Jen Allen-Knuth

Founder, DemandJen | Sales Trainer & SKO Keynote Speaker | Dog Rescue Advocate

I help B2B revenue teams stop losing pipeline to buyer status quo. I'm a former Enterprise seller who carried quota for 18 years, closing 7-figure deals with Fortune 500 brands. Now, I run DemandJen, a sales-training firm trusted by Autodesk, GE, G2, IBM, Bloomberg, Instructure, Sprout Social, and more.

From conference stages to company Sales kickoffs, I'm known for:

- Buyer-Centric Frameworks – Practical playbooks for defeating buyer status quo in outbound pipeline generation, running executive-level discovery, building a point of view on cost of inaction (COI), and gaining consensus with larger Enterprise buying groups. 

- Story-First Messaging – Techniques that replace product pitches with problem-centric narratives that buyers remember.

- Engaging Delivery – A direct, humorous style that keeps even your most tenured reps taking notes.

Featured in Forbes, Sales Hacker, and 200+ podcasts, I combine real-world stories with data-driven insight to move audiences from inspiration to application. When I'm not on the road, you’ll find me in the Chicago suburbs chasing my 4 rescue dogs and 4 step-kids.

Head of DemandJen

Delivering SKO keynotes & virtual workshops that won't put your teams to sleep.

B2B Sales & Marketing teams have tried to earn buyer time and attention with a strategy of "more". 

More dials.
More emails.
More content.
More "value" and ROI.

But, 2023 showed us "more" is expensive and no competition against today's risk-averse B2B buying teams.

Instead of motivating the team to do “more”, I help empower teams to defeat customer status
quo and to make their sales conversations a competitive advantage.

Meet Mara 🩷

She’s a 7 year old, 59lb girl with the most gentle demeanor (especially with kids). 

Dogs like Mara always have a harder time getting adopted. She’s older + she’s a pittie mix. It doesn’t make her any less deserving of love. 

Every dog should be judged by their own demeanor. Not breed sterotypes.

We have a husky who never makes a peep and is scared of his own shadow.

We have a pittie who would throw herself in front of a bus to protect our kids. 

Mara is calm, easygoing, walks nicely on a leash, and does amazing in daycare. She’s a complete love.

Mara deserves a loving family. Will you help share her? 🩷

Available at Many Paws Global Rescue in Palatine, IL.

Photo credit: Nicholas I. Knuth 📸 

PS - I know many of you have pitties, too. I love seeing your photos in the comments - please share them!

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I just read a post from a CEO who was in disbelief that a customer churned b/c they're going to try DIYing the vendor's AI solution.  It included the quote - "Good luck, see you in 6 months when you realize how hard it is."

I think we're going to see a lot more of this from tech companies in 2026. This isn't me picking on anyone. DIY is a really tough competitor. And, it hurts to lose to it. 

But, wishing for a customer's failure has never served me well in Sales. 

It's understandable that our knee-jerk response is to name all of the reasons why DIY is a bad idea. 

Often, our points are valid. 

But, the delivery is defensive. We erode trust because we fail to be collaborative or helpful. 

Instead, here's something that worked for me when I was up against DIY:

#1 - I asked questions about how they were thinking about rolling it out. Not "gotcha" questions. Qs that were genuinely curious in nature that helped me understand their beliefs/assumptions. I sought to understand (vs. seeking to correct them). Often, this exposed a flawed assumption. 

#2 - I shared ideas/tactics from other execs that were taking a DIY approach, so they could learn from them. I stopped fighting against DIY. This built trust.

#3 - Lastly, I offered at least one idea for how I could partner with the team as they thought through their DIY approach. I prescribed suggestions on areas where I knew DIY typically fell down. It gave me the chance to get in with the teams and illuminate the roadblocks that made DIY harder than they assumed.

More of those DIY deals started to convert. Not all of them. Just more of them.

TLDR - there's a great Brent Adamson quote - "Before you tell someone why they're wrong, first tell them why they're right". 

When competing against DIY, I stopped trying to be "right". I started trying to be useful.

I'm no LinkedIn expert, but I don't think we win by taking what works for someone else's content and trying to copy it. Here are 3 people who I think embody what it means to a have a voice on here that is totally and completely their own.  

Sara Uy
She grew like crazy on here after filming herself making cold calls every week. She's relatable because she was never trying to impress you. She showed the good, bad, and ugly. She took a job-to-be-done that makes many sellers nervous and she did it in front of the entire LinkedIn community. My favorite comments from her followers are the ones where sellers say, "You inspired me to pick up the phone more". Sara didn't copy what bigger creators were doing. As a result, she's at the top of every Sales creator list. Right where she belongs. 

Tas Bober
The queen of sharp wit. Her expertise is paid ads landing pages. But, she finds 100 different ways to make it fun. She's unafraid to say how she feels + doesn't shy away from constructive debates. When I met Tas for the first time last year, I felt like I already knew her. She does a great job balancing SME content with human content. I'm pretty sure if I was given 10 random LinkedIn posts, I could pick the one she wrote. Her voice is so uniquely hers. 

Shali Rana Reed
She's the people's champion. You can feel Shali in your corner when you read her posts. It's impossible not to click "see more" when her posts appear in the feed. She's one of the best at sparking curiosity in her hooks, without making it feel corny. You never know if it's going to be a pun, a serious post, or a work post. I like how she keeps us guessing. She has this no-nonsense energy about her. Big sister energy, in the best of ways. 

Your turn. Whose voice stands out to you as completely their own?

Leslie Venetz

Outbound sales strategies, processes & skill sets for 15-50M SaaS & service orgs that need revenue-generating pipeline | Keynote Speaker | Top Sales Voice ✨#EarnTheRight to your buyer's time & attention ✨

🔥 Discover the Power of Effective Sales Training & GTM Strategy with Me 🔥

As a corporate sales trainer and sales-led GTM consultant, I am dedicated to transforming the way your team engages with prospects. Say goodbye to one-sided conversations and hello to meaningful interactions that drive results. 

Want your team to talk WITH prospects instead of AT them? Reach out to learn more today.

✉ Let's Connect! ✉

📰 Newsletter:
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https://patreon.com/BusinessBookClub

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youtube.com/@leslievenetz

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💡 Why Choose The Sales-Led GTM Agency? 💡

🚀 Extensive C-Suite Enterprise Selling Experience: With 15 years spent in C-suite enterprise selling, I have opened doors and penetrated the biggest logos, including AT&T, KraftHeinz, Walmart, ExxonMobil, JPMorgan, Verizon, and Target. I understand the intricacies of navigating high-level negotiations and building fruitful partnerships.

🚀 Accomplished VP & Head of Sales: Thriving in leadership roles, I have achieved remarkable success as a three-time Head of Sales. My strategic vision and ability to inspire teams have consistently led to over-achievement and revenue growth.

🚀 Early-Stage Startup Smarts: As employee #1 in a business intelligence startup, I fueled rapid growth by ramping up revenue from zero to 412K & 21 logos within 9 months post-MVP launch. I possess the expertise to guide startups through critical stages and drive substantial sales momentum.

🚀 Stellar Track Record: By nurturing SDR, BDR, ISR, AE, and CS teams, I have consistently surpassed targets and elevated overall performance. My proven ability to build high-performing, buyer-centric sales teams has resulted in tangible results and increased customer satisfaction.

🎯 Specialties 🎯

 B2B Sales & Sales Management | C-level Fortune 1000 Sales | Blue Chip Sales | SME Sales | Sales Collateral & Materials | Sales Training & Coaching | Sales Presentations | Cold Calling | Lead Sourcing | GTM Strategies | Email Sequence Creation | Outbound Campaigns | Sales Coaching | Pipelines | Business Development | Sales Strategy & Leadership | Sponsorship Sales | Marketing Campaigns | Social Selling | Content Creation | Recruitment | Onboarding | Customer Success | Account Management | Account-Based Marketing | HubSpot | SalesLoft | ZoomInfo | Prospecting | SDR & BDR Management | Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in a B2B Sales Culture

GTM  Partner

Follow Leslie Venetz, Founder of Sales Team Builder at @SalesTipsTok for daily sales tips and inspiration. 

Leslie is here to help you reach more people, build more value and close more sales.

Go from 0.02% to 30% reply rates by stopping one habit: 
Treating every signal like permission to pitch.


The signals they used did not change. 

Their sales messaging did.


Most reps get a notification, a job change, a webinar attendance, a pricing page visit, and they send the same outreach. 

Different trigger, same email. 

That mismatch is what kills trust before you ever earn the meeting.


I use a framework called POV to fix this. 

It sorts every signal into one of three buckets based on where the buyer actually is, not where you want them to be.

Join me for a live convo on how to decode signals here: https://bit.ly/3OKgMFy



📌 POV SIGNAL FRAMEWORK:

P is for Problem Unaware. 

A new job title, a funding announcement, a leadership change. 

These signals tell you something has shifted in their world, not that they are ready to talk to a vendor. 


O is for Option Aware. 

Your prospect downloaded a white paper or attended a webinar. 

They know a problem exists but they are still figuring out what solving it even looks like (or even if it’s worth solving). 

This is where most reps blow it by jumping straight to a pitch. 

Instead, keep educating and become a trusted resource while you have their attention.


V is for Vendor Aware. 

Pricing page visits, direct product questions, competitor comparisons. 
Now they are evaluating options to move from the status quo. 

Your job is to remove friction and provide answers that make it easier to buy from you.



The wrong message at the wrong moment does not just underperform. 

It actively destroys trust you already worked hard to build.


📌 I am going deeper on this with Mixmax AI on March 18th. 

Join Heath Barnett 🤙 & Melissa Gaglione ⭐️ and me  LIVE to learn how to decode your signals and use them to build and close pipeline: https://bit.ly/3OKgMFy

Leslie Venetz 

USA Today Bestselling Author | Keynote & SKO Speaker | Sales Strategist for Orgs That Outbound ✨ #EarnTheRight ✨ 2026 Goals: Read More Books & Pet More Dogs

Open article: Live Webinar: the difference between market signals and engagement signals for sales by bit.ly

Live Webinar: the difference between market signals and engagement signals for sales

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