Why Most B2B Sales Teams Are Failing (And How to Fix It)

Most B2B sales teams are stuck in outdated tactics – pushing for meetings, flooding inboxes, and hoping something sticks.

But that’s not how today’s buyer wants to buy.

In this episode, we sit down with Amarpreet Kalkat (Founder of Humantic AI) and our own Adem Manderovic (Co-founder of CRO School) to break down what’s broken in B2B sales – and what comes next.

We dive into how AI can be used to build trust, not spam, and how real commercial oversight starts with market validation, not meetings booked.

Here’s what we cover in this episode:

+ Why the predictable revenue model has failed us

+ How to segment and validate your market the right way

+ The DISC profiling framework that changes how you sell

Tune in and learn:

+ Why AI is wings for the good… but crutches for the lazy

+ The Dust Bowl of B2B sales – and how to escape it

+ How CRO School and Humantic AI fit together

If you’re in B2B and tired of tactics that don’t work anymore, this is a must-watch.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Why B2B Sales is Broken in 2025

03:00 What is Humantic AI & How It Works

06:00 What Broke B2B Go-To-Market (And How to Fix It)

08:45 How B2B Buyer Behaviour Has Radically Changed

11:30 Why Predictable Revenue Doesn’t Work Anymore

13:45 Lessons from the Australian Market

16:15 The Real Reason Teams Default to Volume

18:30 The 'Dust Bowl' Analogy of B2B Sales

21:00 Why Most B2B Sales Teams Are Stuck in 2010

23:30 What Market Validation Actually Means

26:30 DISC Profiles: Stop Selling to Personas

30:00 Matching Message, Timing & Channel with Buyer Personality

33:00 Why AI Makes Lazy Sellers Worse, Not Better

37:00 Why GTM Tools Can't Replace Commercial Sense

40:00 The Rise of Full-Cycle Selling & Death of the SDR Model

43:00 Will AI Replace Bad Sellers? Amarpreet’s Warning

46:30 Fitness, Spinal Injuries & The Grit Behind CRO School

49:30 Why No Kid Wants to Be a Salesperson (But Should!)

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E185 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #b2bsaas #salesstrategy #humanticai #cro_school #buyerfirst #gtm

How Far Should You Niche Down? (And How to Know You’ve Got It Right)

Most marketers are targeting too broadly—and it’s killing their go-to-market.

In this episode, we walk you through how to find your Minimum Viable Market—the smallest audience that can sustain your business and evangelize your solution.

We’ll show you how to use your existing data and customer base to define a market you can actually win, instead of burning budget trying to win everyone.

Here’s what we cover in this episode:

+ Why niching down feels scary—but works

+ How to use the 80/20 rule to uncover your best (and worst) customers

+ How to test and validate if your niche is big enough to sustain your business

Tune in and learn:

+ The full step-by-step process to finding your Minimum Viable Market

+ Real examples of how to apply firmographic, demographic, and psychographic filters

+ How to reposition your business over time without losing momentum

This episode is a must-watch for any B2B marketer struggling to get cut-through in a crowded market. If you’re stuck trying to build pipeline, this is the most important strategy you’re probably missing.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 How Far Should You Niche Down?

01:00 Why Niching Down Feels Risky (But Works)

02:10 Broad Targeting Is Killing Your Cut-Through

03:40 The Greek Wedding Analogy: Why Specificity Wins

05:00 Seth Godin's Take on Minimum Viable Market

06:10 How to Spot Underserved Niches

07:30 Step 1: Start With an 80/20 Customer Analysis

08:30 Revenue Isn’t Everything: Find Profitable Segments

09:50 What to Look for in Your Dream Customers

11:00 Real Example: ESG and the Modern Slavery Act

12:40 Step 2: Catalog Your Market and Validate Demand

14:00 What If Your Market Is Too Small (or Big)?

15:30 Don’t Forget to Call Your Churned Accounts

16:30 Our Journey: From Broad B2B to Demand Gen Marketers

17:40 Why You Can (And Should) Reposition Over Time

18:40 Final Takeaways: Nail Your Niche and Expand Later

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen...

S07 E184 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #b2bsaas

How to Use AI to Cut Customer Research Time in Half

Most B2B marketers know customer research is crucial, but gathering and acting on insights can be so time consuming.

This week, we're breaking down exactly how you can leverage AI tools to dramatically speed up your customer research - without losing the valuable depth and insights you rely on.

We've experimented extensively and will share the exact process that allows marketers in small teams to finally complete customer interviews efficiently. Using AI the right way can transform qualitative data into clear, actionable insights faster than ever.

Tune in and learn:

+ The best AI tools for transcribing and summarizing customer interviews

+ How to avoid common pitfalls (like AI hallucinations!)

+ The quickest way to build accurate, insightful customer avatars

This episode is a must-watch for B2B marketers tired of customer research always falling off the to-do list.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 How to Accelerate B2B Research with AI

01:09 Quick Recap: Our Proven '5 BEs Framework'

02:39 Why Customer Interviews Keep Getting Ignored

04:00 The Truth About AI and Customer Research

05:52 Can AI Really Replace Qualitative Research?

08:48 The Best AI Tools for Recording & Transcription

11:15 How AI Summarizes Customer Conversations

12:11 Real-Life Example: Quick Customer Insights Capture

13:19 Crucial Step: Validate Your AI Findings

14:43 Creating Your Dream Customer Avatar with AI

15:15 Advanced Tip: Custom GPT for Deep Insights

16:00 Aligning Marketing, Sales, and Product Teams with AI

16:36 Key Watch-outs When Using AI in Research

17:41 Avoid AI Hallucinations with These Simple Steps

18:46 Secrets to Capturing Powerful Customer Quotes

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen...

S07 E183 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #b2bsaas #AI #CustomerResearch

Most B2B teams obsess over defining their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). But what about the people you should never market to?

This week, we reveal why defining your Anti-ICP is just as critical as your ICP—and how doing so could save your team thousands in wasted ad spend, misaligned sales efforts, and churned customers.

We also share the powerful go-to-market process of Cataloguing the Market—a strategy that helps you validate who’s actually a good fit before you waste a single dollar on ads or outbound.

Tune in and learn:

+ How to identify and define your Anti-ICP (with examples)

+ The 80/20 analysis that reveals who’s a drag on your business

+ Why Cataloguing the Market gives you unfair timing advantage

If you’re tired of spending time and money chasing the wrong accounts—or if you’re looking to finally build a sustainable demand engine = this episode is a must-watch.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Stop Wasting Time on the Wrong Customers

01:06 What is the 5 BEs Framework?

02:19 Why You Need an Anti-ICP

03:20 $10K Wasted on the Wrong Fit

05:31 How to Identify Your Anti-ICP

06:49 Ask Your Team: Who Do You Hate Working With?

07:49 Documenting Red Flag Customers

08:28 Firmographics vs Demographics

09:36 Use Case Clarity: Where You Deliver Value

10:35 What Anti-ICPs Tell You About the Buying Committee

11:04 What is “Cataloguing the Market”?

12:19 How Cataloguing Prevents Wasted Spend

13:31 Why Predictable Revenue Broke Go-To-Market

14:43 How Timing Drives Smarter Spend

16:34 Precision Over Pressure: Striking at the Right Time

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen...

S07 E182 - The B2B Playbook

#B2BMarketing #GoToMarketStrategy #DemandGeneration #MarketingStrategy

Why Your B2B GTM Strategy Needs the 5 BEs Framework Now

Most B2B marketing frameworks only show you part of the picture. But in 2025, you need one complete system to align brand, demand, and sales around your Ideal Customer.

That’s why we created the 5 BEs Framework.

This week, we show you how to move beyond demand generation and build a complete go-to-market strategy—tailor-made for small B2B teams.

We’ve used the 5 BEs to help B2B marketers in both small and large orgs drive more pipeline, get sales and leadership buy-in, and scale trust across the entire buying journey.

Tune in and learn:

+ How the 5 Stages of Awareness connect brand and demand

+ Why Demand Gen marketers are the new GTM Architects

+ How to scale trust and pipeline—without more headcount

This episode is a must-watch if you’re in a small marketing team and need a single system to punch above your weight, align your org, and make marketing finally feel like it's working.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Why Small Teams Need a Complete GTM Framework Now

01:00 The Origin Story of the 5 BEs Framework

02:20 Should Brand and Demand Be Separate?

03:50 One Budget, One Team: The Reality of Small Team Marketing

05:20 Why Demand Gen Marketers Need to Think Bigger

07:00 How the 5 Stages of Awareness Connect Brand & Demand

08:40 Making Brand and Demand Work in Tandem

10:20 The Power of Aligning Around Your ICP

12:00 How Demand Gen Marketers Act as GTM Connectors

13:40 BE HELPFUL: The Secret to Trust-Based Content

15:20 How to Cut Through the Noise With Meaningful Content

17:00 BE SEEN: Amplifying Trust With Smart Distribution

19:00 Avoiding the Disconnect Between Brand & Performance

21:00 BE BETTER: Operational Efficiency & Continuous Testing

23:00 BE THE BEST: Where AI & Innovation Power the Flywheel

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen...

S07 E181 - The B2B Playbook

#B2BMarketing #GoToMarketStrategy #DemandGeneration #MarketingStrategy

Why is go-to-market still broken in B2B?

Because nobody owns the commercial outcome.

In this pivotal episode of The B2B Playbook, we sit down with Carolyn Dilks (co-founder of Passetto) and Adem Manderovic (co-founder of CRO School) to unpack why sales, marketing, and customer success continue to operate in silos—and what needs to change.

This isn’t another “alignment” chat.

It’s a practical blueprint for rebuilding GTM around commercial oversight, financial accountability, and real market validation—not just KPIs that make the dashboard look good.

We cover:

+ How Predictable Revenue broke GTM—and what comes next

+ Why “meetings booked” is a destructive metric

+ The missing role of commercial acumen in sales and marketing

+ What Passetto does to bridge GTM and finance

+ How CRO School is restoring financial ownership across revenue teams

+ And why this isn’t a fix at the department level—it’s a top-down restructure

If your GTM strategy feels reactive, misaligned, or just plain inefficient—this conversation is your roadmap to a commercially viable, scalable system.

https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

Check out Passetto: https://www.passetto.com/

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00:56 – Why GTM Teams Are Still Broken in 2025

00:04:00 – The Fallout from Predictable Revenue: Modeling Gone Wrong

00:08:07 – The Finance-GTM Gap Nobody Talks About

00:12:10 – Why MQLs & Siloed Metrics Kill Growth

00:16:10 – Why Weekly Syncs Don’t Fix Misalignment

00:20:10 – The Meetings Metric Is Breaking Your Funnel

00:24:20 – Churn Isn’t a CS Problem—It’s a GTM Problem

00:28:20 – What a Real CRO Should Own (and Why Most Don’t)

00:32:25 – What Passetto Does to Fix GTM Blind Spots

00:36:30 – Closed Circuit Selling: A GTM Framework That Works

00:40:30 – Why BDRs Are Operating in a Black Hole

00:44:35 – Final Thoughts & Where to Learn More

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen...

S07 E180 - The B2B Playbook

#B2BMarketing #RevenueArchitecture #GoToMarketStrategy #DemandGeneration #MarketingStrategy

How to Land 6-Figure Deals with LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads

Want to get clients on LinkedIn using ads that actually build trust and drive pipeline? This is the playbook.

We’re walking you through the exact LinkedIn ads strategy we use to land six-figure deals for ourselves and our clients—without spamming inboxes or relying on outdated lead gen tactics.

This is our B2B demand generation system—powered by LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads—that’s working across SaaS, consulting, and service businesses. If you're in a small marketing team and tired of wasting budget on low-quality leads, this episode will change how you market forever.

You’ll learn how to:

+ Map your LinkedIn content to the five stages of awareness

+ Use thought leadership marketing to build trust at scale

+ Combine paid media and outbound to unlock high-intent conversations

Watch this if you:

+ Want a scalable way to generate demand on LinkedIn

+ Need a better B2B LinkedIn ad strategy that drives revenue

+ Are trying to get in front of ideal customers with zero brand awareness

We show you how to tie content, ads, and outbound together to consistently book meetings and grow pipeline. It’s the same framework behind our $10K/month retainers—and it works for any B2B brand.

This episode is a must-watch for B2B marketers who want to use LinkedIn to win high-value deals—and build a marketing engine that scales.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

SUBSCRIBE to our channel: / @theb2bplaybook

SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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02:20 What Are LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads?

03:40 Proof It Works: Real $10K/Month Deal From These Ads

05:00 Why Most Thought Leadership Ad Campaigns Fail

07:00 Boosting Posts ≠ Strategy: The Common Mistake

09:00 The 3-Month Trust-Building Window (Case Study Insight)

11:00 You Need This Before You Run Any LinkedIn Ads

12:40 Our Full Demand Gen Framework Behind These Ads

14:20 Mapping Ads To The 5 Stages of Awareness

16:00 Unaware to Most Aware: The Buyer Journey Blueprint

18:00 How to Create a Thought Leadership Content Matrix

20:00 Cold vs Warm Audiences: What Content to Serve

21:40 How We Target & Build Audiences That Convert

23:00 Ideal Ad Frequency: What LinkedIn Won’t Tell You

24:40 Our Secret Ad Sequencing Hack That Lowers Costs

27:00 Real Client Wins: Social Proof You Can Copy

29:00 When To Combine Ads With Sales for Bigger Wins

30:40 The KPIs That Actually Matter (And What to Ignore)

34:00 Final Thoughts & Where To Learn More

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The...

Sales Methodologies Are Killing Your Revenue Team

Most sales teams swear by Gap, Challenger, or Spin.

But these sales methodologies were never designed to align your go-to-market team.

In this episode, we sit down with Adem Manderovic — co-founder of Chief Revenue School and creator of Closed Circuit Selling — to break down why these systems are failing modern revenue teams.

We explore the commercial damage caused by Predictable Revenue, why CROs from sales backgrounds often lack the full commercial picture, and how Closed Circuit Selling provides a revenue alignment system that scales.

Tune in and learn:

+ Why Predictable Revenue broke marketing, sales, and CS alignment

+ How to engage 100% of your market — not just the 5% in-market

+ The new commercial architecture for efficient GTM teams

This episode is a must-watch for founders, marketers, and sales leaders who are sick of operating in silos and want a proven system to unify the go-to-market function.

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

SUBSCRIBE to our channel: / @theb2bplaybook

SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Predictable Revenue Broke B2B Alignment

02:00 Why Sales Methodologies Are Failing GTM Teams

04:00 The Commercial Damage of Old Sales Models

06:00 Sales & Marketing Misalignment: A Systemic Issue

08:00 Why Most CROs Don’t Understand True Revenue Oversight

10:00 What Actually Counts as a Sale?

12:00 How Commercial Career Progression Used to Work

14:00 Marketing Became a Lead Gen Machine

16:00 The 95/5 Rule: You’re Ignoring 95% of Buyers

18:00 A Better Way to Do Outbound (Roleplay)

20:00 Cataloging: A Buyer-Centric Sales Motion

22:00 Sales Enabling Real Marketing Again

24:00 How Predictable Revenue Changed the Metrics

26:00 Why CROs Have Never Seen Full GTM Alignment

28:00 Australia’s Advantage: Precision in Small Markets

30:00 Revenue Alignment Systems Are the Future

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

Check out: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen-course

S07 E178 - The B2B Playbook

#b2bsales #predictablerevenue #demandgeneration #demandgen