The Sales and Marketing Management Podcast

Hosted by Paul Nolan

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Latest episode

Mar 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Sales & Marketing Management podcast episodes are designed to provide insights on trends and strategies on a broad range of B2B sales and marketing topics. We do this through discussions with thought leaders, researchers and practitioners. Topics include sales and marketing technology, training, incentive programs, recognition and offsite meetings.

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26 recent

March 6, 202635 min

Performance Appraisals for Dummies With Ken Lloyd

In this episode, we talk with Ken Lloyd, author of "Performance Appraisals & Phrases for Dummies." The book has been revised for a workforce that is vastly different than when it was first published in 2009.In most workplaces through the decades, annual performance reviews have been something that evokes more groans than grins.However, today's younger workers actually embrace performance reviews when they are structured well and serve a purpose - that purpose being to provide a framework for continued growth.Lloyd explains why performance reviews must be more frequent than annual, and why they cannot be viewed as a culmination of a process, but rather an ongoing means of helping workers grow in their roles.His website is JerksAtWork.com, the subject of a colum he formerly published for more than 20 years in numerous newspapers.

November 5, 202514 min

Two Bots Talking About a New Era of Incentive Travel

For decades, corporate group travel for recognition purposes was almost exclusively for top-selling sales reps. The President's Club model had straightforward qualifying metrics and an easily measured ROI: "Did we bring in more revenue?"C-suite executives who make the decisions about incentive travel programs these days are broadening their campaigns' scope, with an understanding that everyone contributes to revenue growth. The qualifying goals include softer metrics, and the programs themselves must be more than a round of golf and a gala dinner at a beach resort.Our feature story on the new era of incentive travel has been turned into an audio discussion using Google's AI-driven NotebookLM software.

August 20, 202544 min

How To Get Corporate Gifting Right

Corporate gifts are a critical component of companies' employee engagement strategy and customer loyalty efforts. Some use corporate gifts to build stronger relationships with channel partners.It's a $300 billion industry in the U.S. alone. But Tom Romine, founder of Cultivate, a corporate gifting services provider, said many companies continue to make mistakes in gifting that have been made for decades.For starters, enough with the branded swag. That may have a place in your marketing strategy, but not as gifts. And measuring a return on investment? Romine says getting hung up on ROI distracts companies from the real value of corporate gifting.

June 24, 202541 min

Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Presales

Art Fromm started as an engineer and implementer of software applications before he became a sales professional and sales manager. Building on that experience, for the past 25 years he been in sales enablement roles, including starting his own company, Team Sales Development, in 2009, helping clients increase win rate, margins, revenues and client satisfaction. He helps presales and sales teams establish value and sell complex solutions from software to IT to telecoms to supply chain.In this episode, he discusses his SEAMless Sales process, which aligns pre-sales personnel with sales teams by breaking down silos, establishing clear communication, and focusing relentlessly on client success from the first interaction.The future of B2B sales is one that is coordinated, client-centric and driven by teamwork. If your sales and pre-sales teams aren’t aligned, you’re leaving revenue on the table.Fromm is presenting a complimentary one-hour webinar on his SEAMless Sales process for Sales & Marketing Management's webinar division, SMM Connect. The webinar is scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern on July 10. Learn more and register to attend here.

June 10, 202520 min

Two Bots Talking About Value Perception of Non-Cash Rewards

What level of spending is required to get employees excited about a non-cash recognition offer? The Incentive Research Foundation conducted extensive surveys to find out.It turns out effective reward values are dependent on multiple factors, including employee role and salary. And reward value isn't the only determinant of success with a recognition program.We Used Google NotebookLM to have our favorite two bots talk about the interesting findings from this research.

May 20, 202517 min

Two Bots Talking about Creating a Workplace Culture of Authentic Recognition

We used Google's AI-driven NotebookLM to create this conversation about the importance of recognition in the workplace and how it's only impactful if a company first establishes an environment in which employees feel they matter.Rewards beyond a paycheck or cash bonus are essential to increasing employee engagement. However, missteps in such an endeavor can be worse than doing nothing at all.

April 28, 202542 min

Where Do You Want to Go Today? Tales from an Incentive Travel Planner

Marc Matthews makes memories for a living. The founder and CEO of Pulse Experiential Travel creates incentive travel experiences for reward recipients - as few as one or as many as several hundred.There's almost no event Matthews can't gain entree to. Did you know you can reward your star performers by getting them into Elton John's Oscars viewing party?In this episode, Matthews shares how he created his career of more than 40 years almost by accident. He provides insights on incentive travel trends, and you'll learn what his favorite experiences have been. (One involves yacht parties and fast cars.)

April 14, 202535 min

It's Not Your Leaders, It's Your Team

"Always remember," states James Chitwood in his book Leadership Is Not Enough, "the adage says when things go wrong, it's because of the leader, but when things go right, it's usually because of the team."In this podcast conversation, Chitwood explains why a true performance culture continues to do what it does whether or not the leader is there.Chitwood, a former Army infantryman and an accomplished turnaround consultant, says companies continue to overinvest in leaders, even though their tenure is usually short relatively speaking.You'll also learn more about the four pillars of his TRAC model for creating a performance culture - Training, Recognition, Accountability and Communication.Our conversation with Chitwood is the culmination of a series of podcast discussions about developing leaders, all completed for our Focus Report on leadership.

April 1, 202528 min

Become the Manager You Want To Be (and Others Need)

Sabina Nawaz is a former Microsoft manager who advises C-level executives and leaders at Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, nonprofits and academic institutions.Her new (and first) book is titled, "You're the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need)." It's an executive coach in book form.In this podcast episode, we discuss some of the key points from the book, including common traps for new managers; how to deal with power gaps between managers and their team members; and getting honest feedback from the people you manage.

March 19, 202518 min

Two Bots Talking About Donald Trump's Leadership Style

We used NotebookLM, an AI-powered collaboration tool that creates audio summaries, to cull the highlights of our Focus Report feature on the leadership style of Donald Trump.Don’t want to wade through the 3,300-word article? This 18-minute podcast-style conversation between two bots covers the most important points.