. The national sales meeting page covers any company-wide sales meeting, including launches and incentive trips. This page is specifically for the meeting at the midpoint of the year, when the second half is the whole agenda.
Can Chris run a working session after the keynote?
Yes. A common format is the keynote followed by a breakout or a half-day or full-day in-person workshop where reps work their own second-half pipeline through LOCKS and practice objections with LAARC.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, an Amazon Bestseller and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. At the midpoint of the year its core idea is hard to ignore: the gap between the first-half number and what the team could really do is mostly habits and belief.
Sales leaders often send every rep home with a signed copy, so the meeting keeps working through the second half. Bulk pricing is available.
He Owns a Second Half Too
Chris is accountable for revenue every quarter. He knows what a mid-year review feels like from the leadership side of the table, and what a sales team needs to hear when half the year is gone.
He is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula, an AI talent-sourcing tech company. He helped grow Uniti Med 10x in revenue in two years, earning #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest. His teams have earned Best Places to Work recognition across multiple programs, including a Fortune Best Workplaces award and Great Place to Work Certification three years running.
He is the bestselling, award-winning author of You Are Capable of More (an Amazon Bestseller and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category), writes for Forbes and Inc., and has been a guest on WOWT, 10/11, Bloom on WFLA, KXAN, KCTV5, WOI and Dakota News Now. See the media hub.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Sales Audiences Have Heard Chris
Sales kickoffs, objection-handling sessions and revenue-team conferences where Chris has spoken.
Definitive Healthcare SKOBoston, MA · 800+ sellersemPower Breakfast LincolnHandling ObjectionsLeadingAge IllinoisPublished the LAARC MethodNAHCR 2026 Annual ConferenceMilwaukee, WICalifornia Staffing ProfessionalsCSP ConferenceMICA Fall Business MeetingsTake Back Your Time with AIAlso: National Sales Meetings · President’s Club · All Sales Speaking · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Mid-Year Sales Meeting
Tell Chris when your team is getting together, where the year stands and where deals are stalling. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
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