From Cold to Closed

What actually drives outbound success in a world full of AI tools and automation?In this episode of Cold to Closed, Jeremy Schiff sits down with Kevin Warner, Founder and CEO of Leadium, to discuss the fundamentals that still separate high-performing outbound teams from everyone else. Kevin shares lessons from helping more than 1,500 companies build pipeline, covering everything from data quality and targeting to sales strategy, market knowledge, and the role of AI in modern outbound.If you're building a sales team, refining your go-to-market strategy, or trying to improve outbound performance, this conversation offers practical insights on what works, what doesn't, and where companies often get it wrong.

Most outbound teams think the answer is more: more dials, more emails, more leads.But as Leslie Venetz explains in this episode, more isn’t a strategy, and it’s often the reason teams struggle to convert pipeline into revenue.Leslie has made over 250,000 cold calls and now works with B2B sales teams to rebuild their outbound motion from the ground up. In this conversation, we break down what’s actually working in 2026 and where most teams are getting it wrong.We get into:Why targeting and segmentation matter more than messaging tweaksHow AI is enabling bad outbound habits at scaleThe real reason personalization is failing most teamsWhy territory management is the missing skill for SDRsHow to move from TAM → SAM → SOM in a way reps can actually executeIf your team is sending more but booking less, this episode will challenge how you think about outbound.Because the biggest shift happening right now isn’t more activity, it’s better decisions about who to reach and why.