Ep. 579 | Scaling without soul crushing: how teach-back, AI coaching and culture drive real sales performance

Sales teams have more training, more tools, and more AI than ever — yet execution in the field continues to break down.

In this episode of the OnBase podcast, Barry Flaherty and David Thomson explain why traditional sales training fails and how teach-back sales training and AI coaching help teams build real capability without burning out sales reps.

Drawing on decades of experience across enterprise sales, scale-ups, and behavioural science, they explore why information alone never creates transformation, how onboarding and ramp time can be fixed, and why AI should act as a coach, not a cop.

If you lead sales, enablement, or go-to-market teams, this episode delivers practical insight you can apply immediately.

What you'll learn:

• why most sales training doesn’t translate into performance

• how teach-back sales training improves retention and confidence

• the role of AI coaching in modern sales enablement

• how to reduce ramp time and onboarding failure

• how to scale sales teams without losing culture or empathy

About Barry Flaherty
Barry is a GTM and sales strategy Leader and Board advisor/member. He has 25 years of experience in Tech and Media that includes Enterprise Sales & Alliances in integration, cloud and automation. He is the Founder of All Good People and is now growing a portfolio of established Tech companies and scale up’s and capital raising.
Connect with Barry.

About David Thomson

Founder and CEO of Suada, David is dedicated to helping organisations unlock the full potential of their people through cutting-edge digital learning solutions. With over 25 years of experience in sales, technology, and business transformation, he lead Suada’s global mission to revolutionise online learning by incorporating the science of retention and persuasion.
Connect with David.