Joey Gilkey, CEO of TitanX, joins the show to tear down one of the most sacred ideas in go-to-market: that more activity equals more revenue.

Joey argues that most sales teams aren’t failing because reps aren’t working hard enough. They’re failing because the system they’re operating inside is broken. Cold calling still works, but only if you stop treating every prospect the same. Most people will never answer the phone, and pretending otherwise destroys rep productivity, forecasting, and morale. By identifying who is actually reachable before a call is made, teams can radically change the economics of outbound.

The conversation covers why SDR teams should be treated like a signal engine, not a meeting factory, and why founders keep defaulting to headcount when efficiency is the real constraint. By the end of the conversation, it’s hard to look at SDRs, outbound, or ‘activity metrics’ the same way again.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage

05:05 Understanding Titan X's Value Proposition

10:29 The Shift in Sales Strategies

17:14 Redefining Sales Development as an Ad Channel

20:15 The Importance of Messaging and Targeting

21:21 Understanding Messaging by Persona

24:41 The Importance of Follow-Up and Data

27:49 Dispositions and Their Impact on Sales

30:46 Data Aggregation and Coordination Drag

34:22 The Reach Rate and Cold Calling Strategy

39:18 Identifying Skill Gaps and Data Quality

40:05 Customer Success and Operationalizing Sales

43:01 The Challenges of Product-Led Growth

References in the Show:

https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2025/12/18/cmos-on-overhyped-marketing-trends-in-2025

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-cmos-comeback-aligning-the-c-suite-to-drive-customer-centric-growth

Quote of the Show:

"An ad doesn't give us feedback. An email doesn't give us feedback. It's why I love the phone. It's just conversational advertising. If we can activate an audience, not even around conversions and appointments and meetings, and instead we can uncover interest and intrigue and intent, the three I's, and we can take that intel, that could be the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the go-to-market cell, which is, I'm on the front lines getting information that no one else has from my SDRs.” - Joey Gilkey

Ways to Tune In:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpM8myxsUinc5bfLIbjJz?si=0af576adfb8e49f8
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cheat-code/id1692445190
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/cb0b3afa-063f-4f3b-96be-b98214c74912
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CheatCodePodcast

Mike Huffaker, CRO, Planet DDS, joins the show to share what actually drives real growth in a vertical SaaS market where “going broad” is the default trap.

Mike explains why narrowing to a true ideal customer profile can feel terrifying, but becomes a growth cheat code once you commit: higher win rates, higher ASPs, clearer messaging, and less competitive deal cycles. He also gets candid about the part most teams underestimate after they move upmarket: implementation. In Mike’s dental niche, going live means data conversion, workflow change, training across roles, and real internal leadership from the customer side.

If you can’t deliver outcomes post-sale… none of the bookings matter.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Growth Strategies

02:56 Targeting Ideal Customer Profiles

05:51 Internal Buy-In for Market Focus

09:12 Team Structure and Talent Acquisition

11:59 Implementation Challenges and Customer Success

14:58 The Role of AI in Implementation

18:13 Revenue Growth and Account Management

20:56 Navigating Complex Sales Processes

23:59 Hiring for Success in Enterprise Sales

26:50 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

References in the Show:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jodiecook/2025/08/08/5-chatgpt-prompts-to-define-your-ideal-customer-profile/

https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/how-defining-my-ideal-client-profile-transformed-my-business/498064

https://martech.org/the-biggest-ideal-customer-profile-mistakes-businesses-make-and-how-to-fix-them/

Quote of the Show:

"We did a lot of modeling on what we were generating from an MQL perspective, what we expected we could do from an outbound motion as well. And we got everyone pretty comfortable with it. And it's turned out to be something where the team now appreciates not having to work through. I guess, for lack of a better term, things that just keep you busy that don't really drive results.” - Mike Huffaker

Ways to Tune In:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpM8myxsUinc5bfLIbjJz?si=0af576adfb8e49f8
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cheat-code/id1692445190
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/cb0b3afa-063f-4f3b-96be-b98214c74912
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CheatCodePodcast

Hiring marketing talent is one of the biggest blind spots for early-stage founders, and Jessica Gilmartin has seen the same mistakes play out over and over again.

In this episode, Jessica (former CMO/CRO at Calendly) shares why “marketing” is actually multiple jobs, how to decide whether you need demand gen, product marketing, or brand, and why most founders hire the right person for the wrong stage. She shares real frameworks for setting clear expectations, building trust through communication, and avoiding the toxic ripple effects of a bad hire.

The conversation also covers what the best early marketing leaders have in common (including the underrated value of entrepreneurial experience), why duct-tape marketing eventually collapses at scale, and why marketing needs a real seat at the executive table… not tucked under sales.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Background

02:53 The Challenge of Hiring Marketing Talent

04:04 Understanding Marketing Roles

05:44 Evaluating Marketing Needs

07:40 The Importance of Experience in Marketing

10:48 Hiring for the Right Stage

12:55 Setting Expectations and Goals

22:29 Red Flags in Hiring

24:46 Communication and Trust in Marketing

30:09 The Distinction Between CMO and CRO

34:12 The Importance of Marketing at the Executive Table

References in the Show:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/the-5-mistakes-that-kill-startups/499868

https://hbr.org/podcast/2024/10/why-founders-need-to-focus-more-on-sales-and-marketing

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/12-most-common-mistakes-made-building-your-first-sales-lemkin-ucw7c/

Quote of the Show:

"I've never been sad that I have fired too early. I've only been upset with myself if I have fired too late. I think a bad hire or a bad employee is absolutely toxic to everybody else in the organization.” - Jessica Gilmartin

Ways to Tune In:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpM8myxsUinc5bfLIbjJz?si=0af576adfb8e49f8
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cheat-code/id1692445190
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/cb0b3afa-063f-4f3b-96be-b98214c74912
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CheatCodePodcast