Episode 6: How Scotty Freeman identifies top sales talent (before anyone else does)

Episode 6: How Scotty Freeman identifies top sales talent (before anyone else does)

Most founders think sales hiring is hard because the talent pool is thin. Scotty Freeman (Apprento) thinks the real problem runs deeper — we don't know what we're hiring for, we fall for the person who talks the most, and we rush through the parts that matter most. As co-founder of Apprento, New Zealand's leading sales acceleration platform, Scotty has spent 20 years building, breaking, and rebuilding the sales talent lifecycle. In this episode, he unpacks what actually predicts sales performance (it's not experience), why onboarding is where most companies quietly fail their new hires, how AI is reshaping both the rep's role and the sales leader's, and why the SDR isn't dead, just misused. Timestamps - 00:00 Intro and who is Scotty Freeman - 01:48 How Scotty fell into sales (and the stat that'll surprise you) - 04:18 Co-founding a business with 13 people - 05:43 What Apprento actually is and how the model works - 09:16 The SDR hiring boom and why the unit economics never made sense - 10:02 How to hire your first salesperson: advice for founders - 11:03 What to look for in an SDR when experience is off the table - 14:09 Raw aptitude testing and the Five Eyes framework - 19:46 Reference checks: why happy ears kill good hires - 21:34 Onboarding: why most companies fail their new hires in month one - 24:19 The origin story of Grow (AI sales coaching) - 28:15 How AI is widening the gap between great and average sales leaders - 32:50 How AI is changing who you hire - 34:51 Will AI kill SDRs? - 37:26 Quickfire round

Episode 5: Booked meetings are vanity. Stop counting them.

Most sales teams measure booked meetings, celebrate connect rates, and throw junior hires at their outbound motion – then wonder why pipeline is dry. Ricky Pearl from Pointer Strategy has been inside the sales teams of over 100 Australian startups, and his diagnosis is blunt: the barrier to outbound isn't the technology. It's the psychology. And most companies are making it worse by giving their most strategic function to their least experienced people. In this episode, Ricky breaks down the unit economics of outbound, why the phone still converts at 17.5% on average (and up to 40% with the right data), and what it actually takes to build an SDR function that makes commercial sense – before you hire a single rep. Why you should listen: If you're a founder, head of sales, or revenue leader thinking about outbound, this episode will save you from the most expensive mistakes in the playbook. Ricky doesn't trade in theory – he trades in numbers, frameworks, and hard-won lessons from the coalface of Australian B2B sales. Whether you're questioning if outbound is right for your ACV, trying to work out when to hire your first SDR, or just wondering why your sequencing stopped working – this one's for you.

Episode 4: Modern go-to-market is broken. Here’s how to fix it with Paul Perrett.

It’s never been easier to do outbound. And never harder to make it work. Most sales teams aren’t struggling with effort. They’re struggling with focus. Outbound is noisier than ever. Response rates are collapsing. And buyers are making decisions earlier, with or without you. In this episode of B2B Sales Blueprint, Tara Salmon steps in as guest host to interview Paul Perrett on what’s actually changed in modern go-to-market. Drawing on experience scaling Aconex and MessageMedia, Paul shares how different sales motions require different systems, why most teams misunderstand attribution, and how data changes how you prioritise and win. This is a practical look at what actually works in B2B sales today — and where most teams are going wrong.

Episode 3: From the ground up to scale: lessons from building a B2B revenue engine in APAC with Chris Perrine

Most sales teams aren’t losing deals. They’re never even in them. Buyers now ask, get answers, and decide before your sales team even knows they exist. In this episode of The B2B Sales Blueprint, Paul Perrett sits down with Chris Perrine, who built G2’s APAC business from a home office into a regional revenue engine. This is a real look at what it takes to scale B2B sales in APAC, and why most global playbooks break when you try to apply them locally. What you’ll learn • Why most pipeline problems start with visibility, not effort • How buyer behaviour is changing in an AI and LLM-driven world • What actually works when scaling B2B sales in APAC • Why US GTM strategies fail in regional markets • The biggest mistakes teams make as they scale outbound If you’re building, scaling, or leading a GTM function, this will reshape how you think about pipeline.

Episode 2: What got you to $10k deals won’t get you to $250k with Luke Williams

What does it really take to build and lead high-performing sales teams across multiple markets? In this episode of B2B Sales Blueprint, Paul Perrett sits down with Luke Williams, Vice President, Americas & APAC at Evotix, for a practical conversation on modern B2B sales leadership. Drawing on experience across APAC and the US, Luke shares lessons on scaling sales teams, evolving sales methodologies, coaching reps more effectively, and adapting to a world where AI is changing how top performers work. Key themes explored in this episode: From SMB to enterprise Why the real shift is not just deal size, but sales motion, buying complexity, and how leaders manage deals. How sales methodologies evolve Where frameworks like Challenger, SPICED, and MEDDICC fit as teams move from high-velocity sales to more structured enterprise motions. Coaching and deal inspection How strong sales leaders create more rigour through qualification, coaching, peer review, and better deal visibility. Expanding into the US Practical lessons on narrowing your ICP, focusing on the right verticals, and avoiding the mistake of trying to tackle the whole market at once. AI and rep performance Why AI is not replacing great salespeople, but helping the best reps improve faster and raise the bar for the whole team. Hiring for curiosity Why adaptability, learning mindset, and what Luke calls “XQ” are becoming more important in modern sales teams.