Ascend: Stories of Scale

How AI Is Transforming Sales Coaching and Sales Performance | Yogi, Founder of People Lens

• Season 1 • Episode 5

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In this episode, Angelique and Tracey sit down with Yogi, founder of PeopleLens, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping sales management and coaching.

The assumption that more tools lead to better outcomes is one of the biggest misconceptions in modern sales. 

Sales teams have more technology than ever before, yet many managers still struggle to answer a basic question: Why is a rep underperforming?

In this episode, Angelique and Tracey sit down with Yogi, founder of PeopleLens, to discuss the hidden challenges of sales management, the limitations of traditional CRM systems, and how AI is helping managers become more effective coaches.

Together, they explore why most sales technology focuses heavily on customers while overlooking the people responsible for driving revenue, and how that gap creates missed opportunities for coaching and growth.


Yogi Panjabi

CEO/Co-Founder, PeopleLens

Yogi Panjabi is the CEO/Co-Founder of PeopleLens, a platform dedicated to helping sales managers become better coaches through AI-driven insights and performance intelligence. His mission is to empower managers with the context they need to develop stronger teams, improve sales performance, and create more meaningful coaching conversations.

Thank you for listening! This podcast is a passion project of AScaleX. Know more about us through the links below:

SPEAKER_00

The reality is the stack is stellar, but my reps are stuck. Data today inside some of those systems is is incomplete, is inaccurate. What we're trying to do, we bring signals together from every rep touch point.

SPEAKER_01

Everybody's talking about AI, but AI and automation and AI replacing jobs, but why not AI helping us to be better at our jobs, be better managers, better coaches to our team?

SPEAKER_02

I'm Tracy. And I'm Angelique. Welcome to Ascend Stories of Scale. Thanks, Yogi, for joining us.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. Delighted to be here and excited to have this conversation together.

SPEAKER_02

Yogi, can you share us a little bit of your background from starting into consulting, Palo Alto Networks, and path to like people lens?

SPEAKER_00

I grew up in the world of uh strategy consulting, spent uh about a decade there at McKinsey. McKinsey moved me into the valley, left that world of strategy consulting. I went into tech land. But every time I went to a different company, I also changed my function. And so I went from the world of strategy to the world of sales, from there to the world of marketing, from there to the world of product. I was at uh Palo Alto Networks, uh, which is where all of this began at PeopleLens. And I sat on the on the people team there, uh, really running People Tech and Analytics, all things employee, employee experience, uh, employee tech. Uh and so my journey across those different companies have have shaped me to really uh get ready perhaps for this for this ride.

SPEAKER_02

Looking at that background of yours moving into different departments and landing to where it is now, what specific problems that you've seen to made you think like, okay, I need to start something, I need to kick off people lens.

SPEAKER_00

Palo Volto Networks was a uh single product company at that point in time. Firewalls, on-prem, hardware, that's what we excelled at. We had done that really, really well, gone public. He was like, hey, this has gotta be a cybersec company, not just a firewall company. So uh off we went on the acquisition trail, 17 acquisitions in a very, very short span of time, just about the same number of months. Uh, and every acquisition was about 30 days, start to finish. Bring in the product team, bring in the engineering team, for go to market, we'd lean on our homegrown reps. And and that story kept playing out. That playbook came together beautifully, stock doubled, revenue grew at a very nice clip. Everything seemed to be going uh really, really well uh until we missed our numbers two quarters in a row. And the stock fell off, and we were all uh pretty focused on the problem at hand, which is getting go to market right. My boss at that point in time said, Hey, we've gotta we've gotta help. And I was like, Yep, of course, we're partnering with the sales teams and sharing data, sharing insights, we're running a few joint projects. She said, and what she really meant was you've got to put on your people lens. Here are the keys to the kingdom. The guys in sales have access to the CRM, have access to data sets around that. They pull out insights from that world, go out and make decisions. The guys in finance do exactly the same thing. So People Lens is uh really focused on making every manager a better coach. In the last few decades, the CRM was born. It's become the front and center in terms of sales tech for every sales organization. But it's for most part really zooming in on the customer and every customer record. You can now pull, you know, a gazillion fields on the customer, what accounts, who's the contact, how often are you talking to them, what format, what channel, what frequency, what's their pet's name, what's their spouse's name. You can go as as deep in that world. And the customer 360 is is really where the center of gravity is at. What we learned was there needed to be something similar to put the rep in that equation. Today what's happening is the customer is is pretty much in that center, but the rep is is a forgotten part of that equation. What we're doing is we're bringing them back into that equation and beginning to serve them. So we have a lens for the front line, a lens for the rep, a lens for the manager, and obviously a rep for the exec. And what we're doing with that with that lens is to really make sure that everyone knows that Mike is struggling or John is hitting it out of the park. What they don't quite know is the why. That's the question we're answering. As we bring these data sets together, we can zero into what's the precise, what's the personalized, what's the pointed insight that a struggling rep might need to lift their game, and how can the manager really help them in that journey? So evolving that manager rep conversation, one being around small talk or around uh really what's anecdotal to bringing insight, context, and coaching to help that rep thrive.

SPEAKER_02

Coming from my experience also, Yogi, I've handled sales teams before, the struggle I had was to be present and using CRMs. How are you making sure that there's adoption to it? Sales team just want to focus on opening conversations and meeting people, and now we're giving them another tool set. How are you dealing with that today?

SPEAKER_00

So two things there. One is data today inside some of those systems is is incomplete, is inaccurate. What we're trying to do, we bring signals together from every rep touch point. So as a CRM is incomplete, we tag that up with the calendar, we tag that up with the email, we tag that up with the conversational intelligence. And as we marry that up, the signals really blend uh to give us pointed, precise, and personalized insights to marry that up with outcomes that an individual is struggling with. And so this collective data set really sharpens the insight, uh, and that becomes helpful for the manager. That context is where the manager starts to make those conversations really, really productive. So that's one side of it. The second side of it is the reality is you're you're spot on again that the stack is stellar, but my reps are stuck.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_00

And that is the starting point. Uh it's it's really, really key. There are lots of tools. Uh and as we go in and begin to have a few conversations, we ask questions. Are your conversations connected to your outcomes? Is it connected to the methodology you're using? Is it connected to your manager rep one-on-one conversations? We're trying to create that space where with not just another tool, but importantly that foundation that's needed to have those coaching conversations to help the reps really grow as opposed to letting them go. What we are are seeing is to keep that adoption high and to keep that coaching culture really thriving is be a part of those manager rep conversations as we start, as we bring people lens in, as we bring the insights. We're part of those conversations for the first few weeks, you know, in some cases the first quarter, to make sure that the rep and the manager conversation is evolving from what it is today to one where that insight is at the center of that conversation. And we found that to be an amazing vehicle to really keep that adoption going, to make sure that folks don't have to go out there, look at four different dashboards and figure out what's happening. But every week our coaching agent comes to life, and the manager and the rep are having the conversation with the insights, with the past week's context, with the snippets, with the methodology. Like here's where an individual is struggling, and here's how I have to help him thrive or help her thrive.

SPEAKER_01

This being something that people aren't doing every day with AI is focusing on the people. How did you get in front of your first customers? And which channels and strategies did you use to bring this new perspective?

SPEAKER_00

So, as we chat with uh sales leaders today, we find folks that are deeply care about coaching. That's been uh a massive unlock for us as we determine, you know, where do we fit and and who can we help sooner. Uh so it's been it's been fun, but it's been a winded path to to figure that out.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I think, Yogi, to your point, it also sits probably on the sales budget, right? Uh that's probably why the decision um happens in there. Since this is new, new vertical, it's not quite a CRM, it's not quite like a conference that you have to pay tickets to or anything like that. There's no line item on the budget for this for the folks that you're talking to. So I think that's one of the toughest parts in selling something that's very new in the market. So, can you walk us through like how you um align with them on that and what are the challenges you face in the first few weeks or months that you launched a product?

SPEAKER_00

Those challenges are are still pretty relevant as we think about the three legs of the sale here. So, you know, sales leader or a VP of sales or a CRO, there is a RevOps leader, and then there is an enablement leader, and each one plays a slightly different role. But we need three of them to come together, figure out who has the budget in one company.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And so those conversations mean a bunch of bouncing around, a bunch of alignment, slower sales cycles at times. But what we found is that if we can connect them all on what's the top line outcome. Like, how can we just get a pilot started and figure out what are your mid-performers doing today? And how can we, over a very short span of time, 30 days, begin to help you move some of those mid-performers up and what's the top line impact? And that's again becomes quite critical for folks to see that in that pilot phase before they say, Yep, this makes sense. Every manager needs to have it in their armory. They've got a lot of tools, but they don't have that insight to have this one-on-one conversation, and and they they ought to. And so as we bring more of those folks uh along, we found that there is budget getting created uh either from enablement or from sales leaders because all of this is really tied to top line.

SPEAKER_02

Sounds good. And then in terms of like the ICP, uh, Yogi, can you walk us through who are your usual clients today? Are you playing on the enterprise, mid-market? Like, how are you targeting them today?

SPEAKER_00

We focus on mid-markets. Most of our customers use Gong in Salesforce, and our first conversation is like, hey, I have this, like, why do I need you? And that's where it starts. It's taken a while again to get that ICP tuned in, uh, and that's evolving, uh, particularly in a crowded stack, but it's it's gotten a lot more fun, and we know perhaps uh a little more now where to start our conversations.

SPEAKER_01

We love the term um rep level diagnosis. We're talking about that. What is an example of this and how that conversational intelligence comes to life in the type of AI that you're working with in order to be the coach's coach and to help relationships?

SPEAKER_00

As a former strategy consultant, two decades in the past, we've done a lot of this analysis. You know, we would that's where we would start an engagement with most custom most sales leaders, like, hey, you know, you're facing this problem, you have this strategy, and here is the after after eight or twelve weeks of of hard work in an engagement, after a few hundred conversations, we'd come back with a summary and exec deck and you know, share that with the corner office, and it would be the three or four programs. What we're trying to do is is really take that same level of insight that's of intellect and break that down for every individual. With the world of AI, we can do that now. And so as we connect data sets, we want to make sure there's the power of insight in the hands of every manager, helping them, empowering them to coach, giving them the context, giving them the perspective on what was said in the prior week's call. Uh, really, where is this individual at in their in their growth trajectory? What do they precisely need help with?

SPEAKER_02

What metrics do most companies get wrong when evaluating sales performance? I mean, they already have all these um systems in place, but having people lens, you're saying, like, hey, it's adding a lot of value, X, Y, and Z. What are the metrics there?

SPEAKER_00

The metrics that really matter are are the outcomes. It's quota attainment, win rate, deal size, sales cycle. Folks know that, that's what they see, that's the scoreboard, that's very, very visible, but that why is not quite visible. And so we're able to drill down into that why, some of those leading indicators that they would call it, or what can we do today to course correct some of those outcomes that might come through in the next three months, in the next six months. And so it could be, of course, their activities, it could be their where they allocate their time, it could be competencies of an individual rep and the behaviors and what they're saying in those calls. And the more we are able to tie it all together, we can begin to get holistic about rep performance. We can begin to truly focus on that person inside the salesperson because it's not just about activities, it's much more in what people lens allows our customers to do and allows our managers and sales managers that our customers to do is to zero in on what's the behaviors in addition to the activity that I need to help my AEs work on one rep at a time, one manager at a time, one conversation at a time to live their game.

SPEAKER_02

As you scale the company, what do you think is harder, right? Building the product intelligence layer, driving adoption, or refining your go-to-market motion.

SPEAKER_00

What we've seen is making sure that we have the right leader, the right thoughtful partner. So first we had to get product right. We had to get really the science behind this, the algos right. You know, folks call it the money ball of selling, and and that really had to come together. So we are fortunate to to bring on folks from Amazon and Microsoft who've done this in that context. Like, how how is Amazon solving for operational insights in the midst of COVID and improving people outcomes? And so that was the the heart of the models that we began to build out. And once we got that right, the product came together. It was then about getting go to market right. You know, I haven't sold all my life. I've had a few roles uh that that took me there. So arming myself with with advisors who've done this for a while, arming my myself with sales coaches, uh, so that I was able to really have those conversations more effectively. Uh, and what we found is that it's taken some transition from that world of of product and go to market, and obviously you've got to keep raising your game. And and in today's world, it's a game that that the puck is moving every day, perhaps every every hour. Uh you we we know living in uh in the Bay Area or on the coasts, uh the pace is is obviously fun. So just staying current and exactly. So it's been a it's been a fun ride. Uh and go to market is something that we are uh particularly focused on this year as we think about innovation in go to market. We're doing a few things uh that are that are very, very exciting, but the space is become clearer and that gap is clearly become very visible for us.

SPEAKER_01

What do you think your biggest challenge is as you're going to market?

SPEAKER_00

We go to market uh with a few different uh paths. Our obviously our our path first, our first path is the direct path where we reach out to sales leaders and folks who who we worked with and and folks in that space, and so that's the direct path, and that's working quite well. Uh our our second path is working with a lot of sales coaches and sales coaching firms. Uh and so they today do eight to twelve week engagements inside their uh customers and then they leave. They leave a methodology, they leave some of that IP, they leave that context. But the operationalization of that methodology, whether it's Medic or SPICE or Discovery Framework or anything else, is still not quite there. Uh and so we help sales managers and enablement leaders operationalize that. So we're partnering with sales coaches to make sure that their investments and their methodologies see the day of light. They come to fruition in customer calls. And so that's our second path to market. And the third is working with a few PE firms as they think about really their portco, as they think about uh how can they expand the margins, particularly as they as they invest. Uh, we're working with them and the operating partners in there on their portcos, bringing this discipline, bringing this insight to their portcos, to their sales managers inside those firms. And so that's how we go to market multiple challenges uh on that side, Tracy, to to your point. We are we're a small team, so making sure that our focus on on these three is is is relevant. And so every every week as my CRO and me uh really invest our time, we think about who are we who are we investing our time with, what's moving, which one is moving, moving faster, and getting that right and getting that innovation, because this is is new for us. You know, we are we're making sure that we are learning as we as we fly this plane, and so getting that balance right is is key, and that's uh that's been quite fun this year.

SPEAKER_02

What are your goals and you what you think will be your challenges in the next six to twelve months?

SPEAKER_00

We are uh pretty small, pretty, pretty early stage. We've been fortunate to be uh backed by investors uh who've been in this role in the past. They've been former CROs, uh CBPs of sales, and so they they understand uh where we are going. We're not venture-backed. So we want to make sure that as we really look forward, we are operating with a pace and with the with the discipline that is uh relevant to our background and the context that we're coming with. We've got to be very thoughtful in how we take measured steps to get in front of our customers and make sure which investments and which pursuits are ones to really go after and do that with uh with the right team, do that with a few advisors, do that with the right investment model. We can't just go after every opportunity or bring in six or eight AEs onto our team. So our growth is is measured, and we've been thoughtful about how we have that conversation with ourselves, with our with our leadership team, with our investors, to take a measured approach and continue to hone in on the space that we would like to uh really have deeper impact, which is going back to our mission and making managers better coaches. Uh, so I think we have a pretty good plan as we as we uh go into the second half of this year, and it's you know tripling our our revenues, tripling our our logos, but staying very, very important uh to core to our our mission, which is about getting that manager coaching piece right in our in our customers and in the industry.

SPEAKER_02

Yogi, where can they find you? How they can reach out to you if there's an interest to talk to you guys.

SPEAKER_00

Obviously, LinkedIn Yogi Punjabi is is is number one to uh people lens.ai. Uh and you know, either we can sign up as a as a demo or uh my email is out there as well. So love to have a conversation, uh love to learn from the folks in the industry, in the go-to-market world, and and we think this is a a journey that's that's progressing at a great pace. So we're excited to have conversations.

SPEAKER_02

So, first question. You can tell if a manager is coachable within the first conversation.

SPEAKER_00

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_02

Data can predict a bad manager before their team feels it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Performance reviews do more harm than good.

SPEAKER_00

Uh maybe. Not entirely true.

SPEAKER_02

Most organizations already have the data they need. They just they just don't know how to use it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes and yes.

SPEAKER_02

Awesome. The best managers are born, not made.

SPEAKER_00

Uh well, managers can be made, uh, and and there is work to be put in there, and coaches uh have a role to play.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks again, Yogi, for joining us. This was amazing, and we wish you all the best. Let's keep in touch.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for for coming together, Tracy, Angelique. This was so much fun uh and and really excited to see this in the hands of the viewers uh and and really fun conversation. Thank you for bringing it together.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Thank you.