210: Craig Bowman | SVP, Trellix

210: Craig Bowman | SVP, Trellix

From Sales Is King by Dan Sixsmith

February 23, 2026 · 1h 5m

About this episode

Dan Sixsmith interviews Craig Bowman about his unique career path from the CIA to leading public sector sales at Trellix.

In this episode of Sales Is King, Dan sits down in the new Midtown Manhattan studio with Craig Bowman, SVP of Public Sector at Trellix and author of the new book Craft: CIA Elite Selling. Craig brings a wild career arc to the mic—from clandestine work with the CIA and the intelligence community to building high‑performing sales teams at Adobe and now leading public sector growth at scale. Craig unpacks how CIA tradecraft, “mission first” thinking, and AI can radically upgrade how you prospect, qualify, and win in complex B2B deals. Key topics covered The CIA recruitment story: from a mysterious hotel lobby interview, underground parking garages, and VCR‑filled rooms to landing his first role under commercial cover. Moving from intelligence to entrepreneurship: starting, scaling, and selling his own government contracting company, then returning post‑9/11 for a new mission. Jumping into sales at Adobe: how he was recruited, doubled his salary, and built a new intelligence division by deeply understanding the mission—not just the tech. “In the mud with the customer”: why Craig literally went to the southern border with CBP to understand the mission and coined his mantra about…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Sixsmith

Guest: Craig Bowman

Topics covered

  • CIA tradecraft
  • B2B sales
  • public sector growth
  • entrepreneurship
  • influence in sales
  • sales frameworks

Keywords

  • CIA
  • sales teams
  • B2B deals
  • entrepreneurship
  • influence maps
  • MEDDIC
  • Challenger

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Trellix, CIA, Adobe, CBP

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