Podcasts about B2B

Welcome to the Franchise Fit Podcast! In this episode, I'm joined by Brian & Michael Appell—the guys behind a national pavement striping, maintenance, and seal coating business trusted by major brands like Costco, McDonald's, Starbucks, CVS, Verizon, Walgreens, T-Mobile and more.We talk about building a “need, not a want” B2B business, what it really costs to start, the biggest mistakes new owners make, how they use AI + tech to win jobs faster, and what they look for in franchisees.

How do you build a $30 million ARR business with just three people and a fleet of AI agents doing the heavy lifting? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I connected with Amos Joseph, CEO of Swan AI. From the moment we joked about AI notetakers silently observing our conversation, it was clear this discussion would go beyond surface-level automation talk. Amos is attempting something bold. He is building what he calls an autonomous business, one designed to scale with intelligence rather than headcount. Amos has already built and exited two B2B startups using the traditional growth-at-all-costs model. Raise early, hire fast, expand the vision, chase valuation. This time, he is rewriting that script entirely. Swan AI is built around ARR per employee, human-AI collaboration, and what he describes as scaling employees rather than scaling the org chart. With more than 200 customers and only three founders, Swan is already testing whether AI agents can run real go-to-market operations autonomously. We explored why over 90 percent of AI implementations fail and why grassroots experimentation consistently outperforms executive mandates. Amos argues that companies looking outward for AI solutions before understanding their internal bottlenecks are simply scaling chaos. The organizations that succeed start with process clarity, define what humans should do versus what should be automated, and then allow AI to execute within that structure. It is a powerful reminder that becoming AI-native has less to do with tools and more to do with operational self-awareness. We also unpacked the difference between automation and agentic AI. Traditional automation follows deterministic steps coded in advance. Agentic AI shifts decision-making power to the model itself. The AI decides what to do next, introducing statistical reasoning rather than predefined logic. That shift in agency changes everything about how workflows operate and how leaders think about control. Perhaps most fascinating is how Swan generates pipeline entirely through LinkedIn. No paid ads. No outbound. Amos has built an AI-driven engine that creates content, monitors engagement, qualifies prospects, and nurtures relationships at scale. It is an experiment in trust-based distribution powered by agents, not marketing budgets. This conversation reframes what growth can look like in an AI-native world. If scaling no longer equals hiring, and if every employee becomes a manager of AI agents, what does leadership look like next? How do founders build organizations that amplify human zones of genius rather than bury them under coordination overhead? If you are questioning long-held assumptions about team size, growth, and AI adoption, this episode will give you plenty to think about.

Learn how to leverage strategic execution to outperform 72% of your competitors Strategic execution is the difference between businesses that talk about growth and businesses that actually achieve it. Look, here's what most people get wrong—they chase tactics like shiny pennies without ever documenting a real strategy. In this episode, Saul Marquez and I dig into why only 28% of businesses actually have a documented marketing strategy, and what that means for you. We talk about how AI is dividing your efforts instead of multiplying them, the power of account-based marketing for B2B companies, and why the guy with the "ugly ad" who just executed crushed the perfectionist still tweaking his campaign six months later. If your business is running on disconnected tactics that don't talk to each other, you're leaving serious money on the table. Saul Marquez is the founder and CEO of Outcomes Rocket, a healthcare-exclusive marketing, media, and advisory firm. But here's what I love about Saul—he's a former medical device corporate executive turned entrepreneur who's spent over a decade in the trenches where healthcare, marketing, sales, and technology collide. He's not about theoretical frameworks that never leave the slide deck. He's about practical execution that turns strategy into pipeline, revenue, and real market credibility. Saul also hosts the Outcomes Rocket Podcast with nearly 2,000 episodes under his belt, making it one of the longest-running healthcare podcasts out there. This guy knows how to cut through the noise and get things done. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Tactics without strategy is like noise before the war is lost—document your marketing strategy first. Only 28% of businesses have a documented marketing strategy, giving you a built-in competitive advantage. AI is a tactic, not a strategy—you need a deployment and governance plan for it. Disconnected marketing tactics leave money on the table; integration creates force multiplication. Account-based marketing treats each target account as its own market for deeper engagement. If your business depends on referrals alone, it's a symptom that your other channels aren't converting. Execution beats perfection—the "ugly ad" guy who iterated fast outperformed the perfectionist. Knowledge without implementation is just entertainment; doing what you say you'll do doubles growth. CONNECT WITH SAUL MARQUEZ: Website: outcomesrocket.com Marketing Insights & Resources: outcomesrocket.com/resources LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saulmarquez/ Podcast: Outcomes Rocket Podcast Growing your business is hard, but it doesn't have to be. In this podcast, we will be discussing top level strategies for both growing and expanding your business beyond seven figures. The show will feature a mix of pure content and expert interviews to present key concepts and fundamental topics in a variety of different formats. We believe that this format will enable our listeners to learn the most from the show, implement more in their businesses, and get real value out of the podcast. Enjoy the show. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. Your support and reviews are important and help us to grow and improve the show. Follow Charles Gaudet and Predictable Profits on Social Media: Facebook: facebook.com/PredictableProfits Instagram: instagram.com/predictableprofits Twitter: twitter.com/charlesgaudet LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/charlesgaudet Visit Charles Gaudet's Wesbites:  www.PredictableProfits.com www.predictableprofits.com/community https://start.predictableprofits.com/community  

This week on the Walk-In Talk Podcast, Chef Ryan Yost joins us in studio after traveling from Western North Carolina to Lakeland for a full production day. Ryan is a chef-manager with Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization providing disaster relief through food, clean water, medical care, and rebuilding efforts. His path has taken him from fine dining kitchens to feeding communities in crisis across the U.S., Jamaica, and Ukraine. In this episode, we explore what it means to cook for people who need food, not just want it. We talk about discipline under pressure, humility in service, and how chef-level technique still matters, even when you are cooking with limited resources in disaster zones. Ryan also steps into the studio kitchen to prepare two dishes, bringing the same respect for ingredients and precision he applies in the field. Because for him, whether it is a donated ingredient or a premium protein, it deserves care. This episode continues Walk-In Talk Media's global storytelling expansion. Recently, Frederic Casagrande conducted his first live fire interview in Dubai with Chef Andrew Dickens, further extending the show's reach into international culinary conversations. From disaster zones to global live-fire stages, the mission remains the same — elevate chefs and the impact they create.  This conversation is about purpose, responsibility, and how chefs can use their craft for something bigger than themselves.

LOUISALORANhas led transformative growth across some of the world's most respected companies—DIAGEO, MAERSK, and Google. A strategic mind with a human lens, she has shaped industries by combining technological foresight with the courage to act before the path is clear.At Google,Louisalaunched a billion-dollar supply chain solutions business, doubled growth in a global industry vertical, and led strategic business transformation At MAERSK, she co-authored the strategy that redefined the brand globally and doubled its share price, helping pivot the company from traditional shipping to integrated logistics. Across more than two decades and all continents,Louisahas worked across B2B, B2C, and global tech— bridging commercial impact with human-centered change.Louisaalso serves on the boards of Copenhagen Business School and CataCap Private Equity and is the author ofLeadership Anatomy in Motion, published globally by Fast Company.  Bringing clarity and alignment, she advises boards and executive teams through strategic transitions—shaping both direction and dynamics to unlock value and stay relevant. Known for turning complexity into decisive direction, she is a trusted advisor and sought-after speaker. 

Imagine that you’re so angry about a business deal gone wrong that you grab a chisel, find a slab of stone, and spend hours carving your complaint. That’s exactly what a Mesopotamian merchant did in 1750 and made sales history.  The merchant was furious because he’d been promised high-grade copper, but the final product was subpar. That angry customer complaint is now sitting in the British Museum, 4,000 years later. The tablet reads: “What do you take me for? That you treat someone like me with such contempt?” If you think dealing with issues in the sales process is a modern problem, you’re off by about four millennia. Sales Hustle Is Ancient We talk about sales like it’s a modern corporate invention. CRMs and automated sequences are new, but the art of the deal and dealing with angry customers? That's been around since humans started trading. The copper merchant in 1750 BCE wasn’t just selling copper. He was managing client expectations, handling logistics, and clearly failing at quality control. The core practices of B2B sales—promise, delivery, and relationship management—haven’t changed. 1600s: Sales Becomes a Profession Fast forward to 1600, and you see the founding of the East India Trading Companies. They were some of the first corporations that allowed people to buy shares in a business. One of the East India Trading Companies was owned by “the 17 gentlemen”—a group of wealthy investors who funded global trade expeditions. They kept spices like nutmeg, pepper, and cinnamon flowing across continents. The spices were so valuable that they were practically currency. This was B2B sales at scale. Shareholders’ expected returns. Merchants negotiated deals across continents. The stakes were massive, and so were the profits. This era established something critical to modern sellers: the separation between ownership and operation. The 17 gentlemen didn’t sail the ships or negotiate every spice deal. They hired people to do it. Sales stopped being a personal trade and became a repeatable profession with accountability structures built in. 1851: Visibility and Competition Arrive The Great Exhibition in London in 1851 was the world’s first massive B2B trade show in sales history. Thousands of exhibitors. Hundreds of thousands of attendees. A giant glass building called the Crystal Palace. Nearly 200 years later, sales pros still pack convention centers, set up booths, and fight to stand out in a sea of competitors. This is where B2B sales became visible. You weren’t just competing against one or two local merchants anymore. You were standing next to dozens of alternatives, all promising similar value. Differentiation became mandatory. Following up meant writing a letter and waiting weeks for a response. Today, if you’re not following up within 24 hours, you’re losing to competitors who are. 1957: Reach and Leverage Scale Up The first inside sales team was formed at a company called Dial America in 1957. Before that, if you wanted to sell, you hit the road. Door-to-door, city-to-city, face-to-face. Every single deal required physical presence. The telephone changed everything. Suddenly, salespeople could work virtually, reach more prospects, and close deals without leaving the office. One seller could now have 20 conversations in a day instead of three. The math of sales productivity fundamentally shifted. Fast forward to today, and inside sales is the dominant model. The tools have evolved—Zoom calls, screen shares, digital demos—but the core principle remains: you don’t need to be in the same room to build trust and close deals. From Stone Tablets to Instant Messages: Why Speed Matters Now Think about the effort that the merchant put into carving his complaint into stone. He didn’t fire off a quick email. He didn’t leave a one-star Google review. He created a permanent record that would outlive both him and the seller by thousands of years. Today, complaints are easy. Maybe too easy. A customer can blast you on LinkedIn, tank your review scores, or CC your entire executive team on an email thread—all before lunch.  Every major shift in B2B sales increased speed. Trade shows multiplied visibility. Telephones let sellers reach 20 prospects a day instead of three. Email collapsed follow-up from weeks to hours. Social media made reputation instant and permanent. In 1750 BCE, you had time to respond. Now, you have hours—maybe minutes. Each acceleration rewarded the sellers who could execute fast without sacrificing quality. The ones who couldn’t keep up disappeared. Why This Timeline Matters More Than You Think We're in another massive shift in sales history. AI, automation, predictive analytics—the pace is relentless. It's easy to think everything has changed. Zoom out 4,000 years, and the pattern emerges: speed accelerates, but the core practices stay the same. So the next time you get a harsh email from a customer, remember that stone tablet. You don't have to worry about your failure being displayed in a museum 4,000 years from now. But you do have to worry about your reputation spreading across the internet in hours. The tools change, the pace accelerates, but the rule is simple: earn trust, deliver value, and handle problems before they handle you. You just saw how history teaches that speed and execution have always mattered — and now AI is the biggest shift we've seen yet. If you want to turn the disruption into an advantage, download The FREE AI Edge Book Club Guide. 

Anthony Barresi built a 7-figure pasta straw brand by launching fast, creating viral content and building relationships to drive sales.For more on Pasta Life and show notes click here Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.

I've got a short and sweet episode for you today based on a question I hear all the time: what social media platforms should I actually be on?This comes up a lot, especially for brand photographers who are working B2B. Suddenly you're wondering… should I be on LinkedIn? Is Instagram enough? What about TikTok? Am I missing something if I'm not everywhere?In this episode, I'm walking you through exactly how I decide what platforms make sense for my business and how you can use the same thought process to decide what makes sense for yours (without adding more to your plate or burning yourself out).We're talking:How to decide what social media platforms are actually worth your timeThe Venn diagram test I use to choose where I show upInstagram vs. LinkedIn vs. TikTok (and why the “right” answer is different for everyone)When it makes sense to add another platform and when it really doesn'tWhy doing one platform really well beats trying to be everywhereIf you've ever felt pressure to show up on all the platforms, or you're second-guessing whether you're doing enough, this episode will help you simplify your strategy and feel way more confident in where you're focusing your energy.Links & Resources

Welcome to the Rialto Marketing podcast. Today's episode is a Revenue Acceleration Series interview with seven-figure B2B business owners and their growth-minded executives who are actively trying to grow their business and get to the next level. We discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly so that you can learn from their experience.>>> Whenever you are ready, here are 4 ways we can help you reach your revenue goals faster...#1 Unlock the full potential of your marketing engine. We'll provide you and your team with the direction, insights, and tools necessary to excel in the complex landscape of modern marketing. - Marketing Advisor On Call#2 Discover the marketing strategies & tactics that will guide your next quarter and unlock explosive growth in 90 minutes. - Quick-Start Marketing Strategy Game Plan#3 Discover a tailor-made strategy for unprecedented growth to transform your marketing in 30 days. - Unlock Your Growth Opportunities#4 If you need guidance on the most effective direction for your marketing, then schedule a call with us today! - Get Your Free Discovery Call Now

Search is decaying, attention is fragmented and AI is rewriting the rules faster than most teams can update their decks. If you're still planning content like it's 2019, you're already invisible.In this episode, Kyle Denhoff, Sr Director of Marketing at HubSpot, pulls the curtain back on what happens after the inbound era. We get brutally honest about why channel-first thinking is dead, how HubSpot rebuilt itself as a media company inside a SaaS giant, and why “always-on” isn't a buzzword—it's survival. Kyle also breaks down how AI is actually being used behind the scenes (no, not to replace marketers), and why taste, editorial judgment, and distribution matter more than ever in a world flooded with machine-made content.We also explore:Why “more content” is the fastest way to lose relevanceHow audience-first strategy replaces blogs, funnels, and campaign calendarsThe real way HubSpot uses AI to drive conversion—without killing the brandWhy creators and practitioners now beat brands in buyer trustThe uncomfortable truth: nobody has the playbook, and pretending you do is the riskThis is a reality check for B2B teams still clinging to templates while the ground shifts under them.

Direct Mail Discipline in the Age of Email Marketing Over Deliver: Building a Business for a Lifetime Episode 292 (Repeat of espisode 24, Brian is based in Connecticut) In this conversation with Brian Kurtz we explored: why intention must guide every marketing action how list selection often matters more than copywriting brilliance why segmentation allows deeper audience connection how direct mail discipline sharpens email marketing the danger of damaging trust with incongruent offers how to mix content and selling without losing loyalty the balance between logic and emotion in B2B marketing why relationship capital compounds over time what it means to be a “serial direct marketer” how to build an online family instead of just an email database ----- About our guest, Brian Kurtz: Brian, a serial direct marketer offers marketing insights from the lessons of direct mail that can help you become a better email or online marketer. He is responsible for the distribution of over 2 billion pieces of promotion copy in his career. He is author of the book, Overdeliver. Learn more about the book, Overdeliver Visit his website BrianKurtz.net ----- Key lessons from this conversation with Brian Kurtz: intention drives effective marketing and communication the list (audience) matters more than the creative segmentation allows you to speak to people, not just names discipline from direct mail improves digital marketing every message must accomplish something—revenue or relationship congruence protects trust with your audience selling works best when it aligns with identity and values logic measures results, but emotion builds loyalty relationships compound value beyond direct ROI playing the long game builds a business that lasts ----- ----more---- Your Intended Message is the podcast about how you can boost your career and business success by honing your communication skills. We'll examine the aspects of how we communicate one-to-one, one to few and one to many – plus that important conversation, one to self. In these interviews we will explore presentation skills, public speaking, conversation, persuasion, negotiation, sales conversations, marketing, team meetings, social media, branding, self talk and more.   Your host is George Torok George is a specialist in communication skills. Especially presentation. He's fascinated by the links between communication and influencing behaviors. He delivers training and coaching programs to help leaders and promising professionals deliver the intended message for greater success.   Connect with George www.SpeechCoachforExecutives.com https://superiorpresentations.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgetorokpresentations/ https://www.youtube.com/user/presentationskill  

In this episode of Head, Heart, and Boots, Brandon and I sit down with Andrew Dobson, owner of ServPro Team Dobson, one of the largest ServPro operators in the country with nineteen licenses across multiple markets. Andrew shares the full origin story of how he grew up in a family cleaning business, left a creative path that once pointed toward Pixar, and slowly built a restoration operation grounded in process, precision, and relentless attention to detail. We dig into Andrew's partnership with his father, what it takes to successfully merge family businesses, and how clearly defined roles, operating agreements, and trust allowed them to scale without breaking the relationship. Andrew unpacks his obsession with design and user experience, explaining how lessons from web design, baseball, and usability testing shaped everything from warehouse layout to truck setups to customer-facing processes. The conversation goes deep into leadership development, soft skills, and why technical excellence alone is not enough to win in restoration. Andrew shares hard-earned lessons about first impressions, customer perception, sales and operations alignment, and the mistake he made trying to hire leaders without enough industry depth. We also explore his newest venture, Certified Restoration Training, and his mission to raise the standard of professionalism across the industry through technical training and soft skills education. This episode is packed with practical insight for owners trying to scale, leaders developing teams, and anyone who believes that inches add up to miles when it comes to building a great company. Hope you enjoy. Chris Why You Should Listen [00:04:17] How Andrew went from a family cleaning business and a near-career in animation to building one of the largest ServPro teams in the country [00:10:19] What it really takes to successfully partner with family, including operating agreements, role clarity, and navigating shared risk [00:17:54] How an obsession with process, usability, and design transformed warehouses, trucks, and field execution into a competitive advantage [00:26:21] A powerful lesson on first impressions, soft skills, and why customer perception matters more than effort or intent [00:48:17] Why hiring professional managers without deep industry understanding became a leadership mistake, and what Andrew learned about developing true operators and leaders Did you know... Only 30% of businesses listed for sale actually find a buyer? Even more striking, just 10% of those sell for the price their owners anticipated or higher, meaning only 3% of all business owners achieve their desired sale price. By focusing on understanding and enhancing your enterprise value, you can significantly boost your chances of joining that successful 3%. Business Health & Value Assessment Start Assessment Know Your Enterprise Value. See Your Potential Gaps. Complete this assessment in less than 15 minutes and receive a free assessment for your business that includes: A Lite Valuation Of Your Business Your Value Multiplier Per Your Industry Health Assessment Per Our PYB Methodology Business Value & Growth Roadmap Tailored For You Value Acceleration Strategies Spotlight on Floodlight: Your Secret Weapon for Sales & Scaling This isn't a paid plug. It's real talk from the front lines. If you've ever thought, “How do I get a VP-level sales leader or even a sales team without hiring full-time?” Floodlight has the answer. Fractional Sales Leadership They act as your outsourced VP of Sales, taking full responsibility for training, managing, and growing your sales team. No six-figure hire needed. Clients often close 20 to 50 percent more deals within six months, thanks to data-driven coaching, CRM setup, scripts, and performance reviews.More at floodlightgrp.com/sales Commercial Sales MasterCourse A self-paced, video-driven B2B sales course designed specifically for restoration teams. Perfect for building commercial revenue and getting free from TPA handcuffs. Covers mindset, prospecting, pipeline building, LinkedIn lead generation, and includes a $250 discount with code SALESBOOST.Details at floodlightgrp.com/courses Tailored Consulting & Coaching Floodlight's Propel Your Business methodology offers a full-circle roadmap: financials, sales, marketing, leadership, recruiting, productivity. All built for contractors. These aren't “life coaches.” They're former restoration owners who've lived the chaos and know how to scale out of it.Explore more at floodlightgrp.com Live Training, Tools & Strategic Partnerships Floodlight also delivers live onsite and virtual training, keynote speaking, and leadership tracks covering operations, project management, and strategic growth. Bonus: They've vetted tools like Xcelerate, Liftify, and Sureti. Floodlight clients get access to exclusive discounts on tech that actually moves the needle.See all partnerships at floodlightgrp.com/partners Why it matters for you as a listener You don't need to figure this stuff out alone. If you're serious about sales growth, operational clarity, exit readiness, or leadership development, Floodlight is already helping folks like you scale smarter. And you get it from industry insiders. People who've sat in your chair, survived the fires, and built systems that actually work.

How to Scale Faster with B2B Brand Strategy Here's a common scenario in B2B marketing: you launch campaigns, hit the deadlines, and fill the pipeline, but the results feel disconnected from your long-term goals. Internal messaging discussions resurface, campaigns feel shallow and reactive, and when you ask people what your brand stands for, you get 50 different answers. This inconsistent approach creates friction and impedes scalable growth. So what can B2B marketers do when their tactical execution is outpacing their brand strategy, and how to do you realign for lasting impact? That's why we're talking to JoAnne Gritter (COO, ddm marketing + communications), who shares her expertise and actionable insights on how to scale faster with B2B brand strategy. During our conversation, JoAnne underscored why a foundational strategy is crucial for building credibility and trust in competitive markets. She also discussed the role of AI in marketing, commenting that while it can support with idea generation and research, it shouldn't replace direct communication with customers and employees. JoAnne shared some common pitfalls such as messaging misalignment and inconsistent branding, which can lead to distrust and reduced credibility, She explained the importance of having a cohesive brand strategy that aligns values, messaging, and customer experiences across all company touchpoints through proactive brand management. https://youtu.be/_Alwkinhw-g Topics discussed in episode: [02:36] The “Soul vs. Body” framework: Why marketing is just the body in action, while brand strategy is the soul that provides direction and values.  [06:51] Red flags that your marketing has outpaced your strategy: When content feels fragmented and sales teams are telling completely different stories.  [08:52] Defining true brand strategy: Moving beyond logos and colors to include deep research, stakeholder analysis, and internal alignment.  [14:41] The critical differences between a brand refresh (auditing existing assets), a complete revamp (starting from scratch), and branding during a merger.  [24:10] Actionable steps you can take to realign your brand: – Audit your customer journey – Define messaging pillars – Ensure HR and onboarding match the brand promise  [29:37] Why “data-only” marketing fails: The importance of human emotion and psychology that performance data often misses.  Companies and links mentioned: JoAnne Gritter on LinkedIn  ddm marketing + communications  Transcript JoAnne Gritter, Christian Klepp JoAnne Gritter  00:00 AI can be used as a tool. It should not replace thinking and actually talking to your customers and your employees and your sales team. So you can use AI as a crutch to to like, ask it for ideas, idea generation. You can use it for deep research on your on your audience, and stuff like that. But nothing replaces the gold standard of talking to people. I see this in messaging misalignment or content misalignment. If content feels like it’s been written by four different people or completely different companies, that’s a red flag. Christian Klepp  00:37 This is a common scenario for B2B Marketers. You launch campaigns, hit the deadlines and fill the pipeline. It all looks great on paper, but something is still off internal messaging discussions resurface. Campaigns feel shallow and reactive, and when you ask people what the brand stands for, you get 50 different answers. So what can B2B Marketers do when their marketing is outpacing their brand strategy? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp, today, I’ll be talking to JoAnne Gritter, who will be answering this question. She’s a member of the leadership team at DDM Marketing Communications that provides integrated marketing solutions to drive business success. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B Marketers Mission is and here we go. JoAnne Gritter, welcome to the show. JoAnne Gritter  01:25 Hi Christian. Happy to be here. Christian Klepp  01:27 We you know, we had such a wonderful, like, pre-interview conversation. I almost feel like we’re neighbors or something, and something to that extent. But I’m, I’m really, like, happy to have you on the show, and I’m really looking forward to this conversation, because this topic is, I’m a little bit biased because I am in the branding space, so it’s a bit near and dear to my heart, but it’s also something that’s extremely important, because you’ll agree. I mean, you, I know you’ll agree because you wrote an article about it. JoAnne Gritter  01:54 Yeah Christian Klepp  01:55 It’s something that marketing teams tend to overlook. And good, goodness gracious me, I’m gonna, like, stop keeping people in suspense. We’ll just jump right in all right. JoAnne Gritter  02:04 Okay Christian Klepp  02:04 So JoAnne, you’re on a mission to provide integrated marketing solutions that drive B2B business success. So for this conversation, let’s focus on this topic, how brand strategy helps B2B organizations to realign for long term growth. So I’m going to kick off this conversation with the following question. In our previous conversation, our previous discussion, you talked about how marketing without a brand is a strategy without a soul. Could you please explain what you meant by that? JoAnne Gritter  02:36 So I just made the comparison kind of to the whole human, as in, like the brand is your soul, meaning like your values, what drives you, why you’re here, what differentiates you, what makes you different than the person standing next to you, whereas, like marketing is your body in action, or action in general, where you hopefully, if you if you’re a trustworthy person, what is, what are your values internally are matching your actions externally? And that is often where we see a divergent in companies, because they don’t think about those as like two sides of the same coin. It is really important that you make sure that you know the direction that you’re going as a company and what you stand for and who you’re there to support or serve, and what markets you’re there to do, and like your whole company, everybody that’s part of interfacing with customers understands that and is and is speaking the same language. Christian Klepp  03:37 Yeah, no, absolutely. And I suppose the the follow up question to that is like, where do you see a lot of, like, marketing teams go wrong. Because, like, you know, more often than not, a lot of teams are like, Okay, we’ve we’ve implemented the campaigns check. We’re generating results and driving pipeline or filling the pipeline, rather check. So where does it all go wrong? JoAnne Gritter  04:00 If you are not paying attention to your branding, you can have a lot of activity without a lot of traction. So or you can have a lot of different messages going out that seem not cohesive or fragmented. And so you can or more examples you can have, like your sales folks going out and telling different stories about about what your company stands for and what you do and how you’re different, that creates a lot of waste, because then you’re continuously trying to get more activity and more campaigns going more sales people out there, because you’re not getting the quality leads that you need, because nobody really knows what you stand for. Everybody says it a little bit differently, and that goes for customer service too. Branding. People think about branding as a marketing problem, or a marketing, you know, teams problem. But if, let’s say part of your brand is your brand identity or values is to put the customer. First, if you don’t really solidify that from your sales team and your customer support team, then there would be a mismatch there, right then you’re just putting out into the world that customers first, but that doesn’t match up with what the customer is experiencing. Christian Klepp  05:16 Yeah, there’s certainly some kind of misalignment there, and you touched on it, like, briefly. It’s interesting to me, like, even in my own experience, one of the telltale signs of that is when you ask people within the organization, well, what makes you different? And you get 50 different answers, and some of them are similar, and some of them are completely, like, different. And it’s like, okay, yep, okay, I see where this is going, or to your to your other point, when sales teams are having those discovery calls, and you listen back to some of those recordings, which I hope you marketing people out there are doing, and you listen to the way that the sales deal with objections, and maybe the procurement team or people like, you know, on the prospect side, they’re probably not phrasing it exactly the way I’m going to say it right now, but like, but they probably are asking something to the effect of, okay, what makes you different from vendor B, C and D, right? What is different about your solution? Like, why are you charging this guy? Why are your rates like, this high. JoAnne Gritter  05:16 Right. Absolutely. And if they have different answers, or if you go and you listen in on four different sales calls and they’re all a little bit different, then that tells you have a branding issue that people don’t fully understand your brand and how you’re different and who you support and serve. Christian Klepp  05:16 Yep, absolutely, absolutely. So you’ve touched on it a little bit, but like, tell us about some more of these. I’m going to call them red flags, right? That signal when marketing has outrun brand strategy. JoAnne Gritter  05:16 Sure, I see this in messaging misalignment or content misalignment. If content feels like it’s been written by four different people or completely different companies, that’s a red flag. If, like we mentioned, your sales team talks about your company completely differently, it’s okay that they put their own little spin on it, as long as you’re still hitting like the purpose of your company, why you’re here, how you serve whatever your target audience or audiences are what your values are. If that’s not coming through in in those different places, then you may have a brand issue, or your training issue, or your brand is not being carried out through the company. So when you have a solid brand, it should be, should be repeated in in like your onboarding process, in HR kind of things, in performance conversations, in obviously, your sales and marketing and your customer service, so that everybody is aligned to that brand, and so that there’s a common message, common theme, because repeatability is is super important. Consistency is super important in marketing. I’m sure a lot of people have heard that it takes multiple multi multiple times of hearing the same message for it to actually resonate, and if they’re hearing multiple different messages, it’s causes confusion and a lack of trust in whatever the company is offering. Christian Klepp  05:16 Yeah, that’s absolutely right. JoAnne, I’ve got a I just thought of another fall off question, and you’ll indulge me here. Um, you know it, I know it. But let’s, let’s clear the air here for a second. Because I’ve been hearing this like, and I’m sure you have as well, in the B2B world, it’s just been thrown around, like, very loosely. Let’s clear the air here. Like, what do you mean by brand strategy, because I’ve heard people, especially at senior level, say, like, Yeah, we don’t need branding. We’ve got a logo and we’ve got a website. We’re good, so maybe just clear the air on that one, please. JoAnne Gritter  05:16 Well, brand strategy is, let’s see, like, I think of strategy in like, four or three different tiers. Like, we have your business strategy, it’s how you win in the marketplace. Then you have your brand strategy, which is positions you in the market and in the minds of your consumers or your customers. And then your marketing strategy is how you take that and communicate it out and you deliver that message in multiple different channels. So if you have marketing running without, without laddering up to that business strategy and and brand strategy, then it’s just, it’s just running and putting stuff out there. So it’s just activity without, without purpose and strategy. So like a brand strategy is so much more than just a lot of people think about it as their logo, their identity suite, whatever, but there should be research that goes into it. They should be stakeholder analysis. They should talk to your customers and kind of understand what they value about about your company compared to another company. So then, using. Their language in some of your brand messaging is super helpful. So if you have like, customers that say, you know, like, I just love working with, you know, Company X, Y and Z, because the people are great. They’re super responsive. They they get me what I need, etc. Like, using some of that as part of your brand is going to be really important. So like, a strategy may may include, like, the focus, the brand, promise your your core values can be part of that. The naming can be part of that. Obviously, the the design part that a lot of folks actually think about and listen or think about and recall would be, like the visual identity that also needs to be consistent, from your logo to your fonts to your colors, and then like, multiple touch points on that, like, again, like repeating that consistency from like the stationary, the collateral, the assets, all that stuff, but then also making sure that the messaging and the voice carries throughout your company, past past your your marketing team, past your sales team. Christian Klepp  05:16 Yeah, that’s absolutely right. I mean, I like to tell people that all of these things that you mentioned, especially the visual aspect, the the sexy part of it, right, like the the visual identity, the logo, the web design and all that. It’s the end result. It’s one of the outcomes of right branding, right? JoAnne Gritter  05:16 That doesn’t come out of a vacuum, right? You don’t show a designer that’s like, I’m super excited about the color red, so we’re gonna do it’s what do our customers, current customers, feel about us, and what do we want our prospective customers to feel about us? And then there’s a lot of strategy behind that. Christian Klepp  05:16 That’s right, that’s right. I’m gonna move on to the topic of key pitfalls to avoid. So what are some of these key pitfalls that B2B Marketing Teams should avoid, and what should they do instead? JoAnne Gritter  05:16 So pitfalls that I see is companies teams that get really excited about certain trends. I’m just going to pick on Tiktok. There’s time and a place for Tiktok, but like, for B2B, they’re like, oh, man, everybody’s on Tiktok, or this latest, you know, social media platform, channel, we really got to get on there. It’s or we got to use AI in some specific way without, like, thinking about the strategy behind that and just like going forward, because you know that that’s the hottest trend right now. So always make sure it ladders up to where your customers are and what you want them to think about you. If you’re a B2B company, it’s likely that your customers are more on LinkedIn than they are on Tiktok. That’s just an example. I can’t say that across the board, but like picking picking things that are always centered on on your customer and your brand are super important. So that’s a pitfall, and then what to do about it? Also treating the brand as a one time exercise, like set it and forget it, kind of thing. A lot of people are just like, Okay, we did the brand. We got a great logo, we got stationery, we even got PowerPoints that are branded and then never think about it again, except for, like, just the, you know, the colors and the logo on all of your media assets, right? So, but the brand is so much more than that. The brand is so much about, like, how you want them to feel, what the differentiators are, what makes you different, what you deliver and like, how you talk about it, how you position yourself. So like, every bit, every asset that goes out the door, should be aligned to that there should be almost a hierarchy. Christian Klepp  05:16 Yeah, no, exactly, exactly. And I’m gonna throw another follow up question at you, only because I know you can handle you can handle it. You probably hear this a lot, and you hear this a lot, most likely also from marketing teams that perhaps don’t have as much experience in the branding space as you do, and they say things like, JoAnne, you know, we’re looking at our company, and we feel that, you know, the overall look and feel and the direction, it’s not really in line with what we aspire to be. So we’re looking for a revamp. And then, and then, as the conversation progresses, they say, Oh, actually, we want maybe, maybe just a refresh, right? And then you hear another prospect say, Well, you know, we just merged the two companies. So like, what do we do there? So maybe just, just to, again, clear the air, so people don’t throw around these terms so recklessly, what actually is the difference between a brand refresh, a brand revamp, and branding as a result of a merger, Speaker 1  06:02 like a brand like from scratch, is going to take a lot of different kind of research efforts than like a brand refresh. Like, if you’re doing a brand refresh, then you’re looking at assets that already exist, you know, and and you’re looking at reasons why they might change or are no longer working. So you’re doing more. Of an audit kind of thing, like, what’s different now than it was 20 years ago when we created this brand, and where are we going? Their new leadership? Are they focused on different parts of this like even even DDM, the marketing agency that I work with or that I work for. We, every once in a while, look at our brand, and not just the visuals, but like the things that make us unique. And we say, hey, those are still unique, but we’re talking about them slightly differently now. So we need to take a look at that and change the messaging a little bit. We’re heading in a slightly different direction lately with our creative so let’s, let’s make sure that we’re still in line, so that everything, everything matches. And if they see us on Instagram versus if they see us on LinkedIn or on our website, that it still looks like ABM, you know, and then a merger is slightly different, because you’re putting together two brands, and a lot of times they’re creating a new brand from that, or they might keep one of the brands and then just bring another like, you know, Company X is now a, you know, Company Y brand. And there might be, like a sub. There’s all kinds of different ways hierarchies of brands in that kind of scenario. But more recent one that we did, they created a new brand, which was a combination of the two names, and they completely they went through the whole exercise with the new leadership team. So it’s more similar to like starting from scratch, but also taking bits and pieces that they want to keep from both brands and what’s working. So you kind of look at what clients from both brands like about those brands, and make sure that you keep those and you preserve those, and make sure that it’s it’s heading in the direction that the company wants to go a lot of discovery and research and questions, Christian Klepp  06:16 Absolutely, absolutely. And I love that you keep bringing that up, though, because that is, again, one of these components that people tend to overlook, that this comes with a lot of research. It’s not, as you said, it’s not okay. Here’s the brief. Graphic designers or design team have at it. JoAnne Gritter  17:07 Right? Christian Klepp  17:07 Come up with something, something else, great, right? Yeah, my favorite briefs are always the ones that said we want something modern, clean, yet traditional and exciting. It’s like, JoAnne Gritter  17:17 Oh yes, creative. Make it creative, splashy mean to you? Christian Klepp  17:25 Yeah, yeah, open to interpretation, I suppose. Why do you believe that inconsistent messaging and internal misalignment cost organizations credibility and dollars? And you did touch on it earlier on the conversation. JoAnne Gritter  17:41 It’s a misalignment of what you say versus what you do. If you have on your website that you are there to serve X population and that you are like your mission and purpose in in this world is to support that population in in achieving whatever goal, whatever needs that that population needs, but then that customer or population that comes and interacts with your brand does not get that from the people or get that from their experience with your product. Then then that’s a misalignment, and that creates, you know, instant distrust, like you are not following through on, on what your brand promise was, or if you have multiple people saying they’re promising different things and they don’t get that, that’s a lack of trust. Christian Klepp  18:27 I’m kind of slightly grinning here, although I know that anyone who’s been in this situation probably will not see any humor in it, but like, I’m just thinking about anyone that’s experienced a flight delay, JoAnne Gritter  18:37 right, Christian Klepp  18:39 or been trapped at the airport, and whichever airline it is you’re flying with, and you have to deal with ground staff that are either unprofessional and rude or you just have zero transparency. And I’m sure, like, I’ve certainly gone through it like I’ve experienced a 10, 12 hour flight delay, right where I was at the airport until like, one or two in the morning, and then they finally come and say, well, the plane’s not coming. JoAnne Gritter  19:04 Yeah, that really rocks the brand reputation. I also see that in health care a lot, which, God bless everybody in health care, it’s hard, but like, if all those services are disjointed and the scheduling gives you a different feeling than the doctor gives and trying to do things online, it doesn’t match what your experience is in person. People don’t want to go to that provider anymore. You know, they’re like, this is confusing. I just want help. Just want to get what you’re promising. Christian Klepp  19:35 It’s a very for lack of a description of fragmented ecosystem. JoAnne Gritter  19:39 Yeah, absolutely. And that’s a bigger issue than we can solve here, but Christian Klepp  19:43 Yeah, no amount of branding is going to fix that. JoAnne Gritter  19:47 You got to follow through on it. Christian Klepp  19:49 That’s absolutely right. That’s absolutely right. Talk to us about how aligning, and you’ve touched on it briefly, how aligning soul and action will help to build. Trust, loyalty and resilience and please provide examples where relevant. JoAnne Gritter  20:04 Let me think of an example. We work with a very large medical device manufacturer, and we’ve worked with them for 15, probably close to 20 years now. And so 15 years ago, they were very product centric. They also grow by acquisition. So they have, like several different companies that came in under this master global brand. And even though they have the same logo, they still had their own kind of visual identity. They all talked about their stuff differently. And as a result of that, in those different teams, the customers were getting wildly different experiences from this company, even though they were all under the same master company. So they rebranded. We helped them rebrand seven years ago, maybe, and this is a global organization where they brought all their business units under the same brand. They have a very strict, robust brand now. And I’m not saying that everybody needs 100 page brand guidelines. They don’t, but, like they they went all in on branding, and they make all their new employees do their brand training. It’s worked in through their onboarding. It’s worked in through their like, performance conversations, and they have just really exploded and created this, this amazing reputation as a leader. Christian Klepp  21:25 I’m sorry you’re talking about, you’re talking about real branding, then JoAnne Gritter  21:27 Real branding. Yes, they are now a leader in their industry. I mean, they were big before, but they have just really exploded in the last seven years since rebranding, and it’s been really helpful for them, because now they still grow by acquisition, but they bring in a new company, and they know what the process is to get them on board, not just from a visual identity, like rebranding all the collateral, like the sales enablement and stuff like that, but bringing the internal teams up to speed about like, what what we stand for, what we hire, like, what kind of values we Look for, so that every customer gets the same experience Christian Klepp  22:04 from your experience. How did that exercise of helping them to re brand and take all of this because, you know, there’s that situation of taking all the business units and putting them under one roof, so to speak. How did that exercise help to improve them as an organization. JoAnne Gritter  22:22 It’s been a long time, like in multiple phases. So it improves their organization. It creates a lot of clarity for them. So they’re not like redoing each other’s work, and they’re not all creating the same or they’re they’re not all creating from scratch anymore. They have a they have a similar starting point on, like, the different messaging pillars that they need to hit, even for just their products, you know. So this goes into product messaging and product launch. So like, if they are medical device, they are they want to sell, you know, knee replacements or or stuff along those lines, they know that they need to hit on a couple core values, and they need to make sure that they are targeting the same audience, and that they need to make sure that they that what they’re saying out there aligns with the master brand. Of course, there’s they still need to do the differentiators on the product level, but they also have the full brand that that supports it. So it’s just a higher level like reputation. I like to, I like to compare like branding to your reputation. So that goes along with every product that they bring in. Christian Klepp  23:32 Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. Okay, we get to the part in the conversation. We’re talking about actionable tips. And you’ve, you’ve actually given us quite a bit already, but if we were to summarize it, okay, JoAnne, like, if there was somebody out if there was somebody out there that was listening to this conversation, and they were listening to what you were saying, and they were like, oh my goodness, this is exactly what we’re going through right now, right? I mean, besides contacting you, right, what are like three to five things that you would recommend they do right now to realign for long term growth using brand strategy, JoAnne Gritter  24:10 I would take a look at what brand strategy you already have, if you have one otherwise kind of creating at least the bones of that. Like, what are our values? What are we focused on? What is our purpose here and mission? And then, like, what are messaging pillars or groups that align with those values? And then once you have those making sure that you have a succinct narrative or story, or even, like an elevator pitch, that everybody is aligned on. Having that is kind of a simple, hopefully a simple thing for you to figure out and align on, and then auditing the customer journey for those promises and values. So like, if you have a customer journey, they’re going from, you know, awareness of you. Or a problem to consideration between you and your company, and, you know, multiple other companies, and then you’re they’re making a decision, then they’re purchasing, then they’re hopefully your customer experience, and your delivery teams are delivering on those promises, and then you’re creating loyalty. So that’s the customer journey. So of these phases are, they are the customers still experiencing the brand that you want them to experience. So that’s like a little audit that you can do. And then from there, also making sure that all of your content that’s out there, from your like your brochures, your website, your sales enablement kind of stuff, making sure that that’s still aligned to the brand and the message that that you want it to and then making sure that, of course, throughout the company, in your like, HR documentation, you’re, I’ve said onboarding a million times, but like, making sure that everybody that’s coming into your organization understands who you are and who you who you serve, and why? Christian Klepp  26:01 Absolutely, absolutely. And that’s a really good list. And I have to ask you this question, because you know, at the time of the recording, we’re at the end of 2025, and you did bring up AI, so I’m going to bring it up again. How, how has in your experience, from what you’re seeing out there, how has AI impacted brand strategy and all the work that comes along with that. JoAnne Gritter  26:24 Well, that’s a loaded question, right? So as far as brand strategy, I kind of see it. AI can be used as a tool. It should not replace thinking and actually talking to your customers and your employees and your sales team. So you can use AI as a crutch to to, like, ask it for ideas, idea generation. You can use it for deep research on your on your audience, and stuff like that. But nothing replaces the gold standard of talking to people. So like, the the best resources from that research perspective are your customers, or your prospective customers and your sales team, if you can’t get to those customers, will often hear those like, you know, positive and negatives about your products and services. So getting to those and aligning on stakeholders, AI can be used as you know, you can use it to help think of ideas for like, let me think if you were thinking of like values, like core values, like in and messaging pillars, you can say, hey, you know, I really want it to be something along these lines. We’re circling around on like, exactly right the what the right way to phrase this is. And it can give you 50 different ideas, and you can cross out 45 of them and then land on like the top five that you communicate with your team. Don’t ever take it for rate for like per vatum, sorry, exactly as chat GPT gives you, Christian Klepp  27:55 at face value. JoAnne Gritter  27:57 Thank you. I see that that is a lot harder for early career individuals because they don’t have that discernment yet. So they, they will, they will use it as a crutch, and then, like, oftentimes not have that same kind of editing expertise to see what actually works and what doesn’t. So like pairing AI as a tool with with human intelligence and empathy, for sure, Christian Klepp  28:23 Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, at least in from my observation, and this is where I think AI really falls flat, especially when you’re coming up with the verbal expression component of brand strategy. AI doesn’t really have any soul or character, like everything, it turns out, is very, for lack of a better description, lifeless, so, and that’s where the human element, or to your point, the human intervention, can then come into play, because then you can inject that story, you can inject that human emotion, which also is a very crucial component in B2B, right? As much as people like to say, oh, B2B is all factual, right? And I would, I would disagree with that, JoAnne Gritter  29:06 yeah, it’s, it’s quality over quantity. Now, you know people, people can spot, can spot the AI generated content, and there can be a whole bunch of it, and that can help you in a variety of ways. But if it’s not actually, if it doesn’t sound human speaking or human human sounding, then, then people reject it and they don’t trust it as much. Christian Klepp  29:28 Okay, get up on your soapbox a status quo that you passionately disagree with, and why? JoAnne Gritter  29:37 I passionately disagree with data only marketing. So the big push for data driven marketing, I am, I am on board with that at face value, but it still doesn’t tell the whole story, because you can still look at data from, let’s say you did like a. Um, a focus group about about what customers want from a like a beverage or something. I’m thinking of Coca Cola, and they and they say that they they want it to be healthy. They want it to be low sugar. They want it to taste amazing. They want it to make them, you know, feel great, and stuff like that that does not you’re gonna try to create like this Frankenstein kind of soda instead, instead of recognizing that, like, there’s more psychology to this. Like a Coca Cola has, like, a whole traditional, like branding kind of way that, or traditional and emotional way that they make people feel, and that doesn’t show up in the data, necessarily. That doesn’t show up in the performance data. You know that that is a totally different kind of research too. Christian Klepp  30:51 Yeah, yeah, JoAnne Gritter  30:55 You know, that’s performance, marketing and branding. Christian Klepp  30:58 I totally agree. I totally agree that, as much as there is a big camp out there that says the future is data driven now when it comes to B2B Marketing, and I’m like, Yeah, JoAnne Gritter  31:11 humans are tricky. Christian Klepp  31:13 We’re not robots. Absolutely, absolutely, okay, here comes the bonus question. So Rumor has it that you like to draw. JoAnne Gritter  31:23  I do. Christian Klepp  31:24 Yes, and from one enthusiastic sketcher to another, I thought, I thought deep and hard about this question. Tell us about one of the most well exciting, yes, but more importantly, one of the most challenging works that you’ve created to date. So what was the theme and subject? What made it so challenging to draw, and what did you learn from that experience when you when you completed it? JoAnne Gritter  31:50 I really like to find, like, kind of micro moments I have. I have three children at home, and I like to take pictures, or, like, capture, like small moments of, like one of them snuggling the cat, or like holding hands or doing something unexpected. And in, like, not a macro view, but in a micro view of like, the different connections that people have. And then, usually, I’ll take a picture, and then I will sketch those out after they go to sleep and stuff like that. And that’s just kind of my own personal way to, I don’t know it’s it’s therapeutic. It’s a way to see, see the beauty in the world, you know, and to slow down in the moment. Christian Klepp  32:37 100%. I like to call it Balsam for the soul. JoAnne Gritter  32:40 Yeah, Christian Klepp  32:40 all right, I don’t know about you, but like, I like to sketch in the in this very room where we’re doing the recording, and I usually play classical music. So like, show pen, so something like, with with piano. Like, no opera, because that can get a bit too dramatic. JoAnne Gritter  32:59 I like classical too, when, when I’m focused at classical music, and I also like binaural beats, or it’s more like meditation kind of music. So kind of zone, zone into the moment, instead of all the crazy thoughts that go through your head and all the things you have to do. Christian Klepp  33:17 Very nice, very nice. One of the things I learned about drawing is pretty much like certain aspects of our professional work, you know, like marketing and branding. It starts with a line, and then you just keep adding the layers, right? And it’s almost the same like when you’re implementing a campaign, you know, some especially nowadays, right? You try to start small first, and do a lot of testing to see if it works. And you scale from there. And I like to, I like to think of drawings that way too. You start, you start not by adding the details. You start like, you know, with a lighter pencil. And there’s a certain, there’s a certain way of holding the pencil tool, right, so you have lesser control. And just, it’s just a bit free flowing. And for me personally, it took me a long time to start drawing like that, because I’m like, No, then I don’t have control of the process. But that’s kind of the point, right? Let go of the perfectionism, right? JoAnne Gritter  34:18 You outline it first, and then you start filling in. You know that the shadows and the light marks, and then you slowly bring in the detail. I mean, that you’re totally right, that that is like a marketing or branding strategy. You got to outline it first before you go fully in on any specific detail. Otherwise, you’re you may be way off target. Christian Klepp  34:38 That’s it. That’s it. I mean, JoAnne like I think we just found our next podcast interview topic. But thank you so much for coming on and for sharing your expertise and experience with the listeners. So please a quick introduction to yourself and how people out they can get in touch with you. JoAnne Gritter  34:57 JoAnne Gritter, I’m at DDM Marketing and Communications headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. And I am COO, Vice President of our company. You can get a hold of me at joanneg@teamddm.com or you can just check us out at Teamddm.com Christian Klepp  35:18 Fantastic, fantastic. And we will be sure to like drop all those links in the show notes. So once again, JoAnne, thanks so much for your time. Take care, stay safe and talk to you soon. JoAnne Gritter  35:27 Thanks, Christian. Bye. Christian Klepp  35:29 Bye, for now you.

LinkedIn has announced its new quarterly class of "Top Voices," and we're peeling back the mystique as to what they are, who qualifies, and how you can become one. Plus, our branding tips help you elevate your voice, value and visibility without the blue badge.CONTACT US:Michelle J Raymond is a globally recognized LinkedIn™️ for business growth speaker, author and consultant. Her services – audit & strategy, LinkedIn training and LinkedIn profile rewrites.LinkedIn:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellejraymond/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://b2bgrowthco.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michelle B. Griffin is a TEDx speaker and personal brand + PR strategist who helps women experts become recognized authorities and thought leaders in their industries.As the founder of Brand Leaders and creator of the Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap + She's Visible™ women's leadership program, Michelle equips professionals to position their personal brands for recognition, media opportunities and industry impact.LinkedIn:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellebgriffin/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Websites: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://michellebgriffin.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OwnYourLane.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy your copy on AmazonThe LinkedIn Branding Book, The Power of Two: Build Your Personal and Business Brand on LinkedIn for Exponential Growth -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mybook.to/The_LinkedIn_Branding_Book⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://MichelleSquared.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OUR BOOKS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The LinkedIn Branding Book + Workbook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Position Yourself Personal Branding Planner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Business Gold: LinkedIn Company Pages⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION:Simply DM both Michelles on LinkedIn to submit your question for a future episode.LINKSBE THE EXPERT AI RECOMMENDSAI is now the front door to opportunity for experts like you. The Recognition Ready™ AI Visibility Guide by Michelle B. Griffin is a strategic, yet practical guide to understanding how AI discovers and evaluates your digital presence and what you can do to show up when and where it matters.Download Michelle B. Griffin's Recognition Ready™ AI Visibility Guide. Get it here SUBSCRIBE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FOR B2B GROWTH PODCASTListen to Michelle J Raymond's Other PodcastIf you enjoy The LinkedIn Branding Show, you'll also love Social Media for B2B Growth Podcast, where Michelle shares practical, no-hacks strategies to help B2B teams turn LinkedIn into real business growth. Subscribe wherever you listen. MENTIONSLinkedIn Top Voices - January 2026 global listQualifications CriteriaLinkedIn Top Voice Nomination Form

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.—Berkay is a UX researcher with over eight years of experience, mostly in e-commerce and banking, working across both B2B and B2C. He has a bachelor's and a master's degree in product design and design research. His focus is on turning research into actionable insights, improving research processes and helping teams make user-centered decisions. Basically, reducing uncertainty. He also co-founded UXR Playground, Turkey's leading UX platform, where he runs trainings, workshops and mentorship programs. In a past role, he built and led a ResearchOps team, creating systems to make research more efficient and scalable.In our conversation, we discuss:* The eight-step framework Berkay uses for smooth, ethical participant recruitment, built from actual interviews and field work.* Why many researchers are flying blind with recruitment and how junior researchers often end up as accidental call center reps.* The most common screw-ups in screener surveys and how to write questions that don't sabotage your study before it starts.* How Berkay built a participant panel inside a 30-million-user company without a budget, and with legal breathing down his neck.* Why most panels fall apart after setup, and what to actually prioritize if you want yours to last longer than three studies.Some takeaways:* Ethics aren't optional. If you're collecting personal data, you're responsible for what happens to it. Berkay shares how one company got sued after leaking participant emails. It's not a footnote, it's a risk. Build ethics and legal compliance into your process from day one, or you'll learn the hard way.* Most companies are bad at recruitment and fixing it takes more than tools. Berkay got so fed up with watching junior researchers waste hours cold-calling participants that he turned the whole thing into a research study. The findings? A total lack of structure, zero shared frameworks, and a ton of internal guesswork pretending to be process.* Bad screener surveys kill good research. Asking “Do you use this app?” is a great way to recruit liars. Berkay shares simple but smart ways to avoid bias in screeners like using multi-select questions, hiding the research topic, and adding duplicate questions to sniff out lazy responses.* Building a panel sounds smart until you have to maintain it. Setting up a panel is the easy part. The real challenge is keeping the data clean, staying GDPR-compliant, and making participants feel like they're still part of something. Regular outreach (like quarterly surveys) and strong ties to your data team are non-negotiable.* A good panel is a cross-team operation. Berkay didn't just build a landing page and hope for the best. He brought in product, customer support, PMs, and data science from the start. If you want a panel that works across research needs and methods, it has to be owned across the company too.Where to find Berkay:* LinkedInStop piecing it together. Start leading the work.The Everything UXR Bundle is for researchers who are tired of duct-taping free templates and second-guessing what good looks like.You get my complete set of toolkits, templates, and strategy guides. used by teams across Google, Spotify, , to run credible research, influence decisions, and actually grow in your role.It's built to save you time, raise your game, and make you the person people turn to—not around.→ Save 140+ hours a year with ready-to-use templates and frameworks→ Boost productivity by 40% with tools that cut admin and sharpen your focus→ Increase research adoption by 50% through clearer, faster, more strategic deliveryInterested in sponsoring the podcast?Interested in sponsoring or advertising on this podcast? I'm always looking to partner with brands and businesses that align with my audience. Book a call or email me at nikki@userresearchacademy.com to learn more about sponsorship opportunities!The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, positions, or policies of the host, the podcast, or any affiliated organizations or sponsors. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.userresearchstrategist.com/subscribe

#329 | Dave is joined by Emma Robinson, Head of B2B Marketing at Canva, and Kristine Segrist, Global Head of Consumer Marketing at Canva, to break down how Canva is scaling growth across both enterprise and consumer audiences. They talk about how Canva balances brand-building with pipeline accountability, how they turn bottom-up product adoption into enterprise deals, and why brand investment is a long-term growth lever. Emma and Kristine also share how their team structure, data science investments, and creative bets like the Love Your Work campaign help Canva scale without losing the brand identity that made them famous.Timestamps(00:00) - – Intro (03:21) - – Canva's marketing org structure (06:21) - – Blurring B2B and B2C (11:21) - – How Canva measures marketing impact (16:21) - – Turning free users into enterprise deals (21:21) - – Data science's role in marketing (24:21) - – Balancing brand bets with ROI (30:59) - – Inside the “Love Your Work” campaign (37:59) - – How Canva executes large campaigns (41:59) - – Building enterprise credibility and trust (44:59) - – FedEx case study on brand governance (48:59) - – Lessons from Google and Meta (52:59) - – Why creativity is a marketing superpower (54:59) - – Closing thoughts 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:Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive.Optimizely - An AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Get a free, personalized 45-minute AI workshop to help you identify the best AI use cases for your marketing team and map out where agents can save you time at optimizely.com/exitfive (PS - you'll get a FREE pair of Meta Ray Bans if you do). 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.  ***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

GuestDarren Wang, Founder & Chairman at OwlTing GroupCompany: OwlTing GroupTicker: OWLSWebsite:https://www.owlting.com/portal/?lang=enBioWith a background in cryptography with prior experience at tech companies in Silicon Valley, Darren founded OwlTing in 2010 to leverage blockchain technology to connect the world and drive industry transformation; today, OwlTing's core focus is building compliant stablecoin infrastructure for the future through OwlPay, advancing global payment and settlement capabilities for enterprises and platforms. The group also operates broader enterprise and consumer businesses, including blockchain services, hospitality and e-commerce platform.Darren holds a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Boston University, completed the Owner/President Management Program (OPM 63) at Harvard Business School.Company Bio OBOOK Holdings Inc. is a global fintech company operating as the OwlTing Group (NASDAQ: OWLS). The Company was founded and is headquartered in Taiwan, with subsidiaries in the United States, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia. The Company operates a diversified ecosystem across payments, hospitality, and e-commerce. In 2025, according to CB Insights' Stablecoin Market Map, OwlTing was ranked among the top 2 global players in the “Enterprise & B2B” category. The Company's mission is to use blockchain technology to provide businesses with more reliable and transparent data management, to reinvent global flow of funds for businesses and consumers and to lead the digital transformation of business operations. To this end, the Company introduced OwlPay, a Web2 and Web3 hybrid payment solution, to empower global businesses to operate confidently in the expanding stablecoin economy. For more information, visit https://www.owlting.com/portal/?lang=en.

When a founder makes a mistake, the real damage rarely comes from the mistake itself. It comes from the internal spiral that follows. In this Founder Talk episode, Alex Sheridan sits down with Barbara Wichman of CKC Consulting, a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) expert and practitioner, to break down how founders can interrupt that spiral, reset their thinking, and lead with more control under pressure. The conversation stays grounded in real leadership moments: entrepreneurship decisions, building teams, navigating tension, and making calls when the stakes feel personal.Founders will hear how “nervous system signals” show up before the brain can fully explain what's wrong, why execution is where most strategies collapse, and how language shapes leadership state. Barbara shares practical NLP-based reframes that help founders recover faster after missteps, communicate more cleanly, and stop turning normal errors into identity-level self-judgment.Key Takeaways00:00:00 Introduction00:01:34Q: How do founders know something is “off” in the business before they can explain it?A: It often shows up as nervous system activation first—agitation, apprehension, and a sense that something isn't right—before the problem is fully clear.00:03:22Q: Why do smart strategies still fail inside companies?A: Execution breaks down because it requires hard conversations, behavioral change, and follow-through—not just a plan on paper.00:06:30Q: What does anxiety look like in high-responsibility leadership roles?A: Leaders feel the signal before they have the story—pressure, unease, and uncertainty that something needs attention, even if they can't name it yet.00:25:28Q: How do you get a founder out of a reactive “state” during a tough conversation?A: Change the state first—disrupt the default expectations so they can think, hear feedback, and respond without defensiveness.00:28:52Q: What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), in plain language?A: NLP looks at how experiences create mental patterns, and how language and state can be used to rewire those patterns for better responses in the present.01:05:00Q: What's a simple way to stop the “I'm so stupid” spiral after a mistake?A: Replace the attack with a neutral script—like “Oops, I made a mistake”—and say it out loud to break the automatic loop and move into repair mode.01:08:29Q: Are phrases like “I'm not a morning person” actually programming behavior?A: Yes—repeating identity statements reinforces the pattern, making the behavior more likely to stay true over time.Watch the full episode to hear the complete conversation. This one is especially relevant for founders navigating pressure, leadership tension, and high-stakes decisions—and who want founder lessons that actually translate into daily operating. Subscribe for more authentic founder interviews on this startup podcast.

Custom GPTs promise speed and scale—but without intention, they can quietly erase the very voice that makes your work matter.In this episode of Content Amplified, host Ben Ard sits down with Fred Faulkner, SVP of Marketing at McFadden Digital, to unpack how leaders and teams can use custom GPTs as true collaborators—not replacements. Fred shares how he builds AI “bench strength,” trains GPTs to reflect real human thinking, and uses voice-based workflows to turn raw ideas into polished strategy without sacrificing authenticity.This conversation is practical, grounded, and honest about what works, what doesn't, and why human judgment still sits at the center of every effective AI workflow.What you'll learn in this episode:How to define narrow, high-impact use cases for custom GPTsWhy “human in the loop” is a non-negotiable ruleHow to train GPTs using tone, context, and real source materialWhy voice conversations outperform typing for capturing authentic ideasHow teams can adopt AI incrementally without breaking existing workflowsWhere AI accelerates good processes—and where it amplifies bad onesGuest Bio: Fred FaulknerFred Faulkner is the Senior Vice President of Marketing at McFadden Digital, a global commerce system integrator focused on helping B2B manufacturers and distributors prepare for an AI-driven future. With a career rooted at the intersection of marketing and technology, Fred has spent decades building digital experiences—from early web and SEO work to modern AI-enabled workflows.Today, Fred leads a lean marketing team while experimenting deeply with custom GPTs, voice-first ideation, and AI copilots designed to augment—not replace—human thinking. He is especially passionate about maintaining authentic voice, clear strategy, and strong process as organizations adopt AI tools at scale.Connect with Fred:https://www.linkedin.com/in/accordingtofred/https://mcfadyen.com/https://www.accordingtofred.com/Text us what you think about this episode!

In this conversation, Vassilis Douros and Marc Binkley delve into the complexities of measuring ROI in marketing. They discuss common misconceptions about ROI, ROAS, and MER, emphasizing that these metrics often lead marketers to focus on short-term efficiency rather than long-term effectiveness. The duo highlights the importance of collaboration across teams to ensure that marketing promises align with operational capabilities, ultimately driving sustainable growth. They advocate for a shift in focus from mere ratios to understanding the broader implications of marketing investments on future cash flow and customer relationships.If you're being measured purely on short-term efficiency metrics, this conversation will change how you think about growth.ROI isn't a marketing number. It's a team sport.TakeawaysROI is often misunderstood as a measure of efficiency rather than effectiveness.Chasing high ROI can lead to short-term thinking and limit growth.Marketing success requires collaboration across teams, not just within marketing.The promise to the customer must be memorable, valuable, and deliverable.Focusing solely on financial ratios can obscure the true health of a brand.Long-term ROI is built on consistent delivery of promises to customers.Marketing should be viewed as a growth driver, not a cost center.Incrementality is crucial to understanding the true impact of marketing efforts.Operational efficiency is key to fulfilling marketing promises.Winning in marketing is a team sport, requiring alignment across departments.Chapters00:00 - Understanding ROI in Marketing03:00 - The Dangers of Chasing High ROI05:57 - The Importance of Team Collaboration09:55 - The Promise to the Customer11:58 - Shifting Focus from Ratios to RevenueSources:Ambler, T. (2000). Marketing Metrics. Business Strategy Review, 11(2), 59-66.Binkley, M. (2024). 35 Factors that Affect Marketing ROI. Quatical Fractional Marketing Leadership.B2B Institute & WARC. (2024). Making a Promise to the Business Customer: Why Customer Promise Campaigns are Even More Effective in B2B than B2C. LinkedIn.Calgary Marketing Association & Stone-Olafson. (2024). Shaping Success: Alberta's Marketing Landscape and the Trends Influencing ROI.Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House.Kaushik, A. (2023). The Best Marketing ROI Formula: Incremental Net Profit ROI!. Occam's Razor.Martin, R., & B2B Institute. (2023). Making a Promise to...

More ways to pay = more money in your business. ACH payments lower processing fees, reduce chargebacks, retain clients longer, strengthen your checkout, and handle recurring billing or subscriptions with ease.In this episode Maria busts the myths: ACH is no longer slow, clunky, or outdated—modern ACH is fast, reliable, and cost-effective. She walks through the top benefits of offering ACH and gives you 4 quick steps to start accepting ACH on your cart, so you can set it up fast and start winning on all fronts.From understanding why ACH works for ecommerce, B2B, and high-ticket transactions, to actionable tips for optimizing your payment stack, this video gives you everything you need to improve your customer offering and grow your revenue.

In this episode, I'm diving into a psychological trap that kills credibility in sales and marketing: the "Gold Delusion Effect." Drawing on research from the University of Chicago, I explain why stacking more benefits into your pitch actually makes people believe them less. It turns out that when you try to promise everything—saving time, saving money, increasing morale, and boosting revenue—you often end up being the "12-page menu" restaurant that no one trusts to make a great burger.I share real-world examples of "zero delusion" brands like Raising Cane's and WD-40 that have built empires by doing one thing exceptionally well. But even if you run a complex, multi-service business, I'll show you how to use "umbrella branding" and surgical discovery to keep your message undiluted. Join me as I break down why one message per moment is the key to building real belief in your prospects.//Welcome to The Ray J. Green Show, your destination for tips on sales, strategy, and self-mastery from an operator, not a guru.About Ray:→ Former Managing Director of National Small & Midsize Business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he doubled revenue per sale in fundraising, led the first increase in SMB membership, co-built a national Mid-Market sales channel, and more.→ Former CEO operator for several investor groups where he led turnarounds of recently acquired small businesses.→ Current founder of MSP Sales Partners, where we currently help IT companies scale sales: www.MSPSalesPartners.com→ Current Sales & Sales Management Expert in Residence at the world's largest IT business mastermind.→ Current Managing Partner of Repeatable Revenue Ventures, where we scale B2B companies we have equity in: www.RayJGreen.com//Follow Ray on:YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

What happens when you drop an LLM on top of five ERPs and a decade of M&A? Aaron Sheehan and analyst Heather Hershey map the practical path: B2B use cases that work, risks that don't, and why chunk-by-chunk modernization beats “robot, take the wheel.”Highlights01:06 – Welcome back and introducing Heather Hershey03:35 – Defining AI, LLMs, and RAG 09:30 – Why probabilistic AI makes ops teams nervous 11:58 – Is LLM an overkill compared to ‘boring' machine learning and rule-based systems?15:19 – The real blocker: fragmented data across ERPs and other systems19:40 – The strangler pattern: modernize in chunks instead of ripping everything out21:13 – Why commerce platforms become the orchestration layer for AI/NLP24:37 – If you had $100K for AI: where to spend it 27:27 – Prisoner's dilemma: agentic shopping and the disintermediation trap34:53 – Agentic commerce predictions for B2B 40:30 – Are people replacing Google with LLMs?

SaaStr 841: Going From Blobs to Billions. Clay's Co-Founder Breaks Down Inbound, Outbound, and AI-Powered Sales. Clay's Co-Founder Varun Anand takes the stage at SaaStr to break down how the company went from paying for claymation blobs before generating any revenue to powering growth workflows for companies like Cursor, Anthropic, and Figma. He explains why brand has always been core to Clay's identity, how their CFO roast videos and creative campaigns are actually capturing mindshare in a world where B2B marketing is painfully boring, and why he pushes back on the "use AI for everything" mentality that's taken over the industry. Varun does a full live demo building an inbound qualification workflow from scratch using real audience volunteers, walking through everything from lead enrichment and waterfall data sourcing to AI-powered scoring, personalized meme generation, research brief creation, and CRM updates. He also brings audience members on stage to do live growth hacking for their actual business problems. Beyond the product, this session goes deep on hiring. Varun shares the origin story of the GTM Engineer role, how it went from an internal job title for Clay's non-traditional sales team to the most in-demand position in B2B SaaS, and what he actually looks for when evaluating candidates (hint: it's creativity, not a traditional sales background). He talks about Clay's take-home process, work trials, why they hire generalists who commit to specific roles, and the surprising backgrounds of some of their best hires. Whether you're building out your go-to-market motion, thinking about how to use AI without losing what makes your brand unique, or just trying to figure out what a GTM Engineer actually does, this session covers it all. --------------------- This episode is Sponsored in part by HappyFox: Imagine having AI agents for every support task — one that triages tickets, another that catches duplicates, one that spots churn risks. That'd be pretty amazing, right? HappyFox just made it real with Autopilot. These pre-built AI agents deploy in about 60 seconds and run for as low as 2 cents per successful action. All of it sits inside the HappyFox omnichannel, AI-first support stack — Chatbot, Copilot, and Autopilot working as one. Check them out at happyfox.com/saastr   ---------------------   Hey everybody, the biggest B2B + AI event of the year will be back - SaaStr AI in the SF Bay Area, aka the SaaStr Annual, will be back in May 2026.    With 68% VP-level and above, 36% CEOs and founders and a growing 25% AI-first professional, this is the very best of the best S-tier attendees and decision makers that come to SaaStr each year.     But here's the reality, folks: the longer you wait, the higher ticket prices can get. Early bird tickets are available now, but once they're gone, you'll pay hundreds more so don't wait.    Lock in your spot today by going to podcast.saastrannual.com to get my exclusive discount SaaStr AI SF 2026. We'll see you there.

Winning new customers is exciting.But real revenue growth often comes from expanding the accounts you already have.In this episode of Revenue Leaders, we break down how to stop leaving money on the table by using a land and expand strategy to grow revenue from existing customers.You'll learn:How to think about account expansionWhy retention and expansion outperform constant prospectingHow to build a simple account planWhat revenue leaders get wrong about growthIf you work in B2B sales, SaaS, account management, or revenue leadership, this episode is for you.⭐ Unlock free resources (templates, frameworks & prompts):https://coachpilot.beehiiv.com/Join the community & access 157+ templates, frameworks and mega AI prompts used by top revenue teams.Watch Full Episode on YouTube:⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@revenueleaders⁠⁠⁠Follow us:⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/davidfastuca/⁠⁠

You're very familiar with Amazon. Have you ever thought about selling on Amazon…B2B? Amazon can be an incredibly powerful platform for B2B sales, as well. In this Quick Hit, you'll hear from Carolyn Lowe, CEO & Founder of ROI Swift. They help brands scale smarter & faster on Amazon. Check out the full episode here

85% of B2B buyers now use AI search before vendor contact. Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2, oversees buyer behavior analysis for over 100 million annual software purchasers and has identified critical shifts in enterprise research patterns. The discussion covers markdown optimization strategies for AI crawling, pricing page transparency frameworks for model comprehension, and expected value calculations for AI-era content strategy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of PPC Live, Anu Adegbola speaks with Andrea Cruz, an award-winning B2B digital marketer, about the importance of navigating mistakes in client communication, the dynamics of team collaboration, and the role of AI in marketing. They discuss common pitfalls in agency practices, the significance of a solutions-oriented mindset, and how to leverage AI effectively in marketing strategies. Andrea shares her insights on the importance of learning from mistakes and fostering an environment where team members feel comfortable discussing challenges. The conversation concludes with a light-hearted exchange about Andrea's passion for her work and her unique experiences in the industry.TakeawaysMistakes are opportunities for growth and learning.Communication with clients is crucial, especially when mistakes happen.A solutions-oriented mindset fosters better team dynamics.Recognizing your own mistakes as a leader builds trust with your team.Budget constraints should dictate campaign strategies in B2B marketing.AI can enhance marketing efforts beyond basic summarization.Understanding client needs is essential for effective communication.Regular check-ins with clients can help identify roadblocks early.Fostering an open environment encourages team members to share challenges.Passion for the work can lead to greater job satisfaction and success.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Connection09:38 Navigating Mistakes in Client Communication18:28 The Importance of Team Dynamics and Solutions25:21 Learning from Mistakes: A Manager's Perspective29:03 Common Agency Mistakes in B2B Marketing31:08 Leveraging AI in Marketing37:01 Conclusion and Final Thoughts41:53 Outro.mp3Find Andrea on on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠PPC Live The Podcast features weekly conversations with paid search experts sharing their experiences, challenges, and triumphs in the ever-changing digital marketing landscape.Join us for PPC Live Online on Feb 18thJoin our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Whatsapp group⁠Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠

Write your blog, and then repurpose it properly onto LinkedIn.The truth is, it's not the quality of your content that's the issue; it's where you're sharing it. In this episode, we'll show you how to repurpose your existing blog content into engaging LinkedIn posts that can reach thousands of potential clients. We'll delve into the specifics of leveraging LinkedIn's unique platform to amplify your visibility and authority, ensuring that your hard-earned insights don't go unnoticed. So, let's get ready to elevate your content game and turn those hidden gems into visible leads! Transforming your blog into a LinkedIn lead magnet is not just an option; it's a necessity for savvy B2B marketers looking to maximize their reach and effectiveness. We've all been there – pouring hours into a blog post, crafting the perfect piece filled with insights, only to publish it and watch as it garners a mere handful of views. The reality is that while your blog is a treasure trove of knowledge, it often goes unnoticed, buried on your website where potential clients aren't looking. This episode dives deep into the art of repurposing blog content for LinkedIn, revealing how to turn those hidden gems into powerful lead generation tools. We discuss the importance of understanding where your audience hangs out and how LinkedIn serves as a discovery engine for B2B professionals. Instead of letting your blog content languish in obscurity, we guide you on how to strategically share insights from your articles in a way that resonates with LinkedIn users. It's not enough to simply link back to your blog; you need to create engaging, native content that prompts conversations. By the end of our chat, you'll have actionable strategies to amplify your reach, attract high-value leads, and see a real return on investment for your content. Get ready to shift your mindset and transform your blog into a lead generation powerhouse! We also tackle common pitfalls that many B2B marketers face, such as underutilizing their blog content or failing to engage with their audience directly on LinkedIn. Our goal is to empower you to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry, leveraging the insights you've already created to spark meaningful conversations and connections. Let's not let that valuable content gather dust – it's time to get it out there and get the visibility you deserve!Takeaways:Blog posts are valuable assets; repurposing them on LinkedIn can significantly increase their visibility.LinkedIn is where B2B decision-makers are actively seeking insights and solutions, making it essential for your strategy.Transform your existing blog content into engaging LinkedIn posts to connect with more prospects.Effective content on LinkedIn is not just about sharing links; it's about creating native posts that encourage interaction.Utilizing LinkedIn's algorithm can amplify your reach, bringing your insights to thousands of potential clients.Repurposing content isn't just recycling; it's strategically adapting your expertise to fit the platform's audience.Links referenced in this episode:jammydigital.comCompanies mentioned in this episode:LinkedIn

Diane Hanlon serves as Head of Sales and Market Development at The Institutes. With more than 23 years of experience in Fortune 500 B2B sales, account management, and contract management, Diane brings deep expertise in business development and client relationship management. Before joining The Institutes, she held senior sales leadership roles at On Call International, a Tokio Marine HCC company, and Enterprise Holdings. In this episode of In the Know, Chris Hampshire and Diane discuss sales leadership and insurance industry careers, the latest initiatives at The Institutes, and the value of the CPCU designation journey in her career.   Key Takeaways ● Diane did not take the traditional risk management path. ● The most appealing aspects of the insurance industry. ● Benefits of consulting within the sales sector. ● Characteristics of successful salespeople. ● Protocols for retaining B-to-B sales arena opportunities. ● Questions to ask yourself before moving into the sales sector. ● Addressing industry talent gaps. ● Adapting to future technologies in the insurance industry. ● The evolution of training and development. ● The future of international insurance education and career path development. ● Diane's experience with international insurance interconnectivity. ● Advice to anyone who is considering a career in insurance. ● The 'addictive' journey of earning a CPCU designation. ● A five-year look at the future of the insurance industry. ● Diane's fulfilling advice to her early career self.   In the Know podcast theme music written and performed by James Jones, CPCU, and Kole Shuda of the band If-Then.   To learn more about the CPCU Society, its membership, and educational offerings, tools, and programs, please visit CPCUSociety.org.   Follow the CPCU Society on social media: X (Twitter): @CPCUSociety Facebook: @CPCUSociety LinkedIn: @The Institutes CPCU Society Instagram: @the_cpcu_society   Quotes ● "There are so many transferable skills that can be used in the insurance industry." ● "Building relationships is the key to the successes you're going to have." ● "The skills that someone needs today are going to look different in the coming years, and people need to be adaptable." ● "We work with all verticals to ensure they have what they need to be better at what they do."  

#328 | Jess Lytle is joined by Bill Glenn, SVP of Marketing at Esper, for a conversation about what it actually looks like to lead a marketing team through the AI shift. They talk about why most teams are still figuring AI out, how leaders should think about adoption beyond just tools, and why curiosity and experimentation matter more than having the “right” answers. Bill also shares how Esper is rolling out AI across the company with guardrails, the internal process they use to evaluate new tools, and why the biggest opportunity right now is using AI to eliminate busywork and unlock better thinking.Timestamps(00:00) - Why AI feels overwhelming for marketing leaders (04:06) - What Esper does and why software powering hardware matters (06:51) - Why AI feels like the early internet shift (08:41) - Leading with curiosity instead of pretending to be an AI expert (11:21) - Why AI adoption is a behavior change problem, not a tools problem (13:21) - How Esper is rolling out AI with guardrails across the company (19:06) - Why “boring AI” that saves time matters most (20:21) - Phase 1 vs Phase 2 AI adoption in marketing teams (32:09) - AI, mentorship, and preparing the next generation of marketers (44:54) - Leadership advice for first-time CMOs and VPs (49:59) - Final takeaways and wrap-up 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:Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive.Optimizely - An AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Get a free, personalized 45-minute AI workshop to help you identify the best AI use cases for your marketing team and map out where agents can save you time at optimizely.com/exitfive (PS - you'll get a FREE pair of Meta Ray Bans if you do). 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.  ***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

Level up your B2B marketing and build a brand that actually stands out: subscribe to the Pipe Dream podcast from B2B Better for narrative-driven B2B marketing strategy, media-led content ideas, and practical GTM frameworks from host Jason Bradwell. If "thinking like a media company" feels like empty advice, this episode shows you exactly what it means in practice. In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell sits down with David Rowlands, Head of Product at B2B Marketing and Propolis, to unpack how a traditional magazine and events business transformed into a community-led subscription media model during the pandemic. David's core point is clear: in a world flooded with AI-generated content and collapsing trust, B2B marketers need to move beyond helpful content and start creating valuable, memorable work. The kind buyers remember weeks later because it's built on proprietary data, real CMO conversations, and peer learning you can't get anywhere else. When COVID-19 hit, B2B Marketing's events business went on indefinite hold overnight. At the same time, digital publishing barriers disappeared and trust collapsed. Anyone could write a blog or publish a report, creating massive noise. B2B marketers needed a place to get clear answers and learn from peers without sorting through the chaos. That's how Propolis was born. B2B Marketing formalised their Leaders Program into a subscription model around expert advisory, private community, and proprietary benchmarking. Instead of competing on helpful content anyone could replicate, they built something AI fundamentally can't: genuine community combined with anonymized member data that powers insights like the Propolis Community Index. David explains why this matters beyond B2B Marketing. The brands winning attention aren't publishing more content, they're creating distinctive IP that connects community, insights, training, and events into one ecosystem. And heading into 2026, measurement and attribution remain the core challenge, not because the tools don't exist, but because proving marketing's commercial impact still feels like an uphill battle. The conversation also covers what AI means for B2B marketing teams right now. While 91% of marketers are experimenting with AI, the real challenge isn't adoption, it's knowing where AI helps versus where it creates problems. The marketers struggling most are stuck in lead generation mode, unable to have strategic conversations about marketing's actual impact on revenue. If you want a blueprint for building a media-first B2B strategy without the "more content" trap, this is it. Chapter Markers 00:00 - Introduction: David Rowlands and the transformation of B2B Marketing  02:00 - From editorial assistant to Head of Product during COVID  03:00 - The pivot moment: Events disappear and trust collapses  05:00 - How Propolis was born from the Leaders Program  07:00 - What "thinking like a media company" actually means  11:00 - Building the Propolis Community Index with anonymized member data  16:00 - Helpful versus valuable content: Creating memorable work  21:00 - Why proprietary data and community can't be replicated by AI  26:00 - The AI content flood and how to differentiate 30:00 - Measurement and attribution challenges heading into 2026  33:00 - Skills marketers need: Communication and financial acumen  36:00 - Why junior marketers need these skills more than anyone  38:00 - Where to learn more about Propolis and B2B Marketing Useful Links Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn Connect with David Rowlands on LinkedIn Explore Propolis and the Propolis Community Index Visit B2B Marketing Listen to The B2B Marketing Podcast Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

Portnox is an enterprise access control platform that eliminates passwords and enforces zero trust security. The company was bootstrapped for over a decade, plateauing at a few million in ARR before investors brought in Denny LeCompte as CEO four years ago. Since then, Portnox has grown 8x. But this episode isn't about that growth story. Denny, a former cognitive scientist and professor who taught psychometrics, uses his scientific background to systematically dismantle Net Promoter Score—explaining why it's methodologically flawed, how it misleads organizations, and which metrics actually correlate with business performance. This is a contrarian take grounded in measurement science, not marketing opinion. Topics Discussed: The fundamental psychometric flaws in NPS: why single-item questionnaires are unreliable and why throwing out 7s and 8s violates basic statistical principles How NPS scores fluctuate based on survey UI presentation independent of actual customer sentiment Why NPS creates incentive structures that encourage gaming rather than improving customer outcomes The case for gross revenue retention and net revenue retention as the only ungameable metrics that matter How measuring human behavior changes that behavior (the Heisenberg principle applied to business metrics) Why investors care about retention rates above 90% but don't ask about NPS scores GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Single-item questionnaires violate measurement principles: Denny's background in psychometrics immediately flagged NPS as unreliable. One-item measures lack the redundancy needed for reliability, and the methodology of throwing out middle responses (7s and 8s) then subtracting detractors from promoters is statistically nonsensical. At a previous company with thousands of data points, he observed NPS scores drop and rise based solely on how the survey rendered on the page—no business changes, just UI differences. When presentation affects your metric independent of the underlying construct, your instrument is broken. Founders with technical backgrounds should trust their instincts when measurement methodology feels scientifically unsound. Compensation drives behavior more than metric accuracy: Portnox structures customer success compensation as 50% gross revenue retention and 50% net revenue retention. These are determined by finance and can't be manipulated. Denny had to rein in his CS team when they became overly focused on time-to-value because any number you give a team becomes their obsession. With NPS, teams game survey timing, cherry-pick recipients, and optimize for score rather than outcome. This is the Heisenberg principle applied to business: measuring changes the behavior. Choose metrics where gaming the number aligns with improving actual business outcomes. Investors evaluate retention rates, not satisfaction surveys: When Denny presents gross retention above 90%, investors don't ask about NPS. Renewal behavior reveals actual satisfaction—customers voting with budget rather than survey responses. The test for any metric: "What are we doing differently if this number is up versus down?" If it doesn't drive distinct actions or reveal information not already visible in financials, eliminate it. NPS often becomes a number that exists because "we've always measured it," inherited from previous leadership without questioning its utility. Question inherited practices ruthlessly: NPS gained adoption through Harvard Business Review credibility in 2003 and consulting firms building practices around it. The promise of "one number you need" appeals to executives wanting simple solutions. But herd behavior—"everyone else measures it"—perpetuates bad methodology. Denny's advice to founders stuck with NPS: give your team something else to focus on (gross retention is straightforward: don't let customers churn), then stop doing it. Sometimes you need to point to external validation to break internal momentum. The question isn't whether NPS correlates somewhat with growth—it's whether better alternatives exist that can't be gamed. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPLSMFimtv0riPyM

In this episode of Future Finance, Paul Barnhurst and Glenn Hopper explore how AI tools like Claude, Copilot, and Excel agents are transforming financial workflows in 2026. As the finance industry continues to evolve, AI is playing an increasingly crucial role in automating routine tasks, improving accuracy, and boosting efficiency.Paul and Glenn discuss their firsthand experiences with AI-driven tools, from tracking expenses and managing journal entries to building financial models. They also dive into the ways small and medium businesses are utilizing AI-powered Excel agents to streamline their financial processes without the need for expensive, traditional planning tools.In this episode, you will discover:The impact of AI agents in finance and how they simplify workflows.Personal experiences with Claude and Copilot in real-world finance tasks.How to integrate AI into your finance team's daily tasks.The benefits and challenges of AI-powered automation in finance.Paul and Glenn emphasize the importance of embracing AI in finance, highlighting how tools like Claude, Copilot, and Excel agents are transforming everyday workflows. They encourage finance professionals to experiment with AI, even if it means starting small.Follow Glenn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbhopperiiiFollow Paul:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguyFollow QFlow.AI:Website - https://bit.ly/4i1EkjgFuture Finance is sponsored by QFlow.ai, the strategic finance platform solving the toughest part of planning and analysis: B2B revenue. Align sales, marketing, and finance, speed up decision-making, and lock in accountability with QFlow.ai. Stay tuned for a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of finance and what it means for businesses and individuals alike.In Today's Episode:[00:00] – AI's Role in Finance[03:47] – AI Agents in Excel[06:12] – Claude vs. Copilot[09:27] – Automating Expenses & Journal Entries[15:56] – AI for Financial Models[21:21] – Future of AI in Small Business Finance[26:26] – Workflow Automation in Finance[35:28] – AI & Human Collaboration[39:31] – Experimenting with AI in Finance[41:45] – Data Quality & Governance[43:07] – Key Takeaway

Woody Klemetson scaled sales from 100 people at Divi to 350 at Bill.com post-acquisition, then walked away to build something harder: infrastructure for hybrid AI-human revenue teams. At AskElephant, he's tackling the problem that every revenue leader faces but few can articulate—how to actually implement AI in revenue operations when your systems weren't built for it. With zero marketing spend, AskElephant hit 400% growth through pure referral motion and converts 85% of pilots to production (versus single digits industry-wide). Woody breaks down why most "AI-ready" companies aren't, how to structure pilots that actually ship, and what it takes to hire sellers who orchestrate agents instead of relying on armies of support staff. Topics Discussed: Post-acquisition culture collision: the cost of moving too fast versus too slow Why "AI readiness" is usually one person at a company, not the organization  The 27-agent CRM system that delivers 5% forecast accuracy without human input  Revenue outcome systems as category evolution: solving for predictability across disconnected tools  Pilot-first GTM that converts at 85% by starting with one-minute-per-day wins  Partner-led distribution through consultants evolving from slideware to implementation  Hiring ops-minded sellers who code: over half of non-engineers using Cursor daily  The PLG expansion coming in 2025 and why traditional demand gen is getting tested alongside door-to-door GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Culture integration requires explicit deceleration early: Woody's team assumed Bill.com wanted their aggressive startup velocity immediately post-acquisition. They didn't slow down to map cultural differences, causing "whiplash" across 350 people. The specific mistake: not creating space to understand Bill's processes before challenging them. Even when acquired for your approach, the first 90 days should be listening and mapping, not executing. Only after understanding their system can you effectively challenge and merge cultures. This applies whether you're acquiring or being acquired—the cultural work is non-negotiable and front-loaded. Diagnose AI readiness by system documentation, not enthusiasm: Most companies think they're AI-ready because leadership wants AI. Reality check: if your teams haven't documented their systems and processes, AI has nothing to learn from. AskElephant starts some customers with basic dictation—not because it's revolutionary, but because it's the prerequisite to anything meaningful. The diagnostic question: "Walk us through your current customer journey." If the answer is "we have sales stages," you're not ready for automation. You need documented systems before AI can execute them. Start by having AI observe and document before it acts. Build agents incrementally to compound context: AskElephant runs 27 different CRM agents that collectively deliver 5% forecast accuracy. This wasn't built in one sprint—it took 40 hours of training and context-building. Each agent handles a specific job: contact creation, data enrichment, ICP scoring, churn monitoring, stage updates. The misconception founders have: AI should work perfectly from the first prompt. The reality: you build agents brick by brick, each one learning from the previous context layer. This is why their forecasting works—because 27 agents watching different signals together create accuracy that one "smart" agent can't. Pilot conversion at scale requires deliberately small scope: Single-digit pilot-to-production rates happen because teams scope too big. AskElephant's 85% conversion comes from "dream big, implement small." First pilot: automated CRM notes. Then: notes humans wish they'd written. Then: automated field updates. Each step saves minutes, builds trust, proves value. Woody's framework: if you're not saving one minute per person per day in your first pilot, you've scoped wrong. The goal isn't to wow with ambition—it's to ship something that works perfectly, then expand from proven trust. Their customers average 27 hours saved per week per person, but none started there. Revenue outcome systems emerge from tool sprawl failure: Every revenue leader uses 15-20 disconnected tools trying to make revenue predictable. The category insight isn't "operating systems"—it's that companies care about outcomes, not operations. AskElephant's positioning: we focus on the outcome (predictable revenue), not just the operating infrastructure. This distinction matters because it shifts the conversation from technical plumbing to business results. When creating categories, find the frame that makes the buyer's problem visceral and your solution inevitable, even if you're solving similar problems as others in the space. Partner-led GTM turns consultants into distribution: AskElephant's entire growth came through partners: Salesforce/HubSpot consultants becoming AI strategists, sales coaches extending from training to implementation. The unlock: these partners needed a way to deliver lasting value beyond slideware. Previously, a coach would train your team and leave. Now they implement AI systems that hold teams accountable to the training, creating longer engagements and better outcomes. For founders: identify services providers whose business model gets dramatically better by incorporating your product. They become your sales force because you make them more valuable to their clients. Hire for orchestration capability, not pure sales skill: Over half of AskElephant's non-engineering team uses Cursor daily. Woody hires "ops-minded" and "tech-minded" sellers who can manage AI agents alongside human work. The old model: silver-tongued seller + solutions engineer + 27 support people. The new model: one seller orchestrating 27 AI agents. These reps don't build lists, don't create SOWs, don't write product scopes, don't need SEs for demos. But they still need human connection skills—listening, curiosity, presence. The hiring filter: can this person think in systems and implement technical solutions while maintaining high-touch relationships? If they can't code enough to orchestrate agents, they can't scale in this environment. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Identity fraud spiked 148% in 2025 as AI democratized identity fabrication. Financial institutions now face a fundamental question: Are you dealing with a real human? Heka Global is addressing this with web intelligence—analyzing digital footprints like connected applications rather than traditional signals. In this episode of BUILDERS, I sat down with Idan Bar Dov, Co-Founder & CEO of Heka Global, to explore how his company created a fourth layer in the anti-fraud stack and why legacy identity verification systems are becoming liabilities rather than assets. Topics Discussed:  The emergence of "fraud as a service" and why consumer-facing attacks replaced traditional enterprise breaches  How web intelligence works: validating identity through connected applications and digital footprints  The anti-fraud tech stack: credit bureaus, biometrics, transaction analytics, and web intelligence as distinct layers  Why heads of fraud expand budgets rather than replace vendors, and what causes solutions to get kicked out  The partnership sales model: navigating vendor management complexity and red tape in financial institutions  Why 10-person dinners and fraud simulations outperform traditional enterprise marketing  How Barclays and Cornerback backing solved the chicken-and-egg problem for a data product  Why specific fraud prevention messaging (account takeover, synthetic identities) beat investor credibility GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Target ICP based on liability exposure, not just industry fit: Heka narrowed beyond "financial institutions" to lenders who bear immediate losses from fraud—companies like LendingPoint, Avant, and Upstart. These buyers feel the pain acutely versus institutions with reimbursement terms who can deflect liability. Idan's insight: "We need the client to feel the pain just as much as we see it. That means we want them to see the liability." Map your ICP not just by vertical or size, but by who internalizes the economic impact of the problem you solve. Frame your product as a new stack layer, not a competitive replacement: Heka positioned web intelligence as the fourth distinct layer after credit bureaus, biometrics, and transaction analytics. This became their second pitch deck slide, showing logos of each category. The result: buyers stopped comparing Heka to existing vendors and started evaluating complementary value. When entering mature markets, resist the urge to claim you're "better than X"—instead, define where you fit in the existing architecture and why that layer didn't exist before. Abandon spray-and-pray for sub-1,000 TAM markets: Heka tested Lemlist flows with targeted LLM personalization and saw zero pipeline from it. Idan's take: "When you're selling to maybe a thousand financial institutions, that's it. You can be super specific when you target them." For enterprise plays with small addressable markets, allocate zero budget to automated outbound. Focus entirely on warm introductions, relationship nurturing, and becoming known to every relevant buyer through content and community. Leverage investor networks to break data product cold-starts: Data products face a critical barrier—you need customer data to prove value, but need proven value to get customers. Heka solved this by bringing on Barclays and Cornerback as investors who vouched for the team's capability to "do magic and create a new layer." Their backing convinced risk-averse financial institutions to pilot. If building a product requiring customer data for training or validation, prioritize strategic investors who can credibly de-risk early adoption for target buyers. Build trust through teaching, not pitching: Heka hosts dinners and fraud incident simulations with ~10 heads of fraud per session. Critical detail: they never pitch Heka in these forums. Idan explained the approach focuses on "building a community around Heka and how people engage with your product and you being a thought leader while listening." In high-trust categories, educational forums where you facilitate peer learning without selling create stronger pipeline than direct pitching. Structure partnerships with active enablement and incentive alignment: Idan's key lesson: "Partnerships are not synonymous to distribution channels." Heka requires partner sales teams to join early customer conversations to learn the pitch, provides detailed API and output training, and ensures partners get extra compensation for selling non-core products. Without this, partners lack motivation to prioritize your solution. Structure partnerships as true collaborations requiring ongoing enablement investment, not passive referral channels. A/B test credibility signals versus technical specificity: Idan assumed messaging around Barclays backing would crush, while specific fraud prevention content (account takeover, synthetic identity detection) was an afterthought. The data showed 10x better response to technical specificity. The lesson: sophisticated buyers in technical categories respond to precise problem-solving over brand credibility. Test whether your audience values "who backs us" or "exactly what we do" before defaulting to investor logos and validation. //  Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Reunião produtiva. Proposta aprovada verbalmente. E depois… silêncio. Neste episódio, você vai entender como fazer follow-up estratégico sem pressionar o cliente e sem perder vendas por falta de posicionamento. Participe da minha Masterclass ao vivo sobre como vender serviços no LinkedIn. Dia 05/03, às 20h30. Masterclass gratuita. https://lp.marciomiranda.com.br/servicos Quer uma análise gratuita do seu perfil no LinkedIn? Clique no link abaixo e agende seu horário. https://wa.me/5511991097186?text=Quero%20análise%20perfil%20LinkedIn O maior erro do follow-up não é insistir demais. É insistir do jeito errado. Muitos vendedores entram em contato apenas para perguntar se o cliente analisou a proposta — e acabam se posicionando como cobradores, não como consultores. Neste episódio, você vai aprender: • Como manter presença sem ser inconveniente. • Como gerar contatos que entregam valor real, não pressão. • Como usar ferramentas simples como Google Alerts e Flipboard para acompanhar o mercado do cliente. • Quando aplicar o desapego estratégico e transformar silêncio em decisão. Venda não é sobre insistir mais. É sobre ser relevante por mais tempo. Se você vende serviços, consultoria ou projetos B2B, este episódio é essencial para evitar que boas oportunidades morram no silêncio. Dica final: Envie este episódio para aquele vendedor que vive reclamando que o cliente “sumiu”, mas nunca estruturou um acompanhamento profissional. Conecte-se comigo no LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciomiranda10

Did you know the average medical spa is juggling FOURTEEN separate vendor deals? With that many balls in the air, it's easy for something to get dropped. In this episode of Medical Spa Insider, Alex Thiersch talks with Keri Concannon, co-founder and CEO of Beauty Rep, about why ordering, onboarding, and managing aesthetic brand partnership is still far more fragmented than it should be—and how the Beauty Rep B2B platform was designed to make vendor management faster, clearer, and easier for practices of every size. Listen to learn: The unique challenges that large brands and smaller brands each face when it comes to selling How BeautyRep opens up conversations by making B2B materials readily available The way that brands are using the portal to support their sales teams The benefits for practitioners and owners of any size when it comes to finding products and managing inventory Keri's journey from sales rep to entrepreneur and plans for expanding the platform

¿Sabías que tu equipo de ventas podría ser hasta un 40% más productivo solo por usar correctamente un CRM? En este episodio de Con Licencia Para Vender, Jorge Zamora te revela los 3 errores más comunes que impiden que tus vendedores utilicen el CRM… y, sobre todo, cómo solucionarlos. Olvídate de obligar a tu equipo a rellenar datos por cumplir. Aquí vas a descubrir cómo mostrar el verdadero impacto del CRM en la venta, cómo reducir tareas manuales (¡menos tiempo perdido en Excel y más en cerrar negocios!) y la importancia de crear un roadmap claro que motive a los vendedores a adoptarlo de forma natural. Además, Jorge Zamora comparte casos reales y recomendaciones prácticas para que por fin dejes de adivinar el seguimiento y empieces a tener control total sobre tus procesos de ventas. Este episodio es imprescindible si eres gerente comercial, director de ventas o lideras un equipo que necesita más visibilidad, productividad y resultados tangibles. Aprovecha estos consejos para transformar tu gestión comercial y hacer que el CRM trabaje para ti, no al revés. Aprende cómo mejorar la productividad de tu equipo de ventas B2B, implementar CRM con éxito, liderar procesos de adopción tecnológica y evitar los errores más comunes en la gestión de oportunidades. Ideal para líderes y gerentes comerciales que buscan acelerar ventas y maximizar el uso de herramientas digitales como el CRM en sus organizaciones. ¿Te sirvió este episodio para identificar por qué tu CRM no se usa como debería? Compártelo con tu equipo y síguenos para recibir más estrategias de ventas de alto impacto en cada episodio. Agenda conmigo una llamada sin costo y te ayudaré a mejorar tus ventas Clientify - Reuniones https://linktr.ee/jorgeandreszamora

In this episode, I'm tackling one of the biggest myths in business: the idea that you have to be an outgoing extrovert to be great at sales. As an introvert who has spent years in the trenches, I've actually found the opposite to be true. I'm making the case for why introverts—all things being equal—actually close more deals.I dive into the fundamental difference in how we approach networking and discovery calls. While extroverts often get their "reward" just from the act of socializing, introverts are usually on a mission. We don't have the energy to waste on small talk for the sake of small talk, so we tend to be more methodical, more intentional, and way more focused on the data points that actually move a deal forward. If you've ever felt like your quiet nature was a disadvantage in a loud industry, this episode is for you.//Welcome to The Ray J. Green Show, your destination for tips on sales, strategy, and self-mastery from an operator, not a guru.About Ray:→ Former Managing Director of National Small & Midsize Business at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he doubled revenue per sale in fundraising, led the first increase in SMB membership, co-built a national Mid-Market sales channel, and more.→ Former CEO operator for several investor groups where he led turnarounds of recently acquired small businesses.→ Current founder of MSP Sales Partners, where we currently help IT companies scale sales: www.MSPSalesPartners.com→ Current Sales & Sales Management Expert in Residence at the world's largest IT business mastermind.→ Current Managing Partner of Repeatable Revenue Ventures, where we scale B2B companies we have equity in: www.RayJGreen.com//Follow Ray on:YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Coaching is the real work of leadership once you start managing other people. In modern workplaces—especially post-pandemic and in hybrid teams—your job isn't just delivering results; it's building capability so results keep happening even when you're not in the room. This guide breaks down a Seven Step Coaching Process leaders can use to develop team members through everyday, on-the-job coaching, not just HR training programs. It's designed for busy managers in SMEs, multinationals, and fast-moving teams where skills, tools, and customer expectations change constantly. How do leaders identify coaching opportunities in day-to-day work? Coaching opportunities show up through observation, self-awareness, external feedback, changing business needs, and sudden situations. Leaders who wait for formal training cycles miss the daily moments where performance can lift quickly with small, targeted coaching. In practice, there are five classic triggers. First, you notice a gap—someone lacks a skill, hasn't been trained, or is moved into a new task with no reps. Second, the staff member flags it themselves, either because they're stuck or ambitious and want growth. Third, customers, vendors, or outsiders complain or comment, which is often the clearest real-world signal that training hasn't landed. Fourth, the business changes—new technology replaces old ways (think "Telex to email" as the metaphor), so yesterday's competencies become irrelevant. Fifth, situations force change, like promotions, role shifts, or remote work onboarding. Do now: Create a weekly "coaching log" with 5 headings (Boss, Self, Customer, Change, Situation) and write one example under each. What's a real example of a "customer complaint" coaching trigger? Customer feedback often reveals tiny skill gaps that quietly damage trust—especially in service culture. Leaders should treat complaints as coaching gold, not just quality problems. A simple example is telephone etiquette in corporate settings. In Japan, one common frustration is when staff answer the phone by stating only the company name, without their own name—creating awkwardness for the caller if they ask for someone and discover the person answering is that individual. The fix is not expensive training or a big workshop; it's a repeatable micro-skill: answer with "Company name + your name." This is the essence of practical coaching—catch a pattern, define the desired behaviour, practise it, and reinforce it until it becomes normal. This same principle applies across markets. In the US or Australia, the equivalent might be email tone, response time, or how staff handle returns. In B2B environments, it might be meeting preparation or follow-up discipline. Do now: Pick one customer friction point from the last 30 days and turn it into a 2-minute coaching drill. What should the "desired outcome" of coaching look like? Coaching only works when both people can clearly picture success and agree it matters. If the outcome is fuzzy—or owned only by the boss—it becomes compliance, not growth. A strong coaching outcome is behavioural and observable: "They can do X task independently, to Y standard, in Z timeframe." That clarity matters even more in remote or hybrid work, where leaders can't rely on informal monitoring. The outcome should also be jointly owned: the team member needs to want it, not just tolerate it. That means the leader's role is to define what good looks like, show why it matters (customer impact, team efficiency, career growth), and confirm the person buys in. In startups, outcomes often focus on speed and adaptability. In large organisations, they may be tied to compliance, brand, or consistency. Either way, "success" must be visible, measurable, and shared. Do now: Ask: "What would 'great' look like here in two weeks?" Write the answer as one sentence you both agree on. How do you establish the right attitudes for effective coaching? Coaching accelerates when the leader understands the person's motivations and role fit. Without that, even good advice lands badly—or gets ignored. Attitude isn't about pep talks; it's about context. How well you know your team determines how quickly you can judge whether you have the right people in the right roles—"the right bus and the right seats." Some people are motivated by mastery, others by recognition, autonomy, stability, or future promotion. A leader who understands this can tailor coaching so it feels supportive rather than corrective. This is especially important across cultures. In Japan, people may avoid direct self-promotion, so ambition can be hidden. In Australia or the US, staff may be more comfortable stating career goals openly. In both cases, leaders need genuine curiosity: "What do you want to get better at, and why?" Do now: In your next 1:1, ask one question: "What part of your job gives you energy, and what drains it?" Use the answer to guide coaching. What resources do managers need to provide for coaching to work? The scarcest and most valuable resource in coaching is the leader's time. If you demand performance but deny support, you're setting people up to fail. Resources can include money, equipment, training materials, access to internal experts, or backing from senior management—but the key constraint is often attention. Coaching isn't a side hobby; it's core leadership work. Many managers confuse "time efficiency" with effectiveness, rushing tasks while leaving capability undeveloped. The result is predictable: repeated mistakes, avoidable escalations, and a team that can't operate independently. In a post-pandemic world, time investment is even more critical for onboarding. New hires who joined after early 2020 often missed informal learning because there was nobody physically nearby to ask. Do now: Block 30 minutes per week for coaching, not status updates. Treat it like a leadership KPI, not optional admin. Why is coaching "job number one" for the boss? When leaders get coaching wrong, performance problems multiply—and the team becomes dependent, fragile, and reactive. When leaders coach well, talent compounds and the organisation scales. Coaching sits upstream of almost everything that matters: customer satisfaction, productivity, retention, and succession. HR can organise training, but only the direct manager can reinforce it in daily work—correcting small behaviours before they become big issues, and building confidence through repetition. The best leaders don't just solve problems; they develop problem-solvers. This is true whether you're leading a sales team, operations team, or a professional services unit. In high-change environments—new tech, new processes, new market expectations—coaching is how teams keep up without burning out. It's also how you build a leadership bench instead of becoming the bottleneck. Do now: Identify one person you're currently "rescuing" too often. Coach them on the skill that removes the dependency. Conclusion: The Coaching Process as a leadership operating system The Seven Step Coaching Process is a practical way to lead: spot opportunities, define success, align attitudes, and provide resources—starting with your time. The goal isn't to create perfect employees; it's to build capability so people can perform confidently as work evolves. If you treat coaching as a daily discipline, you'll scale your team's competence, reduce recurring issues, and strengthen results across customers, culture, and performance. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. Greg has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including ザ営業 (Za Eigyō), プレゼンの達人 (Purezen no Tatsujin), トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう, and 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー. Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews, widely followed by executives pursuing success strategies in Japan.

Joe discusses the importance of networking over cold calling, leveraging LinkedIn for global connections, harnessing AI for efficient and authentic interactions, and much more! Joe Apfelbaum is the CEO and founder of Ajax Union, a B2B digital marketing agency in Brooklyn, NY. Joe is a business strategist, LinkedIn expert, and Certified Google Trainer. He enjoys speaking and writing about digital marketing, professional networking, and personal development in his seminars, webinars, and articles. He is the author of High Energy Secrets, How To Lose 95 Pounds and Keep it Off, and his latest book, High Energy Marketing. Joe is the host of the popular podcast The Breakthrough Maze where he coaches entrepreneurs on how to go from frustration to 'Mojovation'; he has also been featured on hundreds of popular podcasts.

In this episode, I talk with James Capo, CEO of audience data platform Omeda, about why the traffic-driven media model has finally run out of road and what replaces it. We dig into the idea of a “connection economy,” where audience relationships—not page views—are the core asset. We also get into why so many publishers struggle to operationalize audience-first strategies, how B2B and consumer media models are converging, and where AI fits if it's meant to add real utility rather than repeat past mistakes.Thanks to James and Omeda for supporting The Rebooting as partners.

Most B2B marketing fails for one simple reason: it forgets how persuasion actually works.That's why Mad Men still hits. Beneath the suits, pitches, and personal drama, it's a masterclass in what actually moves people. In this episode, we break down its B2B marketing takeaways with the help of our special guest  Fahad Muhammad, Former VP of Marketing at TealBook.Together, we explore why fundamentals matter more than tactics, why emotion drives demand, and how originality is the only real advantage left in modern B2B marketing.About our guest, Fahad MuhammadFahad is a revenue-centric and data-driven marketing leader with 17 years of experience in strategic marketing at severalSaaS/Tech companies ranging from start-ups, SMBs to enterprise organizations. Specializing in demand creation and generation, he takes a data driven approach to identify unique growth opportunities in order to drive revenue and foster meaningful connections with customers. He is a diehard college football fan (Sun Devil for life!) and attends ASU's homecoming game each fall. An avid reader, he loves to read with a cup of his favorite coffee in hand.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Mad Men:Anchor on positioning before you touch tactics. Fahad's biggest takeaway from Mad Men is that modern B2B often skips the hard thinking and jumps straight to execution. The show strips marketing back to its core, and the lesson is uncomfortable in its simplicity. As he puts it, “This discipline is around three core things. It's about positioning, it's about having a very compelling piece of creative… and then the last piece is really understanding who your audience is.” The danger for B2B teams is mistaking activity for strategy. If positioning is fuzzy, no amount of optimization will save it. Get the foundation right first, or everything else is just noise.Emotion is the real differentiator. Fahad makes it clear that cutting through the noise is about resonance. He says, “Something that does speak to us, no matter what medium [it's in], is always going to cut through the noise.” Mad Men works because it understands human psychology hasn't changed, even if the channels have. For B2B marketers, the lesson is simple: logic might justify the purchase, but emotion earns attention. If your message doesn't connect at a human level, it won't survive the noise long enough to matter.Originality beats borrowed playbooks. Fahad warns that one of the fastest ways for B2B brands to disappear is by copying what already worked for someone else. Mad Men celebrates originality because it shows how differentiation is built through conviction, not consensus. As Fahad puts it, “They're not taking the shortcut route of copy pasting or referencing creative… they are elevating themselves and going through their own version of creative.” In a world where everyone has access to the same tools, the only sustainable advantage is saying something true in a way only you can. That's what people remember.Quote“  Everybody has the same access to the tools now. They can do the same thing. And the playing field is more level than ever. So how do you now cut through the noise? It still goes back to the core elements of: How strong is your positioning? How strong is your creative? Are you really thinking [that] this is going to cut through the noise and is it going to move people?”Time Stamps[00:55] Meet Fahad Muhammad, Former VP of Marketing at TealBook[01:37] Why Mad Men?[04:28] Role of VP of Marketing at TealBook[05:20] Behind-the-Scenes of Mad Men[09:21] B2B Marketing Takeaways from Mad Men[32:08] The Role of AI in Marketing[42:43] How to Connect Content to Your Marketing Strategy[45:44] Advice for First-Time VPs of Marketing[47:19] Final Thoughts and TakeawaysLinksConnect with Fahad on LinkedInLearn more about TealBookAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Ian sits down with Marco Mueller, CMO of AVEVA, to explore how marketing operates as a strategic growth engine inside one of the world's leading industrial software companies.Marco shares how AVEVA balances speed and stability in a risk-averse category, why in-person events remain one of their most powerful channels, and how the team redesigned its campaign model to move faster without sacrificing quality. The conversation dives into AVEVA's global event strategy, including AVEVA World and 37 localized AVEVA Days. Key Takeaways:In-person events compress trust timelines. Face-to-face experiences move risk-averse buyers faster than any digital channel in complex B2B.Speed is a design problem, not a hustle problem.  Campaigns ship faster when you cut upfront complexity and build in room to adapt.The CMO's real job is integration. Growth happens when marketing aligns product truth, sales reality, and customer risk.Episode Timestamps: * (02:08) The Trust Tree: Why industrial software marketing is built on trust* (07:24) The Playbook: Events, positioning, and adaptive digital strategy* (45:24) Quick HitsSponsor:Pipeline Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com. Qualified helps you turn your website into a pipeline generation machine with PipelineAI. Engage and convert your most valuable website visitors with live chat, chatbots, meeting scheduling, intent data, and Piper, your AI SDR. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.Links:Connect with Ian on LinkedInConnect with Marco on LinkedInLearn more about AVEVALearn more about Caspian Studios Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this Brewbound Podcast interview, host Jess Infante sits down with Sarah Bryan, Executive Director of the Maine Brewers Guild, to preview the 10th Annual New England Craft Brew Summit, taking place Friday, March 6 in Portland, Maine. The one-day conference, New England's largest B2B gathering for the craft brewing industry, brings together brewers, brewery owners, suppliers, and industry partners for a jam-packed day of education, collaboration, and connection. Bryan describes the summit as a distinctly New England event: independent, no-nonsense, and intentionally designed to deliver maximum value in a short amount of time for busy operators. Bryan highlights what's new for the milestone year, including an expanded and modernized trade floor, longer educational sessions, and a keynote address from Natalie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Company. Anchored by the theme "The Brewer's Compass: Finding Focus, Crafting with Purpose," the program reflects an increasingly mature craft beer landscape, with advanced sessions covering topics like AI in the brewing workplace, modern PR and earned media, supplier innovation, employee wellness, and navigating today's complex market conditions. Beyond the conference floor, the summit also features a full slate of networking events, brewery collaborations, and celebrations throughout Portland, reinforcing the event's reputation as both a business-critical conference and a cornerstone gathering for the New England beer community. For more information and registration details, visit the New England Craft Brew Summit website.

In this episode of Torsion Talk, Ryan Lucia breaks down a timely article by Joseph Roberts (AQUED) titled “At a Crossroad Again: Navigating the Transitions Shaping the Garage Door Industry.” Ryan walks through the three core pillars of the article and adds his own real-world perspective from the dealer side, including what he agrees with, what he challenges, and what he believes is coming next for the garage door business.Ryan opens with quick industry updates, including a behind-the-scenes look at his new studio build, early signals that steel pricing may rise due to supply and demand pressures, and what he's seeing in marketing performance as clicks continue to shift in an AI-driven search landscape. He also shares plans for Markinuity and GDU at the IDA Expo, including a booth presence, potential live podcast recording, giveaways, and a private event.From there, Ryan dives into the first pillar: market segmentation and specialization. He discusses the push toward residential-only or commercial-only strategies, why he doesn't fully agree that doing both automatically makes you a generalist, and how seasonality and revenue stability can make multi-segment operations smarter when structured correctly. He also explains why he split his commercial and residential websites, how Google rewards specialization, and what it takes to market effectively to B2C homeowners versus B2B commercial buyers.The second pillar is where Ryan goes deepest: the growing tension in dealer and vendor relationships. He addresses consolidation at the manufacturer level, the shifting OEM-dealer dynamic, and why dealers must stop accepting one-sided arrangements. Ryan talks candidly about sales rep performance in the industry, the real costs dealers absorb when manufacturers miss on quality control, shipping, or accuracy, and why multi-manufacturer sourcing can protect a business. He gives credit where it's due by highlighting manufacturers he believes are doing things well, while also calling out common operational breakdowns that create expensive dealer-side problems.Finally, Ryan ties in the third pillar: ownership changes and exit strategy. He explains why succession, private equity, and acquisition timelines should influence marketing decisions, budgets, and business strategy. Ryan closes with a blunt but optimistic view of where the industry is headed, why the “purge” and consolidation are real, and what focused dealers must do now to compete, execute, and win in the next 5–10 years.Find Ryan at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://garagedooru.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://aaronoverheaddoors.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://markinuity.com/⁠Check out our sponsors!Sommer USA - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://sommer-usa.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Surewinder - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://surewinder.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stealth Hardware - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://quietmydoor.com/⁠

If your AR feels like a maze of phone calls, spreadsheets, and “we'll match it later,” this conversation shows a cleaner path. We sit down with Fauwaz Hussain, Senior Director of B2B Partnerships and Strategy at Global Payments, to break down what actually speeds cash and what quietly stalls it. From card-not-present realities to complex terms and partial shipments, we map the B2B differences that make order-to-cash harder and the practical changes that remove friction fast.We get specific about embedding payments inside your ERP so invoices, settlements, and the general ledger line up automatically. That shift kills rekeying errors, collapses department silos, and gives support, sales, and finance the same live truth. Security gets stronger when card data never touches email or recorded calls, and PCI compliance becomes manageable when you use certified, cloud-based vaults and enforce simple rules like “no cards by phone.” Fauwaz explains why publishers like Microsoft, SAP, and Sage now run tighter marketplaces, how VARs and ISVs evaluate payment apps, and why a one-stop provider reduces risk across gateways, vaults, and processing.We also cover the cash-flow moves that work right away: self-serve portals with open invoices, one-click payment links by email or text, stored credentials for auto-pay, and accepting multiple methods from ACH to single-use virtual cards. Then we look forward - AI-driven cash application, predictive delinquencies, Level 2/3 data validation, and API-first architectures that connect e-commerce, field service, and ERP into a single payment fabric. If you're leading AR, finance, or operations, you'll leave with a clear playbook to modernize without compromising compliance.

Building a great culture isn't about perks, slogans, or “values” on a wall. It's what happens when revenue gets tight, standards get tested, and leaders have to choose between fear and trust. In this Founder Talk episode, Alex Sheridan sits down with Burt Levy of Revenue Mountain—an operator with 30+ years across media and technology, known for building sales teams, leading multi-million-dollar revenue targets, and helping business owners grow revenue through the right technology decisions. Together, they unpack the leadership moves most founders avoid—because they're uncomfortable, not because they're unclear.Founders will hear a practical blueprint for building a culture that actually performs: how to hire when experience is missing, how to set a real bar for excellence, and how to avoid leadership habits that quietly destroy retention. Burt also breaks down how strong teams collaborate (and why leaders should speak last), why “flat is the new up” in certain markets, and how revenue growth often starts with the relationships you've ignored—not the leads you're chasing.00:00:00 Introduction00:00:16 How does Burt Levy describe his expertise today?A: He's a former major-market media operator turned tech problem-solver who helps business owners grow revenue by choosing and using the right technology.00:15:14 If revenue is flat, is the business dying?A: Not always. In some industries, staying flat is a win—because you didn't lose ground. The real danger is staying flat without evolving when the market is shifting.00:18:34 What's a better alternative to layoffs when times get tough?A: Burt argues for “everyone suffers a little” approaches like furlough programs—because mass layoffs create fear, kill innovation, and damage culture long after the cuts.00:23:51 What's the secret to building strong teams?A: “Hire for character, train for skill.” You can teach skills, but you can't teach passion, dedication, or hard work—those are the foundations of culture.00:27:05 What standard should founders set for their team—and themselves?A: Have a clear bar (like “excellence”), coach people up when possible, but don't keep someone in a role if they can't meet the standard—especially in high-initiative positions.00:31:46 How should leaders run discussions to get real input and buy-in?A: Collaborate and let everyone speak—then the leader speaks last. If the leader leads with “the answer,” the room shuts down and you lose better ideas.00:34:20 What's one underrated way to grow revenue fast?A: Revive dormant relationships. Reach out without asking for anything. Start with genuine connection, and business often follows.00:43:45 What's the right role of AI in business leadership?A: AI should sharpen the mind, not replace it. Use it as a tool, but don't outsource judgment, relationships, intuition, or human trust-building.Watch the full episode to hear the complete conversation, and hit subscribe for more authentic, no-fluff founder interviews.

If you're creating a dozen LinkedIn clips, X posts, blog articles, and email newsletters from every podcast episode because you can, this episode will change how you think about repurposing forever. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down why most B2B teams get content atomisation completely wrong and what to do instead. Jason's core point is clear: just because you can create 50 things from one piece of content doesn't mean you should. The real problem isn't lack of effort, it's creating a little bit of everything instead of focusing on the few assets that actually move prospects through the buyer journey. Most teams are building redundancy, not results. The appeal of content repurposing is obvious. You record one 60-minute podcast episode and suddenly you can create clips for LinkedIn, X, Instagram, blog posts, newsletters, listicles for SEO, and ads. At the end, you've got 50 things from one episode. Sounds amazing, right? But that mindset creates massive redundancy because you're not asking the critical question: should you actually create all of this? Can you create clips for X? Sure. But are your customers actually on X? Only three people subscribe to your newsletter, so why spend the time turning this into an email? What B2B Better does instead is map the content they create from one flagship piece against the buyer journey, specifically the stages of buyer awareness: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, and product aware. When you map these stages on a grid, you can identify how to plug each gap using different distribution channels. Take the unaware stage. There's a subset of your target audience that's unaware a massive problem is facing them. How do you reach them? B2B Better typically suggests running ads on platforms like LinkedIn or Google using content from your podcast that educates them about the problem. But you can't just hope that content naturally comes out of your recording. You need to script for it ahead of time. If you're running a guest-based podcast, ask questions that evoke answers and perspectives that educate unaware customers about the problem they're facing. Now flip to the product aware stage. These are people who know about the problem and solutions available, but don't have enough trust in your product to pull the trigger. For this stage, interview your existing customers and have them talk about their experiences using your product or service. Then turn that content into something your sales team can use to hit leads who have already demonstrated interest in your business. This is the tipping point that moves them from uncertainty to actually picking up the phone. This exercise of mapping different content types to different stages of buyer awareness is incredibly useful in evaluating not what content you could create, but what content you should create that's actually going to move people from podcast to pipeline. If this is an exercise you're interested in learning more about and you'd like B2B Better to run it with you, drop them an email or message using the details in the show notes. Chapter Markers 00:00 - Why B2B businesses get repurposing wrong 01:00 - Creating the wrong things instead of what matters 02:00 - Just because you can doesn't mean you should 03:00 - Mapping content to buyer awareness stages 04:00 - Targeting the unaware stage with strategic ads 05:00 - Building trust with product aware prospects 06:00 - Moving people from podcast to pipeline Useful Links Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn Learn about Stages of Awareness framework Explore Content Atomization strategies for B2B Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast