The market wasn't ready for the language. So we kept having the conversations. Looking back across the interviews George Coudounaris and I have done since 2023, I can see something now that I couldn't fully see at the time. The architecture was already forming. We weren't trying to create another sales methodology. We were trying to understand why organisations could have great people, great technology, great frameworks and great intentions... …and still have a broken revenue system. Why does Sales know something Marketing doesn't? Why does Customer Success discover something Product never hears? Why does the market tell us exactly what it needs, but that intelligence disappears inside the organisation? Why do we keep calling people “not interested” when what they really mean is “Not yet.” But we would if… Those questions became the foundations of what George and I would eventually formalise through Closed Circuit Selling™ and the broader first principles of business in Revenue Alignment Architecture™. Catalogue the Market™. Timing Intelligence™. Close the Feedback Loop™. Architecture Over Frameworks™. As we know, true growth is always being open to perhaps what we dont know, but speaking with those that have learned what we may not have had access to. So first, I want to say thank you. Aaron Ross. Collin Stewart. Ryan Reisert. Tony J Hughes. Leslie Venetz. Joey Gilkey. Scott Leese. Shawn Sease. Paul Perrett. Amarpreet Kalkat. Charles Needham. Steve Patti. Carolyn Dilks. Given the success of those collabs, we had to keep that running with Phil Cleary. Georgia Watson. Pasha Irshad. Jared Robin. Alex Boyd. Morgan J Ingram. Santosh Sharan. And then came the Aussie Home Grown Series Keiran Longhurst. Nickolas Sternberg Heyze. Hayden Pawelski. Amber Main. James Sewell. Graham Hawkins. Dean Potter. Every conversation has added another signal. Another perspective. Another challenge. Another piece of the market. And that matters because Revenue Alignment Architecture isn't something you build in isolation. You build it by listening. You test it. You challenge it. You validate it. You close the feedback loop. And a special thank you to Favikon and Flooencer. Because while the interviews have given us the opportunity to develop and test the ideas with some incredible people across the industry, platforms like Favikon and Flooencer have provided something different…independent recognition of the contribution George and I are making to the RevOps and Revenue Alignment conversation. Their rankings and creator intelligence have recognised our position within the RevOps & Sales Operations category and, importantly for us, have recognised the growing visibility of the ideas around Revenue Alignment Architecture™ that we outlined in our book Closed Circuit Selling: Architect Predictable Revenue in an Unpredictable Market. That recognition means a lot. Not because a ranking proves an idea is right. But because it shows that the conversation is reaching beyond the two of us. The language is travelling. The category is forming. And people are beginning to recognise the work. When I look back through these interviews, I don't see a collection of podcasts. I see the trail of the architecture forming. Early conversations about Catalogue the Market™. Conversations about asking buyers directly rather than relying on untestable assumptions. Conversations about timing windows and why “not interested” doesn't mean “not a buyer.” Conversations about Sales feeding Marketing. Marketing feeding Sales. Customer Success feeding Product. Leadership seeing market truth rather than simply pipeline numbers. What would happen if all of this intelligence actually moved through one connected commercial system? That became Closed Circuit Selling™ And the larger operating principle became Revenue Alignment Architecture™. The book became the blueprint. The interviews became the laboratory. The market became the validator. And now, the category is beginning to emerge around the language. So this isn't a victory lap. It's a thank you. To everyone who has sat down with George and me, shared your experience, challenged an assumption, told a story, disagreed with us, encouraged us or simply gave us your time: Thank you. And to Favikon and Flooencer Thank you for recognising the work. You helped make the contribution visible. Because ultimately, this has never been about creating another framework. It's about building a commercial system intelligent enough to Know the market. Understand the timing. Move the intelligence. Align the organisation. Close the circuit. Five years in, the conversation is catching up. And George and I are just getting started.

The most valuable thing AI can give a business isn’t more activity. It’s the ability to spend more time working on what’s actually real. This is where Closed Circuit Selling™ becomes bigger than Sales. Imagine this Sales speaks to the market. They discover a recurring problem. They discover who buyers are currently using. They discover what buyers like. What they don’t like. When contracts end. What would cause a change. And when they’re prepared to revisit the category. That intelligence doesn’t disappear into a CRM. It moves. Marketing understands what the market is actually asking for. Product sees what customers are repeatedly trying to solve. Sales knows who is genuinely worth pursuing and when. Customer Success understands what was actually promised and how the customer expects to engage. Leadership gets a clearer picture of what is commercially real. Now the organisation starts operating as a system. That’s what we mean by Close the Feedback Loop. And it’s why I’m interested in what platforms like @aircall can become. Not simply a better business phone. Not simply AI transcription. Not simply automated CRM updates. But infrastructure that can help capture the voice of the market and move that intelligence through the organisation. Because eventually, the competitive advantage won’t be who has the most AI? It will be who can learn fastest from reality… And then change what the business works on accordingly. That’s commercial viability. That’s architecture. And that’s the reason we built Closed Circuit Selling™ Use the market intelligence to your advantage bit.ly/4xU3Qhv #B2B #Ad #Aircall #ClosedCircuitSelling

They say everyone energy and frequency introduces you well before a word is spoken. Much can be said for meeting with Lucy Emma Kirke today. If the intersect of partnerships, people, and purpose is highly important to you, then I would suggest you connect. Check out the work she does with Pointer and gtm / anz community and the dynamic duo of Ricky Pearl x Cameron Morgan.. Make yourself known, as you will be better for it once you have. And yes, we also spoke about all things Closed Circuit Selling™ (CCS)

Appreciate you time Joel!

So on this call, what did I do, what multi methods did I demonstrate and did you clock it? There's a reason I keep saying that revenue problems aren't always sales problems. I wasn't pitching on this call. I was diagnosing the commercial opportunity. And I was doing it by asking questions. When I look at Closed Circuit Selling™ alongside SPIN, Challenger, GAP Selling and Miller Heiman, this is the distinction I want people to understand. The value isn't simply knowing a methodology. It's knowing what to ask, why you're asking it, and what the answer reveals about the commercial system surrounding an opportunity. On this call, I was exploring several things. 1. SPIN Selling: Understanding the situation. I wasn't stopping at the surface level opportunity. I was asking questions that helped uncover the people involved, the level of participation required, the funding possibilities and the timing. Because before you can understand what needs to happen next, you need to understand the situation you're operating in. 2. Challenger: Reframing the conversation. I brought Favikon into the discussion as an example of how creator discovery and category rankings could help identify relevant people. The opportunity wasn't just about getting a room full of speakers. It was about thinking more strategically about who should be in that room and how their relevance could be established. 3. GAP Selling: Finding the distance between the current state and the desired outcome. I was exploring what needed to happen to turn the opportunity into something actionable. Who needed to be involved? What level of commitment was realistic? What funding options existed beyond the obvious budget? When did the proposal need to be submitted? Those questions helped expose the practical gaps between an interesting idea and something that could actually move forward. 4. Miller Heiman: Understanding the people and decision dynamics. I was exploring the wider network around the opportunity. Who were the relevant leaders? Who else could contribute? Were there other people in my network who could help? Commercial opportunities rarely exist in isolation. Understanding the relationships around them can be just as important as understanding the immediate request. 5. Closed Circuit Selling™: Connecting the answers. This is where I see the broader architecture at work. I wasn't treating the questions as isolated pieces of information. I was building a picture of the opportunity across people, participation, funding, timing and relationships. Each answer helped clarify another part of the commercial reality. The deadline became clearer: before February. The funding conversation expanded beyond the obvious budget. The discussion moved towards who else could contribute and how the right people could be brought together. That's what purposeful discovery does. It makes the next decision more informed. And notice something important: none of this requires me to claim that I was consciously running five separate methodologies. The bigger question is what happens to the intelligence once the conversation ends. Does it stay in someone's head? Does it disappear into meeting notes? Or does it inform the next action, the next relationship and the wider commercial decision? SPIN, Challenger, GAP and Miller Heiman each offer useful ways to approach parts of a sales conversation. Closed Circuit Selling™ looks beyond the conversation itself. It asks how market intelligence, timing, relationships and decisions connect and how that intelligence continues to create value across the organisation. The conversation is where the intelligence begins. The architecture determines whether it compounds. That's the difference between asking questions to progress a deal and building a commercial system that learns from every conversation. Closed Circuit Selling™. Revenue Alignment Architecture™.

Great meeting with Joel Vasila today, and hearing how he’s using his years of sales experience to build ZAVAS Group with an announcement coming soon of a significant expansion into a new line of business that run alongside the existing security services. Always great to meet meaningful connections that have not only the right energy but direction!

Blessed with a brilliant conversation this morning with Georgie Gilbert @GeorgieJac who immediately understood the core thesis of Closed Circuit Selling™ and why cataloguing the market and account intelligence is tablestakes. When we talk about revenue architecture, we usually talk about Marketing, Sales, Product, and CS. But when the intelligence circuit breaks when Sales doesn't know what Product is building, or CS inherits promises nobody validated who is left to clean up the mess? Usually, it's the People and Culture teams managing the burnout, the churn, and the talent gaps. Now that being said if you aren’t yet connected with Georgie, you should be. If you currently have gaps and questions around what’s possible in your HCM landscape connect with Georgie and see what’s possible! #ClosedCircuitSelling #RevenueArchitecture #PeopleAndCulture #HRCrowd

Spotted on the shelf of a modern day giant…. Closed Circuit Selling 🙏 Iykyk

Preview of the show with #SantoshSharan #B2B #ClosedCircuitSelling #SantoshSharan