Ep 117 Personalizing the Sales Journey Through Buyer Enablement with Garin Hess

You can beat the competition. You can’t survive confusion.

Garin Hess, founder of Consensus and author of Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder. joins the show to share why making it easier for people to buy should be every sales team’s mission. Drawing from his background in learning and development, Garin explains how buyer enablement transforms selling from product pitches into personalized coaching experiences that empower champions and engage entire buying groups. 

He reflects on the dangers of “peace mongering” in leadership, how personalization at scale changes buying dynamics, and why emotional ROI matters more than we often acknowledge in B2B. Garin also shares real stories from the field, including one painful lesson about the risks of not mapping the entire buying group.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Buyer Enablement Mindset: Why putting the buyer’s needs ahead of your own can accelerate deals.
• From Champions to Buying Groups: How to equip and coach champions to influence every stakeholder.
• Preventing Deal Killers: Practical ways to reduce confusion, friction, and dysfunction in the buying process.
• Emotional ROI: Why career risk, trust, and purpose play a bigger role in buying decisions than logic alone.

Resources:

• Garin Hess’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garin-hess/  
• Learn more about Consensus: https://goconsensus.com/ 
• Learn more about Buyer Enablement: https://goconsensus.com/buyer-enablement/
• Learn more about Selling is Hard. Buying is Harder: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Hard-Buying-Harder-Enablement/dp/1632992949 

Jump into the conversation:
(00:00) Meet Garin Hess

(02:16) From Utah roots to leadership lessons

(05:23) How learning and development shaped his sales approach

(08:02) Why buying is harder than selling

(11:42) Breaking through buyer confusion and dysfunction

(20:15) Measuring impact through metrics and emotional ROI

(23:25) The role of trust and purpose in the future of B2B sales

(26:37) Sales war stories and lessons learned the hard way