The Unexpected Lever


Are reps who lead with product knowledge killing their own deals?

In this episode of V5, we look at why curiosity, not memorization, is the skill top sellers rely on to win today.

Jarod Greene sits down with Tim O’Neil, Chief Sales Officer at 6sense, to talk about how sales has evolved and why old habits are no longer effective. Tim explains how low-interest markets rewarded feature-heavy pitches, but today’s buyers expect reps to ask sharper questions, address real business pain, and connect with the right decision-makers. He also shares how he hires for curiosity and how AI is helping reps research smarter, not harder. 

If you’re stuck selling features, this is your wake-up call.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
  • Why product knowledge isn’t enough – Knowing what your product does doesn’t mean knowing why it matters
  • How curiosity shortens the cycle – The reps asking business-level questions are getting to the budget faster
  • What to stop trusting – If someone only wants to talk about features, they’re probably not your buyer
Things to listen for: 
(00:00) Introduction
(00:20) Why product expertise no longer drives revenue
(01:28) Curious reps are closing with senior buyers
(02:18) Using AI to scale smarter selling
(03:41) Hiring reps who ask better questions

What is The Unexpected Lever?

The secret sauce to your sales success? It’s what happens before the sale. It’s the planning, the strategy, the leadership. And it’s more than demo automation. It’s the thoughtful work that connects people, processes, and performance. If you want strong revenue, high retention, and shorter sales cycles, the pre-work—centered around the human—still makes the dream work. But you already know that.

The Unexpected Lever is your partner in growing revenue by doing what great sales leaders do best. Combining vision with execution. Brought to you by Vivun, this show highlights the people and peers behind the brands who understand what it takes to build and lead high-performing sales teams. You’re not just preparing for the sale—you’re unlocking potential.

Join us as we share stories of sales leaders who make a difference, their challenges, their wins, and the human connections that drive results, one solution at a time.

Jarod Greene (00:00):
Hey everybody. Welcome to V5 where we spend exactly five minutes on our soapbox with some of the hottest takes in all of B2B go to market. I say it all the time. This is really going to be a fun one. I am here with Tim O'Neil, Chief Sales Officer at 6sense, and Tim's got a take. So Tim, what do you got?

Tim O'Neil (00:20):
Thanks, Jarod. I was thinking about it prior to jumping on the podcast, and if you look at sales skills over the last 15 years, if you spoke to a common sales rep or a sales rep in the market in general, they would sell themselves on the idea that knowing their product really, really well and knowing all the features was bringing value to their customers. And they were getting better at their trade by understanding their product in more detail. And unfortunately at a time in which there was 0% interest rates, cash was free, and people were almost overbuying SaaS, they were getting false positives that investing in those skills of going deep on a product was creating good outcomes for them. But the curious rep who doesn't know as much about their product features and is way more curious about market issues and customer issues and customer pains and customer business strategies are the ones that are really succeeding now.

(01:28):
Okay. How are they going to leverage your product to get to the business strategies that matter to their business is having them talk to higher level people in an organization and the ones that over the last 10 years continue to invest in just knowing product features end up talking to somebody that speaks like them and that person that speaks like them about features and functions and whatnot, traditionally doesn't have budget and they're getting to the end of the sales cycles and they're not getting to the person that has the budget, the economic buyer, and they're not getting to the right person and they're trusting the person that wants to talk features and functions and they're getting boxed out of deals, or they're selling their deals really, really cheaply because they're not getting to value.

Jarod Greene (02:18):
I think you spell it out perfectly. We've seen it happen over and over and seen kind this evolution and this kind of great epiphany of that's not the way to do it. So it's curiosity's been a big theme of the V5 conversations we've had over the last couple of months, as has the role of AI in sales strategies. So how do you think AI helps sellers fuel that curiosity?

Tim O'Neil (02:41):
From a curiosity standpoint and looking at what tools are on the market in order to scale your business? I can use AI to help me with whether it be email agents, whether it be other opportunities for me as a sales rep to be able to scale my business, looking at AI and looking to do things smarter, not harder. The other thing too is AI can help you with research. So using AI to also figure that out is great, but also figuring out what their AI strategy as well. And tying into that is part of not only AI, but tying curiosity. AI, where I think the interesting thing, even more so is the markets shifting towards significantly getting after AE-driven pipeline, right? And the best way you can do that is AI tools and AI research in general, and by being constantly curious about new things that are coming to the market to be able to help you push your business further. So some of it's showing up in customer research, but some of the AI is also showing up in how you do your job too.

Jarod Greene (03:41):
Tim, how do you guide, coach and train your team to be those kind of curious reps that get to the right people with the right offer at the right time and hold value?

Tim O'Neil (03:52):
Yeah, I think some of it can definitely be done from an enablement standpoint, but I think a lot of it starts with who you hire. I think it's sometimes tough to teach curiosity. I joke with my kids often when we go on vacation, we will be in a cab together going somewhere, and I'll ask the cabbie where they're from, what they're doing, all this stuff, and my wife and my kids always make fun of me. I'm like, it's a natural curiosity. You want to be a natural learner. And some people learn through reading books and they love reading. Some people learn through podcasts. As a salesperson, I learn from asking questions. I think in the interview process, you want to just drill into curiosity and integrity. If you can find integrity and curiosity in your sales reps, you can bring that out through training. But the natural curiosity is key in the hiring process.

Jarod Greene (04:40):
Yeah, absolutely. We've seen the benefits of it on so many sides where if I'm curious about the product, I can lean into that and I can get good at it, but I also need to be curious about who I'm selling the product to. I'm curious about the competitive landscape. I'm curious about the outcomes you expect to deliver. And so I absolutely couldn't agree with you more.

Tim O'Neil (04:59):
You could have the best product in the world, but if it's solving a problem that your customer doesn't have, doesn't really matter.

Jarod Greene (05:07):
Yeah, waste a lot of time in that game. Tim, told you this would go fast, man. I really appreciate you, Tim. Where can folks find you, engage you, learn more about you if they're curious about you and what's happening at 6sense?

Tim O'Neil (05:18):
LinkedIn's always a great place to find me. I check my LinkedIn probably not as often as I should, but probably once or twice a week. You can obviously reach out to me at 6sense. In general, please feel free to just email me directly, tim.oneil@6sense.com. Feel free. So either of those two are great.

Jarod Greene (05:34):
Tim, appreciate your time. Thank you so much for spending five minutes with us.

Tim O'Neil (05:37):
Thanks, Jarod. Appreciate it.

Jarod Greene (05:38):
I appreciate it. Alright.