B2B Sales Trends

B2B sales strategy changes when a company gets bigger. But can one salesperson really maintain customer intimacy and deep industry expertise at the same time? Vasily Sizov, Chief Revenue Officer at Grid Dynamics, thinks there is a better way. In this B2B sales strategy podcast episode, he explains why Grid Dynamics pairs client partners with practice sales specialists instead of expecting one person to do everything. The result? One person stays close to the customer while the other brings deep knowledge of the industry. And that combination can change how you create opportunities, grow existing accounts, and become a strategic partner. But there is a catch. Vasily also explains why the model creates its own challenges, what he looks for when sales hiring, and why even 30 years of experience does not necessarily make someone the right B2B salesperson. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 | Intro 01:18 | Why enterprise sales makes the generalist model harder 03:39 | Combining customer intimacy with vertical expertise 06:47 | Scaling the sales model as the company grows 09:40 | The three traits Vasily hires for 12:34 | How great salespeople create opportunities proactively 16:13 | Why practice sales changes the game 19:19 | What the best B2B salespeople have in common 🔎 What Vasily gets into: • Why customer intimacy and vertical expertise can be difficult to combine in one sales role • How practice sales can create business development opportunities instead of simply responding to customer requests • Why becoming a strategic partner requires more than a good customer relationship • The three traits Vasily believes separate great B2B salespeople from the rest • Why years of experience may not tell you what you really need to know when hiring salespeople This episode is for B2B sales leaders, sales enablement leaders, go to market teams, and enterprise revenue professionals looking to improve sales strategy, account growth, business development, and strategic customer relationships. About Vasily Sizov Vasily Sizov is Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Americas at Grid Dynamics. Since joining Grid Dynamics in 2016, he has helped build enterprise accounts and shape the company's sales and account management functions. Connect with Vasily Sizov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasilysizov/ 📃 Resources 🔗 Explore more at: https://globalperformancegroup.com/ 🔗 Download "Beyond Discovery" and discover how forward thinking sales leaders are closing the gap between what’s talked about and what’s actually happening inside high performing teams: https://globalperformancegroup.com/white-papers/beyond-discovery-great-needs-arent-stated-they-are-generated 🔗 Try the Revenue Accelerator: https://revenueaccelerator.globalperformancegroup.com 🎥 Watch the Full Conversation 👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@b2bsalestrendspodcast 🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on B2B Sales Trends? B2B Sales Trends brings together the world's leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives to share the strategies shaping modern B2B selling. If that's you, or someone you recommend, submit a short application here: 👉 https://globalperformancegroup.com/guest-submission/ 🎧 Subscribe for weekly conversations with leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives shaping the future of B2B sales. #B2BSales #SalesLeadership #B2BSalesStrategy

A B2B sales strategy built around a bigger sales pipeline sounds logical. But is more pipeline actually better? Andrew Fleming, SVP, Global Head of Sales and Enterprise Client Solutions at Labcorp, has a different way of looking at it: which opportunities are actually worth pursuing? In this conversation with Harry Kendlbacher, Andrew shares how he thinks about pipeline health, the customers worth focusing on, and why sales teams sometimes need to be comfortable walking away. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 01:44 – Why a bigger sales pipeline can be misleading 03:54 – Can AI help build a better pipeline? 05:42 – Building an ideal customer profile 08:29 – What does “right to win” actually mean? 10:04 – Shifting the customer conversation beyond price 14:13 – Why sales teams need permission to say no 17:36 – The two levels of opportunity selection 20:51 – The three qualities of great B2B sellers 💡 In this episode: • Why pipeline volume can create a false sense of confidence • How Andrew's ideal customer profile helps his teams decide where to focus • Why qualifying the customer is only half the job • How saying no to the wrong opportunities can improve sales forecasting and win rates • Why the best B2B sellers act as problem solvers, not product pushers About Andrew Fleming Andrew Fleming is SVP, Global Head of Sales and Enterprise Client Solutions at Labcorp, where he leads the global commercial organization. With more than 25 years of experience in B2B sales leadership, Andrew has focused on transforming how sales teams build pipeline, prioritize opportunities and allocate commercial resources. His approach centers on targeted customer profiling, disciplined qualification and creating value for customers rather than simply pursuing more opportunities. Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-fleming-commercial-leader/ 📃 Resources 🔗 Explore more at: https://globalperformancegroup.com/ 🔗 Download "Beyond Discovery" and discover how forward thinking sales leaders are closing the gap between what’s talked about and what’s actually happening inside high performing teams: https://globalperformancegroup.com/white-papers/beyond-discovery-great-needs-arent-stated-they-are-generated 🔗 Try the Revenue Accelerator: https://revenueaccelerator.globalperformancegroup.com 🎥 Watch the Full Conversation 👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@b2bsalestrendspodcast 🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on B2B Sales Trends? B2B Sales Trends brings together the world's leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives to share the strategies shaping modern B2B selling. If that's you, or someone you recommend, submit a short application here: https://globalperformancegroup.com/guest-submission/ 🎧 Subscribe for weekly conversations with leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives shaping the future of B2B sales. #b2bsales #salesleadership #salespipeline

Customer centricity in B2B sales starts with one question: are your processes helping the customer, or just helping your business hit its KPIs? Hasancan Ozyurt, Director of Sales Americas at CHT Group, joins Harry Kendlbacher to challenge how we think about customer centric selling and B2B sales strategy. Why does he believe sales should be the “voice of the customer”? What is the “Club Principle”? And what can a jewelry store in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar teach us about building customer relationships? The answers challenge some familiar ideas about proactive sales, value based selling, and what it really means to put the customer first. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 | Customer centricity vs internal KPIs 05:29 | Sales leadership and the voice of the customer 09:57 | The Club Principle and customer experience 12:47 | Customer centric selling starts with outcomes 14:57 | Why proactive selling beats product expertise 17:58 | The Grand Bazaar lesson in partner ecosystems The conversation explores: • Why hitting your internal KPIs can still mean failing the customer • How sales can turn customer information into urgency across the wider organization • Why customer centricity is about more than saying yes • How value based selling changes when customers organize problems around their business, not your product portfolio About Hasancan Ozyurt Hasancan Ozyurt is Director of Sales Americas at CHT Group. He is leading a customer centric transformation focused on rebuilding a shared sense of urgency, aligning the wider organization around the customer, and helping sales teams create value in new ways. Connect with Hasancan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hasancan-ozyurt-463a899a/ 📃 Resources 🔗 Explore more at: https://globalperformancegroup.com/ 🔗 Download "Beyond Discovery" and discover how forward thinking sales leaders are closing the gap between what’s talked about and what’s actually happening inside high performing teams: https://globalperformancegroup.com/white-papers/beyond-discovery-great-needs-arent-stated-they-are-generated 🔗 Try the Revenue Accelerator: https://revenueaccelerator.globalperformancegroup.com 🎥 Watch the Full Conversation 👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@b2bsalestrendspodcast 🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on B2B Sales Trends? B2B Sales Trends brings together the world's leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives to share the strategies shaping modern B2B selling. If that's you, or someone you recommend, submit a short application here: 👉 https://globalperformancegroup.com/guest-submission/ 🎧 Subscribe for weekly conversations with leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives shaping the future of B2B sales. #B2BSales #SalesLeadership #CustomerCentricity

AI in sales can expose opportunities but it can’t create execution. So what actually separates the sales organizations that act on the information from those that simply talk about it? Jacob Harris, Chief Sales Officer at TestEquity, is leading a company wide sales transformation focused on customer segmentation, territory management, and sales performance. In conversation with Harry Kendlbacher, he shares why technology is an enabler, not a replacement for the people doing the work. Harris explains why you “can’t system away performance,” what sales leaders should look for when assessing organizational health, and why the best salespeople still have something technology cannot replace. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 – Why AI in sales can’t create execution 03:17 – Assessing sales organization health by getting into the details 06:11 – What sales technology still can’t do 08:28 – How decentralized buyers changed customer engagement 11:26 – The difference between doing the work and talking about it 17:50 – The traits behind great sales leadership and B2B selling You’ll hear about • Why better sales technology does not automatically lead to better sales performance • Why Harris sees the second and third question as a powerful sales management tool • What decentralized decision making has changed about customer engagement and buying behavior • Why the best sales organizations combine technology with fearless people who are willing to do the work About Jacob Harris Jacob Harris is Chief Sales Officer at TestEquity LLC, where he is leading a company wide sales transformation focused on customer segmentation, territory management, and sales performance. He spent 26 years at Arrow Electronics in regional and global commercial leadership roles in test and measurement and electronics distribution. Connect with Jacob Harris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-harris-5646361a/ 📃 Resources 🔗 Explore more at: https://globalperformancegroup.com/ 🔗 Download "Beyond Discovery" and discover how forward thinking sales leaders are closing the gap between what’s talked about and what’s actually happening inside high performing teams: https://globalperformancegroup.com/white-papers/beyond-discovery-great-needs-arent-stated-they-are-generated 🔗 Try the Revenue Accelerator: https://revenueaccelerator.globalperformancegroup.com 🎥 Watch the Full Conversation 👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@b2bsalestrendspodcast 🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on B2B Sales Trends? B2B Sales Trends brings together the world's leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives to share the strategies shaping modern B2B selling. If that's you, or someone you recommend, submit a short application here: 👉 https://globalperformancegroup.com/guest-submission/ 🎧 Subscribe for weekly conversations with leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives shaping the future of B2B sales. #B2BSales #SalesLeadership #AIinSales

A strong B2B sales strategy is not about chasing more leads or more partners. For Ben Cronsberry, it is about knowing which relationships are worth investing in, building them patiently, and knowing when to walk away. What happens when you stop treating partnerships as a quick source of referrals and start treating them as a long-term sales ecosystem? And how do you decide which relationships actually deserve your time? In this Best Of episode, originally published in July 2025, Harry Kendlbacher revisits his conversation with Ben Cronsberry, former GTM Operations Lead at Shopify and now Head of GTM & Partnerships at Parsel. Ben shares a different perspective on modern B2B selling, from his “sniper approach” to partner selection to his belief that discovery starts before you ever pick up the phone. They explore why warm referrals can lead to stronger conversion rates and faster sales cycles, why partner enablement can easily go wrong, and why great sales storytelling starts with listening. The conversation also gets into a question many sales teams struggle with: when should you keep pursuing an opportunity, and when is it smarter to “lose fast”? ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00:00 Why warm referrals matter in B2B sales 00:03:08 The “sniper approach” to partner selection 00:06:14 Why partner enablement can easily go wrong 00:10:24 Why sales storytelling starts with listening 00:14:27 Why partner led sales requires patience 00:17:51 Why discovery starts before the sales call What you’ll hear in this conversation • Why Ben believes a partner-led sales approach can outperform traditional cold outreach • How to identify and prioritize the partners worth investing in instead of trying to work with everyone • Why sales storytelling starts with listening and understanding the buyer before telling your story • How better sales discovery can help reps decide which opportunities to pursue and which ones to “lose fast” About Ben Cronsberry Ben Cronsberry is Head of GTM & Partnerships at Parsel and former GTM Operations Lead at Shopify. With a background spanning software, sales, partnerships, and go to market operations, Ben brings a practical perspective on partner led selling, sales discovery, enablement, and building productive commercial relationships. 📃 Resources 🔗 Explore more at: https://globalperformancegroup.com/ 🔗 Download "Day Zero" and discover why buyers often choose their suppliers before the first sales meeting: https://globalperformancegroup.com/white-papers/day-zero-why-revenue-is-won-before-the-first-meeting/ 🔗 Try the Revenue Accelerator: https://revenueaccelerator.globalperformancegroup.com 🎥 Watch the Full Conversation 👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@b2bsalestrendspodcast 🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on B2B Sales Trends? B2B Sales Trends brings together the world's leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives to share the strategies shaping modern B2B selling. If that's you, or someone you recommend, submit a short application here: 👉 https://globalperformancegroup.com/guest-submission/ 🎧 Subscribe for weekly conversations with leading CROs, sales leaders, and commercial executives shaping the future of B2B sales. #B2BSales #SalesLeadership #SalesStrategy