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Greg Glassman gave CrossFit away for free, turned down every investor, and charged $500 for anyone to put the name on their gym door. It became the most valuable fitness brand on earth. In this episode, John sits down with Calum Marsh, journalist, New York Times contributor, and author of The Glass Box. They dig into how a personal trainer turned free online workouts into thousands of gyms and $80 to $90 million a year without a single investor. Calum shares how one sales lesson, always chase a no, helped him land Glassman after years of emails. They also break down why CrossFit built super fans while other fitness brands built fads, and why leaders need people who push back. If you’re a founder building against the playbook, a sales leader trying to turn customers into advocates, or a rep working a prospect who won’t respond, this conversation is for you. You’ll hear why giving away value grows a brand, how persistence earns trust, and why you need to know why a rule exists before you break it. Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit https://www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You’ll Learn How “always chase a no” and specific, persistent outreach can earn trust from a prospect who has every reason to ignore youWhy giving away your best content for free can build a bigger business than gating itHow CrossFit turned customers into super fans and grew without ads, commercials, or investorsWhy leaders who push out everyone willing to disagree end up surrounded by yes menWhy you should understand why a rule exists before deciding to break it Calum Marsh is a journalist and the author of The Glass Box: The Shocking True Story of How CrossFit Broke the Rules, Made Millions, and Changed Fitness Forever, released by HarperCollins worldwide on October 27th, 2026. He is a writer, reporter, and editor who specializes in art, culture, and sports, and a regular contributor to The New York Times, with writing that has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, and New York Magazine, among others. He is also the author of True Lies: The Art of Reality Television. Born in the UK and raised in Southern Ontario, he worked in B2B sales before building his career as a professional writer. Connect with Calum Marsh: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calum-marsh-26ba3335/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calummarsh Email: [email protected] Learn More About Calum Marsh: Website: https://www.calummarsh.com/ Get The Glass Box: HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-glass-box-calum-marsh?variant=44746345906210 John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John’s Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John’s Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Most reps wait for their company to train them. Justin Jay Johnson paid for his own coaching while broke, $100,000 in debt, and living in his brother’s basement, and that choice has driven every career move since. In this episode, John sits down with Justin Jay Johnson, Co-Founder & CRO at Synopsis. They talk about grit, betting on yourself, and making career decisions with a clear view of the worst case scenario. Justin shares his path from a blue collar background and a first year with one deal that got clawed back to Salesforce, becoming a CRO at 33, building a coaching business, and co-founding Synopsis. He also breaks down the hard lesson from a $15 million deal with Benioff involved and why everyone, from SDR to CEO, is winging it. If you’re a rep waiting on someone else to invest in you, a sales leader weighing your next big move, or someone fighting imposter syndrome in rooms that feel too big, this conversation is for you. You’ll hear why owning the deal beats deferring to titles, how to weigh risk against reward, and why AI only amplifies the habits you already have. Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit https://www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You’ll Learn Why investing in your own training beats waiting for your company, and what a $20 ChatGPT subscription reveals about a rep’s mindset How to quarterback big deals as the account owner instead of deferring to executives when the room feels too big How to make career and deal decisions with the worst case scenario lens and a realistic risk reward ratio Why everyone from SDR to Fortune 500 CEO is winging it, and how that realization helps you push past imposter syndrome Why AI makes great reps better and bad reps worse, and why clear messaging and a tight ICP still matter more than the tech Justin Jay Johnson is the Co-Founder & CRO at Synopsis. Coming from a blue collar background as the youngest of five boys, he was the first in his extended family to graduate from college and started in sales selling knives in college. After a rough first year in sales, he moved into tech, joined Salesforce, and later helped scale the sales team of a competing CRM before it was acquired. He became a CRO at 33, then built a coaching and consulting business helping reps and sales leaders break through, before co-founding Synopsis. Connect with Justin Jay Johnson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinjayjohnson/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinjayjohnson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesoftwaresalescoach/ Learn More at Synopsis: Website: https://getsynopsis.ai/ John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John’s Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John’s Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Most forecast calls run on what the rep says, not what the customer said. According to Mark Siciliano, that’s exactly where revenue gets lost, and it has a name: the discipline gap. In this episode, John sits down with Mark Siciliano, Global VP of Sales Enablement & Productivity at Prometheus Group and author of Working the Gray: Where Revenue Leadership Actually Happens. They talk about the distance between the strategy announced at kickoff and the standards actually enforced week after week. Mark shares his path from CPA at Pricewaterhouse to helping build the Oracle Sales Academy and scaling revenue teams at Marketo, Demandbase, Drift, and Sprinklr. He also explains why the best CROs he worked with always asked the uncomfortable question before week 12. If you’re a CRO tired of forecast surprises, a first-line manager with no time to coach, or an enablement leader who knows what should happen but can’t make it stick, this conversation is for you. You’ll hear why evidential deal reviews beat story time, how a weekly cadence fills the coaching gap at no cost, and which questions tell you if a deal is real. Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit https://www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You’ll Learn What the discipline gap is, and why it shows up in every pipeline review, forecast call, and kickoff that never changes a single behavior two weeks laterWhy coaching isn’t what’s broken, and how a weekly deal review cadence gives first-line managers a standard that costs nothing to runWhy “evidential” separates real deals from story time, and why a defined next step on the calendar now matters more than a summary emailHow the discipline gap differs from MEDDPICC and BANT, and why CRO-level questions need to be asked in week two, not week 12Why AI creates time for judgment, and the questions that tell you if a deal is real, from the business problem you’re solving to John’s three go-live questions Mark Siciliano is the Global Vice President of Sales Enablement & Productivity at Prometheus Group and the author of Working the Gray: Where Revenue Leadership Actually Happens. A former CPA at Pricewaterhouse, he moved into tech as a sales engineer at Oracle and helped build the Oracle Sales Academy. He has since helped scale revenue organizations at Marketo, Demandbase, Drift, and Sprinklr, working alongside CROs to build the operating discipline behind consistent sales execution. Connect with Mark Siciliano: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mksiciliano/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksiciliano1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mksiciliano/ Learn More at Prometheus Group: Website: https://www.prometheusgroup.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prometheusgroup/posts/?feedView=all YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PrometheusGroup-EAM John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John’s Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John’s Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Any buyer can now run a prompt five minutes before your call and walk in knowing almost as much as your rep. That should make the rep less relevant. According to Brian Benfer, it makes them more important than ever. In this episode, John sits down with Brian Benfer, CRO at Salesloft, to talk about where the sales rep fits in the AI era, why buyers using AI are ending up in analysis paralysis instead of self qualified, and why AI's real step function gain in sales productivity is opportunity volume, not faster cycles. Brian also shares his path from running a competitive swim program to leading 300 reps through the Citrix acquisition, and what coaching taught him about bringing teams together around one outcome. If you're a sales leader rethinking what to train your reps on, a rep wondering where your value sits now that research is a click of a button, or a CRO leading through mergers and constant AI change, this conversation gives you the three competencies sellers need now, why curious sellers get the truth while scripted sellers lose deals they could have won, and how to build trust in AI recommendations when most leaders don't trust the data underneath them. Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why the sales rep is more important than ever when buyers using AI get lost in analysis paralysis, and why the martini funnel doesn't match what Brian sees in real dealsWhy curious sellers who let the conversation wander earn trust and get the truth, while sellers with blinders on lose deals they could have wonThe three competencies reps need on top of the fundamentals: business acumen for CFO and CIO conversations, technical acumen, and project management across growing buying committeesWhy AI delivers marginal gains on stage velocity and conversion rate, no change to deal size, and a potential doubling of opportunity volumeHow Salesloft crowdsources AI wins through its AI Ops Factory, and how logging and measuring AI recommendations builds trust when 67 percent of revenue leaders don't trust their AI data Brian Benfer is the CRO at Salesloft, where he leads go-to-market for the company's AI revenue orchestration platform. He started his career as a competitive swim coach before moving into sales as an SDR at ShareFile, growing into leading a 300 person sales organization through its acquisition by Citrix. He went on to lead global sales at Dude Solutions, helping transform it into Brightly Software and guiding it through its acquisition by Siemens, before joining Salesloft. Connect with Brian Benfer: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-benfer-79280b15/ Learn More at Salesloft: Website: https://www.salesloft.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salesloft/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salesloft YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/salesloft John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Only nine percent of people at your company are excited about AI. Fifty two percent are more anxious about it than excited. If your rollout plan only accounts for the nine percent, you already know how this ends. In this episode, John sits down with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, a behavioral scientist and author of The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work, to talk about why 95 percent of AI pilots fail to scale, the three distinct types of resistance blocking your team from adopting AI, and the leadership policy that lets companies grow revenue and headcount at the same time instead of cutting jobs to pay for efficiency. If you're in sales leadership, building or rebuilding a team for the AI era, or just trying to get your own reps to actually use the tools you already paid for, this conversation gives you a practical playbook for the two different rollouts your company needs, one for the people already excited about AI, and one for everybody else. Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. Get the Book on Amazon: The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results https://www.amazon.com/dp/1647127491?lv=shuf&channelId=510&plpRedirect=mhFallback What You'll Learn Why 95 percent of AI pilots fail to scale, and the three psychographic profiles (AI alarmists, pragmatic resistors, reluctant adopters) blocking adoption long before rolloutWhy AI forward companies grow revenue nine percent faster and headcount six percent faster than AI backward competitors, and the leadership policy that makes both trueWhy only about ten percent of the old apprenticeship grind was ever formative, and what junior employees need to learn now that AI does the researchWhy Gleb tells most people to skip college unless their career requires a licensed degree, and how to use AI as a personalized learning roadmap insteadWhy the debate over AI's existential risk isn't a side conversation from adoption strategy, and what Anthropic's own head of research has said about it Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is a behavioral scientist and consultant who has spent over two decades helping companies navigate major shifts in how work gets done. He holds a PhD in the history of behavioral science from UNC Chapel Hill and has taught at Ohio State University. He is the author of eight books, including the global bestsellers Never Go With Your Gut and The Blindspots Between Us, and his newest book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work, is available now from Georgetown University Press. Visit disasteravoidanceexperts.com/aibook for a free sample of the book. Connect with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky: Website: https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gleb-tsipursky/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrGlebTsipursky Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_gleb_tsipursky/ John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Half of your buyers already picked their shortlist before your sales team even knew they existed. The only question left is whether your team knows what they typed in to get there. In this episode, John sits down with Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2 and author of five books including Love Is The Killer App, to talk about why half of all software buyers now start their research inside ChatGPT, how BDRs have quietly become the frontline of business intelligence for companies trying to win AI search, and why the one thing AI still can't replace in a sales rep is domain expertise. If you are in sales, sales leadership, or building a go-to-market team that needs to hold up in the AI era, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about what AI search means for your pipeline, why your BDRs might be sitting on your most valuable data, and how to make sure the human in the deal still has something the algorithm doesn't. Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why half of all software buyers now start their research inside ChatGPT or Gemini, and are eighty percent through their purchase before a sales rep ever talks to themWhy the BDR, not the AE, has become the frontline of business intelligence for companies trying to win inside AI searchWhy Tim says today's best AE is a sommelier, not a closer, and what that metaphor means for a buyer drowning in AI-generated optionsWhy verifier's law explains what AI still can't be trusted to do in sales outreach, and why domain expertise is the one thing that makes a generalist model useful Tim Sanders is Chief Innovation Officer at G2, where he researches how AI is reshaping B2B buying and helps G2's customers adapt their go-to-market strategy. Before G2, he was Chief Innovation Officer at Upwork and spent years as an executive at Yahoo, following his early career with Mark Cuban's audio net, which became broadcast.com. He is the author of five books, including Love Is The Killer App and Today We Are Rich. Visit timsanders.com to learn more about Tim's work and books. Connect with Tim Sanders: Website: https://timsanders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanderssays John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

The Apple Store almost didn't happen. Not because the idea was bad, because it was too big for anyone but Steve Jobs to say yes to. In this episode, John sits down with Ron Johnson, the retail executive who built the original Apple Store and Genius Bar alongside Steve Jobs, led Target's design transformation, and later served as CEO of JC Penney, to talk about why he turned down a scaled down test of the Apple Store concept, what actually went wrong with the JC Penney pricing overhaul he's still willing to own, and why he tells people to challenge every answer AI gives them the same way he had to challenge decades of accepted retail wisdom. If you are in sales, sales leadership, retail, or building anything that requires a team to believe in an idea before the proof exists, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about pitching big ideas instead of small tests, building a culture of believers instead of skeptics, and using AI to speed up research without letting it make the decision for you. Want to build a sales team that can think as boldly as Ron Johnson built the Apple Store? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why Ron turned down a scaled down test of the Apple Store, and the four billion dollar answer from Steve Jobs that changed his mindWhy doubling Target's kids' clothing business came down to something as simple as how the sizes were labeledWhy the JC Penney pricing overhaul improved customer satisfaction but still failed, and why Ron says the mistake was the pace, not the ideaWhy Steve Jobs wanted believers on his team, not skeptics, and how many skeptics is actually too manyWhy Ron says to challenge every answer AI gives you before you accept it, the same way he had to challenge decades of accepted retail wisdom Ron Johnson is the retail executive who led Apple's retail strategy and built the Apple Store and Genius Bar concept alongside Steve Jobs. Before Apple, he spent years at Target leading the company's design transformation, including its original Michael Graves partnership, and he later served as CEO of JC Penney. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Business School, and his new book releases September 22nd. Visit RonJohnsonShopsDifferent.com to learn more about Ron's work and his new book. Connect with Ron Johnson: Website: RonJohnsonShopsDifferent.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shopdifferent John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI didn't kill the sales fundamentals. It just made everyone forget what they actually are. In this episode, John sits down with Kristie Jones, Author and Founder of Sales Acceleration Group, to talk about why the buyer now wants to talk to a human 80 to 90 percent of the way through their own research, why the post-mortem meeting needs to be replaced with a pre-call meeting, and why AI is forcing sales leaders to teach objective judgment for the first time in their careers. If you are in sales, sales leadership, RevOps, or GTM, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about writing a role brief for the AI tools on your team, replacing the post-mortem with a pre-call meeting, testing for objective judgment instead of just tactical skill, and why the old playbook is dead even though playbooks aren't. Want to build a sales team that can think critically in the AI era? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why the buyer now wants to talk to a human 80 to 90 percent of the way through their own research, and what that means for how a rep opens the callWhy the post-mortem meeting needs to be replaced with a pre-call meeting built around objective judgmentWhy every AI tool on your team needs a role brief, the same way every hire needs a job descriptionWhy Kristie tests candidates by making them argue with an AI generated plan live, not just use oneWhy the four skills sales leaders need now are systems thinking, workflow design, decision leadership, and accountability clarity Kristie Jones is the Author and Founder of Sales Acceleration Group, where she works with sales organizations on hiring, training, and leadership development. She's the author of Selling Your Way In and the upcoming The Sales Leadership Gap, releasing October 2026, which looks at how AI is forcing a fundamental rethink of how sales leaders hire, coach, and make decisions. Visit kristiekjones.com to learn more about Kristie's work and get updates on The Sales Leadership Gap. Connect with Kristie Jones: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristiekjones Website: kristiekjones.com Instagram: instagram.com/kristiejones.sales YouTube: youtube.com/@kristiekjones John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI is not replacing customer success. It's turning it into the most important revenue function in the business. In this episode, John sits down with Elizabeth Salmoun, Head of Customer Success at Otter.ai, to talk about why products and tooling have become table stakes in the AI era, why the sales to CS handoff decides whether a client renews inside the first 90 days, and why AI is turning CSMs into AI advisors and workflow consultants instead of relationship managers. If you are in sales, customer success, RevOps, or GTM leadership, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about handoff timing between AE and CSM, segmenting a book of business by tier instead of treating every renewal the same, the three W's framework for discovery, and why AI generated work should never go out the door without a human reviewing it first. Want to build a customer success team that turns renewals into your biggest growth lever? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why products and tooling became table stakes, and why the relationship is what actually differentiates you nowWhy the first 90 days after a deal closes decide whether a client renews or churnsWhy Elizabeth starts every renewal conversation 120 days out instead of waiting for the discount fightWhy AI is turning CSMs into AI advisors and workflow consultants instead of relationship managersWhy a sales rep who's just running the process is already irrelevant, and what still makes the role critical Elizabeth Salmoun is the Head of Customer Success at Otter.ai, where she leads retention and expansion strategy in one of the most competitive corners of the AI tooling market. She built her career in retail before moving into tech sales and account management, and she has spent the last several years turning customer success into a revenue generating function built on discovery, relationship building, and clear rules of engagement with sales. Visit otter.ai to learn more about Otter.ai's AI meeting assistant and how its customer success team helps teams capture, act on, and get real value from every conversation. Connect with Elizabeth Salmoun: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/esalmoun Connect with Otter.ai: Website: otter.ai LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/otter-ai YouTube: youtube.com/@Otterai Instagram: instagram.com/otter.ai John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI is not going to replace real sales. It's going to expose who was never really selling in the first place. In this episode, John sits down with Jeff Kirchick, author of Authentic Selling and a sales leader who has closed multi-million dollar contracts without ever going through formal sales training, to talk about why AI made personalization easier to fake and easier for buyers to spot, why authenticity is not the same as being liked, and why disqualifying the wrong buyer matters more than qualifying the right one. If you are in sales, sales leadership, enablement, or RevOps, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about AI-generated outreach, hiring for coachability over polish, the give and get scorecard behind real qualification, and why a smooth call is not always a good sign. Want to build a sales team that stays authentic as AI changes the job? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why AI made personalization easier to fake, and easier for buyers to spotWhy authenticity is about being trusted, not being likedWhy Jeff hires SDRs on exactly two traits, work ethic and coachabilityWhy a smooth sales call without objections is a warning sign, not a good signWhy disqualifying the wrong buyer matters more than qualifying the right one Jeff Kirchick is the author of Authentic Selling and a sales leader who built his career without formal sales training, closing multi-million dollar enterprise contracts through intuition, empathy, and direct relationship building. He hires his team on two filters, work ethic and coachability, and has built his own sales org's AI infrastructure in house, including deal scoring and call coaching. Visit jeffkirchick.com to read more of Jeff's writing on sales, authenticity, and AI. Connect with Jeff Kirchick: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeffkirchick Website: jeffkirchick.com John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Buyers have more information than ever, but that does not mean they have more confidence. In this episode, John sits down with Zachary Gropper, Founder and CEO of Insight Revenue, to talk about Challenger, platform sales, AI research, buyer validation, and why old sales motions are breaking under modern buying pressure. Zachary brings a practical lens from his years around CEB, Gartner, Challenger, Pavilion, and the teams now trying to sell more complex platform solutions in a market full of stalled deals. If you are in sales, leadership, enablement, or go-to-market strategy, this conversation gives you a clearer way to think about insight, trust, buyer confidence, change management, and what sales reps still need to do when buyers already show up with AI-generated research. Want to build a stronger sales motion before buyers get even harder to move? Visit Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You’ll Learn Why simply sending methodology books does not change sales behaviorHow AI can make reps sound smart while weakening real credibilityWhy buyers now need validation and trust before they commitHow platform sales require change management, not just product positioningWhy sellers need to build a bridge from customer strategy to the outcomeWhy asking why matters when buyers come to the call with AI research Zachary Gropper is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Insight Revenue. With more than twenty years studying the art and science of B2B sales and marketing best practice at CEB, Gartner, Challenger, and Pavilion, he helps commercial teams bring repeatable practices, processes, and go-to-market strategies into companies of any size or industry. Connect with Zachary Gropper: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zgropper/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zgropper/ Learn more About Insight Revenue: Website: https://www.insightrevenue.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/insightrevenue/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutptmXap5pi5PuPZcU1fDQ John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://go.jbarrows.com/ Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI role-play is not another tool to dump on your sales team. In this episode, John sits down with Neha Gupta, Founder and CEO of Breakthrough AI, to talk about why traditional role-play fails, why managers are often asked to coach without the tools or time to do it, and how AI can help reps practice hard conversations before the pressure hits. Neha breaks down what makes AI role-play feel realistic, why audio can be more effective than distracting avatars, and why adoption depends on structure, leadership energy, and deliberate practice. If you are in sales, leadership, enablement, RevOps, or any role responsible for improving rep performance, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about AI coaching, realistic role-play, feedback loops, remote sales teams, and the communication skills that still separate good reps from average ones. Want to help your team practice before the pressure hits? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You’ll Learn Why traditional role-play feels awkward, subjective, and hard to scaleHow AI role-play can help reps build realistic muscle memory before live conversationsWhy sales managers are often expected to coach without enough tools, time, or trainingHow leadership energy and structure can make AI training adoption actually workWhy remote teams lost some of the bullpen learning that used to happen naturallyWhy communication skills need deliberate practice before the pressure moment hits Neha Gupta is the Founder and CEO of Breakthrough AI, a practice-first AI coaching platform helping teams master the high-stakes conversations that shape performance, client relationships, and career growth. With more than twenty years of experience across client management, strategic marketing and sales, growth strategy, brand marketing, product marketing, and business development, Neha is focused on helping teams spot communication blind spots, strengthen feedback processes, and build stronger practice loops. Visit https://joinbreakthrough.ai/ to see Breakthrough AI in action, including a demo comparing weak versus strong responses to price objections. Connect with Neha Gupta: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehagupta/ John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Charisma is not just something you either have or do not have. It is a skill buyers can feel before the pitch even starts. In this episode, John sits down with Olivia Fox Cabane, bestselling author of The Charisma Myth, to talk about the science of charisma, presence, body language, curiosity, manipulation, and why real connection still matters in sales. If you are in sales, leadership, or any role where trust matters, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about how you show up in front of buyers. You will learn why preparation makes curiosity stronger, why presence can change the quality of a conversation, and why trying to impress people often gets in the way of real connection. Want to build stronger sales conversations before the market gets even more transactional? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You’ll Learn Why charisma is a behavior that can be learnedHow presence, power, and warmth shape trustWhy preparation can make salespeople more curiousWhy trying to impress people often backfiresHow body language starts with mindsetWhy sales should help people solve problems, not convince them into decisions Olivia Fox Cabane is a leading authority on the science of charisma and the bestselling author of The Charisma Myth and The Net and the Butterfly, which have been translated into more than thirty languages. She previously served as Director of Innovative Leadership for Stanford's StartX accelerator and has taught on charisma, leadership, and innovation at Harvard and MIT. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Wall Street Journal, and she is a cofounder of the KindEarth.Tech Foundation. Visit charismamyth.com for free sample chapters, videos, and downloadable exercises. Connect with Olivia Fox Cabane: Website: https://charismamyth.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliviafoxcabane/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ofc/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oliviafoxcabaneofficial John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Sales reps who cannot speak the language of business are going to get exposed fast. In this episode, John sits down with Kevin Cope, founder of Acumen Learning and co-author of Business Acumen for Sales Success and See the Big Picture, to talk about why business acumen is now one of the most important skills in sales. Kevin shares lessons from his time at the Covey Leadership Center, the start of Acumen Learning, and 25 years helping companies close the gap between functional expertise and real business understanding. If you are in sales, leadership, RevOps, enablement, or any role where you need to speak with executives, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about cash, profit, assets, growth, people, discounting, cashflow, AI, and how to connect your solution to the business results buyers actually care about. Want to build stronger business acumen and sell with more executive relevance? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why business acumen is one of the first skills sales reps need to buildWhy round-number discounts can signal weak negotiation and weak business understandingHow a small discount can create a much larger hit to profitabilityWhy cash, profit, assets, growth, and people give reps a clearer business lensHow salespeople affect cashflow before and after a deal closesWhy AI research only matters if reps can translate it into business relevanceHow curiosity helps reps use AI as a learning tool instead of a shortcut Kevin Cope is the founder of Acumen Learning and co-author of Business Acumen for Sales Success and the bestselling See the Big Picture. He built his career at the Covey Leadership Center, joining just before the release of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and later served as president of international for the combined organization following its 1997 merger with Franklin Quest to form Franklin Covey. Through Acumen Learning, Kevin helps organizations close the business acumen gap and connect everyday decisions to cash, profit, assets, growth, and people. Connect with Kevin Cope on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinrcope/) and grab his book, Seeing the Big Picture: Business Acumen to Build Your Credibility, Career, and Company, at https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Big-Picture-Business-Credibility-ebook/dp/B07DPWFK7T?ref_=ast_author_mpb, to build the business acumen that earns you a seat at the table. Learn more about Acumen: Website: https://www.acumenlearning.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acumenlearning/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AcumenLearning Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AcumenLearning/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/acumen-learning/?viewAsMember=true John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI can speed up the work, but it still cannot replace the human connection that moves trust forward. In this episode, John sits down with Katrin Gurvich, a GTM Strategy & Operations leader at Navan, to talk about networking, referrals, AI, hiring, and what modern sales teams need to protect as the go-to-market world gets more automated. Katrin shares how she built connection as a skill, why referrals have lost meaning when they become a checkmark, and why AI-assisted work still requires real ownership from the person using it. If you are in sales, RevOps, enablement, leadership, or any GTM role where AI is changing the way work gets done, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about human touch, buyer trust, personal brand, and how reps should use the time AI gives back. Want to build a team AI can support but never replace? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen. What You'll Learn Why networking is a skill you can build through repetitionWhy referrals only matter when real trust sits behind themHow AI use reveals ownership, curiosity, and judgmentWhy human connection still matters in modern GTM executionHow onsites, events, and personal touches can change sales conversationsWhy reps need to use AI-given time to get sharper, not just faster Katrin Gurvich is a GTM Strategy & Operations leader at Navan, where she partners across sales and revenue teams to translate high-level strategy into day-to-day execution. Her work spans diagnosing business health, improving pipeline visibility, and helping revenue leaders separate real signal from vanity metrics like quota attainment. Before Navan, Katrin held roles in sales planning and analytics at Dropbox, management consulting at HealthScape Advisors, and corporate and institutional banking at PNC, giving her a cross-functional view of how strategy, data, and operations intersect. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Case Western Reserve University, where she studied economics, psychology, and world literature. Visit and learn more about Navan: Website: https://navan.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/navan/?viewAsMember=true Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GetNavan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getnavan/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@navan?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GetNavan Connect with Katrin Gurvich: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrin-gurvich-559142130/ John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment. Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter