Make It Happen Mondays - B2B Sales Talk with John Barrows

Half of your buyers already picked their shortlist before your sales team even knew they existed. The only question left is whether your team knows what they typed in to get there.In this episode, John sits down with Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2 and author of five books including Love Is The Killer App, to talk about why half of all software buyers now start their research inside ChatGPT, how BDRs have quietly become the frontline of business intelligence for companies trying to win AI search, and why the one thing AI still can't replace in a sales rep is domain expertise.If you are in sales, sales leadership, or building a go-to-market team that needs to hold up in the AI era, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about what AI search means for your pipeline, why your BDRs might be sitting on your most valuable data, and how to make sure the human in the deal still has something the algorithm doesn't.Want to build a sales team that can hold its own in the AI era? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.What You'll LearnWhy half of all software buyers now start their research inside ChatGPT or Gemini, and are eighty percent through their purchase before a sales rep ever talks to themWhy the BDR, not the AE, has become the frontline of business intelligence for companies trying to win inside AI searchWhy Tim says today's best AE is a sommelier, not a closer, and what that metaphor means for a buyer drowning in AI-generated optionsWhy verifier's law explains what AI still can't be trusted to do in sales outreach, and why domain expertise is the one thing that makes a generalist model usefulTim Sanders is Chief Innovation Officer at G2, where he researches how AI is reshaping B2B buying and helps G2's customers adapt their go-to-market strategy. Before G2, he was Chief Innovation Officer at Upwork and spent years as an executive at Yahoo, following his early career with Mark Cuban's audio net, which became broadcast.com. He is the author of five books, including Love Is The Killer App and Today We Are Rich.Visit timsanders.com to learn more about Tim's work and books.Connect with Tim Sanders: Website: https://timsanders.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanderssays John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment.Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI didn't kill the sales fundamentals. It just made everyone forget what they actually are.In this episode, John sits down with Kristie Jones, Author and Founder of Sales Acceleration Group, to talk about why the buyer now wants to talk to a human 80 to 90 percent of the way through their own research, why the post-mortem meeting needs to be replaced with a pre-call meeting, and why AI is forcing sales leaders to teach objective judgment for the first time in their careers.If you are in sales, sales leadership, RevOps, or GTM, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about writing a role brief for the AI tools on your team, replacing the post-mortem with a pre-call meeting, testing for objective judgment instead of just tactical skill, and why the old playbook is dead even though playbooks aren't.Want to build a sales team that can think critically in the AI era? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.What You'll LearnWhy the buyer now wants to talk to a human 80 to 90 percent of the way through their own research, and what that means for how a rep opens the callWhy the post-mortem meeting needs to be replaced with a pre-call meeting built around objective judgmentWhy every AI tool on your team needs a role brief, the same way every hire needs a job descriptionWhy Kristie tests candidates by making them argue with an AI generated plan live, not just use oneWhy the four skills sales leaders need now are systems thinking, workflow design, decision leadership, and accountability clarityKristie Jones is the Author and Founder of Sales Acceleration Group, where she works with sales organizations on hiring, training, and leadership development. She's the author of Selling Your Way In and the upcoming The Sales Leadership Gap, releasing October 2026, which looks at how AI is forcing a fundamental rethink of how sales leaders hire, coach, and make decisions.Visit kristiekjones.com to learn more about Kristie's work and get updates on The Sales Leadership Gap.Connect with Kristie Jones: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristiekjones Website: kristiekjones.com Instagram: instagram.com/kristiejones.sales YouTube: youtube.com/@kristiekjonesJohn Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution, helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today's AI-driven sales environment.Connect with John Barrows: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows Instagram: instagram.com/johnmbarrows TikTok: tiktok.com/@johnmbarrowsCheck out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter