The Sales Transformers Podcast: Turning The Tanker

Are you building AI on top of messy data and broken workflows, or are you redesigning how your sellers work so they can spend more time being human?

In this episode of Sales Transformers, Chris and Matt sit down with Roli Agrawal, Chief of CEO Office, Strategy and Sales Transformation at NTT DATA. A former Principal at Bain and digital specialist at McKinsey, Roli shares why leaders must move from AI sponsors to AI practitioners, how to "fix the plumbing" before building with AI, and how she is giving sellers an AI-enabled companion that answers their most pressing questions.

What You'll Discover

- The Silicon Paradox: Why, in Roli's view, the more AI takes over the drudgery work, the more uniquely human skills such as judgement, creativity, trust and responsibility will matter.

- Fixing the Plumbing First: Why AI should target a business's biggest economic leverage points rather than scattered point solutions, and why tech architecture, data and workflows must be fixed before anything is built on top of them.

- Change Done With People, Not To Them: How sharing the big picture, providing tools sellers can trust, upskilling at scale and setting the right incentives help overcome the real fear behind resistance - not change itself, but becoming irrelevant.

AI will not transform a sales organisation on its own; the leaders who tell the right story, redesign the work and bring their people with them will. By freeing sellers from internal admin and putting them back in front of clients, sales teams can focus on what humans do best.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you by Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are guests own and are based upon personal experiences. They do not necessarily reflect the views, positions, or policies of current or past employers.

What does it really take to transform a fast-growing sales organisation without overloading the people who have to deliver the change?

In this episode of Sales Transformers, Chris and Matt sit down with Christopher Vik, VP EMEA at Samsara and former CRO of Go Autonomous and Leapwork. Having spent much of his career as an early-stage operator scaling software companies in EMEA, Christopher shares what changes when you step into a fast-growing public company, and how he is accelerating growth through clarity, focused enablement and sharper sales execution.

What You'll Discover

- Forming Before Performing: Why leaders under pressure to drive revenue often jump straight to the perform stage, and how forming, storming and norming, together with Patrick Lencioni's six critical questions, align teams cross-functionally behind a CRO mindset.

- One Kick at a Time: How mapping each initiative by its cognitive load and its impact on sales productivity helps leaders stop enabling on everything at once, and why champions and how pain travels through an organisation come first.

- Showing Up With a Point of View: Why territory planning, vocal delivery and a strong opinion on what is broken set sellers apart, plus how Christopher uses Claude, ChatGPT and Granola to cut through the noise and boost productivity.

Real sales transformation is not about fixing everything at once, but about bringing people on the journey and focusing on the few changes that matter most. When the product is strong, growth comes down to execution, and execution starts with the right people, clear priorities and intentional enablement.

If you are a sales leader looking to scale execution without overwhelming your team, this episode is packed with practical, hard-earned advice.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you by Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

The views and opinions expressed in this episode are of the guests and are based upon personal experiences. They do not necessarily reflect the views, positions, or policies of current or past employers.

Are you trying to change everything at once, or are you building the trust, focus and discipline your sales team needs to follow you?

In this episode of Sales Transformers, Chris and Matt sit down with Ryan Lazar, DVP of Sales, Central US and LATAM at Sprinklr. A civil engineer by trade, Ryan has spent eight years in customer experience, after a spell at CareerBuilder, and 16 years in leadership. He shares his "people, presence and process" philosophy, why discipline outweighs motivation, and how he uses AI agents for deal reviews, meeting prep and pipeline analysis.

What You'll Discover

- People, Presence and Process: Why change starts with a team rowing in the same direction, a leader who is visible in the field and with customers, and clear templates that remove ambiguity.

- Over-Communicating the Why: How sharing the vision, journey and key milestones reduces the uncertainty change creates, and why keeping things behind the curtain erodes trust.

- Resisting the Hero Seller: Why newly promoted leaders must let their team run the meeting, allow sellers to fail and learn, and know when to throw in the life jacket.

Motivation might last a couple of days after a quarterly business review, but discipline and trust carry a team through change - and trust is earned through actions, not words. By running ahead of your team and using AI to spread best practice, you can lift performance across your sales organisation.

If you are a sales leader trying to drive change without losing your team's trust, this episode is packed with practical, hard-earned advice.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you by Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

Navigating the AI disruption paradox and shifting from transactional resale to outcome-based selling are just the beginning of the challenges facing today's channel leaders.

In this episode of Sales Transformers, we sit down with Hari Sundaram, a seasoned Strategic Alliances leader at Siemens, with a rich history at HPE, Zoom, 24/7.ai and AWS. Hari shares his insights on the massive shifts occurring in the channel landscape, the impact of AI on sales transformation, and the critical importance of a growth mindset in modern sales teams.

What You’ll Discover

- The AI Disruption Paradox: How strategic partners are navigating the fear of AI disrupting their service portfolios and why embracing an outcome-based selling model is no longer optional.

- Expanding the Addressable Market: Why the cost of sale is dramatically reducing due to AI, allowing large system integrators to efficiently service mid-market and commercial customers for the first time.

- Leadership Through Empathy and Vulnerability: The essential traits of a modern leader driving change, including why painting a compelling "why" without micromanaging the "how" builds true ownership and creativity.

Building a meaningful, future-proof partner strategy requires a balance of short-term adaptability and long-term vision. By focusing on industry-specific outcomes and remaining transparent with both internal and external stakeholders, leaders can create an environment where both their teams and their partners truly flourish.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you by Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are guests own and are based upon personal experiences. They do not necessarily reflect the views, positions, or policies of current or past employers.

Are you trying to drive real change in your organisation, or are you just implementing the latest shiny technology?

In this episode of the Sales Transformers podcast, we sit down with Will Matthews, Strategy and Transformation Leader at Capgemini. With a rich background spanning BAE Systems and CSC, Will shares his deep expertise on what it actually takes to lead successful, large-scale transformations. We dive into why technology should never be the starting point, how to overcome the natural human fear of change, and why shifting from a transactional mindset to a deeply personal, relationship-driven approach is the ultimate key to long-term success.

What You’ll Discover

- Mindset Over Technology: Why successful transformation requires taking the tech off the table initially and focusing on the human element, shifting the narrative from fear of job loss to the value of gaining time back.

- The Four Levels of Tailoring: How to move beyond basic industry research to build deep, role-level and personal relationships that make traditional persuasion unnecessary.

- Balancing the Short and Long Game: Why leaders must run two distinct motions simultaneously - maintaining operational excellence and trust today while steadily building towards the long-term strategic North Star.

Transformation is rarely about the tools; it is almost always about the coalition of the willing. By giving your team the space to voice their concerns, focusing on the metrics that actually matter to their daily lives, and shifting left in your customer conversations, you can turn even the most cynical resistors into your biggest advocates.

If you are a leader trying to pivot your organisation without losing your core business, this episode is packed with practical, hard-earned wisdom.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you by Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

What does it really take to successfully break into and scale within the highly lucrative but notoriously relationship-driven GCC retail market?

In this episode of Sales Transformers, Chris and Matt sit down with Victor Khayat, a retail technology advisory expert who has worked with giants like Salesforce, Akinon, and Timsoft. Victor shares his unique insights into the rapidly evolving Middle Eastern market, explaining why the standard Western sales playbook often fails and how to truly build trust in the Gulf region.

What You’ll Discover

- Relationship-First Selling: Why proximity and trust far outweigh standard sales metrics in the GCC, and why your first high-profile logo matters more than your initial profit margin.

- The 90-Day Reality Check: How to properly qualify (and disqualify) leads in a market where long sales cycles and ambiguous decision-making structures can easily derail your pipeline.

- Leadership in the Trenches: Why modern sales leaders must abandon outdated playbooks, embrace AI tools like Claude and Perplexity, and actively listen to their teams on the ground to drive real revenue.

Building a meaningful presence in the Middle East requires a deep pocket, immense patience, and a willingness to adapt to local nuances - right down to signing contracts over WhatsApp. By shifting your mindset from simply being "liked" to becoming a truly trusted advisor, you can unlock incredible opportunities in one of the world's most dynamic retail landscapes.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you from Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

Are your sales sellers spending too much time searching for the needle in the haystack rather than actually selling?

In this episode of the Sales Transformers podcast, Chris and Matt sit down with Semir Jahic, CEO of Salesmotion and former Clari and Salesforce executive. They explore how modern sales teams can move away from manual, time-consuming account research and start leveraging AI to surface actionable insights at scale. Semir shares his journey from big tech to bootstrapping a profitable AI-driven sales platform, and why simplicity always beats endless features when it comes to seller adoption.

What You’ll Discover

- Automating the Needle in the Haystack: How AI can continuously scan your target accounts to surface real-time triggers - like executive hires or earnings call mentions so sellers know exactly when and why to reach out.

- Driving Adoption Through Simplicity: Why the most successful sales tools are the ones that spoon-feed information to sellers, and why complex, feature-heavy platforms often end up as expensive shelfware.

- Elevating the Entire Sales Org: How standardising account intelligence can turn your "average" sellers into high performers by giving them the confidence to lead with proactive, value-based conversations.

If you are a sales leader looking to take the friction out of account planning and drive consistent, proactive engagement across your entire team, this episode is packed with practical advice on how to make best practice your daily practice.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you from Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

What does it actually take to drive predictable enterprise growth and build high-performing sales teams in the age of AI?

In this episode of the Sales Transformers podcast, Chris and Matt sit down with Craig Steel, Chief Revenue Officer at Unqork. Craig shares his extensive journey leading global sales teams at tech giants like ServiceNow, Sprinklr, Pivotal, and Dell EMC. We dive deep into his approach to structured sales campaigns, the importance of executive alignment, and why continuous learning is the ultimate team sport.

What You’ll Discover

- Structuring for Predictability: How to bring order to complex enterprise sales campaigns and why shifting from a "show me the product" mindset to building executive trust is crucial in today's market.

- The Power of the Listening Tour: Why new leaders must curb the urge to make immediate changes and instead spend their first 90 days triangulating perspectives to separate reality from folklore.

- Lessons in Executive Alignment: Why you should never "lose alone" on a deal, and how engaging the C-suite early can be the difference between a closed contract and a missed opportunity.

Building a meaningful sales organisation requires a balance of disciplined execution and a willingness to adapt. By focusing on continuous learning and helping your clients get exactly what they need, you can build a predictable revenue engine that stands the test of time.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you from Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

Why do so many Chief Revenue Officers struggle to survive in their roles, and what does it actually take to build a high-performing sales culture that outlasts your tenure?

In this episode of the Sales Transformers podcast, we sit down with Joachim Schreiner, CRO at ATOSS, to discuss his nearly three-decade journey from IT programmer to leading global revenue teams at companies like Salesforce, Symantec, and BMC.

What You’ll Discover

- Mastering the CRO Balancing Act: Why the most successful revenue leaders rely on a Chief of Staff to bridge the gap between big-picture passion and data-driven discipline.

- Building a Culture of Empowerment: How to shift from a traditional management mindset to an entrepreneurial ecosystem where teams are enabled, empowered, and held accountable.

- Simplifying for Success: Why limiting your organisation's focus to just three core goals is the secret to cutting through corporate complexity and driving true alignment.

Building a meaningful business requires a balance of short-term survival instincts and long-term vision. By focusing on core values and remaining transparent with clients, you can create an organisation built to last for decades, not just until the next exit.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you from Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.

Why do so many sales teams default to pitching product features when they know they should be leading with business value?

In this episode of the Sales Transformers podcast, we explore the all-too-common "knowing-doing gap" in sales. Drawing on our experience delivering billion-dollar turnarounds at global companies like HPE, we break down why sellers revert to comfortable habits under pressure and how leaders can successfully shift their teams from a transactional mindset to true value-based selling.

What You’ll Discover

- Grounding Your Team's Reality: Why you must objectively assess your sellers' current capabilities and strip away the noise to understand where your team truly stands.

- Embedding "Where Does It Grip" Moments: How to equip your sellers with the right tools, like simplified business value calculators, that naturally open up value-led conversations with customers.

- Creating a Culture of Accountability: Why shifting to value selling requires more than just a new compensation plan; it demands continuous, spoon-fed coaching and buy-in from the entire leadership team.

If you are a sales leader struggling to get your team away from the product pitch and into the top-right quadrant of agreed customer value, this episode provides the practical frameworks you need to make that transformation stick.

The Sales Transformers Podcast is brought to you from Sales Growth Team and is produced by Urban Podcasts.