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If you’ve spent any time in the B2B sales world over the past few years, chances are you’ve come across Neil Weitzman. Fractional CRO, advisor, community builder, and founder of Weitzman Go To Market, Neil has built a career helping early-stage CEOs scale revenue with smart, practical execution. He’s also one of the earliest believers in Pod—and continues to shape how we think about sales strategy and innovation.
In this episode, Patrick sits down with Neil for a candid conversation about how AI is reshaping B2B sales. They talk about what’s real, what’s just hype, and why sales leaders can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. They also dig into outbound strategy, the importance of customer empathy, and why the best AI tools still need a human coach in the loop.
Neil didn’t start his career in sales. He came up through data, analytics, and customer service at Nielsen, where he learned how to be deeply data-driven—an approach that’s defined his work as a revenue leader. Over time, his roles evolved into account management and eventually full-fledged sales leadership, where he took on P&L, budgets, and GTM strategy.
That background has shaped how Neil thinks about modern selling. He’s not just focused on the next closed deal—he’s obsessed with understanding what’s really working, what’s not, and how to improve the full customer journey. And while he doesn’t necessarily miss the early days of account management, he’s deeply concerned about how many early-stage companies treat customer service as an afterthought.
“I’m not sure I miss it,” Neil admits, “but I’m passionate about it because I think a lot of startups are missing the boat. They’re focused on growth and product—but the customer experience is getting worse, not better.”
One thing Neil doesn’t shy away from? Old-school outbound. “I still believe cold calling can be very effective,” he says, “but you need to be smart about where and how you use it.”
He breaks it down in practical terms. If you're selling into insurance, pick up the phone—those folks still answer. But if you're calling into IT at law firms, good luck getting through. “That’s where tools like Titan X come in,” Neil notes, referencing a company helping verify better numbers for outbound reps. “It’s not about ditching the phone, it’s about using it when it makes sense.”
Neil's bigger point: it’s not about channel loyalty. It’s about stacking channels—calls, emails, LinkedIn—in a way that boosts your odds of landing the meeting. He also highlights the role of attribution: “Maybe your email response rates are high because your calls built familiarity. You can’t always trace one action to one result.”
When it comes to AI in sales, Neil isn’t interested in the hype or the hate. “A lot of the people saying ‘AI sucks’ have never actually used it. Or they’ve tried one tool once and decided the whole thing is broken.”
Instead, he’s urging founders and sales leaders to test it for themselves. “It’s like hiring a rep. You wouldn’t expect them to crush quota on day one without training. AI needs the same. If you don’t train it, don’t complain that it’s not working.”
Neil is currently running real-world AI experiments with clients—mostly focused on outbound. And he’s seeing early signs that, when set up right, AI can hold its own against the average BDR. Not replace your best sellers, but augment your team and help them scale smarter.
“Look, an amazing rep still wins,” he says. “But I’ve seen AI write emails that are better than what many humans are putting out there. That’s the truth.”
Neil doesn’t believe in AI replacing reps. He believes in making reps faster and more effective.
“Think of a rep who can write 50 personalized emails a day. Now give them a tool that drafts those emails so they only need to edit and tweak. Suddenly that rep’s output goes up 5x—and quality doesn’t drop.”
He’s also seeing AI work well in tiered strategies. For top-tier accounts, Neil keeps the outreach fully human. But for long-shot, low-priority accounts? “We’re going full AI, and it’s working okay,” he says. “It’s all about matching the right approach to the right tier.”
One caution: don’t just set it and forget it. Neil shares an example where a system auto-inserted a booking link—despite instructions not to—because it was optimizing for meetings. “It’s not magic. You have to stay hands-on. You have to guide it.”
While a lot of focus has gone to AI as an automation engine, Patrick and Neil also explore another emerging use case: AI as a thought partner.
This is where Pod comes in. Instead of just automating emails, Pod helps reps reason through complex deals, suggesting next steps based on real deal data, past wins, and team knowledge.
“To be honest,” Neil says, “AI might be better at surfacing what to do next than I am. It’s not about replacing coaching—it’s about making it more scalable, more consistent.”
That’s especially powerful when you consider the volume of data involved. Hundreds of emails. Dozens of meetings. AI can process it instantly and highlight gaps a human might miss—like missing stakeholders, weak multi-threading, or deal slippage.
“Give me that insight,” Neil says. “Let AI tell me what to look at—then I can do what humans do best: coach with empathy, adjust the message, build the relationship.”
To wrap the conversation, Patrick asks what sales leaders should be prioritizing as AI becomes table stakes. Neil’s answer is blunt: “If I’m hiring today, I want people who are passionate about figuring out how to use AI. If you’re not curious—if you’re saying, ‘I don’t need this’—you’re falling behind.”
That doesn’t mean every rep needs to be a prompt engineer. But they do need to engage. “You don’t need to know everything,” Neil adds, “but you need to want to learn. That’s what’s going to separate the good from the great.”
And for leaders? The advice is the same. Be open, be pragmatic, and most importantly—test, test, test. That’s how Neil is building the next generation of go-to-market systems. And he’s not slowing down anytime soon.
