TheInquisitor Podcast with Marcus Cauchi

What does it actually mean to be a trusted adviser and, how would you know if you were one? Most customer-facing professionals believe they're trusted. Their customers largely disagree. That gap is the problem Rowly Hirst has spent his career trying to solve. Rowly is CEO of Relate.US and the creator of Sandy, a generative AI analyst that measures trust in real time using the Maister-Green-Galford Trust Equation: Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy ÷ Self-Orientation. In this conversation, Marcus and Rowly go deep on what trust actually looks like in practice, why the most popular sales frameworks quietly destroy it, and what it takes to become a genuine ally rather than an accomplice, or worse, an adversary. If you spend your days in complex, high-stakes conversations, this episode is for you. What We Cover Why trust is defined not by what someone says about you, but by what they do when they could stay vague, delay, or protect themselves, and choose not to The difference between an ally, an accomplice, and an adversary in a sales relationship, and the precise moment sellers cross the line Why the word "playbook" is the wrong mental model entirely, and what replaces it A masterclass in trust-building from an AT&T store in Boston: how a $50 sale became a case study in the Trust Equation in action The five operating principles that separate trusted advisers from everyone else How Challenger, BANT, MEDIC, SPIN, and Sandler all fail in the same way under pressure, and what that failure looks like in practice The 55 sub-factors Sandy measures across the four components of the Trust Equation Why gamifying your trust score actually works, and ends up benefiting the customer, not just the seller The 90/30 trust perception gap: why over 90% of sales reps believe they're trusted advisers while only 30% of their customers agree What Sandy has taught Rowly about his own blind spots, including a real example of how he lost an investor in a meeting and what he changed afterwards Why saying "I don't know" is a credibility asset, not a liability How measurement of trust has gone from a $600 human analysis taking a week to a six-cent automated result in under two minutes Gallup's estimate that improving meaningful feedback and trust-building could lift global employee engagement from 20% to 80% — an $8.5 trillion productivity uplift Key Idea from This Episode Trust isn't something you ask for or declare. It's something the other person gifts you, quietly, through their behaviour, especially when risk is on the table. It breaks down not when objections appear, but earlier: when pressure rises and we unconsciously shift from ally to accomplice. The fix isn't a better playbook. It's noticing yourself under pressure and choosing differently. About Rowly Hirst Rowly Hirst is CEO of Relate.us and has over 25 years of experience in consultative sales and account management in financial services. He began developing the thinking behind Relate.us in 2013 after a career taking CEOs and CFOs to meet investors, observing first-hand how poorly the industry measured what actually mattered in high-stakes relationships. Sandy, Relate.us's generative AI trust analyst, is built on the Maister-Green-Galford Trust Equation and measures trust objectively across 55 sub-factors, delivering results in near real-time at a fraction of the cost of traditional survey or human-review methods. Connect with Rowly 🌐 relateUS.com 🔗 LinkedIn: Rowly Hirst Connect with Marcus 🔗 LinkedIn: Marcus Cauchi 🌐 theinquisitorpodcast.com Chapters 0:00 — Introduction & Rowly's background 2:34 — Defining trust as observable behaviour under uncertainty 4:07 — Ally vs accomplice vs adversary 5:28 — Why "playbook" is the wrong model 7:05 — The AT&T store story: trust in a 25-minute sale 9:45 — The five principles of a trusted adviser 12:46 — Where sellers cross the line from ally to accomplice 15:17 — What managers should stop coaching 17:17 — How Challenger, BANT, MEDIC, SPIN & Sandler erode trust 20:09 — What Sandy is and how it works 25:00 — The gamification effect 27:21 — The feedback people push back against most 31:00 — Self-awareness vs self-perception 32:31 — The 90/30 trust perception gap 33:47 — What would tank Marcus's trust score right now 37:50 — How Sandy's coaching evolves across meetings 38:07 — Inside the 55 sub-factors 40:27 — Vulnerability, credibility, and "I don't know" 44:23 — Why proposals fail when the buyer's voice isn't in them 45:34 — The cost of measuring trust: then vs now 47:23 — The $8.5 trillion productivity opportunity 48:24 — Rowly's advice to his 23-year-old self If This Landed Don't rush to agree or disagree. Spend the next few days paying attention. Notice when your curiosity drops. Notice when you try to rescue. And if you catch a moment where trust shifted, in either direction , we would genuinely like to hear what you saw. Stay safe and happy selling.

The Honest Conversation Nobody Else Is Having Every founder reads the analyst reports. Every sales leader nods along in the conference sessions. Partnerships are the future. Ecosystems are everything. Co-selling is the key to unlocking faster growth, bigger deals, and stickier customers. And yet, ask those same founders and sales leaders whether they're actually banking on partner-sourced revenue to hit their number this quarter, and the answer is almost always the same: no. Why? Because it's never been reliable. Because it's always been treated as a nice-to-have. Because nobody actually knows how to make it work. That's the conversation this episode is built around. Alex Buckles has spent 20 years in enterprise sales, in the SAP ecosystem, the Adobe ecosystem, running and exiting two professional services companies, and figured out early in his career that if he wanted deal flow from partners, he had to earn it. That realisation eventually became Forecastable, a company whose only measure of success is pipeline production through co-sell motions. What You'll Hear in This Episode Why the instinct to hire a partnerships professional first is wrong When a sub-150 person company decides to get serious about partnerships, the first move is almost always to bring in someone with a traditional partnerships background. Alex argues this is the wrong call, not because those people aren't valuable, but because what you actually need at that stage is proof of concept, not infrastructure. A junior AE or an SDR with the right playbook can prove repeatability faster and cheaper than six months of PRM setup and deal registration frameworks. The co-sell door opener and why discovery calls don't cut it The most powerful concept in this episode is what Alex calls the co-sell door opener: a high-value experience you invite the prospect into rather than a pitch you push at them. Think of it like a $5,000 event that the vendor covers, limited seats, relevant to a specific pain, designed to create genuine engagement rather than manufactured urgency. It doesn't feel like a sales motion because, done right, it isn't one. The three types of value anyone ever sells Fix something. Prevent something. Improve something. That's it. And when you're building co-sell plays, Alex argues the fix is almost always the most powerful place to start. If the prospect has a raging toothache, don't pitch them a one-year dental plan. Why 60% of pipeline dies in no decision — and what's really behind it Marcus and Alex dig into something most sales training doesn't touch: buyer safety. Not qualification. Not discovery. The deeper question of whether the person sitting across from you can actually afford, professionally, politically, emotionally, to make this decision. When you ignore that question, you end up with a pipeline full of deals that were never going anywhere, a constipated middle of funnel, and a close rate that would make any CFO reach for the antacids. The second room problem 80 to 90 percent of the sale happens without you in it. The internal conversations, the allocation committees, the corridor conversations between stakeholders, none of that is visible to the vendor. Which means your champion has to carry your story, unedited and unaccompanied, into rooms you'll never see. The question isn't whether your deal is qualified on paper. It's whether every stakeholder in that buying committee would go to bat for you when you're not there. What great partner enablement actually looks like It's not onboarding decks and quarterly business reviews. It's getting in front of the frontline manager with a win story, asking for 15 minutes on their weekly team call, and showing up with something their reps can use in the field that week. Ghost-written outreach. Account development research. Win wires in shared Slack channels. Perpetual mindshare, that's what you're actually after. Demos: mostly a waste of time Alex's take on this is blunt. Once you've given a demo, the buyer has locked in their view of you. You've answered a bunch of curiosities, and they may ghost you. Save the demo for last. Use it to confirm the order, not to create one. If it won't change a stakeholder's decision, don't do it. Three Takeaways You Can Use Tomorrow 1. Start with the interview, not the one-pager. Before you build any co-sell playbook, get the most trusted systems integrator in the room and ask them what makes them different. Real conversations produce better plays than merged marketing decks every time. 2. Know who owns the problem and who owns the outcome — they're almost never the same person. In most organisations, the partnership professional owns the problem but has no budget and limited authority. The sales leader owns the outcome but views partnerships as fluffy. Bridging those two people explicitly — not hoping it happens organically — is what gets deals done. 3. Ask yourself the second room question for every stakeholder. If this person were in a room with

If you run a business with a sales team, this episode will make you uncomfortable. That's the point. Marcus Cauchi and Andy Hough have a no-holds-barred conversation about why sales has become distrusted, what's causing it, and what founders and CEOs can actually do to fix it. Andy has spent decades in the field, from Lloyds and Barclays to 16 years at EMC (now Dell), and has since sat through hundreds of hours of sales meetings as a researcher. He knows where the bodies are buried. What we cover in this episode: Why sales has shifted from a relationship-driven profession to a numbers and technology treadmill, and what that's costing you in customer trust, revenue quality, and staff retention. How shareholder pressure flows down through leadership, management, and sellers, and arrives in front of your buyers as inauthenticity, shallow discovery, and unwanted pressure. Why the best sales interactions are built on understanding how your customer makes money, protects margin, and carries risk, and why most sales teams have lost this entirely. The 90-day productivity myth. Research puts it at 3.2 years for a salesperson to hit full stride. Most organisations churn people before they ever get there. Why activity metrics destroy quality, and what the alternative actually looks like in practice. The player-manager trap and why it almost always ends badly for the team, the manager, and ultimately the customer. What sales coaching actually is, and why the gap between what managers think they're doing and what salespeople are experiencing is wider than most leaders realise. Why seller psychological safety is as important as buyer trust, and how the wrong people keep getting promoted. Why your CRM is aligned to your sales process and not your buyer's journey, and why that single misalignment is costing you deals you didn't even know you lost. The case for sustainable sales: focusing on the 6-to-36 month pipeline where there's no competition, time to build real relationships, and room to become a trusted adviser rather than another vendor chasing a quarterly number. The question this episode leaves every founder and CEO with: Are the systems you've built designed to create trust with customers, or are they quietly destroying it in order to hit this quarter's number? And critically, does anyone in your organisation feel safe enough to tell you? About Andy Hough Andy Hough is co-founder of the Institute of Sales Professionals, a tireless advocate for sales as a profession, and a doctoral researcher studying the adaptability of salespeople and its impact on performance. He lectures at Cranfield University and is part of the Global Sales Science Institute. He has carried a target, led teams, and spent his career trying to return sales to what it was in its best form. A genuinely human, outcome-focused profession. Connect with Andy on LinkedIn or visit the ISP at www.isp.uk.com About Marcus Cauchi Marcus Cauchi is the host of the Inquisitor Podcast and works with founders, CEOs, and sales leaders on decision safety, go-to-market alignment, and building sales organisations that create long-term customer value. He is currently completing a manuscript on the systemic compromises that accumulate inside sales cultures and the cost they carry. Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn If this episode resonated, share it with your CRO, your Head of Sales, or any founder who's wondering why pipeline feels harder than it used to. The answer is probably in this conversation.

In this episode of the Inquisitor Podcast, host Marcus Cauchi talks with LinkedIn expert Graeme Riley, a platform user since 2004 and business development consultant since 2012, to cut through the noise and get practical about what actually works on LinkedIn. Graeme shares why most people are using LinkedIn wrong, how the platform's algorithm has evolved, and what separates the salespeople who consistently hit their targets from those who burn out in 18 months. Topics covered include: building a LinkedIn strategy tied to revenue goals, curating your ideal client network, optimising your profile for today's audience, the right content mix for dwell time and reshares, the difference between free, premium and Sales Navigator accounts, and why most companies are wasting their investment in the platform. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or leading a sales team, this episode will challenge your assumptions and give you actionable steps to stop being a well-kept secret. Find Graeme Riley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamkeithriley/

Stop leaving money on the table. In this episode, sales historian and author Todd Caponi reveals why traditional negotiation tactics are destroying trust, eroding margins, and creating unsustainable business models. Todd shares the revolutionary Four Levers framework that helped him close a $7.5M deal when the customer demanded 35% off - and they ended up with only 15% discount while paying upfront for three years. What You'll Learn: 🟣Why building trust until the close, then "starting to lie" about pricing is killing your deals 🟣Negotiation Without the Games: Todd Caponi's Four Levers Framework 🟣The 115-year-old concept of "sound basis pricing" that buyers have been demanding since 1910 🟣How the 4x pipeline rule forces reps to waste time on garbage opportunities 🟣Why BANT qualification is outdated and what to do instead 🟣The Four Levers: Volume, Timing of Cash, Length of Commitment, and Timing of Deal 🟣How to stop discounting unilaterally andEducating buyers to squeeze harder 🟣Real data: 20-30% reduction in discounting, 7-8 figure profitability improvements 🟣Why every unasked-for concession (even net 45 vs net 30) signals everything is negotiable Perfect for: Founders, sales leaders, and top performers who want to increase deal values, improve forecast accuracy, and build sustainable pricing models. About Todd Caponi Author of "The Transparency Sale", "The Transparent Sales Leader" and "Four Levers Negotiating," Todd is a longtime sales leader, self confessed transparency nerd, and the only sales history expert who collects artifacts from the 1800s-1900s. His approach has been working for 17+ years across multiple organizations. Get Todd's Book: "Four Levers Negotiating" - https://amzn.to/4jPmjG9 Connect with Todd: 🌐 www.toddcaponi.com 🎙️ The Sales History Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sales-history-podcast/id1571354113 LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddcaponi/ 💡 Found this valuable? Like, comment, and share with your sales team. 📊 What's your biggest negotiation challenge? Drop it in the comments. #SalesNegotiation #B2BSales #SalesLeadership #Pricing #RevenueGrowth

Most B2B deals don’t end in “no”. They die quietly. No decision. No movement. No momentum. In this episode, Marcus Cauchi speaks with Karl Schmidt,one of the leaders of the research teams that helped 100s of companies take advantage of the insights from The Challenger Sale. Buyers now do most of their thinking before they ever speak to a salesperson. Buying committees have doubled. Information is everywhere. Confidence is not. This conversation explores why traditional sales approaches struggle in this reality, and why the best sellers are no longer pushing solutions. They’re helping buyers make sense of risk, complexity, and internal politics. You’ll hear: • Why decision confidence matters more than solution confidence • The fears that quietly kill deals • How sellers unintentionally strip buyers of agency • Why “no decision” is the real competitor • What framemaking looks like in real sales conversations If you’re a founder, CEO, sales leader, or an aspiring top performer, this episode will change how you think about discovery, deal reviews, and what it really means to help a customer buy. This is not about tactics. It’s about leadership in the buying process. Resources Mentioned: The Framemaking Sale by Karl Schmidt and Brent Adamson: https://amzn.to/4jHYYpU The Challenger Sale https://amzn.to/4qv7w63 Noise by Daniel Kahneman https://amzn.to/4pzcGwr More resources at theframemakingsale.com Contact Karl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-schmidt-q/

Are you settling for "good enough" while your sales organisation invests in an 85% loser rate? In this episode, Marcus Cauchi sits down with David Brock, author of "Is Good Enough Good Enough? Mindsets and Behaviors for Sales Excellence," to challenge the traditional "metrics madness" that keeps founders and sales leaders trapped in cycles of mindless activity. Dave shares his pragmatic, scientific approach to performance, revealing how top performers achieve their goals by being "intelligently lazy" and cutting out the "dead work" that consumes the average workday. They explore the "Three-Pile Strategy" for auditing tasks, the high cost of customer churn, and why personal accountability is the ultimate differentiator between top performers and those who make excuses. A major highlight of this conversation is David’s contrarian take on AI. Having used Claude AI as a "thought partner" and "debate partner" to co-author his book, David explains why AI is a "profound amplifier" that makes deep thinkers better but makes "lazy idiots" fail at scale. Learn how to use discovery-based prompting to internalise strategic ownership and why curiosity remains the foundational behaviour for the next generation of leaders. Key Topics Covered: • The Trap of Activity vs. Outcomes: Why being "busy" is often a mask for underperformance. • The Three-Pile Audit: Examine tasks and reclaiming 40% of your team's capacity. • Retention vs. Acquisition: Why the obsession with new logos is a recipe for wasted effort. • AI as a Debate Partner: Moving beyond automation to elevate your strategic thinking. • The Sacred Habit: Why scheduling 20 minutes of reflection daily is non-negotiable for excellence Contact David Brock on linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davebrock/ Email: [email protected] Website: http://partnersinexcellenceblog.com/ Read the book: https://amzn.to/4brvQku Contact Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscauchi/

Why do so many sales teams stumble despite talented hires? In this episode, Peter Wheeler, serial entrepreneur and expert in scaling revenue velocity for early-stage organisations, explores the decline of apprenticeship in modern sales and the impact it has on team performance and long-term growth. We examine why the traditional player-manager model often fails, how role siloing prevents junior staff from learning the ropes, and why leadership needs to move beyond administrative tasks to actively coach and support teams in the field. Peter highlights the systemic dysfunctions caused by shareholder primacy and short-term thinking, including the hidden costs of high sales turnover, conflicting departmental metrics, and the erosion of trust and integrity in organisations. He explains why senior executives, not just salespeople, must engage with customers to understand real-world challenges and make informed strategic decisions. We also discuss practical solutions to restore apprenticeship and learning in sales, including aligning teams around customer outcomes, leveraging AI as a personal coaching tool, and fostering a culture of trust, integrity, and long-term thinking. Listeners will gain insights into how to build high-performing teams, reduce churn, and develop sustainable business growth, even in times of uncertainty or economic turmoil. Whether you’re a founder, sales leader, or executive looking to improve team performance, this episode offers actionable advice, fresh perspectives, and strategies to thrive in a sales environment that too often sacrifices learning for short-term results. Key Takeaways: The hidden costs of high sales turnover and short-termism How role siloing and player-manager models stunt growth and learning Why senior leaders must be actively engaged with customers Strategies for aligning departments and prioritising customer outcomes Leveraging AI for coaching, personal effectiveness, and customer-centric entrepreneurship Thriving through market uncertainty by focusing on what you can control Contact Peter on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterledgrowth/ Contact Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscauchi/ or email [email protected]

For busy leaders who want growth without the burn The bottom line Modern sales is not about hunting trophies. It is about helping customers make good decisions. Sometimes that decision is not you. That is not weakness, it is credibility. If sales feels combative, high churn is the price you are paying. Why this matters Boiler room tactics and hire-fast-fire-faster cultures look productive until you check the retention numbers. Low trust, internal conflict and customers who regret buying are all symptoms of the same thing. You can hit target while quietly eroding the business. That is what going broke on the instalment plan looks like. The rules of sustainable selling 1. Always tell the truth Lies compound. You stop selling and start managing fiction. Everyone loses, including your future self. 2. Serve everybody Service is not closing at all costs. It is pointing people in the right direction, even when that direction leads elsewhere. Referring a bad fit to a competitor can be the most profitable decision you make. 3. Make things easier Remove friction. Psychological, commercial, procedural. Buyers do not need pressure, they need clarity. What leaders should pay attention to Know your Anti-ICP Not every customer is worth having. Some drain time, energy and morale, then leave unhappy anyway. The courage to say no early protects margin and culture. Risk beats reassurance Ken shares how a 30-day performance guarantee removed buyer risk so completely that a physical showroom became unnecessary for 16 years. When risk disappears, hesitation follows. Self-awareness is not optional When a deal derails, the common factor is often the seller’s own reactions, assumptions or emotional immaturity. Sales capability without self-control is a liability. Radical transparency works Glass walls, literal or metaphorical, show customers how you operate when no one is watching. Executive buyers spot theatre instantly. They trust what feels calm, open and boringly consistent. The bigger picture Your job is not to be the hero. It is to help the customer become one. When buyers feel safe, informed and respected, loyalty follows. Sustainable revenue is a by-product, not the goal. Resources mentioned Book: Selling Sustainably: The Ethics of Decision Facilitation by Ken Ward Concepts: The Trust Equation by Charlie Green, Relational Emotive Behavioural Therapy by Dr Albert Ellis Connect: www.educarlabs.com or find Ken Ward on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-ward-1761016/

In this episode, I chat with Tom Stearns, a consultant to CEOs and CROs, about how mentorship helped him redefine and scale his business. Tom shares how he gained clarity, focused on the right clients, shortened sales cycles, increased deal sizes, and walked away from boring work, all while achieving a four-day workweek. Whether you’re a founder, sales leader, or consultant looking for practical strategies to grow your business and work smarter, Tom’s story offers actionable insights and inspiration. Contact [email protected] Contact Tom https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomstearns/

Steve’s journey was marked by sheer graft and some brutal personal blows. His first five years were, in his own words, madness. Eighteen to twenty hour days, six days a week. Then came a messy divorce, COVID and throat cancer. The Founder Dependency Trap Like many founders, Steve found himself in the classic trap. Everyone relied on him to make every decision. He sought help because his sales team was struggling and he realised he needed to learn how to step out of the way so his business could run without him. The Uncomfortable Mentorship: Facing the Tormentor Steve brought in Marcus and very quickly discovered this was not a cosy training course. He describes it as counselling for sales, full of uncomfortable moments, direct questions, and role plays that forced him to confront his own habits. The turning point came when he learned to challenge and filter prospects properly. At first he thought it was rude to push back or walk away. In reality, detaching from the outcome stopped him wasting hours on buyers who were never going to buy. The Measurable Transformation The discomfort paid off. In spades. Efficiency: He went from putting in 100 percent effort to about 25 percent, yet was selling four times as much. Asset Growth: Between 2020 and 2024, while battling both COVID and cancer, the company’s net worth grew from £750k to £2.5m. Profitability: Pre tax profit rose from nearly £200k to just under £500k. Final Win: He closed his career with a £1.7m order. As he puts it, he started selling paper yachts and ended selling a battleship. Personal Return: The negotiation skills he picked up even saved him hundreds of thousands in his divorce settlement. The Outcome: Freedom When he sold in February 2025, Steve felt absolutely floating. The win was not just financial. He had finally proved the business could run without him. If you are a founder trying to build a saleable asset and escape founder dependency, Steve’s story is well worth your time. It is honest, hard won, and full of lessons for anyone walking a similar path. Contact Steve on Linkedin

Why Trust Breaks Down and What To Do About It In this episode, Marcus talks with Charles Green, one of the genuine heavyweights in the world of trust and commercial relationships. If you lead a mid market scaling tech firm and you suspect your sales or GTM function is underperforming for reasons no dashboard can explain, this conversation will feel uncomfortably accurate. Together they explore how fear, uncertainty, and internal pressure quietly poison performance. Forget the usual talk about activity ratios and pipeline hygiene. This is a candid look at the human drivers behind buyer reluctance, stalling, and ghosting, and why most attempts to “solve” these problems only make them worse. Charlie argues that instead of trying to measure trust, leaders should focus on spotting and removing the behaviours that actively destroy it. If you are grappling with the tension between short term targets and long term customer value, this episode will challenge how you think about leadership, incentives, and your culture. Key Takeaways for Scaling Founders, GTM Leaders and Sales People Trust is lived, not conceptual. It is emotional as much as rational. Charlie draws a clear distinction between thin, institutional trust and thick, personal trust. Trust is often built in moments. Reliability takes repetition, but intimacy is created quickly. How you pause, how you listen, and how you look at someone all matter more than your slide deck. Over promising is lying twice. One promise on the way in, one on the way out. It corrodes trust faster than anything. Fear drives most distrust. Buyers who feel uncertain catastrophise. That is what creates anticipatory buyer remorse and pipeline ghosting. The antidote is to name the fear out loud. Once spoken, it loses power. Repair beats perfection. A relationship that has been broken and then repaired well is often stronger than one that never faced a test. Repair requires vulnerability and accountability, not ego. The Trust Equation and Why Most Firms Focus on the Wrong Bits The Trust Equation helped popularise the components of trustworthiness. Most leaders obsess over credibility and reliability because they are convenient to measure. Charlie explains why they are nowhere near the strongest drivers. Intimacy. By far the biggest factor. It is about making the other person feel safe, understood, and genuinely heard. Nurses top trust rankings for a reason. Low Self Orientation. The second strongest factor. Hard to measure and impossible to bribe into existence. Fear drives self orientation. Freedom from fear frees you to focus on others. Scaling, Money, and the Uncomfortable Truth About Culture Charlie and Marcus tackle why trust based, customer centric selling so often collapses once a company grows beyond 100 or 200 people. Money permeates culture. Investors and boards often prioritise valuation over outcomes. This shifts intent and corrodes trust without anyone noticing. Ideology shapes behaviour. Modern management is built on economic beliefs that favour short term gains and things that are easy to measure. Mixed messages destroy conviction. Telling teams to “do the right thing” while driving absurd stretch targets creates confusion and cynicism. The Bill Green example. When the former Accenture CEO was challenged about incentives conflicting with doing the right thing, he told the room to do the right thing first, then fix the incentives later. That clarity changed the behaviour of forty senior leaders immediately. Practical Trust Based GTM Moves These are the actions Charles Green recommends leaders adopt straight away. Be transparent on price early. Withholding price to “build value” creates anxiety. Give a ballpark early to remove fear. Stop using discounts as currency. It destroys trust. Offer only standard, published discounts such as volume or non profit rates. Protect existing customers first. Expansion and net new wins come after that. Repeat business is far more profitable and far less stressful. Measure Time to Value, not NPS. Buyers rent an outcome. How quickly they reach it tells you more about your trustworthiness than a score. Build your trust muscle. Make many small promises and keep every one of them. It is astonishing how fast this compounds. Model the behaviour you want. Trust others first and show your workings. A simple line such as “I could be wrong, but it seems this is an issue. Is it?” creates space for honesty. Final Thoughts and What Happens Next Trust is built in tiny moments. Charlie encourages listeners to choose two or three insights, write them down, and let them settle into daily practice. Marcus points out that a 0.1 percent daily improvement compounds to roughly 30 percent over a year. The benefits start immediately. Listeners are invitated to join Sellers Anonymous, a community helping salespeople strengthen their trust muscle Subscribe to hear the next episode: Marcus and Charles will dissect how the Trust Equation applies to negotiation, objec

In this episode, Jordan Corn and Marcus Cauchi dissect the deeply flawed traditional approach to employee performance evaluation, the "Annual Festival of Fiction". They challenge the idea that reviews serve their intended purpose and share actionable frameworks for leaders to build continuous growth systems, rather than just checking boxes. Key Themes for Leaders and Managers 1. The Broken System: Checking Boxes vs. Driving Growth Traditional performance reviews are often theatre: they replace truth with formality and create anxiety instead of growth. When managers simply mark a three on a scale to avoid justification, they are "checking a box". The problem is systemic: reviews often exist as a paper trail for pay decisions and compliance, not for meaningful reflection or planning. Some reflection is better than none, but if the process isn’t valuable or valued, it won’t change much. 2. Relationships Come First Effective performance management starts with the manager-employee relationship. Reviews fail if the manager is a bully, a micromanager, or insecure. Psychological Safety and Vulnerability: Managers must earn the right to tell the truth by showing vulnerability, asking where staff need help and seeking their advice. Bidirectional Feedback: Feedback should flow in all directions. Employees need to feel safe critiquing management, and managers must be willing to listen without defensiveness. 3. Frequency, Focus, and Continuous Improvement Waiting a year is too long. Annual reviews without ongoing feedback are "like washing once a year". Real performance management is continuous, like adjusting a plane mid-flight. Agile Coaching: Regular micro check-ins: monthly 15–30 minutes or daily three-minute updates keep everyone aligned. Focus on Strengths: Lean into what people do well. Reviews should energise, not dwell on weaknesses. Separate Compensation: Tying pay to reviews is "absolutely inane" and undermines their value. 4. Systemic Issues: Hiring and Alignment Problems often start at recruitment. High turnover results from compromise, or searching for mythical “purple unicorns,” creating systems built to reject rather than select the right fit. Self-Awareness: Reviews can become "behavioral reviews," helping employees understand how they show up and how others respond. Preparation Over Ambush: Managers should prime employees a week in advance and encourage reflection from both sides. The goal is to synchronise reality, not sanitise it. Final Takeaway If you can’t run a review rooted in honesty, psychological safety, and growth - or if you limit them to once a year - Jordan Corn says, "throw the whole thing out". Instead, leaders should redesign the process around the human being first, then fill in whatever is required for compliance. For teams stuck in the "Festival of Fiction," Marcus shares systemic models to "model and scale human judgment" and even measure trust as a hard metric, helping embed learning, dignity, and accountability into management practices. Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-corn/ Connect with Marcus https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscauchi/ And if you'd like to be a guest contact me https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannecauchi/

This episode of The Inquisitor Podcast features Parker Mills, Account Executive at ServiceNow and author of State and Local Government Sales: Beyond the Bid. Parker exposes the systemic dysfunction created when short-term sales culture sabotages long-term public value. With 11 years in U.S. state and local government (SLG) sales, he dissects the brutal misalignment where enterprise is the tail that wags the dog, corporate GTM strategy, incentives, and collateral all built for the wrong customer profile. For founders and C-suites, Parker calls out the dangerous internal pressure that fuels “optimism theatre” and quietly corrodes integrity and trust. His challenge: treat forecast accuracy as a measure of integrity, not compliance. Give your sellers the freedom to protect relationships from the distortions of quarterly panic. Why? Because government sales aren’t built for sprints. The average deal runs 18 months, often tied to state fiscal calendars or biennial budgets. The only winning strategy is one built on patience, preparation, and principle. For sellers in the field, we unpack how to move Beyond the Bid, from chasing RFPs to driving pre-RFP collaboration 2–3 years before the funding ask. Parker reveals the practical shifts that separate average from elite: Stop prescribing and start co-developing Learn the policy backdrop, especially around AI (many states still ban GenAI) Read public strategic plans like they’re account plans Map the second and third rooms to stop corridor kills before they happen And the biggest mindset shift of all: stop focusing on winning the bid. Focus on deserving the renewal. Integrity is not a slogan, it’s a skill. If you’re ready to dismantle a commercial-centric GTM and align your quotas to public sector reality, this conversation will challenge your thinking. Parker shares a blueprint for turning forecast accuracy into integrity, handling ghosting with composure, and learning why slowing down is the fastest way to sustainable growth. Tune in to discover how integrity-led sellers shape the deal years before the RFP, and why that’s exactly what the public sector deserves. Contact Parker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamills/ Email [email protected] Parker's book 'State and Local Government Sales: Beyond the Bid': https://amzn.to/445uJCz

Why do brilliant professionals consistently underprice themselves? In this conversation, Marcus and Matthew Dashper-Hughes dissect the psychological barriers that prevent founders, executives, and elite salespeople from commanding their true market worth. This isn't motivational rhetoric, it's a diagnostic exploration of the childhood money scripts, trust mechanics, and conversational architecture that determine whether you capture value or leave millions on the table. Critical Insights for Leaders The Pricing Psychology Paradox "You will only ever be paid as much as you really think you are worth." This isn't inspiration, it's diagnosis. The least you'll accept becomes the ceiling, not the floor. Underpricing isn't strategic humility; it's emotional armor inherited from childhood money scripts that prioritize comfort over worth. Trust as Operating System Forget tactics. Trust is the operating system for every revenue conversation. The episode unpacks the David Maister Trust Equation, revealing that intimacy, psychological closeness between two humans, matters more than credentials or track record. The line between persuasion and manipulation? Benevolence of intent. You must genuinely want what's best for the client, even if it costs you the deal. Fairness Lives in Freedom, Not Sameness High performers have a moral obligation to preserve client autonomy. Build "choice architecture" through conversation, help clients make the decision they'd make for themselves, without coercion. The power move: Give explicit permission to say "no." That permission establishes the baseline of agency that makes "yes" meaningful. Money Fluency Requires Practice Money is the language of business. Like any language, fluency demands consistent, habitual practice. Combat shame and anxiety through: Journaling on money beliefs and emotional triggers Affirmations ("I am worth it") Afformations (Questions that presuppose worth: "For me to show up and be worth it, what do I need to project?") Reframe the Language of Value Words shape reality. Stop talking about cost, speak about investment. Stop closing deals, start opening accounts. These aren't semantic games; they fundamentally alter how buyers experience your offer. The Self-Awareness Gap Only 10-15% of people are genuinely self-aware. The difference between reactive professionals and leaders? Internal locus of evaluation. Anchor your identity to core, immutable values, not conditional factors like job titles, performance metrics, or external validation. Roles change. Markets shift. Your worth doesn't. Money Redefined "Money, at its best, is a facilitator of freedom, security, and liberty." Not greed. Not status. Freedom. Who Should Listen Founders leaving equity value on the table in fundraising conversations C-Suite executives struggling to articulate their worth in compensation negotiations Top-performing salespeople who deliver results but underprice their solutions Anyone carrying childhood money baggage into adult revenue conversations Going Deeper Want to explore the psychological tools Matthew uses to build value confidence? Curious about Marcus's mathematical trust models for private equity due diligence? These frameworks don't just change how you price, they change how you think about worth itself. Connect LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewdashper-hughes/ Matthew's Book: Show Me The Money https://amzn.to/4ofOnnz

In this episode of The Inquisitor, host Marcus Cauchi sits down with Scott Aaron, co-founder of The Time to Grow, to explore the power of authenticity in marketing and sales. Scott helps coaches, consultants, and service professionals scale their businesses by prioritizing connection over competition, and this conversation is packed with actionable strategies for growing your presence on LinkedIn while staying human-first. From leveraging AI ethically to optimizing your LinkedIn profile for inbound leads, this episode offers practical insights you can implement immediately. Key Takeaways 1. AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement AI is in its early stages and should be used as a tool to enhance, not replace, human work. Scott and his team use personalized GPTs to help members craft high-engagement LinkedIn content. Avoid “scaling idiocy at volume”: always use AI with a human-centric approach. 2. The Warm Touchpoint Messaging Strategy Dedicate 20–30 minutes daily to active networking on LinkedIn. Automation tools violate LinkedIn’s rules—all messages should be sent manually. Use the Warm Touchpoint Checklist to identify opportunities: Accept connection requests Engage with posts and content Comment or vote in polls Subscribe to newsletters Craft your first message: One warm, friendly paragraph Include a relatable connection point Use the word “support” to build rapport Avoid pitching or hard-selling Test your CTAs: Compare direct questions (e.g., “Do you have time for a Zoom this week?”) versus open-ended statements for one month to see what drives more booked calls. 3. High-Impact Content Strategy LinkedIn content increasingly acts as a lead generator. Combine Thought Leadership (expert positioning) with Storytelling (relatability). Keep content simple and digestible, avoiding technical overload. Prioritize practice over perfection and give tangible tips for free to build trust and credibility. 4. Content Types & Scheduling Content Type Frequency Key Tips LinkedIn Newsletter Weekly (Fridays) Best for building subscribers and external traffic. Requires 150+ connections. LinkedIn Live (Video) Twice a week (Mon & Thu, 10 a.m. ET) Build trust over time. Include a CTA to convert viewers into subscribers. Carousel Posts (PDF) Every other week (Saturdays) Use PDF format to allow scrolling. Share quick, actionable tips. Articles Only if under 150 connections Resharing Occasionally Always add your perspective to highlight expertise. 5. Profile Optimization About Section (Summary) 300–500 words, written in first person Share your personal story, what you do, who you serve, and how you serve them Include 15–20 skill keywords for SEO End with a clear CTA Experience Section List at least three roles, with your most relevant first Include short 2–4 sentence descriptions Use title formatting with totem poles to highlight expertise Example: Co-founder of The Time to Grow | Marketing | Sales | Branding Whether you’re looking to grow your LinkedIn presence, craft content that converts, or use AI ethically in your business, this episode gives you the tools to start today. Implement one tip, test it, and watch your connections, and your opportunities, grow. Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottaaroncoach/ Join the Expert Content Society : https://www.thetimetogrow.com/expert-content-society

Most founders lie to themselves long before they ever pitch an investor. They convince themselves their story is clear, their deck is solid, and their passion will carry them through. The truth? Investors can smell self-deception a mile away. In this episode of The Inquisitor Podcast, Marcus Cauchi sits down with Ben Wiener, venture capitalist, author of the novel Fever Pitch, and someone who knows what it’s like to fail spectacularly before finding the formula for investor resonance. Ben’s first fund didn’t just flop, it crashed. He pitched over 27 investors, was rejected every single time, and even received a few profane ejections. But instead of walking away, he dissected every misstep and built a structural narrative that now underpins the most persuasive startup pitches. Despite being fiction, Fever Pitch hit #1 in multiple non-fiction categories because it teaches a painful truth: most founders don’t lose funding because their idea is bad, but because they fail to tell their story truthfully, empathetically, and structurally. What You’ll Learn in This Episode 1. Storytelling Isn’t Manipulation. It’s Communication Many founders, particularly those with technical or analytical backgrounds, resist storytelling. They see it as emotional fluff or manipulation. Ben argues the opposite: stories are how human brains process truth. He explains how a well-structured narrative, rooted in the hero’s journey, helps investors understand what’s at stake, where the opportunity lies, and why this team is the one to back. As Ben puts it, the goal isn’t to cram everything into your pitch. It’s to decide what not to say. Founders who “firehose” investors with data end up obscuring their brilliance. The art lies in compression: crushing a lump of charcoal into a diamond. 2. The H-E-A-R-T Framework: How to Win Investor Attention Ben developed the H-E-A-R-T framework to help founders design pitches that resonate instead of repel. Each letter corresponds to a psychological trigger that maps to how investors make decisions: Element Focus Founder Insight H – Hypothesis Start with why. Throw down a belief statement that calls out something broken in your market. E – Enormous Stakes Make it matter. If the problem isn’t big, neither is the opportunity. A – Alternatives Are Grossly Inadequate Build tension. Show that the current state is “totally effed up” so your solution feels inevitable. R – Radically Differentiated Solution Deliver the hero. Your idea must be a leap, not a tweak. Investors crave paradigm shifts, not feature lists. T – Traits and Skills of the Team Prove capability. Investors don’t buy ideas—they buy the hacker, the hustler, and the hipster. Prove you’re all three or have them in your team. 3. Empathy: The Secret Weapon in Pitching and Sales The best founders sell like the best salespeople: they start where the buyer is, not where they wish they were. Ben and Marcus explore why empathy isn’t softness, it’s strategic. When you meet the investor where they are mentally, you can anticipate objections before they surface, disable the “red neurons” of doubt, and guide them toward clarity instead of confusion. And remember: being invited to pitch doesn’t mean you’re trusted. You still need to prove your credibility through behaviour, not biography. 4. Balancing Ambition and Reality Entrepreneurship is lonely, and founders must live between two worlds: belief and reality. You need enough delusion to keep pushing against the odds, but enough realism to recognise when something’s broken. Ben and Marcus talk about how to use rejection as a diagnostic tool, not an emotional wound. Sometimes, the strongest negative reactions mean you’re onto something non-consensus but right. The trick is to refine your structure, not abandon your conviction. As Marcus says, “Run to the sound of gunfire. Find people who’ll prove you wrong, that’s where the gold is.” For Female Founders Ben’s framework levels the playing field by focusing on traits and roles rather than pedigrees and logos. It values demonstrable ability over image. The episode also redefines selling and leadership as acts of service: helping others make the best decision for themselves. For founders juggling ambition, life, and sanity, this conversation offers a grounded, practical guide to staying both bold and real. Resources and Next Steps Get the Framework: feverpitchbook.com Free Tools: Access the interactive playbook and the H-E-A-R-T pitch generator. Learn More About Ben’s Work: Visit jumpspeed.com, his venture fund investing exclusively in one geographic area. Support a Good Cause: All proceeds from Fever Pitch go to charity. Buy the book: https://amzn.to/4nxFEMv Why Listen This episode will sting, in a good way. It’s not about investor psychology, pitch decks, or persuasion tricks. It’s about truth, empathy, and building the credibility to lead others. If you’ve ever wondered why your story doesn’t land, or if you’ve secretly feared you’re the one holding your bus

If you think your growth problem is about tactics, targets, or team structure, this episode might sting, in the best way. I’m joined by Emma Thompson, The Sales Therapist, who helps founders, leaders, and sales teams uncover the real issue: the story they’re telling themselves. She helps people face the thought behind their behaviour, not just the behaviour itself. If your go-to-market team feels stuck, scared, or sabotaging progress, this one’s for you. Expect a few uncomfortable moments, the kind that lead to growth. You Can’t Out-Strategise Your Nervous System Emma doesn’t fix symptoms, she finds causes. Procrastination, burnout, and perfectionism aren’t strategy problems, they’re protection mechanisms. Until you find the thought behind your behaviour, you’ll keep reacting and calling it leadership. You’re not short on tactics. You’re short on insight. Meet The Sales Therapist Emma became a hypnotherapist and coach after confronting her own childhood conditioning. Her work helps clients separate who they were taught to be from who they choose to be. Her process is built on one structure: Thought → Feeling → Behaviour → Identity Working backwards: Identify the behaviour causing friction. Find the feeling underneath it. Trace it to the root thought or story you’re still running. Question that story, mark it in red, and rewrite it. Why “Not Enough” Runs the Show Every human Emma works with carries some form of “I’m not enough.” Those stories form early, between ages 0 and 7, and quietly dictate your adult life until you rewrite them. Perfectionism? A response to shame. Control? A response to fear. People-pleasing? A response to rejection. Even a stable, loving childhood can script unrealistic expectations for how life and leadership “should” look. Three Blind Spots: Money, Conflict, Identity Money: Childhood exposure to financial stress or “be humble” messaging leads to founders who fear being “too much.” They either hoard or overspend, both are control responses. Conflict: We’re wired to see discomfort as danger. In business, it’s a growth signal. The more you face discomfort, the stronger your neural pathways for courage become. Identity: Marcus and Emma explore five traps: Confusing your role with your identity. Performing self-awareness while staying defensive. Worshipping willpower instead of rewiring the subconscious. Waiting for perfection before acting. Using trauma as fuel until it burns you. Response Over Reaction A feeling lasts about 90 seconds. The thought beneath it keeps it alive. When the wave hits, stop, breathe, and scan your body. Let the feeling fade before you think. Then ask: what thought started that? You’ll notice logic always arrives second. Rebuilding Internal Validation External praise bounces off if your internal narrative rejects it. Emma teaches clients to build an Evidence Shelf: External evidence: moments of positive feedback. Internal validation: self-statements in your own language (“I handled that well,” “I’m capable”). Journaling reinforces these new beliefs. Handwriting engages more of the brain. Emma’s “I Am” prompts and Marcus’s favourite ABCDE model (by Dr. Albert Ellis) help rewrite the script: A: Activating event B: Belief C: Consequence D: Dispute E: Effect From Protection to Purpose The voice that says “this is woo-woo” is the voice keeping you small. Improve by 0.1% a day and you’ll be 43% better in a year. That’s the compound effect of facing what’s uncomfortable. Ask yourself: What belief am I defending that no longer serves me? Am I living by choice or conditioning? What’s the emotional cost of staying the same? Am I leading or just reacting with authority? What part of me needs to heal so I can lead cleanly? Recommended Resources From Emma: Tell Yourself a Better Lie by Marisa Peer Podcast: The Six Minute Mind with Emma Thompson Guest: Dr. Tara Swart, neuroscientist From Marcus: How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything, Yes Anything – Albert Ellis How to Keep People from Pushing Your Buttons – Albert Ellis Join the Event: Founder Dependency Unlocked Emma and I will be running Founder Dependency Unlocked on 31st October 2025 (Halloween, 10 a.m. GMT). The mindset that got you through startup survival won’t scale your company. Time to upgrade your emotional operating system, starting with the story you tell yourself. Connect with Emma on LinkedIn or at www.emmathompsontherapy.com. If this episode hit home, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Stay safe, and happy selling.