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

The worst advice in sales training is also the most common "People buy from people they like."

This feel-good sound bite has probably cost more deals than any other sales myth.

Modern B2B buyers don't care if they like you.

They care if you can solve their problems.

Buyers are evaluating solutions, not salespeople. Look does it help to be both….10000%

But most will take competence over charisma all day

Here's what actually drives purchase decisions: 
➡️ Understanding their business better than the competition. 
➡️ Demonstrating clear ROI with specific, measurable outcomes. 
➡️ Proving you can implement successfully with minimal risk.
➡️ Providing social proof from similar customers. 
➡️ Making the buying process easier, not harder.

The best sellers I track aren't the most likeable. They're the most helpful.

They don't try to be your friend. They try to be your guide. 
They don't focus on building rapport. They focus on building confidence. 

Stop trying to make buyers like you. Start trying to make them trust you.

Trust comes from competence, not connection.

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

AI training is the new “Sales Kickoff high”

Everyone attends

Everyone nods

Everyone goes back to their desk… and uses it twice.

Then they go right back to the 2018 playbook

That’s the entire game in 2026:

Curiosity + consistency

Not “which AI tool is best”

Not “what prompt should I copy/paste”

The reps (and SEs) who win are the ones who turn AI into an everyday habit… not a one-time experiment.

Here’s the part most sellers miss:

AI’s real power isn’t prospecting

It’s pre-sales

Discovery. Point of view. Tight demo narrative.

Turning a “qualification call” into a validation session.

That’s where teams close 10–30% more (and most orgs have no idea why).

Tomorrow’s episode of AI Powered Seller drops with David Maloof

We get tactical on:
→ How AI-assisted discovery actually works
→ How pre-sales + AEs stop tripping over each other and start attacking deals as a unit
→ How to use transcripts + feedback to rebuild demo stories fast
→ Why “I don’t have time” is officially dead (3 minutes is the new standard)

If your process still starts with:
“What keeps you up at night?”
…you’re already behind.

"We need better leads" is usually code for "our follow-up process is broken" or “I thought my job was to only deal with layups”

I just reviewed lead response data for a company complaining about lead quality.

Marketing was generating 200+ qualified leads per month. Sales was responding to 23% of them within 24 hours.

Speed matters more than script.

The companies with the highest lead-to-opportunity conversion rates respond within 5 minutes.

Not 5 hours. Not end of day. 5 minutes.

But most sales teams treat inbound leads like they're doing them a favor by calling back.

"I'll get to it when I finish these other calls."

Meanwhile, your competitors are already having conversations with those prospects.

The best lead response systems I've seen work like this:
Minute 1: Automated email confirmation 
Minute 2: Text message with calendar link 
Minute 5: Phone call from AE 
Hour 1: Video follow-up if no contact 
Day 1: LinkedIn connection with personal note

Your leads aren't bad. Your response time is.

Marketing can't fix what sales won't follow up on.

New year. Same playbooks.

That gap is about to get expensive.

AI isn’t moving at planning speed. It’s moving at execution speed.

AI isn’t just evolving. It’s outpacing our team’s ability to adapt.

We just dropped a deep-dive on where AI actually stands heading into 2026. What tools are saving reps time, what features are driving revenue, and where the next wave of innovation is going to hit.

Here’s what stood out to me:
⚡ 28% of sellers are already saving 5+ hours per week using GenAI like ChatGPT.

📈 Reps using AI in prospecting are booking 10% more meetings in the first month.

🧠 Adoption isn’t just about automation. It’s about skill development, onboarding, and personalized messaging at scale.

And the gap between prompting and strategy-driven GPTs is widening fast. The winners in 2026 won’t be the teams who use AI.  It’ll be the teams who train it to sell like they do.

If you’re still treating AI like a “nice to have” as you kick off the year, you’re going to get smoked by someone who turned it into a competitive advantage months ago.

Check out the full report below or DM me for the breakdown.

State of AI

Your CRM is making your sales team dumber

Every time a rep updates an opportunity stage without understanding WHY the buyer is moving forward, you're training them to be process followers instead of deal strategists

Guess what MEDDPIC or MEDDICC or whatever Ps and Cs doesn’t actually track if your people ran a good call or now which is the wild part

Most CRMs track what happened.

They don't track why it happened.

Stage: Discovery Complete ✓ 
Why they agreed to move forward… [blank]

Stage: Proposal Sent ✓ 
What convinced them we're the right solution… [blank]

Stage: Negotiation ✓ 
What competing priorities might derail this… [blank]

Your reps are updating stages like they're checking boxes 
They have no idea what's actually driving buyer behavior.

The best sales managers I know have added one custom field that changes everything 
→ Buyer motivation for this stage progression

And then we use AI to summarize and gut check this and call out threats around this as well 💥

This forces reps to document the actual driver 
Instead of "We sent a proposal," they write "CFO confirmed budget approval and wants to see ROI projections."

Instead of "Discovery complete," they write "Security team identified three technical requirements that we uniquely solve."

When reps understand buyer psychology, they can predict next steps.

Your CRM should be building deal intelligence, not just tracking activities.

Generic is officially dead

Not underperforming

Not “less effective”

Dead.

AI can already write a decent email

AI can already personalize at scale

AI can already sound like every other seller in your market

Which is exactly why AI-generated personalization won’t cut through the noise in 2026

The only thing you’ll have left is you

Your judgment

Your point of view

Your ability to make the last 10 percent better than everyone else

That’s the shift

Higher quality work

Done faster

With the human nuance as the differentiator

In my new episode of AI Powered Seller that just dropped, I review the biggest shifts we saw in 2025 and what they actually mean for selling in 2026

Not theory

Real patterns

And what to change now before everyone else catches up

I’ve got opinions on this
Interested to hear what’s working for you 👇

Check out the episode here: https://lnkd.in/gezm4brV

Your team doesn’t need more AI tools

They need AI they’ll actually use when deals are on the line

Back in November, we ran our first AI Sales Certifications for managers and reps
It worked for one simple reason

We removed the intimidation factor

Most people aren’t blocked by AI’s potential

They’re blocked by “this feels too technical for me”

One rep summed it up perfectly

They came in with “zero to little knowledge about AI agents” and still walked out confidently building real tools because complex ideas were broken down into practical, usable steps

That’s the bar

So we’re running it again

🚀 Next session starts in February

What you walk away with in 3 weeks
→ Managers clone their best thinking into AI
→ Reps build a personal AI stack that knows their product, territory, and deals
→ Research, prep, and data entry stop eating selling time
→ Coaching and deal strategy become systematized
→ No code. No technical background. No theory-only slides

This isn’t “try this prompt”

You build Custom GPTs, Gemini Gems, and AI Agents that fit how you sell

Managers close the process vs. production gap
Reps get a digital intern handling the busy work

⏰ Sign up before January 17th and get $150 off
👥 Team pricing available

Check out the links below and DM me with any questions
Managers 👉 https://lnkd.in/gsuQVGCT
Reps 👉 https://lnkd.in/g5vjXdEk

Open article: AI Sales Rep Certification | Sales Agents & Advanced GenAI by bit.ly

AI Sales Rep Certification | Sales Agents & Advanced GenAI

AI fluency won’t get you promoted in 2026

But it will get you passed over

Two VP of Sales candidates

Candidate #1
→ Big-name logos on the resume
→ Ran the “proven” sales playbook
→ Talks about tools, process, and headcount

Then I ask one question

“How are you getting 20% more revenue with the same team?”

No mention of AI

No chance

Candidate #2
→ “Here’s how AI replaces admin work”
→ “Here’s how we personalize without scaling volume”
→ “Here’s how reps perform like 2–3 people”

That’s the hire

This is what I break down on the next AI Powered Seller episode

2026 is the year the gap shows up on the org chart

Who moves up

Who stalls

And why AI fluency decides it

If a candidate doesn’t bring up AI unprompted, do you trust them to lead a team right now?

I want to hear how you’re thinking about this
Drop your take in the 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!

Everyone gets ICP wrong.

What people think ICP stands for is 'Ideal Customer Profile.'

But here's the problem:

Most companies define it like this:

→ 200+ employees
→ Technology industry
→ Series B or later
→ VP of Sales is the buyer

That's not an ICP.

That's demographics and firmographics.

I want you to think about ICP differently.

ICP = Ideal Customer PROBLEMS.

Your real ICP isn't a company size or an industry.

It's the customers who have the specific problems you solve.

I was recently speaking at a conference with 150 CEOs in the room. I asked them: "What problems do you solve?"

Four or five of them answered.

Every. Single. One. talked about benefits. Not problems.

"We help companies scale faster."
"We improve operational efficiency."
"We drive revenue growth."

Those aren't problems. Those are outcomes.

Problems sound like:

"Our reps are wasting 3 hours a day on manual data entry."
"We're losing deals because our follow-up takes 5 days."
"Our managers have no visibility into pipeline until it's too late."

THAT'S the level of specificity you need.

Here's the truth:

There are plenty of 200-person tech companies that don't have the problems you solve.

And there are 50-person companies outside your "ICP" that are DESPERATE for what you do.

Firmographics are just prerequisites. They increase the likelihood of the problem existing.

But the problem is the actual qualifier.

When you take a problem-based approach:

→ Your prospecting gets sharper
→ Your messaging gets clearer
→ Your discovery gets deeper
→ Your win rates go up

Stop defining ICP by company size.

Start defining it by customer problems.

This will change how you target, who you target, how you message and most importantly how quickly you can close.

Honored and humbled to be speaking at PeakSpan Capital Scale Up summit in Boulder, CO. 

To be in a room of over 150 CEOs and executives, being taught by one of the best CEO coaches in the game John Hamm is always just something that is exciting. 

Then to get to present, drop some knowledge, some insight, some acronyms (you know WGLL had to make an apperence) and receive rave reviews just makes it all that much better. 

Fun Fact - At almost every conference I go to I make a joke when checking in about did they get my fog machine and my custom bedazzled name tag. 

Why?

For fun. Because why not. 

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE... The team goes and makes it happen. 

Haha shout out to the Peakspan team for going along with my ridiculousness and brining some fun to this thing called business and GTM. 

I feel so fancy now..

It's one thing to want more.

It's another thing to be worth more.

Everyone wants the shortcut.

The new title. The new comp. The new bonus. The new car. The new watch.

They want to become a new version of themselves without developing a new skill. Without actually being better at anything.

That's not how it works.

Worth follows skill.
Worth follows ideas.
Worth follows collaboration.
Worth follows execution.

Even career-wise — people think longevity is the key.

"I've been here 3 years, I deserve a raise."

No. The only point of longevity is that you're also getting BETTER year over year over year.

If you're the same as you were two years ago skill-wise, you don't deserve more money. You just deserve more time on the clock.

Harsh? Maybe.

But it's the truth.

And this doesn't just apply to reps. Leaders, this is for you too.

You want more? Become worth more.

Here's how:

→ Read more this year. Consume knowledge relentlessly.
→ Buy the course. Invest in yourself before asking others to invest in you.
→ Find the mentor. Get in rooms with people better than you.
→ Practice more. Reps aren't just for reps — leaders need reps too.
→ Seek feedback from those ahead of you. Ego kills growth.
→ Try new things. Measure them. Improve them. Repeat.

That's how you earn more.

Not by wanting it. By being worth it.

Money follows worth and value. 

Become WORTHY of more money and you'll be shocked how it shows up. 

Level up, ya'll.

Hot take or best practice?

Send candidates a training module before their final interview.

Here's the idea:

Before the role play or scenario call, you send them a recording of an actual training. They watch it. Then in the interview, you see how well they apply it.

I've done it in the past and am thinking of brining it back again as we start to scale up. 

Here's why:

→ You see how well they prep
→ You see how fast they learn
→ You see if they can apply new information under pressure
→ And you're actually giving them VALUE — they walk away having learned something whether they get the job or not

But I know some people will push back.

"You're asking candidates to do work before they even have the job."

I get it. But here's where I think this is a bit different. 

This isn't "build me a 90-day plan for free."
This isn't "create a strategy doc we'll use whether we hire you or not."

This is training. Development. Something they keep forever.

You're investing in THEM before they've invested in you.

They're going to do the role play/scenario call anyway... so why not give them the best shot at it?

And honestly? If a rep or manager doesn't want to watch a 20-minute training to land a job...

What does that tell you about how they'll show up once they have it?

But I want to hear from ya'll.

I'm genuinely curious. 

Is this a smart interview tactic or asking too much?

What would you do if your salary and rent were covered for a full year?

That's not a hypothetical.

Stanley (Your Content Coach) is giving away $100K to help one person go all-in on their dream.

Here's why this matters:

Only 4% of creators earn enough to support themselves full-time.

4%.

The rest are grinding nights and weekends. Squeezing in content before the kids wake up. Recording in parking lots between meetings. Burning out trying to build something while working for someone else's vision.

Most people don't quit because they don't have talent. They quit because they run out of gas trying to do it all.

Last year, Stan ran this same campaign. Over 3,200 people signed up. 2,500 shared their dreams on camera. The videos generated 12.9 million organic views.

It became more than a giveaway. It became a movement.

And they're doing it again.

Imagine having a full year where you didn't have to worry about paying rent. Where you could actually focus on building the thing you've been dreaming about.

Think about what you could actually do:

→ Write every single day
→ Record content without rushing before work
→ Start that podcast you've been talking about for 2 years
→ Interview the people you've always wanted to learn from
→ Travel and speak at events
→ Build an audience without burning out

This isn't side hustle energy. This is full hustle. All-in. No excuses.

Here's how it works:

1. Sign up for Stanley (free)
2. Post a video (2 mins or less) on a public isntagram or tiktok sharing your story, your dream, and how you plan to bring it to life using #standaretodream26 and tag @stanleyforcreators
3. Complete the Typeform after signing up

That's it.

The Stan team will review every single entry and pick a winner in February.

I've seen what happens when someone goes all-in. 

The growth compounds faster than you can imagine when you're not splitting your energy 47 different ways.

This is someone's shot to skip years of the grind.

Is it you?

Join Dare to Dream & enter to win $100K → 

https://lnkd.in/g_pQjXkX

What's your dream?

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For Official Rules, visit DaretoDream.Stan.Store

Brand partnership • 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

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The Battle

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