If you're drowning in sameness - where every competitor sounds identical, every pitch blurs together, and you're not sure why customers actually pick you - this conversation will snap everything into focus.

April Dunford is the world's leading positioning expert, and she's spent her career helping B2B companies figure out what makes them different when they swear nothing does. In this episode, she unpacks her famous toilet story (trust us, it's brilliant), reveals why most companies have no clue what their real competitive advantage is, and shares the startling truth about what happened when she stopped marketing her business entirely.

But here's where it gets real: Shari and Brent push April beyond frameworks and into life. What does positioning teach us about dating? About knowing our own value as humans? About when to stop hustling and start living? April opens up about losing her sister at 59, questioning her own pace, and the experiment that changed everything.

This isn't just about selling software. It's about clarity, empathy, and showing up as someone worth choosing—in business and in life.

Perfect for sales leaders wrestling with differentiation, enablement pros tired of generic messaging, and anyone wondering if maybe, just maybe, they've been working too hard for too long.

👤 Connect with April Dunford:

✅ Website: https://www.aprildunford.com/

✅ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/

✅ YouTube/Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@positioningshow

✅ Email: april@aprildunford.com

👤 Connect with Selling Isn’t Everything:

✅ Official: https://SellingIsntEverything.com

✅ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SellingIsntEverything

✅ LinkedIn (Shari): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharilevitin

✅ LinkedIn (Brent): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson

✅ Brent’s Latest Book, The Framemaking Sale: https://www.theframemakingsale.com/

Selling Isn’t Everything is produced by Chris Stone at Cast Ahead: https://CastAhead.net

If you're leading a team, closing deals, or just trying to connect in a world that feels more transactional every day - this one's for you.

Maria Boulden spent 40+ years building world-class sales organizations at DuPont and Gartner. But her real superpower? Leading with ruthless clarity *and* deep humanity - at the same time.

She's the sales leader who thinks in spreadsheets but leads with her heart. The engineer who became a storyteller. The woman who walked away from a C-suite track to care for her premature son - only to come back stronger, sharper, and more human than ever.

In this conversation, Maria unpacks:

• Why the number is your biggest distraction
• How to build trust without faking empathy
• What it really takes to motivate people to achieve more than they thought possible
• The pivotal moment that shifted her from corporate climber to human-first leader
• And yes - what selling jam taught her about B2C vs. B2B (spoiler: it's all still about people)

This isn't a masterclass in tactics. It's a story about choosing joy, leading with consistency, and making people feel seen - whether you're coaching a CRO or partnering with a pepper farmer.

Because behind every sales story is a human story.

👤 Connect with Maria Boulden:

✅ Website:https://www.jsjrehoboth.com

✅ Phone: 484-614-5354

✅ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-boulden-8a778b11

✅ Email: jammin@jsjrehoboth.com

👤 Connect with Selling Isn’t Everything:

✅ Official: https://SellingIsntEverything.com

✅ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SellingIsntEverything

✅ LinkedIn (Shari): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharilevitin

✅ LinkedIn (Brent): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson

✅ Brent’s Latest Book, The Framemaking Sale: https://www.theframemakingsale.com/

Selling Isn’t Everything is produced by Chris Stone at Cast Ahead: https://CastAhead.net

If you're tired of chasing tactics and wondering why your deals still fall apart - this conversation will stop you in your tracks.

Shari Levitin and Brent Adamson don't do surface-level sales talk. In this raw, unfiltered debut episode, they dig into the life lessons that actually move the needle - both in the boardroom and at home. You'll hear why a decorated soldier found sales rejection *harder than combat*, how changing a single pronoun can shift your entire mindset, and why the best way to close more deals is to stop trying to impress people and start making them believe in *themselves*.

This isn't about frameworks or funnels. It's about becoming the kind of person people *want* to buy from - and the kind of leader people actually follow. Whether you're leading a sales org, building a pipeline, or just trying to connect better with humans, Shari and Brent bring decades of hard-won wisdom, zero BS, and plenty of laughs.

Expect stories from the frontlines (literally), insights from working with Microsoft and Gartner, and a few uncomfortable truths about what happens when you blame everyone but yourself. Plus: why perfection might be your biggest enemy, what Radiohead can teach you about trust, and how to stop losing lessons when you lose deals.

This is Selling Isn't Everything - where sales gets human, and humans get better at sales.

👤 Connect with Selling Isn’t Everything:

✅ Official: https://SellingIsntEverything.com

✅ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SellingIsntEverything

✅ LinkedIn (Shari): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharilevitin

✅ LinkedIn (Brent): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson

✅ Brent’s Latest Book, The Framemaking Sale: https://www.theframemakingsale.com/

Selling Isn’t Everything is produced by Chris Stone at Cast Ahead: https://CastAhead.net