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Alex McNaughten has watched hundreds of teams try to bolt AI sales agents onto how they already sell in B2B. Almost none of them have a system. In this episode, he explains why that gap between “cool AI experiment” and “compounding system” is where most companies get stuck, and what it actually takes to close it.
Alex is the co-CEO and co-founder of Grw.ai, the company behind Taylor, an AI teammate that builds and runs sales systems for B2B teams. Before Grw, he founded Sales Leaders, a revenue advisory business that worked with more than 140 tech companies, and he co-founded Apprento with our previous guest Scotty Freeman.
In this conversation with Firmable co-founder and co-CEO Paul Perrett, Alex unpacks why only 44% of reps hit target and what that says about hiring, onboarding, and management. He explains why the profile of a successful rep has changed, what “builder DNA” means in an AI-first sales org, and why hierarchies will flatten as span of control expands from six reps per manager to as many as 15 or 20.
Alex also lays out the framework he uses with every prospective customer: isolated experimentation with AI sales agents versus a centralized, compounding system. He walks through a real example of a company that spent $2m a year building internal tooling to replicate what a $100,000 AI agent already did, and explains why that calculus is shifting fast. The conversation closes with practical detail on remote versus in-office sales teams, what actually builds cold-calling confidence, and how to build an authentic LinkedIn presence without overthinking it.
Key topics covered
[02:58] Why only 44% of reps hit target and what’s really driving the stats
[05:09] The new hiring bar: builder DNA and problem-solving over CRM discipline
[11:41] Why human salespeople aren’t going anywhere, but the job itself changes
[13:52] Span of control: how one manager to six reps becomes one to 15 or 20
[18:52] The framework: isolated experimentation versus a compounding system
[22:26] The real cost of building tooling in-house versus buying vertical AI sales agents
[25:42] How to actually measure ROI on AI across a sales organization
[33:25] Why confidence matters more than script on a cold call
[39:08] Building an authentic LinkedIn presence without overthinking every post
Notable quotes
“The bar has been raised for what you need to do to be a really successful rep in 2026.”
“Confidence and how you sound is more important than what specifically you say.”
“Does it make sense to have internal resources dedicated to building entire vertical agents that already exist in the market and have been stress tested across hundreds of organizations?”
FAQs
Alex McNaughten references industry data showing only 44% of reps hit target, with an average tenure of around 11 months against a 10-year historical benchmark.
Span of control refers to how many reps one sales manager can effectively oversee. Alex McNaughten argues AI is pushing this from a typical ratio of one to six toward one to 15 or 20.
Alex uses a real example of a company spending $2m a year on an internal team to replicate a $100,000 vertical AI sales agent, arguing the build case rarely holds up once token costs and reliability are factored in.
Who this is for
This episode is for sales leaders and RevOps teams deciding how to structure their organization around AI, and for founders weighing whether to build internal AI sales agents or adopt proven existing tooling. It’s also useful for anyone rethinking how they hire and onboard reps in a market where the job itself has changed.
Where to next?
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Explore how Firmable helps sales teams build pipeline with better data.
