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When leadership says one thing and does another, employees feel it first — and your customers feel it next. In this episode of Sales & Marketing Playbook: Unleashed, Craig Andrews (Beholder Agency) and Evan Polin (Polin Performance Group) sit down with leadership coach Devi McFadden to talk about how leadership clarity and trust drive everything downstream, including sales and marketing.

Devi explains why mixed messages create "churn" that pulls teams away from the work customers pay for, why your employer brand is now public whether you like it or not, and why engagement surveys fail when nothing happens afterward. She shares how outside advisors earn the trust to tell leaders hard truths, the leading and lagging signs that a team is struggling, and a case study of a leader who got clear on her priorities and built a stronger team because of it.

Then all three define what "clear" means in marketing, sales and leadership, and get into AI: Devi's "good vs. good enough" test for when to use it, and why the human element still wins the sale.

⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:14

Welcome — Craig Andrews & Evan Polin 02:52

Meet Devi McFadden, leadership coach

04:22 When leadership's message doesn't match reality

05:00 Churn: the hidden cost of mixed messages

07:07 Your employer brand is public now

07:58 Why engagement surveys fail without follow-through

09:35 How outside advisors get through to leadership

10:54 Build trust: match what you say with what you do

12:42 Trust comes before the sale

14:19 Leading vs. lagging signs of a leadership problem

16:26 Case study: getting clear on priorities 18:24 What "clear" means in marketing, sales & leadership

21:26 Staying human in an AI world

22:37 AI: good vs. good enough

24:08 AI in sales: volume, not relationships

28:13 Devi's top tips for leaders

31:07 How to reach Devi McFadden

🔗 Resources & Connect

👤 Devi McFadden: https://www.kathydevimcfadden.com ·

Devi McFadden on LinkedIn

🌐 Show: https://www.smplaybookunleashed.com

💼 Beholder Agency (marketing): https://www.beholderagency.com

💼 Polin Performance Group (sales): https://www.polinpg.com

🎙️ Also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Amazon Music

#Leadership #LeadershipCoaching #SalesAndMarketing #EmployeeEngagement #B2BSales #B2BMarketing #SmallBusinessGrowth #AIinBusiness #SalesAndMarketingPlaybook

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We bring operations into the conversation with Jen Goldman and get honest about why great lead gen and great closing still fail when delivery is messy. We share practical ways to map roles, fix handoffs, and build a client experience that earns retention, referrals, and real growth.
• why sales, marketing, and operations must stay aligned to scale
• how misalignment creates “telephone game” messaging and client confusion
• backward engineering from service delivery to onboarding to sales to marketing
• common operational blind spots like people in the wrong seats
• responsibilities mapping to surface gaps and stop “nobody did it” problems
• the mindset required for change including openness and vulnerability
• operational KPIs that matter including meaningful touches and project completion
• why employee engagement connects to client retention and referrals

If any of you have heard anything on this show with our wonderful guest Jen, who you would like to assist us with, please like, share, and comment uh on all of our platforms.
If there are topics that you'd like us to cover, you agree, disagree, just let us know there.

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Most owners can feel when sales and marketing are out of sync — they just can't name why. In this episode, Craig Andrews (Beholder Agency) and Evan Polin (Polin Performance Group) lay out how to tell if your sales and marketing are truly aligned, and how to fix it when they're not.

They cover:

• Why alignment starts with a system and communication — not who's "right"
• "Random acts of marketing" and the finger-pointing trap
• The sales-dating-marriage analogy, and where your brand fits
• Ideal client profile (ICP): why closing the wrong deal costs more than losing it
• How to reverse-engineer your best client so your marketing promise attracts more of them
• Why closing is just the beginning of creating evangelists
• The Revenue Cookbook: a written plan that ties revenue goals to marketing
• Rabbits, deer, and elephants — getting your client mix right (and the one-client risk)
• WIIFM and perceived value — what actually turns a prospect into a client
• Six signs you're aligned: three from marketing, three from sales

🍳 Free 14-day trial of

The Revenue Cookbook: https://www.revenue-cookbook.com

🌐 https://www.smplaybookunleashed.com

Hosts:

Craig Andrews (https://www.beholderagency.com)

Evan Polin (https://www.polinpg.com)