Sales teams don’t fail for lack of tools or effort. They fail because execution, prioritization, and discipline break down at the operational level. Jeremey Donovan, EVP of Sales and Customer Success at Insight Partners, brings data-driven insights to B2B sales strategy, revenue operations, and AI in sales. Jeremey’s insights are grounded in his experience of driving growth at hundreds of B2B SaaS companies. 

In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, Jeremey joins host Cory Cotten-Potter to break down what actually drives SDR hiring success, AE performance, pipeline generation, and customer success outcomes. The conversation moves beyond theory into practical systems that improve deal intelligence, quota management, and sales team management.
If you want to understand how to align AI in sales, this episode offers a clear playbook.

Start With Hiring: The SDR Profile That Actually PerformsMost organizations approach SDR hiring with intuition. They look for cultural fit, communication skills, and other generic signals like “athlete” or “grit.” However, Jeremey’s analysis of 1,200-2,000 SDR profiles revealed that candidates with two years of recruiting experience, particularly from staffing agencies, significantly outperform other backgrounds in terms of promotion to AE and retention. 

The highest-performing SDRs consistently share the ability to handle high-volume outbound prospecting, constant calling, qualification, and persuasion under pressure.
The implication for sales team management is straightforward. If you want to improve pipeline generation and AE performance downstream, you need to fix the top of the funnel hiring model first. Recruiting professionals who already understand call volume metrics, rejection, and momentum drives sustained growth.
There is a second nuance here that challenges common assumptions. Individual sports athletes outperform team sports athletes in SDR roles. The difference is not about teamwork but about accountability. Individual athletes develop self-reliance and ownership, which maps directly to quota management and outbound prospecting performance.

For leaders building SDR teams, this removes guesswork. Instead of broad sourcing, focus on candidates with proven exposure to high-volume selling environments and individual accountability.


Activity Metrics Drive Pipeline, Not ToolsMany organizations overcomplicate pipeline generation. They invest heavily in tools but fail to enforce consistent activity metrics.

Jeremey highlights a simple but powerful model. In enterprise sales, AEs should target around eight external meetings per week, including two first meetings. This is not arbitrary; it is a direct function of win rates, deal size, and conversion assumptions.
For SDRs, the equivalent is daily call volume metrics. Outbound prospecting still relies heavily on phone activity, despite the rise of automation and AI in sales.
This is where revenue operations become critical. Territory design, lead distribution, and pipeline generation systems must support consistent activity. Without this discipline, even the best tools will not improve outcomes. 
The takeaway is clear. Before optimizing with AI, ensure your baseline execution model is sound. Activity drives pipeline, and pipeline drives revenue.


The Rule of 40 as a Strategic AnchorJeremey emphasizes the importance of the Rule of 40, where your year-over-year ARR growth rate plus your EBITDA margin equals 40% or higher. This metric is tightly linked to company valuation. It forces leaders to balance aggressive pipeline generation with operational efficiency.

For revenue operations leaders, this becomes a decision framework. Every investment in AI in sales, headcount, or customer success must contribute to either growth or efficiency. 

For example, if your company is growing quickly but burning cash, your focus should shift toward improving sales efficiency and deal conversion. Meanwhile, if growth is sluggish, you need to focus on strengthening pipeline generation and outbound prospecting. 

The Rule of 40 aligns sales strategy with financial outcomes. It ensures that revenue growth is sustainable and valued by the market.


AI in Sales: Focus on Deal Intelligence FirstCurrently, there is a lot of hype and excitement around integrating AI in sales, but not all use cases deliver equal value. Jeremey identifies deal intelligence as the highest-impact application.

Deal intelligence focuses on analyzing real deals, not simulated scenarios. AI evaluates call data, identifies gaps in methodology, and highlights missed opportunities within active deals. This is fundamentally different from role-playing coaching. Traditional role play often fails because it lacks context. Reps struggle to apply generic feedback to live situations.

With deal intelligence, coaching becomes specific and actionable. For instance, AI can identify that a rep consistently avoids budget discussions or fails to multi-thread within accounts. Managers can then use this insight in the deal review methodology and focus on one-to-one coaching.
For sales leaders, this is a direct lever on AE performance. Improving deal execution increases win rates, shortens sales cycles, and strengthens pipeline conversion.


The Overlooked Power of Predictive Account ScoringWhile generative AI dominates attention, predictive account scoring remains one of the most underutilized tools in revenue operations.
Account scoring uses historical data to prioritize which accounts are most likely to convert, thereby reducing wasted effort and improving territory design. Many reps spend time guessing which accounts to pursue, which creates inefficiency and inconsistent pipeline generation. Using predictive models removes that guesswork by qualifying and ranking accounts based on likelihood to close.
Jeremey points out that this approach delivered meaningful growth in his previous experience. Yet many companies underinvest in it because it lacks the visibility of newer AI applications. For organizations looking to improve sales efficiency, this is a high-impact opportunity. 

Combine predictive account scoring with outbound prospecting and lead enrichment to ensure reps focus on the right targets.


Customer Success Is a Growth Function, Not Just RetentionCustomer success is often framed as a retention function. In reality, it is a core driver of expansion and long-term revenue.

Customer health scoring is central to this. By analyzing usage, engagement, support activity, and feedback, teams can predict which accounts are at risk and which are ready to grow. One important insight is that both low and high support activity can signal risk. A lack of engagement may indicate disengagement, while excessive support requests may indicate frustration.

The goal is not just to avoid churn but to proactively drive health by encouraging product adoption, integrations, and deeper engagement. For revenue operations teams, integrating customer success data into the overall sales strategy creates alignment between retention and growth, resulting in expansion becoming a natural outcome of strong customer health.


Sales Compensation and Quota Management Still MatterDespite changes in technology, the relevance of core elements like sales compensation and quota management remains unchanged.

The standard model continues to center around a balanced structure between base and variable compensation. However, challenges arise when quotas are misaligned with realistic performance expectations.

Jeremey highlights a period where increasing on-target earnings led to inflated quotas. This resulted in low attainment rates and reduced motivation across sales teams. For leaders, the focus should be on alignment, and quotas must be achievable and tied to realistic pipeline generation and conversion assumptions. Compensation should reinforce desired behaviors, not create disconnects.

This is another area where revenue operations play a critical role. Data-driven quota setting ensures that sales teams remain motivated and productive.


Coaching Is the Ultimate Performance MultiplierOne of the most impactful insights from the conversation is not about technology but about mindset.

Early in his career, Jeremey viewed independence as success. Over time, he realized that seeking coaching is a far more powerful driver of growth. This applies across all levels of sales team management. Reps, managers, and leaders benefit from continuous feedback and development.

AI can enhance coaching through deal intelligence and role-playing tools, but it cannot replace the importance of human guidance. The most effective organizations combine both. For individuals, the lesson is simple. Actively seek feedback, remain open to coaching, and treat it as a core part of performance improvement.


Operational Discipline Is the Future of SalesLooking ahead, the biggest shift may not be a new tool or platform. It is a return to operational discipline, supported by AI.
This includes better deal reviews, stronger activity metrics, improved account prioritization, and more effective sales manager training.

AI in sales will amplify these systems and not replace them. Organizations that combine disciplined execution with intelligent automation will outperform those chasing isolated tools.


Turning Insight Into ExecutionThe central theme of this conversation is clarity. High-performing sales organizations succeed because they align hiring, activity, data, and coaching into a cohesive system.

A B2B sales strategy is not about chasing trends. It is about applying proven principles with consistency and precision. For leaders in revenue operations, sales team management, and customer success, the opportunity is to simplify to succeed. Focus on what drives results, use AI to enhance execution, and build systems that scale.

When done correctly, these elements work together to improve pipeline generation, AE performance, and long-term growth.


What You’ll Learn

• How to identify the ideal SDR profile
• Why individual sports matter more than team sports for rep hiring
• The "8 meetings per week" framework for enterprise AE productivity
• How to implement deal intelligence without getting distracted by AI trends
• The four AI use cases actually delivering ROI
• Why predictive ML is underinvested compared to generative AI
• How to use proactive health plays instead of just risk scoring
• The compensation truth reps won't admit
• How to avoid the OTE/quota trap

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Guest: Tal Keshet, VP of Sales at Snappy 

Employee retention fails when recognition is viewed as a nice-to-have, rather than a strategic lever anchored to business outcomes. Tal Keshet, VP of Sales at Snappy, reveals the exact gifting strategy used by over 50% of the Fortune 100 to reduce churn and build transformational loyalty. 


In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, Tal sits with host Cory Cotten-Potter to discuss what separates recognition programs that create impact from those that fade into the background. If you want to learn how to shift from transactional rewards to a measurement framework that treats relationship strength as a core KPI, this episode is worth a listen.


Start With the Business Problem, Not the Program
Most leaders launch corporate recognition programs because they "should," not because they have a defined ‘why’. 

This gap matters more than most leaders realize. If your organization is facing high attrition, your strategy must be architected specifically to influence that outcome. Data-driven engagement begins with aligning every gift to a measurable business problem, whether that is moving a 40% attrition rate or solving for low expansion revenue.

Why Emotional Connection Drives Real Results
There is a tendency in B2B environments to assume that logic is enough. Pay employees well, give them the right tools, and performance will follow. 

However, human decision-making is 70% emotional. When recognition taps into how an employee feels seen, the relationship shifts from transactional to transformational. This emotional anchor is what separates a generic reward from a loyalty-building experience.

Employees who feel connected to their organization are more engaged, more productive, and more likely to stay. Customers who feel a similar connection become more loyal, more selective, and more willing to deepen their relationship with a brand.
The Hidden Power of Shareable Recognition
One of the most compelling insights from the conversation is how differently employees respond to recognition versus compensation. Research shows that a significant percentage of employees say receiving an anniversary gift makes them more likely to stay at a company, with an impact comparable to a salary increase.

The difference lies in how those experiences are shared. Compensation is private and rarely discussed, but a personalized gift is social currency. When employees receive meaningful recognition, they share it with their network and family. This turns internal employee retention into external employer branding and organic reach. 

For leaders focused on employee retention solutions, this creates a compounding effect. The same investment that improves retention can also strengthen recruitment and brand loyalty.

Why Cash Incentives Alone Fall Short
Sales leaders often default to cash, yet research shows financial incentives alone produce diminishing returns. While compensation is essential, it is not sufficient on its own.

What drives incremental lift is inspiration, not just compensation. This is where the concept of hedonic rewards becomes important.

Experiences and aspirational rewards, things employees genuinely want rather than need, create a different type of motivation. A trip, a meaningful piece of merchandise, or a personalized experience carries emotional weight that cash does not. It creates anticipation, excitement, and a sense of achievement.
More importantly, these rewards can be tied to specific behaviors. Instead of only rewarding the top 1% to 3% of performers through traditional programs like the Presidents’ Club, organizations can design behavior-driven gifting programs that engage the middle 60% of their workforce. This group often determines whether a team meets or misses its targets.

By creating achievable milestones and rewarding incremental progress, companies can unlock performance across the entire organization. This approach not only improves results but also reduces disengagement among employees who might otherwise feel overlooked.

Personalization at Scale and the Role of AI
Delivering personalized recognition to thousands of employees used to be difficult. AI now enables leaders to curate rewards and tailor messaging at scale.  

AI enables organizations to curate rewards, tailor messaging, and create more relevant experiences at scale. It allows companies to meet employees where they are, whether that’s in an office, on a factory floor, or working in the field. This is especially important for deskless employees, who are often excluded from traditional engagement initiatives.

However, there is a balance to be struck. While AI can enhance personalization, it cannot replace human connection. Over-reliance on automation risks creating experiences that feel generic or impersonal, undermining the very goal of building engagement.
The most effective organizations use AI as an enabler, not a substitute. They leverage it to increase relevance and efficiency while preserving the human elements that create trust and emotional connection. This balance is what allows personalization at scale to feel authentic rather than automated.

Investing in People as a Growth StrategyAggressive growth often leads sales leaders to ignore training, the concern being that stepping away from day-to-day execution will slow momentum.

In reality, the opposite is often true. Investing in skill development, whether through structured training, new methodologies, or in-person collaboration, creates a foundation for sustained performance. Employees who are allowed to grow are more engaged, more capable, and more likely to stay.

There is also a human element that cannot be replicated digitally. Bringing teams together, creating space for collaboration, and reinforcing shared goals strengthen relationships within the organization. That internal alignment translates directly into better customer interactions and stronger business outcomes.

For leaders thinking about long-term growth, this is a critical shift. Short-term acceleration without capability building is difficult to sustain. Investing in people creates the conditions for consistent performance over time.

The Future of Recognition and Relationship MetricsLooking ahead, the role of recognition and engagement is likely to evolve further. As AI becomes more integrated into daily operations, the differentiating factor will not be access to technology, but the ability to build and maintain meaningful relationships.

There is a growing belief that organizations will begin to measure relationship strength as a core KPI, alongside traditional metrics like revenue and churn. This includes not only the number of relationships, but their depth, duration, and quality.
This shift would fundamentally change how companies approach employee engagement and customer loyalty by placing greater emphasis on emotional connection, trust, and long-term value creation.

Organizations that begin building frameworks for measuring these elements today will be better positioned to compete in the future. Those who continue to focus solely on transactional metrics may find themselves at a disadvantage.
Recognition as a Driver of GrowthThe central takeaway from this conversation is straightforward but often overlooked: Recognition is not just about appreciation, it’s about influence. When designed with intent, tied to clear outcomes, and supported by the right technology and data, recognition becomes a powerful tool for shaping behavior. It can improve employee retention, strengthen customer loyalty, and drive measurable gains in performance.
What You’ll Learn

• How to shift from transactional to transformational gifting
• Why emotional connection drives better ROI than cash incentives
• The measurement framework that proves gifting RO
• How to design recognition programs that actually move retention metrics
• The personalization-at-scale strategy that resonates with Gen Z
• Why slowing down your sales organization to invest in methodology and training accelerates growth

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Employee retention fails when recognition is viewed as a nice-to-have, rather than a strategic lever anchored to business outcomes. Tal Keshet, VP of Sales at Snappy, reveals the exact gifting strategy used by over 50% of the Fortune 100 to reduce churn and build transformational loyalty. 


In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, Tal sits with host Cory Cotten-Potter to discuss what separates recognition programs that create impact from those that fade into the background. If you want to learn how to shift from transactional rewards to a measurement framework that treats relationship strength as a core KPI, this episode is worth a listen.


Start With the Business Problem, Not the ProgramMost leaders launch corporate recognition programs because they "should," not because they have a defined ‘why’. 

This gap matters more than most leaders realize. If your organization is facing high attrition, your strategy must be architected specifically to influence that outcome. Data-driven engagement begins with aligning every gift to a measurable business problem, whether that is moving a 40% attrition rate or solving for low expansion revenue.


Why Emotional Connection Drives Real ResultsThere is a tendency in B2B environments to assume that logic is enough. Pay employees well, give them the right tools, and performance will follow. 

However, human decision-making is 70% emotional. When recognition taps into how an employee feels seen, the relationship shifts from transactional to transformational. This emotional anchor is what separates a generic reward from a loyalty-building experience.

Employees who feel connected to their organization are more engaged, more productive, and more likely to stay. Customers who feel a similar connection become more loyal, more selective, and more willing to deepen their relationship with a brand.


The Hidden Power of Shareable RecognitionOne of the most compelling insights from the conversation is how differently employees respond to recognition versus compensation. Research shows that a significant percentage of employees say receiving an anniversary gift makes them more likely to stay at a company, with an impact comparable to a salary increase.
The difference lies in how those experiences are shared. Compensation is private and rarely discussed, but a personalized gift is social currency. When employees receive meaningful recognition, they share it with their network and family. This turns internal employee retention into external employer branding and organic reach. 

For leaders focused on employee retention solutions, this creates a compounding effect. The same investment that improves retention can also strengthen recruitment and brand loyalty.


Why Cash Incentives Alone Fall ShortSales leaders often default to cash, yet research shows financial incentives alone produce diminishing returns. While compensation is essential, it is not sufficient on its own.

What drives incremental lift is inspiration, not just compensation. This is where the concept of hedonic rewards becomes important.

Experiences and aspirational rewards, things employees genuinely want rather than need, create a different type of motivation. A trip, a meaningful piece of merchandise, or a personalized experience carries emotional weight that cash does not. It creates anticipation, excitement, and a sense of achievement.

More importantly, these rewards can be tied to specific behaviors. Instead of only rewarding the top 1% to 3% of performers through traditional programs like the Presidents’ Club, organizations can design behavior-driven gifting programs that engage the middle 60% of their workforce. This group often determines whether a team meets or misses its targets.

By creating achievable milestones and rewarding incremental progress, companies can unlock performance across the entire organization. This approach not only improves results but also reduces disengagement among employees who might otherwise feel overlooked.


Personalization at Scale and the Role of AIDelivering personalized recognition to thousands of employees used to be difficult. AI now enables leaders to curate rewards and tailor messaging at scale.  
AI enables organizations to curate rewards, tailor messaging, and create more relevant experiences at scale. It allows companies to meet employees where they are, whether that’s in an office, on a factory floor, or working in the field. This is especially important for deskless employees, who are often excluded from traditional engagement initiatives.

However, there is a balance to be struck. While AI can enhance personalization, it cannot replace human connection. Over-reliance on automation risks creating experiences that feel generic or impersonal, undermining the very goal of building engagement.
The most effective organizations use AI as an enabler, not a substitute. They leverage it to increase relevance and efficiency while preserving the human elements that create trust and emotional connection. This balance is what allows personalization at scale to feel authentic rather than automated.


Investing in People as a Growth StrategyAggressive growth often leads sales leaders to ignore training, the concern being that stepping away from day-to-day execution will slow momentum.

In reality, the opposite is often true. Investing in skill development, whether through structured training, new methodologies, or in-person collaboration, creates a foundation for sustained performance. Employees who are allowed to grow are more engaged, more capable, and more likely to stay.

There is also a human element that cannot be replicated digitally. Bringing teams together, creating space for collaboration, and reinforcing shared goals strengthen relationships within the organization. That internal alignment translates directly into better customer interactions and stronger business outcomes.


For leaders thinking about long-term growth, this is a critical shift. Short-term acceleration without capability building is difficult to sustain. Investing in people creates the conditions for consistent performance over time.


The Future of Recognition and Relationship MetricsLooking ahead, the role of recognition and engagement is likely to evolve further. As AI becomes more integrated into daily operations, the differentiating factor will not be access to technology, but the ability to build and maintain meaningful relationships.

There is a growing belief that organizations will begin to measure relationship strength as a core KPI, alongside traditional metrics like revenue and churn. This includes not only the number of relationships, but their depth, duration, and quality.
This shift would fundamentally change how companies approach employee engagement and customer loyalty by placing greater emphasis on emotional connection, trust, and long-term value creation.

Organizations that begin building frameworks for measuring these elements today will be better positioned to compete in the future. Those who continue to focus solely on transactional metrics may find themselves at a disadvantage.


Recognition as a Driver of Growth

The central takeaway from this conversation is straightforward but often overlooked: Recognition is not just about appreciation, it’s about influence. When designed with intent, tied to clear outcomes, and supported by the right technology and data, recognition becomes a powerful tool for shaping behavior. It can improve employee retention, strengthen customer loyalty, and drive measurable gains in performance.


What You’ll Learn

• How to shift from transactional to transformational gifting
• Why emotional connection drives better ROI than cash incentives
• The measurement framework that proves gifting RO
• How to design recognition programs that actually move retention metrics
• The personalization-at-scale strategy that resonates with Gen Z
• Why slowing down your sales organization to invest in methodology and training accelerates growth

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Guest: Stephen Baer, Keynote Speaker, Best Selling Author of Stickology, and Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Engagency

Here’s a hard truth most organizations ignore: your biggest barrier to growth isn’t your strategy, your tech stack, or even your market; it’s your employee engagement. In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, host Cory Cotten-Potter sits down with Stephen Baer to explore how the engagement deficit is quietly destroying business productivity, and why fixing employee experience is the fastest path to improving customer experience and revenue.

Most leaders assume that if people are paid well and given the right tools, performance will follow. But the rise of quiet quitting tells a different story. Employees aren’t disengaged because of compensation; they’re disengaged because of leadership, lack of development, and a broken organizational culture.


The $8.8 Trillion Engagement Deficit and Its Impact on Business Productivity
The scale of the engagement deficit is impossible to ignore. According to Gallup, 79% of employees worldwide are disengaged or quietly quitting, leading to an $8.8 trillion loss in global business productivity.

When employee engagement is low, employee experience suffers. When employee experience suffers, customer experience breaks down. And when customer experience declines, customer loyalty disappears.

Yet many organizations continue to focus on short-term gains, overlooking the long-term impact of employee retention, turnover reduction, and leadership development. The companies that take a different approach, prioritizing employee engagement and investing in workplace culture transformation, see dramatically better outcomes:

• Lower turnover and stronger employee retention
• Higher business productivity and revenue per employee
• Stronger customer loyalty and brand experience
  
  

The message is clear: fixing the engagement deficit is one of the highest-ROI moves a business can make.


The Hidden Signs of a Broken Organizational CultureOne of the biggest challenges with employee engagement is that the warning signs are often hidden beneath the surface. Leaders may believe their workplace culture is strong, while frontline employees experience something entirely different. This disconnect is where disengagement begins.

Common indicators of a weak organizational culture include:

• Micromanagement and lack of trust
• Poor team collaboration and siloed thinking
• Resistance to change and innovation
• Low workplace motivation and morale
• A lack of emotional intelligence in leadership
  
  

These issues don’t just impact employee experience; they directly affect customer experience and business outcomes.
The transformation of Microsoft highlights the power of workplace culture transformation. Under Satya Nadella, the company shifted from internal competition to collaboration, improving team collaboration, innovation, and overall business productivity.

Stronger employee engagement led to stronger performance.


Connection vs Engagement: Why Customer Loyalty Requires MoreA critical insight from the episode is the distinction between connection and engagement, something many organizations overlook in both employee experience and customer experience.

Connection is fast and convenient. It’s driven by personalization, automation, and data. But it’s fragile. Engagement is slower. It requires trust, emotional intelligence, and consistency. But it creates lasting employee loyalty and customer loyalty.

Many organizations optimize for connection through technology and AI. They improve efficiency, automate workflows, and personalize interactions. But without emotional engagement, these efforts fail to build long-term relationships.

This is where the experience economy comes into play. Customers don’t just evaluate products; they evaluate brand experience. They remember how they feel during every interaction.

For revenue leaders, this means shifting from transactional interactions to meaningful relationships. Engagement, not just connection, is what drives loyalty, retention, and long-term growth.


The Experience Economy and the Power of Brand ExperienceIn today’s experience economy, every interaction shapes perception. Whether it’s positive or negative, each touchpoint contributes to the overall brand experience.

Few companies demonstrate this better than Trader Joe's.
Their approach to customer experience is simple but powerful: empower employees to act in the customer’s best interest. This level of employee engagement creates a workplace culture where team collaboration, autonomy, and customer focus thrive.

Instead of rigid processes, employees are encouraged to be helpful, creating memorable experiences that drive customer loyalty.

This approach leads to:

• Higher employee retention and lower turnover
• Stronger workplace motivation and engagement
• A differentiated brand experience that customers share

The business impact is clear. By prioritizing employee experience and empowering teams, organizations create a cycle where engagement fuels performance.


Why Employee Experience Drives Customer ExperienceAt the core of this conversation is a simple truth: employee experience directly shapes customer experience. Your employees are your brand. Every interaction a customer has with your organization is influenced by the mindset, motivation, and engagement of your team.

When employee engagement is low, it shows. Customers experience poor service, a lack of empathy, and inconsistent interactions.
When employee engagement is high, the opposite happens. Employees bring energy, curiosity, and ownership into every interaction, creating stronger customer loyalty and better outcomes.

Companies like the Ritz-Carlton exemplify this approach. By empowering employees to resolve customer issues independently, they eliminate friction and improve both employee experience and customer experience.
This model reduces escalation, improves efficiency, and strengthens relationships, ultimately driving business productivity.


The Manager to Coach Transition: The Missing Link in Leadership Development

One of the most important shifts organizations must make is the transition from manager to coach. Traditional management focuses on oversight, reporting, and performance tracking. But this approach often leads to micromanagement, low engagement, and poor employee retention.

Coaching, on the other hand, focuses on employee development, growth, and empowerment.

This is where servant leadership becomes critical. Leaders must prioritize the success and development of their teams, not just their output. The reality is that many managers are unprepared for this responsibility. Without training in emotional intelligence, communication, and coaching, they struggle to create a strong employee experience.

The impact is significant:

• High turnover and disengagement
• Weak team collaboration
• Reduced business productivity
  
  

Organizations that invest in leadership development and train managers to become coaches see the opposite:

• Stronger employee engagement and loyalty
• Improved workplace culture transformation
• Higher revenue and performance
  
  

This shift isn’t optional; it’s essential for long-term success.


The Compounding Effect of Employee Engagement on GrowthWhen organizations prioritize employee engagement, the results compound over time.

Engaged employees create a better customer experience.

Better customer experience drives customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty increases revenue and business productivity.

That growth can then be reinvested into employee development, strengthening the cycle. In contrast, organizations that ignore employee experience face the opposite cycle: disengagement, turnover, poor performance, and declining customer loyalty.
The difference between these two paths comes down to leadership. Leaders who focus on organizational culture, emotional intelligence, and the manager-to-coach transition create environments where people thrive. And when people thrive, businesses grow.

In a world increasingly focused on AI and automation, the companies that win won’t be the ones that replace people; they’ll be the ones that invest in them.
Because at the end of the day, employee engagement isn’t just a people issue. It’s the foundation of customer experience, business productivity, and sustainable growth.

The key takeaway from the conversation is clear: Employee engagement and employee experience drive customer experience, loyalty, and business productivity. Fix the engagement deficit by transforming managers into coaches, reducing turnover, improving organizational culture, and strengthening leadership development and collaboration.


What You’ll Learn

• Why the $8.8 trillion engagement deficit is an existential threat
• How to distinguish connection from engagement
• The three proven metrics that matter
• How to transform managers into coaches to stop the 60% failure rate
• The Trader Joe's and Ritz Carlton playbook for empowering frontline teams
• Why AI amplifies humanity rather than replaces it
  
  

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Here’s a hard truth most organizations avoid: your CRM isn’t failing because of the software; it’s failing because of your CRM strategy. In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, host Cory Cotten-Potter sits down with Jason Kramer, Founder and CEO at Cultivize, to unpack why many companies invest heavily in platforms, features, and integrations, expecting immediate gains in sales pipeline management and visibility. But without a clearly defined process, even the most advanced systems fall short. Instead of enabling revenue optimization, the CRM becomes a fragmented repository of inconsistent data and missed opportunities.
The CRM Pressure Test That Reveals the Truth
Early in the conversation, Jason introduces a deceptively simple diagnostic for evaluating CRM implementation effectiveness:

Ask your team: “If we deleted the CRM tomorrow, what would you miss most?”
This single question exposes the reality behind CRM best practices. If the answers don’t align with leadership expectations, there’s a disconnect. If the team struggles to respond, adoption is likely superficial. And if they highlight unexpected features, it signals a deeper issue in how the system supports the actual sales process optimization.

This approach directly ties into B2B CRM strategy and revenue operations, where alignment between tools and team behavior is critical. A CRM that isn’t actively relied upon isn’t driving value; it’s simply documenting activity.


Process First, Technology SecondA central theme of the discussion is the importance of process-first CRM implementation and optimization. Jason emphasizes that technology should reinforce a well-defined process, not attempt to replace one.
He illustrates this with a case study of a roofing company that uncovered nearly $4 million in unclosed deals within its pipeline. The issue wasn’t demand; it was execution. Without structured sales funnel management, each salesperson operated differently, leading to inconsistent data, stalled deals, and poor visibility.

By redefining the sales pipeline management around the actual buying journey and introducing sales automation, the company transformed its results. Automated follow-ups ensured that long sales cycles, sometimes extending 15–18 months, were consistently nurtured rather than abandoned.

This shift highlights how aligning systems with processes can unlock significant revenue optimization without increasing lead volume.


The Silent Killer: Poor Lead Nurturing
One of the most striking insights from the episode is that 63% of prospects who aren’t ready to buy today will eventually make a purchase. The critical question is whether they will buy from the same company that first engaged them.

This is where lead nurturing becomes essential. However, most organizations approach it incorrectly, treating it as a periodic task rather than a structured system.

Jason advocates for multi-channel lead nurturing strategies for B2B sales funnels, combining email, LinkedIn outreach, phone calls, and educational content over extended periods. Effective nurturing aligns with the buyer’s timeline, not the seller’s urgency.

Advancements in AI-driven CRM, automation, and sales workflows are making it easier to scale these efforts. When properly implemented, nurturing becomes consistent and personalized, reducing pipeline leakage and improving conversion rates.

Without such systems, sales teams revert to reactive behavior, limiting sales team productivity and allowing qualified opportunities to slip away.


The Missing Data Point: “Why Now?”
Another critical gap in most customer relationship management systems is the absence of a structured way to capture urgency. Jason emphasizes the importance of documenting the “Why Now” behind each opportunity. This insight plays a pivotal role in lead scoring and lead qualification, as it identifies the real drivers of purchase intent.

Understanding why a prospect is acting at a specific moment enables more accurate targeting, messaging, and timing. It also supports designing CRM systems around the customer buying journey, ensuring that pipeline stages reflect actual buyer behavior rather than internal assumptions.

Without this context, organizations risk misinterpreting data and misallocating resources, ultimately weakening sales funnel management effectiveness.


Why Most CRM Implementations Fail to Deliver ROI
A recurring theme throughout the episode is why most CRM implementations fail to deliver ROI. The root cause is rarely technical; it’s strategic.

Companies often prioritize CRM software selection, debating options like HubSpot vs Salesforce, without first addressing foundational questions about process and workflow. As a result, the system is configured around assumptions rather than reality.

This leads to poor CRM data management, unreliable reporting, and ineffective decision-making. In turn, it becomes difficult to align sales and marketing efforts or fully leverage marketing automation and sales enablement capabilities.

Addressing these challenges requires a shift in mindset: from focusing on tools to focusing on outcomes. When the process is clear, the technology can be configured to support it effectively.


When CRM Actually Makes Sense
Kramer also outlines when investing in CRM is truly necessary. Not every business benefits from early adoption, and premature implementation can introduce unnecessary complexity.

Key indicators include:

• Significant marketing spend requiring ROI tracking
• Expansion of the sales team necessitates standardized processes
• The need to integrate systems such as ERP and customer data platforms
  
  

In these scenarios, CRM plays a critical role in improving sales team productivity and enabling scalable operations. Otherwise, simpler tools may be more effective until the business reaches the appropriate stage.


A System That Reflects the Business
Ultimately, the episode reinforces that CRM is not just a tool; it’s a reflection of how an organization operates.

When aligned with well-defined processes, it becomes a driver of:

• Sales process optimization
• Sales pipeline management
• Long-term revenue optimization
  
  

When misaligned, it introduces friction, obscures insights, and limits growth.

The key takeaway from the conversation is clear: before optimizing technology, organizations must first understand and refine their processes. Only then can CRM fulfill its role as a strategic asset, capturing value that already exists within the pipeline but often goes unrealized.

What You’ll Learn

• How to pressure-test your CRM strategy with a single question
• Why 63% of deals in your pipeline will eventually close, just not necessarily with you
• The "Why Now" field every CRM needs
• How to shift from "sales stages" to "buying stages."
• The hidden $4M revenue opportunity in follow-up automation
• When to implement CRM for solopreneurs and early-stage teams
  
  

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

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• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Go-To-Market Strategy is undergoing a fundamental shift as autonomous agents begin to influence the B2B buying journey. In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, host Cory Cotten-Potter sits down with Adrian Rosenkranz, CRO at Webflow, to discuss why traditional revenue models are breaking and what must replace them. Drawing on leadership roles at Salesforce and Webflow, Adrian offers a clear-eyed view of how Revenue Operations must evolve to meet the "dual reality" of modern commerce: human intuition and machine discoverability.


Moving Beyond the Traditional B2B Sales FunnelFor decades, the B2B sales funnel has served as the North Star for growth. But Adrian argues that this linear model is no longer compatible with how buyers actually behave. In an era where AI agents crawl and interpret website data before a human ever reaches out, the funnel gives way to a simpler, more agile framework built around two realities: discoverability and conversion.

Discoverability asks how well your brand is indexed and understood by both human researchers and AI systems. Conversion asks how effectively you turn that digital discovery into a high-trust customer relationship. Together, they replace layers of funnel stages with a cleaner, more actionable way to think about growth.


Breaking Down Silos Across Revenue TeamsIn many organizations, sales, marketing, customer success, and revenue operations still operate in relative isolation, each focused on its own metrics and workflows. The result is a fragmented view of the customer and missed opportunities to act on insights that no single team can see on its own.

Adrian describes how bringing these functions together under a shared revenue leadership structure unlocks a 360-degree view of the customer journey. When RevOps operates as a unified engine rather than a coordinating layer, insights from AI tools flow across the full customer lifecycle and translate into cohesive strategies that every team can act on.


The Rolling ICP: A Dynamic Approach to Customer TargetingAs companies move upmarket or expand into new segments, their ideal customer profile naturally evolves. Yet most organizations still treat the ICP as a static document created during an earlier stage of growth, revisited once a year if at all.

Adrian advocates for what he calls a rolling ICP: a continuously updated model that evolves as new data emerges. By analysing product usage patterns and customer conversations, teams can identify which types of organizations are deriving the most value in real time. AI accelerates this process by surfacing patterns across large volumes of conversation data, allowing revenue leaders to refine targeting strategy month by month as markets shift.


Balancing AI Automation with Human CreativityWhile AI is rapidly transforming go-to-market operations, Adrian cautions against viewing it purely as a replacement for human work. The organizations that will thrive are those that use AI to augment human capability rather than eliminate it.

AI excels at processing information, identifying patterns, and automating repetitive tasks. Humans remain far better at creativity, curiosity, and relationship building. When AI handles operational complexity, revenue teams gain back the time and cognitive space to focus on high-value conversations and strategic thinking. That balance: automation for efficiency, human engagement for insight, creates a more sustainable path to growth.


AI as a Personal Operating System for LeadersAdrian also shares how executives can use AI to amplify their own decision-making. Rather than relying on generic prompts, leaders can train AI systems on their personal knowledge base: notes from books they've studied, frameworks they use day-to-day, and lessons accumulated throughout their careers.

By embedding these insights, leaders effectively create a personalized "chief of staff" capable of surfacing blind spots, proposing alternative perspectives, and helping translate ideas into practical action. Over time, this approach allows leaders to scale their thinking consistently across teams.


Preparing for the Next Era of Go-to-MarketThe central takeaway from Adrian's perspective is that the next era of B2B growth will be defined by how effectively organizations adapt to AI-driven discovery and decision-making. Companies that cling to outdated funnel frameworks risk having their visibility and competitiveness gradually erode as buyers increasingly rely on AI systems to evaluate vendors before any human interaction takes place.
Those that rethink their go-to-market systems, optimizing for discoverability, embracing cross-functional collaboration, and using AI to augment rather than replace human creativity will be far better positioned to compete. The question for revenue leaders is no longer whether to adapt, but how quickly they can redesign their operating models to reflect the world that already exists.


What You’ll Learn

• How to distinguish between "getting it done" and "doing it right." 
• Why unifying siloed go-to-market teams unlocks customer insights 
• The rolling ICP framework for managing uncertainty during upmarket expansion
• How to make teams comfortable with uncertainty and rapid change 
• The dual-reality go-to-market model
• Why investing in human-to-human conversations is more valuable today

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Partner-led GTM strategy is the missing third leg of the B2B revenue stool, yet most programs fail within 12 months due to poor leadership and misaligned incentives. Most B2B organizations believe they have two revenue engines: sales and marketing. What they miss is the third.

A partner-led go-to-market motion isn’t a channel tactic. It’s structural leverage. And when executed correctly, it can unlock 40–60% incremental revenue that direct sales alone cannot reach.

Vaughn Mordecai, CRO at Mindmatrix, has seen this pattern repeatedly. Organizations launch partner programs reactively, assign them to junior staff, and abandon them before the motion matures.

Learn how to solve the attribution crisis, align sales compensation to eliminate internal friction, and leverage AI-powered workflows to meet the demands of digital-first buyers. Vaughn shares his expert framework for transforming partnerships into a strategic growth engine that shortens sales cycles and increases deal sizes.

What You’ll Learn

• How to shift partnerships from tactical afterthought to strategic growth engine
• Why assigning partnerships to junior staff guarantees failure
• The compensation framework that eliminates sales team friction
• How to solve the attribution and ROI visibility crisis
• The AI-powered operating system approach that replaces fragmented platforms
• Why younger buyers demand digital-first experiences, and how to deliver them

The Strategic Power of Partner-Led GTM: Scaling B2B Revenue Beyond Direct Sales In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, host Cory Cotten-Potter sits down with Vaughn Mordecai, Chief Revenue Officer at Mindmatrix, to deconstruct the myths surrounding channel sales and explore why a partner-led GTM strategy is becoming the essential lever for B2B organizations looking to scale in a digital-first economy.

Vaughn explains that while many mid-market companies still treat partnerships as a tactical afterthought, the world’s largest technology and manufacturing giants like SAP and HP go to market almost entirely through partner ecosystems. The shift is driven by performance: partner-involved deals consistently yield higher win rates, larger contract values, and faster closing cycles. By leveraging local partners who possess deep customer intimacy and combining that with the resource backing of a global enterprise vendor, the overall customer experience improves significantly.

The Strategic Shift to Partner-Led Go-to-MarketThe transition from a purely direct sales model to a partner-led ecosystem is a fundamental shift in how a business views its growth architecture. Vaughn highlights that a partner-led GTM strategy is not just about adding resellers, it is about building a "three-legged stool" of revenue consisting of direct sales, marketing-led inbound, and partner-led ecosystems. Without that third leg, an organization is inherently unstable. In today’s market, where 80-90% of a buyer's journey is completed before they ever speak to a salesperson, partners provide the necessary human-experience-delivered-digitally that modern buyers crave.
Why Year One is the Danger Zone for Partner ProgramsOne of the most common pitfalls in B2B growth is the premature abandonment of channel initiatives. Vaughn notes that many organizations attempt to launch partner programs when they hit the $5–10 million ARR mark, often as a reactive move to enter new regions like EMEA or Asia. However, because revenue rarely materializes in the first six months, impatient leadership often shuts these programs down.

Vaughn is adamant: fully optimizing a partner motion is a two-to-three-year commitment. Success requires executive-level patience and a long-term strategic horizon.
Solving the Sales Compensation and Friction ProblemInternal alignment is perhaps the greatest hurdle to a successful partner-led GTM strategy. If a direct sales team views a partner as a threat to their commission, they will actively undermine the relationship. Vaughn argues that the only way to eliminate this friction is through a radical rethink of compensation.
By compensating direct sales reps on partner-sourced deals, the organization turns internal competition into collaboration. Furthermore, attribution remains a high-stakes challenge for the CRO and CFO. With modern buying committees growing to 15 or more stakeholders, organizations must implement systems that provide clear visibility into every touchpoint, ensuring that partner contribution is accurately measured and rewarded.

Leveraging AI to Scale Global Partner EcosystemsAs ecosystems grow, fragmentation often follows. Managing multiple communication platforms and disconnected workflows can stifle the very growth the program was designed to create. Vaughn suggests that the future of partnerships lies in AI-powered operating systems rather than standalone tools.

Looking ahead, he predicts that AI-driven workflows and agent-based enablement will further reduce global friction. AI can allow partners to operate in their native languages and local environments while maintaining brand consistency and compliance. By embedding these AI-driven capabilities directly into the daily workflows of partners, vendors can accelerate revenue at a scale that direct sellers simply cannot achieve alone.



Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

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• Spotify
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• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Most B2B organizations don’t actually have a pricing strategy. What they have is a collection of habits: annual price increases, end-of-quarter discounts, and sales-led negotiation tactics that evolve over time. These behaviors are rarely coordinated across departments, and the result is inconsistent margins, confused buyers, and reactive decision-making.
According to Pascal Yammine, pricing problems are usually alignment problems. Pricing touches sales, finance, marketing, product, and operations. When each function has a different objective, the pricing model becomes fragmented. Sales teams discount out of fear of losing deals. Finance pushes for margin targets. Marketing protects brand positioning. Without a unified strategy, pricing becomes reactive rather than strategic.

One of the most common examples of this behavior is the annual 9–10% price increase. Many companies treat this number as standard practice, but buyers recognize it as arbitrary and negotiable. Instead of reinforcing value, it signals that pricing is flexible and driven by internal pressures rather than customer outcomes.
Strategic pricing works differently. It starts with segmentation. Instead of applying the same logic across all markets and customers, organizations decide where to prioritize growth and where to protect margin. A company may accept lower margins in a strategic market to gain share while maximizing margins in mature segments.
Value-based pricing becomes the anchor of this strategy. Rather than applying percentage increases across the board, companies ask a more important question: are we still creating enough value for this customer? When value is clear and understood, arbitrary increases become irrelevant.

Data and AI now play a central role in enabling this shift. Modern pricing systems combine transactional data, market conditions, competitive intelligence, and supply-chain variables to generate recommendations. However, technology alone does not solve pricing problems. The real challenge is building trust across teams and aligning on commercial goals.
Organizations that succeed with pricing transformation typically start small. Instead of rolling out a new pricing model across the entire company, they begin with one region, one business unit, or one product line. Once leaders see measurable improvements in margin or growth, adoption spreads organically. Other teams ask for the capability rather than resisting it.

Over the next five years, pricing will likely move from AI-assisted insights to automated pricing actions. As organizations build trust in AI recommendations, pricing decisions will increasingly shift from manual analysis to real-time, automated adjustments based on market signals.

Learn more about Pascal Yammine:

• Connect on LinkedIn
• Visit Zilliant Website

Key Quotes:

• "Pricing is used in a reactive way as opposed to a proactive and a strategic way."

• "If I'm trying to solve a problem with technology, the problem has to be solved through technology, through process changes, workflow changes and to human behavior." 

• “You will never create a model that is right. You will create a model that hopefully is okay, and then you'll get feedback, and then you'll make it better." 

• "What's different today is that technology has gotten to the point where you can prepare yourself for it. You can do something about it as opposed to always looking reactively to it." 

Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

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• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
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• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Sales transparency in B2B sales has become a competitive advantage that accelerates deals, improves forecasting, and builds long-term customer trust.
In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, host Cory Cotten-Potter is joined by Todd Caponi, Founder of Sales Melon, to discuss how transparency, behavioral psychology, and historical sales practices can transform your approach to selling, negotiating, and building lasting customer relationships.

Drawing on behavioral science, sales history, and real-world executive experience, Todd explains why buyers trust imperfection more than polished pitches, and how revealing trade-offs, pricing logic, and constraints actually increase win rates and deal velocity.

Todd Caponi is a seasoned C-level sales leader, author, sales historian, and one of 400 active Certified Speaking Professionals worldwide, as well as the founder of Sales Melon. He’s also the Chief Sales Historian and Nerd at The Sales History Podcast. Todd is also the author of The Transparency Sale, The Transparent Sales Leader, and the Four Levers Negotiating.

What You'll Learn:

• Why sales transparency speeds up the sales process and improves buyer confidence
• How revealing downsides and trade-offs increase trust in B2B sales conversations
• Why fake urgency and discounting hurt pipeline management and forecasting
• How the “Four Levers Negotiating” creates a sound pricing basis without pressure
• Why buyers with more information actually need more guidance

GUESTS: Todd Caponi, Founder of Sales Melon

Want more insights on mastering the fundamentals of selling? Explore more episodes of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience where elite sales leaders share the systems, mindsets, and tools that drive consistent performance. 🎧 Browse all episodes
Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

True GTM alignment requires more than collaboration; it demands consistent outcomes across the entire customer journey.

In this episode, Cory sits down with Bill Dwoinen, Chief Revenue Officer at Mural, to deconstruct the myths of revenue alignment.

With over 20 years of experience scaling teams at powerhouses like Slack and Salesforce, Bill explains why consistent alignment throughout the customer journey drives faster closes and leads to happier customers. He breaks down the specific leadership principles required to transform team burnout into revenue momentum and how to execute a strategy that goes beyond simply “working together.”

GTM alignment in B2B sales isn’t more collaboration; it’s consistent alignment on outcomes across the full customer journey. In this episode of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience, host Cory Cotten-Potter is joined by Bill Dwoinen, Chief Revenue Officer at Mural, to break down why consistent alignment throughout the customer journey drives faster closes and happier customers, how to distinguish between collaboration and true alignment, and the leadership principles that transform burnout into momentum.

Bill Dwoinen is the Chief Revenue Officer at Mural, bringing more than 20 years of experience in scaling revenue teams. Prior to his current role, he held key leadership roles at powerhouse companies, such as Slack and Salesforce, where he was responsible for driving growth, leading global teams, and developing sales strategies focused on long-term success.

What You'll Learn:

• How to define GTM alignment as outcome ownership across time
• The fastest warning signs you’re stuck in collaboration drag
• How to structure feedback loops across sales, marketing, product, and customer success
• Which metrics move first when alignment improves

Learn more about Bill:

• Bill Dwoinen on LinkedIn
• Mural Website

Want more insights on mastering the fundamentals of selling? Explore more episodes of The B2B Revenue Executive Experience where elite sales leaders share the systems, mindsets, and tools that drive consistent performance. 🎧 Browse all episodes


Subscribe to the podcast or write a review 

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Stitcher
• TuneIn

Previous guests include: Eric Shaver, Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, Harry Spaight, Founder of the Selling with Dignity, Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder at Salesfare
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• Episode 189: 5 Things CRM Software Should Help You Do w/ Jeroen Corthout
• Episode 299: How to Break the Used Car Salesperson Stereotype with Harry Spaight
• Episode 301: From Tech Sales to Business Conversation with Eric Shaver

Ready to Join the Conversation? Click fame.so/vsa-guest to apply. Tell us about your expertise, experience, and why you’d make an exceptional guest on the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast. We can’t wait to explore the insights and strategies that make you a leader in the revenue space.

The B2B Revenue Executive Experience is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so