Guest: Barry Trailer

When established "truths" in business become outdated, companies that fail to adapt often struggle. In this episode commentary, host Deborah Fell explores a Mark Twain quote on questioning assumptions with guest Barry Traylor, co-founder of Sales Mastery. Barry explains why the "perfect prospect profile" can limit a company's vision and relationships. He advocates customizing outreach to understand individual customers’ needs better rather than treating everyone equally. He also discusses how adding value and sharing insights, not just selling, builds meaningful business connections over time. For growth-focused executives, re-evaluating internal "certainties" periodically and implementing more nuanced, customer-centric strategies can yield better long-term results.
Link to Barry's full episode here.
About Barry Trailer
Barry is Co-Founder of Sales Mastery Advisors, a sales research and advisory services firm started in 2018. Earlier, he was the founder and CEO of a successful SMB CRM company (acquired in 2000) before co-founding and helping lead CSO Insights, which he and his partner sold to Miller Heiman (2015-2017). Barry has been published three times in Harvard Business Review, most recently in Nov-Dec 2022, and has twice been the keynote at their Sales Summit in Poland. He is an Accenture Luminary and has been involved in complex B2B sales for over 35 years. He’s intrigued with how it’s changed/changing and what this means to Sales as a Profession (SaaP). 
 
Links from this episode:
Barry Trailer on LinkedIn
Sales Mastery website
Sales Master on YouTube
Deborah Fell on LinkedIn
Chief Outsiders

Learn how to boost your company's sales strategy. Deborah and her guest, Barry Trailer, Co-Founder of Sales Mastery Advisors, discuss research-backed approaches to building customer relationships and implementing effective sales processes. Discover common pitfalls in forecasting, analytics, and sales team structure and how to avoid them. You will gain insights from Barry on shifting dynamics between buyers and sellers, plus practical steps to capture more business. Whether you lead a startup or enterprise company, this episode provides battle-tested wisdom to navigate uncertain waters and accelerate revenue growth.
 
About Barry Trailer
Barry is Co-Founder of Sales Mastery Advisors, a sales research and advisory services firm started in 2018. Earlier, he was the founder and CEO of a successful SMB CRM company (acquired in 2000) before co-founding and helping lead CSO Insights, which he and his partner sold to Miller Heiman (2015-2017). Barry has been published three times in Harvard Business Review, most recently in Nov-Dec 2022, and has twice been the keynote at their Sales Summit in Poland. He is an Accenture Luminary and has been involved in complex B2B sales for over 35 years. He’s intrigued with how it’s changed/changing and what this means to Sales as a Profession (SaaP). 
 
Links from this episode:
Barry Trailer on LinkedIn
Sales Mastery website
Sales Master on YouTube
Deborah Fell on LinkedIn
Chief Outsiders