Make It Happen Mondays - B2B Sales Talk with John Barrows

AI agents are not just changing sales tools. They are changing the job of the seller.
In this episode, John sits down with Kris Billmaier, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Agentforce Sales and Growth Products at Salesforce, to talk about Agentforce, headless software, AI-native sales workflows, and what happens when sellers start managing teams of agents.
If you are in sales, sales leadership, enablement, or GTM strategy, this episode gives you a practical look at where humans still matter, how agents can support pipeline and qualification, and why AI adoption needs clear use cases, measurement, and training.
Want to stay ahead of where sales are heading next? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You'll Learn
Why product-led growth is moving toward agent-led growth
How Salesforce is thinking about headless software and conversation-first AI
Why AI-first SaaS is not just a front-end feature or branding exercise
How agents are changing SDR and BDR work at Salesforce
Why successful AI adoption starts with a narrow use case and a real training plan
What sellers need to become as agent teams take on more busy work

Kris Billmaier is Executive Vice President and General Manager of Agentforce Sales and Growth Products at Salesforce, where he leads the product strategy and vision for Agentforce Sales. With more than 20 years of experience across productivity software, search, and enterprise technology, Kris has launched category-defining products, scaled startups, and is now building a future where agents and sellers work together to grow revenue.
Connect with Kris Billmaier:
Website: https://www.salesforce.com/ap/
Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisbillmaier/
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

IQ is a commodity now. AI can out-think, out-research, and out-process almost anyone in the room. So what is left?
In this episode, John shares a conversation with Colleen Stanley, bestselling author and founder of Sales Leadership Development, to talk about the two things that AI cannot replicate — emotional intelligence and meaningful mentorship. Colleen has spent decades proving that EQ is not a soft skill, it is a revenue skill. And her new book, Be the Mentor Who Mattered, makes the case that the next generation of leaders cannot go it alone.
They get into why self-awareness is the mega skill every sales leader needs to develop, how to give feedback without triggering defensiveness, and why the best mentorship rarely comes from a formal program. If you lead a team, coach reps, or are trying to figure out what your competitive edge looks like in a world of AI, this one is for you.
Want to build the skills that hold up in any market? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
Why self-awareness is the mega skill and how to actually develop it
How to give feedback using empathy followed by assertiveness
Why the best mentorship happens informally, not through assigned programs
How one conversation from the right person can change your entire trajectory
Why mentorship cultures produce two times the profit of those without them
How to find a mentee instead of waiting to be asked to be a mentor

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership, a sales development firm specializing in the integration of emotional intelligence, sales, and sales leadership skills. She is the author of three books, Emotional Intelligence For Sales Success, now published in eight languages, Emotional Intelligence For Sales Leadership, and Growing Great Sales Teams.
Connect with Colleen Stanley:
Website: https://www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenstanleysli
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ColleenStanleySalesLeadership
Grab your Free Corporate Sales Training Resources: https://www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com/resources/
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 already knows your buyer better than most sales reps do. The question is — what are you going to do about it?
In this episode, John is joined by Scott Gillum, author of The Hidden Buyer Journey, to unpack seven years of research on how buyers actually make decisions — and why our sales and marketing tools are barely scratching the surface of what's possible. From personality profiling and corporate culture mapping to the death of the sales stage, this conversation goes deep on what it really takes to sell in a world where the buyer is more informed, more protected, and more machine-assisted than ever before.
If you're serious about staying relevant as a sales professional in an AI-first world, this one's a must-listen.
Want to make sure you're equipped before the market moves on without you? Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
Why corporate culture predicts deal velocity better than any sales methodology
How to use personality profiling tools to adapt your style to any buyer
Why 85% of the people who actually influence your deals aren't in your CRM
The one thing AI still can't replicate — and why it's your biggest competitive advantage
Why Return on Effort (ROE) is replacing ROI as the real measure of AI in sales

Scott Gillum is the Founder and CEO of Carbon Design. Prior to founding Carbon Design, he was the President of the Washington, DC office for gyro (a Dentsu agency), the world’s largest B2B agency.
His career follows the pipeline. Starting at the bottom closing deals as a sales rep. Then as a management consultant after graduate school, helping clients build and capture demand for sales and marketing channels. Advertising broadened his knowledge and experience in building brands and creating awareness.
Along the way, he’s been the head of marketing for an Inc. 500 company, and an interim CMO for a Fortune 500 company. Today, Scott helps clients improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts up and down the funnel. From transitioning to digital to finding new ways to communicate, connect, and motivate audiences.
Scott’s a member of the Gartner for Marketing Leaders Council and he writes a regular column for MediaPost on business marketing. He’s articles have appeared in leading publications such as Forbes, Fortune, Adage, the Huffington Post and he has contributed to various books on marketing. Additionally, his work on sales and marketing integration was made into a Harvard Business School Case Study and is taught at leading business schools across the nation.
Website: https://carbondesign.com/scott-gillum/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottgillum/
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

The sales playbook is being rewritten and product-led growth is at the center of it.
In this episode, John sits down with Adam Carr, CRO at Apollo.io, to dig into how PLG has evolved, what AI is doing to the sales rep's role, and why the best sellers today need to think less like closers and more like go-to-market architects. From hiring smarter to building SDR programs that actually stick, this one's packed with real talk from two people who've lived it.
If you're in sales leadership, trying to figure out how to build and develop a team in this new world, this episode will give you a framework to work with.
Want to level up your 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 people don't buy from people they like but from people they trust
How to hire intentionally and slow down when everyone's pushing you to scale fast
The difference between PLG, product-led sales, and sales-led growth
What product signals actually matter when deciding when to bring in a sales rep
The three skills every modern sales rep needs to stay relevant in an AI-first world

Adam Carr is the CRO of Apollo, where he leads the company’s go-to-market strategy and revenue growth initiatives. Since joining in 2025, he has focused on scaling a modern GTM engine that blends product-led and sales-led growth, aligning sales, marketing, product, and customer success into a unified customer journey. Under his leadership, Apollo continues to support millions of users and hundreds of thousands of businesses in accelerating growth through a scalable, customer-centric platform.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamhcarr/
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

The career ladder is burning. And if you are still waiting for the right moment to adapt, you are already behind.
In this episode, John sits down with Ilana Golan, founder of Leap Academy, to unpack what it actually takes to own your growth in a world where 92 million jobs are projected to be displaced in the next two years. From growing up a shy kid in Israel and becoming one of the first women to lead a flight instructor squad in the Israeli Air Force, to hitting rock bottom after a co-founder betrayal and building back stronger, Ilana brings a rare combination of raw honesty and practical frameworks to this conversation.
They cover the 555 rule for cutting through decision paralysis, what it means to build a portfolio career, and why people will no longer pay for knowledge but will always pay for transformation.
If you are ready to stop being a one-trick pony and start building something that holds up regardless of what AI throws at you, this conversation is the one to watch. Visit www.jbarrows.com and learn how you can Make It Happen.
What You’ll Learn
Why hard work still beats raw talent in any era
How to use the 555 rule to escape decision paralysis
What it looks like to lose your identity and rebuild from nothing
The case for building a portfolio career before you are forced to
Why people will not pay for knowledge but will pay for transformation

Ilana Golan was an F-16 Flight instructor in the Air Force and the first female commander in her squad, a tech executive, and now the founder of Leap Academy, one of the fastest-growing companies in America.

Leap Academy is disrupting professional education and is the only platform in the world today that helps individuals create portfolio careers and get ready for the future of work. Her disruption of professional education has caught the attention of leaders such as Richard Branson, Garyvee, and the Presidents of some of the biggest companies in the world.

Ilana won Inc 500, Startup of the Year for 2023, CEO World Award, 40 Women to Watch, and has been on the biggest stages in the world, including Tech Crunch Disrupt, Google Startup Accelerator, Inman Connect, Executive MBA Programs, and more. Ilana was also invited to give a private talk for Richard Branson and a very selected CEOs on his private island.

Connect with Llana!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilanagolanleap
Website: https://www.ilanagolan.com/
Learn more about Leap Academy: https://www.leapacademy.com/
Join her free 3-day training: www.leapacademy.com/makeithappen
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