The Unexpected Lever

AI becomes useful when it helps you focus, not when it adds more noise. Zak Cherif , Head of Product Marketing at KeyShot , joins Jarod Greene to discuss how he is navigating a shift toward product-led growth while maintaining consistent messaging across a complex sales motion. He explains the challenge of supporting multiple sellers, industries, and use cases without losing clarity. Zak explains...

​​Most AI strategies fail because they start with the tool instead of the problem. Martin Gomez , COO and Co-Founder of Wing , joins Jarod Greene to share how his team built a global workforce powered by both people and AI. He explains how Wing evolved from a vision of digital assistants into a system that helps companies extend their teams and get real work done. Martin walks through how they use...

Speed is no longer a luxury for revenue teams; it’s a survival requirement. In this episode of The Unexpected Lever, Jarod Greene is joined by Jamie Walsh , Founder of GTM Factories , to pull back the curtain on how legacy incumbents can outmaneuver nimble startups. Jamie reveals the internal framework he used to dismantle a traditional 15-month product launch cycle and replace it with a high-velo...

AI in sales is moving fast. Most teams are not. In this episode of The Unexpected Lever, Jarod Greene sits down with Chad Sly , Vice President of Sales at Braintrust , to talk about what AI adoption actually looks like inside revenue teams. From using AI as a thinking partner for deep account research to diagnosing stalled deals,  they dig into why most AI rollouts fail, how old implementation pla...

Sellers confuse AI as a tool that will replace them, but they fail to see that it is raising the standard. In this episode of The Unexpected Lever, Jarod Greene sits down with Darren Brady , Vice President of Strategic Accounts at Corporate Visions , to discuss how AI is reshaping buyer expectations. With more data at every seller’s fingertips, buyers assume you know their business before the firs...

AI can help you deliver better quality, but it depends on how you use it. In this episode of The Unexpected Lever, Jarod Greene sits down with Seth Marrs , Chief Strategy Officer at Sandler , to cut through the AI hype and focus on what actually moves revenue. Seth shares why starting with value changes everything, how most teams are sequencing AI incorrectly, and why the real advantage is not spe...

AI promises speed and leverage, but trust is still the missing piece. In this episode of The Unexpected Lever, Jarod Greene is joined by Bill Balnave , Head of Customer Success at Mezmo . Bill has led post-sale, solutions, and customer teams through real AI adoption under real constraints. Bill shares how necessity forced action, why trust slows teams down, and how leaders should rethink AI as par...

Is high velocity sales really automatable in the age of AI? In this episode, we discuss how sales teams are using AI without breaking what makes selling work. Jarod Greene sits down with Terence Falk , VP of Sales at 8am , to talk about pipeline generation, qualification, and the risks of over automating human work. Terence shares how his team uses AI to remove friction from research, routing, and...

Sales and ops leaders are pressured to adopt AI, but struggle to turn the noise into revenue-driving decisions. In this episode of The Unexpected Lever, Jarod Greene is joined by Scott Peyser , Senior Vice President of Operations at CBTS . Scott brings more than 20 years of experience leading sales operations, forecasting, and go to market strategy across global organizations. Scott shares how lea...

AI is no longer an experiment happening on the sidelines of sales. It’s showing up in workflows, conversations, decisions, and forecasts, and teams are figuring it out in real time. Season 2 of The Unexpected Lever explores how sales leaders and technical teams are actually working alongside AI. Not the hype, not the theory, but the honest stories of what’s working, what’s not, and where human jud...

Marketers are wasting time on decks. In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene , CMO at Vivun , explains why marketing should step away from slide creation and focus on owning the message. After two decades of building decks for every sales moment, Jarod realized the problem wasn’t about how decks looked or how long they were; it was about who controlled the story. He discusses how giving reps ownership...

Great selling starts with simplicity. In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene sits down with Ryan Heinig , CRO at 2X , to talk about the fundamentals that separate top sellers from everyone else. Ryan discusses the four things every great seller does, and why mastering the basics is what drives consistent wins. Ryan also explains the real role of sales enablement, the power of coaching within teams, a...

Most teams talk about value without ever earning the right to use that word. In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene sits down with Em Daigle , Founder and Chief Automation Officer at OTTO-MATES , to discuss how to really build trust with buyers and how “value” has become a buzzword in sales, often used without any real connection to what customers actually care about. Em explains why enablement misse...

Forecasting isn’t just for finance anymore. Ann Davis , SVP of Sales at Crunchbase , says it’s the edge every seller needs to stay ahead. On this episode of V5, Jarod Greene chats with Ann about why top-performing reps are rethinking how they prioritize accounts and spend their time. Ann explains that selling today is more about spotting signals early, sometimes before buyers even realize a need e...

The best sellers don’t just sell value, they sell peace of mind. In this episode of V5, we talk about why risk mitigation, not ROI, is what actually unlocks budgets and moves deals forward. Jarod Greene chats with Daryl Weldon , VP of Sales at Verisys , about why so many deals stall at the procurement stage and how to address this issue. Daryl shares what sellers miss when they push growth over pr...

Are reps who lead with product knowledge killing their own deals? In this episode of V5, we look at why curiosity, not memorization, is the skill top sellers rely on to win today. Jarod Greene sits down with Tim O’Neil , Chief Sales Officer at 6sense , to talk about how sales has evolved and why old habits are no longer effective. Tim explains how low-interest markets rewarded feature-heavy pitche...

Why do so many sellers miss the mark in enterprise deals without realizing it? In this episode, Jarod Greene talks with Wendy Petty , CRO at WorkFusion , about the lost skill that still drives the biggest wins in sales: meeting face-to-face. Wendy explains why sellers who rely on video calls are often leaving trust, nuance, and real connection on the table. She makes the case that younger reps, sh...

Should the SDR role still exist in today’s sales environment? In this episode, Jarod Greene talks with Kate VanLue , VP of Revenue at AudiencePlus , about why she believes AEs should own the full journey from meeting booked to closed revenue. Kate shares how the traditional SDR model has shifted into pure volume work that adds little value for sellers or prospects. She explains why compensation pl...

Is hiring someone who’s “done it before” actually the safer bet? In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene sits down with Lindsay Rios , Fractional CRO of PowerChord, Inc. , to question the logic behind experience-based executive hiring. Lindsay challenges the assumption that startup success requires a leader who’s already taken a company from $10M to $50M ARR. She points out how this mindset leads to o...

Most reps won’t get better with AI. They’ll just get lazy. That’s what Mike Head , CRO at PartnerStack , tells Jarod Greene in this episode of V5, as he shares his two bold takes on the future of sales teams. Mike argues that AI is creating a wider gap between top sellers and everyone else. With prep work and research now outsourced to tools, many reps are starting to lean too hard on automation a...

Is outbound selling still worth the effort in the AI era? In this episode, we explore how AI tools are changing outbound sales, and what separates average reps from great ones. Jarod Greene sits down with Austin Hitchcock , Senior Director of Account Development at Highspot , to discuss the future of pipeline generation, how AI is being misused by sales teams, and why human-first, creative outreac...

Is sales really a job or just the outcome of doing your real work well? On this episode of V5, Jarod Greene chops it up with Mark Niemiec , CRO at Salesloft , to unpack what sales is when you strip away the pipeline noise and pressure to close. Mark believes a sale serves as proof that you helped a customer solve a priority business problem. He shares why discovery, creativity, and empathy matter...

Are bold LinkedIn takes helping or hurting your sales motion? In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene sits down with Todd Busler , CEO and co-founder of Champify , to question the certainty behind today’s loudest go-to-market opinions. Todd sees a problem with the way leaders chase what’s trending, speaking in absolutes about which industries and approaches are 'dead,' without accounting for the compl...

Is your team still stuck in the old way of territory planning? In this episode of V5, Jarod Greene is joined by Andrew Berger , VP of Revenue at Capchase , to challenge a long-standing sales tradition. Andrew argues that quarterly and annual planning sessions waste more time than they’re worth. With countless hours spent on formatting, presenting, and guessing what will matter months from now, he...

Why do so many sales leaders fail before they even get started? In this episode, Jarod Greene chats with Kelley Hippler , CRO at Briefly , about why people-centered leadership is the key to building sales teams that last. Kelley explains how CROs fall into the trap of managing up, missing what their team really needs. She talks about the pressure leaders feel from day one and how it pulls them awa...