Most businesses believe they have a sales problem.
In reality, they often have a clarity, structure, or leadership problem.
In this episode of the Champion Mindset Collective, Anthony Dahya sits down with Sean P Shannon, a sales and revenue leader with over 30 years of experience building market-leading teams and brands across iHeart, Audacy, and Cumulus Media.
Sean shares why most businesses misunderstand what their customers are actually buying, how broken compensation plans quietly sabotage sales performance, and why diagnosing the real problem always comes before offering solutions.
You will hear real-world insights from Sean’s journey as a Senior Vice President of Sales and Market President, including how he built iconic brands like Q99.7 and 99X, and what small and medium businesses can learn from those experiences today.
This is a practical, no-fluff conversation for founders, sales leaders, and business owners who want smarter sales strategy, stronger teams, and better results.
🔑 Key Highlights
- Why most businesses think they have a sales problem when it is really a system problem
- How sales compensation plans drive behaviour, often the wrong behaviour
- The importance of understanding true purchase motivation
- Why diagnosing before prescribing changes everything
- The Vikings and Farmers story and what it reveals about sales culture
- How leadership decisions shape sales performance over time
- What high-performing sales teams do differently in tight markets
💡 Key Takeaways
- Sales problems are rarely solved by tactics alone
- Customers are not buying what most businesses think they are selling
- A misaligned comp plan will quietly destroy even great sales teams
- Culture and structure matter more than pressure and incentives
- Strong sales leadership starts with asking better questions
- There is no failure if learning is applied forward
- Clarity beats complexity every time in sales strategy
⏱️ Timestamps
- 00:00 – Why most businesses misdiagnose sales problems
- 04:20 – Sean’s journey through 30+ years in sales leadership
- 09:30 – Diagnosing before prescribing in sales and marketing
- 14:45 – Cost of sale rising while revenue stalls
- 20:10 – Understanding real customer purchase motivation
- 27:40 – Vikings vs Farmers and sales culture explained
- 35:15 – Sales comp plans and unintended consequences
- 43:00 – What leaders must fix first in their sales system
- 50:20 – Champion Mindset lessons from decades in sales
Tags: sales strategy explained
sales leadership podcast
how to fix sales problems, why sales teams fail
sales compensation plan mistakes, revenue growth for business owners
b2b sales leadership, small business sales strategy
sales culture and leadership, champion mindset podcast, sales leadership, sales strategy, b2b sales, revenue growth, sales compensation, sales culture, marketing strategy, small business growth, leadership development, champion mindset, business podcast, entrepreneur podcast, sales management
🌐 Connect with Sean:
📢 Connect with Anthony Dahya:
- 🌐 Website – Champion Mindset Collective
- ➡️ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonydahya/
- ➡️ Facebook – facebook.com/anthonydahya
- ➡️ Instagram – @anthony.dahya
- ➡️ YouTube – @anthonydahya
- ➡️ Spotify – Champion Mindset Collective
- ➡️ AI Workflows Agency – https://aiworkflows.agency
- 📧 Email – podcast@anthonydahya.com
- 💬 Join the Conversation: Leave your thoughts or questions in the comments or message Anthony directly.
- Want to be a guest on Champion Mindset Collective?
- Send Anthony Dahya a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/championmindset
