Jake Dunlap

2025 will be the year EVERY company must implement Generative AI in their revenue org. I personally am seeing time savings for SDRs, AEs, and AMs of 20-30% per role and predict that we will see quality of sales conversations go up by 40% or more.

We have developed a new category of consulting designed to help your company see these results in just weeks/months: AI-enabled Revenue Transformation

My deep passion for the science and art of sales has fueled my journey over the past 12 years as the founder and CEO of Skaled, a globally recognized sales consulting firm. According to G2, we have outperformed industry giants like McKinsey in Management Consulting and Accenture in Sales Consulting due to our mix of strategic foresight and tactical follow through.

We’ve consistently driven a 10-20% increase in qualified opportunities, reduced sales cycles by 8%, and enhanced overall team productivity by 20% within the first 60 days of engagement. Our approach is methodical and data-driven, ensuring that every strategy we implement translates into tangible business results.

With a team of over 30 elite professionals and access to a vast network of industry experts, we specialize in aligning sales and marketing to create scalable, replicable processes. We leverage cutting-edge generative AI technology to automate critical functions like follow-up, data entry, and task management, freeing your teams to focus on what truly matters—closing deals and driving growth.

As the USA Today bestselling author of Innovative Seller, I’ve helped to shape the future of sales, offering insights and strategies that resonate with both seasoned executives and the next generation of sales leaders. My work has been recognized in the New York Times, Forbes, Inc., and HuffPost. 

Check out my YouTube: Jake Dunlap to discover over 500 sales, revenue and AI for Sales videos: bit.ly/2Qu3niE

Highlights:

	• USA Today Bestselling Author of Innovative Seller - #21 in all books
	• First VP of Sales at Glassdoor (acquired for $1.2 billion - May 2018)

Chief Executive Officer

Everyday we help companies operationalize key aspects of their sales and marketing organization.  As CEOs, Senior Execs, and Sales people, our world is changing so rapidly and keeping pace is extremely hard.  We help with both strategic and tactical support through various phases of scaling and when larger organizations are looking to re-invent or stay relevant with their current marketing and sales strategies.

Here are a few of our clients in key verticals:

Enterprise Technology and Services:
Microsoft / GLG

Hospitality/Customer Service Tech:
Duetto / NoWait (acquired by Yelp) / Stella Service

HR Tech:
LinkedIn / ADP / The Muse / Grovo / ConveyIQ / Wayup / Vettery / Paypro

Education/Legal Tech:
Newsela / Bodhala / Hire an Esquire / Allovue / Codio / Busylamp

Real Estate/Financial Services Tech:
Breather / Nestio / Honest Buildings / Hightower / Everplans / CredSimple / Captalys / ReThinkCRM

Sales Technology:
Outreach / SalesLoft / Everstring / Lead Genius / Terminus / Discoverorg / Emissary.io / Redbooks / Speek / 15Five / Honey

Advertising and PR tech:
BounceExchange / SaleMove

Services:
Dom & Tom / Betts Recruiting / Moxie / Palantir

Two Sundays ago, a VP of Sales I know was on his laptop at his kid’s soccer game. Not because he wanted to be. Because it was “forecast week.”

He wasn’t coaching.

He wasn’t thinking about strategy.

He was chasing grown adults for CRM updates, cleaning up pipeline, and rebuilding the same forecast slides everyone pretends to trust.

That’s the job now. And it’s insane.

60% of Sales Manager time is getting burned.

Not on revenue.
Not on coaching.

On admin, pipeline clean-up, and babysitting updates.

Most managers are spending 15–20 hours a week doing stuff that shouldn’t exist:

Manually reviewing deals like a detective

Writing recap emails no one reads

Building forecast decks that go stale in 24 hours

Guessing which reps actually need coaching
Sitting through 1:1s with vibes… not data

That’s 800+ hours a year per manager.

At a $150K salary, that’s roughly $72K of leadership time lit on fire.
And the worst part?

We’ve all just accepted it as “part of the job.”

It’s not. It’s a broken system we normalized.

Here’s what’s changed: AI can remove 40–60% of that load in 30 days—without a massive “transformation project.”

What it looks like in the real world

1) Pipeline Reviews (no more deal detective work) - we have an AI Agent that reviews 100% of deals the EXACT way you would

AI flags deals that are fake or drifting:

-No real number / no quantified pain
-No access to buying committee
-Timeline slipping (but not reflected)
-Stage aging that doesn’t match activity
-Managers stop interrogating reps and start making decisions.

2) Coaching Prep (real coaching, not “how’s it going?”)
Instead of showing up blind, AI shows up with receipts:

-Conversion rates by stage
-Talk-to-listen ratios
-Stalled deal patterns
-Deal risk drivers by rep
-Now coaching is 30 minutes of impact, not 90 minutes of wandering.

3) Forecasting (data, not rep emotion)
AI analyzes:

-historical close rates
-velocity + stage aging
-activity quality
-prior slippage patterns

No more optimism. No more “I feel good about this one.”

Just reality.

One client freed up 12 hours per manager per week in 6 weeks.

They didn’t hire more reps.

They increased coaching capacity.

Revenue followed.

So if your managers are still spending Sundays updating Salesforce…

You don’t have a talent problem.

You have a systems problem.

I partner with forward thinking B2B CEOs/CROs/CMOs to transform their business with AI-driven revenue strategies | USA Today Bestselling Author of Innovative Seller

I started my last software evaluation exactly like this

“Before we start…here’s how you compare to your top 3 competitors, what we think fair pricing is based on public comps, and the ROI model we’ll use internally. Tell me where we’re wrong.”

I wasn’t being arrogant. I was doing what 30-40% of buyers are doing today already and just not telling reps.

I built it in 10 minutes with JourneyAI

Meanwhile, the rep was probably toggling between LinkedIn and Salesforce like it’s 2018… five minutes before the meeting. Then had prepped a bunch of MEDDPICCDPICAPECIPC qualification questions and was completely unpreapred.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Your buyer often knows more about your product than your rep does.

Gen AI made that possible.

B2B buyers aren’t “learning from sales” anymore—they’re arriving pre-educated:

70%+ prefer self-serve research before talking to sales
80%+ have mostly defined requirements before the first call

They’re showing up with:

→ competitive comparisons
→ pricing benchmarks
→ ROI models
→ negotiation strategies

And it’s not because they’re brilliant.

It’s because they have a tireless analyst in their pocket now.

The old advantage in sales was information asymmetry.

That’s dead.

So what’s the new edge?

Judgment.
Diagnosis.
Reframing.

Quantifying impact in CFO language.

If your seller can’t:
quantify the cost of inaction
tie value to a CFO-level metric (cash flow, margin, payback period, risk)
reframe the problem beyond the buyer’s initial “requirements”

…then they’re not leading.

They’re just confirming what the buyer already researched.

AI is upgrading average buyers every day.

Is it upgrading your reps… or exposing them?

Your hiring process is about to get disrupted

Not by recruiters

By AI

This week on The AI Powered Seller, I sat down with Krissy Manzano, CEO & Founder of Blueprint Expansion, to break down how AI is completely reshaping recruiting and hiring.

And most sales leaders aren’t ready.

We talked about:
→ AI screening candidates before a human ever looks at a resume
→ How candidates are using AI to game your interview process
→ Why traditional hiring signals are becoming useless
→ The risk of building teams that look great on paper… but can’t actually sell

Here’s what actually happens in most companies:

A candidate interviews.

Then 4–6 execs sit in a room and say:
“Yeah, they were solid.”
 “I liked them.”
 “I don’t know… something felt off.”

That’s not a hiring process.

That’s vibes.

Krissy breaks down how AI, when used inside a GOOD, structured interview process, eliminates that ambiguity.

→ Standardized scoring based on competencies
→ Pattern recognition across top performers
→ Real data instead of memory-based opinions
→ Clear signals on adaptability and AI fluency

AI shouldn’t replace human judgment.

It should sharpen it.

Because in an AI-first sales world, hiring “pretty good” reps won’t cut it.

This episode drops TOMORROW, link in comments

Kevin "KD" Dorsey

CRO at finally - Founder of Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 Sales Leadership Community & Coaching Program to Transform your Team and Build $100M+ Revenue Orgs - Black Hat Aficionado - #TFOMSL

Formal Education will make you a living… Self Education will make you a fortune. – Jim Rohn

Sales Leadership Accelerator - The #1 SaaS Sales Leadership program - 
www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com


Patreon Group - Monthly Live Trainings, Podcasts, AMA's and more!
https://www.patreon.com/insidesalesexcellence

Awards and Recognition

- DemandBase Top 25 Sales Leaders
- Salesforce - Top Sales Influencer to Follow
- InsideSales top 10 Sales Leader
- Pavillon 🗣 Lecturer of the Year
- Salesforce Top 16 Sales Influencers to Follow
- Ambition Top 100 Sales Coaches
- SalesLoft Rev Star
- TOPO Sales Development Exec of the Year
- LinkedIn Top Sales Voices
- LinkedIn Sales Star
- The Modern Sale Top 100 Global Sales Leaders
- Crunchbase Top Sales Leaders You Should Know

I believe in focusing on the "person" in "salesperson" 

As I've grown as a leader I have a better understanding of what truly drives behavior, motivation, and long term success. If we can make better people, the sales will follow. 

I love scaling sales teams. I have built multiple teams from 0-150+ reps, revenues from 0-100M+ ARR (multiple times). 2 Unicorns (ServiceTitan and Tebra) I believe in processes and systems, paired with skill development, as the code to success. 

I also love to share what I have learned, and what I am learning with others. I consult all sorts of different companies and people as they look to improve their results. I mentor and consult early, mid, and late-stage SaaS companies all across the world. Sharing my playbooks and processes for scaling sales teams successfully.

I have spoken at the top conferences across the country, mentor/coach start up's across the country, and love sharing as I go. 

If there is a book on sales, psychology or influence I have probably read it. I am a voracious learner and am constantly pushing myself and my team to reach new heights of achievement. Because of my own internal desire to learn and grow, that also gets translated out to my team with non-stop growth, coaching and training.

Founder & CEO

The Sales Leadership Accelerator is #1 SaaS Sales Leadership Program

https://www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com/slamembershipoverview

Ya’ll these are the exact trainings, systems, processes I’ve used to build 4 teams over 100 people, 2 unicorns (working on my third) and have trained 1000s of others on as well. 

That's part of what makes this different, is I'm still doing it. 

I'm still in the game. I'm still executing on these things, fine tuning, improving, and growing. 

These aren't the tactics that worked 8 years ago, this is the stuff working NOW.

That’s what the Sales Leadership Accelerator is all about. 

A program to level up the LEADERS!

Leaders need systems, processes,and skill development too. 

That's what this is all about.

Over 15 hours of leadership training (sorry ya’ll, no micro course here, if you want one of those, go somewhere else! it takes more than 90 min to learn this stuff. ) That has been incredibly highly reviewed by 100s of sales leaders and companies. 

Covering things like… 

The BIPSY Leadership Methodology
The WGLL and 4Ds
How to run 1x1s
How to truly develop skills
Coaching and Motivation
Tough Conversations and Accountability
Issue Diagnosis and Metrics
And much more!

Plus over 12 Templates you can take and make your own tomorrow. 

1x1s
Coaching Plans
Issue Diagnosis Checklists
Calls Scorecards
Goal Calculators
And more

Plus monthly group calls, AMAs, and outside experts.

Join today!

You cannot manage a person.

Never could.

Never will.

The sooner you accept that, the better leader you become.

No one wakes up thinking 'I can't wait to be managed today!'

Also - No leader wakes up, stretches and goes 'Boy oh boy, can't wait to MANAGE today'

Here's the distinction that changed everything for me:

You LEAD people.
You MANAGE processes and systems.

Read that again.

If you forget everything else PLEASE remember this.

→ Rep not hitting activity targets? That's not a people problem. That's a process problem. 
→ Manager not running effective 1:1s? That's not a people problem. That's a system problem. 
→ Team not following the methodology? That's not a people problem. That's a design problem.

And under each one of these there is also probalby a skill and confidence problem. That also is not solved by managing. 

The moment you try to manage the person, you start micromanaging.

You obsess over behavior without building the process that drives it.

You ask "why isn't this happening?" instead of building the system that makes it happen.

Here's what this looks like in practice:

You don't manage Dave into making more calls.

You build the process: call list ready the night before, calendar blocked, Slack closed, 2-hour power block at 9am. Pre and Post connection 

Dave follows the process.

The process drives the behavior.

The behavior moves the metric.
The metric changes the result.

Your job is not to manage people harder.

Your job is to design systems that make the right behaviors the easy behaviors.

You lead people.

You manage processes and systems.

Build the system. Lead the person. Scale the org.

Most sales "webinars" are just glorified product demos.

I really try to avoid being apart of any of those. I like dropping real insights, tactics, etc to make things actionable. 

This event with AskElephant? 100% exactly that I'm talking about. Workshop style. 

On March 5th, I'm leading an in-person working session in Lehi, Utah — and you're going to leave with something actually built. (but don't you worry, if you can't be in person you can still attend!) 

Not slides. Not theory. Not "ideas to think about."

Hands on keyboard. Walking out with a framework you can deploy with your team the following week.

The focus: Rethinking how your team captures CRM data — and what that means for forecast accuracy.

Here's the reality:

The old constraints that forced reps to manually update CRMs after every call? AI is breaking those assumptions.

But most sales orgs are still running systems designed for a world that no longer exists.

The leaders who rebuild their systems around this new reality?

Their forecasts are the ones you can actually trust.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:

→ A hands-on working session (not a webinar)
→ A practical framework you can implement immediately
→ A concrete experiment to run with your team
→ Free food and drinks (for in-person)
→ Other revenue leaders who are serious about building

𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀:

📅 Thursday, March 5th
🕐 5:00 - 6:30 PM MST
📍 Lehi, Utah + Virtual via Zoom

And yes — even if you can't be in the room where it happens, you can still be in the room where it happens. You can zoom in as well! 

I wish more in-person events offered a remote option. This one does.

No excuses. Join from wherever you are.

Bring your laptop. Bring your questions. Bring a fellow revenue leader.

Trust me... you're going to want to be in the 'room where it happens, the room where it happens, the room where it happens....' IYKYK

Link to register in the comments.

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