29. Scaling Outbound Sales: BDRs, AI & Gamification

29. Scaling Outbound Sales: BDRs, AI & Gamification

How do you scale an outbound team from two founders dialing cell phones to 20 BDRs, without losing the hustle that got you there? In this episode, Britt sits down with Jimmy Christiansen, Head of Sales at Adversus, to unpack what actually breaks when outbound teams grow: why BDRs are "playmakers," not grunt work, where AI SDRs genuinely fit (and where they don't), and why a rep's activity metrics are really their GPS. Packed with honest, hard-won advice for anyone building a BDR or SDR team. Best moments: * Why the BDR is the hardest role to replace, not the easiest, and why Adversus calls them "playmakers" * The honest case on AI SDRs: where they genuinely fit, and why Jimmy thinks they're generations away from replacing outbound reps * Why 3 out of 10 leads being relevant is a good day, and why that's healthy * The "Formula One car vs. a bicycle" test for your calling setup * Why activity KPIs are a rep's GPS,  and how one bad month kills motivation if you only measure in 30-day windows * Why being a great BDR doesn't make someone a great AE * The "mandatory dialing day" story,  a Head of Sales who hadn't cold-called in three years, back on the phones * Why gamification, streaks, and recognition aren't "just games," they're psychology

28. Agentic Sales Explained: Digital Colleagues, Dead Inbound, and the Return of Cold Calling

Sales have always rewarded the people who do the hard work. The problem? For the last five years, the "hard work" has been clicking buttons, running sequences, and updating a CRM that nobody loves. AI didn't just change that; it exposed it. Sindre, SalesScreen's CEO, sits down with JB, founder of Evergrowth and a 20-year B2B sales veteran who helped scale Trustpilot from 50 to 5,000 customers as one of their first four sales hires. Today, JB builds AI agents for sales teams and has strong opinions about where the profession is headed. They cover: * Why the phone is the new blue ocean in outbound sales * Why inbound sales for humans is effectively over (agentic buyers are coming) * What "agentic sales" actually means and why a Claude license isn't it * The one AI agent JB would keep if he could only keep one * How to run a morning coffee briefing that replaces three hours of manual prep * Why AI hasn't changed the fundamentals, it's just removed your excuses If your team has been "getting ready to do AI" for the last two years, this one's for you. About JB: Founder of Evergrowth, a customer-centric sales consultancy turned AI-native sales agent platform. Based in Europe. Former early-stage salesperson at Trustpilot.

27. Royce Mason - AI Integration for Sales and Growth Enablement

What does it actually look like when AI works with your sales team instead of against them? In this episode, Britt sits down with Royce Mason, a California native turned Oslo resident and sales enablement expert at Umbrella, to dig into one of the most pressing questions in modern sales: how do you integrate AI in a way that your team will actually use? Royce brings a refreshingly grounded perspective to AI adoption, one that starts not with technology, but with people. Drawing on his background in finance, leasing, and enterprise sales, he walks us through how AI is reshaping the way reps train, prospect, and show up for their customers, and why forcing it from the top down is almost always the fastest way to kill adoption. In this episode, we cover: * Why AI adoption breaks down at every level of an organization, and how to fix it * The power of AI-driven role play in reducing sales anxiety and building rep confidence * How one sales team improved their close ratio by 30%, increased deal size by 40%, and flipped their talk-to-listen ratio from 60/40 to 20/80 * What a "future-ready" sales team actually looks like on a normal Tuesday afternoon * Why the best salespeople use AI to find 15 sure-thing prospects instead of dialing 1,000 long shots * The Iron Man analogy that perfectly captures the human + AI relationship in sales * Why sales will always be a trust-based, human-centered profession, no matter how advanced AI gets About Royce Mason: Royce Mason is a sales enablement and growth expert currently based in Oslo, Norway. Originally from Woodland Hills, California, Royce has built his career across finance, leasing, and tech sales before finding his passion at the intersection of people, process, and AI. He now works at Umbrella, helping organizations build future-ready sales teams that use AI not as a replacement for human connection, but as a tool to deepen it.

26. Stop Running Weekly Post Mortem's: Lead With Signals, Not Results

Stuck in weekly “postmortems” that explain what went wrong but don’t change what happens next? In this episode, Britt shows how to move from reactive leadership to proactive coaching by leading with signals*, not just outcomes. We unpack why teams slip into a “weekly postmortem” loop and how to break it. 👉🏼 The trap: spending more time “explaining performance than actually influencing” it. 👉🏼 Outcomes vs. behaviors: outcomes tell “how the story ends”; leaders need a “play by play.” 👉🏼 Why signals create direction: build conversations “around signals,” so reps know where to focus now. 👉🏼 A simple shift for your next 1:1: instead of “what happened?” ask “what’s happening?” Takeaway If your meetings start with results, you’re leading from the past; switch to early indicators you can still shape. *SalesScreen can automate these signals with built‑in AI, but the mindset works with any stack. Best Moments (0:01) Topic intro: seeing signals too late and reactive management.  (1:46) Numbers-first meetings = leadership after the fact; the “weekly postmortem.”  (4:16) Symptom check: “explaining performance rather than actually influencing.”  (6:07) Shift to signals: direction, not explanations.  (8:06) Outcomes vs behaviors: “where you landed” vs “where you’re going.”  (9:56) Try this: start meetings with “what’s happening?”

25. Espen Sjaavik: Fundamentals of Sales Scalability and Customer-Centric Success

Most sales leaders are under immense pressure to boost team productivity faster than ever, and AI is both the challenge and the solution. Espen Sjaavik [https://www.linkedin.com/in/espensjaavik/], co-founder of Alfred [https://www.linkedin.com/company/teamalfred/posts/?feedView=all], reveals the counterintuitive strategies that transform sales teams from overworked to unstoppable, emphasizing process, shared language, and human connection despite the hype around automation. If you're tired of the chaos and want to build scalable, predictable sales machines, this episode is your blueprint for the future of high-performance selling. Discover how top teams leverage a common language to align goals and reduce subjectivity across sales, marketing, and product, creating clarity and faster onboarding. Espen breaks down the critical habits, frameworks, and habits that enable predictable growth, even in times of market downturns and AI-driven disruption. You’ll learn how to diagnose whether your sales challenges stem from process flaws or motivation gaps, and how to foster genuine curiosity and conviction within your reps for sustainable success. We unpack actionable tactics like implementing universal qualification standards, focusing on top-of-funnel metrics, and obsessing over execution quality early in the sales cycle. Espen shares how a process-first approach, built with fundamentals in mind, can scale seamlessly, proving that hiring smart isn’t enough without the right structure. He challenges sales leaders to unlearn reliance on star athletes and instead invest in fundamentals that drive repeatability and growth, no matter who joins the team. Perfect for sales leaders, founders, and teams navigating AI’s landscape, this episode will shift your mindset from chaotic firefighting to strategic mastery. Learn how to harness automation without losing the human touch, all while building a predictable revenue engine that can scale from startup to enterprise. If you're ready to lead with conviction, precision, and clarity, this episode will redefine your approach to sales success. Best Moments: (06:25) AI shifts the sales landscape, but human connection remains essential for trust and authenticity (14:12) Leaders must diagnose the real root of productivity breakdowns, process, quality, or motivation, to intervene effectively (20:14) The foundation of scalable sales success is a shared, operational language (27:03) Focus on process fundamentals and repeatable behaviors instead of heroism (27:03) Scalability is rooted in process and enablement, not just star talent (29:31) Effective coaching begins with understanding individual belief and operational alignment (35:25) High productivity stems from an obsession with early-stage process quality over top-line results Guest Bio: Espen Sjaavik is a sales expert and co-founder of Alfred, a platform democratizing elite sales habits. With experience scaling teams from startups to hundreds of reps at Zscaler and Gartner, Espen’s insights are rooted in real-world operational excellence.