Make It Happen Mondays - B2B Sales Talk with John Barrows

In this high-energy episode, John sits down with one of today’s most influential voices in sales, Leslie Venetz—author of the USA Today bestselling book Profit-Generating Pipeline, featured in the Wall Street Journal, and the creator behind 100+ million views of sales content online.

Leslie brings a no-BS, battle-tested framework for building a healthy, sustainable pipeline—and the conversation hits hard on key topics like territory...

Rex Galbraith has worn almost every sales hat over his 20+ year SaaS career, and for the last decade, he’s helped build Consensus into the category leader for interactive demo automation. In this episode, John and Rex dive deep into why traditional product demos are failing today’s buyers—and what to do instead.

You’ll hear how Rex and his team use unideal customer profiles (UCPs) to actively disqualify bad-fit prospects, how automa...

Dave Govan is the Founder and CEO of G2 Strategic Advisory Services, with a career that spans $100M+ as a rep and $2.3B+ as a CRO. From early-stage startups to global tech titans, Dave has operated across nearly every stage of company growth — and he’s seen it all.

In this episode, we dive into what’s broken in today’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy and how AI is exposing the cracks — especially among lazy leadership and outdated ...

In this special episode of Make It Happen Mondays, John sits down with Ryan Garland, an Account Executive at Coefficient, to dive into what happens when a rep actually cares about getting better. This isn’t a generic sales success story—this is the real, raw impact of putting in the work, embracing coaching, and taking ownership of your sales career.

Ryan shares what drew him to John’s 1:1 coaching program, how he went from solid to...

Dr. Lorenzo Bizzi is a professor of strategic management at Cal State Fullerton, globally published researcher, and author of Myths vs. Science of Selling — a book that challenges some of the most popular (but unproven) sales advice circulating in the industry today.

In this episode, we dig into the difference between what sounds good in sales and what actually works. Dr. Bizzi shares research-backed in...

This week on Make It Happen Mondays, John sits down with Rory Sadler, Co-founder and CEO of trumpet, the leading digital sales room platform helping companies like Gong, HubSpot, and Personio increase sales velocity by transforming the buying experience.

Before founding trumpet, Rory spent years on the front lines of SaaS sales—first as an individual contributor, then leading global teams at H...

In this episode of Make It Happen Mondays, John Barrows sits down with Guy Rubin, CEO of Ebsta, the revenue intelligence platform that guarantees increased quota attainment—and was recently acquired.

Guy shares the origin story of building Ebsta as a bootstrapped venture, the lessons learned through scaling without VC pressure, and how staying aligned with his values made the acquisition feel like a nat...

In this episode, John sits down with Dr. Yaniv Zaid—a global authority on persuasion, communication, and ethical influence. With a career spanning 22+ years, 2,500+ keynotes, and 11 bestselling books (including his latest, The New Bible of Sales: The Ten Commandments), Dr. Zaid brings razor-sharp insight into what makes people say “yes.”

Together, they dive into the psychology of trust, how identity and narrative matter more than fe...

In this mind-expanding episode, John sits down with MichaelAaron Flicker—entrepreneur, behavioral science strategist, and CEO of XenoPsi Ventures, where he oversees a portfolio of nine companies. He’s also the co-author of Hacking the Human Mind: The Behavioral Science Secrets Behind 17 of the World’s Best Brands, a must-read for anyone serious about sales, branding, or influence.

They explore how behavioral scie...

In this episode of Make It Happen Mondays, John Barrows sits down with branding icon David Brier—a man known as The Brandfather, whose work has generated over $9 billion in brand value across four decades. With 320+ international awards, a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship medallion, and praise from the likes of Daymond John, Grant Cardone, and Oren Klaff, David br...

In this episode of Make It Happen Mondays, John Barrows sits down with Kevin Davis, the co-founder and CEO of Boogie Board—a company rethinking sales territory planning through the lens of data, transparency, and AI.

Kevin’s journey started far from Silicon Valley, in a small Wisconsin town where he learned grit the hard way—from shoveling snow and driving plows to climbing the ranks in sales and ops. Despite saying he never should’...

Stephanie Chung grew up on an Air Force base with a Master Sergeant father—so structure, discipline, and high standards were her foundation long before she ever stepped into a boardroom. Today, she’s a #1 international best-selling author, executive coach, and the first African American to lead a major private aviation company.

In this powerful episode, we dive into Stephanie’s remarkable career—from checking bags at an airline to c...

Udi Ledergor is back on the pod—and this time, he’s bringing the fire behind Courageous Marketing, his new book that challenges everything safe, stale, and same-same in today’s crowded GTM world.As the former CMO of Gong during its hypergrowth years (multi-billion-dollar valuation, anyone?), and now Chief Evangelist, Udi knows firsthand how to build brands people actually love. In this episode, he and John ...

What happens when 25 years of corporate procurement experience meets elite business school teaching? You get Giuseppe Conti—a world-class negotiation expert with a gift for turning complex tactics into everyday skills.In this episode, Giuseppe shares his journey from growing up in a family of teachers in Southern Italy to teaching negotiation and influence at institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. His new book, Negotiati...

Eugene “Blue” Bowen joins John Barrows to unpack one of the most important AI sales reports of the year—straight from G2’s research desk. As a Research Principal focused on sales, tech, and AI, Blue co-authored G2’s latest study exploring how sales teams are actually using (or not using) AI in their day-to-day.

Together, they dig into:

1. Why most pipeline numbers are a lie
2. The myth of “fully automated” sales cycles
3. How AI’s most powe...

Lori Richardson is a powerhouse in the sales world—and one of John’s favorite humans, period.In this deeply personal and insightful episode, Lori opens up about her incredible journey: escaping an abusive relationship at 19, raising a child on her own, and diving headfirst into a 100% commission sales role with no safety net. Her story isn’t just inspiring—it’s a masterclass in resilience, grit, and self-belief....

Marcus Chan is a walking masterclass in disciplined growth. As CEO of Venli Consulting, he’s helped sales teams uncover $2M–$10M+ in hidden revenue through what he calls a Revenue Operating System—a system that’s generated $950M+ in results (and counting).In this episode, John Barrows reconnects with Marcus Chan to explore the grit, strategy, and mindset behind high-performing sales orgs. From his...

Vince Beese knows how to close. As a fractional CRO and author of Red Zone Selling, Vince helps early-stage startups and fast-growing sales teams stop spinning their wheels and start running the plays that actually move deals across the finish line.In this conversation, John and Vince ditch the fluff and dive straight into what separates elite sellers from the rest. From his days in enterprise sales to building ...

Jake Mannino isn’t your average sales leader. As a Global Sales Director at Microsoft, he leads a team responsible for over $1B in annual revenue—but his true superpower lies in understanding people.In this deeply insightful episode, Jake joins John Barrows to unpack the psychology of motivation, the neuroscience of behavior change, and what it takes to build a high-performance culture in today’s AI-dr...