Sarah Rahall-Lunsford, founder of Centered Strategies Consulting, joins Sales Lead Dog to share how an unexpected shift from marketing to sales reshaped her career—and how that perspective helps companies grow more effectively today.
Sarah’s journey began with a simple piece of advice that changed how she viewed sales. Instead of treating it as persuasion, she learned to approach sales as a service, rooted in understanding client needs and clearly communicating value. That mindset became the foundation of her work helping professional services firms translate deep expertise into practical, repeatable sales strategies.
In this conversation, Sarah breaks down what actually differentiates strong marketing and business development teams in crowded markets. She explains why clarity beats creativity, how storytelling helps buyers understand value faster, and why many companies struggle because they talk about what they do instead of what clients need. The discussion also explores how data analysis improves hit rates, reveals growth constraints, and supports better decision-making as organizations scale.
The episode concludes with a practical look at CRM optimization and AI in sales and marketing. Sarah shares real-world lessons from CRM implementations, common data challenges, and how teams can make systems more actionable. She also discusses using AI tools like Copilot for Sales and Google Gemini to improve productivity, automate note-taking, and surface insights without adding complexity.
With more than 20 years of experience, Sarah has led business development and marketing efforts across multiple industries. Her background includes serving as Director of Sales and Marketing for an international home furnishings brand and SVP of Business Development for a $450M ENR Top 15 transportation firm. Over the past decade, she has helped generate more than $1.5B in contract wins, led capture planning programs with win rates above 50%, and built national M&A strategies from research through execution.
Sarah holds a master’s degree in organizational communication from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree in communication with a journalism minor from Butler University, where she also led the Speaker’s Lab.