#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
- (02:21) - – From engineering to B2B marketing
- (09:06) - – What is buyer enablement?
- (11:21) - – Why deals stall after vendor selection
- (13:36) - – The problem with sales decks
- (16:06) - – Why battle cards don’t work
- (18:21) - – Talya’s competitive positioning map
- (24:59) - – Grouping competitors by approach
- (27:29) - – Market maps for sales
- (29:29) - – Where to get the best insights
- (31:59) - – New formats for enablement
- (34:14) - – Why context matters
- (35:59) - – Empathy for your sales team
- (37:44) - – Closing thoughts on empathy
- (38:49) - – Where to find Talya online
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/
***
Brought to you by:
Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive.
Optimizely - An AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Get a free, personalized 45-minute AI workshop to help you identify the best AI use cases for your marketing team and map out where agents can save you time at optimizely.com/exitfive (PS - you'll get a FREE pair of Meta Ray Bans if you do).
Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
***
Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.
- They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
- Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.
- Visit hatch.fm to learn more