Why Every CRO Must Learn AI Or Get Left Behind
Wed Jan 28 2026
What happens when a seasoned CRO decides to stop “exploring” AI and actually master it? We sit down with Colin Van Excel to chart the path from a single prompt that wrote a price increase letter to a full, AI-first sales operating system. The story is practical, candid, and packed with takeaways you can use today, whether you lead a revenue org or carry a quota.
We start with the real barriers holding teams back: fuzzy sales processes, inconsistent stage criteria, and sellers buried in admin. Colin explains how he rebuilt around the buyer’s journey, then layered AI to enforce consistency and speed. Think call transcripts auto-summarized into Salesforce, hot points captured and resurfaced before the next meeting, and follow-up emails drafted with context and tone in minutes. The result? More time with customers, less time wrestling with notes, and a measurable lift in deal velocity.
Colin also breaks down why certification matters and how structured learning accelerates impact. He walks through a six-week arc: sharpening prompts, using variables, building workflows in Make, and presenting a working automation to graduate. The big unlock is meta-learning—using AI to learn AI. When he got stuck, he fed the system context and constraints and received working code and steps to finish the job. That shift turns leaders from passive consumers into confident builders.
We don’t sugarcoat the stakes. Leaders who stay hands-off risk being underemployed by 2028. The advantage goes to those who learn the tools, define clear processes, and deploy automations that free sellers to sell. If you’re ready to replace “pay your dues” busywork with AI agents that actually move revenue, this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs the push, and leave a review with the first workflow you want to automate—we’ll tackle the best ones on a future show.
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What happens when a seasoned CRO decides to stop “exploring” AI and actually master it? We sit down with Colin Van Excel to chart the path from a single prompt that wrote a price increase letter to a full, AI-first sales operating system. The story is practical, candid, and packed with takeaways you can use today, whether you lead a revenue org or carry a quota. We start with the real barriers holding teams back: fuzzy sales processes, inconsistent stage criteria, and sellers buried in admin. Colin explains how he rebuilt around the buyer’s journey, then layered AI to enforce consistency and speed. Think call transcripts auto-summarized into Salesforce, hot points captured and resurfaced before the next meeting, and follow-up emails drafted with context and tone in minutes. The result? More time with customers, less time wrestling with notes, and a measurable lift in deal velocity. Colin also breaks down why certification matters and how structured learning accelerates impact. He walks through a six-week arc: sharpening prompts, using variables, building workflows in Make, and presenting a working automation to graduate. The big unlock is meta-learning—using AI to learn AI. When he got stuck, he fed the system context and constraints and received working code and steps to finish the job. That shift turns leaders from passive consumers into confident builders. We don’t sugarcoat the stakes. Leaders who stay hands-off risk being underemployed by 2028. The advantage goes to those who learn the tools, define clear processes, and deploy automations that free sellers to sell. If you’re ready to replace “pay your dues” busywork with AI agents that actually move revenue, this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share with a colleague who needs the push, and leave a review with the first workflow you want to automate—we’ll tackle the best ones on a future show.