Podcasts about B2B

I break down the five things separating coaches who get clients from their podcast from coaches who just get downloads.Most coaches confuse their ideal client avatar with their target audience, and that mix-up quietly kills momentum before they even notice. I get into why your objective, awareness or conversions, has to be decided before launch, why your lead list is doing more work than your content ever will, and why I built my own program only after the market told me what to build, not before.If you're a B2B coach building a podcast, or yours isn't converting yet, this one gives you the fix.BUILD THE PODCAST YOUR VOICE ALREADY EARNED:If you're ready to build a podcast that attracts and converts premium clients while empowering the people you serve.Visit joewintersjr.com/start to book a free discovery call.

Watch the full episode on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@mreapodcastWhat if the key to business growth isn't in your business plan?Jacqueline Smith and her team closed more than 300 units and $130 million in annual sales. Agent referrals and past clients drive most of that pipeline. But the story she wants told isn't about volume. It's about the 15 Point Plan, the health and energy framework she built after realizing her brain is a body part too.Jacqueline joins us to break down the 15 Point Plan: daily habits across hydration, nutrition, movement, hobbies, and energy management. She tracks each one alongside her mood and output. We learn how it works in real life, from four bottles of water a day to a coach-built nutrition plan, to a two-year journey earning her pilot's license.We also dig into her lead generation, built on a sphere of influence and community events like an annual block party and coat drive. We cover how long-form writing turned into agent referrals, and why she believes energy, not tactics, is the real unlock for agents who feel stuck. Her approach proves that health is not separate from business. It is the foundation that makes the business last.Tune in to learn how we can build our own health plan, protect our energy, and create a real estate business that lasts for decades.Resources:Follow Jacqueline Smith on InstagramEvergreen Real Estate Partners  Atomic Habits by James ClearOrder the Millionaire Real Estate Agent Playbook | Volume 3Connect with Jason:LinkedinProduced by NOVAThis podcast is for general informational purposes only. The views, thoughts, and opinions of the guest represent those of the guest and not  Keller Williams Realty, LLC and its affiliates, and should not be construed as financial, economic, legal, tax, or other advice. This podcast is provided without any warranty, or guarantee of its accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or results from using the information.WARNING! You must comply with the TCPA and any other federal, state or local laws, including for B2B calls and texts. Never call or text a number on any Do Not Call list, and do not use an autodialer or artificial voice or prerecorded messages without proper consent. Contact your attorney to ensure your compliance.

In this episode of the Financial Survival Network, Kerry Lutz sits down with Jon Ostenson of FranBridge Consulting to explore why franchise ownership is becoming an increasingly attractive path to building long-term wealth. Instead of starting from scratch, entrepreneurs can leverage proven systems, established brands, and support networks to accelerate growth. Jon shares real-world success stories, including how one moving service location scaled into a $45 million revenue business, and explains why "non-sexy" industries like home services, senior care, and specialized B2B markets are creating powerful opportunities. The conversation explores the emerging strategy of "franchise stacking" — building multiple businesses to create diversified cash flow — along with how smart operators are using AI, technology, and innovative business models to gain an edge. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or an investor looking beyond traditional assets, this episode reveals a different way to think about business ownership, opportunity, and long-term wealth creation. Find Jon here: https://franbridgeconsulting.com Find Kerry here:  https://khlfsn.substack.com and here: https://inflation.cafe    All Kerry's books are available here:  Amazon Bookstore  

Chris, Hogi, and Adam address a bizarre, viral forum post targeting Chris Collins Performance on a competitor's platform. The team breaks down the obvious inconsistencies in the post—from fake claims about techs quitting to misinformed takes on labor grids and parts pricing—and explains why real service advisors who understand business profitability actually thrive under proper operational systems. The guys also answer a direct hotline question comparing automotive parts departments to heavy-duty truck parts operations. They break down the fundamental differences between B2C car dealerships and B2B truck dealerships, how wholesale operations drive millions in outside revenue, and the exact process needed to stop special order parts bleeding before cleaning up obsolescence. Plus: Adam checks in live from his hot Florida vacation with 15 family members, detailing their annual family drink competition, fish boils, golfing in 106-degree heat, and the team's weekly workouts at Planet Fitness. (Note: SDR Live Academy returns next week on Zoom, where Hogi leads an interactive workshop on building and mapping high-performance service drive systems!) KEY TAKEAWAYS - Debunking Online Forum Drama: An unfiltered breakdown of a fake forum post, addressing why right-sizing labor rates and pricing matrices is essential for shop survival. - The "Mom Test" for Maintenance: Why advisor integrity means never selling a client something you wouldn't sell to your own mother. - B2C vs. B2B Parts Operations: How auto parts departments rely on internal service drive volume, while heavy-duty truck parts departments generate millions in outside fleet and municipality sales. - Stopping the Obsolescence Bleed: Why cleaning up old inventory fails if you haven't fixed your prepaid special order parts processes and technician returns first. - The Planet Fitness Business Model: A funny look at how low-cost gym memberships rely on members never showing up—and what happens when everyone actually does. - SDR Academy Systems Preview: A look at Hogi's upcoming workshop on outlining and executing a seamless operational blueprint. GOT A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN? Call 833-3-ASK-SDR — we answer on the show! Get special deals on our books and training at offers.chriscollinsinc.com #ServiceDriveRevolution #FixedOps #AutomotiveLeadership #ServiceManager #ServiceAdvisor #DealershipLife #CarBusiness #ChrisBulldogCollins #AutoIndustry #DealershipTraining #ServiceDirector #FixedOperations #BusinessStrategy #SDRAcademy #HeavyDutyTrucks #PartsDepartment #Obsolescence SDR Live Academy Online Training For Huge Results: https://chriscollinsinc.com/op/sdr-live-weekly/ Book your Profit Gap Analysis Now: https://calendly.com/byron-webster/30min Best-selling books on making Fixed Ops a money printer: https://chriscollinsinc.com/shop/ Got a question? Call us at 1-833-3-ASK-SDR  Want to work with the best? https://chriscollinsinc.com/careers/ Grab Chris' New Leadership Book I AM LEADER: https://iamleader.com  

Robert Brill, CEO of Brill Media, explains how businesses can implant a complete growth engine that attracts ideal customers, converts more leads, and scales sustainable growth through a proven marketing framework. Under his leadership, Brill Media has been recognized 11 times by the Inc. 5000 and the Financial Times 500 for helping businesses grow through precision advertising, strategic messaging, and performance marketing. In this conversation, Robert introduces The Growth Engine Framework—Setup, Awareness, Conversion, Closing, and KPIs. He explains why businesses must first define their Super Consumer, build a compelling proprietary system, and deliver messaging that differentiates them in crowded markets. Robert also shares how overcoming the “81% Gap” through nurture marketing, leveraging AI-powered tools, and documenting repeatable systems enable organizations to scale more efficiently while helping founders transition from operator to owner. — Implant a Complete Growth Engine with Robert Brill  Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint, and my guest is Robert Brill, the CEO of Brill Media, a leading media buying agency specializing in precision advertising for business growth. Under his leadership, Brill Media has been recognized 11 times by the Inc. 5000 and the Financial Times 500. Robert, welcome back to the show.  Steve, thanks for having me. It’s great to be back. Good to see you again.  Yeah, good to see you after two and a half years. Lots of things happened. So we’re going to dive into all of those things, but let’s start with your personal ‘Why’ and how you’re manifesting it in your business, Brill Media?  I mean, my personal 'Why' is I'm focusing on becoming an owner, not an operator. Spend more time with family, less stress, more happiness.Share on X Because if I think about the last five years, the most cherished times that I think about are the times that I’ve spent on vacation, going to Disneyland, or going to baseball games with my family—all the fun stuff. And it’s not about the fun stuff necessarily. It’s about the fun stuff with family. So, more of that.  Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Those times with the kids don’t come back. The business is going to be around for a while longer, much, much longer. So prioritizing this is a really good idea. So tell me what happened over the last two and a half years since we talked together. What has changed in your business?  You know, we’ve really focused on evolving our solutions. For many years, we’ve been focused on agencies, and we continue to be focused on agencies. If you search for white-label media buying on Google, we’re one of the top one or two results. That’s because we’ve carved out a really strong position helping agencies do media buying, earn revenue, create stickier client relationships as a result of the work we do, and complement their work.  What we've learned over the years is that no amount of good media buying can overcome the wrong messaging.Share on X Even if you look at search engine optimization or social media, at the end of the day, it’s just an amplification of an existing message. If you’re spending lots of time, energy, and, notably, money delivering the wrong message, worst-case scenario, you’re confusing the marketplace. Best-case scenario, you’re only losing money. But obviously, neither of those is the desired outcome.  So before we help clients buy advertising space, post on social media, do SEO, or Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), we really want to dial in the types of messages that are most interesting to them. The next part is this: even if you have the right message and you have the best media buying in the world through Brill Media, none of that matters if you have a leaky bucket. The leaky bucket is when you pay a lot of money to run a Google Search ad, someone clicks, and then they never hear from you again.  At the end of the day, it takes more than one touch—or even a few touches—to get someone to buy from you. So our responsibility has evolved into building this growth engine of understanding the motivation behind why people buy from your company, then delivering the message, then getting people to convert, overcoming what we’re calling the 81% Gap—we can talk about that—and then getting people to see you everywhere so that you become the inevitable choice. The fifth step is understanding the KPIs—the success metrics—for every step of the process. So it’s not just media buying anymore.  Yeah. No, I definitely noticed that it’s not just media buying. It’s not just precision advertising. It sounds like you help them strategize what the right message should be and then convert those leads into customers. So essentially, it’s the whole growth engine that you’re building for companies. Is that right? That is exactly right. It’s the growth engine.  So what is the framework? Because, remember, this is a framework podcast. So describe to me. You actually mentioned step four and step five. I don’t know what the first three steps are. So can you go through the five steps and share with the listeners what that looks like?  So, step one: Setup. Who are you talking to? What’s unique about your audience? What’s unique about your business, and how do you help them achieve transformation? When we talk about setup, there are a few subsections. There’s the Super Consumer. We talk about the Super Consumer as someone who will evangelize for your company. They will pay you what you’re asking, and, in my opinion, most importantly, you like working with them.  So basically, you want to find the Super Consumer, you want to articulate who the Super Consumer is, and then target your growth engine to the Super Consumer?  The first step of the Growth Engine is simply defining who your Super Consumer actually is. So step one is Setup. Inside Setup, there is your Super Consumer, your Unique Advantage Point, and your Proprietary System. The reason we talk about the Super Consumer is that a lot of companies, especially big corporations, talk about the Total Addressable Market—everyone who can possibly buy from you. It’s too broad.  They also talk about small and mid-sized businesses, and commonly people talk about the Ideal Customer Profile, which is anyone who can extract value from your company. In our opinion, that’s too broad as well because if you dial in to the Super Consumer—if you understand the people you want to work with, who will evangelize for you, and who will pay you what you’re asking—you have a subset of people.  When you define them, there's a clear, describable transformation that you can provide that helps you become the inevitable solution for that group of people.Share on X When you know what those people want, what their desires are, what keeps them up at night, what they’re experiencing on a day-to-day basis, what they’re saying to themselves, what they’re saying to other people, and what they’re searching for—when you understand the psychology behind the person—you can actually carve out a position that is highly valuable.  The key part for us is that this is about commoditization and decommoditization. When you talk about lawyers, doctors, dentists, accounting firms, or any retail location, most of these businesses are commoditized. What commoditization means for us is that if you’re an accountant or CPA, your website says something that every other CPA in the area says. If you’re a dentist doing Invisalign, you’re saying something that every other dentist in the area says. That means you can swap out the logo and swap out the photos of the people, and it’s exactly the same.  The consumer can’t tell the difference between one dentist and another, or one accountant and another, because they’re all saying the same things. So the way you decommoditize is by talking about your Super Consumer—who you actually want to serve—and then carving out a unique position for those people.Share on X An example would be an accounting firm we spoke with that really focuses on the trucking industry because they happen to have a large degree of experience in that space. So don’t say you’re a generic accountant who does bookkeeping, taxes, and everything else. Say, “We’re the number one accounting firm for truckers in America.”  Love it.  That’s unique.  Yeah. Love it. Okay, so step one is Setup. Who you’re serving, who your Super Consumer is, what your Unique Advantage is, your Proprietary System, and decommoditization. What’s step two?  Step two is Awareness—driving awareness with your message. Our idea is that now you know exactly who you’re talking to and how they can achieve transformation with you. When you have the ability to really define how they’ll engage with you and what they’ll get from you that’s different from anyone else in the area or the country, that’s when you deliver the message. That’s when you run ads, post on social media, and say things that are going to attract people.  There’s a whole subset of activity behind that related to levels of awareness. The number one mistake businesses make on social media is posting content that’s irrelevant to the audience. That irrelevance comes from how aware the audience is. When people are unaware they have a problem, it doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem. It just means they don’t realize they have one. Your responsibility, when speaking to people who are unaware, is simply to help them understand that they have a problem.  You’re not trying to get them to start now, book a call, or get your free diagnostic. You want to trigger something in their head so they say, “Oh, I’m dealing with this type of experience. I’m a trucking company, and I really don’t have good accounting. I didn’t realize I had a problem.” The success of your marketing is simply when that person says, “Oh, I actually have a problem now.” You’re not going to see that in HubSpot.  You’re not going to see that in any meaningful metric. But when you consistently post content on social media that highlights the problem you solve, three, four, or six months from now, you’ll start to see that wave of marketing activity result in activity inside your HubSpot or CRM. So step two is Awareness—simply delivering the message. Okay.  Step three is Conversion. Conversion is simply, “Hey, click on this ad or see my post and download the guide, take the diagnostic, take the interactive quiz, watch a video,” whatever it is, in exchange for an email address, name, phone number—that type of thing. Now, here’s a key insight. People are not ready to buy after they submit their contact information. That’s another meaningful point that businesses overlook.  They think, “Whoa, a lead just came into HubSpot. Well, clearly they’re ready to spend $50,000 with me.” But think about the experience. Maybe I spend two and a half seconds on an ad. I spend 20 seconds on a landing page. No one’s going to spend any meaningful amount of money after 22 and a half seconds of engagement.  Yeah.  All they’re saying is, “Hey, for a moment in time, what you said to me was relevant.” And that’s it. This is where a lot of companies stop. They say, “Well, I’m getting bad leads. They’re not converting into business.” Or they say, “I got a click, and they visited my website.” It’s not turning into business because you’re not warming people up. And then the solution to that is you’ve got to overcome this 81% Gap, right?  So after someone converts—and for e-commerce it’s slightly different. People maybe visit your site, or they add something to the cart and they don’t purchase yet. But going back to B2B and professional services, you’ve got to overcome this 81% Gap. There’s a study by 6sense, the account-based marketing firm, that says 81% of buyers will only talk to a vendor after they’ve decided to work with the vendor. The implication of that is staggering. The number is going to increase by 2030 to, like, 95% or 98%.  What that means is companies are not going to get a chance to sell people anything. There’s no sales conversation. There’s no credibility. There’s no case studies. There’s no testimonials. There’s no, “Hey, here’s why you should work with us.” Which means all the information that would’ve been supplied by the salesperson now needs to be supplied by marketing. All the case studies, the testimonials, the credibility markers, you’re a member of the Chamber of Commerce—all of that needs to be delivered in marketing. It’s no longer going to be delivered in a sales conversation.  Interesting. Yeah.  So step four is Close.  After conversion, don’t we have a nurture step?  Well, we’re calling Close the nurture. Close is effectively the nurture step.  Okay. Got it.  So it’s the activity to achieve the close, which is the nurture. What we’re saying is: retargeting ads. Again, here’s another common mistake businesses make. Many businesses will pummel people with the same ads that got them into the funnel. That’s worthless because you’ve already delivered that message.  The user’s beyond that. What the user needs to see are the case studies, the testimonials, the credibility markers—all the reasons why your company should be the company they choose. The user needs to see the email marketing—up to 45 emails over the course of 100 days, somewhere around there.  Forty-five emails?  Yeah. Twenty-five to 45, but we recommend 45. The reason is, first of all, the user’s not going to read all of them. Secondly, the user’s only going to pay attention to the things they’re actually interested in. So: retargeting ads, email marketing, and professional services. The last component is LinkedIn Social Preheating. LinkedIn Social Preheating is the simplest thing that anyone listening to this can take action on this today.  Go to Sales Navigator. Create a list of all the people who are in your CRM. Find them on LinkedIn. When they post something, like their post. That’s it. Spend 20 minutes a day in the morning liking posts from people who’ve expressed interest in your business. Or, alternatively, do the same thing for people you want to work with who don’t know you yet. The reason that’s valuable is because, number one, they get notifications and sometimes emails saying, “Steve Preda liked your post.” Steve Preda. Steve Preda. Steve Preda. Over the course of two weeks: “I’ve got to pay attention to Steve Preda. That name sounds familiar.”  Yeah.  Oh, and here’s the ad from Steve Preda, and here’s the email about the transformation he provides. So by the time you or your people call them: “Steve Preda… I’ve been meaning to talk to you.” Or they call you and say, “Steve, I see you everywhere.” The LinkedIn activity, combined with the email marketing and the retargeting ads, makes you the inevitable choice. To a small group of people.  Because you’re not trying to get millions of customers unless you’re in retail or e-commerce. You’re trying to get 20 customers who are going to pay you $10,000 to $50,000. To those 20 people—and the hundred people who maybe don’t convert—you’re everywhere. You’re the inevitable choice. The fifth step in this process is setting KPIs at the beginning. How many sales-qualified calls do you need? How much revenue per month do you need? There are clients who are members of ProVisors.  I’m a member of ProVisors. How does your marketing impact your ProVisors relationships? The core idea is that we see a lot of companies going into the marketplace with point solutions. “Hey, I’m going to try Facebook ads.” “Ah, it didn’t work.” “I’m going to try Google Ads.” “Ah.” “I’m posting on LinkedIn.” “Ah.” They try all these different things and wonder, “They should work. Why don’t they work for my business?” The answer is because you don’t have a unifying strategy. They all serve different roles in the marketing process.  When you know the difference between an unaware consumer and what they need to hear versus a solution-aware consumer who’s on Google, you know you need different metrics and KPIs. We want to prevent companies from going from one point solution to another for years, spending lots of money and getting very frustrated. Instead, have one unifying strategy and then deploy activities that are actually going to benefit the growth…Share on X  Love it. So the five-step framework is: Setup—Super Consumer, Unique Advantage, Proprietary System. Number two, Awareness—ads and social. Then Conversion, which is basically email capture, a diagnostic, a video, a white paper, whatever. Then Close, which is the nurture: retargeting, email sequence, LinkedIn Social Preheating. Interesting. And then KPIs. How do you measure? What are your targets? And how do you get there? That’s  Yeah. That’s the Growth Engine.  So one thing that you mentioned: Proprietary System. What do you mean by that?  The only truly unique things that exist in the world are technological innovations. The iPhone—when Apple created the iPhone—that was unique. When Ozempic came out, that was unique. I’m not talking about that. What I’m talking about is this. I’ll give you an example. If you’re a lawyer, a dentist, or an accountant— If you’re a lawyer, you cannot deviate. You’re literally dealing with the law.  What you have to do as a lawyer has been dictated in legal documents for a long time, depending on the field of law that you study. You cannot deviate from that. You have a process that you have to follow. But what is unique is the way you think about it, the processes inside your organization that ensure you’re successful, and the way you steward clients. Look at marketing. We’re a highly commoditized industry. There are a million people on Upwork who do some sort of marketing work.  There are 40,000 or 50,000 agencies in the United States that all do some type of marketing work. If I go to the marketplace and say, “Hey, I do Facebook ads,” guess what? There are 10,000 people who also do Facebook ads. That’s not unique. What is unique is the systems and processes we’ve developed around how we do Facebook ads and how we think about marketing. The first step we take with our clients is developing a Proprietary System—the thing that's unique about the way they approach the world.Share on X  I was just doing some thinking about roofing. I have some notes here. The Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System. What is that? I don’t know. But you know what? A roofing company needs to have something called the Seven-Point Storm Shield Inspection or the Precision Roof Blueprint. The idea is that you have something no one else has, such as this Precision Roof Blueprint, that you can point to and say, “Look, you can get roofing from anyone, but only we have the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System.”  Yeah. Yeah, got it. So it’s not a marketing system. It’s more about productizing and branding your services.  Exactly. You need a three-, five-, or seven-step system that you can point to. When we have sales conversations, we have a visual for the Growth Engine. The reason that’s important is because you need to be able to hook into the buyer’s mind. One of the ways you hook into the buyer’s mind is by the buyer saying, “Look, they have this thing called the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System. I don’t know—that sounds real.  Here are the seven things you get when you get the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System.” It’s a way for people to not just get excited about your business, because that lasts a very short period of time. They need to go to their husband or wife, or they need to remember a very pithy, short summary of what the conversation was about. “Oh yeah, they have the Roof Guard Lifetime Protection System. Here’s what it is. Here’s a visual of it.”  Okay. That makes sense. So, switching gears here a little bit. Things are changing very fast in this business, and you want to make sure you put your family first. What is one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in this business going forward?  I mean, the most fascinating and exciting thing I’m doing right now is something I’ve always wanted to do but never had the skills for—and now I suddenly do—which is building actual software that’s valuable for us and our clients. For example, we have a framework for LinkedIn. In very simple terms, you like the posts of the people you want to sell to. From the perspective of the LinkedIn algorithm, that’s very low value.  It’s good from a sales perspective, but from the algorithm’s perspective, it’s not that interesting. You post content on LinkedIn that has to have a unique perspective—an opinion. A lot of people can write with AI. You don’t write with AI. You say something that’s unique to your perspective. Maybe AI helps you write it more eloquently in little bits and pieces. But even that by itself, it’s hard to get traction. The way you get traction on LinkedIn right now is through comments. I’ll get 80 to 100 views on a post.  I’ll get 400 to 800 views on a comment. The comment is the engine behind more visibility on LinkedIn. This goes back to the question you asked. The key point on LinkedIn is you’re not just saying, “Hey, great job.” “I like that.” “I totally agree with you.” Or posting the raised-hands emoji and saying, “This is amazing.” That’s not the kind of comment I’m talking about because that’s low value. It’s also not AI-written content because that’s low value. It’ll deprioritize your content.  When you comment on LinkedIn, you have three sections: Compliment. Expand. Ask. Compliment: “You’re right. Marketing is highly commoditized. I fully agree with you there.” Expand: “When we work with clients, especially highly commoditized businesses like doctors, lawyers, and accountants, the first thing we do is help them decommoditize their business.” That’s the second section. That’s Expand. The third section is Ask. “What’s the first step you choose when you come across a highly commoditized business?” Compliment. Expand. Ask. Now guess what? We built an app that I’m using. All you need is five to eight posts a day. It’s AI-powered. I put in a link for Opus 4.8. It gives me a perspective on what I could say. I get three options. I copy one, write my own commentary around it so it’s not fully AI-written—because I want it customized to me—and then I post it. After that, I go back to the app and put the content I wrote back into the app.  A few things are happening. Number one, any of our clients can now use this app to write highly engaging commentary on LinkedIn. It starts to learn your voice and how you write so that the AI becomes better at writing in your style. I don’t know what it’s called—a micro app, a business app. This isn’t something I’m going to take to the marketplace and say, “Here, spend $10 a month to buy this service.” It’s simply an added value for our clients.  Love it.  Those types of apps are super powerful. I get on sales conversations. I understand the business problems that businesses have.Share on X I build apps. Like right now, I’m in the process of building a media planning app that actually becomes a replacement for how we develop proposals. One component of that app is going to have a diagnostic section, which means you give me some information, and it’ll spit out information about what you should do for your marketing that, number one, follows our framework, the Growth Engine, and, number two, is based on the historical knowledge we have across all of our clients—but generalized by industry, not specific client names.  It takes the best of what we do and makes it so easy that someone who doesn’t have a great deal of knowledge in digital advertising can get a highly pertinent proposal and diagnostic ready for them with the click of a button after talking to someone for 15 minutes.  Very impressive. So you’re building these apps, and essentially you’re empowering your business with these apps so some of the things you’ve done in the past can be automated. So, Robert, if you had a magic wand and you could fix one thing in your business in the next 12 months, what would that be?  I mean, look, just to be completely honest, I understand the difference between an owner and an operator. The short answer to that question is I want to be an owner, not an operator. I’m looking at an operator as someone who’s in the day-to-day. They’re the practitioner. I mean, I’m 23 years into the advertising business. I’m 13 years into my business. I love this business. You’re not going to see me become a real estate agent, and I’m not going to be hawking…  I think I probably said this last time. I’m not going to be hawking crypto or whatever the case is. This is my life, and this is my passion. For so many years of my life, I’ve dedicated my interests, my hobbies, and my professional time to becoming a better practitioner. My goal now is to become an owner, which means the business operates without me. I get to focus on the projects that I want to focus on, which I’m already doing to a degree.  I have a phenomenal Director of Accounts. Her name is Linda Flores. She is k*ller. She scares me sometimes. We’re on calls, and I’m like, “Holy cow, if I was not the owner of the business, I’d be scared. In fact, you’re scaring me, Linda.” You’re getting things going. People should be scared of you. That’s what a good Director of Accounts—an operations person—does. She’s phenomenal. But at the end of the day, if I choose to be on an island for six months out of the year, the business operates fine. We’re not there yet. That’s what I’m focusing on.  So what’s missing? You said you’re already spending some of your time developing these apps—the stuff you love. What would you have to let go of in the next 12 months to get there?  I recently read the book The E-Myth about a year, year and a half ago. One of the most insightful perspectives I got from The E-Myth is this—and people are going to hate this. People who are not entrepreneurs will look at me like I’m the devil. Okay? But this is not my idea. This is from The E-Myth. The idea is that processes, systems, and standard operating procedures are effectively the safety net for the success of a company.  Which means instead of hiring incredibly expensive people inside your business, you can hire, for many roles, people with the minimum level of qualification. The standard operating procedure becomes the safety net that helps them succeed. I was like, “Holy cow, that’s fascinating.” Because as a business owner, I’m looking at myself. I’m hiring highly qualified, very expensive people to do the work. The sign of a good business, in my opinion—or at least from what I understand—is a business that has such phenomenal standard operating procedures that it can hire people with the minimum level of qualification, and they can still be effective.  Frankly, I think we have good standard operating procedures, but we need better ones. And frankly, the AI tools that I'm building help us get there.Share on X The media planning tool that I’m building means I could hire someone with two, three, or five years of experience in marketing and advertising. Through the AI system, they get the benefit of all of our clients’ knowledge and insights that we’ve talked about over the years. They get the benefit of what I know about marketing.  They get the benefit of all the data that’s flowed through the pipelines of our business. All of that information becomes the baseline from which someone with two, three, or four years of experience in marketing develops a phenomenal strategy. Because they’re not relying on two, three, four, or five years of experience. They’re relying on my 23 years of experience delivered through an AI pipeline.  So essentially, what you’ve accumulated over the years—institutional knowledge—maybe it’s in your head, but you can download it. You’ve written things. You’ve produced a bunch of videos. You can put that into an AI database or knowledge base, and that can power some of the systems you’re developing. Other people can come in, run it, and follow your process.  Yeah. And it’s not just ours. I mean, look, it’s any system that I believe is valuable that should be piped into that AI knowledge base. But the value there is me as the curator. That’s when you get to the point where the business is still an authentic reflection or extension of the owner. One of the most important things, especially for professional services businesses, is that the business will be successful if it’s an authentic representation—or extension—of the owner, and you like the people you’re working with.  Love that.  Which goes back to the Super Consumer. The most important part of our whole process is: Who are the people you love working with? Just as an aside, what’s funny is there are two paths. There’s the path of people you love working with who don’t pay you as much, but it really fills your soul. You like them. You’re helping them. They’re very grateful for it.  Then there are the people you like working with less, and they pay you a ton of money. You need both. I think every professional services client we have who starts paying attention to this discovers that same dichotomy of clients.  Well, if you can have them be the same people, that’s the ultimate, isn’t it? That’s the ultimate.  Yeah. By the way, I really love this E-Myth reference. I had Michael Gerber on this podcast about 10 months ago, and he might actually like to hear how you’re refining his system in The E-Myth. So it’s pretty cool. Robert, if people are hearing this and they want this Growth Engine to be developed in their business, and they want access to the other software components you’re developing that could amplify their business—maybe the LinkedIn warm-up system and things like that—where should they go, and how can they learn more and connect with you?  Yeah. So the site that’s most relevant right now is: strategy.brillmedia.co. Again, that’s strategy.brillmedia.co. That breaks down what we do for businesses and what we do for agencies. You have pricing on there. To get a blueprint for your business—the diagnostic and strategy—we spend an hour on the phone interviewing the business owner. What are the economics? What’s been working? Why is now the time?  Tell me about your best clients and your worst clients. Just tell me stories about your business. It’s $497, and you get a complete blueprint—a complete marketing strategy synthesized through our systems and processes—so you can get off the marketing treadmill. You’re not spending months, years, and lots of money grasping at straws: Facebook. Google. LinkedIn. “Why doesn’t any of it work?” We’ll solve  All right. Definitely check out strategy.brillmedia.co. See for yourself what you can get there and how you can get started with Robert and his team. Definitely connect with Robert on LinkedIn. And if you enjoyed this episode, st81% ay tuned because every week we bring you one or two exciting entrepreneurs who share their frameworks with you. Thanks for coming, Robert, and sharing your experience. And thanks for listening. Important Links: Robert's LinkedIn Robert's  website

#378 | Dave sits down with Ethan Clouser, Head of Marketing at Bland AI, to talk about running marketing at a 22-year-old-founded, enterprise voice AI company that just raised $100 million - at 22 years old himself. Ethan breaks down Bland's early viral bets like the "Still Hiring Humans?" billboard, why they bought Soulja Boy's voice rights for an AI phone campaign, and how a giant red telephone car became one of their best marketing investments. Not to mention, Bland AI's marketing team built its entire website with Claude Code - coded by a guy who'd never written a line of code before. They also get into Bland's daily stand-up and KPI system, why "Voice AI for regulated industries" works as a homepage headline, and how to stand out when 200 competitors are all saying the same thing. Timestamps (00:00) - - Intro to Ethan Clouser, Head of Marketing at Bland AI (02:26) - - The failed no-code startup that accidentally turned Ethan into a marketer (06:14) - - Cold LinkedIn outreach and how Ethan landed the head of marketing job (09:09) - - The "Still Hiring Humans?" billboard bet that built Bland's early brand (13:46) - - Filling the marketing gaps Bland was missing: SEO, AEO, and reputation (17:56) - - Why "Voice AI for regulated industries" works as a homepage headline (20:34) - - Vibe-coding Bland's entire website with Claude Code (23:42) - - Bland's daily marketing stand-up and how KPIs decide which bets get made (31:29) - - Buying Soulja Boy's voice rights for an AI phone campaign (40:05) - - Standing out in a market crowded with 200 voice AI competitors (43:34) - - Why marketing, sales, and product alignment matters more than sales-marketing alignment Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive.Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn how to build an ABM program that scales at vector.co/exitfive.Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Tony Ianessa built BIG Construction to $100 million in revenue by year three. Then his own ego nearly destroyed everything he built. In this episode he shares the journey from a basement office to one of Chicago's Top 50 fastest growing companies, and what construction can teach every industry about relationships.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:04:52Q: When should you leave your job to start a business?A: Tony Ianessa's mentor told him to start his own business. Rick later passed from cancer, but that conversation was the shove Tony needed at 29.00:12:54Q: How do you survive when revenue drops 60%?A: Tony Ianessa says COVID wiped out 60% of revenue. His sole priority: don't run out of cash.00:24:27Q: What is the biggest challenge going from founder to CEO?A: Tony Ianessa identifies his own ego. He wore the grind as a badge of honor, but it was the reason the company plateaued.00:28:11Q: How do you scale without being the bottleneck?A: Tony Ianessa says 6 to 10 people at 50% of his capacity makes the company "astronomically more successful" than him alone.00:49:21Q: How do you grow to $100M without salespeople?A: Tony Ianessa says BIG Construction has never had salespeople. They exist for the relationship, not the project.01:00:04Q: Does construction have a workforce problem?A: Tony Ianessa argues it has a marketing problem, not a workforce problem.Subscribe for real conversations with founders building businesses that run without them.

SEASON: 7 EPISODE: 2 Episode Overview:Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast for business professionals and entrepreneurs who want to level up their game and become preferred in the markets they serve.If you run a B2B company, there's a high probability you've hit a very specific growth ceiling: you built a fantastic business through relationships and word-of-mouth, but the moment you try to scale beyond referrals, your marketing completely stalls out. You keep tweaking your website, changing ad agencies, and wondering why it's not converting.'Our guest today says the problem isn't your marketing tactics; it's that you are performing the wrong show. Matt Wolfe is a brand strategist, Partner at Brand3, and one of the country's most experienced StoryBrand Certified Guides, having transformed the messaging of over two hundred and fifty organizations across thirty industries.But what makes him truly unique in this space is his background: before moving into full-time marketing, Matt spent twenty-five years on professional stages, including Broadway. He understands better than anyone alive why some scripts grip an audience and others cause them to walk out by intermission. Today, we are unpacking his 'Brand-First Rule,' how to scale a relationship-driven B2B beyond referrals, and how to make your marketing look less digital and significantly more human. Join me for my conversation with Matt Wolfe.Guest Bio: Matt Wolfe spent 25 years on professional stages, including Broadway, before pivoting to full-time marketing. That path looks like a detour until you hear him explain why a business's brand message works the same way a script does. Every word either earns an audience's attention or loses it, and most companies are performing the wrong show.Today, Matt is a Partner at Brand3 and one of the most experienced StoryBrand Certified Guides in the country, with work across 250+ organizations in more than 30 industries. He helps B2B leaders who've built businesses on strong word-of-mouth figure out why their marketing doesn't reflect that fact - and fix it at the source. Brand3's Scale Beyond Referrals program helps relationship-driven B2Bs tell a story that connects with their ideal clients. In a world that's growing more digital, his team makes marketing more human - and makes B2Bs the obvious choice to their ideal clients.Resource Links:Website: https://www.brand3.net/Website: https://www.mattwolfemarketing.com/Product Link: https://www.brand3.net/ways-to-engage/Insight Gold Timestamps:03:40 You have this fantastic phrase where you say that most B2B companies are performing the wrong show with their marketing05:05 That's really all that is at the end of the day, is the right story to the right people06:36 StoryBrand says make your audience the hero of the story07:53 I think StoryBrand has moved the needle on that conversation11:43 I'm going to make this bold statement, and then I'll qualify it: Demographics don't work13:47 At the end of the day, these sales only happen through carefully built trust and relationships17:02 We've been using the phrase: trust recession19:30 You have a strict brand first rule that says, "Stop marketing a message you haven't built yet"21:22 The game's going to be won or lost on that header and whether or not that says to somebody, "I'm telling your story"23:39 Good marketing is shining the spotlight back on the ideal client25:06 If you don't articulate the problem that they're facing, there just is no story26:57 We just have to keep asking the question, how will this digital thing that we're doing now lead to a human encounter?32:36 If you do this right, you're putting more humans in front of the right ideal client humans to have these great encounters36:03 We were like, "Why aren't we telling that story?"38:34 Matt Wolfe, the website is brand3.net38:41 Your personal website as well mattwolfemarketing.com38:58 You can also go to scalebeyondreferrals.com39:13 We have a podcast called The CEO's Heart for ServiceConnect Socially:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/MattWolfeMarketingFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brand3marketing/The CEO's Heart for Service Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ceos-heart-for-service-scaling-business-without/id1896298694Email: mwolfe@brand3.netSponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIxRainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

İran, Trump'tan anlaşma için süre istedikleri iddiasını yalanladı. Bahçeli, bu hafta TBMM'ye gelmesi beklenen çerçeve yasa için destek talep etti.Bu bölüm Octet hakkında reklam içermektedir. Octet World Fintech Day'de B2B finansın 2030 vizyonu ve yapay zekânın finans ekiplerini nasıl dönüştüreceği ele alındı. Ayrıntılı bilgiye buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Paul sits down with Dr. Jim Taylor — performance psychologist, former U.S. Ski Team competitor, and founder of Prime Mind for a conversation that traces a career built on a single insight. The mind is the final frontier, and almost none of us know how to work it. Jim's origin story is disarmingly honest. He was a good ski racer with a bad head, the kind coaches used to call a head case. One summer psychology course in high school changed the trajectory of his athletic career, and eventually his entire life. He walks Paul through what actually changed that season (not the strength, not the technique, the internal architecture) and why he decided somewhere around age nineteen that psychology hadn't been a choice so much as a calling. The heart of the conversation is the mental work Jim now teaches. Confidence isn't a skill, it's a muscle. Visualization isn't a nice-to-have — the primitive mind can't tell the difference between an imagined rep and a real one, and Jim used that mechanism to rewire his own belief system on the way to an international-level career. Resilience is fundamentally a perception problem. And the "good road / bad road" fork, he says, is often not a conscious choice at all — which is why most people stay on the bad road even when they know exactly where it ends. The episode's emotional center is the weight vest metaphor. Jim describes what happens when an athlete steps into competition carrying twenty pounds of expectation, identity, and self-worth on their shoulders. He walks through Alyssa Liu's Olympic story as an example of what the release actually looks like, opens up about his recent decision to walk away from a startup he'd invested two years into, and unveils the app-based extension of his practice Prime Mind that he built in the two-and-a-half months since he left. It closes on a legacy answer that quietly matches Paul's own help people see themselves before they know how to see themselves.   Timestamps 00:00 — Welcome and introduction 00:30 — The head case origin story 02:00 — The summer course that changed everything 03:30 — The breakthrough season on the U.S. Ski Team 05:00 — Middlebury, Psych 101, and the calling 06:30 — Purpose and passion as a fill-in-the-blank question 08:00 — Why startup building feels riskier than skiing 09:30 — Network, credibility, and the ski racing runway 11:00 — Performance psychology beyond sport 12:30 — Confidence, self-talk, and mental imagery 14:00 — The primitive mind and positive reps 15:30 — Rewiring belief through visualization 17:00 — Resilience as a mental muscle 18:30 — The good road and the bad road 20:00 — Post-medal letdown and identity loss 21:30 — Athlete to performer identity shift 23:00 — Alyssa Liu and the weight vest release 25:00 — Toxic sports cultures 26:00 — Walking away from a two-year startup 28:00 — Building Prime Mind solo in ten weeks 30:00 — The B2C and B2B model 31:30 — Favorite client stories and the mind as final frontier 33:00 — Legacy as long game 34:00 — Where to find Dr. Jim and Prime Mind Episode Resources Discover how Dr. Jim Taylor helps athletes, executives, performers, and high-achievers of every kind take the weight vest off and access the mental muscles that make peak performance sustainable — through one-on-one work, keynote and workshop content, and his new app Prime Mind: www.drjimtaylor.com Legacy Podcast: For more information about the Legacy Podcast and its co-hosts, visit https://businesslegacypodcast.com Leave a Review: If you enjoyed the episode, leave a review and rating on your preferred podcast platform. For more information: Visit https://businesslegacypodcast.com to access the show notes and additional resources on the episode.  

In this episode, I sit down with Bruce Brandes, a 35-year healthtech veteran. Together with his longtime friend and business partner Brian Shulman, he is building WhaleHawk, which they call the first agentic sales accelerator built specifically for healthcare.Bruce and I dig into why go-to-market in healthcare is so uniquely hard, why generic prompting in Claude or ChatGPT will not solve it, and what it actually takes to combine AI with deep healthcare-specific data to find the right accounts, at the right time, with a warm path in.Bruce walks through the concept of a true customer profile, which goes well beyond the usual ideal customer profile exercise most of us struggle to nail down. He explains how WhaleHawk analyzes hundreds of clinical, financial, and operational metrics to spot patterns human eyes would never catch, then layers in real-time buying signals and relationship mapping to identify warm introduction paths to decision-makers. He also shares three concrete client examples, including one involving a Becker's conference attendee list, that show exactly how this plays out in practice.If you are a healthtech marketing or sales leader wondering whether AI can genuinely transform your go-to-market approach, or whether you are just creating the appearance of using AI, this episode gives you a clear framework for thinking it through.Key Topics Covered:"(00:00)" Introduction"(08:00)" The WhaleHawk pitch"(10:00)" Defining the "true customer profile""(12:00)" Why WhaleHawk calls itself the first agentic sales accelerator built specifically for healthcare"(13:00)" Why this could not have been built two years ago"(15:00)" The core problems in B2B healthcare go-to-market"(17:00)" Who brings WhaleHawk in, and who is typically in the room"(19:30)" Three use case patterns across startups, growth stage companies, and mature companies"(23:00)" What's next for WhaleHawk"(24:30)" Client example one: Equa Medical"(26:30)" Client example two: Butterfly Network"(28:30)" Client example three: the Becker's conference use case revisited in full"(30:00)" Why this approach differs fundamentally from database driven sales intelligence tools"(31:00)" What changes for clients once they start using WhaleHawk, and how quickly they see ROI"(34:00)" Four reasons off the shelf LLM prompting falls short"(37:00)" Bruce's closing advice for healthtech marketing leaders"(40:00)" Adam's five takeaways from the conversationIf you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.Follow me on LinkedIn.Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!Find all of our episodes on the Health Podcast Library.Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.

What happens when the thing evaluating your brand isn't a person — but an agent shopping on their behalf, one that doesn't respond to a great story and doesn't care how your homepage makes anyone feel?Agility has usually meant adapting faster than the market. This is a different kind of adaptation: the audience itself is changing shape, and the brands that handle it well will be the ones that adapt without becoming unrecognizable in the process.Today, we're going to talk about:- What actually changes for a brand when autonomous agents enter the discovery and purchase path- Creating content that holds up to an agent's evaluation without flattening into sameness- Closing the AI capability gap inside marketing teams — and what that unlocksTo help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Rachel Thornton, CMO Enterprise at Adobe.About Rachel ThorntonRachel Thornton is committed to helping businesses create amazing customer experiences at the intersection of marketing, creativity and AI. As Chief Marketing Officer for Adobe's enterprise business, Rachel is responsible for Adobe's global enterprise Creativity & Productivity and Customer Experience Orchestration marketing.Rachel develops marketing, messaging, positioning strategies and activations that expand awareness of Adobe as the world's best marketing and AI platform for delivering brand-changing customer experiences. Her team amplifies Adobe's unique enterprise story in ways that energize, celebrate and empower CMOs and experience makers worldwide.Rachel has more than 25 years of experience in B2B technology marketing, having held leadership roles at Amazon/AWS, Salesforce, Cisco Systems and Microsoft. She has deep experience building and scaling enterprise marketing, customer acquisition, and self-service revenue contributions.Rachel Thornton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhthornton/---------- Resources ---------- : adobe.comThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fEnjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716baCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.comThe Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Food and Beverage Magazine Podcast, hosted by the Editors of Food and Beverage Magazine. In this week's episode, we explore major mergers, financial results, and product launches shaping the industry. We kick off with massive acquisition news as Couche-Tard moves to acquire ABKA Group's 13,000 stores for 8.6 billion dollars, alongside Sargento's acquisition of La Terra Fina to expand its deli dips portfolio. We also cover Tyson Foods posting its Q3 2026 results and Corteva raising its full-year guidance after a strong first half.In restaurant and hospitality news, we discuss expansions and brand milestones, including Popup Bagels breaking into the Nevada market, Fogo de Chao expanding in Arizona, and Jollibee bringing its famous Chickenjoy to downtown San Francisco. We also touch on SeaWorld adding horror IP to its Howl-O-Scream food and beverage nights.For the consumer packaged goods and functional foods sectors, we dive into Truheight launching protein energy waffles, Mondelez rolling out a Chips Ahoy mystery limited-time offer, and Bush's Beans dropping a limited-edition beans on toast kit. Additionally, we look at how technology is impacting the industry, highlighting Avocados from Mexico deploying a new AI answer engine for consumers.For full articles on these stories, exclusive insights, and daily industry news, visit fbmagazine.com. Be sure to also check out our network syndication at foodservice.media, which gives brands, buyers, and operators a direct path to the categories that matter most. Thank you for listening, and remember to subscribe to the newsletter so you never miss the latest trends.

Cześć, dzień dobry!Jak wygląda droga od jednoosobowej firmy programistycznej do grupy IT liczącej setki osób? W tym odcinku podcastu „BSS bez tajemnic”, w cyklu „Kim ONI są?” rozmawiam z Jerzym Kuflem – założycielem i prezesem Grupy ITEO.Posłuchajcie historii budowania firmy technologicznej, która zaczynała od tworzenia aplikacji mobilnych dla dealerów samochodowych, a dziś realizuje projekty dla klientów z wielu branż i rozwija grupę spółek poprzez akwizycje.Jerzy Kufel opowiada, jak ITEO rozwijało się przez ponad 15 lat – od kilkuosobowego zespołu, przez pierwszych klientów zagranicznych ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, Singapuru, Australii i Wielkiej Brytanii, aż po obecną działalność na rynku polskim i rozwój międzynarodowy. W rozmowie pojawia się także temat Arabii Saudyjskiej i tego, dlaczego w tamtym regionie biznes wymaga budowania relacji bezpośrednio na miejscu.Jerzy mówi o także o tym, jak akwizycje pozwalają szybciej zdobywać klientów i uzupełniać kompetencje technologiczne grupy.Nie zabrakło również AI i jego wpływu na branżę IT. Rozmawiamy o programowaniu z wykorzystaniem sztucznej inteligencji, przyszłości zespołów developerskich oraz o tym, dlaczego wraz z rozwojem AI coraz większego znaczenia nabierają UX, UI, badania użytkowników i projektowanie produktów cyfrowych.Jerzy Kufel opowiada także o modernizacji starszych systemów IT, projektach dla Masterlease, współpracy z InPostem, strukturze zespołu ITEO oraz planach dalszego rozwoju.Zapraszam  Linki:Iteo – https://iteo.com/Jerzy Kufel na Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerzykufel/Iteo na Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/iteo-software-house/  ****************************  Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://proprogressio.com/pl/dzialalnosc/klub-pro-progressio/1 – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów na:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@wiktordoktor Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wiktor.doktor LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Moja strona internetowa - https://wiktordoktor.pl/ Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - kontakt(@)wiktordoktor.pl   ****************************  Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są: Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-hillway-training/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/ Damian Ruciński - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-rucinski/ Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/ Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/ Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/ Damian Wróblewski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianwroblewski/ Paweł Łopatka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawellopatka/ Wiktor Doktór Jr. - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktor-dokt%C3%B3r-jr-916297188/Agata Stolarz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-stolarz/Hubert Antczak - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-antczak/  Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu. Ty też możesz wesprzeć rozwój podcastu na: Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Buy me a coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor Buycoffee.to - https://buycoffee.to/wiktordoktor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bss-bez-tajemnic--4069078/support.

Join your hosts as we stick our necks on the line and make our 2026/27 BOLTON WANDERERS CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTIONS!?This episode is sponsored by B2B workwear, your headline sponsor of The Fanzone Podcast. Find out more here: https://thefanzonepod.co.uk/b2b-workwearDon't forget to like, subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss a new episode.#BWFC

Leadership, Purpose & Building a Scalable Business with Reed Nyffeler Episode Overview What can Silicon Valley founders learn from the world of franchising? In this episode of The Silicon Valley Podcast, we sit down with Reed Nyffeler, entrepreneur, CEO, founder of Signal, and host of ReedFlections: A Podcast on Life, Leadership, and Learning. Reed's journey offers a different perspective from the traditional Silicon Valley founder story. Rather than coming from a coding or engineering background, he has built his career around entrepreneurship, business ownership, leadership, capital strategy, and creating scalable organizations. As CEO and founder of Signal, a rapidly growing security services franchisor, Reed has focused on building a business designed not only to provide security services, but also to create opportunities for entrepreneurs and communities. The conversation explores how Reed approached raising capital from individual investors and private equity, the strategy behind eventually buying out those investors, and the lessons he learned about structuring agreements and building long-term enterprise value. Reed also shares his perspective on evaluating businesses, including the metrics and characteristics he looks for when deciding whether an opportunity has the potential to create lasting value. For Silicon Valley founders thinking about what comes after technology entrepreneurship, Reed explains why he has favored B2B business models, what founders should consider when entering franchising, and how technology—including point-of-sale systems and proprietary software—can become an important part of scaling a traditionally service-oriented business. The conversation also goes beyond business. Reed discusses his philosophy around purpose, intentionality, discipline, faith, family, and leadership, including the different dimensions of leadership that executives must develop as their organizations grow. As AI continues to reshape industries and business models, Reed also explores which types of businesses may remain resilient and what entrepreneurs can do to build a defensible competitive advantage. This episode is ultimately about more than building a company. It's about building a life, developing leaders, creating opportunities for others, and pursuing a purpose that extends beyond financial success. In This Episode Reed Nyffeler's entrepreneurial journey and career Building a successful company without a traditional coding or technology background Raising capital from individual investors and private equity Structuring agreements with investors The strategy behind buying out early investors How entrepreneurs should evaluate potential business opportunities The characteristics that create long-term enterprise value Why Reed has focused primarily on B2B rather than B2C The future of franchising in an increasingly AI-driven economy Building a defensible competitive moat What prospective franchisees should evaluate before joining a franchise system Understanding franchise unit economics at scale What Silicon Valley founders can learn from franchising The importance of point-of-sale technology and proprietary software Scaling operations through technology The evolution of employee expectations and motivations Developing the next generation of leaders The different dimensions of leadership Building a company with global impact Balancing entrepreneurship, family, purpose, and legacy Key Themes Building Long-Term Business Value Reed shares how he evaluates businesses beyond short-term revenue growth and what characteristics can create sustainable enterprise value. The Franchise Model For technology founders accustomed to venture-backed startups, franchising offers a very different approach to scaling. Reed explains the economics, advantages, and challenges of building a high-growth franchise organization. B2B vs. B2C Why has Reed prioritized B2B businesses? The conversation explores the characteristics that make B2B models attractive and how entrepreneurs should think about customer relationships and recurring business value. AI & the Future of Business As artificial intelligence transforms industries, Reed considers which business models may be more resilient and how entrepreneurs can develop competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate. Leadership Beyond the Business Reed's philosophy extends beyond business performance. He discusses purpose, intentionality, discipline, mentorship, family, and the responsibility leaders have to develop the people around them. About Reed Nyffeler Reed Nyffeler is an entrepreneur, business owner, CEO, and founder of Signal, a fast-growing security services franchisor. His entrepreneurial philosophy is centered around taking control of one's life, identifying a true purpose, and pursuing that purpose with intentionality, discipline, and a strong sense of values. Reed is also passionate about developing the next generation of leaders and helping aspiring entrepreneurs identify their purpose and achieve their goals. Outside of his professional life, Reed is a husband and father of four. He places a strong emphasis on balancing professional achievement with family, meaning, and legacy. Reed also hosts ReedFlections: A Podcast on Life, Leadership, and Learning, where he explores purposeful living, leadership, personal development, and lessons learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey. Connect with Reed LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reednyffeler/ ReedFlections: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reedflections-podcast/ Who Should Listen This episode is particularly relevant for: Silicon Valley founders Entrepreneurs considering franchising Technology executives Venture-backed founders Private equity professionals Business owners Franchise investors and operators CEOs and executives Emerging leaders Anyone interested in purpose-driven entrepreneurship Final Takeaway Building a successful company is only one part of the entrepreneurial journey. For Reed Nyffeler, the bigger question is what that success enables: developing people, creating opportunities, supporting family, building meaningful organizations, and ultimately creating a legacy that extends beyond the founder. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are for informational purposes only. They do not constitute financial, legal, tax, or investment advice, nor do they necessarily reflect the views of Finalis Inc. or Finalis Securities LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. Any discussion of businesses, investments, capital raising, private equity, franchising, valuations, or other financial matters is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any security or investment. Listeners should conduct their own due diligence and consult with their own qualified legal, tax, accounting, and financial advisors before making any business or investment decision. #SiliconValleyPodcast #SiliconValley #Entrepreneurship #Franchising #BusinessLeadership #Leadership #Entrepreneur #BusinessGrowth #B2B #PrivateEquity #BusinessStrategy #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #PurposeDrivenLeadership #ExecutiveLeadership

Amanda Kahlow, Founder & CEO of 1mind, joins Sam Jacobs, AJ Bruno, and Asad Zaman to break down how an AI-powered solutions engineer named Nigel took 33% of the talk time in a two and a half hour enterprise meeting and produced a $278,000 deal. Topics include why AI aimed at efficiency gains misses real revenue impact, Amanda's prediction that marketing, sales, and customer success collapse into one function within 12 months, and why AI adoption has to be top-down instead of bottoms-up. Plus, the 15 agents running behind every superhuman, a 98% accuracy bar measured by live evals, whether agents will negotiate with other agents on the buy side, and a bulls versus bears round on Salesforce, sales dinners, and the health of the average go-to-market team. Key Takeaways: - Most go-to-market teams are pointing AI at the wrong layer. Better forecasting, faster research, and cleaner dashboards make the people you already have marginally more productive, which is not where the revenue is. As Amanda Kahlow, Founder & CEO at 1mind, framed it: "My thesis is that buying and selling happens in the conversation." Everything built around the conversation to enable a seller is, in her words, yesterday's workflow. - Trust, not novelty, is what moves an enterprise deal. Amanda flew a red-eye to Austin for a second meeting with a CPO and CMO, brought a superhuman named Nigel on screen, and watched the room turn to the AI for depth even she could not provide. As she told it, "the CPO was like, Amanda, shut up, basically. I wanna talk to Nigel." The meeting scheduled for an hour ran two and a half, and produced "a $278,000 deal from one in-person meeting going through procurement in one week". Her read on why it worked: "People say people buy from people. You buy when you trust." - The human face on an AI agent is a click-through device, not the value. Amanda's verdict after a year of selling them: "The face is a novelty." 1mind drops the face entirely on live calls because the movement distracts. The important part is the conversational AI, where "each superhuman has roughly 15 agents working behind the scenes." One handles small talk, another loads the live demo, another builds the perspective slide a human seller would normally take a week to produce. - Bottom-up AI adoption is where the value leaks out. Amanda's pushback on the idea that people who use AI will simply eat the people who do not: telling every individual to go be more efficient produces slop and no measurable gain, while the real impact, in her words, "is going to come at the top down when we think about restructuring the org". Connect with the Hosts & Guests: Host: Sam Jacobs, CEO at Pavilion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samfjacobs/ Host: AJ Bruno, CEO at QuotaPath - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/ Host: Asad Zaman, CEO at STA - https://www.linkedin.com/in/azaman1/ Guest: Amanda Kahlow, Founder & CEO at 1mind - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandakahlow/ Topline is more than a YouTube Channel: Subscribe to Topline Newsletter: https://toplinemedia.substack.com/ Tune into Topline Podcast, the #1 podcast for founders, operators, and investors in B2B tech: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-podcast Join the free Topline Slack channel to connect with 600+ revenue leaders to keep the conversation going beyond the podcast: https://www.joinpavilion.com/topline-slack Chapters:  00:00 Introducing Amanda Kahlow 00:59 Building Superhumans At 1mind 03:24 Why Efficiency Gains Miss The Point 06:04 GTM Functions Collapse In 12 Months 08:48 The Ghost Note Debate 15:20 Nigel Takes 33% Of Talk Time 20:41 The Face Is Just Novelty 22:27 Fifteen Agents Behind One Superhuman 38:46 Compute Costs And AI Margins 41:19 How Accurate Are AI Agents? 47:08 Positioning An AI Company 52:13 When Agents Negotiate With Agents 53:54 Will CSM Jobs Survive? 57:56 Bulls and Bears 1:06:15 Boards, 6sense, And Burnout

Grab our breakdown of the 5 Low-Cost Businesses That Make $1 Million: https://www.franchiseempire.com/lowcost?utm_source=feaug022026In this episode of the Zero to Profitable Franchise podcast, host Chantel Soumis spotlights Graze Craze, the powerhouse charcuterie and grazing board concept taking the country by storm. Graze Craze's director of franchise development, Shane Lee, joins the show to discuss the brand's rapid expansion to 136 locations across four countries in just five years of franchising. Shane reveals the secrets behind their streamlined, low-overhead model that operates with just a few employees and no cooking equipment, making it a simple yet highly profitable sales and marketing business. Tune in to discover the brand's unique approach to B2B catering, their hands-on support system, and how they are defining an entire category with virtually no national competition.------------------Considering Investing In A Franchise?

Curated Not Crowded – How to Win with Community-driven Events If you're a B2B healthcare marketer wondering whether your trade show budget is actually buying you anything real, this episode is for you. Host Adam Turinas sit down with Megan Antonelli, Founder and CEO of HealthIMPACT, to kick off a two-part series he's calling The Intimacy Shift, a look at why healthcare technology marketers are pulling money out of massive trade shows and putting it into smaller, curated, community-driven events instead. Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen

What happens when the thing evaluating your brand isn't a person — but an agent shopping on their behalf, one that doesn't respond to a great story and doesn't care how your homepage makes anyone feel?Agility has usually meant adapting faster than the market. This is a different kind of adaptation: the audience itself is changing shape, and the brands that handle it well will be the ones that adapt without becoming unrecognizable in the process.Today, we're going to talk about:- What actually changes for a brand when autonomous agents enter the discovery and purchase path- Creating content that holds up to an agent's evaluation without flattening into sameness- Closing the AI capability gap inside marketing teams — and what that unlocksTo help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Rachel Thornton, CMO Enterprise at Adobe.About Rachel ThorntonRachel Thornton is committed to helping businesses create amazing customer experiences at the intersection of marketing, creativity and AI. As Chief Marketing Officer for Adobe's enterprise business, Rachel is responsible for Adobe's global enterprise Creativity & Productivity and Customer Experience Orchestration marketing.Rachel develops marketing, messaging, positioning strategies and activations that expand awareness of Adobe as the world's best marketing and AI platform for delivering brand-changing customer experiences. Her team amplifies Adobe's unique enterprise story in ways that energize, celebrate and empower CMOs and experience makers worldwide.Rachel has more than 25 years of experience in B2B technology marketing, having held leadership roles at Amazon/AWS, Salesforce, Cisco Systems and Microsoft. She has deep experience building and scaling enterprise marketing, customer acquisition, and self-service revenue contributions.Rachel Thornton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhthornton/---------- Resources ---------- : adobe.comThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://advertalize.com/r/491818c79fb1873fEnjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716baCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.comThe Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Originally broadcast live.E-commerce fulfillment is hyper-competitive. Brands are demanding faster SLA turnarounds, custom unboxing experiences, and complete real-time visibility—all while warehouse operational costs rise and margins get squeezed tighter every year.Whether you're a 3PL looking to break into e-commerce fulfillment or an established operator aiming to scale without operational chaos, we're putting this livestream on to serve as your actionable playbook.Join Kevin as he sits down with three industry powerhouses to break down the full lifecycle of a profitable e-commerce 3PL.What We'll Cover:1. How to position your 3PL to attract high-value DTC brands without entering a price war.2. Vetting your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) and setting rock-solid SLAs before signing the contract.3. Transitioning from B2B/bulk moves to unit-level pick-and-pack workflows.4. Designing lean floor processes that handle 5x seasonal volume spikes without throwing extra labor at broken processes.5. Spotting silent margin leakage: uncaptured custom labor, manual billing errors, and unmonitored SLA penalties.6. Leveraging data and SKU-level profitability models to ensure every account remains profitable.Learn more about Pallite here.Learn more about Big Joe's AP44 here. Follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube.Support the show

The Wealth Preservation Architecture: Deferring Capital Gains Tax and Maximizing Exit Equity with Brett SwartsIn a recent episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Podcast, host Josh Elledge sat down with Brett Swarts, the Founder and CEO of Capital Gains Tax Solutions, to examine the severe tax liabilities that threaten high-net-worth business exits and real estate transactions. Brett, a leading wealth preservation strategist, commercial real estate expert, and author of Building a Capital Gains Tax Exit Plan, details how traditional tax-deferral mechanisms like the 1031 exchange frequently limit investor flexibility and expose assets to market volatility. This conversation provides a comprehensive, data-backed operational guide for founders, real estate investors, and M&A advisors who want to legally defer 33% to 40% in combined capital gains taxes, retain capital compounding power, and construct flexible, long-term estate planning frameworks using the Deferred Sales Trust (DST).The Asset Preservation Paradigm: Unlocking Compound Growth and Flexible Liquidity Through Deferred Sales TrustsThe primary operational oversight committed by founders and real estate investors during an asset liquidity event is delaying tax-deferral architecture until after a transaction closes. In high-tax jurisdictions where combined federal, state, and depreciation recapture taxes routinely consume 33% to 40% of net profits, selling an appreciated asset without an established exit structure results in an immediate, permanent destruction of capital. While many investors default to a traditional 1031 exchange to defer real estate taxes, this rigid framework forces buyers into strict 45-day identification windows and 180-day closing deadlines, often compelling them to overpay for replacement properties in inflated markets. Implementing an installment sale framework via a Deferred Sales Trust before closing removes these rigid timelines entirely, allowing the full proceeds of a business or real estate sale to be reinvested into diversified stocks, bonds, or new entrepreneurial ventures tax-deferred.Executing a Deferred Sales Trust requires a disciplined structural pivot where the seller transfers ownership of the business or real estate asset to an irrevocable third-party trust in exchange for a customized promissory note. The trust subsequently executes the final transaction with the end buyer, receiving cash proceeds while issuing structured, tax-deferred note payments to the original seller over a multi-year horizon. Because capital gains taxes are triggered only on the principal payments actually received by the seller, the remaining capital inside the trust compounds tax-deferred at its full value. This strategic separation of asset ownership from liquidity streams allows high-net-worth founders to secure predictable passive income, diversify their wealth out of concentrated positions, and maintain strategic influence over investment allocations without incurring immediate tax penalties.Furthermore, leveraging specialized trust structures provides enterprise leaders with critical ancillary benefits, including robust asset protection against future litigation and the systematic reduction of estate tax liabilities. As the global market prepares for unprecedented multi-trillion-dollar wealth transfers driven by retiring business owners, financial advisors, brokers, and CPAs who master advanced capital gains tax-deferral strategies gain a massive competitive advantage. By offering clients viable alternatives to strict 1031 exchanges or immediate tax hits, advisors can unlock trapped equity, preserve multi-generational wealth, and build long-term client retention. When early tax planning, rigorous legal compliance, and flexible trust administration are synthesized into a single exit architecture, business owners eliminate transactional drag, shield their capital, and predictably maximize their enterprise equity.About Brett SwartsBrett Swarts is the Founder and CEO of Capital Gains Tax Solutions, a commercial real estate veteran, an international speaker, and an expert in capital gains tax-deferral frameworks. Drawing from years of hands-on experience facilitating complex real estate transactions and business exits, Brett specializes in helping high-net-worth individuals navigate tax traps and preserve wealth. He is the author of Building a Capital Gains Tax Exit Plan (featuring a foreword by Shark Tank's Kevin Harrington) and host of the Capital Gains Tax Solutions Podcast, dedicated to helping business owners and advisors unlock financial freedom through advanced trust structures.About Capital Gains Tax SolutionsCapital Gains Tax Solutions is an elite corporate tax advisory firm and wealth preservation agency engineered to help real estate investors, business founders, and high-net-worth individuals legally defer capital gains taxes. The company specializes in delivering customized Deferred Sales Trust (DST) frameworks, exit strategy coaching, estate tax planning, and advisor partnership programs. Through structured legal compliance, third-party trust administration, and comprehensive wealth strategy blueprints, Capital Gains Tax Solutions enables sellers across complex asset classes to eliminate tax friction and maximize their net-worth compounding potential.Links Mentioned in This EpisodeCapital Gains Tax Solutions Official Website: capitalgainstaxsolutions.comBrett Swarts on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brett-swartsKey Episode HighlightsThe Pre-Close Timing Rule: Why exit planning must be executed prior to closing a transaction to legally defer capital gains liabilities and protect wealth.Overcoming the 1031 Exchange Bottleneck: Utilizing the Deferred Sales Trust to bypass strict 45-day identification windows and reinvest in non-real estate asset classes.The Installment Sale Mechanics: Deferring 33% to 40% in combined federal and state taxes by selling assets to a trust in exchange for a structured promissory note.Multi-Generational Estate Tax Protection: Shielding large transaction proceeds from estate taxes and creditors while setting up seamless inheritance structures for heirs.The $124 Trillion Advisory Opportunity: Equipping financial advisors, M&A brokers, and CPAs with advanced tax-deferral strategies to win high-net-worth B2B clients.ConclusionThe conversation with Brett Swarts underscores that maximizing the value of a business exit or real estate sale is an intentional architectural process rather than a post-transaction accounting exercise. By standardizing internal exit governance, replacing rigid exchange models with flexible trust structures, and acting well before the deal closes, business leaders can transform a massive tax burden into a highly structured, self-sustaining wealth preservation engine.More from The Thoughtful Entrepreneur

Payments is getting smarter, faster, and more automated and that makes one question feel urgent: where does trust come from when the tech starts acting on our behalf? We sit down with Marielle Mekkaoui, Head of Marketing at Payabli, to talk about why the future of payments is still human, even in an AI-first era.We get into what embedded payments should actually look like inside vertical SaaS platforms, and why “embedded” cannot be a checkbox feature. Marielle breaks down Payabli's view of the full money lifecycle with pay in, payout, and pay ops, and why solving only for payment acceptance leaves platforms stuck with operational mess. We also talk about go-to-market realities in B2B fintech marketing, the return of in-person events, and how education keeps customers confident as products become more complex.Then we zoom out to AI in payments and what's next, including agentic commerce and the difference between bolting on AI versus building intelligence into the foundation. Marielle shares a grounded framework for due diligence: ask how AI is trained, demand transparency, and keep a human in the loop for the moments that matter most, like disputes, fraud, and support.If you care about embedded finance, intelligent payments, and leadership that doesn't lose the human story, you'll find it here.

Most businesses think YouTube is just for entertainment—but what if it could become one of your biggest lead generation channels?This week on B2B Vault: The Biz To Biz Podcast, Allen Kopelman sits down with Shamoo Kovacs, founder of KS Media, to discuss how B2B companies can leverage YouTube to build authority, attract ideal customers, and generate high-value leads.In this episode, you'll learn:Why YouTube is an untapped opportunity for B2B businessesThe strategy behind videos that actually generate leadsWhy long-form content beats Shorts for B2BCommon mistakes businesses make on YouTubeAI's role in content creation—and where authenticity still winsIf you're looking to grow your business through content marketing, this episode is packed with actionable insights you can use today.

How can wholesale distributors plan for growth when interest rates, tariffs, global conflict, artificial intelligence, and changing buyer behavior are all moving at once?Kevin Brown and Tom Burton examine the economic and technology forces shaping manufacturing and wholesale distribution. They discuss Federal Reserve policy, consumer confidence, Section 301 tariffs, supply chain visibility, AI-native business models, agentic purchasing, and the growing role of robotics in industrial operations.What You'll Learn:Why the Federal Reserve has limited options for responding to inflation caused by geopolitical price shocksHow Section 301 tariffs could affect inventory planning, margins, sourcing, and supply chain strategyWhat new industry survey data reveals about distributor confidence, demand recovery, tariffs, and technology adoptionHow businesses can move from basic AI assistance toward an AI-native operating modelWhy agentic AI could reshape how contractors and other B2B customers research products, request quotes, and place ordersHow humanoid and purpose-built robots may change industrial labor, workplace safety, and the protective equipment marketEpisode Highlights:00:00 – Looking at the upcoming 200th episode of Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution13:40 – Why the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and why some policymakers still favor an increase29:15 – What declining consumer confidence could mean for spending, employment, and distributor demand38:40 – How Section 301 tariffs are changing inventory valuation and supply chain planning47:25 – Why global shipping chokepoints are creating new risks for oil, freight, and product availability54:20 – What electrical distributors say about demand recovery, tariffs, margins, AI, and data center growth1:03:30 – The stages of AI maturity and what it means to build an AI-native enterprise1:12:10 – How agentic AI could transform the traditional wholesale distribution buying process1:20:35 – Humanoid robots, purpose-built machines, and the future of industrial safetyTools, Frameworks, and Strategies MentionedLeadSmart Meridian 360 enterprise growth platformSmart CRM and CRM-ERP integrationLeadSmart Revenue ExpanderHidden revenue detection and trapped-potential analysisAI maturity stages, from AI-assisted to AI-nativeAgentic AI purchasing and automated orderingInventory visibility and supply chain analyticsHuman-centered sales automationSection 301 tariff analysisClosing Insight:The companies that succeed through the next phase of wholesale distribution will understand more than what is happening inside their ERP. They will connect customer, sales, marketing, e-commerce, inventory, and operational data so their teams can make faster and better decisions.Subscribe to Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution for weekly insights into the economy, technology, supply chains, manufacturing, and distribution growth. Visit AroundTheHornPod.com to explore previous episodes and sign up for the newsletter. To learn how LeadSmart Technologies helps distributors connect their data and uncover hidden revenue opportunities, visit LeadSmartTech.com.Leave a Review: Help us grow by sharing your thoughts on the show.Learn more about the LeadSmart AI B2B Sales Platform: https://www.leadsmarttech.com/Join the conversation each week on LinkedIn Live.Want even more insight to the stories we discuss each week? Subscribe to the Around The Horn Newsletter.You can also hear the podcast and other excellent content on our YouTube Channel.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

About James HaydenI've generated over $1B in revenue across SaaS, marketplaces, and enterprise services — and built first revenues for companies from zero across 140+ engagements.Book a Free 30-Min GTM Diagnostic →I build go-to-market engines for B2B companies that drive lasting revenue. Over 38 years, I've transformed sales teams, opened new markets, and created new revenue streams for more than 140 companies. I serve as a multi-company advisor to US enterprises, the government of New Zealand, and several Central American governments.My client and employer roster spans enterprise technology, SaaS, hospitality, automotive, and government sectors across four continents:Enterprise & Technology: Microsoft, Oracle, Cendant, TravelClick (acquired by Amadeus), Zipwhip (acquired by Twilio for $850M), Zumobi, Uniken, RESAAS, LodgIQ, FingermarkAutomotive: Ford, GM, Stellantis, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Lexus, KiaMedia & Partnerships: MSNBC, StarbucksGovernment & Trade: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), Government of Costa Rica, Government of GuatemalaStartups & Ventures: Hotelscan (successful exit), Ortega Expansion Consulting, Hayden Marketing Inc., Dignity For DivasWhen I took over TravelClick's lowest-performing division, it ranked last out of four. Within a year, I turned it into the company's top-performing unit — a turnaround that directly contributed to the company's successful exit. If your sales org needs a reset, this is the kind of result I deliver.I was a founding member of Hotelscan, where I built over 140 partnerships from scratch. That groundwork drove the company to a successful exit in 2019. I know what it takes to build revenue from zero — because I've done it repeatedly.I learned to sell young — door-to-door as a kid — and never stopped refining the craft. My methodology is built on decades of real-world results, not theory. I wrote Adapt or DIE to share the approach that has driven my results, available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook.Don't forget to check our Expert Content Society LinkedIn Content Community here:https://www.thetimetogrow.com/expert-content-society

Is the U.S. really about to buy Bitcoin? Kraken co-CEO Dave Ripley tells Spencer Nichols why a U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve could happen within the next 12 months, based on discussions happening at the state and federal level. He unpacks sovereign adoption, tokenization, and the market-structure shift underway across crypto and traditional finance.

Nandan Sheth has spent 25 years in payments, building three growth companies along the way, including Harbor Payments (sold to American Express) and Acculynk (sold to First Data/Fiserv). He now runs Splitit, which takes a different path than most buy now, pay later providers: instead of originating a new loan, it turns the credit a consumer already has on their existing card into an installment plan, with no underwriting, no social security number, and no new debit card for repayments. With agentic commerce infrastructure being built in real time, Nandan argues that a frictionless installment option is exactly what merchants need to avoid being commoditized on price inside an LLM shopping platform.What We CoveredThree growth companies across 25 years in paymentsWhat attracted Nandan to Splitit from FiservCard-linked installments with no underwriting or new loanThe card loyalist versus the credit needy$3.5 trillion of unused credit sitting on US cardsMerchant-funded 0% economics and where the budget comes fromA $1,300 average order value versus $250 to $300 for standard BNPLPoint of sale through the Samsung Wallet integrationBacking Google's Universal Commerce ProtocolThe overlooked small business to large supplier B2B use caseChargebacks, repudiation, and who carries the risk in agent-led purchasesSplitit Go for the face-to-face services economyKey TakeawaysBNPL is really two markets, not one. Card loyalists want rewards, protections, and habit, while the credit needy want a new line of credit. Nandan thinks both get served, but by different products.The economics work because the merchant treats it as marketing spend. About 98% of Splitit's volume is a merchant-funded 0% plan, priced comparably to a percentage-off promotion, and it lifts average order value roughly four times over standard BNPL.In agentic commerce, price and delivery speed are the easiest things for an LLM to compare. A 0% installment option gives merchants a third lever that is not pure price competition.The B2B version may be the stronger use case. Small business owners face both a time problem and a working capital problem, which is a sharper reason to hand off buying to an agent than a consumer shopping for a polo shirt.About Nandan ShethNandan Sheth is the CEO of Splitit, the card-linked installments platform. He moved to the US from the UK 25 years ago and has spent his entire career in payments and fintech, including running e-commerce and omni-channel commerce at Fiserv. He previously built Harbor Payments, acquired by American Express, and Acculynk, acquired by First Data/Fiserv.Connect with Fintech One-on-One:Tweet me @PeterRentonConnect with me on LinkedInFind previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

In this episode, Jason and Jordan sit down with Neil Glatt of Neil Glatt Sales and Strategy for a deep dive into what it really takes to build a high-performing sales engine in the green industry. Neil shares his journey from selling Boy Scout popcorn door-to-door to helping grow a snow and landscape company from a single truck to $42M in annual revenue, and how that experience shaped his approach to B2B sales, process design, and scalable growth. The conversation covers the difference between B2B and residential sales, why most personality tests fail at predicting sales success, and how Neil uses sales-specific assessments to identify true "all-star" salespeople—including traits like money tolerance, handling rejection, and sales DNA. Jason and Jordan open up about their own businesses' growth spurts and slowdowns—from hurricane-fueled demand and drought-driven slumps to the challenges of hiring sales reps without overloading operations—and Neil unpacks concepts like fractional sales management, designing a compensation structure that doesn't cap top performers, and building a sustainable pipeline through relationships and referrals. Whether you're trying to go from $3M to $6M, hire your first salesperson, or finally get serious about commercial work and sales leadership, this episode gives you a clear, real-world look at how to build a sales system that actually scales. Connect with Jason and Jordan:

Ben Reed walks through his full journey as the first (and for a while, only) marketer at FieldPulse — a construction/trades field service software startup competing against Service Titan, Jobber, and Housecall Pro — through 300%+ revenue growth and a team of 12, and into his first 60 days as VP Marketing at Ressio.In this roundtable, Ben covers:Finding a $5–10K ACV market gap between larger and smaller competitorsWhy he hired a videographer as his second marketing hireHow FieldPulse's YouTube content started outranking Google search resultsTurning field events from badge-scanning into 100+ qualified meetings per showHis Meta Ads playbook, campaign objective strategy, and the Andromeda algorithm shiftScaling a marketing team from 1 to 12 people, tied to revenue targetsWhat he's doing differently in his first 60 days at Resio: product marketing, positioning, SEO, and customer ambassadorsA tactical breakdown for B2B marketing leaders on go-to-market strategy, ICP positioning, demand generation, paid social, field events, and team scaling in a competitive vertical SaaS market.#B2BMarketing #DemandGeneration #GTMStrategy #MarketingLeadership #PaidSocial #FieldMarketing #ProductMarketing #SaaSMarketing #MetaAds #ICP

#377 | 80% of B2B brands are completely forgettable - and it's not because their product is weak. Dave sits down with Louis Grenier, founder of Stand The F*ck Out and author of the book by the same name, to unpack a study he ran scoring 100 B2B companies on how distinctive their brands actually are. Louis breaks down the real difference between "distinctive" and "different," why almost no B2B SaaS company has a mascot (and why that's a missed opportunity), what Wiz and Mutiny are doing that most brands aren't, and why sound might be the most underused brand asset in marketing. They also get into how Louis built the entire 100-company study himself using Claude Code and parallel AI agents, and why picking a lane and committing to it beats chasing the "perfect" idea.Timestamps (00:00) - - What makes a brand distinctive vs. differentiated (03:35) - - Why brand distinctiveness matters more in the age of AI (05:54) - - Inside the study: scoring 100 B2B brands on 8 assets (07:49) - - Wiz and Mutiny: two brands that stood out (12:12) - - Why almost no B2B SaaS company has a mascot (15:39) - - How to get buy-in for a risky brand idea internally (17:29) - - The research behind how brand memories are actually built (20:35) - - Linear: picking a lane and going all in (24:01) - - Why sound is a brand asset most companies ignore (30:58) - - How Louis built the study using Claude Code and AI agents Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive.Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn how to build an ABM program that scales at vector.co/exitfive.Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Ashley Anderson was a hospital dietitian with four jobs and a side hustle. Then 2020 happened, she got laid off, and she built something from scratch that would change how founders think about their health.In this episode, Ashley Anderson, registered dietitian and founder of Move Fully Nourished, breaks down why entrepreneurs invest everything into their business and almost nothing into their health, plus the brain-gut science behind why your thoughts can make you sick.Key takeaways:00:00:00 Introduction00:01:52Q: How did Ashley Anderson go from hospital dietitian to building her own wellness business?A: Ashley Anderson was furloughed in 2020 and turned that moment into an opportunity to build Move Fully Nourished from scratch.00:09:08Q: Why are most entrepreneurs not prioritizing their health?A: Ashley Anderson says it comes down to vulnerability. High performers are willing, but the deeper self-examination real health change requires feels more threatening than any business problem.00:13:16Q: Why do founders rank health first but treat it like an afterthought?A: Ashley Anderson explains we've all been conditioned since school to equate rest with weakness, and that conditioning carries directly into how founders run their businesses.00:17:57Q: What happens when a founder pushes too hard for too long?A: Ashley Anderson shares her own dark cave moment — waking up before dawn, full client load, relationship with her daughter falling apart. She almost missed her daughter's childhood because of the drive to succeed.00:33:08Q: How much do your thoughts actually affect your physical health?A: Ashley Anderson explains that 90% of serotonin is made in the gut, and repetitive negative thought patterns trigger the same fight-or-flight response as real physical danger.Subscribe for real conversations with founders turning their businesses into assets, not jobs.

Claire has spent nearly a decade writing emails, fixing onboarding flows, and tightening messaging for enterprise AI security, LiDAR tech, and competitive SaaS products — where a bad first impression costs everything. In this conversation, she pulls back the curtain on lifecycle marketing, the micro aha moment, the IKEA effect in onboarding, and why your offboarding experience is either a hidden growth lever or a slow revenue leak.If you're spending money to acquire customers and watching them quietly disappear, this episode will tell you exactly why — and what to fix first.Key Takeaways5:07 — Activation is the real growth lever. Most SaaS companies obsess over acquisition. Claire explains why a 5% lift in retention has more revenue impact than almost any ad spend — and why lifecycle marketing starts the moment someone clicks "sign up."6:23 — What lifecycle marketing actually means. It's not just a drip campaign. Claire breaks down the full journey: onboarding → value realization → feature expansion → offboarding — and why each phase is a marketing opportunity.8:29 — Predatory offboarding vs. strategic offboarding. Using Audible as the ultimate cautionary tale, Claire explains the difference between trapping customers and creating a graceful exit that keeps them in your world — and willing to come back.13:13 — The biggest onboarding mistake: empty states. Launching users into a blank dashboard is the fastest way to lose them. Claire explains what to do instead, and why collecting just 2–3 behavioral data points at signup changes everything downstream.15:02 — The IKEA effect in SaaS. A little friction is a good thing. Claire explains why making signup too easy actually reduces commitment — and how the cake mix that bombed (until they added eggs back in) is the perfect metaphor for onboarding design.16:33 — Stop collecting demographic data. Collect jobs-to-be-done. Knowing someone is a "senior manager at a 10,000-person enterprise" helps no one. Claire's framework: problem → motivation → outcome. That's the only data that moves the needle.19:53 — How to run customer interviews that actually work. The cardinal rule: ask "what" not "why." What was going on in your day? What led you to sign up? Inviting a story gets you gold. Asking for a justification gets you a polite non-answer.24:51 — Micro aha moments: the framework behind great onboarding. Don't make users complete a checklist before they see value. Map the big aha moments first, then reverse-engineer what tiny wins need to happen along the way.27:07 — Your pricing page is a micro aha moment. No pricing on your site? ChatGPT already knows. Claire's story of convincing a CEO to ask AI what their product costs — and the result — is a must-hear reality check.32:03 — Behavior-triggered emails beat time-triggered emails every time. Don't email users based on how many days have passed. Email them based on what they've done (or haven't done) in your product. Claire explains activation vs. adoption — and Slack's famous 1,000-message benchmark.35:54 — Why deals stall at no decision — and how to fight it. It's not usually the competitor. It's spreadsheets, internal politics, and the fear of being burned again. Claire's advice: empower the champion inside the company who's trying to get your tool approved.42:20 — The 30-day activation sprint. Claire's step-by-step playbook: optimize the sign-up page → add social proof → send a high-converting welcome email (60% open rate is achievable) → limit in-app prompts to three → A/B test subject lines before content.Tweetable Quotes"Your acquisition budget can't cover what a broken onboarding experience costs you." — Claire Heginbotham"It's not a churn problem. It's an activation problem." — Jeff Mains"Personality is your brand's moat. The more everything sounds the same, the more being human becomes a competitive advantage." — Claire Heginbotham"Don't discount friction. A little skin in the game increases commitment — that's the IKEA effect." — Claire Heginbotham"Ask 'what led you here' instead of 'why did you sign up.' One invites a story. The other asks for a justification." — Claire Heginbotham"Your real competition isn't another app. It's laziness and spreadsheets." — Claire Heginbotham"The company that empowers the internal champion best is the one they're going to fight for." — Claire Heginbotham"Stop asking 'why did you sign up?' Start asking 'what was going on in your life that made you go looking?' The story is where the real answer lives." — Jeff Mains"Assumptions are the mother of all f-ups." — Claire Heginbotham (quoting her first boss)"People don't leave a bad solution for a better one. They leave when they find someone who finally understands what they were actually dealing with." — Futureproof Founder closing thoughtSaaS Leadership Lessons1. The first 10 minutes determine everything. You can out-market every competitor and still lose the customer in the first session. If users don't reach a moment where your product means something to them quickly, they're gone — and no re-engagement campaign will save you. Treat the first 10 minutes like the most important sales conversation you'll ever have.2. Collect behavioral data at signup, not demographic data. Job titles and company sizes are noise. What matters is why someone showed up. Build 2–3 onboarding questions around jobs-to-be-done: the problem they're fleeing, the outcome they're imagining, and the motivation in between. That data powers every email, feature tour, and win-back you'll ever send.3. Design for micro aha moments, not checklist completion. Checklists train users to feel like they're working for your product instead of with it. Map your biggest value moments backward — what tiny realizations have to click first? Deliver those early and often. Every small "oh, I get it" moment is a deposit in the retention bank.4. Offboarding is a growth lever, not a white flag. How a customer leaves determines whether they come back. A graceful downgrade-to-free path, an honest exit survey, and a well-timed win-back sequence turn churned users into future buyers. Predatory offboarding (à la Audible) may retain users in the short term but destroys trust permanently.5. Your internal champion needs ammunition. In B2B, the person who signs the contract isn't always the person who found you. Someone inside that company is fighting to get your tool approved. Transparent pricing, clear ROI framing, and proof of support quality are weapons you hand them — and the company that arms them best wins the deal.6. Test assumptions with data, not debates. Most internal arguments about pricing, onboarding flows, and messaging are based on fear of edge cases that never happen. Before you sink time into back-and-forths about what might go wrong, ask: has it ever gone wrong? If the answer is never, ship it and measure. Assumptions are the mother of all f-ups.Guest Resourcesclaire@copyisland.comcopyisland.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/claireheginbotham/https://www.instagram.com/p/DE44XkOM6Jm/Episode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/https://jeffmains.com/books/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

For 30 years I've been training B2B sales forces to sell better. andconsulting with over 500 organizations .I've made some observations about the 25 most important lessons I've learned.  In this post, I will describe one of them:  Most people don't think deeply.  Join with me as I unpack this. ***************************************************************** Check out Menta-Morphosis Mind Software here.

Outsourcing podcast Get the full show notes for this outsourcing podcast here: outsourceaccelerator.com/598   Dr. Gleb Tsipursky comes to the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, this time as the author of a new book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results, out with Georgetown University Press on September 1.  He is a behavioural scientist and CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, and he focuses on the human side of the AI wave. The conversation digs into why so many AI rollouts fail, and how leaders can get anxious, resistant teams to actually adopt AI. For an intensely human business like outsourcing, it is a timely message. Veronica shares how a small-town firm built that record, and how it is handling AI.   References: Website: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/disaster-avoidance-experts/   Start Outsourcing Outsource Accelerator can help you transform your business with outsourcing. Get in touch now, or use one of the resources below.   Business Process Outsourcing Get a Free Quote - Connect with 3 verified outsourcing experts & see how outsourcing can transform your business Book a Discovery Call - See how Outsource Accelerator can help you enhance your company's innovation and growth with outsourcing The Top 40 BPOs - We have compiled this review of the most notable 40 Business Process Outsourcing companies in the Philippines Outsourcing Calculator - This tool provides you with invaluable insight into the potential savings outsourcing can do for your business Outsourcing Salary Guide - Access the comprehensive guide to payroll salary compensation, benefits, and allowances in the Philippines Outsourcing Accelerator Podcast - Subscribe and listen to the world's leading outsourcing podcast, hosted by Derek Gallimore Payoneer - The leading global B2B payment solution for the outsourcing industry   About Outsource Accelerator Outsource Accelerator is the world's leading outsourcing marketplace and advisory. We offer the full spectrum of services, from light advisory and vendor brokerage, though to full implementation and fully-managed solutions. We service companies of all sectors, and all sizes, spanning all departmental verticals. Outsource Accelerator's unique approach to outsourcing enables our clients to build the best teams, access the most flexible solutions, and generate the best results possible. Our unrivaled sector knowledge and market reach mean that you get the best terms and results possible, at the best ALL-IN market-leading price - guaranteed.

O comprador B2B mudou e a jornada de compra também. No Mercoscast 183, Miriele Veber, coordenadora de expansão da Mercos, Rafael Linhares, diretor comercial da Volt Brasil, Afonso Tonelli e Marcelo Caetano conversam sobre como o novo comportamento do cliente está transformando a forma de vender.

B2B Go To Market Strategy: Why Your Lead Gen Is BrokenYour lead gen program is filling a CRM and burning your market at the same time.In episode one of The 15 Minute GTM Fix, a miniseries with our friends at Dealfront, George Coudounaris and Kevin Chen break down why so many B2B go to market programs quietly fail. If you run marketing in a small team and you are stuck firefighting instead of building, this one is for you.We pull apart the gated ebook play every marketer gets asked to run, why it destroys buyer trust before sales ever picks up the phone, and what to do instead. Then we walk through the Five BEs framework - the flywheel we use to move a go to market motion from reactive chaos to something that scales.Tune in and learn:+ Why traditional lead gen produces MQLs that never convert+ What 95% of your market is doing while you chase the other 5%+ The difference between capturing demand and shaping future demand+ How brand marketing and demand marketing work together+ The five stages of the BEs framework and how they compoundIf you are a marketer in a small B2B team being asked for leads with no time, no budget, and no strategy behind it, start here.-----------------------------------------------------SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybookSUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/-----------------------------------------------------00:00 95% of Your Market Is Not Ready to Buy00:32 Welcome to the 15 Minute GTM Fix01:00 Why Lead Gen Is Broken in B2B Right Now01:20 Vanity Metrics and MQLs That Never Convert01:40 The Sales and Marketing Tension Nobody Fixes01:55 How Lead Gen Burns Your Own Market02:10 The Gated Ebook Play Every Marketer Gets Asked to Run02:35 What Happens When Sales Calls a Cold Ebook Download02:50 The Playbook That Keeps Destroying Buyer Trust03:05 Capturing Demand vs Shaping Future Demand03:25 Only 5% of Buyers Are In Market Today03:45 The Five Stages of Awareness Explained04:00 Brand Marketing vs Demand Marketing04:30 Why Holistic B2B Marketing Needs Both05:00 The Chaos Small Marketing Teams Live In05:30 Reactive Marketing Is Killing Your Pipeline06:00 Why Fundamentals Beat Tactics Every Time06:30 Five BEs Framework: Be Ready07:00 Be Helpful - Earning Trust With Content07:30 Be Seen - Amplifying to Your Dream Customers08:00 Be Better - Optimising With Data08:20 Be the Best - Future-Proofing Your Strategy08:40 Why Every Great Framework Is a Flywheel09:00 What to Expect From This Miniseries-----------------------------------------------------

Reporting is one of the most foundational functions in a sterile processing department, and for years it has also been one of the most manual. Answering a single question about productivity, throughput or case readiness has often meant running several reports, exporting the results into spreadsheets and merging the data by hand before any of it could be presented. The information existed. It simply was not assembled into a form teams could act on in the moment.That gap carries real operational cost. Time spent gathering and reconciling data is time not spent interpreting it, and every manual merge introduces the possibility of error or misrepresentation. Staffing requests, resource conversations and committee reporting all slow down when leaders must first defend where their numbers came from. For many SPD teams, the constraint was never the availability of data. It was the time and the confidence required to trust it.What changes for a sterile processing team when reporting becomes centralized, visual and available in real time?Welcome to ConCensis. In this episode, host Daniel Litwin, the Voice of B2B, sits down with Alma Mendivil, Director of the Sterile Processing Department at University Medical Center of El Paso, and Hana Rogers, Quality Assurance Manager of the Central Sterile Processing Department at Boston Medical Center, for the show's first cross-leader roundtable. Pairing a director's leadership lens with a day-to-day operational view from the floor, the conversation compares the old reporting workflow against their experience with CensiTrac Intelligence and traces the downstream effects on decision-making, manual workload, team morale and collaboration with partner departments. The discussion offers practical perspective for SPD leaders evaluating what they should expect from a reporting tool and how better reporting reshapes far more than reporting itself.What You'll Learn...Why answering basic operational questions once required multiple reports and manual spreadsheet work, and what that pattern cost teams in both time and accuracy.How the ability to see a report build in real time shifts effort away from preparing data and toward interpreting it.The new reporting use cases these leaders unlocked, including prep and pack dwell time, five-day case forecasting, daily huddle notes and employee performance metrics.Why a single trusted source of data changes the tone of conversations with hospital leadership, operating room partners and outside committees such as infection control.How real-time visibility into productivity supports more timely recognition, coaching and staffing adjustments across shifts.What questions SPD leaders should ask before adopting a reporting tool, and what long-term impact to expect as surgical volumes continue to grow.About the GuestsAlma Mendivil is Director of the Sterile Processing Department at University Medical Center of El Paso, one of the busiest medical centers on the southern border. She oversees departmental operations in a high-volume environment and led her team's reporting transition alongside her department manager and floor educator, giving her a direct view of how reporting shapes staffing decisions, leadership reporting and cross-department collaboration.Hana Rogers is Quality Assurance Manager of the Central Sterile Processing Department at Boston Medical Center, a major academic medical center in the Northeast. Her work centers on the day-to-day operational realities of a high-inventory department, including throughput visibility, instrument movement and the practical workflow effects of how reporting is built and used on the floor.

The New Author Benchmark: Navigating Market Demand, Ethical AI, and Literary Authority with Wiebke TaschIn a recent episode of The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Podcast, host Josh Elledge sat down with Wiebke Tasch, the Founder and CEO of Digital Authors, to examine the shifting economics of book publishing and personal authority in an AI-dominated digital landscape. Wiebke, a leading publishing strategist and book marketing pioneer, details how the initial deluge of unvetted, automated AI manuscripts is triggering widespread audience fatigue, opening a prime market window for genuine, human-driven non-fiction. This conversation provides a comprehensive, data-driven manual for founders, consultants, and industry experts who want to validate their literary concepts through empirical market research, maintain ethical writing standards, and leverage published authorship to dramatically shorten B2B sales cycles.The Modern Publishing Architecture: Market Analysis, Authentic Voice, and Multi-Channel Authority GenerationThe rapid influx of automated AI book generators has flooded self-publishing platforms with generic, formulaic content, causing savvy modern readers and B2B buyers to actively filter out superficial text in search of authentic human expertise. Wiebke Tasch explains that while AI tools can assist with basic structural editing and grammar optimization, using automated text generators to write a complete manuscript severely damages an author's professional brand and erodes buyer trust. True market differentiation is achieved when a founder conducts rigorous upfront data analysis—evaluating real search volume and audience demand before putting pen to paper—to ensure their book fills a proven market gap. By pairing empirical topic validation with a disciplined morning writing habit, experts can translate their authentic lived experience into a high-impact manuscript that commands immediate authority.Positioning a non-fiction book as a strategic business asset requires an intentional shift away from chasing vanity bestseller metrics toward engineering a long-term client acquisition engine. Rather than viewing publication as a single, isolated product launch, successful executives utilize their book as a premium business card that warms up cold prospects, justifies elevated service fees, and validates their core operational frameworks. When a well-crafted book is integrated into backend lead-generation sequences, it handles the heavy lifting of prospect education, turning distant leads into high-intent inbound inquiries. This literary foundation serves as a permanent media asset that continues to yield high-tier speaking engagements, executive consulting contracts, and media coverage long after its initial release.Furthermore, sustaining long-term market dominance demands that authors combine their published works with proactive, high-trust media distribution strategies like targeted podcast guesting. Participating as a guest on relevant, vetted podcasts allows an author to speak directly to target audiences, shortening the trust building process and introducing their book to pre-sold listeners. Rather than relying on generic, mass-pitching outreach tools, published experts must seek out high-alignment shows that match their specific authority level and professional niche. When rigorous market research, authentic storytelling, ethical AI editing, and strategic podcast guesting are synthesized into a single corporate playbook, an enterprise successfully removes customer acquisition friction, builds absolute market credibility, and predictably multiplies its brand equity.About Wiebke TaschWiebke Tasch is the Founder and CEO of Digital Authors, a prominent publishing strategist, and an expert in non-fiction book marketing and authority positioning. Drawing from an extensive background in digital media, author coaching, and market trend analysis, Wiebke specializes in helping founders, executives, and subject matter experts write, publish, and scale impactful books. She is a recognized thought leader focused on helping authors navigate the evolving publishing landscape, avoid AI content traps, and leverage published books to grow their core enterprises.About Digital AuthorsDigital Authors is an elite publishing consulting agency and author advisory firm engineered to help business leaders, consultants, and experts write and publish high-converting non-fiction books. The company specializes in delivering data-driven market validation audits, manuscript structuring frameworks, ethical AI-editing playbooks, and strategic launch marketing systems. Through tailored 30-to-45-minute market analysis sessions and comprehensive publishing support, Digital Authors enables executives to remove writing bottlenecks, build authentic brand authority, and maximize enterprise valuation.Links Mentioned in This EpisodeDigital Authors Official Website: digital-authors.comWiebke Tasch on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/wiebke-taschKey Episode HighlightsThe Post-AI Publishing Shift: Why reader fatigue with automated "AI slop" is creating an unprecedented market opportunity for authentic, expert-driven non-fiction.Empirical Market Idea Validation: Utilizing software data audits and keyword analysis to verify reader demand before writing a single manuscript page.Ethical AI Editing Frameworks: Leveraging tools like Grammarly and Claude strictly for structural polishing while preserving authentic human voice.The Book as a B2B Sales Engine: Utilizing published authorship to shorten sales cycles, justify premium service pricing, and convert cold prospects into warm inbound leads.The Morning Writing Ritual: Implementing simple, intention-driven morning writing sessions to eliminate writer's block and build consistent manuscript momentum.ConclusionThe conversation with Wiebke Tasch underscores that building lasting authority through authorship requires an intentional balance of empirical market research, authentic human perspective, and strategic media distribution. By standardizing internal content workflows, validating literary demand before writing, and leveraging published works to fuel ongoing podcast outreach, business leaders can transform their specialized knowledge into a highly structured, self-sustaining brand asset.More from The Thoughtful Entrepreneur

We just launched our new book! You can grab The Power of Your Personal Brand: A Playbook for Struggling Middle Managers Who Want to Do Big Things on Amazon or at ForthRight-People.com AI is pulling from Large Language Models (LLMs), which means what it generates is really an amalgamation of what already exists. It's hard to own the attribution of this content. And, it often comes off sounding like AI and not you. But, what if you were intentional in the way you train AI to represent you in voice and POV? In this Quick Hit, you'll hear from Patrice Greene & Kathy Macchi. They're the Co-Founders of Inverta, the #1 AI-powered B2B growth marketing agency. Check out the full episode here

Erica McLain has been continuously guided by a fierce drive and curiosity—qualities that propelled her to Stanford, the Olympics, and tech companies like Facebook and Google. Now, she's combining those strengths to blaze a new trail in the design industry, rooted in a measurable, research-backed understanding of environmental psychology and neuroaesthetics. In this episode, she shares the “design potential report” she prepares for prospective clients, her firm's unique B2B offering, and the toolkit she is developing to analyze a home's impact on clients.  This episode was sponsored by Kohler and Vanguard Furniture.  LINKSErica McLainKaitlin PetersenBusiness of Home

This week, we dive into the exciting new feature on LinkedIn: collaborative posts.I'm thrilled to share how this tool can revolutionize the way we engage on the platform, enabling us to reach broader audiences by collaborating with others. We'll explore the ins and outs of how to create these posts, the challenges of inviting collaborators who don't yet have access, and the potential benefits for our online presence.Plus, we'll discuss some real-world strategies and experiences that highlight how we can leverage collaborative posts for events, launches, and more. With actionable insights and a dash of humor, we're here to elevate your LinkedIn game and help your business thrive!Takeaways:Collaborative posts on LinkedIn are a new feature that aims to increase audience reach by allowing users to team up on posts.The effectiveness of collaborative posts hinges on both collaborators having access to the feature, making planning essential for successful engagement.LinkedIn's update on collaborative posts presents a great opportunity for joint ventures and events, especially for B2B companies looking to expand visibility.It's important to monitor who accepts collaboration invites since notifications may not always be clear, which could affect post engagement.Utilizing collaborative posts can enhance event promotion, making it easier to share milestones and celebrate achievements with a wider audience.The upcoming Raise Your Visibility Live conference promises exciting workshops focused on YouTube, LinkedIn ads, and optimizing websites with AI.Links referenced in this episode:youtube.com/raisevisibilityonlinelouisebrogan.com/raise-liveCompanies mentioned in this episode:LinkedInYouTubeKatherine GeorgePatricia GreeneDow SocialWeb CrewKristian DownerLouise Brogan

   We often treat macroeconomics and B2B marketing as two completely separate ecosystems that function on entirely different levels and scale. However, if you look closer at the underlying factors such as silos, transactional friction, supply chain bottlenecks, and trust gaps, you'll realise how striking the parallels are. Have you ever considered how high-level macroeconomic policies actually mirror the daily execution battles fought within B2B marketing departments? How can B2B leaders extract these macro-level insights to solve operational challenges, streamline campaign execution, build market authority, and generate better results?In this solo episode, Christian Klepp (Host of the B2B Marketers on a Mission Podcast) shared his core strategic takeaways from the Rebuilding Alliances / Reconstruire des alliances event in Toronto. He translated complex macroeconomic frameworks into actionable strategies for B2B marketing teams. Christian talked about the importance of removing internal silos to drive cross-functional collaboration, eliminating buyer friction throughout the sales funnel, and create strategic co-marketing partnerships. He also elaborated on treating data like an organisation's “critical minerals” and how to leverage internal subject matter experts (SMEs) to establish greater industry credibility. Finally, Christian stressed the value of employer branding in talent acquisition, and why building organisational trust while defending the marketing mandate is critical.This episode was sponsored by the Economic Club of Canada. 

Muriel Touati is the Founder and CEO of Exit 3D Studio. After spending a year evaluating 100+ acquisitions from the buyer side, she now helps B2B service founders build businesses that generate consistent, qualified demand, and hold up under real scrutiny. She's the author of the upcoming book, The Valuation Gap.

My guest today is Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. It's a conversation spanning the history, present, and future of OpenAI, from the origin of ChatGPT through Codex, hardware, and their new Jalapeno chip. We discuss the early decision to buy compute at a scale nobody thought was rational, and the plan to build a gigawatt of new capacity every week.  We talk about Kimi and distillation, the Hugging Face incident and what it means for the pace of AI development, and what it's like to raise kids who will grow up never knowing a world without abundant intelligence.  Please enjoy my conversation with Sam Altman. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at ⁠colossus.com/subscribe⁠. ----- ⁠Ramp's⁠ mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ramp.com/invest⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Trusted by thousands of businesses, ⁠Vanta⁠ continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Invest Like the Best listeners get a special offer of $1,000 off Vanta when you go to ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠.  ----- WorkOS⁠ is the infrastructure B2B and AI-native companies use to sell to enterprise. It covers everything enterprise security requires: SSO, SCIM, RBAC, Audit Logs, AI governance, and more. Trusted by 2,000+ fast-growing companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, and Vercel. ----- Rogo is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest. ----- ⁠Ridgeline⁠ has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgeline.ai⁠. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant. Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:02:02) Intro: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (00:02:35) Refocusing (00:05:43) OpenAI's Compute Bets (00:09:07) Data Centers (00:11:14) Jalapeno Chip (00:11:52) Kimi, Distillation & Open Source (00:14:39) The Hugging Face Incident (00:17:46) OpenAI's Mission & Vision (00:22:14) All the Returns Are at the Frontier (00:22:27) Bottlenecks: Compute, Research, Data (00:23:49) Sam's View on AI & Jobs (00:26:56) Unpopular Bets That Turned Out Right (00:27:45) Model Cycles (00:29:45) How Sam Uses AI (00:32:44) Having Kids (00:34:56) Why Sam Has No Equity in OpenAI (00:35:33) Robotics (00:36:48) The Origin Story of ChatGPT (00:39:22) How to Get AI into More Hands (00:42:20) How Sam Recruited Great AI Researchers (00:43:57) What Sam Learned From Being an Investor (00:45:22) What the Next 6–36 Months Look Like (00:46:31) Codex (00:49:36) Could We Be Oversupplied in Compute in Two Years? (00:50:09) Sam's View on Scaling Laws (00:50:20) Alec Radford (00:51:12) Formative Moments (00:53:50) Kindest Thing

Partner with Jay: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/contactㅤPre-order Jay Schwedelson's new book, Stupider People Have Done It (out June 9, 2026).All net proceeds are donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, let's kick cancer's butt: https://www.amazon.com/Stupider-People-Have-Done-Marketing/dp/1637635206ㅤSubscribe to Jay's newsletter for weekly marketing tips and tactics: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/newsletterㅤRegister for GuruConference (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.guruconference.comㅤCheck out Eventastic (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.eventastic.comㅤConnect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/Check out Jay's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@schwedelsonCheck out Jay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayschwedelson/Ask Jay anything: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/askㅤLeave a comment and follow the show, it really helps us out!ㅤBig shoutout to our sponsor, Knak!Marketers, you know the pain… You spend hours on a campaign, and then it gets stuck in review cycles and barely looks like what you started with.Knak makes it simple. Design emails and landing pages, collaborate, and launch - all in one place. No tool hopping, no messy handoffs, with AI built in to help you move faster.See how it all works, get started at knak.com/demoㅤ41% of long-form LinkedIn posts are now fully AI-generated, which explains why your feed feels like the same three posts wearing different hats. Jay Schwedelson makes the case that the way out is content people can literally steal from you, and then gets into why Target is handing weekly challenges to fans with 500 followers and what that same idea looks like in a boring, regulated B2B world. There is also a firm, slightly personal position taken against a certain underwear campaign.ㅤBest Moments:(00:30) New Pangram data showing 41% of long-form LinkedIn content now carries some form of AI generation(01:19) Why stealable content like templates, prompts, screenshots and checklists is pulling 40% higher engagement(02:24) What happens to open rates when you put the word "steal" at the front of a subject line(03:52) How Club Target turned 500-follower shoppers into a 15,000-creator marketing engine with weekly challenges(05:00) Building your own customer creator club when you are not Target and your industry is boring(07:23) Meta testing a TikTok-style Facebook feed and why every video you make should already be vertical

The biggest problem with most ABM programs isn't execution, it's that they try to personalize at scale before they truly understand their buyers.Everyone wants the results of account-based marketing. Few organizations build the foundation required to make it work.In this episode, Carolyn sits down with Steve Armenti, former ABM leader at Google and founder of Twelfth Agency, to unpack one of the biggest misconceptions in modern B2B marketing.Together they explore why high-volume personalization is becoming less effective, why AI can't replace strategy, and why the highest-performing GTM teams build what Steve calls a "market of one", a deep understanding of every target account before scaling outreach.You'll learn:Why most ABM programs never create real demandThe hidden flaw in high-volume personalizationWhy AI amplifies strategy instead of replacing itHow leading GTM teams build a 360° account viewThe "market of one" framework for modern B2B growthIf your ABM strategy isn't producing the pipeline you expected, this episode may change what you believe the real problem is.-----------------------------------------------------The difference between guessing and knowing is almost always hiding in the data you already have.In less than 30 days, Passetto builds the marketing measurement system that gives marketing leaders continuous visibility into what's driving pipeline and revenue—and the evidence to confidently make and defend their next investment decision.

Melissa Kwan is the CEO and Co-founder of eWebinar, an on-demand video platform that turns prerecorded videos into interactive experiences with chat for demos, onboarding, and training. Before eWebinar, she founded Spacio, a real estate technology platform acquired by HomeSpotter in 2019. A three-time bootstrapped founder with more than 15 years of startup experience, Melissa specializes in B2B sales, business development, and building profitable companies with limited resources. She is also the host of the ProfitLed Podcast and the author behind the Your Founder Next Door newsletter. In this episode… Scaling a SaaS business often means finding ways to grow without sacrificing your time, energy, or values. But what happens when the message that inspired you to build your product no longer resonates with customers? How do you break through a growth plateau while staying true to the business you want to build? According to Melissa Kwan, a bootstrapped SaaS entrepreneur and experienced founder, sustainable growth starts with understanding what customers truly value — not what founders assume they value. She explains how shifting eWebinar's messaging from saving time to driving business growth unlocked new opportunities, while customer conversations uncovered unexpected use cases like recruiting and onboarding. Melissa highlights why creating delightful user experiences, maintaining integrity in product design, and building a lean, remote team have been key to long-term success. She also shares how AI has accelerated her marketing and operations and why defining personal non-negotiables helped shape both her company culture and leadership approach. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Melissa Kwan, CEO and Co-founder of eWebinar, to discuss building a scalable, customer-centric SaaS business. They explore refining product messaging for growth, creating software customers genuinely love, and building a high-performing remote team. Melissa also shares how changing her self-talk transformed her confidence as a founder and marketer.