#246 Sales Alignment | Danielle welcomes Talya Heller, founder of Down to a T, a B2B consultancy helping marketers turn competitive positioning into high-impact sales assets. With experience in engineering, product management, and product marketing, Talya knows how to bridge the gap between what marketing builds and what sales actually uses.

Together they unpack:

• Why most sales decks and battle cards go unused and what to build instead
• How to enable your champion to sell internally with confidence
• Simple frameworks for mapping competitive positioning that teams will actually use

Talya also breaks down how she researches, builds, and delivers assets that align sales, marketing, and product, all rooted in buyer empathy.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro & Talya’s background
• (02:11) - – From engineering to B2B marketing
• (08:56) - – What is buyer enablement?
• (11:11) - – Why deals stall after vendor selection
• (13:26) - – The problem with sales decks
• (15:56) - – Why battle cards don’t work
• (18:11) - – Talya’s competitive positioning map
• (24:19) - – Grouping competitors by approach
• (26:49) - – Market maps for sales
• (28:49) - – Where to get the best insights
• (31:19) - – New formats for enablement
• (33:34) - – Why context matters
• (35:19) - – Empathy for your sales team
• (37:04) - – Closing thoughts on empathy
• (38:09) - – Where to find Talya online

Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

***

This episode is brought to you by Webflow.

If you're a B2B marketer right now, you’re probably being asked to do more with less - less budget, fewer resources, tighter timelines. And you’re expected to somehow grow pipeline anyway.

That’s why more teams are switching to Webflow.

Webflow is the website experience platform that helps you consolidate your stack, reduce program spend, and move faster. Instead of juggling a dozen tools and waiting on devs, Webflow gives marketing and design teams the power to build, launch, and optimize sites all in one place.

No-code flexibility. Dev-level control. Built-in A/B testing, SEO, localization, and AI tools. It’s everything you need to turn your website into your highest-performing channel.

It’s everything you need to turn your website into your most efficient, highest-performing channel.

Check it out at webflow.com/exitfive.

#245: Cold Email | Danielle Messler sits down with Alex Fine, co-founder of Understory, the agency behind some of the most effective outbound and paid strategies in B2B right now. Alex is leading the charge on a smarter approach to outbound called “Allbound”, a tightly integrated blend of outbound, paid media, and LinkedIn tactics that actually convert.

If you’re tired of cold emails that go nowhere or ad campaigns that burn cash without ROI, this one’s for you.

Danielle and Alex cover:

• Why most B2B outbound strategies fail and how Allbound fixes the disconnect between ads, email, and LinkedIn
• The cold email deliverability tactics that actually work in 2025 (including tools like Instantly, Smartlead, and Clay)
• Real-world examples of hyper-personalized, AI-powered outreach that book meetings with high-ACV prospects

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
• (03:11) - – What Is “Allbound”?
• (05:11) - – Cold Email Isn’t Dead (But It’s Evolved)
• (07:41) - – Tools to Improve Deliverability
• (09:56) - – Personalization That Actually Works
• (11:26) - – Real Example: Fraud Detection SaaS Cold Email Strategy
• (13:11) - – How to Keep Messaging Consistent Across Channels
• (15:11) - – Treating Each Channel Differently
• (18:19) - – Ads as a “Cheat Code” in B2B
• (20:49) - – Building Genuinely Personalized Emails at Scale
• (23:49) - – From Swiffer to SaaS
• (27:19) - – What Sales Teaches Marketers
• (36:04) - – Where to Find Alex + Upcoming Exit Five Event Plug

Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

***

This episode is brought to you by Webflow.

If you're a B2B marketer right now, you’re probably being asked to do more with less - less budget, fewer resources, tighter timelines. And you’re expected to somehow grow pipeline anyway.

That’s why more teams are switching to Webflow.

Webflow is the website experience platform that helps you consolidate your stack, reduce program spend, and move faster. Instead of juggling a dozen tools and waiting on devs, Webflow gives marketing and design teams the power to build, launch, and optimize sites all in one place.

No-code flexibility. Dev-level control. Built-in A/B testing, SEO, localization, and AI tools. It’s everything you need to turn your website into your highest-performing channel.

It’s everything you need to turn your website into your most efficient, highest-performing channel.

Check it out at webflow.com/exitfive.

#244: Professional Growth | Dave is joined by Amanda Goetz, a 2x founder, 3x CMO, and the author behind the popular weekly newsletter, Life's A Game. Amanda shares her expertise in personal and professional growth, brand building, and content creation.

Amanda and Dave cover:

• How Amanda transformed her LinkedIn strategy to grow her following and engagement
• The impact of personal branding on social media and its role in business growth
• Creating a feedback loop to refine and improve content strategy

Timestamps

• (00:00) - - Intro
• (08:21) - - How to Use LinkedIn Video
• (11:49) - - Shifting from Twitter to LinkedIn
• (15:35) - - Developing a Clearer Target Market and Products
• (16:18) - - Building Sustainable Momentum Amid Burnout: A CMO's Perspective
• (20:39) - - Why Your Content Strategy Must Be Focused
• (27:17) - - The Brand Pyramid
• (28:12) - - The Emotion Behind Branding
• (31:42) - - People Are What Matter In Branding Success
• (37:20) - - The Growing Creator Economy vs. Traditional Corporations
• (38:38) - - Creating Emotional Brand Connections for Growth Marketing
• (43:10) - - How Amanda Became a Fractional CMO
• (45:44) - - Why Amanda Looks to Alex Lieberman for Inspiration

Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

***

This episode is brought to you by Webflow.

If you're a B2B marketer right now, you’re probably being asked to do more with less - less budget, fewer resources, tighter timelines. And you’re expected to somehow grow pipeline anyway.

That’s why more teams are switching to Webflow.

Webflow is the website experience platform that helps you consolidate your stack, reduce program spend, and move faster. Instead of juggling a dozen tools and waiting on devs, Webflow gives marketing and design teams the power to build, launch, and optimize sites all in one place.

No-code flexibility. Dev-level control. Built-in A/B testing, SEO, localization, and AI tools. It’s everything you need to turn your website into your highest-performing channel.

It’s everything you need to turn your website into your most efficient, highest-performing channel.

Check it out at webflow.com/exitfive.