Closed Circuit Selling: Why the Funnel Is Breaking Your GTM

Most go-to-market teams aren’t failing on effort. They’re failing on architecture.

In this episode, we sit down with Charles Needham (co-author of Cold Call Algo) alongside Adem Manderovic (CRO School) to break down why the linear funnel is the biggest sacred cow in sales, and why Closed Circuit Selling is the better model for modern outbound.

We unpack incentives, silos, CAC payback insanity, and why “meetings booked” became a broken religion. Then we get practical. How to run outbound as market learning. How to capture timing signals. And how to build feedback loops that actually make marketing, sales, and customer success stronger together.

Tune in and learn:

+ Why buyer journeys are non-linear, and funnels create blind spots

+ How to shift from meetings quotas to conversation-driven market validation

+ Why intent data can’t replace first-party conversations

If you’re a B2B marketer or revenue leader, this is the blueprint for building a GTM system that compounds instead of churns.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 The “Sacred Cow”: Why the Linear Funnel Breaks Reality

01:00 Who’s Charles Needham (And Why He Thinks Like a Quant)

04:30 From Mortgage Bonds to CRMs: Seeing Sales as a Database

07:00 The Moment He Realised “Meetings Booked” Is a Trap

09:10 Closed Loop Continuity vs Funnel Checklists

11:40 What Silos Destroy: Feedback Loops That Never Make It Back

14:10 CAC Payback Madness: When “Growth” Becomes Insanity

17:10 The Conversations Model: Comp People for Learning, Not Meetings

20:05 Predictable Revenue Misread: “Market Development” Got Lost

21:00 VC Algebra vs Real Buyers: “The Customer Doesn’t Exist”

28:10 The 2008 Analogy: Incentives Create Fragile Systems

32:20 Intent Data Hot Take: “Or You Could Call Them”

36:00 The Guitar Demo: What “Cataloguing” Really Means

39:00 “Talk to Everybody”: The Outbound Belief Most CROs Don’t Hold

41:45 Fixing the Root: Change Comp, or Nothing Changes

48:10 Market Validation vs Cataloguing: The Language Problem

56:35 AI Didn’t Fix Outbound. It Scaled the Spam Cannon

59:30 What Works Next: Follow the Underpriced Channel (Then Move)

1:06:00 Cold Call Algo: The “Unplanned Communication” Thesis

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E213 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #demandgeneration...

Why Sales & Marketing Broke (And How to Rebuild a Modern Revenue System) ft. Tony J Hughes

Most teams feel the symptoms — pipeline gaps, misaligned targets, MQL chaos, sellers chasing “now or never” deals.

But those are signals of a deeper problem: the revenue system itself is broken.

In this episode, we sit down with Tony J Hughes and Adem Manderovic to unpack why sales and marketing drifted apart… and how to rebuild a modern revenue system that actually matches how buyers make decisions today.

We get into:

• Why predictable revenue models collapsed
• How sales stopped validating the market
• How marketing lost strategic direction to MQL targets
• And how to replace the old funnel with a closed-circuit GTM system that creates control and credibility again.

We also talk ICP, cataloguing, air cover, performance gaps, and Tony’s new book Sentient — plus what AI means for the future of selling.

Tune in and learn:

• Why the old sales & marketing playbooks broke
• How to build a shared ICP that actually aligns both teams
• Why cataloguing is the foundation for a modern GTM system
• How to create air cover that supports real sales cycles
• The future of selling in a world of advanced AI

If you’re a B2B marketer or sales leader stuck in the old predictable-revenue logic, this episode is your blueprint for rebuilding alignment and revenue performance from the ground up.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen...

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-a...

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube:

The Simple 3-Step B2B Demand Generation Strategy for 2026

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

Most B2B teams will roll the same demand gen plan into 2026… and wonder why pipeline is flat.

In this episode, we walk through a B2B demand generation strategy for 2026 that small teams can actually run – and that’s proven to drive up to 70% of pipeline.

We break down our 3-step framework – Be Ready, Be Helpful, Be Seen – and show how it ties into the 95-5 rule, the 5 stages of awareness, and a simple cataloguing process that finally connects marketing and sales. If you’re a small in-house team under pressure to bring in revenue, this is for you.

We also show you exactly how we run this B2B demand generation strategy ourselves at The B2B Playbook – from 80/20 analysis and ICP documentation, to a weekly content engine and a realistic distribution mix that fits into 4–5 hours per week.

Tune in and learn:

+ How to design a B2B demand generation strategy for 2026 using the 95-5 rule

+ How to run 80/20 analysis, customer interviews, and cataloguing to define a sharp ICP

+ How to build a helpful content engine and distribution plan that your small team can maintain

This episode is a must-watch if you’re a B2B marketer in a small team who’s tired of chasing MQLs, arguing over lead quality, and getting stuck in “support” mode.

You’ll walk away with a clear, 3-step demand gen strategy for 2026 that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success around how buyers actually make decisions.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

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SUBSCRIBE to our channel: / @theb2bplaybook

SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter

GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 The Simple 3-Step B2B Demand Generation Strategy for 2026

00:34 Our 5 BEs Framework – The Flywheel Behind Demand Gen

02:05 Updated: What Demand Generation Really Is in 2026

03:40 Why You Can’t “Force” B2B Buyers to Buy (Unlike B2C)

05:55 The Messy, Non-Linear B2B Buying Journey (Squiggly Line Moment)

09:00 The 95-5 Rule: Future Demand vs In-Market Buyers

11:05 Shaping Future Demand vs Capturing In-Market Demand

11:50 Using the 5 Stages of Awareness to Plan Demand Gen Content

14:05 Why Early-Stage Content Makes Capture More Efficient

16:05 TAM vs ICP vs “Day One Shortlist” – The Brutal Reality

18:05 Modern Demand Gen Objectives for 2026 (Quality to Quantity)

18:50 Step 1 – Be Ready: Your 80/20 ICP & Segmentation Process

22:00 Customer Interviews, Positioning & Documented ICPs

25:45 Mapping the Buying Journey Questions (5 Stages Applied)

26:55 The Big Upgrade: Cataloguing Your Market One Account at a Time

29:20 Step 2 – Be Helpful: Building a Helpful Content Engine

30:45 Case Study: Rivet’s “Construction Is Hard” Show

31:55 Content Repurposing System for Small B2B Teams

33:10 Capturing Subject Matter Experts Without Burning Them Out

33:55 Step 3 – Be Seen: Smart Distribution (1:Many, 1:Few, 1:1)

35:20 Capturing In-Market Demand: ABM, Review Sites, and Google Ads

36:20 What Changed From 2025? Why Cataloguing Is the Missing...

This is your last chance to join our Demand Gen Course – The B2B Incubator – before doors close on Friday, 28 November.

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course-december

Inside the program, you’ll get:

• On-demand materials you can work through in your own time
• 3x live Q&A sessions with George to get your questions answered and stay accountable
• A proven framework trusted by marketers in both SaaS and services

Alison at RIVET used it to build a demand engine that now sources 70% of pipeline from marketing.

Allister Hamilton used it to triple his pipeline in services.

If you’re a small marketing team and want to stop chasing bad leads and start building a system that drives real revenue — this is your shot.

👉 Register now before doors close Friday, 28 November: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course-december

B2B Brand Marketing Strategy: How to Build Buyer Memory & Measure It

Most B2B marketers define brand by outputs. Colours. Logos. Campaigns. Assets.

But none of that matters if buyers don’t remember you when a real buying moment hits.

In this episode, we sit down with Matt Maynard, VP of Global Brand, Advertising & Communications at Asana, to break down what a modern B2B brand marketing strategy actually needs to do: build memory with future buyers, link your brand to the right Category Entry Points, and measure brand effectiveness with something more sophisticated than vanity metrics.

We get into the science of memory-building, how to prioritise CEPs, what distinctive brand assets really do, and how to use frameworks like ABLE and responsible reach to prove brand’s commercial impact.

Tune in and learn:

+ How to build memory with future buyers using CEPs and distinctiveness

+ How to measure brand with ABLE, brand lift, and responsible reach

+ How to position the brand function so leadership finally takes it seriously

If you’re a B2B marketer on a small team, this episode gives you a practical blueprint to make brand a growth driver instead of a “service team”.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

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🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 – Why B2B brand can’t be a “service team”

02:20 – Meet Asana’s VP of Brand & why brand is Matt’s “favourite child”

04:55 – The big mistake: defining brand by outputs, not memory

07:20 – What a real B2B brand marketing strategy must achieve

09:50 – Why buyer memory beats in-market optimisation

12:40 – Category Entry Points: the triggers future buyers already use

15:30 – How many CEPs to focus on (and why consistency wins)

18:10 – Distinctiveness vs differentiation for B2B brand

21:10 – Rebrands that destroy memory: Jaguar, Domino’s & more

24:40 – Channel mix for building memory efficiently

28:00 – How to measure brand: ABLE & responsible reach

31:30 – Selling brand to your CFO without sounding fluffy

35:10 – Small-team B2B brand playbook to beat bigger competitors

38:40 – Mascots, characters & distinctive brand assets in B2B

42:20 – Why customer logos can sabotage your brand ads

45:20 – The danger of chasing differentiation too early

48:40 – How Asana applies evidence-based brand principles in practice

52:30 – A pep talk for B2B brand marketers who want impact

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E210 - The B2B...

The 2026 B2B Content Strategy Most Marketers Miss

Most teams ship more content than ever… but almost none of it helps buyers do their job this week.

In this 5-minute Mid-Week Musing, we break down a modern b2b content strategy 2026 and how B2B marketers can use it to build trust, stay memorable, and make their product the natural next step.

Tune in and learn:

+ Why “helpful content” means solving one real job your ICP has this week

+ How Rivet’s Construction Is Hard show turned content into 70% of pipeline

+ How to make your product the conclusion of the story, not the headline act

Perfect for small-team marketers looking for fast, actionable plays to use this week.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Why 2026 B2B Content Strategy Is About “This Week’s Job”

00:40 The Rivet Story: From Generic Blogs to “Construction Is Hard”

01:40 How They Built a Show Just for Their Best Contractors

02:40 Helpful Content That Talks Less About Product (But Sells More)

03:45 The Crazy Pipeline Impact – And Your One-Job Challenge

04:45 Turning One Show Into a Full 2026 Content Engine

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E209 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #marketingtips #theb2bplaybook #contentstrategy #contentmarketing

What’s Next for Outbound Sales? Aaron Ross (Predictable Revenue) & Adem Manderovic (Closed Circuit Selling)

Outbound sales is at a crossroads.

Automation is everywhere. AI is flooding inboxes. Meetings are harder to book than ever.

So we sat down with Aaron Ross, author of Predictable Revenue and From Impossible to Inevitable, to ask one question:

What’s next for outbound sales?

Alongside Aaron, Adem Manderovic (Closed Circuit Selling, CRO School) breaks down why GTM teams misread Predictable Revenue, how outbound drifted into “meetings at all costs,” and what a modern outbound system actually looks like.

We dig into market validation, cataloguing timing signals, emotional intelligence, relationship systems, and why AI is forcing teams back to fundamentals.

If you sell, market, or run a revenue team, this conversation will change how you think about outbound.

Tune in and learn:

+ Why Predictable Revenue was never meant to be a “meetings engine”

+ How outbound broke – and how to rebuild it around market validation

+ Why the future of outbound is more human, not more automated

If you're trying to fix noisy outbound, align sales and marketing, or build a modern revenue system, this episode is a must-watch.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

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🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 What’s Next for Outbound Sales?

01:00 How Predictable Revenue Was Misinterpreted

03:00 Why Meetings Became the Wrong Metric

05:00 Outbound as a Market Validation Engine

08:00 Inbound vs Outbound: Why the Debate Won’t Die

11:00 The Anxiety Economy: Overreacting vs Fixing GTM

14:00 When Leaders Do More of What Doesn’t Work

17:00 Relationship Systems: The Missing Link in Outbound

20:00 The Most Underrated Outbound Move: Talk to People

23:00 When Sales Stopped Validating Markets

26:00 Adem’s Closed Circuit Selling: Timing & Cataloguing

29:00 Aligning Sales, Marketing & CS Under a CRO

32:00 Why AI Makes EQ and Creativity More Valuable

36:00 Sales as a Communication Channel

40:00 Intent Data vs Real Customer Conversations

45:00 Aaron Ross’ New Books: Income Systems & AI Selling

50:00 Winners vs Losers in the AI Revenue Era

53:00 Final Takeaways for Modern Outbound

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E208 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #b2bmarketing #outboundsales #predictablerevenue #salesstrategy #closedcircuitselling...

Most teams blame Predictable Revenue for broken outbound. The truth? The model wasn’t wrong — the market’s interpretation was.

In this 5-minute Mid-Week Musing, we unpack why Predictable Revenue went off track and show how small B2B teams can fix outbound in 2026 through market validation — not meetings.

You’ll learn:

+ Why Predictable Revenue got misused as a meeting-engine, not a validation system

+ How to catalogue your market to uncover real buying signals

+ A simple way to align sales and marketing around timing and handoffs

Perfect for small-team marketers and sales leaders ready to modernise outbound and build predictable revenue the right way.

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🔗 Links + CTAs

-----------------------------------------------------

🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school

🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency

-----------------------------------------------------

🧑‍🎓ACCESS our B2B COURSES: https://theb2bplaybook.com/courses

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook

📩 Newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/

📚 Latest content: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

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00:00 Why Predictable Revenue Wasn’t Wrong

01:14 Market Validation: The Fix for Outbound in 2026

03:12 How to Catalogue Accounts (Instead of Chasing Meetings)

05:08 Why Timing Beats Pressure in Modern Outbound

08:45 Systemising the Handoff: Turning Validation into Revenue

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👥 Are you a B2B marketer in a small team??

💰 Need to bring in more revenue for your company (so sales and your boss love you??)

Get the:

🔹 strategy

🔹 templates

🔹 tools

So you have everything you need to drive more revenue for your brand.

See why other B2B marketers like you love The B2B Incubator

https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course

S07 E207 - The B2B Playbook

#b2b #predictablerevenue #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #outboundsales #theb2bplaybook #revenuearchitecture #croschool #collinstewart