A new sales hire brings in a burst of business, then it flattens out around month eight. Keith Bradt has watched that happen for 20 years, and he built his firm to fix the sales process behind it.

Keith is the Owner and Sales Development Director of Kallan Sales Development in East Rochester, New York. He started out in applications and design engineering, moved up through technical sales and sales leadership, and now helps engineering-based manufacturers and founder-led businesses build sales systems that keep working after he walks away.

What you’ll hear:

• Why a new sales hire’s book of business usually plateaus within six to eight months
• Why your sales reps are the last people who should be cold calling
• How to pick AI and sales tools when a new one shows up every week, starting with knowing your own sales process
• Why an engineer had to rethink how he sells his own fractional sales business, and why strategic partners now matter more than knocking on doors
• How flipping your messaging from services to problems helps buyers see the result
• What it means to leave a client’s team better than you found it

Connect with Keith:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithbradt
Website: https://kallansalesdev.com

About Chris:
Chris Bruner is the CEO and Founder of Simple AI Solutions, based in El Cajon, CA. He helps small and mid-sized businesses bring in more clients and spend less time on busywork using AI plus human systems. His background is in healthcare operations and process improvement, with an MBA, an MS in Management, and a Six Sigma Green Belt.

About the show:
The Business Leader’s Legacy Podcast goes behind the scenes with business leaders to uncover their vision, strategies, and the challenges they’ve faced along the way.

Connect with Chris:
Website: https://www.simpleaisolutions.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbrunersimpleaisolutions/
Podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-business-leaders-legacy-podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@The-Business-Leaders-Legacy

Timestamps:
0:57 From engineer to sales leader, and why Keith started Kallan
4:51 Why he’d rather help a team execute than hand out advice
9:47 Your highest-dollar asset doing the lowest-value work
11:39 Process first, then the AI tool
13:08 What’s working: fractional sales operations
14:57 “Do as I say, not as I do”: selling his own business
18:57 Staying small on purpose and flipping his message
23:57 The legacy Keith wants to leave

If this one helped, subscribe and share it with a founder who’s still carrying the sales load alone.

#SalesProcess #FractionalSales #ManufacturingSales #SalesOperations #FounderLed

Dave Loomis has done more than 10,000 customer interviews, and one pattern keeps showing up. When a big deal is close, buyers pick the person they know, like, and trust.

Dave is the founder and president of Loomis Marketing, a B2B consultancy that uses voice-of-customer research to help companies understand what their customers are trying to accomplish. He’s also the author of Customer Outsight, a book on exactly how he runs those interviews.

What you’ll hear:

• How to put the customer first so they win, and you sell more because of it
• How to stay current on AI in marketing without freezing up at all the options
• Why personal relationships matter more as sales tools get louder
• Why the best sales connection starts with questions, before your talking points
• How Dave sorted 15 years of projects to find the focus that pays off
• Why you don’t have to wait for permission to be a leader

Connect with Dave:
Website: https://www.loomismarketing.com
Book: https://customeroutsight.com (also on Amazon under David Mayo Loomis)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidloomis

About Chris:
Chris Bruner is the CEO and Founder of Simple AI Solutions, based in El Cajon, CA. He helps small and mid-sized businesses bring in more clients and spend less time on busywork using AI plus human systems. His background is in healthcare and process improvement, with an MBA, an MS in Management, and a Six Sigma Green Belt.

About the show:
The Business Leader’s Legacy Podcast goes behind the scenes with business leaders to uncover their vision, strategies, and the challenges they’ve faced along the way.

Connect with Chris:
https://www.simpleaisolutions.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbrunersimpleaisolutions/
https://www.youtube.com/@The-Business-Leaders-Legacy

Timestamps:
0:00 Meet Dave Loomis and Loomis Marketing
3:04 The curious kid who became a customer interviewer
6:08 AI, sales spam, and staying current
9:41 Why relationships still win million-dollar contracts
14:03 The Good to Great exercise that sharpened his focus
20:29 Choosing sustainable over bigger, plus nonprofit work
26:11 A Stone Age story about listening
29:24 It’s never too early to be a leader

If this one helped, subscribe and share it with a business owner who’s trying to grow the right way.

#VoiceOfCustomer #B2BMarketing #CustomerResearch #SalesRelationships #BusinessLeadership

Most business owners are stuck on the hamster wheel. They're surviving, but they're not thriving. Daniel Feiman has spent 30 years helping them get off it by starting at the finish line and working backward.

Daniel is the Managing Director of Build It Backwards, a consulting and training firm in Redondo Beach, CA that just celebrated its 30th anniversary. He's a Certified Management Consultant, a former commercial banker of almost 20 years, and the author of four books on strategy, succession planning, and leadership. He has worked in 31 countries on four continents.

What you'll hear:

• Why his first business, handmade skateboards, went bust at age 12
• The difference between succession planning for your company and transition planning for you
• What happened when one client grew to two-thirds of his revenue, and the rule he follows now
• How he rewrote his training programs for virtual delivery when COVID grounded his travel
• How a self-described late adopter is testing AI carefully, without becoming a slave to it
• Why finding and training the right people is his biggest growth challenge this year

Connect with Daniel:
Website: https://www.builditbackwards.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielfeimanbuilditbackwards1

About Chris:
Chris Bruner is the CEO and Founder of Simple AI Solutions, based in El Cajon, CA. He helps small and mid-sized businesses bring in more clients and spend less time on busywork using AI plus human systems. His background is in healthcare and process improvement, with an MBA, an MS in Management, and a Six Sigma Green Belt.

About the show:
The Business Leader's Legacy Podcast goes behind the scenes with business leaders to uncover their vision, strategies, and the challenges they've faced along the way.

Connect with Chris:
Website: https://www.simpleaisolutions.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbrunersimpleaisolutions/
Podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-business-leaders-legacy-podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@The-Business-Leaders-Legacy

Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome and introduction
00:59 The skateboard business that cost $11 to sell for $10
03:05 Getting clients off the hamster wheel
06:38 Succession planning vs. transition planning
09:09 When one client was two-thirds of the business
10:47 The COVID pivot that saved Build It Backwards
12:09 A late adopter's careful approach to AI
15:36 A fifth book and the search for the right people
19:00 The legacy Daniel wants to leave

If this conversation helped you think about where your business is headed, subscribe and share it with a business owner who needs to hear it.

#SuccessionPlanning #ExitPlanning #StrategicPlanning #SmallBusinessGrowth