Closing Time: quick insights from sales & marketing experts

AI video is here, and it's already changing how marketers plan, produce, and scale content. Have you tapped into its potential yet? In this episode of Closing Time, Hope Horner, co-founder and CEO of Lemonlight, breaks down where AI video is creating real opportunities for marketers—and where human judgment still makes or breaks the final product. She explains how AI fits into the production proce...

Most reps skip straight to messaging. They write emails without knowing who they're targeting, when to reach out, or what the buyer actually cares about. Then they wonder why no one responds. The problem usually isn't the email itself. It's the lack of context behind it. That matters even more if you're using AI for outbound. The way you collect and organize CRM data determines whether AI becomes...

If your LinkedIn leads are getting more expensive, the problem isn't always your budget—it's your ad strategy. In this episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with B2B growth expert Philip Ilic to unpack one of the biggest questions facing marketers today: how to evaluate the true ROI of LinkedIn ads. Learn why cost per lead is often misleading, how top teams prioritize pipeline generation an...

Companies are rushing to adopt AI in their sales process, but very few are prepared for what it takes to implement it successfully. In this episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with Deepak Shukla, Founder of LemStudio and AI automation expert, to talk about what actually needs to happen before you start implementing AI. They get into how teams are using AI today—handling inbound lead quali...

Founder-led sales is one of the most important skills a startup founder can develop. Before you hire sales reps, build a revenue team, or create a formal sales process, founders are usually the ones closing the first deals and learning what customers actually want. In this episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with entrepreneur and Harvard Business School sales lecturer Lou Shipley, author...

If your CPL is climbing, the fix probably isn't more budget or more campaigns—it's better destination pages.  In this episode, you'll learn the B2B landing page strategy every paid media team needs to turn clicks into qualified pipeline instead of wasted traffic. Val Riley sits down with B2B landing page expert Tas Bober, Founder of The Scroll Lab, to break down her "Core Four" framework designed...

Scaling a digital agency isn't just about winning more clients. It's about building systems that help existing clients perform better—faster, more consistently, and without constant friction. That's the approach Found Search Marketing has taken as it's grown into a fast-moving agency managing hundreds of landing pages and significant media spend across competitive industries like higher education...

Is 2026 your year for a career change into sales? And what if that next chapter offers more flexibility, income potential, and ownership over your future? In this episode of Closing Time, we explore why sales is emerging as a powerful option for career reinvention—especially for women considering a midlife career change or looking for a more autonomous, growth-oriented path. Val is joined by reinv...

Rising ad costs and tighter performance expectations are forcing SaaS marketers to rethink their paid media strategy in 2026. On this episode of Closing Time, Jonathan Bland, paid media strategist and co-founder of Omni Lab, breaks down the paid media trends shaping the year ahead—from rising CPCs and shifting Google Ads economics to what's actually working on LinkedIn ads for SaaS. Covering seaso...

Brand storytelling is becoming one of the most critical growth levers for B2B marketers—and in 2026, it's being reshaped by AI. In this episode of Closing Time, we're joined by brand storytelling expert and author Park Howell to break down what brand storytelling really is, why it matters more than ever, and how B2B marketing leaders can use proven frameworks to stand out in an increasingly automa...

Sales and marketing misalignment is one of the biggest (and most expensive) problems facing modern go-to-market teams. It slows down deals, creates internal friction, and leads to inevitable revenue loss. In this episode of Closing Time, we are joined for a second time by the author of Create Togetherness, Jeff Davis, so he can finish sharing the final two of his five big ideas around sales and ma...

Running a paid media strategy for one brand is tough. Running it for three—with entirely different go-to-market motions—is a whole new level of complexity. In this special internal spotlight episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with Unbounce's Senior Manager of Digital Marketing, Alexa Tsongranis, to unpack how her team of one built a unified playbook for scaling paid media across Unbounce...

B2B sales negotiation doesn't have to feel like a high-pressure personality shift the moment a customer says "yes." Too often, sellers tense up, change their tone, and fall back into outdated tactics—but today's guest on Closing Time says there's a better way. In his new book Four Levers Negotiating, sales leader and speaker Todd Caponi shares his practical framework that transforms the negotiatio...

Events are back and bigger than ever. Whether you're new to events or scaling an existing program, this episode is packed with tips to launch or improve your field marketing strategy in 2026. Accelevents CEO Jon Kazarian joins Closing Time to share a practical, modern take on B2B event marketing, including why micro-events and intimate dinners are outperforming saturated digital channels. You'll l...

A strong holiday marketing strategy can make or break your Q4. November and December drive over $1 trillion in ecommerce spending, with conversions spiking up to six times higher during the Cyber Five. But with ad costs rising and competition at an all-time high, marketers need to move fast and optimize smarter. In this episode of Closing Time, Val chats with Jonathan Naccache, Co-founder and Pres...

Getting CRM implementation right is one of the biggest levers for improving sales performance and efficiency. Yet many teams struggle to select the right system and see a fast return on investment. In this episode of Closing Time, CRM consultant Vanessa Hunt shares proven CRM implementation best practices that help companies boost ROI, improve CRM adoption, and reduce the total cost of ownership....

Sales and marketing alignment is one of the most persistent challenges for go-to-market leaders. While most teams say they're aligned, the reality often looks different—with missed opportunities, broken handoffs, and a lack of shared accountability. In this episode of Closing Time, Val sits down with Jeff Davis, author of Create Togetherness, to unpack the first three big ideas about sales and mar...

You've built a great ad campaign—but if your landing page doesn't match your ad message, you're losing conversions before they even start. In this episode of Closing Time, Barry Buckman joins us to explore how landing page message match—the alignment between your ad copy and landing page content—can dramatically boost conversion rates. A long-time Unbounce power user, Barry helps digital marketers...

You've done a great job getting landing page visitors to convert—but what happens after the form fill? The lead hand-off between marketing and sales is often where revenue leaks begin.  In this episode of Closing Time, Val Riley sits down with Adam Lundquist, founder of Nerds Do It Better, to share practical strategies for improving your post-conversion flow, optimizing your connection rate, and t...

Trying to be everything to everyone rarely works in B2B sales. Many teams start with a horizontal sales strategy—going after anyone who could use the product, across any industry. And that can work… until it doesn't. When reps start losing momentum, getting buried in research, or struggling to differentiate, it's often because they're spread too thin. In this episode of Closing Time, we welcome ba...

Are you ready for the next generation of search? AI search is coming…now. About 2.5% of searches are currently run on sites like ChatGPT, but the experts say that number will grow exponentially—and fast. Marketers need to know what GEO is and how to optimize for AI search to stay ahead. This week on Closing Time, we welcome Anthony Chiaravallo, CEO of Vallo Media, to talk us through the steps to a...

What happens when a fast-growing consulting firm removes the bottlenecks in their marketing workflow? For Viva Executive Assistants, the results were dramatic: a 6x increase in landing page output and a 7.5% increase in conversion rates. In this customer edition of Closing Time, host Melinda Prescher, Senior Director of Product and Customer Marketing at Unbounce and Insightly, sits down with Dania...

Can a sales mindset shift unlock better performance? According to today's guest on Closing Time, the answer is a resounding yes. Join Jaime Diglio, Founder of The WIN Room, as she breaks down how sales leaders can move their teams from the WAR Room (working against revenue) to the WIN Room ("What I Need" to succeed). Jaime has taken the TEDx stage, coaches students at Harvard Business School, and...

Ready to make the leap from W-2 to 1099? As the global macroeconomic environment continues to shift, gig work is becoming more and more common. And if you've got experience, you're in a good place because fractional executives are in demand. On this episode of Closing Time, join Sangram Vajre from GTM Partners as he walks through how his consultancy can help experienced sales, marketing and custom...

All sales leaders want to make good sales hires. But what defines "good?" In this week's episode of Closing Time, Kevin Gaither, CEO of InsideSalesExpert.com, reflects on a tough moment in his career—laying off more than 50 sales reps—and how it shaped his approach to hiring B2B sales reps. He's identified 6 essential traits that predict long-term success in sales. Join Kevin and host Val Riley in...