Make It Happen Mondays - B2B Sales Talk with John Barrows

CRM is finally moving closer to where sellers actually work.
In this episode, John sits down with Ryan Braastad from Microsoft to talk about agentic CRM, AI adoption, productivity tools, and why the old system-of-record model has created so much friction for sales teams. Ryan shares lessons from Forrester, Yammer, Salesforce, his own startup, and Microsoft as he explains how the next wave of CRM can move closer to the flow of work.
If you are in sales leadership, RevOps, enablement, or go-to-market strategy, this conversation gives you a practical look at what AI should actually do for reps: reduce admin, improve data quality, support better habits, help leaders coach more effectively, and give sellers more time to focus on customers and revenue.
Want to prepare your sales team for the next version of CRM before the market moves again? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
Why CRM is shifting from a system of record to a system of action
How AI can support sellers inside the tools they already use every day
Why CRM adoption has often failed to give reps a clear benefit
How sales leaders can think about revenue per seller as AI becomes part of the workflow
Why AI adoption should start with one specific use case, not a company-wide free-for-all
What agentic CRM actually means and why it is different from bolting AI onto old software

Ryan Braastad is a customer-obsessed tech marketing leader at Microsoft, where he works on product strategy across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365, helping shape the future of agentic CRM and AI-powered productivity tools. His background spans Forrester, Yammer, Salesforce, and a self-founded fitness startup, with experience across product marketing, go-to-market strategy, productivity, collaboration, enterprise social, and business applications.
Connect with Ryan Braastad:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbraastad/
John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment.
Connect with John Barrows:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows
Check out John's Membership: https://go.jbarrows.com/
Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

More revenue does not always mean a healthier business.
In this episode, John sits down with Cruz Gamboa, founder of Ascend Growth Venture and Scaling CFO, to talk about profitability, cash flow, working capital, financial literacy, and why founders can grow revenue and still create a weaker business if the model underneath is not healthy.
If you are a founder, sales leader, or rep trying to sell into executives, this episode gives you a practical look at how finance affects sales, why discounting and payment terms matter, and why business acumen is becoming one of the most important skills in a tougher market.
Want to build a healthier business before growth breaks the model? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
Why more revenue can still create cash flow problems when the business model is not ready to scale
How working capital creates a cash void that sales teams often overlook
Why sales reps need stronger financial literacy and business acumen
How discounting, payment terms, and deal structure can affect profit and cash
Why value creation should be understood before a rep starts negotiating price
How Cruz thinks about efficiency, timing, and capital when diagnosing a business
Why AI should be deployed against real constraints instead of used as a shiny efficiency play

Cruz Gamboa is the founder of Ascend Growth Venture and Scaling CFO. After more than two decades in corporate finance, including roles across GE Capital, GE Vernova, NBCUniversal, and Unilever, Cruz now helps founders and executives understand the financial blind spots that can quietly limit growth. His work blends CFO advisory, business strategy, and financial intelligence for leaders who want to scale with stronger profit, cash, and enterprise value discipline.
Connect with Cruz Gamboa:
Website: https://ascendgrowthventures.com/
Scaling CFO: https://scalingcfo.io/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cruzgamboa.ascend/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cruzgamboa/
John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment.
Connect with John Barrows:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows
Check out John's Membership: https://go.jbarrows.com/
Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

AI is everywhere in sales right now, but very little of it is actually moving the number.
In this episode, John sits down with Gabe Larsen, CRO of Atonom, to dig into what is real, what is hype, and where AI is actually creating measurable ROI. Gabe walks through the SaaS golden age, the false positives it created, the rise of digital employees, and why most teams are still confusing efficiency with results.
If you are trying to figure out where AI agents belong in your sales process, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about it: stop chasing every research bot, map the process first, and only automate the work that actually creates revenue or reduces cost.
Want to reset your sales team before the market moves on without you? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.

What You’ll Learn
Why saving time with AI is not the same as creating measurable business impact
Where Gabe is seeing AI produce real ROI across coding, customer service, SDR work, and recruiting
Why perfect prep docs and research bots still fail when reps lack the fundamentals
How digital employees could change the way sales and customer-facing teams operate
Why GTM leaders need to map the process before buying another AI tool

Gabe Larsen is the CRO of Atonom, an AI company building always-on AI agents, with a career spanning leadership roles at Kustomer, Meta, and InsideSales.com, where he previously served as VP of Growth and hosted the company's Sales Secrets podcast. He's known for an unconventional, science-driven approach to sales — one that's helped him close major deals and train thousands of reps to replicate his results.
Check out Atonom at atonom.ai to see how AI agents can run your work end-to-end.
Follow Atonom on social media to stay up to date:
Li: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atonomai/
X: https://x.com/atonom_ai
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@atonomai
Connect with Gabe Larsen:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabelarsen/
Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabelarsen/
John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment.
Connect with John Barrows:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows
Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast
Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

The world is getting faster, but your nervous system still has to make the decision.
In this episode, John sits down with Ishan Shivanand, a yogic scholar, Vedic educator, and mental health researcher born into a 21-generation lineage of yogis, to talk about stress, focus, resilience, meditation, and what it really takes to stay regulated under pressure. From growing up inside a monastery to building research-backed protocols for modern life, Ishan brings a very different lens to performance than the usual sales playbook.
If you are in sales, leadership, or any high-pressure role where the pace of change is starting to wear on your focus, this conversation gives you a practical way to think about breathwork, awareness, curiosity, and the human component that still matters in an AI-driven world.
Want to build more resilience before the market moves even faster? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
Why real joy is different from temporary achievement-driven happiness
How unresolved experiences can shape fear, behavior, and decision-making
Why the human component is still the failure point in any system
Why breathwork can help train the nervous system before pressure hits
How stress can become a reverse meditation if you repeat it long enough
Why curiosity matters more than chasing one final answer

Ishan Shivanand is a globally recognized yogic scholar, Vedic educator, and mental health researcher born into a 21-generation lineage of yogis. He is the creator of Yoga of Immortals, a set of evidence-based meditation protocols designed to help people build resilience, reduce stress, and improve mental well-being.
If you want to go deeper into the King's meditations and ancient yogic wisdom, grab Ishan's book The Practice of Immortality at https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Immortality-Discovering-Unlimited-Positivity/dp/0306834561 — your entry point into breathwork, meditation protocols, and the philosophy behind it all.
Connect with Ishan Shivanand:
Website: https://ishanshivanand.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ishan.shivanand/?hl=en
Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishanshivanand/
Fb: https://www.facebook.com/IshanShivanand
X: https://www.facebook.com/IshanShivanand
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/IshanShivanand/featured?app=desktop
John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment.
Connect with John Barrows:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows
Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast
Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter

Stress is shaping more of your decisions than you realize.
In this episode, John sits down with Bryan Post, one of America’s foremost child behavior experts and co-founder of The Post Institute, to talk about fear, love, stress, trauma, parenting, leadership, active listening, and why people often react from survival instead of clarity.
If you are a sales leader, manager, parent, or anyone trying to communicate better under pressure, this episode gives you a practical look at how stress affects the brain, why discipline should be taught instead of punishment, and how slowing down can help people move through fear and make better decisions.
Want to lead better conversations before fear takes over the room? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.

What You’ll Learn
Why fear and stress shape how people respond at home, at work, and in sales conversations
How early experiences can influence behavior, emotional regulation, and relationships
Why physical presence is not the same as emotional presence
How breathing and self-awareness can improve active listening
Why discipline should mean teaching, not punishment
How slowing down can help people move through fear and indecision
How Bondify is using AI to give parents in-the-moment support without removing the human lens

Bryan Post is one of America's foremost child behavior experts and the co-founder of The Post Institute. For more than 20 years, The Post Institute has provided education and support to parents and professionals involved in the lives of children who have experienced trauma. Bryan specializes in a love-based treatment approach focused on understanding fear, stress, and the power of love to bring peace and healing.
If you are a parent who needs support at the moment, check out Bondify — free 24/7 parenting support built on 30 years of Bryan Post's expertise. Text it like you're texting Bryan himself. Visit bryanpost.com to learn more.
Bondify: https://bondify.ai/
Bondify Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bondifyofficial/
Bondify FB: https://www.facebook.com/people/Bondify/61571882300625/
Connect with Bryan Post:
Website: https://bryanpost.com/
Fear to Love: https://feartolove.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryanpostofficial/
Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanpost1/
Fb: https://www.facebook.com/people/Bryan-Post-Official/61585577754101/

John Barrows is a sales trainer, speaker, and founder of JB Sales with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has made hundreds of cold calls a week, led startups to acquisition, and trained high-performing teams at companies like Salesforce, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Okta. Through JB Sales, John focuses on practical sales execution—helping reps fill pipeline, close deals, and build trust with buyers in today’s AI-driven sales environment.
Connect with John Barrows:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnmbarrows/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnmbarrows
Check out John's Membership: https://learn.jbarrows.com/pages/individual-packages?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast
Join John's Newsletter: https://www.jbarrows.com/newsletter