The B2B Playbook

Hosted by Kevin Chen & George Coudounaris

Business Entrepreneurship Education

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266

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Oct 2026

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About the show

The B2B Playbook is a B2B marketing podcast for founders and small marketing teams who want marketing that turns into revenue. Every week George Coudounaris and Kevin Chen break down paid media and LinkedIn Ads, content, SEO, demand generation and sales and marketing alignment - what's working now, what isn't, and how to fix it without a huge team or budget. You'll hear our own frameworks - the 5 BEs and Closed Circuit Selling - plus operators like Aaron Ross (Predictable Revenue), Anthony Pierri and Asana's Matt Maynard. 240+ episodes in, with new ones every week. Want help putting it into practice? B2B marketing and LinkedIn Ads agency: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-agency The B2B Incubator: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school Closed Circuit Selling (the book): https://theb2bplaybook.com/closed-circuit-selling Weekly newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter

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October 25, 20261 hr 1 min

#251: The New Way to Do Outbound in 2026 - Morgan J Ingram

AI made outbound easy to automate - so the reps who win now are the ones buyers actually trust. In this episode, we're joined by Morgan J Ingram, who went from one of the lowest-performing SDRs at Terminus to training more than 50,000 B2B sellers, and now runs AMP Social. George Coudounaris and Adem Manderovic dig into what outbound is really for when anyone can send a thousand messages, and what to do with the prospects who aren't buying today. Morgan shares the 30-second cold call that turned his career around, why AI is a mirror that only amplifies what you already know, and why he thinks the best sellers are heading back to the field - events, in-person meetings and old-school "street reach". Tune in and learn: The 3 traits every great rep needs: magnetic, intuitive and consistent Why meetings-booked targets stop reps asking the questions that matter 3 ways to turn sales conversations into marketing and product insight Why SDR-to-AE conversion is the metric sales leaders should be watching How to move buyers from digital, to in person, to text If you lead a sales or SDR team and your outbound is getting louder but not landing, listen to this before your next pipeline review. ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🧠 Revenue leader, CRO or founder? CRO School installs Revenue Alignment Architecture across Sales, Marketing and Customer Success: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 👤 Follow Morgan J Ingram on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganjingramamp/ ----------------------------------------------------- WATCH on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnOjjyRqCiA SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter/ GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome to The B2B Playbook 00:35 Would you take a demo from an AI seller? 01:25 Meet Morgan J Ingram: from struggling SDR to 50,000 sellers trained 04:12 Why Morgan never wanted to be in sales 07:23 The 30-second cold call that changed everything 10:13 How new SDRs learn the buyer's world fast 13:56 AI is a mirror: zero times a thousand is still zero 16:19 The 3 traits of great sellers: magnetic, intuitive, consistent 18:48 Why trust is the most valuable currency in sales 20:28 Sell like a doctor: what being intuitive really means 21:48 Do meetings-booked targets kill good discovery? 26:26 The SDR-to-AE metric most sales leaders ignore 28:50 3 ways to feed sales insights back to marketing 32:17 Getting buyer feedback to product and customer success 36:08 Gen Z, loneliness and the drop in critical thinking 39:48 Dead internet theory and what it means for sellers 43:22 Why elevating trust is the only daily goal that matters 45:50 Digital, then in person, then text: the new outbound path 46:53 Will buyers start choosing local vendors? 48:02 The rise of the field SDR 49:51 Street reach and deal boxes: old-school tactics coming back 53:27 Do we still need the SDR and AE split? 55:19 What cutting a whole SDR team really costs 57:31 Morgan's final advice: have fun selling The New Way to Do Outbound in 2026 - The B2B Playbook

October 18, 202634 min

#250: How to Master LinkedIn Ads Frequency Caps (Step-by-Step)

In this video, I chat with Kevin about LinkedIn ads frequency caps, and why the native member level caps won't stop a handful of big companies from eating your whole budget. We cover: How many impressions it actually takes to be remembered, the limits of LinkedIn's native frequency caps, and how to build company level caps with dynamic exclusion audiences. If you are running LinkedIn ads and your budget keeps going to the same few accounts, this one's for you. Tune in and learn: Two quick diagnostics to spot a frequency problem, why 7 day audiences beat 30 day ones, a hack for the engagement objective, and how to make sure you're actually reaching the decision makers. ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:23 The Five B's framework refresher 2:56 Why LinkedIn frequency caps matter right now 8:51 How many impressions does it take to be remembered? 10:23 The ideal frequency range 11:37 LinkedIn's native frequency caps and their limits 13:38 Diagnostic: do you have a frequency problem? 15:46 How to build a company level frequency cap 18:36 Why 7 day audiences beat 30 day audiences 21:10 Adapting your thresholds to your ICP 23:18 A frequency hack for the engagement objective 25:04 When to hand engaged accounts to sales 26:22 Diagnostic: check impressions by job title 27:37 Tools like Fibbler and Factors AI 29:30 Outro How to Stop Big Companies Eating Your LinkedIn Ads Budget - The B2B Playbook

October 11, 202639 min

#249: How to Build a Feedback Loop Between B2B Sales, Marketing, and CS

In this video, I chat with Kevin about why your weekly sales and marketing sync isn't enough on its own, and how to turn it into a real feedback loop. We cover: Closed feedback loops, which signals sales, marketing and customer success should be sharing, using AI note takers without losing the human touch, and why MQL volume and closed revenue alone are the wrong incentives. If you are a B2B marketer stuck in sync meetings that feel like a to do list read out loud, this one's for you. Tune in and learn: How to swap status updates for insights that actually change your go to market motion, why closed lost deals deserve as much attention as wins, and how a blended scorecard gets every team working toward the same pipeline. ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:44 The Five B's framework refresher 3:46 Turning your sync meeting into a feedback loop 4:46 Why sales and marketing alignment matters more now 9:12 Why sync meetings turn into to do lists 10:39 Swap updates for dashboards and closed loops 14:42 Does marketing need to prove its value to sales? 18:02 Closing the loop with customer success and closed lost deals 19:31 What info should flow between sales, marketing and CS 22:46 Getting aligned on ICP and key accounts 24:21 Using AI note takers without losing the human touch 25:29 Tip: ask AI for direct quotes with timestamps 26:27 Tip: use templates and cap your action points 27:27 How measurement and incentives break alignment 32:49 Do SLAs between teams actually help? 33:27 One dashboard with clear owners 35:19 Outro Why Your Sales and Marketing Alignment Meeting Isn't Working - The B2B Playbook

October 4, 202627 min

#248: Stop Using B2B Lead Scoring. Do THIS Instead.

In this video, I break down why lead scoring falls short in B2B and what to do instead. We get into cataloging the market, buying committees, ICP fit and timing, and how to use scoring as an overlay. We cover: → Why lead scoring answers a much narrower question than most teams think → How individual contact scores miss the whole buying committee → Why engagement looks like intent when the real blocker is timing → What cataloging the market is and how to run it → How to use a simple score as an overlay, not the operating model If you are a B2B marketer or revenue leader who is tired of passing "hot leads" to sales that go nowhere. Tune in and learn: → The data you actually need before a scoring model means anything → The questions that surface vendor, contract renewal and circle back permission → How to build one shared account map for marketing and sales → Where SDRs fit into the cataloging motion → How to feed sales and CS feedback back into your scoring over time ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 📈 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro and why lead scoring breaks 0:46 Today's topic: does lead scoring actually work 1:15 George heads to Greece for a family wedding 2:06 Live translation in an incubator consultation 3:17 The 5 P's framework explained 4:29 What we're covering this episode 4:54 B2B buying is account based and committee led 6:15 Lead scoring answers a very narrow question 8:28 Why lead scoring breaks and splits sales and marketing 9:49 Do you even have enough data to score leads 11:15 The B2B Incubator 12:06 What you should actually do with lead scoring data 13:12 What cataloging the market means 14:29 Building the account view: intent, timing, blockers 16:06 Use scoring as an overlay, not the operating model 18:06 Review false positives and missed opportunities 18:47 Our demand generation agency 19:26 Working backwards from closed won deals 20:32 One to one conversations and the SDR role 21:55 Key takeaways

September 28, 20261 hr 2 min

#247: How This Unknown Startup Landed Enterprise Whales (B2B Marketing & Sales Secrets)

In this video, I sit down with David Fastuca, the founder who built Locomotive, sold it to Travelport, bought it back, then sold it again to Webjet. We cover: Landing big-name enterprise customers like ANZ, World Vision and JB Hi-Fi as an unknown startup, why founders should build for real problems instead of shoehorning solutions into a market, and how to get honest åççcustomer feedback by taking yourself out of the room. If you are a B2B founder trying to break into enterprise sales, nail your ICP, or build a product people actually stick with, this one's for you. Tune in and learn: How David went from complete travel-industry noobs to winning major enterprise deals, why he builds minimal lovable products and iterates fast, and how he uses analytics and third-party interviews to uncover what customers really think. ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Building for a real problem, not chasing one 7:17 Landing enterprise whales as an unknown startup 14:37 Scrappy growth: content, PR, podcasts and referrals 20:15 Making marketing serve sales and stickiness 26:07 Staying close to the customer to build a better product 32:15 Hiring, phone calls and AI in modern selling 41:29 Niching down vs. creating a new category 50:30 What Ricochet does and why it exists 58:12 Wrap-up and the Grow Forum community

September 20, 202654 min

#246: How to Build a B2B Community of 100k Members From Scratch

In this video, I sit down with Jared Robin, the founder of revgenius, to unpack how he built a 100,000-plus member community by staying obsessively close to his market and betting on relationships over platforms. We cover: His messy road from FedEx sales rep to running a fashion magazine to launching revgenius during Covid, plus why he thinks audiences are now table stakes for real power. If you are trying to build a community, grow an audience, or run go-to-market the human way instead of blasting spam-filled outbound, this one's for you. Tune in and learn: How giving away real value at scale, doing things a little differently, and treating market feedback as a live loop can quietly compound into something way bigger than a transaction. ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Follow Jared on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredrobin ----------------------------------------------------- CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 00:42 Welcome and guest introduction 02:29 From FedEx to fashion: Jared's early career 03:56 Building the fashion magazine on zero budget 09:49 Losing his job in Covid and starting on LinkedIn 11:05 The DM group that became revgenius 13:22 Direct market feedback and building relationships 15:32 Relationship selling lessons from FedEx 19:14 Long-term horizons vs short-term sales metrics 22:01 How the market misread Predictable Revenue 24:43 Ad break: B2B demand generation agency 25:20 New reps, SDR roles, and lost resilience 29:36 First principles and closed circuit selling 31:16 Bringing fundamentals back to revgenius 34:33 The goal: community media over another Pavilion 38:19 Ad break: B2B incubator course 39:31 Why Jared became a marketer 43:56 One-to-one marketing and the dream list play 46:13 Live market reports and the new media project 49:49 Closing thoughts on people-driven business 51:12 Wrap-up and outro

September 6, 202621 min

#245: How to Scale Your B2B Marketing without a Huge Team (Be The Best - Stage 5 of the 5 BEs Framework)

In this video, Kevin and I wrap up our 5Bs go-to-market framework with Be The Best, covering how to scale what's working without a bigger team by turning your wins into documented, repeatable systems and playbooks. We cover: → Why growth does not have to mean headcount growth, especially with AI in the mix → How documented workflows and standard operating procedures save you time and remove guesswork → Why consistency in voice, tone, and quality is what builds trust in the market → Building lightweight playbooks anyone can follow for content, distribution, and repurposing → Operationalizing systems across sales, customer success, and product, not just marketing → Mapping content to the five stages of awareness on a regular cadence → When to double down versus pivot using your leading and lagging indicators If you are a lean B2B team trying to scale demand generation without adding headcount, this episode is for you. Tune in and learn: → How to turn your team's wins and workflows into repeatable assets → Why simple systems can live in a spreadsheet before you ever need expensive tools → How to build feedback loops between marketing, sales, and customer success → Why you should use quarterly reviews to check alignment and adapt → How to go from random acts of marketing to compounding growth driven by relentless execution ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro and the Be The Best framework 1:00 Scaling without a bigger team 1:55 Documenting workflows and playbooks 4:10 Building consistency to earn trust 6:15 Operationalizing across go-to-market teams 7:45 Lightweight content playbooks 9:45 Mapping content to the five stages of awareness 11:45 Simple systems and not letting tools drive them 13:00 When to double down vs pivot 13:55 Using quarterly reviews to stay aligned 15:55 Key takeaways and recap S08 E245 - The B2B Playbook #b2b #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #gotomarket #b2bsaas #marketingstrategy #icp #contentmarketing #revenuegrowth

August 30, 202620 min

#244: How to Optimise and Measure your B2B Marketing (Be Better - Stage 4 of the 5 BEs Framework)

In this video, Kevin and I break down Be Better, the fourth step of our 5Bs go-to-market framework, covering why the MQL is broken, how to measure what actually matters with leading and lagging metrics, and how to build marketing's credibility inside your business. We cover: → Why the MQL is outdated and how chasing it misaligns sales and marketing → The lagging metrics that show real outcomes: pipeline influence, revenue, deal velocity → The leading metrics that signal you are moving in the right direction → Why attribution is helpful but should never be treated as gospel → The "how did you hear about us" trick for uncovering dark social and hidden content impact → How to build marketing's credibility internally by tying activity to business goals → What good reporting for leadership actually looks like If you are a B2B marketer stuck chasing MQLs and struggling to prove your impact to leadership, this episode is for you. Tune in and learn: → Why quality engagement beats arbitrary lead scores and lead volume → How to align leading and lagging metrics to your funnel and stage of growth → Why you should be data informed, not just data driven → How to get leadership to change their beliefs using real customer stories → How to become a strategic advisor internally, not just the person dumping data into a report ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen... 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-a... ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: / @theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro and the Be Better framework 0:50 What Be Better focuses on 1:35 The death of the MQL 3:40 Leading vs lagging metrics 6:20 Qualitative signals from your sales team 7:00 Avoiding the attribution trap 9:00 Be data informed, not data driven 10:30 Building marketing credibility internally 12:45 Getting leadership buy-in 14:20 What good reporting for leadership looks like 15:55 Key takeaways and recap S08 E244 - The B2B Playbook #b2b #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #gotomarket #b2bsaas #marketingstrategy #icp #contentmarketing #revenuegrowth

August 23, 202617 min

#243: Everything we learnt from 24hrs at a top B2B Marketing Summit (Generate Summit 2026)

In this video, I hit the floor at the Generate B2B conference grabbing quick hot takes from LinkedIn, SEO, CRM and ABM folks on what's actually worth the money, then Kevin and I break down the sessions we loved ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-generation-course 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-ads-agency ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/

August 16, 202618 min

#242: How to Build a B2B Content Distribution Strategy in 2026/27 (Be Seen - Stage 3 of the 5 BEs Framework)

In this video, Kevin and I break down Be Seen, the third step of our 5Bs go-to-market framework, and how to actually get your helpful B2B content in front of your dream customers using organic and paid distribution. We cover: → Why even the best content flops without a smart distribution plan → The "post and pray" mistake B2B teams make and how to think like a media company instead → Getting seen in an AI-driven world where traditional SEO is shifting → Organic vs paid distribution and when to use each → Using paid media to amplify your best content, not just push product ads → Category entry points and how to tie your brand to buying triggers → Mapping content to the five stages of awareness so you meet buyers where they are If you are a B2B marketer or founder creating great content that nobody sees, this episode is for you. Tune in and learn: → Why distribution is just as important as content creation → How to test organically and boost the winners with paid → How to extract content from busy subject matter experts on a regular cadence → How to find your category entry points through customer interviews → How to run a simple, repeatable distribution rhythm even with a small team ----------------------------------------------------- 🔗 Links + CTAs ----------------------------------------------------- 🎓 Join our Demand Generation Program: https://theb2bplaybook.com/demand-gen... 🧠 Learn how to drive revenue across your organisation with CRO School: https://theb2bplaybook.com/cro-school 💼 Need help running your own LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads? https://theb2bplaybook.com/linkedin-a... ----------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE to our channel: / @theb2bplaybook SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter: https://theb2bplaybook.com/newsletter GET the latest CONTENT: https://theb2bplaybook.com/ ----------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro and the Be Seen framework 0:45 Why great content flops without distribution 2:50 Getting seen in an AI-driven world 3:20 Organic vs paid distribution 5:35 Using paid to amplify your best content 6:00 Extracting content from subject matter experts 7:45 Category entry points explained 9:55 Finding entry points through customer interviews 10:40 The rhythm of distribution 11:10 The five stages of awareness framework 13:20 Setting a consistent distribution cadence 14:45 Key takeaways and recap S08 E242 - The B2B Playbook #b2b #b2bmarketing #demandgeneration #demandgen #gotomarket #b2bsaas #marketingstrategy #icp #contentmarketing #revenuegrowth

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