Ep183 When Complex Deals Stall, It’s not What You Think with Brent Adamson & Karl Schmidt

Win more high stakes deals. In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Yvonne Lines, a strategic presentation expert, to unpack exactly how B2B sales teams can win their most important, high-stakes sales presentations, the ones that make or break deals.Yvonne shares her proven process for creating audience-centric, story-driven presentations that drive decisions and close business. This episode is packed with actionable strategies for CEOs, founders, and sales leaders who want their teams to win by making customer centric presentations.  Connect WithYvonne Lines: LinkedIn | WebsiteAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website

Events create demand. In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Jonathan Kazarian, Founder & CEO of Accelevents, the all‑in‑one event management platform that’s redefining how organizations run events from 20‑person dinners to 30,000‑attendee conferences.Jonathan didn’t start in events tech, he came from finance. But when he couldn’t find software powerful enough to run a 900‑person fundraiser for his cousin, he built his own. That event was a smash success and the demand for the tool he created sparked the beginning of Accelevents.Want to get better results from your events? Check out these expert tips from Alice (Our Internal Links)📌 Pre-Event Preparations for Networking Success📌 How to Make Sure Your Event Follow-Up Doesn’t Suck📌 How to Get in Front of the People Who Can Buy From YouBooks & Podcasts Mentioned: 📚 Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara 🎙️All-In Podcast💡Advice for CEOs:  “Talk to customers to listen, not to talk.” Connect WithJonathan Kazarian: LinkedIn | WebsiteAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Websitehttps://www.trykondo.com/

In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with trust‑selling pioneer Ari Galper to reveal why traditional sales techniques are failing in today’s climate and what CEOs, Founders, and Sales Leaders must do instead. Ari argues that trust isn’t a byproduct of selling; it’s the core of it.Actionable takeaways for leaders:Train your team to lead with questions, listen until they share the full context of their problem.Replace “follow up” emails with “feedback” outreach.Always end meetings by scheduling the next appointment, don’t leave it to chance.Ari’s insights build on a theme we’ve heard from several standout guests, trust isn’t just part of the sales process; it is the process. If you found this episode valuable, you’ll also want to hear how other CEOs and experts are scaling by leading with trust:👉 Barb Betts’ system to scale sales through trust👉 How to scale with trusted partnerships👉 Why relationships win over sales pitchesConnect with Ari and Alice below to learn how to transform your sales model into one built on clarity, empathy, and trust.Rapid‑Fire PicksBook: 80/20 Sales & Marketing by Perry MarshallPodcast: The Diary of a CEO Advice for CEOs to Win Today’s Market: Shift from being the “pharmacist” handing out pills to being the “doctor” diagnosing pain and eliminate any sales behavior that feels salesy or forced.Connect WithAri Galpert: LinkedIn | WebsiteAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website

In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Adi Klevit, founder and visionary behind Business Success Consulting Group, to expose a powerful truth many CEOs and Founders don’t face, your sales success often lives in someone’s head instead of in a scalable, repeatable system.Adi walks through her proven approach of documenting, optimizing, and implementing processes so companies can finally scale sales reliably, empower their teams, and free the founder to work on the business, not in it. By the end of this episode, CEOs will have a clear roadmap to turn messy, inconsistent sales behaviors into a documented playbook that produces consistent results.Rapid‑Fire PicksBooks:10X by Grant CardoneThe Power Questions by Jerold Panas & Andrew SobelThe Go-Giver (and The Go-Giver Influencer) by Bob Burg and John David MannPodcasts: Built to Sell RadioInspired Insider with Dr. Jeremy WeiszAdvise to the CEO: Focus on what they can control and let go of what they can’t, like the economy, market fluctuations, or global events. Instead, she recommends channeling energy into how you lead, operate, and continuously improve. Be a lifelong learner. That’s the mindset that keeps you agile, innovative, and successful no matter what the market throws your way. Connect WithAdi Klevit: LinkedIn | WebsiteAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website

In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman talks with Gavi Wolf, CEO and Founder of IndieWalls, about how he scaled a creative business, turning an art marketplace into a commercial art consultancy serving major brands. Gavi discusses founder‑led sales, when and how he realized it was time to build a sales leadership function, and the hard lesson about motivating and compensating a high‑performing sales team.Rapid‑fire picksBook: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara.Podcast: Freakonomics with Stephen Dubner.CEO Advice: If you want top sales talent, they need to see a clear path to earning real money. Show them others are winning, give them a comp plan they can believe in and the right people will come and perform. Connect WithGavi Wolf: LinkedIn | WebsiteAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website

Stop wasting money on lead generation that doesn’t work. In this solo episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman delivers a powerful, no-nonsense rant every B2B CEO needs to hear. She challenges the outdated playbook of cold calling and SDR-driven outreach, revealing why it's costing you more than it’s delivering and what to do about it.Alice shares real examples and modern strategies to generate high-quality leads that fill your pipeline without burning out your sales team. From leveraging marketing properly, to holding the right kind of events, to mining your customer base for referrals, this is the wake-up call CEOs need to redesign their go-to-market motions.Connect with Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheimanWebsite: https://aliceheiman.com

What happens when a math major turned cold-caller gets frustrated with broken sales systems? He builds a better one, then builds a company around it.In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Ryan Reisert, the co- founder of Outbound Operators and CallBlitz, to trace his journey from burned-out rep to process-driven founder. Ryan reveals how years of trial, error, and dialing taught him that sales doesn’t scale on brute force, it scales with math, process, and precision.This is the inside story of how a rep-turned-CEO rebuilt outbound from the ground up - more than once.Connect WithRyan Reisert: LinkedIn | CallBlitz | Outbound OperatorsAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website

What if your sales team is focused on the wrong thing?Brent Adamson and Karl Schmidt, co-founders of A to B Insight and co-authors of The FrameMaking Sale, reveal why traditional B2B tactics like BANT are outdated and how to win by building buyer confidence in their own decisions.Connect with:Brent Adamson: LinkedIn | A to B InsightKarl Schmidt: LinkedIn | A to B InsightAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | WebsiteLink to The FrameMaking Sale 

From hockey stick growth to flat on your face, it hurts and Collin Stewart can tell you firsthand. He had one customer before he left his full-time job, the problem was he still had one customer 18 months later. In his first endeavor this entrepreneur built what he thought everyone needed and kept showing them and expecting them to say how great it was, but they didn’t. “I was building my idea. I wasn’t building what the customer’s wanted.” The lesson, it’s all about the customer, what they need and want. Rapid-Fire MentionsBook: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard RumellPodcast: Acquired FMAdvice to CEOs:  Lead with relationships and real value. Outbound still works, but only if your product-market fit is strong. If you’re early-stage, skip the pitch and focus on helping first. Connect WithCollin Stewart: LinkedIn | WebsiteCollin’s book: The Terrifying Art of Finding a CustomerAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website

When CEOs struggle to connect with customers, teams, or investors, it's rarely a strategy problem, it’s a storytelling problem. In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Jeff Abracen, Founder of Disruptive Influence and storytelling coach to tech leaders, to uncover why a great story is a terrible thing to waste.Jeff shares how he turned a high school “disruptive influence” label into a superpower for transforming leaders into magnetic storytellers. With a focus on the Disruptive DNA framework, Jeff teaches CEOs how to own the stage, captivate their audience, and get results, whether it’s on LinkedIn, in a boardroom, or at a major conference.🔑 What you’ll learn:How to use storytelling to increase sales, alignment, and executive presenceThe Disruptive DNA Framework: Differentiate, Narrate, ActivateWhy preparation, not memorization, is the secret to confidence and clarityJeff doesn’t just talk about storytelling, he lives it. You’ll hear actionable advice and real coaching examples from working with SaaS founders and technical executives. If you’re a CEO or founder who needs to inspire action, this episode will help you turn information into influence.Mentioned in the Rapid-Fire:Book Recommendation: The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick RubinPodcast Recommendation: Diary of a CEOAdvice for CEOs: “Facts tell, stories sell. Get into people's hearts before you worry about getting into their minds and their wallets.”Connect with:Jeff Abracen: LinkedIn | Disruptive InfluenceRequest the Disruptive DNA framework: DM Jeff on LinkedIn and mention this podcastAlice Heiman: LinkedIn | Website