Sales Against the Odds

Most bad sales hires start before the first interview. They start with a job description you dusted off in a hurry, posted the same day, and never matched to what the business needs. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh kicks off a three-part series on how to stop hiring the wrong salesperson. For founders and owners who’ve watched sales hires come and go without helping t...

Derrick Smith, a Co-Founder of The FireFly Group, talks about his experience in finding companies ready to grow and building teams that support the mission to scale.  

Great salespeople do more than build relationships. They know how to challenge customers, uncover real needs, and turn conversations into action. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Larry Freedman , Founder of Inspire Impact Consulting and a sales leader with more than 30 years of experience at AstraZeneca and Sanofi. Larry shares what separates strong sale...

Building a strong network requires trust, generosity, and a commitment to helping others succeed. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Kelly Crandall , Fractional Sales Leader of Sales Xceleration and a trusted advisor known for building powerful relationships throughout the Tampa business community. Kelly shares how she transformed from being internally foc...

When customers can compare you, they can replace you. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Scott McKain , Founder and CEO of Distinction Institute , Hall of Fame speaker and author of Beyond Distinction , to discuss what it takes to become irreplaceable in an increasingly competitive, AI-driven marketplace. Scott shares how his family’s small-town grocery st...

Too many business leaders rush to throw shiny new technology or AI at their operational problems, only to accelerate the friction and confusion already plaguing their organization. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Jason Green , a  Certified EOS Implementer in the UK for EOS Worldwide . After realizing his own ego and micro-management were strangling his...

The biggest breakthroughs in sales rarely come from one game-changing idea. They come from consistently applying proven principles. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh looks back at the first 20 guests who have shared their expertise on building stronger sales organizations. Lee highlights the most impactful lesson from each conversation, covering everything from leadersh...

Most entrepreneurs treat their leadership team as an afterthought, focusing all their energy on sales and product instead of the people who actually drive sustainable growth. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Mark O'Donnell , Visionary CEO of EOS Worldwide , a self-made entrepreneur who started 23 companies, implemented EOS through more than 500 full-day...

The global workforce is shifting, and the smartest business leaders are finding new ways to scale their teams, cut costs, and stay ahead of AI without sacrificing culture or quality. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with David Nilssen , CEO of Doxa Talent and co-founder of Guidant Financial , a leader who has built a 1,000-person global workforce across the P...

Non-profit leadership is transforming, and forward-thinking executives are finding new ways to grow impact, attract resources, and run their organizations like businesses. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Karen Mozenter , CEO of Jewish Family Services in Columbus, Ohio, and a leader who has spent nearly a decade scaling a human services agency through en...

B2B networking is evolving rapidly, and top professionals are discovering new ways to connect and grow. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Donnie Boivin , CEO and Founder of Success Champion Networking (SCN) , and expert in building high-impact B2B referral networks. They explore how business owners and fractional executives can leverage strategic relation...

The market is splitting in two, and smart businesses are already quietly repositioning to the right side. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Joseph Frost, MBA, co-founder of yorCMO, serial entrepreneur, and expert in fractional marketing solutions for SMBs. They explore what founder-led companies can learn about strategic marketing, customer understanding,...

Champions are made, not found. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Lance Black, MD, MBID , Senior Associate Dean of Innovation & Strategic Projects of Texas A&M Engineering Medicine ’s innovation program, physician, engineer, and startup advisor. They explore what healthcare innovation can teach SMB leaders about customer development, champion build...

What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn't a people problem, but a missing piece? In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Brent Robertson , CEO and Founder of Be Generative , to explore why the 150-year-old leadership narrative is leaving business owners burned out and bottlenecked. Brent introduces the choreographer mindset, the idea that leade...

Unlock the strategies that turn business success into long-term value. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Scott Snider , President of the Exit Planning Institute (EPI) , to discuss the Four C's: Human Capital, Customer Capital, Structural Capital, and Social Capital, and their role in driving business value. Scott explains how decentralizing ownership and...

Focus on the financial insights that drive growth, not just past numbers. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with David Tramontana , Area President at FocusCFO , to discuss how fractional CFOs can help SMBs scale with clarity and confidence. They get into why understanding your gross margin and cash flow is critical to making strategic decisions and ensuring su...

Stop chasing more data and start acting on the signals that matter. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Mehdi Tehranchi , Co-founder & CEO at KnowledgeNet.ai , to explore why revenue certainty matters, why more data does not create clarity every day, and why sales leaders should focus on the signals they are missing. Mehdi shares the three drivers of be...

Stop sacrificing profits to close deals and start maximizing your pricing potential. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Casey Brown , founder of Boost Pricing and author of Fearless Pricing , to break down what price objections really mean, and why discounting is usually a symptom, not a solution. Casey shares the two biggest reasons sales teams cave on pr...

Sales growth isn’t just about hiring more people, it’s about building the right systems. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh talks to Jason Flanzbaum , president of Boca Bearing , and Michael Wills , Fractional Sales Leader at Sales Xceleration , about the journey of transitioning from a marketing-driven to a sales-driven organization.  Jason shares the challenges of scal...

AI doesn’t fix broken systems. It accelerates them. In this episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Sam Sharma , founder and CEO of Elevate AI Tech , to discuss what AI adoption really looks like inside growing SMBs. Sam reveals why most AI initiatives fail, how poor data and broken workflows breed chaos, and why AI is more of a change management challenge than a tech...

If you communicate clearly, you win. In this episode, Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Donald Miller , CEO of StoryBrand and bestselling author of Building a StoryBrand , to break down why clear messaging is the ultimate competitive advantage in sales and marketing. Donald explains why customers tune out most marketing, how the human brain is wired for survival, and why short, repeatable, zero cogniti...

The most successful businesses know how to extract hidden value from operations. In this episode, Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Tim Van Mieghem , founder of The ProAction Group , to discuss how uncovering overlooked opportunities can transform a company’s future. Tim explains the importance of replacing judgment with curiosity and shares his unique approach to operational efficiency. He reveals how...

The fastest-growing companies all share one trait: a CEO who never stops learning from customers. In this conversation, Lee Brumbaugh sits down with Bryan Cressey , Co-Founder and Partner at Cressey & Company, to reveal the traits that set great CEOs and founders apart. Bryan shares why creativity, genuine customer engagement, and the humility to hire exceptional people consistently predict st...

Growth begins to stall long before most leaders recognize the root cause. In this conversation, Lee Brumbaugh chats with Kurt Schneiber , experienced CEO and EOS Implementer, to uncover the two primary obstacles that hold many businesses back: having the wrong people in key sales roles and lacking a repeatable sales process. Kurt shares his expert insights on how to assess whether a sales leader h...

Most SMBs don’t lose because they lack effort, they lose because they lack structure. In this Challenge of the Day episode of Sales Against the Odds, host Lee Brumbaugh puts Tom Gardner , Chief Community Officer at Sales Xceleration, on the hot seat for a rapid-fire round of five questions that hit at the heart of SMB growth. From embracing AI and building repeatable sales processes to hiring and...