AI-Powered Seller

Practical AI tactics for sales leaders to get real leverage fast. Short strategies include AI-driven onboarding to speed ramps and rep-specific memory for consistent coaching. Personalized development plans and a leader-specific GPT encode your playbook. A pipeline risk radar surfaces true deal slippage from transcripts and notes. Pick one use case to deploy and measure a single outcome.

Tired of gut calls and keyword roulette deciding who joins your team? We sat down with Chrissy Manzano, CEO of Blueprint Expansion, to map where AI actually improves hiring today—without pretending it can replace thoughtful human judgment. From SDRs and BDRs to manager and director roles, we break down how to speed up sourcing, standardize interviews, and create a candidate experience that reflects your brand.We start with sourcing, where legacy tools cling to keywords and miss context. Chrissy shows how to encode practical criteria—real SaaS exposure, tenure stability, and proof of growth journeys—to help AI surface people who match your motion, not just your titles. For private-company rocket ships, we talk about triangulating signals across press, funding rounds, and team expansion. Then we turn to screening, where conversational AI shines for high-volume inbound and entry-level roles by capturing narratives, clarifying gaps, and keeping response times tight, while senior and passive candidates still warrant a human touch.The heart of the episode tackles interview bias. Too many debriefs end with, “What do you think?” and fuzzy scorecards. We lay out how to record and analyze interviews, tag against a tight ideal candidate profile, and compare candidates on evidence, not charisma or pedigree. We also get real about limits: AI still hallucinates and can be gamed at the edges, so structure and critical thinking remain non-negotiable. Finally, we look ahead at team design—why internal talent teams may shrink while specialist partners using AI deliver faster, more predictable results—and share two immediate plays for CROs: use AI to build a rigorous interview framework and deploy a candidate-facing agent to standardize information and elevate experience.If you want a hiring engine that moves faster, reduces bias, and keeps the bar high, this conversation is your blueprint. Subscribe, share with a hiring leader who needs a reset, and leave a review with your favorite tactic so we can dig deeper next time.

What happens when a seasoned CRO decides to stop “exploring” AI and actually master it? We sit down with Colin Van Excel to chart the path from a single prompt that wrote a price increase letter to a full, AI-first sales operating system. The story is practical, candid, and packed with takeaways you can use today, whether you lead a revenue org or carry a quota.We start with the real barriers holding teams back: fuzzy sales processes, inconsistent stage criteria, and sellers buried in admin. Colin explains how he rebuilt around the buyer’s journey, then layered AI to enforce consistency and speed. Think call transcripts auto-summarized into Salesforce, hot points captured and resurfaced before the next meeting, and follow-up emails drafted with context and tone in minutes. The result? More time with customers, less time wrestling with notes, and a measurable lift in deal velocity.Colin also breaks down why certification matters and how structured learning accelerates impact. He walks through a six-week arc: sharpening prompts, using variables, building workflows in Make, and presenting a working automation to graduate. The big unlock is meta-learning—using AI to learn AI. When he got stuck, he fed the system context and constraints and received working code and steps to finish the job. That shift turns leaders from passive consumers into confident builders.We don’t sugarcoat the stakes. Leaders who stay hands-off risk being underemployed by 2028. The advantage goes to those who learn the tools, define clear processes, and deploy automations that free sellers to sell. If you’re ready to replace “pay your dues” busywork with AI agents that actually move revenue, this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs the push, and leave a review with the first workflow you want to automate—we’ll tackle the best ones on a future show.

Kara Burd, Head of Marketing at Skaled, joins Jake Dunlap to revisit AI predictions for sales by examining real outcomes. They reveal that sales reps adopted AI tools faster than leadership could figure out policies. Surprisingly, AI didn't replace jobs but widened productivity gaps among performers. Co-pilots turned out to be distracting, while personalization became essential for effective outreach. The duo also discusses why many top reps hesitated to embrace AI, relying on tried-and-true methods instead. Tune in for practical insights on integrating AI into sales strategies!

David Maloof, Founder of Pre-Sales Advisory Group and a veteran in pre-sales leadership, dives into the transformative role of AI in the sales process. He explains how AI enhances pre-sales with tailored demos and proactive discovery strategies, shifting the focus from traditional prospecting. The conversation highlights the need for SEs to cultivate curiosity and adaptability to meet modern buyer expectations, emphasizing that AI is not a replacement for great sellers but a tool for those willing to evolve.

In 2026, AI will transform sales from a tool to a digital teammate, streamlining workflows and logging activities. Personalization won't cut it anymore; nuanced human touches will be essential. Real-time coaching will emerge, providing on-the-spot guidance during calls. Signal-based selling, leveraging multiple signals for targeted outreach, will become the norm. Lastly, AI fluency will be a baseline requirement, reshaping hiring and promotions in sales teams.

AI Bubble or Breakout: Are you building real, needle-moving workflows with AI, or collecting “bubble” use cases that create overlap and extra change management?In this episode of AI Powered Seller, Jake Dunlap explains why the “AI bubble” is not AI itself, but the noise on top of it, including duplicate tools, overlapping features, and organizations investing without clear ownership. He breaks down how GTM leaders and frontline sellers can evaluate AI the right way: start with the revenue bottleneck, then choose technology that solves it. Innovative SellerYou’ll also get Jake’s tactical seller playbook for adopting GenAI in a sustainable way:Identify your three most painful tasksRefine AI outputs so they sound like youBuild a simple ongoing roadmap so you don’t try to solve everything at onceCheck Out: JourneyAI (free trial): https://meetjourney.ai/Jake Dunlap – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakedunlap/Skaled - https://skaled.com/If you got value from this episode, share it with a teammate in Sales, RevOps, Enablement, or Marketing, and make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next drop.

In this episode, Jake is joined by revenue leader Chris Casula for a highly tactical conversation on how AI is transforming pipeline management, forecasting accuracy, and GTM productivity.Chris shares hard-won insights from managing enterprise and transactional sales teams, and breaks down why forecasting has historically been the “bane of sales” — and why it’s not the reps’ fault.You’ll also hear real examples of how AI surfaces buying signals, identifies bottlenecks in the sales process, improves win rates, and enables managers to coach more effectively.In this episode, we cover: • Why traditional forecasting models fail • Which AI signals improve top-of-funnel accuracy • How to identify hidden deal risks with AI • Why deal reviews are the first workflow leaders should automate • A new way to think about pipeline coverage • The mindset shift every sales leader must make in 2025 • What predictable revenue will actually look like by 2026If you’re a frontline rep, manager, or revenue leader looking to drive predictable revenue and adopt AI the right way, this episode will give you one clear takeaway you can act on today.

In Part 2 of our AI in Sales series, Jake Dunlap breaks down how top sellers are moving from basic AI assistance to fully automated workflows that run before, during, and after their workday. This episode shows how modern reps are scaling their daily workflow using automation that handles research, meeting prep, intent analysis, follow-ups, and CRM updates—freeing them to focus on higher-value conversations.Jake also explores what AI-enabled leadership looks like today, and how managers can use automation to surface coaching opportunities, review call quality, and improve overall team performance without hours of manual analysis.What you’ll learn: • How AI can complete account research, intent scoring, and meeting prep automatically • How follow-ups, summaries, and CRM activity can be fully automated • How top sellers optimize outbound using real-time performance insights • Practical examples of digital teammates that improve deal execution • How modern leaders use AI to scale coaching and increase visibilityLinks from the episode: 👉 JourneyAI: https://meetjourney.ai/👉 Performance Pulse: https://www.revoptics.co/services/sales-reporting👉 Superhuman: https://superhuman.com👉 AI Sales Training & Certifications for GTM Teams: https://skaled.com/services/ai-sales-training/Connect with Us: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakedunlap/https://www.linkedin.com/company/skaled/ https://skaled.com/

Ryan Staley, Founder and CEO of Whale Boss, shares how AI can transform sales roles into more efficient units. He emphasizes the shift from viewing AI as a simple tool to treating it as a digital teammate that can handle multi-step tasks. Ryan explains the importance of creating tailored AI assistants like deal strategy and account research. He also addresses common barriers to AI adoption and strategies to present AI effectively to drive engagement. Finally, he urges leaders to retrain teams urgently to stay competitive in this evolving landscape.