The future of sales in the age of AI
How artificial intelligence and machine learning are changing the work, and which skills a modern sales practitioner actually needs to survive it.
Book now
Media kit
Robert Herbst
Sales force development expert, author, and creator of SpireSelling. Thirty-four years turning traditional sales teams into people who can actually solve a complex problem.
Four to ten times sales growth,
for companies you have heard of
Rob Herbst is founder and president of Progressive Achievement Associates Ltd., where he has driven growth for over 34 years. As the creator of SpireSelling he specializes in turning traditional sales teams into high-performing practitioners built for how business actually works now.
He has a track record of achieving four to ten times sales growth for Cargill, Pattison Agriculture, DuPont, Corteva, and HJ Heinz, and has guided hundreds of sales professionals from entry level to executive leadership.
He is the author of two books, Cheating Death and Spire Sales Culture: Your Guide to Developing a Thriving B2B Sales Force. Both address the same shift, from transactional selling to complex problem-solving and real relationship building.
Perfect for
Sales podcasts, business leadership shows, career development programs, and industry conferences focused on the future of B2B sales.
Books
Cheating Death, and Spire Sales Culture: Your Guide to Developing a Thriving B2B Sales Force.
Four topics, aimed at people
who own a number
From salesperson to sales practitioner
The evolution from a transactional role into a practitioner position built on relational skill and complex problem-solving, and why the distinction is not semantics.
Building thriving B2B sales forces
Strategies for developing high-performing teams, drawn from decades of producing exponential growth across very different industries.
Mindset management for sales success
Why managing mindset matters more than ever for sustaining a sales career that aligns with personal values instead of burning through them.
Who is failing and who is thriving?
Which sales professionals are struggling in the current market and which are doing well, and what separates them.
What is a sales practitioner?
The definition, and why the distinction from salesperson matters commercially rather than just as a title.
What is the cost of not developing your best people?
How much profit companies lose by failing to develop upper-end sales practitioners.
What does AI really mean for sales?
The actual implications of AI and machine learning for people who sell for a living, past the hype.
Will sales remain a meaningful profession?
Whether the job survives, and how it has to evolve if it does.
Why the adventurous mindset?
Why he considers it essential for a modern sales practitioner.
“Sales is the most honest place you can be.”
Robert Herbst
The changing role of sales managers
On the Real Sales Manager podcast with Steve Hoyle, Rob covered the evolving role of sales managers and the traits that separate the good ones: enjoying time with their salespeople, treating coaching as collaborative, building trust through real human interaction, and running a feedback culture that holds up after COVID.
Everything you need to book Robert
Contact
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Time zone
Mountain Time
Availability
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM MT
Microphone
Shure microphone with premium earbuds
Find Robert
SpireSelling, Progressive Achievement Associates, LinkedIn, YouTube
Topic tags
B2B sales, sales force development, sales leadership, AI in sales, sales culture, professional development, mindset.
Book Robert
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Mountain Time. All podcast booking handled through Heartcast Media.