Episodes

  • Ep. 132 – Fixing the 80/20 Sales Problem with Real-Time AI Coaching with Jared Zelman - Part 2

    Ep. 132 – Fixing the 80/20 Sales Problem with Real-Time AI Coaching with Jared Zelman - Part 2
    Jun 24 2026
    General Episode Description:In Part 2 of this conversation, Jared Zelman, Founder and CEO of Othello AI, explores what happens when AI moves beyond helping individual sellers and begins transforming entire sales organizations.Jared shares his perspective on the future of sales management, explaining how AI can handle repetitive coaching, call analysis, and execution consistency while allowing managers to focus on higher-value leadership activities. The conversation examines how AI-powered coaching systems are changing the role of frontline managers and why sales leaders must rethink how they develop and scale teams.The discussion also dives into Jared’s founder-led go-to-market journey. From cold-emailing executives, investors, and industry leaders to building relationships with some of the most influential business figures in the world, Jared explains how disciplined outreach, persistence, and deep personalization helped accelerate Othello’s growth from startup to seven-figure ARR.The episode concludes with practical lessons for founders, CROs, and sales leaders on scaling efficiently, shortening sales cycles, achieving product-market fit, and balancing the art and science of selling in an increasingly AI-driven world. What You’ll Learn:• The Future of Sales Management: How AI changes the role of frontline sales leaders.• AI-Augmented Coaching: Moving from repetitive coaching activities to strategic leadership.• Founder-Led Sales at Scale: How deliberate outreach can build customers, investors, and mentor networks.• Product-Market Fit First: Why founders should focus on learning and validation before scaling teams.• The Art and Science of Selling: Understanding what AI can teach and what remains uniquely human.Key Topics:• Managing AI-augmented sales organizations• The future role of sales managers• AI-powered diagnostics and coaching• CRM automation and systems of record• Salesforce versus next-generation CRM experiences• MEDDPICC automation and sales process intelligence• Sales velocity as a growth metric• Founder-led go-to-market strategies• Building relationships through cold outreach• Howard Schultz and executive networking stories• Product-market fit versus revenue growth• Shortening sales cycles• Why founders should delay hiring sales teams too early• The science versus art of selling• Human trust and relationship-building in sales• Scaling enterprise SaaS companiesGuest Spotlight: Jared ZelmanJared Zelman is the Founder and CEO of Othello AI, a real-time AI sales coaching platform designed to improve sales execution before, during, and after customer conversations. Prior to Othello, Jared founded Cicero, an AI-powered celebrity avatar platform. Through Othello, he is helping organizations scale elite sales behaviors while preserving the human elements of trust, empathy, and relationship-building that drive long-term success. Resources & Mentions:• Othello AI• Salesforce• HubSpot• Notion• MEDDPICC• Howard Schultz• Steve Ballmer• Sam Altman• Paul Graham• Dale Carnegie• Costco• Lenovo• Science of Scaling by Mark Roberts• Entrepreneur.comKey Takeaway:AI can automate coaching, surface insights, and improve execution consistency, but it cannot replace the human side of selling. The organizations that win will combine AI-driven discipline with authentic relationships, strong leadership, and a relentless focus on understanding customers.🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Selling Intelligence for more conversations on AI, sales leadership, revenue growth, founder-led scaling, and the future of enterprise sales.KK Anderson (00:38)Okay, so you are, and we're gonna wrap up the second topic here with this question. You're reporting 10 to 15% win rates improvement, 8 to 10% reduction in sales cycle length, which is huge. ⁓ a lot of AI tools are making, some some pretty large claims like that. so like generally speaking, just w help us understand a little bit, like what what are you measuring over what time period?Jared Zelman (00:51)Crazy.KK Anderson (01:02)how was work to some of your success?Jared Zelman (01:04)Yeah.These are like guess depends, because ⁓ like some of these numbers are pointing time numbers, some of these are ⁓ like over a period of time. so if it's a period of time, these are like over a course of twelve months. what's unique is these are all for large enterprise, these are for Fortune one hundreds. When you see AI companies quoting crazy growth or performance metrics, it's because they're selling to a two person business in YC. in other words, bullcrap.Right. ⁓ these are metrics that are proven at some of the biggest companies in ⁓ multi-sectors. that said, the bar for the expectation the expectation of buyers these days is kind of ridiculous. frankly, if you're a sales tool and you're affecting win rates and you're not improving them by over 10%, that you're a failure.our minimum is like fifteen, ...
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    26 mins
  • Ep. 131 – Fixing the 80/20 Sales Problem with Real-Time AI Coaching with Jared Zelman - Part 1

    Ep. 131 – Fixing the 80/20 Sales Problem with Real-Time AI Coaching with Jared Zelman - Part 1
    Jun 17 2026
    General Episode Description:In this episode of Selling Intelligence, Jared Zelman, Founder and CEO of Othello AI, joins Mark Petruzzi and KK Anderson to challenge one of the most accepted assumptions in sales leadership: that 20% of sellers will always generate 80% of the results.Jared argues that the 80/20 problem is not a talent issue. It is a systems issue. Drawing from millions of minutes of sales conversations and real-world customer deployments, he explains how modern AI can capture the behaviors of top performers and deliver coaching in the moment when it matters most: during live customer conversations.The discussion explores why traditional coaching models fail to scale, the limitations of post-call analysis, and how real-time AI guidance can improve discovery quality, qualification, and win rates across entire sales organizations. Jared also shares insights into how AI is uncovering new patterns in selling behavior, including why Sandler-style methodologies continue to outperform across modern B2B sales environments. What You’ll Learn:The 80/20 Sales Problem: Why performance gaps are often driven by systems, not talent.Real-Time Coaching vs. Post-Call Coaching: Why feedback during the conversation matters more than feedback after the fact.Discovery Done Right: How top performers uncover deeper pain points and create stronger buying urgency.AI-Powered Sales Execution: Using AI to replicate the behaviors of elite sellers at scale.The Future of Sales Methodologies: How AI is identifying winning patterns across millions of sales interactions.Key Topics:The Pareto Principle in sales organizationsWhy most CROs attack the wrong coaching problemReal-time AI coaching inside customer callsImproving discovery conversationsThe “question behind the question” frameworkWin rate improvement versus productivity improvementWhy CRM automation alone does not improve revenue performanceAI-assisted coaching and behavioral reinforcementThe difference between efficiency and effectivenessRote versus rogue selling behaviorsPersonalized coaching versus scripted sellingSandler methodology and AI pattern recognitionCustom sales methodologies powered by organizational dataUsing AI to scale top-performer behaviorsThe future of AI-enabled sales leadershipGuest Spotlight: Jared ZelmanJared Zelman is the Founder and CEO of Othello AI, a real-time AI sales coaching platform designed to improve sales execution before, during, and after customer conversations. Built by the team behind Cicero, Othello helps organizations scale elite selling behaviors across entire teams through contextual, in-the-moment coaching. Since launching in 2025, Othello has rapidly grown to support thousands of users across Fortune 500 companies and high-growth technology organizations. Resources & Mentions:Othello AISalesforceHubSpotGongSalesloftClariMicrosoft TeamsZoomSandler Sales MethodologyCiceroDan LawrenceLenovoCostcoHome DepotGeneral ElectricComing Next Week:Part 2 explores how sales leaders should manage AI-augmented teams, how coaching changes when AI handles execution consistency, and Jared’s founder-led go-to-market playbook for building a venture-backed company through strategic cold outreach and relationship-driven selling.🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Selling Intelligence for more conversations on AI, revenue leadership, enterprise sales, and the future of go-to-market execution.Mark Petruzzi (00:28)Welcome to Selling Intelligence. I am Mark Petruzzi, and I am joined as always by my co host, KK Anderson. Our guest today built the company on a number every CRO already knows and hates. Those numbers are the 20% of reps drive 80% of the results. The question is, what do you do about it? Most leaders throw more coaching hours at the problem.Build out their enablement team, and then just hope it scales and gets more productive. Jared Zellman did something a little different. He went out and he built an AI that sits inside the call and fixes it in real time and on every call. Jared is the founder and CEO of Othello AI, a real-time AI sales coaching platform that guides reps before, during, and after every call.Built by the team behind Cicero, Othello launched in July of 2025 and reached over 5,000 users and 1 million in revenue within its first six months, with clients spanning Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups. Othello integrates with the go-to-market stack you already have, whether it's Salesforce, HubSpa, Gong, SalesLoft, Clary's, Zoom, or Teams.And sits as the execution layer that makes sure what happens on the call matches what the playbook says.KK Anderson (01:55)What I love about Jared's story is that he is not just a founder talking about sales AI. He is a practitioner of the exact skills he built Othello to teach. He built his entire investor base, his early customers, and his mentor network through deliberate, personalized cold outreach to some of the most senior people in the business. Howard Schultz, CEO...
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    22 mins
  • Ep. 130 – Building Resilient Salespeople in the Age of AI with Scott Stollwerk - Part 2

    Ep. 130 – Building Resilient Salespeople in the Age of AI with Scott Stollwerk - Part 2
    Jun 10 2026
    General Episode Description:In Part 2 of this conversation, Scott Stollwerk returns to Selling Intelligence to explore one of the most important questions facing modern sales leaders: what happens when AI becomes excellent at execution, but human performance remains the deciding factor?As AI continues to improve outreach, forecasting, coaching, scoring, and productivity, Scott argues that the real competitive advantage is no longer process or technology. It is the human being operating behind the tools. Drawing on the Tao of Sales framework, Scott explains why resilience, self-awareness, creativity, intuition, and personal growth remain irreplaceable in high-performance sales organizations.The conversation explores the limits of AI, the dangers of over-automation, and why leaders must continue investing in human development even as technology becomes more powerful. Through practical stories, leadership lessons, and personal experiences, Scott demonstrates why sales success ultimately comes down to overcoming the internal barriers that technology cannot solve. What You’ll Learn:What AI Cannot Fix: Understanding where technology excels and where human performance still matters most.The Human Edge in Sales: Why creativity, intuition, emotional resilience, and connection remain irreplaceable.Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs: How internal dialogue often creates bigger obstacles than external challenges.AI as an Amplifier: Why AI accelerates both strengths and weaknesses within sales organizations.Developing the Individual Seller: Why long-term sales success requires personal growth, not just process improvement.Key Topics:The limits of AI in enterprise salesWhy buyers still trust humans for high-stakes decisionsAI productivity gains versus human connectionThe “crisis of sameness” created by AI-generated contentIntuition, creativity, and human decision-makingStrengthening the mind like a muscleThe role of spirituality, mindfulness, and self-awareness in performanceThe famous arrow-breaking exercise and overcoming fearInternal dialogue and self-limiting beliefsAI as an amplifier of organizational alignment or dysfunctionUsing AI as a brainstorming tool instead of a replacement for thinkingLeadership responsibility in developing human potentialProtecting individuality and creativity in an AI-driven worldGuest Spotlight: Scott StollwerkScott Stollwerk is a sales leader, coach, and creator of the Tao of Sales methodology. Combining Eastern philosophy, neuroscience, martial arts principles, and human performance science, Scott helps individuals and organizations build resilience, self-awareness, and sustainable performance. As part of the leadership team at Pest Share, he continues to develop sales cultures that prioritize human growth alongside business results. Resources & Mentions:Tao of Sales FrameworkTony Robbins’ Six Human NeedsAbraham MaslowRobert CialdiniGongZoomAsk ElephantPhil JacksonMichael JordanDennis RodmanThe Five Love LanguagesEastern Philosophy and Tai ChiConcept: AI Amplifier PrincipleKey Takeaway:AI can improve productivity, automate execution, and accelerate workflows. But it cannot replace resilience, courage, creativity, judgment, or human connection. The organizations that win in the AI era will not be the ones that develop technology alone. They will be the ones that continue developing people.🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Selling Intelligence for more conversations on sales leadership, AI, human performance, and enterprise growth.#SellingIntelligence #AIforSales #SalesLeadership #HumanPerformance #SalesCoaching #RevenueLeadership #EnterpriseSales #SalesCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #MindsetMatters #ArtificialIntelligence #BusinessGrowth #TaoOfSales #HighPerformanceTeams #FutureOfSalesMark Petruzzi (00:38)I'll move us into topic two. and that is what AI cannot fix the human edge in sales. So I guess I what I want to share is in sales, AI cannot fix everything. I mean you heard it here, you know, everybody thinks every board thinks like any problem we can fix with AI.I don't believe that's the case. So what it can do, it is now writing outreach, coaching calls, scoring deals, forecasting pipeline. Those examples it does really, really well. And in most cases, almost all cases, it does it better than humans can individually, certainly for the at the productivity levels that it can do it at.That's good because a lot of our listeners have made significant bets on it, and that's going to be a great thing for your Salesforce effectiveness and productivity. but what does AI get right about sales performance? And Scott, where does it just hit that wall that no amount of compute is going to break through? what's your point of view on that?Scott Stollwerk (01:40)It's a it's the mo the it's the Peloton question of this year, right? and I wanna get it right and I wanna start with a compliment for AI in just in case it's listening. So I'm always gonna laugh at my own jokes, but that ...
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    17 mins
  • Ep. 129 – Building Resilient Salespeople in the Age of AI with Scott Stollwerk - Part 1

    Ep. 129 – Building Resilient Salespeople in the Age of AI with Scott Stollwerk - Part 1
    Jun 3 2026
    General Episode Description:In this episode of Selling Intelligence, Scott Stollwerk, creator of the Tao of Sales framework and member of the leadership team at Pest Share, joins Mark Petruzzi and KK Anderson to explore a topic becoming increasingly important in modern sales organizations: developing the human behind the salesperson.As AI continues to automate outreach, scoring, sequencing, and administrative tasks, the true differentiator is no longer the technology stack. It is the individual seller’s mindset, emotional resilience, self-awareness, and ability to perform under pressure.Drawing from Eastern philosophy, Tai Chi, neuroscience, human performance science, and more than 15 years of leadership experience, Scott explains why traditional sales training often fails when real-world pressure arrives. He shares how the Tao of Sales helps individuals develop the internal foundation required to navigate rejection, uncertainty, and growth while building stronger sales organizations from the inside out.The conversation explores why progress matters more than speed, how leaders can create resilient teams, and why personal growth is often the missing ingredient in sales performance. What You’ll Learn:The Tao of Sales Framework: How Eastern philosophy can create stronger, more resilient sales professionals.Beyond Techniques and Playbooks: Why most sales training breaks down when pressure increases.Progress Over Speed: Understanding the importance of building foundations before pursuing rapid growth.Human Performance in Sales: How mindset, self-awareness, and emotional regulation impact results.Coaching the Individual: Why great leaders develop people first and salespeople second.Key Topics:The origins of the Tao of SalesEastern philosophy and enterprise sellingWhy attachment to outcomes creates frustration and poor performanceThe role of resilience in sales successSales training versus skill developmentTai Chi principles applied to business and leadershipBuilding strong sales foundations before scalingGrowth, progress, and long-term performanceLeadership lessons from Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, and Dennis RodmanDeveloping confidence under pressureCoaching through beliefs, fears, and behavioral patternsThe psychology behind high-performing sales teamsGuest Spotlight: Scott StollwerkScott Stollwerk is a sales leader, coach, and creator of the Tao of Sales methodology. Over the past 15 years, he has developed a unique framework that combines Eastern philosophy, neuroscience, martial arts principles, and human performance science to help sales professionals thrive under pressure. As part of the leadership team at Pest Share, Scott continues to focus on developing high-performing individuals and teams by strengthening the human foundations that drive sustainable success. Resources & Mentions:Tao of Sales FrameworkPhil JacksonMichael JordanDennis RodmanTony RobbinsAbraham MaslowRobert CialdiniThe Five Love LanguagesA Fighter’s MindDavid HortonEthics of Our FathersTai Chi and Eastern PhilosophyComing Next Week:Part 2 of this conversation dives deeper into belief systems, behavior change, leadership development, and building a high-performance culture that can sustain growth in an increasingly AI-driven sales environment.🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Selling Intelligence for more conversations on sales leadership, human performance, AI, and enterprise growth.Mark Petruzzi (00:28)Welcome to Selling Intelligence. I'm Mark Petruzzi and I'm joined as always by my co-host KK Anderson. Our guest today has spent more than a decade building sales team from the inside out. Not with just another playbook or a new stack of tools, but with something most sales organizations have really never thought to develop. The human being behind the rep. Scott Stolwerk is part of the leadership team at Pest Share.And the creator of a methodology known as the Tao of Sales. The Tao of Sales is a framework that draws on Eastern philosophy, neuroscience, and human performance science to develop sellers who results hold when the pressure comes. He has been doing this work for 15 years and the results follow him everywhere he goes.KK Anderson (01:12)Scott's framework could not be more timely. Everyone in this audience is navigating the same tension right now. AI is handling more of the execution layer, the outreach, the sequencing, the scoring. And that means that the gap to determine who wins is not just the tool anymore. It's the person. And it's what they believe, it's how they manage their state of mind.Whether they can stay present in a hard conversation. And it's really coming back to some of those more human elements that were present before technology took a hold. Now, Scott has been working on exactly this problem for a long time. And today we're excited to dig in with Scott and find out what he's learned and how he implements this within his teams. Now, this is part one of a two-part conversation, and we'll be back...
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    27 mins
  • Ep. 128 - Session Diagnostic: Why should you do a diagnostic before you apply AI to your GTM - Part 3

    Ep. 128 - Session Diagnostic: Why should you do a diagnostic before you apply AI to your GTM - Part 3
    May 27 2026
    In this episode of Selling Intelligence, KK Anderson, Mark Petruzzi, and Alan Rudolph continue their Diagnostic Session series by focusing on the most underinvested side of the go-to-market bow tie: customer retention and expansion.The conversation explores why enterprise value is built not just through acquiring customers, but through keeping, expanding, and delivering value to them over time. Alan breaks down the difference between gross retention and net revenue retention, why time to value has become one of the most critical metrics in modern SaaS, and how broken retention models create pressure that sales teams can never fully outrun.The team also discusses the dangers of applying AI to flawed systems, why bad data and weak customer alignment create compounding problems at scale, and how CROs can build healthier, more profitable businesses through stronger metrics, ICP discipline, and operational alignment.What You’ll Learn:Gross vs. Net Revenue Retention: Why both metrics matter and how world-class SaaS companies measure customer health.Time to Value as a Growth Driver: Why TTV belongs on the CRO scorecard and how faster customer outcomes drive expansion.The Cost of Poor ICP Alignment: How selling to the wrong customers destroys retention, profitability, and scalability.Diagnose Before You AI: Why AI amplifies broken systems and how to avoid accelerating bad processes.Metrics That Protect Enterprise Value: The KPIs every CRO should monitor to improve retention, forecasting, and operational efficiency.Key Topics:Customer retention and expansion strategyGross retention vs. net revenue retentionTime to value and customer onboardingDiagnosing broken retention models before implementing AIICP alignment and customer fitEnterprise SaaS growth metricsAI-driven forecasting and operational efficiencyData quality and AI readinessCustomer churn and expansion motionsBuilding scalable revenue operationsGuest Spotlight: Alan RudolphAlan Rudolph is a strategic advisor at AGS with deep expertise in enterprise software, revenue operations, customer retention, and scaling go-to-market organizations. He has worked closely with growth-stage companies and executive leadership teams to improve operational discipline, retention performance, and enterprise value creation.Resources & Mentions:AGS Revenue Blueprint DiagnosticBenchMarketKey Metrics Discussed:Gross RetentionNet Revenue Retention (NRR)Time to Value (TTV)CAC PaybackWin Rate by ICPTopics:Diagnose Before You AICustomer Health MetricsAI Readiness in Revenue Organizations🎧 Listen now and follow Selling Intelligence for more insights on AI, revenue growth, enterprise operations, and go-to-market strategy from today’s leading operators and advisors. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.KK Anderson (00:29)Welcome back to another exciting episode of our diagnostic sessions. And today we're going to pick up right where we left off with the last one in chatting with Mark and Alan about the go to market bow tie and specifically the last, the right side of the bow tie, what we call Keetmore, which is all around customer retention and expansion. And I know Alan will agree with this when we say thatThis is really the most under invested side of the bow tie and where enterprise value truly has the opportunity to compound. so, Mark, I'll hand it over to you to kick us off and we're excited to have another great session.Mark Petruzzi (01:08)great. So Alan, that last segment of the bow tie that KK is describing, that customer retention expansion, this is your home turf. So what does diagnosis look like here? And why is this side the side most CROs just under invest in?Alan Rudolph (01:25)Do we have enough time? I'll be here for hours. ⁓ No, think it's just there needs to be a focus on gross retention, on net retention, on the whole structure of how does sales and account management and customer success, how do all these pieces come together? And we know that it drives growth and it drives value overall for the company.But the under investment mark to your point, I probably have two, three, four conversations today. I was just talking to an exec this morning from a leading research firm and he was telling about one of his clients and their churn numbers are down, their sales numbers are off and obviously they're not growing. And if your churn numbers are too high, i.e. lack of gross retention, then it puts undue pressure.on the sales team because we think, we can just go sell our way out of the box. And we know that doesn't work, right? We know for a healthy software company, we need to keep the gross retention north of, ideally north of 90%. Best in class is 95 % to 97%. And so this is where the pieces need to come together, right, in terms of selling, account management. Oh, let's not forget aboutproduct because it's all about driving value to the customer. So it's definitely the art of the deal, right? It's more than just science. There's art here, in other words...
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    31 mins
  • Ep. 127 - Session Diagnostic: Why should you do a diagnostic before you apply AI to your GTM - Part 2

    Ep. 127 - Session Diagnostic: Why should you do a diagnostic before you apply AI to your GTM - Part 2
    May 20 2026
    General Episode Description:In this continuation of the Selling Intelligence Diagnostic Session, Mark Petruzzi, KK Anderson, and Alan Rudolph go deeper into what happens when AI is layered onto a broken go-to-market system.The team explores real-world examples of companies that accelerated pipeline volume with AI, only to later discover collapsing win rates, longer sales cycles, and poor ICP alignment. They also unpack the critical difference between sales activity metrics and true behavioral competency, highlighting why qualification skill remains one of the biggest hidden weaknesses inside modern sales organizations.The conversation closes with a deep dive into the “discount trap,” forecasting discipline, and the operational signals private equity firms use to evaluate the maturity and long-term value of a revenue organization. What You’ll Learn:AI on Top of Broken GTM Systems: Why more pipeline volume can actually create worse outcomes.Qualification Competency Matters: How weak qualification destroys sales efficiency and forecast reliability.AI Done Right: What happens when strong ICP discipline and human judgment combine with AI-driven signals.The Discount Trap: How discounting erodes enterprise value and creates downstream operational pressure.Forecasting as a Maturity Signal: Why investors care more about predictability than heroic overperformance.Key Topics:AI lead scoring increasing volume while lowering win ratesWeak qualification competency as a hidden scaling bottleneckOMG sales competency assessments and qualification benchmarksAI-powered signal intelligence for outbound prospectingUsing hiring patterns, LinkedIn activity, and market signals to prioritize outreachHuman judgment combined with AI-assisted targetingBehavioral competency vs outcome metrics in sales organizationsTwo teams with identical win rates but completely different operational healthThe “discount trap” and the dangers of unmanaged pricingWhy selling value matters more than discounting to win dealsForecast accuracy as a signal of operational maturityThe shift from “gunslinger” sales cultures to data-driven revenue organizationsPE diligence around trends, forecast reliability, CAC efficiency, and sales disciplineGuest Spotlight: Alan RudolphAlan Rudolph is the leader of the private equity division at AGS and a strategic operator with extensive experience building and scaling enterprise revenue organizations. With a background spanning sales, operations, and enterprise value creation, Alan helps organizations diagnose GTM inefficiencies, improve operational discipline, and build scalable growth systems. Resources & Mentions:AGS (Advisory Growth Strategies)Objective Management Group (OMG) sales assessmentsConcept: Diagnose Before You AIConcept: Qualification competency in enterprise salesConcept: The Discount TrapMetrics: Win rate, cycle length, forecast accuracy, CAC efficiencyAI-powered signal intelligence for outbound prospectingClari, Aviso, and Collective[i] forecasting platformsAGS Sales Cycle Diagnostic Tool🎧 Listen now and follow Selling Intelligence for more diagnostic sessions, AI strategy insights, and practical frameworks for scaling modern revenue organizations.Mark Petruzzi (00:38)So KK, what does AI applied to a broken front of funnel motion look like? What are the ramifications of getting that?KK Anderson (00:47)Mark, let me share with you an actual real live case study, a real customer of ours. this is a growth stage SaaS company. They invested heavily in AI lead scoring and outreach. And they were ecstatic because, their pipeline jumps up 40 % in one quarter. The amount of leads coming in the door was just through the roof.leadership was celebrating and what happened and when they ended up calling us is that six months later, all of a sudden, their win rate is collapsing and their sales cycle is just getting longer and longer and longer and deals keep getting pushed out into other quarters. And so it got worse. And the reason why, once we did the diagnosis is because what it turned out is that the underlying qualifying motion of the sales team, when it comes to win more,was weak. It was deplorable weak. And to the point that Alan made earlier, the ICP was not the correct ICP and that was not disciplined. But because the sales team had a weak qualification competency, they were not prepared to be able to accept more of anything, even if it was the right ICP. And so it's interesting, just a note on that qualification competency,objective management group who is a partner of ours here at AGS, they have assessed it's got to be close to three million salespeople by now and interesting fact that of all of those three million people only 27 % are strong in the qualification and competency. So I said 27, two seven. So that means that if you're a CRO listening to this, it is likely that your team is notsuper effective at qualification. Right. And these are the things that you need to know before...
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    17 mins
  • Ep. 126 - Diagnostic Session: Why should you do a diagnostic before you apply AI to your GTM - Part 1

    Ep. 126 - Diagnostic Session: Why should you do a diagnostic before you apply AI to your GTM - Part 1
    May 13 2026
    General Episode Description:In this first-ever Selling Intelligence Diagnostic Session, Mark Petruzzi, KK Anderson, and Alan Rudolph go deep on one of the biggest questions facing revenue leaders today: where does AI actually belong inside the go-to-market motion?Rather than a traditional guest interview, this episode introduces a new format focused on unpacking real operational challenges from inside the work AGS does every day with CROs, CEOs, and private equity-backed companies. The team explores why “diagnose before you AI” has become a core principle in modern GTM strategy, and how AI can either accelerate enterprise value creation or amplify existing operational problems.The conversation also dives into the bow tie revenue framework, ICP discipline, and why retention and customer outcomes matter far more than simply generating more pipeline activity. What You’ll Learn:Diagnose Before You AI: Why AI amplifies both strengths and weaknesses inside your GTM engine.The Cost of Moving Too Fast: How scaling AI without operational diagnosis creates value erosion.The Bow Tie Framework Explained: Why “find more, win more, keep more” changes how leaders think about revenue.ICP Discipline Matters More Than Ever: How weak ICP alignment destroys CAC efficiency, retention, and enterprise value.Why Gut Feel Is No Longer Enough: The growing importance of data-driven decision-making in AI-enabled sales organizations.Key Topics:AI increasing productivity while amplifying broken processesThe pressure CROs face from boards, CFOs, and AI vendorsWhy “slowing down” can actually accelerate long-term resultsEnterprise value creation and AI investment decisionsThe hidden danger of filling pipelines with the wrong customersThe relationship between ICP discipline and long-term retentionThe bow tie model: find more, win more, keep moreWhy investors care more about post-sale execution than contract signatureCustomer onboarding, time to value, and retention as core valuation driversThe evolution from founder-led growth to scalable GTM systemsCAC payback, pipeline coverage, and modern SaaS benchmarkingThe rise of data-driven CRO leadership in the AI eraGuest Spotlight: Alan RudolphAlan Rudolph is the leader of the private equity division at AGS and a strategic operator with deep experience across growth-stage companies, enterprise sales, and operational leadership. With a unique background operating at the COO level, Alan specializes in enterprise value creation, GTM transformation, and aligning revenue organizations with board-level priorities. Resources & Mentions:AGS (Advisory Growth Strategies)Concept: Diagnose Before You AIFramework: Bow Tie Revenue Architecture (Find More, Win More, Keep More)Concept: Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) disciplineMetrics: CAC payback, pipeline coverage, gross retention, net retentionWinning by Design bow tie frameworkRay Rike and SaaS benchmark analyticsConcept: Founder-led growth vs scalable revenue operations🎧 Listen now and follow Selling Intelligence for more diagnostic sessions, GTM insights, and practical frameworks for AI-driven revenue growth.Mark Petruzzi (00:00)Welcome to Selling Intelligence. I'm Mark Petruzzi, joined as always by my co-host KK Anderson, and in a very special way today, joined by Alan Rudolph, who is the architect and the leader of our private equity division at AGS. Alan has been a guest on Selling Intelligence before, so our regular listeners will know him already.He brings a rare lens to the revenue conversation. He's operated inside growth stage companies. He's advised PE boards time and again, and he's built sales and go-to-market engines from the ground up. But most importantly for us today, he's built those engines from the CIO level, which gives us a really distinct and important vantage point to.really how boards and CEOs and COOs need to balance these initiatives when we're looking at growing faster or building our revenue. He's also a close friend and I'm really happy to have him with us here today. Quick note for our listeners, today we're trying something entirely new. We're calling this format Diagnostic Sessions. No traditional guest interview.just three operators going deep on a single revenue topic from inside the work that we do every single day. We've been getting so many questions from our listeners about what we actually mean when we say, diagnose before you AI, because that mantra has been showing up in nearly every CRO conversation we are having. So we decided to spend the full session unpacking it, and Alan is joining us from the operating.side of this conversation because we really feel it an operator's voice as well.KK Anderson (01:44)Thank you, Mark. We're so excited to be here, Alan. We're so excited to have you. And we're going to keep bringing you the amazing guests and the revenue leaders and the business operators that you've come to know and expect on the show. Don't worry. But from time to time, when there is a ...
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    27 mins
  • Ep. 125 - Enterprise Value Creation, ICP Discipline, and Building Efficient Revenue Engines with Alan Rudolph - Part 2

    Ep. 125 - Enterprise Value Creation, ICP Discipline, and Building Efficient Revenue Engines with Alan Rudolph - Part 2
    May 6 2026
    General Episode Description:In this continuation of Selling Intelligence, Mark Petruzzi and KK Anderson sit down with Alan Rudolph, Strategic Advisor at AGS, to explore how sales and marketing alignment, time to value, and retention strategies directly impact enterprise value.Alan breaks down why misalignment between sales and marketing often starts with a lack of shared ICP definition, and how that disconnect destroys both efficiency and effectiveness. He also shares where AI is creating real leverage today across prospecting, coaching, and personalization, while emphasizing that human judgment remains critical in enterprise sales.The conversation closes with a deep dive into time to value, gross versus net retention, and the bow tie revenue model, highlighting how leading organizations connect the full customer lifecycle to long-term value creation. What You’ll Learn:Sales and Marketing Alignment: Why ICP clarity is the foundation of both quality pipeline and efficient execution.Where AI Actually Works: Practical use cases in prospecting, coaching, and personalization.Time to Value (TTV): Why speed to value is now a critical metric owned by the entire organization.Retention Metrics That Matter: How gross and net retention signal true business health.The Bow Tie Model: How “find, win, keep” connects the full customer journey to enterprise value.Key Topics:Marketing optimizing for volume vs sales needing qualityThe breakdown of lead quality when ICP is not alignedAI enhancing research, call coaching, and content personalizationLimits of autonomous SDRs in enterprise sales todayDefining and reducing time to value (TTV)Gross retention vs net retention and their impact on profitabilityThe hidden cost of poor retention on CAC and EBITDACustomer journey ownership across the entire organizationThe bow tie revenue framework: find more, win more, keep moreWhy traditional funnel thinking ignores retentionThe importance of cross-functional ownership of the customer lifecycleStrategic priorities for CROs: ICP discipline, full revenue ownership, and efficiency as advantageGuest Spotlight: Alan RudolphAlan Rudolph is a Strategic Advisor at AGS with deep experience advising private equity-backed companies and scaling enterprise sales organizations. With a strong operational background at the COO level, Alan specializes in aligning sales, marketing, and customer success to drive measurable enterprise value and long-term growth. Resources & Mentions:AGS (Advisory Growth Strategies)Concept: Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) alignmentConcept: Time to Value (TTV)Concept: Gross vs Net Revenue RetentionFramework: Bow Tie Revenue Model (find, win, keep)Concept: AI-assisted sales and marketing workflows🎧 Listen now and follow Selling Intelligence for more insights on enterprise value creation, GTM alignment, and building high-performance revenue organizations.Mark Petruzzi (00:34)Alan, let's talk about the marketing side of this equation. Because in our experience at AGS, sales and marketing misalignment is one of the biggest destroyers of both efficiency and effectiveness. What does a well-aligned value creation oriented sales and marketing motion look like? And where does it usually fall apart?Alan (00:53)So it's fascinating because when it's working, it just works, right? It's invisible. It doesn't matter. But when it starts to fall apart, It's usually, and this is where we start tying all these pieces together in terms of ICP, because it's the definition of that qualified lead or the quality, maybe said another way of that qualified lead, right? So marketing is always going to optimize for volume, right? Throughput.not the quality, right? The actual lead that comes in and making sure it's a good lead. And then sales just starts ignoring it. Sales starts going, doing their own thing and marketing thinks they have this great volume and sales is saying, you no, because they're not matching back to the ICP and that shared definition, that quality of how do I bring a great customer in the door?KK Anderson (01:44)That makes a lot of sense. And Alan, let's pivot to everyone's favorite topic, AI, for a minute here to round out this topic. So AI is reshaping both how we find customers and how we serve them. And so in terms of this kind of efficiency mandate, where are you seeing AI create real measurable leverage for sales and marketing teams right now?like in your port codes that you're working with or have worked with in the past, like where's it working and where is it still mostly noise?Alan (02:14)three areas are where I see it working. First of all, and let's frame this all in the context of making us humans better, not replacing us humans. let's start there. That's first and foremost. so number one, prospecting and research, right? Who should I be talking to? Who should I be reaching out to? Right? That time spent in building those lists, et cetera. Number two is call intelligence and coaching.And I can remember,...
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    20 mins