Are MQLs dead? Marketers have relied on generating Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) for years, using them as a critical metric to measure success. But treating all MQLs the same is a mistake. John Short, CEO of Compound Growth Media, joins Chip House in this episode of Closing Time to talk about the paid media strategies that drive MQLs. He'll also talk through how the source of your MQLs results from the level of intent and how bucketing them differently is the key to conversions. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want to stock your bookshelf on us? Enter the giveaway to win a $100 Amazon gift card to purchase books authored by Closing Time guests. Connect With: • John Short: LinkedIn • Chip House: Twitter // LinkedIn • Insightly: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // LinkedIn // YouTube
Running a paid media strategy for one brand is tough. Running it for three—with entirely different go-to-market motions—is a whole new level of complexity. In this special internal spotlight episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with Unbounce's Senior Manager of Digital Marketing, Alexa Tsongranis, to unpack how her team of one built a unified playbook for scaling paid media across Unbounce, Insightly, and LeadsRx. From shared infrastructure and flexible frameworks to unified measurement and data-driven decision-making, Alexa shares how operational clarity and focus help her run three distinct paid programs—without reinventing the wheel each time. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Explore Unbounce go-to-market solutions: https://unbounce.com/go-to-market-solutions/ Connect With: • Alexa Tsongranis: LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
B2B sales negotiation doesn't have to feel like a high-pressure personality shift the moment a customer says "yes." Too often, sellers tense up, change their tone, and fall back into outdated tactics—but today's guest on Closing Time says there's a better way. In his new book Four Levers Negotiating, sales leader and speaker Todd Caponi shares his practical framework that transforms the negotiation phase into a natural extension of the sales process. Todd shares immediately actionable negotiation strategies that protect margin while strengthening long-term customer relationships. If you've ever wished negotiation felt more like value-based selling and less like a tug-of-war, this episode will change how you prep, present, and close—on every deal, big or small. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Todd Caponi: Todd's Four Levers Negotiation book // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Events are back and bigger than ever. Whether you're new to events or scaling an existing program, this episode is packed with tips to launch or improve your field marketing strategy in 2026. Accelevents CEO Jon Kazarian joins Closing Time to share a practical, modern take on B2B event marketing, including why micro-events and intimate dinners are outperforming saturated digital channels. You'll learn how to test your first event, partner with other brands, and build engaging sidecar events that fuel long-term pipeline—not just quick leads. Jon also breaks down real cost-per-head benchmarks, show rates, and the tactics top B2B teams use to create memorable, connection-driven experiences. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Jonathan Kazarian: Accelevent's website // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
A strong holiday marketing strategy can make or break your Q4. November and December drive over $1 trillion in ecommerce spending, with conversions spiking up to six times higher during the Cyber Five. But with ad costs rising and competition at an all-time high, marketers need to move fast and optimize smarter. In this episode of Closing Time, Val chats with Jonathan Naccache, Co-founder and President of Webistry, a performance marketing agency that helps brands win on Meta. Jonathan shares how to design high-performing holiday campaigns—from choosing the right mix of static and video ads, to building mobile-first landing pages, to structuring campaigns that scale throughout Q4. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Jonathan Naccache: Webistry's website // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Getting CRM implementation right is one of the biggest levers for improving sales performance and efficiency. Yet many teams struggle to select the right system and see a fast return on investment. In this episode of Closing Time, CRM consultant Vanessa Hunt shares proven CRM implementation best practices that help companies boost ROI, improve CRM adoption, and reduce the total cost of ownership. She also breaks down the latest CRM trends shaping 2025 and 2026—from smarter integrations to the growing role of AI in CRM—and explains how sales leaders can future-proof their tech stack for the years ahead. Watch the episode on YouTube. Start a free trial of Insightly CRM: https://www.insightly.com/14-day-trial/ Download the CRM research report: https://www.insightly.com/right-sizing-your-crm-report/ Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Vanessa Hunt: Vanessa's Website // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Sales and marketing alignment is one of the most persistent challenges for go-to-market leaders. While most teams say they're aligned, the reality often looks different—with missed opportunities, broken handoffs, and a lack of shared accountability. In this episode of Closing Time, Val sits down with Jeff Davis, author of Create Togetherness, to unpack the first three big ideas about sales and marketing alignment: building it as an operating system, fixing the business design flaws that discourage collaboration, and understanding the "misalignment tax" that silently erodes revenue. Jeff shares how leaders can move beyond quick fixes and start designing alignment into the DNA of their go-to-market strategy. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Jeff Davis: Create Togetherness // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
You've built a great ad campaign—but if your landing page doesn't match your ad message, you're losing conversions before they even start. In this episode of Closing Time, Barry Buckman joins us to explore how landing page message match—the alignment between your ad copy and landing page content—can dramatically boost conversion rates. A long-time Unbounce power user, Barry helps digital marketers adapt to Google's latest ad policy update and shares the importance of A/B testing every ad-landing page for optimal ROI. Plus, he'll unpack the challenges of training new digital marketers and how his SEMulator tool helps them practice real-world tactics without burning ad dollars. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Barry Buckman: SEMulator // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
You've done a great job getting landing page visitors to convert—but what happens after the form fill? The lead hand-off between marketing and sales is often where revenue leaks begin. In this episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with Adam Lundquist, founder of Nerds Do It Better, to share practical strategies for improving your post-conversion flow, optimizing your connection rate, and turning more leads into closed-won deals. Whether you're in marketing, sales, or RevOps, you'll learn how to plug funnel leaks, automate faster follow-ups, and create a smoother lead hand-off process that drives measurable growth. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Adam Lundquist: Nerds Do It Better website // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Trying to be everything to everyone rarely works in B2B sales. Many teams start with a horizontal sales strategy—going after anyone who could use the product, across any industry. And that can work… until it doesn't. When reps start losing momentum, getting buried in research, or struggling to differentiate, it's often because they're spread too thin. In this episode of Closing Time, we welcome back Todd Caponi—author of The Transparency Sale and The Transparent Sales Leader, and a well-known speaker and advisor in the sales world. Todd shares how firmographic sprints in sales can help your reps build confidence, drive momentum, and sell like true industry experts. Todd talks through when might be a good time to hone in on a vertical, how to train your reps, and how it impacts your entire organization. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Todd Caponi: Instagram // Twitter // LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Are you ready for the next generation of search? AI search is coming…now. About 2.5% of searches are currently run on sites like ChatGPT, but the experts say that number will grow exponentially—and fast. Marketers need to know what GEO is and how to optimize for AI search to stay ahead. This week on Closing Time, we welcome Anthony Chiaravallo, CEO of Vallo Media, to talk us through the steps to adapt current content, generate new AI-friendly assets, and ensure your strategy is future-proofed for both GEO and traditional SEO. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Anthony Chiaravallo: LinkedIn // Vallo Media • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
What happens when a fast-growing consulting firm removes the bottlenecks in their marketing workflow? For Viva Executive Assistants, the results were dramatic: a 6x increase in landing page output and a 7.5% increase in conversion rates. In this customer edition of Closing Time, host Melinda Prescher, Senior Director of Product and Customer Marketing at Unbounce and Insightly, sits down with Dania Maduro (Senior Executive Assistant) and Desiree de Leon (Organic Growth Manager) from Viva to unpack their story. Viva's small but mighty marketing team cut landing page build times from eight weeks to minutes, scaled output without relying on developers or agencies, and used A/B testing to refine messaging for different audiences. With the agility to pivot quickly and integrations that streamlined their stack, they reduced wasted spend and boosted overall marketing efficiency. Watch the episode on YouTube. Try Unbounce for free (no credit card required): https://bit.ly/46dwxej Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Viva Executive Assistants: LinkedIn // Website • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Can a sales mindset shift unlock better performance? According to today's guest on Closing Time, the answer is a resounding yes. Join Jaime Diglio, Founder of The WIN Room, as she breaks down how sales leaders can move their teams from the WAR Room (working against revenue) to the WIN Room ("What I Need" to succeed). Jaime has taken the TEDx stage, coaches students at Harvard Business School, and now she's here to share practical ways to build confidence, clarity, and lasting performance in sales teams. Learn how to recognize negative "WAR words," strengthen your reps' self-awareness, and create a culture where every seller leads with confidence. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Jaime Diglio: LinkedIn // The WIN Room • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Ready to make the leap from W-2 to 1099? As the global macroeconomic environment continues to shift, gig work is becoming more and more common. And if you've got experience, you're in a good place because fractional executives are in demand. On this episode of Closing Time, join Sangram Vajre from GTM Partners as he walks through how his consultancy can help experienced sales, marketing and customer success leaders build a fractional GTM business. He covers the biggest obstacles, how to land your first five clients, and the steps to build long-term success. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Sangram Vajre: LinkedIn // GTM Partners • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Most marketers understand the basics of attribution. First touch. Last touch. Maybe even multi-touch. But here's the thing: there are seven different attribution models—and each one tells a slightly different story about what's driving your conversions. Larry Todd, who leads the team at LeadsRx by Unbounce, has spent years helping marketers figure this out. He's seen firsthand how attribution can transform decision-making—and how the wrong model can skew results. In this Closing Time episode, Larry will break down the 7 types of marketing attribution models, explain how they work, their pitfalls, and when to use them. Get a demo of LeadsRx's multi-touch attribution software today: https://bit.ly/4dziJv2 Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Larry Todd: LinkedIn // LeadsRx • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
All sales leaders want to make good sales hires. But what defines "good?" In this week's episode of Closing Time, Kevin Gaither, CEO of InsideSalesExpert.com, reflects on a tough moment in his career—laying off more than 50 sales reps—and how it shaped his approach to hiring B2B sales reps. He's identified 6 essential traits that predict long-term success in sales. Join Kevin and host Val Riley in this episode to not only learn what those traits are, but also get real interview questions you can use to identify them in your next hire. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Kevin Gaither: LinkedIn // Get Kevin's interview guide • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Inbound and referral leads can fuel growth in B2B—but when your team masters outbound sales, results can skyrocket. But is outbound still possible in a post-pandemic world? This week on Closing Time, Marcus Chan says absolutely. As a sales coach who's led teams of 100+ and generated $70M in weekly pipeline, Marcus knows what it takes. We'll dig into the outbound mindset, plus the training and leadership strategies that turn "cold into sold." Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Marcus Chan: LinkedIn // Venli Consulting • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
Working in sales leadership at a bootstrapped company is much different than a PE or venture-backed company. Bootstrapped means "unfunded"—built using the founder's own resources and revenue from the business, not outside capital. This week on Closing Time, Louie Bernstein shares the real pros and cons of leading sales in this environment—from the scrappy creativity it demands to the resource limitations you'll face. We'll break down what to expect, how it compares to funded companies, and how to decide if a bootstrapped role is the right next move for your career. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Louie Bernstein: LinkedIn • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
When you think of influencers on social media, Instagram and TikTok likely come to mind. But big growth is happening with influencer marketing on LinkedIn—the new 'global watercooler' for B2B brands. In fact, influencer marketing is now considered 'essential spend,' showing exponential growth as more B2B companies embrace it. In this episode of Closing Time, meet Aneesh Lal, head of Wishly, the #1 LinkedIn creator agency. He explains why LinkedIn influencer marketing is thriving in 2025, how to identify the right creators, structure partnerships, price deals, and measure impact. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Aneesh Lal: LinkedIn // The Wishly Group • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website
LinkedIn video is an untapped goldmine for executives and go-to-market leaders looking to build trust, amplify brand reach, and engage customers, teams, and prospects. While text and photos have their place, video is where true thought leadership and authenticity shine. In this episode of Closing Time, Val Riley welcomes Devin Reed, CEO of The Reeder and LinkedIn content expert, to share how leaders can harness video to drive business impact and strengthen company reputation. From strategy to execution, Devin shares practical tips to help leaders show up authentically—and effectively—on LinkedIn. Watch the episode on YouTube. Want expert advice delivered monthly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Closing Time newsletter to never miss an episode: https://bit.ly/3C5aZUw Connect With: • Devin Reed: LinkedIn // The Reeder • Val Riley: LinkedIn • Insightly's Website // Unbounce's Website // LeadsRx's Website