Most sales opportunities aren’t lost at the end; they’re lost in the very first meeting.

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, Chris sits down with sales strategist and bestselling author Lee Salz, creator of The First Meeting Differentiator, to unpack why traditional “discovery calls” are broken and what top-performing sales professionals do instead.

Lee explains why salespeople rely too heavily on logic, features, and self-focused questions… while buyers leave meetings feeling like they got no value. The result? Ghosting, stalled deals, poor qualification, and wasted pipeline time.

You’ll learn how to turn your first meeting into a consultative, value-driven conversation that builds emotional engagement, qualifies opportunities early, and creates clear next steps.

If you’re in B2B sales, sales leadership, or building a structured sales process, this episode is a masterclass in modern selling, qualification, and sales psychology.

• Why “discovery meetings” actually hurt your sales

• How to provide meaningful value in the first conversation

• The emotional side of selling (and why logic doesn’t close deals)

• How to qualify opportunities early and stop wasting time

• The difference between an Ideal Client Profile and a Target Client Profile

• How to eliminate ghosting with one simple process change

• Why most sales problems start at the first meeting, not the close

Lee Salz is a sales strategist, consultant, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The First Meeting Differentiator. He helps sales organizations improve first conversations, onboarding, qualification, and buyer engagement.

🔹 Lee Salz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leesalz/ 🌐 Book Website: THE FIRST MEETING DIFFERENTIATOR - Download First Chapter!

🎙️ All Sales Lead Dog Episodes Sales Podcast - Sales Lead Dog - Empellor CRM

🚀 CRM Shouldn’t Suck CRM Self-Assessment Tool | Fix Your CRM with Empellor

💼 Empellor CRM Empellor CRM: 19 Years of CRM Consulting & Implementation

👍 Like this video if you found it valuable 📩 Subscribe for weekly sales leadership & founder insights 💬 Comment below: What’s the biggest mistake you see in first sales meetings?

Scaling companies is hard. Exiting them successfully is even harder. Doing it repeatedly takes a different mindset.

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, host Chris sits down with Jeff Fleischer, a senior operating executive, capital advisor, and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience scaling technology and cybersecurity companies through hypergrowth, acquisitions, and strategic exits.

Jeff has held CRO, SVP, and CEO roles across public and private markets, helping build and sell multiple businesses to acquirers, including McAfee, JPMorgan Chase, Raytheon, BlackRock/Pamplona, and Audax. Today, he is the Founder of ProScale Partners and is launching Grainview Capital, advising founders, private equity firms, family offices, and strategic investors during critical inflection points.

This conversation dives deep into growth strategy, leadership alignment, go-to-market execution, capital formation, and what truly breaks companies during scale. Jeff shares real-world lessons from operating inside fast-moving environments where clarity, speed, and execution matter most.

Whether you’re a founder, operator, executive, or investor navigating growth or preparing for an exit, this episode delivers practical insight from someone who has done it repeatedly.

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

- How operators scale companies through hypergrowth - Why leadership alignment is critical to execution - What founders misunderstand about scaling and exits - The role of capital strategy in growth and M&A - Lessons from cybersecurity, AI, and infrastructure platforms

🎧 About Sales Lead Dog

Sales Lead Dog is a podcast for founders, executives, and revenue leaders focused on leadership, growth, culture, and modern go-to-market strategy.

🔗 Connect & Learn More

Guest Links 🔹 Jeff Fleischer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreylfleischer/ 🔹 ProScale Partners: https://proscale.ai/

Sales Lead Dog & Resources 🔗 Sales Lead Dog & Resources 🎙️ All Sales Lead Dog Episodes: https://empellorcrm.com/salesleaddog/ CRM Shouldn’t Suck: https://www.crmshouldntsuck.com Empellor CRM: https://www.Empellorcrm.com

👍 Like the video if you found value 📩 Subscribe for weekly founder & operator conversations 💬 Comment below: What stage of growth are you navigating right now?

What starts as a dream of becoming a jazz musician turns into an unexpected journey of building a healthcare technology company impacting millions of lives.

In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, host Chris sits down with Gerry Miller, Founder & CEO of Cloudticity, to explore a career shaped by passion, courage, and the ability to say yes to unexpected opportunities.

Gerry shares how early curiosity for technology, combined with tenacity and bold decision-making, led him from music to cloud computing, healthcare innovation, and AI-driven transformation. The conversation dives deep into leadership, entrepreneurship, culture-building, and how technology is reshaping the future of healthcare.

This episode isn’t just about business it’s about mindset, resilience, mentorship, and creating meaningful impact while building something that lasts.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

- How unexpected career pivots can lead to long-term success - What it really takes to build and scale a healthcare tech company - Why passion and courage matter more than fearlessness - How AI and cloud technology are transforming healthcare - The importance of culture, enablement, and work-life integration

Whether you’re a founder, executive, entrepreneur, or someone navigating change, this conversation offers practical insights and real-world leadership lessons.

🎧 About Sales Lead Dog

Sales Lead Dog is a podcast for founders, executives, and revenue leaders focused on leadership, growth, culture, and modern business strategy. Each episode features real conversations with experienced operators who’ve built and scaled successful companies.

🔗 Connect with Our Guest Gerry Miller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrymiller Cloudticity: https://www.cloudticity.com

🔗 Sales Lead Dog & Resources 🎙️ All Sales Lead Dog Episodes: https://empellorcrm.com/salesleaddog/ CRM Shouldn’t Suck: https://www.crmshouldntsuck.com Empellor CRM: https://www.empellorcrm.com

👍 Like this video to support the show 📩 Subscribe for weekly founder & leadership conversations 💬 Comment below: What part of Gerry’s journey stood out to you?