Buyer confidence is at an all-time low — and more data isn't fixing it. In this episode, Lee sits down with Tom Pisello (The ROI Guy), value-selling pioneer and founder of GeniusDrive, to unpack why B2B deals stall even when the numbers are solid.

Tom and Lee explore Aristotle's three buy buttons, the shift from FOMO to fear of messing up, why trust now drives 50% of the purchase decision, and what vendors need to do differently in an era of AI-accelerated complexity.

Topics covered:

• High-performance driving as a sales metaphor: your car goes where your eyes go
• Why emotional connection precedes logical justification in every buying decision
• The confidence gap: why two-thirds of buyers regret purchases shortly after signing
• Collective buying committees, compromise, and eroded confidence
• AI's role in accelerating value frameworks — from six months to six days
• The outcome economy and why token-maxing is the wrong metric
• Leadership in an era of rapid, disorienting change

References and further reading:

• Frugalnomics Survival Guide by Tom Pisello — Tom's foundational work on value selling and the three buy buttons that drive every B2B purchase decision
• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein — the book (and film) behind Tom's keynote framework, and the source of the episode's central metaphor
• The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson — foundational work on the role of emotion in B2B purchase decisions
• Todd Caponi — trust and transparency expert, author of The Transparency Sale; recommended by Tom as essential listening on the trust dimension of selling
• Lee's forthcoming books: The Second Meeting and Together We Win

Connect with Tom Pisello:

• LinkedIn: Tom Pisello (The ROI Guy)
• Podcast: Value Coffee Talk
• Website: geniusdrive.com/community

Chris Carter has been in the SAP ecosystem for decades — and he's watched AI go from expert systems on a Commodore VIC-20 to a tool that's genuinely changing how enterprise companies forecast, plan, and sell. He's not impressed by the hype. He's impressed by the people who actually use it well.

In this episode, Chris and Lee cover what separates the sellers who are winning right now from the ones firing off AI-generated emails into the void. Spoiler: it's preparation. It's curiosity. It's doing the work before you walk in the door.

Chris shares how he uses Google Gemini to simulate industry-specific discovery — getting the AI to ask him questions one at a time before a customer call, so he shows up already thinking in their world. He breaks down the Gartner analytics maturity curve and why most companies are still stuck at "here's what happened" when the real opportunity is "here's how we change what's going to happen."

He also tells the story of Shea — an SDR who cold-called Lee with bad CRM data, pivoted beautifully when challenged, and ended up as a coaching client who finished last year as number two on his team. The lesson? Stop selling the meeting. Sell the reason to show up.

And then there's the question that anchors the whole conversation: if sales is a game, who makes the rules? For Chris, the answer is simple — and it changes everything about how he competes.

What you'll hear:

• Why consumer-grade AI is not the same as enterprise AI — and why both matter
• How to use AI for preparation, not just production
• The Peloton analogy that scared a room full of Oracle salespeople
• Why a 0% response rate on a million AI emails is just laziness
• The "stop selling the meeting" coaching insight that took Shea to #2
• What it means to make your own rules of engagement

Connect with Chris Carter:LinkedIn: Christopher M. Carter (Wisconsin)Speaker inquiries: christophermcarter.com

Connect with Lee:Contact form: podcast.thoughtsonselling.comSchedule time: meet.acelera.group

Gina Smith spent 27 years selling medical devices into hospital operating rooms — and she got there entirely by accident. No role models. No sales background. A career in HR she was tired of.

One conversation with a sales manager who couldn't fill a role. And a "mercy interview" she then went out and won.

In this episode, Gina and Lee dig into what actually drives sales performance in high-stakes, complex environments — and why it has almost nothing to do with product knowledge or closing technique.

What we cover:

• How Gina went from HR to 27 years in medical device sales — and why she was skeptical of salespeople herself
• Why the best salespeople are introverts who learn to act like extroverts — not the other way around
• The shift from OR presence to supply chain gatekeeping, and what it costs sellers who can't adapt
• The "painful truth" principle: why telling customers what they don't want to hear builds more trust than protecting the relationship
• "Who are you being?" — the question that reveals everything about a salesperson's intent
• Why mapping out a sales process on the CFO's whiteboard won't fix the real problem
• The difference between selling to people and serving them — and why buyers can always tell which one you're doing

Gina now coaches founders and small sales teams through her practice at ginarsmith.com.

Connect with Gina:LinkedIn: Gina R. SmithWebsite: ginarsmith.com

Connect with Lee:podcast.thoughtsonselling.comLet's Talk: meet.acelera.group