What actually holds businesses back from scaling?

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, Christopher Smith sits down with Wayne Hunter, President & CEO of AvTek Solutions, to break down the real challenges behind growth, leadership, and operational success.

About Sales Lead Dog

Why do some salespeople consistently win while others struggle to close deals?

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljritsema/

Guest Bio

Why do so many sales conversations fail before they even begin?

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, Christopher Smith sits down with Ian Spandow, Sales & Dog Whisperer, Author, and Sales Enablement Consultant, to explore one of the most common mistakes in modern selling: pitching before understanding the buyer.

Ian has worked with sales teams across the world and previously led the sales coaching team for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Oracle. Over his career he has coached thousands of sales professionals and helped organizations rethink how they approach discovery, qualification, and customer conversations.

Today’s buyers are more informed and more cautious than ever. When salespeople rush into presenting solutions before fully understanding the customer’s situation, they often lose credibility and miss the opportunity to guide the conversation.

Ian shares lessons from decades of experience in sales leadership and coaching. The discussion covers how discovery should work today, how AI is influencing sales training and enablement, and why personality and curiosity matter more than ever when building high performing sales teams.

Ian’s personal journey is also remarkable. After a major turning point in his career, he founded a nonprofit dog rescue and sanctuary. Today he balances helping animals with coaching sales professionals, proving that leadership and empathy matter in every field.

This episode offers practical insights for sales leaders, founders, and professionals looking to improve their sales conversations and build stronger relationships with buyers.

What You’ll Learn

• Why pitching too early damages sales conversations

Guest

Ian Spandow, Sales & Dog Whisperer, Author, and Sales Enablement Consultant

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Guest Bio

A web search for the phrase “Plucky Irishman” will return Ian Spandow’s name as the top result.

His audacity led to him being fired from a senior role at a global technology firm for defending an H-1B recruit from India. As an immigrant worker living in the United States, Ian worked with several Silicon Valley start ups after first finding and later losing a fortune during Ireland’s Celtic Tiger years.

Once slated for the cover of Newsweek, Ian suddenly faced deportation and a mid life restructuring that led to marriage and the rekindling of his passion for dogs.

Today Ian runs a nonprofit dog rescue and sanctuary, helping animals while also coaching sales professionals and organizations. His work connects two worlds that share a common theme: helping others find a better path forward.

About Sales Lead Dog

Sales Lead Dog is hosted by Christopher Smith, CRM technology and sales process expert, and founder of Empellor CRM. Each episode features sales leaders who have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, sharing how they achieve success with their teams and their CRM strategy.

Unless you are the lead dog, the view never changes.

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What if AI is not the solution to your sales problems?

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, we sit down with Jim Iyoob, President of ETS Labs, to break down what actually drives performance in sales and contact centers.

Jim shares his journey from call center agent to building a global organization, along with practical insights on leadership, accountability, and why most companies struggle with CRM and AI adoption.

This conversation cuts through the noise around AI and focuses on what truly matters: process, people, and leadership.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why AI cannot fix broken sales processes

About the Guest:

With over 35 years in contact centers, Jim focuses on practical AI implementation that works in real operations. At ETSLabs, he helped develop QEval, an AI quality management platform designed for real time coaching and full interaction coverage.

At Etech, he leads global sales and quality operations while helping transform the business using insights from large scale customer interaction data.

Connect with Jim Iyoob:

About Sales Lead Dog

Sales Lead Dog is hosted by Christopher Smith, CRM technology and sales process expert, and founder of Empellor CRM. Each episode features sales leaders who have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, sharing how they achieve success with their teams and their CRM strategy.

Unless you are the lead dog, the view never changes.

Connect and Learn More

All episodes and show notes: https://empellorcrm.com/salesleaddog/

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What if the secret to a long, successful sales career had nothing to do with scripts, tactics, or closing techniques?

Richard Cassell, Senior Director of Business Development at Black Box, learned his most important sales lesson at age 12 working at his family's gas station in Valdosta, Georgia. That moment set the foundation for a career built on one core idea: stop focusing on yourself and start focusing on what the customer actually needs.

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, Richard sits down with host Christopher Smith to unpack the mindset shifts, mentorship moments, and hard-won lessons that have shaped his approach to sales, leadership, and relationship building over multiple decades.

From a pivotal two-year comeback at Washington Mutual to reframing an entire enterprise deal around mission instead of ROI, Richard shares real stories with real lessons that any sales professional can apply immediately.

What You'll Learn

Guest Credentials

Richard Cassell Senior Director of Business Development, Black Box Black Box is a global solutions provider specializing in IT infrastructure design, deployment, and management for enterprises, with a strong focus on healthcare across the United States.

Richard covers large healthcare systems nationally, working within a portfolio of 1,700 hospitals and 300+ healthcare systems.

Richard also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board at The Breakfast Group, a 50-year-old Seattle-based nonprofit focused on education and economic development for inner-city minority youth.

About Sales Lead Dog

Sales Lead Dog is hosted by Christopher Smith, CRM technology and sales process expert, and founder of Impeller CRM. Each episode features sales leaders who have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, sharing how they achieve success with their teams and their CRM strategy.

Unless you are the lead dog, the view never changes.

Connect and Learn More

All episodes and show notes: https://empellorcrm.com/salesleaddog/ 

Connect with Richard Cassell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcassell/

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AI is not coming for sales.

Is inside sales broken? Or are we leading it the wrong way?

Why do customers say no even when your offer looks great?

Most sales opportunities aren’t lost at the end; they’re lost in the very first meeting.

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, Chris sits down with sales strategist and bestselling author Lee Salz, creator of The First Meeting Differentiator, to unpack why traditional “discovery calls” are broken and what top-performing sales professionals do instead.

Lee explains why salespeople rely too heavily on logic, features, and self-focused questions… while buyers leave meetings feeling like they got no value. The result? Ghosting, stalled deals, poor qualification, and wasted pipeline time.

You’ll learn how to turn your first meeting into a consultative, value-driven conversation that builds emotional engagement, qualifies opportunities early, and creates clear next steps.

If you’re in B2B sales, sales leadership, or building a structured sales process, this episode is a masterclass in modern selling, qualification, and sales psychology.

Why “discovery meetings” actually hurt your sales

How to provide meaningful value in the first conversation

The emotional side of selling (and why logic doesn’t close deals)

How to qualify opportunities early and stop wasting time

The difference between an Ideal Client Profile and a Target Client Profile

How to eliminate ghosting with one simple process change

Why most sales problems start at the first meeting, not the close

Lee Salz is a sales strategist, consultant, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The First Meeting Differentiator. He helps sales organizations improve first conversations, onboarding, qualification, and buyer engagement.

🔹 Lee Salz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leesalz/

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🚀 CRM Shouldn’t Suck

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Scaling companies is hard. Exiting them successfully is even harder. Doing it repeatedly takes a different mindset.

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, host Chris sits down with Jeff Fleischer, a senior operating executive, capital advisor, and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience scaling technology and cybersecurity companies through hypergrowth, acquisitions, and strategic exits.

Jeff has held CRO, SVP, and CEO roles across public and private markets, helping build and sell multiple businesses to acquirers, including McAfee, JPMorgan Chase, Raytheon, BlackRock/Pamplona, and Audax. Today, he is the Founder of ProScale Partners and is launching Grainview Capital, advising founders, private equity firms, family offices, and strategic investors during critical inflection points.

This conversation dives deep into growth strategy, leadership alignment, go-to-market execution, capital formation, and what truly breaks companies during scale. Jeff shares real-world lessons from operating inside fast-moving environments where clarity, speed, and execution matter most.

Whether you’re a founder, operator, executive, or investor navigating growth or preparing for an exit, this episode delivers practical insight from someone who has done it repeatedly.

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

- How operators scale companies through hypergrowth

🎧 About Sales Lead Dog

Sales Lead Dog is a podcast for founders, executives, and revenue leaders focused on leadership, growth, culture, and modern go-to-market strategy.

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