💡 Joris van der Waart, CMO at Lumosa, shares invaluable insights on building brand trust and the critical importance of deeply understanding the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). He highlights the ongoing decline of trust within B2B relationships and emphasizes that marketers must rebuild it through authentic dialogue and genuine curiosity. Drawing from his experiences, Joris illustrates how direct, unfiltered engagement with customers and internal teams strengthens relationships and sharpens marketing strategies. 💡

"Trust is a basic need, and trust is also about feeling. When your intentions are pure and good, and you are authentic, really close to yourself and genuinely interested in helping your customer, people feel that and respond to it." - Joris van der Waart

This conversation explores the profound transformation when businesses shift from mere familiarity to truly knowing their customers by asking the right questions and being proactively involved. Joris advocates bridging internal communication gaps and fostering sincere involvement inside and outside the organization. His strategic approach demonstrates how prioritizing transparency and continuous conversation elevates customer satisfaction and aligns teams around common goals, creating a culture of trust and authentic interaction in B2B leadership.

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💡 Barbara Toens, Global CMO at Gantrex, brings her pricing PhD and global B2B experience to this in-depth discussion. She explains how marketing earns its C-Suite seat by ensuring every decision starts with deep customer understanding. Barbara shares best practices for VOC calls, cross-functional alignment, and transforming marketing from a cost center to a growth engine. 💡

“When marketing leads customer conversations, we transition from vendor to trusted long-term partner.” – Barbara Toens

In this episode, Barbara Toens explores the strategic role of marketing in driving profitable growth through customer-centric leadership, voice-of-customer initiatives, and value-based pricing. She also learned how CMOs can influence cross-functional teams, build trusted customer partnerships, and move beyond transactional marketing to measurable business impact.

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💡 Luna Shirley, CRO at ROI Hunter, challenges the obsession with hypergrowth and its hidden costs. She shares industry data showing 73% of revenue stems from existing clients and explains why Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is critical. She also discusses how focusing on customer success and team wellbeing leads to sustainable profitability.💡

“We need to understand what lies behind sustainable growth. It is profitability and reasonable growth momentum. Profitability allows you to retain the freedom to make the right and necessary decisions, while reasonable growth momentum enables you to continue investing in your people and your clients.” - Luna Shirley

Luna uncovers that a people-first approach, AI readiness, and retention strategies can drive sustainable growth. With firsthand lessons from leading ROI Hunter through a turnaround, she delivers hard-earned insights CROs can use today.

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💡 Peter Mullen, Growth Leader of AI, GTM, Brand, and CX at Simply Systems LLC, explains why the “growth-at-all-costs” era is breaking trust and gutting long-term value. Drawing on 30 years of scaling tech brands, he urges marketers to pivot spend toward thought leadership, brand integrity, and customer experience so revenue compounds instead of spiking and crashing. 💡

“We need to reconnect with what our customers truly need and shift our mentality from ‘growth at all costs’ to building long-standing partnerships. The exciting part is that this approach allows us to reimagine the entire engine of our growth strategy.” - Peter Mullen

Peter insists today’s skeptical, part-time buyers reward vendors who replace vanity funnels with transparency: add 50 % of budget to “trust development,” spotlight real executive and frontline voices, and trade flashy mega-booths for smaller forums where experts shake hands twice and share stories that stick. This trust-first playbook, he argues, is how companies escape quarter-to-quarter whiplash and build sustainable, loyalty-driven growth.

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Andi Giri, CEO of Softsquare and veteran venture investor, brings decades of experience, from the early days of Y2K through today’s AI frontier, to show how transparent collaboration and strategic adaptability can earn genuine B2B credibility. By putting partners first, optimizing costs fairly, and co-creating solutions with clients, he lays out a practical roadmap for lasting loyalty.

“Know and listen to your customers as they’re our breadwinners. No business thrives without loyal clients. Serve them uncompromisingly, stay honest, work within budget and expertise, and never overpromise. Do that, and we will have success.” — Andi Giri

Andi underscores that real influence springs from honest feedback loops, proactive license audits, and deepening customer perspectives into roadmaps. Instead of relying on polished case studies, he champions authentic conversations, the courage to steer clients toward better fits, and the agility to pivot based on unfiltered input. This human-centered approach, he argues, is what truly cements long-term partnerships and sustainable growth.

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💡Nikhil Kalanjee, Founder & Managing Director at Time to First Bite, shares key strategies for thriving in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. Drawing from his diverse experience across agencies and corporations, Nikhil highlights the importance of aligning marketing with core business values, understanding the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and balancing short-term ROI with long-term brand growth. He positions the CMO not just as a marketer, but as a strategic leader who must advocate for the customer and steer the organization with insights rooted in real-world engagement.💡

"Skilled marketers obviously have to hold two thoughts in the head at the same time: how do you manage the short and the long term? You have to become a master allocator of resources." - Nikhil Kalanjee

A central theme in Nikhil’s perspective is the CMO’s role in bridging the gap between customers and corporate decision-making. By fostering direct connections with customers and championing their voice within the organization, CMOs can elevate their strategic impact and unify internal efforts around customer needs. Nikhil’s insights underscore the need for B2B leaders to remain agile, insight-driven, and aligned across departments to ensure resilience and relevance in a disruptive market.

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💡German Ramirez, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Bitcoin Suisse AG, emphasizes the overlooked importance of human-to-human (H2H) connections in B2B marketing. Drawing from his extensive background in marketing and technology, he stresses that behind every business decision is a person seeking trust, understanding, and authenticity. As digital interactions increase and sales cycles lengthen, investing time in personal connection becomes more crucial than ever. German encourages professionals to move beyond transactional conversations and focus on truly understanding the individuals they engage with.💡

"It’s very difficult to measure how much someone trusts you or believes in your abilities. So in every conversation, forget everything that has to do with the business, and try to understand and focus on who that person is." - German Ramirez

Reframing B2B as fundamentally human interactions, German argues that emotional connection and genuine interest are powerful drivers of successful relationships. While data and automation play a growing role in marketing, they cannot replace the trust built through authentic engagement. By integrating personal storytelling and empathy into business exchanges, companies can foster lasting relationships that drive loyalty and long-term success.

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💡 Saverio Russo, Chief Operating Officer at Hemargroup, highlights the critical importance of company culture as a core competitive advantage, particularly within the demanding manufacturing sector. Drawing from his diverse background in engineering, startups, and blockchain, he emphasizes that a well-defined internal culture directly impacts operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. At Hemargroup, this approach is embedded in every facet of the business, ensuring that cultural values like quality, reliability, and openness guide both internal practices and external interactions. 💡

"At the end of the day, it’s really important to choose the right culture before the company, before the brand, before everything. And when you find it, everything will be in place." - Saverio Russo

Despite operating in a highly competitive, price-sensitive market, Hemargroup leverages its Swiss heritage and strong cultural foundation to differentiate itself. Rather than competing on cost, the company prioritizes exceptional service and transparent communication, elements that drive superior customer experience. Saverio’s insights underscore that when culture is aligned with strategic goals and supported by technology, it becomes a powerful engine for sustainable growth and long-term market leadership.

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