Sales Talk for CEOs

Hosted by Alice Heiman

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205

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Welcome to Sales Talk for CEOs, where host Alice Heiman goes deep with female founders and experts on the real story behind building a company and a life at the same time. After 5+ years and 190+ episodes, the show has pivoted to focus exclusively on female founders/CEOs and their journeys on both the business and personal sides. In each episode, Alice explores not just what it took to build and grow a sales organization, but the full picture: getting funded, managing health and family, and driving revenue all at once. This is the founder story most podcasts don't tell.

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November 10, 2026Episode 647 min

Why Revenue Isn't Enough: Kellé Thorpe on Building Business and Personal Wealth

Growing your revenue doesn't always mean you're building wealth. In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Kellé Thorpe, Founder and CEO of Kommas with Kellé, to explore why female founders need to think beyond revenue and start building businesses that create lasting financial freedom. Drawing from more than 20 years in finance and executive leadership, Kellé shares how she unexpectedly became an entrepreneur, why so many successful women undervalue their businesses, and how understanding the story behind the numbers can transform financial decision-making. Together, Alice and Kellé discuss the connection between business growth and personal wealth, the importance of using capital strategically, and why changing your money mindset is just as important as increasing sales. They also explore how female founders can move past financial guilt, invest in themselves, and build companies that support the lives they truly want. Kellé explains: ◼️ How an unexpected career transition led her to build Kommas with Kellé ◼️ Why successful female founders often underprice their services and undervalue their businesses ◼️ The difference between generating revenue and building lasting personal wealth ◼️ Why understanding your financial numbers is essential to scaling profitably ◼️ How to use business loans and lines of credit strategically to fund growth ◼️ Why the best time to secure capital is before your business needs it ◼️ How childhood beliefs and scarcity mindsets can hold entrepreneurs back financially ◼️ Why investing in your health, time, and personal support isn't a luxury ◼️ When CEOs should consider hiring a fractional CFO to guide their financial strategy ◼️ How to align your business goals with your personal wealth and long-term exit strategy Connect with: Kellé Thorpe: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellethorpe/ Website: https://www.kommaswithkelle.com/ Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ Website: https://aliceheiman.com/

November 3, 2026Episode 545 min

Why Trust Drives Growth: Abby Schlatter on Founder-Led Sales, Resilience, and Building a Business

Building a successful business isn't just about closing deals. It's about earning trust, developing the right people, and staying resilient when life gets complicated. In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Abby Schlatter, CEO and Co-founder of commonFont, to explore how she built a bootstrapped technology consulting firm serving enterprise clients while navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship, leadership, and family life. Abby shares how she and her husband launched commonFont, why their earliest customer relationships became the foundation for long-term growth, and how developing sales talent from within helped them build a more effective, consultative sales approach. She also explains how community-building events, thought leadership, and exceptional customer experiences create opportunities that traditional sales tactics often miss. Beyond business growth, Abby opens up about navigating her husband's major heart surgery, organizational transformation, and family responsibilities simultaneously, offering an important reminder that resilience, optimism, and asking for help are essential parts of leadership. Abby explains: ◼️ How she and her husband bootstrapped commonFont from the ground up ◼️ Why building trust and delivering exceptional customer experiences drive long-term growth ◼️ How founder-led sales evolved into a more collaborative, consultative sales approach ◼️ Why promoting internal talent into sales roles worked better than hiring externally ◼️ How community-building events and thought leadership help attract enterprise clients ◼️ Why successful salespeople need deep industry knowledge, credibility, and the ability to solve problems ◼️ How AI is transforming the way companies understand and respond to customer needs ◼️ What navigating a family health crisis while leading a company taught her about resilience ◼️ Why asking for help and leaning on your team are essential leadership skills ◼️ Her advice for female founders building businesses in an era of rapid technological change Connect with: Abby Schlatter: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbyschlatter/ Website: https://www.commonfont.com/ Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ Website: https://aliceheiman.com/

October 27, 2026Episode 442 min

From Bathtub to Breakthrough: Carlyn Loncaric on Building a Business That Saves Lives

What does it take to turn a life-saving idea into a global business while navigating funding, unexpected setbacks, and motherhood? In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Carlyn Loncaric, founder and CEO of VodaSafe, to explore her journey from building prototypes in her bathtub to developing AI-powered technology that's transforming underwater search and rescue operations around the world. As a former lifeguard and engineer, Carlyn saw firsthand how difficult and dangerous underwater searches could be. Determined to find a better way, she created AquaEye, a handheld device that helps first responders locate people underwater faster and more safely. But turning an invention into a successful company was anything but straightforward. Carlyn shares how she bootstrapped her early development, secured her first investment, and navigated a pandemic that forced her to rethink her entire market. She also opens up about raising venture capital, building a sales team, finding the right customers, and managing the demands of growing a business while raising twins. Through it all, Carlyn offers valuable lessons for female founder CEOs on trusting their instincts, asking for help, raising enough capital, and learning when to let go of control. Carlyn explains: ◼️ How her experience as a lifeguard inspired her to invent life-saving technology ◼️ Why she spent two years developing prototypes in her bathtub before finding her first customer ◼️ How a $50,000 investment helped turn her idea into a viable business ◼️ Why COVID forced her to pivot from lifeguarding organizations to fire and rescue departments ◼️ How cold calling and persistence helped her reach new customers when traditional sales channels disappeared ◼️ What she learned from raising venture capital and why female founders should think bigger when seeking funding ◼️ How she managed motherhood, twins, and the demands of running a growing company ◼️ Why qualifying buyers and creating a structured product demonstration process transformed her sales strategy ◼️ How customer relationships, word of mouth, and trust are helping VodaSafe expand its reach ◼️ Why trusting your gut, being bold, and accepting that not everyone will understand your vision are essential to entrepreneurship Connect with: Carlyn Loncaric LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlyn-loncaric-33012322/ Website: http://aquaeye.com/ Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ Website: https://aliceheiman.com/

October 20, 2026Episode 345 min

Why Persistence Matters: Melissa Faith Hart on Building eBodyGuard® and Betting on Her Mission

Building something new requires more than a great idea. Sometimes it requires years of perseverance before the market is ready to listen. In this episode, eBodyGuard® Founder and CEO Melissa Faith Hart shares the deeply personal journey behind building a personal safety technology designed to be the bridge between individuals, communities, victim advocates, first responders, law enforcement and the justice system when help is needed most. Melissa takes Alice inside the realities of leaving corporate America to become a founder, investing her own money, raising a family and spending years developing a technology designed to improve personal safety. She explains why listening to the people you serve became central to building eBodyGuard, how she learned to navigate complex public safety systems, and why persistence mattered throughout the journey. The conversation also goes beyond business. Melissa and Alice discuss the cognitiveload carried by female founders, accepting challenges, simplifying life during demanding seasons, and learning to recognize that doing your best doesn't mean doing everything on your own. Building and developing a trusted team is a critical step in the process. Melissa explains: ◼️ How a moment at a parking meter sparked the idea for eBodyGuard ◼️ Why she left corporate America to pursue this mission full time ◼️ How she used customer and survivor feedback to shape the technology ◼️How she listened and learned from diverse communities in order to be the bridge between them and keeping people safe wherever they are ◼️ How working with multiple law enforcement agencies and individuals helped her better understand the needs of public safety professionals ◼️How collaborating with various stakeholders, including victim advocates, judicial representatives, educators, and health care providers, shaped the way eBodyGuard developed to meet the safety needs of all individuals and communities ◼️ Why strong leadership and teamwork are crucial for streamlining operations and supporting an impactful mission ◼️ How patience and listening changed the way she leads as a CEO ◼️ What it took to keep going through years of challenges and uncertainty ◼️ How she balanced building a company with family responsibilities ◼️ Why founders need to forgive themselves for what they can't get done, while continuing to move forward ◼️ How simplifying her life helped her stay focused on the mission ◼️ Why celebrating what you accomplished can be more powerful than focusing on what remains undone Connect with: Melissa Faith Hart: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebodyguardllc/ Website: https://www.ebodyguard.org/ Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ Website: https://aliceheiman.com/

October 15, 2026Episode 214 min

Why Sales Feels So Hard: Alice Heiman on Mindset, Process, and Finding the Right Customers

Sales shouldn't be this hard. In this solo episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman breaks down why so many CEOs and sales teams are struggling to generate consistent revenue - and why working harder isn't necessarily the answer. Alice explains how outdated sales mindsets, the wrong metrics, mismatched team members, and processes built for yesterday's buyers can make selling far more difficult than it needs to be. Instead of measuring activity for activity's sake, leaders need to focus on meaningful customer connections and understand how today's buyers actually want to engage. She also walks through the importance of mapping the customer journey rather than simply mapping your sales process. By understanding what customers are doing before, during, and after interacting with your team, CEOs can build a sales approach that meets buyers where they actually are. Alice explains: ◼️ Why believing sales is hard can make selling harder across your organization ◼️ Why sales activity isn't the same thing as sales effectiveness ◼️ How to determine whether you have the right people on your sales team ◼️ Why your sales process needs to evolve as buyer behavior changes ◼️ How to map the customer journey instead of only mapping your sales process ◼️ Why email, phone, LinkedIn, and other channels work differently depending on your buyers ◼️ How targeting the wrong customers makes sales unnecessarily difficult ◼️ Why defining and continually refining your ideal customer profile is essential ◼️ How the right target, methodology, team, and mindset can make sales easier Connect with Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ Website: https://aliceheiman.com/

October 6, 2026Episode 143 min

Building Without a Plan B: Tamar Gill on Bootstrapping, Better Data, and People-First Growth

Building a company without outside funding requires more than a great idea. It requires resilience, focus, and knowing exactly what you refuse to compromise. In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman sits down with Tamar Gill, Founder and CEO of eCore Services, to explore her journey from practicing law in the Republic of Georgia to building a 150-person, fully remote B2B data company. Tamar shares how becoming a mother reshaped her career, why an unexpected remote job introduced her to the world of data, and how she eventually took the leap into entrepreneurship during COVID. Rather than pursue venture capital, Tamar chose to bootstrap eCore, protecting the people-first values at the heart of the company while learning how to grow through referrals, delegation, and disciplined financial decisions. The conversation also explores a growing challenge for sales and go-to-market leaders: bad CRM data. Tamar explains why organizations need reliable data before layering AI and automation on top of their systems - and how poor data can quietly drain sales productivity. Tamar explains: ◼️ How she rebuilt her career after moving from the Republic of Georgia to the US ◼️ Why remote work became the foundation for the company she would eventually build ◼️ How she landed her first client and grew through relationships and referrals ◼️ Why she chose to bootstrap eCore instead of pursuing outside funding ◼️ How she built a fully remote team of 150 people while keeping people at the center ◼️ Why founders need to learn how to delegate instead of trying to do everything themselves ◼️ Why unreliable CRM data creates hidden problems for sales teams ◼️ What CEOs need to understand before adding AI and automation to their go-to-market strategy ◼️ Why Tamar believes committing fully - and leaving no Plan - is critical when building a company Connect with: Tamar Gill: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamargill/ Website: https://ecoreservice.com/ Alice Heiman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ Website: https://aliceheiman.com/

September 2, 2026Episode 844 min

Why the Best Leaders Slow Down: Elatia Abate on Reinvention, Presence, and the Future of Leadership

Leading through uncertainty doesn't require moving faster, it requires thinking differently. In this episode, futurist and leadership strategist Elatia Abate shares practical frameworks to help female founder CEOs lead through rapid change without defaulting to outdated strategies. She explains why slowing down can become a competitive advantage, how to shift from past-anchored planning to future-led thinking, and why the quality of the questions leaders ask ultimately shapes the future they create. Drawing from nearly a decade of research into the future of work and leadership, Elatia offers a new perspective on strategy, decision-making, AI adoption, and embodied leadership, helping founders build businesses that are resilient, intentional, and prepared for what's next. Elatia explains: ◼️ Why leaving corporate leadership led her to an entirely different purpose ◼️ How one conference in 2016 changed the direction of her career ◼️ Why today's leaders need to slow down instead of constantly accelerating ◼️ The Think, Do, Be framework and how it changes decision-making ◼️ Why future-led thinking begins by asking different questions ◼️ How women leaders can create space for presence instead of constant busyness ◼️ What leaders should understand before introducing AI into their organizations ◼️ Why she believes the future belongs to leaders who trust themselves

August 26, 2026Episode 752 min

From Retail Shelves to Every Bathroom Stall: How Denielle Finkelstein and Thyme Sullivan Pivoted a Period Product Startup

Denielle Finkelstein and Thyme Sullivan are Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Unicorn in Every Stall. Before becoming entrepreneurs, Denielle spent more than 20 years in fashion leadership, including executive roles at Ann Taylor, Coach, Kate Spade, and Talbots, while Thyme built a 27-year career at Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé. Both were the primary breadwinners for their families when they made the decision to leave corporate life and pursue something entirely new. Their journey began with a Facebook message between two cousins who hadn't seen each other in more than 30 years. What started as a conversation about cleaner period products quickly became a shared mission to build a company together. Although their backgrounds were different, they discovered their skills complemented one another, and within weeks they were working side by side. Throughout the conversation, Denielle and Thyme reflect on what it really means to become a founder later in life. They discuss walking away from successful careers, building a business while raising children, leaning on supportive spouses, and creating a company that reflected the life they wanted to live rather than repeating the burnout they had experienced in corporate leadership. They explain why they committed to putting themselves first, their families second, and the business third—and how that promise helped sustain them through the inevitable highs and lows of startup life. The episode also explores the difficult decisions that shaped their company. They share how listening closely to customers led them to rethink their original business model, why they chose to leave retail behind despite having momentum, and how they navigated fundraising while preserving the flexibility to build the company on their own terms. Rather than chasing certainty, they learned to trust their instincts, embrace change, and give themselves permission to make mistakes along the way. More than anything, this is a conversation about the founder journey. Denielle and Thyme offer an honest look at entrepreneurship as a second chapter—one built on courage, partnership, patience, and the willingness to keep moving forward even when the path isn't obvious. Denielle and Thyme explain: ◼ Why they left successful corporate careers to become founders later in life ◼ How reconnecting after more than 30 years led to an unexpected co-founder partnership ◼ What they learned about building a company while raising families and supporting one another through startup life ◼ Why they believe taking care of yourself first, your family second, and your business third creates a stronger foundation for leadership ◼ How listening to customers gave them the confidence to completely rethink their business ◼ What fundraising taught them about resilience, patience, and finding the right partners ◼ Why having a trusted co-founder helped them navigate uncertainty and make difficult decisions ◼ Their advice for founders on embracing risk, building a strong network, and trusting the journey over the destination

August 19, 2026Episode 637 min

How Lauren Goodell Grew Sales by Leading with Humanity, Resilience, and AI

"Nobody knows what the heck they're doing. It's the people willing to go out there and do it that are gonna be successful." Lauren Goodell left a successful sales career to launch a startup while caring for both parents through serious health challenges and managing her own chronic illness. She shares lessons on resilience, leadership, customer discovery, and building a sustainable company. • Left corporate sales and took a pay cut while navigating her mother's stage-four cancer diagnosis, her father's Parkinson's diagnosis, and her own chronic illness • Conducted 300+ customer discovery conversations before building the product, using those conversations to identify design partners and ultimately pivot the company toward a stronger opportunity • Learned through repeated cycles of burnout that leadership requires boundaries, vulnerability, and clear communication with investors, teammates, and the people who support you Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Follow Sales Talk for CEOs so you never miss an episode.

August 12, 2026Episode 554 min

A Better Way to Sell: Becc Holland on Conviction, Curiosity, and Leading With Care

Most sales organizations are training sellers to do the wrong job. In this episode, sales expert Becc Holland joins Alice Heiman to challenge some of the biggest assumptions in modern selling, from what qualifies as a lead to why buyers ignore outreach and what CEOs can do to build sales teams buyers actually want to talk to. Becc argues that today's buyers are not looking for another product pitch. They are looking for expertise. She explains why sellers should spend less time mastering objection handling and more time understanding the people they serve, why CEOs should prioritize buyer knowledge throughout onboarding, and how helping buyers uncover problems they do not yet recognize creates stronger conversations and better outcomes for everyone involved. Together, Alice and Becc explore what it means to make sales easier by replacing pressure with curiosity, focusing on diagnosis instead of persuasion, and equipping sellers to create value before they ever talk about a product. Becc explains: ◼️ Why CEOs should teach sellers to understand buyers before teaching products ◼️ How learning a buyer's world becomes an act of care ◼️ Why diagnosing problems creates better outcomes than pitching solutions ◼️ What founders can do to build sales cultures rooted in curiosity instead of pressure ◼️ Why buyers are looking for expertise rather than another sales pitch ◼️ How helping people make better decisions creates stronger businesses for everyone