This episode features Shawana Iftikhar, a CEO with extensive experience in multiple tech and software negotiations. Marketers often overlook the fact that the buying committee (which typically includes the CEO, CFO, CTO, and COO) is not a single person but usually six to ten stakeholders pulling information in parallel.

Shawana offers an informal and practical perspective on buying, discussing what vendors often get right and wrong. She sheds light on the misconceptions marketers have about the CEO's role, clarifying that while she provides the strategic direction and end goal, she is not the sole decision-maker for all marketing matters.

Discover how she uses AI to research and vet vendors, what content formats she prefers to consume (short, summarized, and brief), and why vendor consistency and relevancy in outreach (sometimes over a year) make a significant impact on her choice. She also shares her biggest frustration with sales teams (broken sales cycles) and offers her number one piece of advice for B2B marketers.