Sales POP! Podcasts: Insights from Top Experts in Sales, Marketing, Leadership & More.
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Sales POP! is your shortcut to sales, marketing and leadership excellence, offering short, insightful episodes with top global thought leaders, hosted by John Golden.
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Interview with Alexis Sikorsky, Strategic Advisor Most founders hit a wall at $5 million in revenue. Alexis Sikorsky, who led a nine-figure private equity exit, shares the proven framework for breaking through. Start by auditing your time. List every task you handle, then delegate everything that doesn't absolutely require the founder's touch. Stop attending meetings where you add minimal value. Next, build financial clarity. Track 10-20 metrics monthly—not quarterly. Focus on cash flow, margins, customer lifetime value, and capital efficiency. Upgrade leadership strategically. Fractional executives deliver senior expertise without the full-time price tag, but hire cohesive teams rather than disconnected contractors. For exit planning, understand that PE firms evaluate three-year potential, not just current performance. Clean your EBITDA and learn their language early.
Most sales leaders hire wrong. They prioritize industry experience over buyer understanding, rush to fill empty seats, and sell the role before qualifying candidates. Walter Crosby flips this approach entirely. His counterintuitive strategy? Write job ads that repel weak candidates. Interview like you're qualifying a prospect—with tough questions and genuine discovery. Forget the "industry retread" myth; product knowledge is trainable, but understanding buyers isn't. Crosby emphasizes assessing cultural fit early and identifying coachability as the ultimate predictor of success. The biggest mistake? Fear-based hiring. An empty territory hurts less than a bad hire who drains resources and damages team morale. The lesson is clear: treat hiring as strategically as you treat closing deals. Patience and process beat panic every time.
Serial entrepreneur Daniel Hindi joined Sales POP! to discuss what most companies get wrong about AI in customer service. His message: stop worrying about job loss and start focusing on business transformation. Hindi's company, Noem AI, builds chatbots that act like your best sales rep—qualifying leads naturally, understanding context, and adapting mid-conversation. The results speak volumes: companies resolve 80-90% of support tickets automatically while boosting lead conversions by over 34%.
Cold email works—if you protect your domain first. Adam Rosen of EOC Works reveals the critical mistake killing most campaigns: sending from your primary business domain. "You're gambling with your entire email reputation," he tells Sales Pop host John Golden. Rosen's fix: Create dedicated domains for outreach. Use companymail.com instead of company.com. Set up multiple inboxes to distribute volume and authenticate everything with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. But infrastructure is just the start. "Cold email connects people who should know each other," Rosen explains. Skip the gimmicks and fake urgency. Research recipients, offer genuine value, and be transparent about who you are and what you want. For startups, his advice is surgical: master one channel before expanding. Let real market feedback—not assumptions—guide your targeting. Combined with authenticity and solid technical setup, cold email remains a powerful sales tool in 2026.
Equipment financing scams target busy entrepreneurs who need tools and machinery to grow. The most dangerous scheme? Companies advertising impossibly low rates, then demanding upfront fees before securing actual approval. Contracts contain hidden clauses making these payments "non-refundable" when real terms arrive much worse, or never materialize. Other red flags include automatic lease renewals requiring cancellation within narrow windows (miss it and pay another full year), deposit schemes where companies simply disappear, and interim rent manipulation, adding phantom months to your bill. Protect yourself: Never pay significant fees before final approval. Verify companies through BBB ratings and complaint searches. Read every contract clause about renewals and refunds. Ask when the lender gets paid—legitimate companies earn commissions only upon successful financing delivery. Work with lenders who have dealer referrals and established reputations. If rates seem unbelievable or pressure tactics emerge, walk away. Your business deserves transparent financing partners, not predatory traps. Robert Misheloff
Traditional employee engagement is broken. Your remote workers aren't seeing celebrations, and generic recognition programs fall flat because everyone's motivated differently. Workplace culture specialists are seeing success with three core strategies: First, use digital platforms like Teams and Slack to make recognition consistent across locations. Second, gamify behaviors that matter—not just sales numbers, but collaboration, innovation, and effort. Third, personalize everything. Let people choose their preferred style of rewards and recognition. Sales teams especially need this. Commission-only motivation leads straight to burnout. Recognize the grind: most calls made, best customer relationships, skills improvement. Celebrate progress, not just closed deals. The leadership shift? Treat recognition as strategic retention, not a nice-to-have perk. Build simple, consistent habits first. Your retention rates will prove it's working. Alex Grande
Are your digital ads performing poorly despite significant investment? You might be a fraud victim. This episode breaks down the explosive growth of ad fraud from $8 billion in 2015 to $140 billion today, fueled by accessible AI tools and global criminal networks. Expert Rich Kahn explains how fraudsters use bots, malware, and human click farms to steal from every digital channel. Red flags include unpredictable campaign results, chargeback spikes, and leads who don't recognize your brand. The key to fighting back is professional fraud detection using collective intelligence from multiple clients, real-time monitoring that adapts weekly, and ongoing team education. With affiliate traffic showing 45% fraud rates, waiting for a crisis costs more than proactive prevention. Free fraud scans can reveal whether your budget is bleeding money to criminals.
Promoting your top salesperson to manager seems like a no-brainer. They exceeded every target, so leading a team should be easy, right? Wrong. Star performers often succeed through "unconscious competence"—they're naturally gifted but can't explain their methods to others. Without management training, they struggle with coaching, delegation, and difficult conversations. Your sales champion becomes a frustrated manager leading an underperforming team. The solution? Assess leadership potential separately from sales performance. Does this person enjoy developing others? Can they handle conflict constructively? Forward-thinking companies now offer dual career paths—letting top performers advance without managing people. For those who do lead, provide structured training and mentorship. Management isn't a reward for individual success; it's a distinct skill requiring dedicated development. Great salespeople deserve recognition. Great managers deserve proper preparation. Ashley Herd
Your customers aren't unmotivated—they're scared. Consumer psychology expert Matt Sucha explains why addressing fear outperforms aggressive selling every time. One bank's free insurance offer flopped until they tackled customer skepticism head-on. The result? A 167% conversion increase without changing the product. The secret lies in subconscious decision-making. When a water heater salesperson started presenting two options instead of one "perfect" choice, his conversion rate nearly doubled. Why? Choice reduces anxiety and creates empowerment. Sucha's breakthrough: communication changes three things—what people feel, think, and do. If you can't define all three outcomes before your pitch, you're guessing.
In this eye-opening podcast episode, Rebel Health Alliance CEO John Goldman shares how traditional healthcare failed him in his 40s—and what he did about it. When declining energy and brain fog were dismissed as "normal aging," Goldman took matters into his own hands. The answer wasn't a magic pill. It was comprehensive diagnostics, coordinated specialist teams, and personalized interventions based on real data. But here's the kicker: this level of care was only available to the ultra-wealthy.
What if consulting contracts rewarded results instead of hours worked? Tim Beattie, CEO of Stellafai and former Red Hat executive, is pioneering exactly that approach. In this conversation, Beattie breaks down the emerging consulting model that's replacing traditional project-based work. Subscription engagements provide clients ongoing access to expertise while creating predictable revenue streams. Asynchronous coaching through recorded videos scales impact beyond billable hours. AI tools amplify consultant knowledge without replacing human connection.
Your personal brand isn't your Instagram aesthetic. Business mentor Katrena Friel defines it as "the presence that walks in the door ahead of you"—your reputation before you enter the room. The Imposter Syndrome Reality Check Feeling like a fraud? Join the club. Even top performers battle self-doubt. The difference? They move forward anyway. Ask yourself: "If not me, then who?" Your messy journey is exactly what someone else needs to hear right now. Finding Your Unique Edge Everyone has a "field of excellence"—the unique combination of skills and experiences only you possess. List your biggest wins and hardest lessons. Ask three trusted colleagues what makes you different. That's your starting point. The Multi-Income Approach Katrina teaches seven income streams: writing, speaking, programs, coaching, mentoring, facilitation, consulting. Don't launch all seven tomorrow. Master one, then expand naturally based on what your audience actually needs.
AI is reshaping marketing, but genuine storytelling stays human at heart. In this episode with David J. Ebner, discover practical methods to fuse AI with emotionally engaging narratives for B2B tech. Start with a unique idea, then use AI for research and first drafts—while humans shape the emotional journey, voice, and value storytelling. Map a clear workflow: human-led ideation, AI-assisted drafting, and expert revision to ensure brand alignment. Maintain a flexible AI ecosystem to test new tools and guard against lock-in, and build a robust internal knowledge base to fuel content accuracy and consistency. Treat AI as a mentor, not a master, and continuously coach it to reinforce trust, authenticity, and specialization in your marketing teams.
Conflict is inevitable; litigation is optional. Mediation expert Rich Birke joins Sales POP! to share a masterclass in de-escalating high-stakes business disputes. The key? Predictability and Vulnerability. Building trust requires leaders to model the transparency they expect from their teams. In our digital-first world, Berk warns against "impulse responding," suggesting video calls over text to maintain emotional nuance. By identifying stakeholder "hot spots" early and using structured frameworks for complex disputes, leaders can protect their company culture and bottom line. Master these soft skills to turn organizational friction into a competitive advantage and lead with authentic authority.
The secret to AI ROI isn't the software—it's the process. Antony Baker shares a masterclass on mapping workflows to identify high-impact "quick wins." From cleaning bloated sales pipelines to using specialized "Mates" for meeting notes, this episode provides a blueprint for operational efficiency. With the competitive window closing fast, learn why data transparency and precise prompting are the new prerequisites for business survival. Insight: Stop treating AI as a chatbot and start treating it as a digital teammate. Listen now to stay ahead of the curve.
By engineering zero-emission snowplows that double as microgrid assets. CEO Marc Manning explains how these 2025 hybrid-electric vehicles deliver more torque than dual diesel engines while generating up to $60k/year in revenue through Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) power. This dual-use technology solves the "idle asset" problem, providing airports with peak shaving and emergency backup power. With Buy America compliance and FAA-compliant performance (7,500 tons of snow/hr), Kodiak is turning seasonal machinery into year-round infrastructure. Listen to the Expert Inside podcast for the complete engineering breakdown on decarbonizing heavy industry.
Are you a vendor or a partner? Whitney Faires argues that "transactional selling" is a relic of the past. To survive today's complex B2B landscape, you must master the human elements of the deal. High-impact performers focus on three pillars: Meaningful Urgency: Tying solutions to real business risks, not fake deadlines. Radical Consistency: Building an untouchable reputation through reliable follow-through. Ethical Outcomes: Prioritizing "win-win" deals that ensure long-term referrals. By balancing disciplined preparation with genuine empathy, you transform your sales desk into a value engine.
Recruitment entrepreneur Kevin Downey reveals why his system thrives on cold B2B email: simple, human copy, and flawless compliance. Forget the marketing jargon and complex subject lines. Your email should mimic a voicemail: direct, conversational, and hyper-focused. Start with a clear pain point, offer a brief solution, and use a Call to Action (CTA) that only asks for a simple reply. Downey's data shows that simple, vague subject lines outperform gimmicks. Crucially, personalization should be minimal (First Name is enough)—overdoing it signals automation. Measure only the Reply Rate, ignore opens, and follow the simple rule for compliance: include a physical address and an easy opt-out.
Why do most referral campaigns fail? Because they ignore the emotional core of the client experience. In her book, The Referral Client Experience, Stacey Brown Randall explains that anxiety and uncertainty define the initial "New Client" stage. If you don't address that "quiet voice" of concern with clear onboarding and emotional reassurance, you undermine trust. You must identify your Referral Hot Zones—the specific moments in your journey when clients are most likely to talk about you. These are not random. Analyze where past referrals originated (e.g., after successful project completion, during a specific milestone).
In the competitive world of medical aesthetics, many practices struggle because they view "sales" as a dirty word. But here's the truth: sales is simply an extension of patient care. Terri Ross, a top industry expert, argues that the most successful cash-based practices shift their focus from pushing procedures to consulting on solutions. Your Actionable Takeaway: Abandon the "icky" sales stigma. Embrace emotional selling by asking deep, open-ended questions to uncover the true motivations behind a patient's desire for treatment. Patients buy on feeling, not just facts. When you genuinely serve, you automatically sell.
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Very informative channel. I strongly recommend this