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Vertical market strategy and B2B growth insights from Mike McCalley.

Get Vertical with Mike McCalley is a B2B strategy podcast focused on vertical market expansion and the specific growth decisions facing leaders in niche industries. Mike McCalley draws on direct operator experience to surface the insights most useful to executives pursuing vertical-specific revenue growth. The channel is built for B2B leaders who need more than generic strategy advice.

5 episodes

Channel Brief·Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley · 5 episodes

Updated May 15, 2023

B2B Growth Demands Service-Oriented Sales and Root-Cause Problem Solving

Get Vertical argues that sustainable B2B revenue growth flows from integrity-driven sales culture and diagnostic rigor, not discounts or shortcuts. Five episodes ground this in real leadership research and operational case studies.

Get Vertical's core argument is that organizations fail at growth not because they lack tactics but because they misdiagnose root causes and rely on lazy fixes like discounting instead of fixing underlying people, process, or tool problems. The channel repeatedly demonstrates this thesis through conversations with operators and researchers who have measured the gap between aspiration and reality: leaders who see themselves as builders versus those they actually lead.

Drawn from Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley and Dan Adams… and 2 more →

“Discounts are often used as a lazy fix for other problems in an organization, rather than fixing the underlying issues.”
Darren Doyle, Sales Xceleration, episode 5

By the numbers

53% vs 32%

Senior leaders call themselves builders; subordinates agree only 32% of the time.

Different AI models Graibox uses for long-form content creation.

What the channel argues

DataOnly 53% of senior leaders call themselves builders; just 32% of their reports agree.→

InsightWhen fixing organizational problems, prioritize tools first, then process, then people.→

DataAI content generation tools like Graibox use six different models but require human proofreading to avoid fabricated statistics and fake case studies.→

InsightDiscounts signal deeper problems—poor training, weak compensation structure, or lack of genuine customer service orientation.→

InsightCompanies led by builders have higher expectations of future growth than those led by remodelers, decorators, or realtors.→

What you'll learn

•How to distinguish between AI-assisted content (appropriate for briefs and structure) and AI-generated content (prone to hallucination without human oversight).

•Why a 21-point gap between self-assessed and peer-assessed leadership type signals a growth ceiling in most organizations.

•How the 5Ys root-cause tool and the tool-process-people hierarchy can redirect organizations away from scapegoating and toward systemic fixes.

•Why sales compensation structure and lack of service orientation, not price, are the real drivers of discounting pressure.

What to do about it

→Audit your organization's leadership self-perception versus subordinate perception using the Builders/Remodelers/Decorators/Realtors framework to identify alignment gaps.

→When facing a pricing or discounting crisis, apply the 5Ys tool and the tool-process-people hierarchy before cutting price or replacing people.

→If using AI for content at scale, establish a mandatory human proofreading and fact-checking step; never publish AI-generated statistics or case studies without verification.

Who and what shows up

Ben Millar

President, Graibox

Shared experience transitioning from employee to entrepreneur and demonstrated how AI models assist rather than replace human judgment in content creation.

Dan Adams

Founder and President, The AIM Institute

Conducted research on leadership practices defining four leader types and revealing a 21-point perception gap between senior leaders and their subordinates.

Darren Doyle

Outsourced Revenue Growth Partner, Sales Xceleration

Argued that discounting is a symptom of structural problems and demonstrated the 5Ys root-cause framework and tool-process-people diagnostic hierarchy.

Questions this channel answers

Why do organizations resort to discounting instead of fixing real problems?

Discounting appears fast and measurable, but it masks deeper issues in sales training, compensation, process design, or tool capability. The channel argues that fixing the root cause—tool, then process, then people—is the sustainable path.

Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley and Darren Doyle: Part … →

What separates a builder leader from other leadership types?

The channel cites research by The AIM Institute showing that builders drive higher expectations of future growth. However, the episodes do not define the specific traits that distinguish builders, remodelers, decorators, and realtors.

Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley and Dan Adams: Part 1 →

Can AI write good long-form content without human review?

No. Graibox uses six AI models to create structure and briefs, but the content needs personal experience, proofreading, and fact-checking to avoid made-up case studies, fake statistics, and inadvertently promoting competitors.

Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley and Ben Millar: Part 2 →

Best place to start

Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley and Dan Adams: Part 1Introduces the channel's core thesis via hard research: a 21-point perception gap in leadership quality explains growth ceilings across B2B firms.

Get Vertical! with Mike McCalley and Darren Doyle: Part 1Frames discounting as symptom, not solution, and sets up the root-cause diagnostic framework the channel revisits throughout.

Topics:AI content generation and SEOSales culture and integrityPricing and discounting strategyLeadership type taxonomyRoot-cause analysis (5Ys)

Themes:Service-oriented sales as cultural foundation, not tacticRoot-cause thinking replaces quick fixes and scapegoatingAI as assistant to humans, not replacement for judgment