The AI Hat Podcast

Mike Allton

AI conversations for people doing the work. Your best people are brilliant, but they're buried. Research shows high-performing teams lose nearly 70% of the week to Admin Drag, the data entry, re-keying, and status updates that were never the actual job. You're paying for expert judgment and getting expensive busywork. The AI Hat Podcast is where practitioners, not futurists, talk about fixing that. Host Mike Allton, Director of Partner-Led Growth at Agorapulse and founder of The AI Hat, sits down with operators, revenue leaders, marketers, and industry specialists, from insurance agencies to sales floors, to name the drag and show how a governed Digital Crew of AI agents takes it back. The thread through every episode: redesign the work first, then deploy the AI. It's why most pilots fail, and what to do instead. In each episode, we break down: • The Agentic Shift — moving from AI that talks to AI that does the work. • Sanctioning the Shadow — turning ungoverned AI risk into governed advantage. • Redesign the Work First — why 95% of pilots stall, and the fix. Whether you sell, serve, or build, the drag is the same. Get the guide: Download The Executive Guide to Shadow AI at TheAIHat.com/shadow-ai Connect with Mike: linkedin.com/in/mikeallton

  1. Jul 12

    AI Belongs on Your Org Chart, Not Your Tech Stack

    Your best people are losing most of the week to work they were never hired to do - and the fix isn't another tool. In this solo episode, Mike Allton opens with a confession: there was a stretch of his career when a guest canceling on his own podcast felt like relief. Two of his shows died at exactly twelve episodes each, and between those funerals he changed everything - the tools, the format, the frequency, the topic - except the one variable that killed them both. That story turns out not to be a podcasting story at all. It's the same reason 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail: companies make a software purchase when the situation calls for a staffing decision. Nobody writes the role. Nobody defines what the AI is responsible for, who it reports to, or how anyone would know it's doing a good job. So Mike makes the argument he's building his entire business around: AI belongs on your org chart, not your tech stack. Not to replace the people you have - to finally staff the work no one was ever hired to do. You'll hear: - Why every business runs on two org charts - the official one, and the real one hiding in your team's calendars - The job description that took interview prep from two-plus hours to twenty minutes, and took the show past 120 episodes - The Apollo answer to "this is how the replacement starts" - Why an off-the-shelf AI employee is still a software purchase wearing a name tag - A ten-minute homework assignment: find the seat that's been empty the longest Read the full manifesto at theaihat.com: https://theaihat.com/ai-belongs-on-your-org-chart-not-your-tech-stack/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    AI Belongs on Your Org Chart, Not Your Tech Stack

  2. Jun 14

    Stop Losing $30K a Month Per Rep: The AI Sales Enablement Playbook with Vernon Ross

    If your top reps are stuck training new hires instead of closing deals, this AI sales enablement playbook will help. Enterprise seller Vernon Ross joins Mike Allton to show how to scale your best performers' knowledge without stealing their selling time, and why that "teaching jail" is quietly costing you around $30K a month per rep. Vernon has carried quota, closed enterprise deals, and built the AI training tools that make other sellers faster. Inside, he shares the one diagnostic question that finds your highest-ROI automation, why AI pilots die the moment they add friction instead of removing it, and how he uses NotebookLM, private podcasts, and voice cloning to cut top-rep onboarding from 30 hours down to 10. He and Mike also get tactical on where AI belongs inside a MEDDPICC deal, how to tie content consumption to real revenue, and the one automation any team can build this quarter without a six-figure budget. Vernon Ross drove 75 to 85% increases in new client acquisition at a 32% conversion rate, closed deals with Procter & Gamble, GE, and AT&T, and has generated over $500,000 in enterprise SaaS sales. As president of Vernon Ross Consulting and an enterprise podcaster, he now advises Fortune 1000 companies on AI-driven learning. The hard truth: you cannot clone your top performers. So you stay stuck in an endless loop of manual knowledge transfer while your competitors build AI-powered learning engines that run around the clock. This episode is how you break the loop. Still letting shadow AI run unmanaged on your sales floor? Download the free Executive Guide to Shadow AI at theaihat.com/shadow-ai. Chapters: 00:00 Top Rep Pain Points 00:59 Podcast Theme Intro 02:08 Show Mission Setup 03:15 Guest Vernon Ross 05:11 Sales Enablement Gap 07:34 AI Adoption That Sticks 10:58 AI Hosted Training Podcasts 13:46 NotebookLM And Voice Clones 16:28 MEDDPICC With AI 18:52 Onboarding Without Teaching Jail 21:25 Shadow AI Sponsor Break 22:33 Measuring Podcast ROI 28:38 Fast Time To Value 30:37 Compliance And Risk 33:48 First Automation To Build 36:34 Where To Find Vernon 37:18 Final Wrap Up Resources: Vernon Ross: linkedin.com/in/vernonross | vernonross.com | enterprisepodcaster.com | aiplanner.com Mentioned in this episode: Wondercraft.ai, Google NotebookLM, Wispr Flow, ZoomInfo, Apollo, HubSpot, Otter.ai, Claude Code, Gemini, Supporting Cast, MEDDPICC Connect with Mike Allton: linkedin.com/in/mikeallton | Newsletter theaihat.com/newsletter | Podcast theaihat.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Stop Losing $30K a Month Per Rep: The AI Sales Enablement Playbook with Vernon Ross

  3. May 19

    Map the Workflow Before You Buy the Tool

    Your revenue team doesn't have a tools problem. It has a process problem. Dan Knowlton, co-founder of UK-based Knowlton Marketing, joins Mike Allton for an honest, boots-on-the-ground conversation about what's actually working in AI implementation - and what isn't. No polished frameworks. No hype. Just real lessons from an agency owner who is figuring this out in real time while growing a business. In this episode, Dan shares how his team recently won a pitch with one of Europe's largest health and wellness brands - not because they were the most creative, but because AI caught every objection the prospect raised in the discovery call. Objections that would have been missed with manual notes. You'll learn how to stop chasing shiny AI tools and start asking the one question that separates useful technology from expensive distraction. Dan also breaks down how to identify which workflows should be handed to AI, where human experience is irreplaceable, and how to run a simple calendar audit that surfaces hours of recoverable time in your team's week. If your AI pilots keep stalling, this episode will show you why - and where to start instead. 🎁 Download the free Executive Guide to Shadow AI: https://theaihat.com/shadow-ai CHAPTERS: 00:00 Manual Sales Discovery 01:00 Podcast Theme Intro 02:31 Why AI Pilots Fail 03:46 Shiny Tool Syndrome 05:29 Problem First Approach 06:05 AI-Powered Pitching 07:24 Transcripts Close Deals 10:05 Where AI Shouldn't Pretend 13:59 Humans Plus AI Creativity 16:47 Overcoming Team Pushback 19:42 Shadow AI Governance Ad 20:56 Tool Stack and Evaluation 27:06 Making Time for AI Learning 29:25 Workflow Audit to Start 32:19 Wrap Up and Where to Connect 33:18 Final Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Map the Workflow Before You Buy the Tool

  4. Apr 19

    Redesign the Work First: Inside a Revenue Team's AI-Connected Stack

    If your revenue team is hitting a ceiling despite adding headcount and new tools, the problem isn't your people - it's your architecture. In this episode, Mike Allton sits down with Amanda Rubin, SVP of Revenue at Frameplay and former EVP of Growth at Enthusiast Gaming, where she drove four consecutive years of revenue growth. Amanda unpacks what she calls the "architect's mindset" - the long-view, systems-first approach that separates true Revenue Leaders from sales managers who are simply trying to hit this quarter's number. You'll hear how Amanda built scalable GTM frameworks from the ground up - first with nothing but a color-coded Google Sheet, and now with an AI-powered tech stack that eliminates admin drag and gives sellers back the time they need to actually sell. She breaks down exactly how she structures account lists, ladders sales teams, and deploys tools like We Flow, Fyxer AI, and Apollo to create a revenue engine that scales without breaking. What you'll walk away with: Why the difference between a Sales Leader and a Revenue Leader changes everything about how you build your org How to structure account tiers so no opportunity falls through the cracks The AI tech stack Amanda is architecting right now at Frameplay - and the honest truth about what it takes to implement it Connect with Amanda Rubin: LinkedIn Resources mentioned: We Flow - AI-powered activity tracking and pipeline intelligence Fyxer AI - AI email organization and post-meeting draft automation Apollo - Sales sequencing and outreach automation Download the free Executive Guide to Shadow AI: theaihat.com/shadow-ai CHAPTERS: 00:00 Meeting Follow Up Basics 00:23 Podcast Intro Theme 01:32 Welcome and Mission 01:56 Scaling Chaos Problem 02:33 Meet Amanda Rubin 04:05 Sales vs Revenue Leadership 05:53 Revenue Architect Mindset 07:07 GTM Narrative and Positioning 08:01 Designing the Sales Org 10:21 Frameworks That Break 11:14 Account Lists and CRM Discipline 12:44 Tiering and Activity Tracking 13:36 People Roles and Incentives 15:18 Enthusiast Gaming Playbook 17:29 Packaging and Storytelling 19:41 Building Seller Pods 22:07 Diagnosing Capacity Leaks 23:27 Support vs Sales Spend 24:29 AI for Spec Sheets 24:52 Wildfire GPT Brain 25:59 Shadow AI Governance 27:15 Fix Workflows First 27:42 WeFlow Setup and CRM 30:51 Conference Intelligence Dashboards 33:33 Fyxer Inbox and Followups 35:09 Apollo Sequences and Outreach 36:37 Frameplay Pitch and Audience 39:06 WeFlow Activity Warnings 41:25 Fail Fast Tool Decisions 42:56 Story Before Headcount 44:01 Connect on LinkedIn 44:42 Final Shadow AI Reminder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Redesign the Work First: Inside a Revenue Team's AI-Connected Stack

  5. Mar 10

    Your Prospects Aren't Googling Anymore - Scrunch's Kevin White on the AI Visibility Crisis

    Your prospects stopped Googling. They're asking ChatGPT which CRM to buy, asking Perplexity which marketing automation platform solves their problem, asking Gemini to compare your category - and AI is recommending your competitors, not you. This isn't a "future of search" problem. This is a pipeline problem. Right now. Kevin White, Head of Marketing at Scrunch (and formerly leading growth at Twilio Segment, Retool, and Common Room), saw this crisis coming and built the measurement infrastructure to fix it. His clients are seeing 100% to 260% visibility gains in AI search in just 60 days - and tracking customers who convert specifically because they appeared in ChatGPT answers. In this episode, Kevin deconstructs the "Citation Economy" - why chasing Reddit mentions is a trap, which citation sources actually drive AI recommendations in your vertical, and the exact workflow his team uses to go from "invisible in AI" to "recommended by LLMs" in under two months. You'll learn the diagnostic every Revenue Leader should run Monday morning to find out if your brand exists when prospects ask AI for solutions. You'll discover why the "long, long tail" of AI search (20+ word prompts vs. 5-7 word Google queries) creates greenfield opportunities for brands willing to architect intent-driven content. And you'll hear how Scrunch's Agent Experience Platform delivers AI-optimized content to LLM crawlers without breaking the human website experience. This is not theory. Kevin walks through Scrunch's own dogfooding - how they use their product to track competitive intelligence, diagnose content gaps, and systematically close citation opportunities. He shares the specific technical optimizations that actually move the needle (spoiler: it's not just adding FAQs). And he reveals how agentic workflows - using Claude Code to build marketing apps, automate spreadsheet enrichment, and analyze customer calls - are reclaiming hours his team used to lose to manual synthesis. If your marketing team thinks they're winning because they rank on Page 1 of Google while your pipeline bleeds invisible in ChatGPT, this episode is your wake-up call. Kevin delivers the audit, the workflow, and the hard truth: you can't optimize what you don't measure. Run the diagnostic. Close the gaps. Win the prompts that matter. Show Notes & Transcript: https://theaihat.com/your-prospects-arent-googling-anymore-scrunchs-kevin-white-on-the-ai-visibility-crisis/ CHAPTERS 00:00 LLM SEO Lore 00:36 Podcast Intro Theme 01:45 AI Hat Welcome 02:10 Why Google Rankings Fail 02:53 Kevin White Joins 04:14 Wake Up Call Moment 07:15 Measuring AI Visibility 10:34 Citation Myths Debunked 13:57 Long Long Tail Search 16:45 Three Citation Buckets 19:07 Workflow To 260% Gains 24:15 Shadow AI Ad Break 25:25 Making Sites AI Readable 29:57 Dogfooding Scrunch Tactics 32:19 Top Priorities This Quarter 35:33 One Prompt Audit Trick 37:16 Where To Connect 38:40 Final Wrap Up Kevin White on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevbosaurus/Scrunch: https://scrunch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Your Prospects Aren't Googling Anymore - Scrunch's Kevin White on the AI Visibility Crisis

  6. Feb 24

    Sanctioning the Shadow: A Payments Executive's Playbook for Governed AI

    If you're a VP of Sales watching your revenue team paste customer data into ChatGPT, you don't have an adoption problem - you have a governance crisis. Your best people are uploading signed NDAs to Claude and feeding pipeline data into Perplexity because 70% of their day is admin drag, and AI is the only thing fast enough to keep them above water. Financial services tried to ban AI. It failed spectacularly. So they built governance frameworks that let teams move faster and sleep at night. Dr. Angela Murphy - known as Payments Elsa - reveals the "Amnesty and Orchestration" playbook she architected for banks navigating the GENESIS Executive Order. She's a PhD strategist, 2024 PayTech Women Emerging Trendsetter, and advisor to financial institutions on AI governance and ethical AI mandates. You'll learn the three-step governance audit every Revenue Leader should run this quarter - before Legal does. Angela shares real stories of teams using ChatGPT for payment disputes and compliance workflows, creating massive liability. She reveals the conversation framework to surface Shadow AI without triggering panic, the three policies you can implement in 30 days, and why explainability isn't compliance theater - it's revenue protection. This isn't a "fire your team and replace them with bots" episode. Angela proves ethical AI can surface hidden revenue channels, identify products to sunset, and reveal sales cycle biases costing you deals. The regulatory hammer is coming. Financial services just got hit first. Will you architect governance now, or audit the damage later? Download the Executive Guide to Shadow AI at theaihat.com/shadow-ai. Subscribe to AI for Revenue Leaders: The AI Hat Podcast and stop being a Pilot Purgatory statistic. CHAPTERS 00:00 Ethical AI = Revenue Growth: Find Gaps, Biases & New Channels 01:24 Show Intro & Theme Song: Welcome to The AI Hat Podcast 02:56 The Shadow AI Compliance Time Bomb (Real-World Examples) 03:43 Meet Dr. Angela Murphy (Payments Elsa) + Why Banks Try to Ban AI 07:41 Shadow AI in the Back Office: Spreadsheets, PII, and Manual Ops Risks 11:04 Why Revenue Leaders Should Watch FinTech: Payments Rails & Stablecoins 13:04 Genesis Executive Order Explained: “Suggestulation” and What’s Coming 16:24 From Fear to Frameworks: Finding Low-Hanging AI Wins with Guardrails 19:24 Resource Break: Executive Guide to Shadow AI 20:33 Orchestration 101: Tool Inventory, Training, and Policy from Existing Governance 23:33 Explainable AI: Decisions You Can Defend (Underwriting Example) 27:51 Ethics, Bias & Revenue Outcomes: Avoid Lawsuits and Unlock Better Decisions 31:19 Biggest Misconceptions: You Can’t Ban AI—and Education Isn’t Optional 37:30 Monday Morning Action Plan: Start the AI Policy, Audit Tools, Target Pain Points 40:46 Where to Find Angela + Final Wrap and Next Steps Show Notes & Full Transcript: https://theaihat.com/why-your-sales-teams-shadow-ai-is-a-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen-a-fintech-cros-governance-playbook/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Sanctioning the Shadow: A Payments Executive's Playbook for Governed AI

  7. Feb 17

    Gemini's Scheduler Just Fixed Sales Meeting Prep (And Killed the 90-Minute Research Grind)

    Your sales team spends 70% of their time on admin work - not selling. Do the math: if your top AE makes $120K and only spends 30% of their time on revenue activities, you're paying $84,000 for data entry and CRM updates. That's the Admin Drag tax killing your pipeline velocity in 2026. But here's the real problem: you bought AI six months ago (Gemini, ChatGPT, Einstein), rolled it out with a 45-minute webinar, and… crickets. Adoption is at 14%. Your VP is asking what you're paying for. This isn't a technology problem. It's a leadership problem. You installed software when you needed to redesign the workflow. In this episode, Mike Allton (Director of Partner-Led Growth at Agorapulse) deconstructs the 95% AI pilot failure rate and shows you exactly what Revenue Architecture looks like in practice. You'll discover: • The real cost of manual meeting prep (90 minutes vs. 8 minutes with Gemini's Scheduler)• How to build a "Digital Crew" that automates research, briefing docs, and objection prep• Why Gemini's 2 million token context window changes everything for sales intelligence• The 3-day audit that reveals where your team is hemorrhaging time• How to move from "Human-in-the-Loop" to "Human-on-the-Loop" automation Stop installing tools your team won't use. Start architecting workflows that reclaim 25-30 hours per rep, per week. Resources: TheAIHat.com/speaking CHAPTERS 00:00:00 - Introduction: The $600K Call She's Unprepared For 00:02:20 - The $84,000 Admin Drag Tax (Do the Math) 00:03:41 - Why 95% of AI Pilots Fail (It's Not the Technology) 00:04:05 - The Da Vinci Workshop: Building a Digital Crew 00:05:17 - Pilot Purgatory: The 6-Month Failure Timeline 00:07:06 - The Old Way: 90 Minutes of Manual Meeting Prep 00:08:48 - The Digital Crew Way: Gemini Scheduler in Action 00:11:48 - Why Gemini Is Structurally Different 00:12:16 - Native Workspace Integration (Friction Removal) 00:12:36 - The 2 Million Token Context Window 00:13:20 - Multimodal Native (Not Franken-Botted) 00:14:23 - Grounding with Google Search (The Accuracy Engine) 00:14:43 - The Scheduler: The Agentic Unlock 00:15:36 - Your Homework: The 3-Day Time Tracking Audit 00:17:01 - How to Architect Your Digital Crew (Workshop Info) 00:17:45 - Closing: Stop Installing Software, Start Architecting Systems Show Notes & Transcript: https://theaihat.com/geminis-scheduler-just-fixed-sales-meeting-prep-and-killed-the-90-minute-research-grind/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Gemini's Scheduler Just Fixed Sales Meeting Prep (And Killed the 90-Minute Research Grind)

  8. Feb 10

    $1M in Sales in 6 Months Using AI Voice Agents - Thoughtly's Will Del Principe on the Agentic Shift

    $1M in sales. $500K saved. Zero new headcount. Your sales team isn't ignoring dead leads because they're lazy - they're drowning in admin drag. While you're debating whether to hire two more SDRs, your competitors have stopped asking "Who do I hire next?" and started asking "What system do I build next?" Will Del Principe (Growth & Solutions Engineering Leader at Thoughtly) reveals how AI voice agents have crossed the quality threshold - handling objections, qualifying leads, and booking meetings at scale. Will personally drove close to $1M in sales in 6 months using voice agent workflows, and his clients are generating hundreds of thousands per month by reactivating dead pipeline. You'll learn: Why voice agents are fundamentally different from chatbots (and why that matters for stalled pipeline) How to design re-engagement campaigns that resurrect cold leads without damaging your brand Quality benchmarks for evaluating voice AI providers (70% of prospects don't detect it's AI) The mindset shift from headcount scaling to system architecture The low-risk pilot strategy for testing voice agents this quarter Who this is for: VPs of Sales, CROs, and RevOps Directors in mid-market to enterprise B2B who need workflow architecture that produces measurable P&L impact - not pilot purgatory. Download the free Executive Guide to Shadow AI at theaihat.com/shadow-ai CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction: The Efficiency Crisis Killing Your Pipeline02:08 - Your Sales Team Isn't Lazy - They're Drowning in Admin Drag03:27 - Meet Will Del Principe: $1M in Sales Using AI Voice Agents03:58 - The Coffee Invitation: When AI Crossed the Uncanny Valley06:00 - What Is a Voice Agent? (And Why It's Not Just Another Chatbot)08:05 - The Podcast Guest Analogy: How AI Removes Bottlenecks Without Replacing People11:14 - Mixing Outbound and Inbound: The New Campaign Architecture13:20 - Why You Can't Cold Call with AI (And How to Get Consent)15:07 - The Handoff: When Does AI Transfer to Human Sales Reps?16:22 - Reactivating Dead Leads: 650 Meetings Booked in 90 Days18:04 - Mid-Roll: The Executive Guide to Shadow AI20:23 - Quality Benchmarks: What Makes a Voice Agent Sound Human?24:22 - The Thoughtly Roadmap: Omnichannel AI Personas Are Coming26:49 - From "Who Do I Hire?" to "What System Do I Build?"28:10 - How to Pilot a Voice Agent: The Low-Risk, High-ROI Use Case29:47 - The CRM Graveyard Audit: What Would 10% Reactivation Mean for Your Revenue?31:02 - Where to Learn More About Thoughtly31:46 - Outro: Download the Shadow AI Guide CONNECT:Will Del Principe - Thoughtly: thoughtly.co | thoughtly.co/demoMike Allton - The AI Hat: theaihat.com | theaihat.com/shadow-ai AI for Revenue Leaders is your operational playbook for the Agentic Era. Host Mike Allton deconstructs how practitioners are deploying sanctioned AI to hit quota and reclaim sales capacity lost to admin drag. Stop guessing. Start architecting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    $1M in Sales in 6 Months Using AI Voice Agents - Thoughtly's Will Del Principe on the Agentic Shift
See All (124)

Trailer

5
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

AI conversations for people doing the work. Your best people are brilliant, but they're buried. Research shows high-performing teams lose nearly 70% of the week to Admin Drag, the data entry, re-keying, and status updates that were never the actual job. You're paying for expert judgment and getting expensive busywork. The AI Hat Podcast is where practitioners, not futurists, talk about fixing that. Host Mike Allton, Director of Partner-Led Growth at Agorapulse and founder of The AI Hat, sits down with operators, revenue leaders, marketers, and industry specialists, from insurance agencies to sales floors, to name the drag and show how a governed Digital Crew of AI agents takes it back. The thread through every episode: redesign the work first, then deploy the AI. It's why most pilots fail, and what to do instead. In each episode, we break down: • The Agentic Shift — moving from AI that talks to AI that does the work. • Sanctioning the Shadow — turning ungoverned AI risk into governed advantage. • Redesign the Work First — why 95% of pilots stall, and the fix. Whether you sell, serve, or build, the drag is the same. Get the guide: Download The Executive Guide to Shadow AI at TheAIHat.com/shadow-ai Connect with Mike: linkedin.com/in/mikeallton

Information

  • Creator
    Mike Allton
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    124
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024-present
  • Show Website
    The AI Hat Podcast

You Might Also Like