Ep.120 - AI-Driven Buyer Behavior, Trust, and the New Sales Playbook with Sabrina Parsons - Part 1
Ep.120 - AI-Driven Buyer Behavior, Trust, and the New Sales Playbook with Sabrina Parsons - Part 1  
Podcast: Selling the Cloud
Published On: Wed Apr 01 2026
Description: General Episode Description:In this episode of Selling Intelligence, Mark Petruzzi and KK Anderson sit down with Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software, to explore how AI is rapidly reshaping buyer behavior and forcing a complete rethink of how companies sell, market, and build trust.Sabrina shares how search behavior has fundamentally shifted toward AI-generated answers, reducing click-throughs and changing how buyers consume information. She explains why this creates new challenges in clarity, especially around the “build vs buy” decision, and why sales teams must now work harder to guide buyers through uncertainty.The conversation also dives into the growing importance of trust, the evolving relationship between sales and marketing, and how organizations can use AI effectively without losing the human connection that ultimately drives decisions. What You’ll Learn:The New Buyer Behavior: How AI-driven search and LLMs are reducing clicks and changing how buyers gather information.The “Muddy Middle” Problem: Why AI has blurred clarity around what buyers actually need and whether they should build or buy.Selling in an AI World: How sales teams must adapt when buyers are more informed but also more uncertain.Sales and Marketing Alignment: Why tighter collaboration is critical to address buyer confusion and build trust earlier.Using AI Without Losing Trust: Where AI enhances the sales process and where it can damage credibility.Key Topics:Shift from keyword search to question-based search behaviorAI-generated answers reducing traditional website trafficAEO vs SEO: optimizing for AI engines, not just search enginesBuyers arriving more educated but with incomplete or misleading contextThe disruption of the “why change” conversation in salesBuild vs buy vs AI: a more complex decision landscape for buyersMarketing’s role in answering buyer questions upfront and building trustThe risk of poor AI experiences damaging brand perceptionUsing AI for preparation versus customer-facing interactionsTurning AI efficiency into better personalization and human engagementGuest Spotlight: Sabrina ParsonsSabrina Parsons is the CEO of Palo Alto Software, makers of LivePlan, a leading business planning and financial forecasting platform. With experience leading both sales and marketing, she brings a unique perspective on how companies build sustainable revenue engines. Sabrina is also a strong advocate for women in leadership and technology, and has guided her company through multiple waves of technological change. Resources & Mentions:Palo Alto SoftwareLivePlanConcept: AEO (AI Engine Optimization) vs traditional SEOConcept: Build vs Buy vs AI decision-makingConcept: Trust equation in modern salesExample: Customer experience with AI chatbots (Oura Ring case)🎧 Listen now and follow Selling Intelligence for more insights on AI, modern buyer behavior, and building high-performing revenue teams.Mark Petruzzi (00:31)Welcome to Selling Intelligence. Our guest today is Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software, makers of LivePlan, one of the world's leading business planning and financial forecasting platforms. Sabrina has been the helm at the company, this company that has over four decades of history leading through multiple waves of technology disruption.Before stepping into the CEO role, she ran both sales and marketing, giving her a uniquely integrated view of how companies grow, how buyers decide, and what it really takes to build a revenue engine that lasts. She is a passionate advocate for women in leadership and technology, a thread we'll weave in throughout today's conversation as well. So three topics we'd like to cover with you and with Sabrina today.how AI is reshaping buyer behavior and what that means for how you sell. We've covered that many times on our podcasts already, but we really are excited about Sabrina's perspective and her experiences in that area as well. The second one is why the human element, why trust, story building and storytelling.And relationships are the only sustainable differentiators that we really can build in today's business climate. And third and finally, what sales and marketing leaders must do differently today and how that integrates into the CEO role and also the board of directors. What can the boards be doing to help their sales and marketing leaders evolve in the way that they need to?Sabrina, welcome to Selling Intelligence.Sabrina Parsons (02:13)Great, thanks Mark, I'm really happy to be here.Mark Petruzzi (02:15)All right, let's dive right into topic one. ⁓ Topic one, AI and the changing buyer. So Sabrina, you've described the buyer behavior online as having shifted more dramatically in the last 18 months than in the prior decade. What are you actually seeing? Why does it matter so much for how we sell and how we need to sell in the future?Sabrina Parsons (02:35)that's a great question. And I'm pretty sure as soon as I start talking, all the listeners are going to say, because we've all experienced, I think, a very similar change in how we interact online. In the last 18 months and even more so in the last 12 months, we have all seen the way our interaction on search has changed.particularly with these new AI synopsis that you see at the top of the page.And while there will be articles and sites that are cited in this AI, what's happened is that fewer people are clicking through because they go, they have a question, they type it into Google, and they're typing questions now into Google. used to be that we would type keywords, right? And then you'd see what happened. And now people are typing questions into Google and then the or whatever search engine, but, Googlestill probably the most used. And then what they're getting back, it scratches the itch for the most part. And so they're getting this information and then maybe they're moving on, right? So that's one huge change in behavior and we're all seeing it, right? You have interacted and chosen not to go forward because your question is answered or you found what you need. ⁓ So that new way that we're getting...all of this information displayed, it means fewer click-throughs, and so companies that are selling have to deal with that. The other thing is that search engines are really leaning on and preferringwhen you can put content out there that actually gives answers, because that's what people are looking for, right? It's how do I, those types of questions, how do I do this? How do I sell? How do I market? How do I, all of these how do I's, that's what people are doing. ⁓ And then the other thing that I think we all know is that people are for the most part, very familiar with LLMs, right? With all these AI chat box. And many peopleare using them instead of search engines, which I will say if you are, think about it because it's a very expensive search engine. It uses a lot of energy to do an AI query. And every time we're usingAI when you could just use a search engine, we're wasting energy. So it's something that, you know, not everybody always knows, but there's an appropriate use for AI, but it doesn't matter, right? Behavior has changed, and we're all trained now in this new behavior. And it feels like it's just been like instant, like in the last 12 months, because changing behavior used to be a huge thing, right?From a sales perspective, people like you would teach salespeople how to help change behavior. And like we have seen behavior change just so quickly this time around.KK Anderson (05:23)overnight. so how does that change how we sell?Sabrina Parsons (05:27)So that's a great question. I mean, it has to, right? Because when you're selling, used to be that your marketing team could just make sure like, are search results going to come up on first page versus second page? And if not, let's just buy pay-per-click ads and make sure that they come up.in those results. And it's like that doesn't work anymore. So a lot of what you have to do in terms of how to change how you're selling is address this new way that content is consumed. So you really have to think through, am I providing answers? And it's not just content that fits keywords, right? It's content that's actually giving answers. And then in the way you format your content, if you wantto be AEO forward, right? It used to be just SEO, search engine optimized. Now we're AI chat bot optimized. If you want to be AEO forward, you really have to rethink how you're putting your content together, what kind of sort of synopsis you have that's easy for AEO to grab.Do you have the right FAQ schema? It's just a, you know, it's a different way that the LLMs are crawling through information. And so you just have to make those changes.KK Anderson (06:46)Right. And I'll just add to that. It's all about that trust equation. Right. And so that's what our prospects for all of us, you who are running businesses and running sales organizations, they're all looking to, they're looking for value and that value is what's driving trust. And that trust equation ⁓ is going to what finally converts. And so when your buyers do get on the phone with you finally,They're going to be so much more educated. going to know so much more. They will probably have an LLM, create a table stack ranking, the three top options to solve their problem. And so they're going to be so much more educated when they get on the phone with your team as well, which is another, when you get sort of that sales process behavior that it just, all the changes at top of funnel are filtering down.into that as well. Everything changes.Sabrina Parsons (07:37)and I think that's important, right? And salespeople know this because they're getting confronted. It's like they used to have their process, the information, they've done their homework on the prospect. And now you have to be prepared to understand what are they seeing in chatbots, what is coming through, what kind of, because the other part is that it doesn't necessarily, itThere are opportunities to help someone understand that the landscape may be more nuanced than the AI LLM has put out there, right? But you have to do your homework ahead of time. You have to understand what they're seeing, how much more research, so to speak, they think they have, and then how do you address that, particularly, KK, like you said, just from that trust side of the equation.KK Anderson (08:25)And Mark, I'll give the next one to you here in a second, but just to kind of cap that off, it makes the concept of selling to your customers' outcomes even more important because it's not necessarily about educating them on your product or your service or what you're doing. It's how do you take that, how do you take what they think they know or they don't know or the absence or the void and convert that into something that's important to them, which is the outcome that they're trying to achieve.Sabrina Parsons (08:50)Exactly.Mark Petruzzi (08:50)Excellent. So Sabrina, at AGS, we talk about a two-sale mentality. The first sale is just why change. The second sale is why you and why now. If you're not accomplishing both of these processes within a selling model, then you're not winning the deal.You know, there are companies that are really good in understanding clients, understanding why they want to change, but they're not as good on the, you know, differentiating themselves in the market. There are even more companies that are the other way around that really just don't spend enough time understanding, you know, what are the risks here? Why change it all? And their pipelines get bloated and then get very, very lean quickly.because they have a lot of clients that just say, or prospects that just say, I don't need to change and I'd rather not write out another $3 million check. So where does AI driven buyer behavior disrupt that first sale the most in your opinion?Sabrina Parsons (09:56)You know, I think number one, it's disrupting in terms of what that client thinks they need help with, right? It was very clear. think there's now, it used to be very clear, this is what my tool might do. And I very much understand how I can help the client. And the client...for the most part understands what they need and how you can help them. And I think AI has blurred all the edges, right? As we're all learning how to use it, it's blurred all of that where it's like, well, do I need that tool? What can AI do for me instead? Should I change my process and adopt this new tool or do I just need to get better at prompts for AI or should somebody in my organization vibe code something and dosomething that's more internal and specific to us. And so it's almost like the buy birth versus build is a much murkier, muddier question, right? Because, and it doesn't always mean that the tool isn't actually the best thing for them. It's just that your buyer is now.confused and wondering like, maybe I don't need the tool, maybe AI can just do it for me. And so I think we've just that clarity that used to be a little bit easier with those two things like, you know, what do I need and how does your tool help me? Like that's just muddy now. It's now like, I don't know what I need. Do I need your tool or do I just need, you know?some internal AI expert or maybe I need both. And so I think thatit's just made things muddier. And so the salesperson has to help that prospect understand that and see and clarify and then show them those benefits of like, you don't want the pain of learning all of this. We've got you. We have done it and we've integrated this into our tools. So you get the best of all the worlds without having to figure it out.KK Anderson (12:00)really insightful. You are spot on with that. so you and you've kind of seen this from both the market. I know the world is changing every day, every month. It's different than it was yesterday with every recording and every time we publish a podcast, something else has changed, right? But you've seen this from both the marketing head of marketing seat and the head of sales seat, know, at LivePerson. So in this new world,that we're in, like how did these two function, sales and marketing? how, I mean alignment between the two has always been a problem, right? And so what are some ways that you're seeing like that overlap, that handshake to happen more effectively in this new era? Like talk to me about that.Sabrina Parsons (12:38)that's a really good question because I think you you're right. There's always a little bit of headbutting, and sales is sometimes out selling things. I mean even headbutting with product as well, right? Where sales will sometimes sell things the product doesn't have yet and sales will say well marketing you're not keeping up. We need these materials you don't have. So I think that's always been a little bit more, you know, that's always been something thatdepartments have butted heads against. think right now marketing and sales have an opportunity ⁓ to really understand when you have this much gray area and fuzziness around, what is it that the client actually thinks they need? You can very much...be in a space where you believe you have the best tool and they actually need you, but now the client's not sure they need you. So marketing has to help make that case, right? Marketing has to be playing this new AEO game. Marketing has to also understandWhat are the things that these clients think they might be able to do without us and address those, right? It's all about answering those questions, answer forward, give that information and address. And then I think even more so that trust of really truly we are the right organization with the right expertise that you can trust because we all know and the clients constantly worried aboutIf I just use AI, is it real? Is it true? Is it hallucinating? And so marketing teams, think, really have to help lead the path to clear away the maybe misgivings people have between, do I use AI without the tool? If I use the tool, do I use it with AI?Or does the tool have everything I need? If marketing does a good job of helping someone understand that, why you shouldn't be an AI by yourself, why we've brought AI into our tool and it's going to be even better, then the salesperson can take it from there and do some personalization for that client when they're selling to say, let's actually have specific examples of why our tool is going to be better off for you than if youare off on your own trying to be an AI prompt writer all of a sudden.KK Anderson (15:00)and moving into sort of this next topic around trust and story and the human advantage, you know, we all, it seems like what was super cool, ChatGVT, Claude, prompts, generative AI, six months ago is now just table stakes, right? And so we're all getting, it's almost like we're using, now we're using these tools that are very quickly table stakes.the same outreach sequences, the same content generators, you see the same, you know, M dashes and hope your hope to see male funds you doing well. Like you, can just spot it immediately. You know, you know, immediately when you're looking at something that's AI generated, right? So, so talk to me a little bit about how you can lever for sales specifically, right? How you can leverage AI, but still actually create differentiation. Like what are, what are some of the things you guys do with your team?Sabrina Parsons (15:48)that's agreat question. I I think that there's an appropriate use of AI even when people recognize it, right? And I think that's important. I think that AI should be used to make some jobs easier. I think there are some writing that AI can do that is appropriate and AI does it faster and it streamlines it and that's okay. But I think it's really important to recognizesort of where a client does not want to see that, where a client does not want to feel that. If a salesperson is trying to sell and part of what they're saying is, we're going to bring personalized account management to you and that.client is like, really? Because I just had a horrible chat bot interaction with your website and there was no person and it was a robot and I don't believe you. And so that's where like we have to define.where it's okay to use AI, where you're hurting yourself when people know it's AI, and you need to be very careful. And then using AI appropriately internally to be very prepared for your sales calls. AI can prepare you.at a speed at which we haven't seen. And so you have no excuse not to be prepared, understand the exact situation your client is in, have researched their company, have researched them. I mean, it's easy to do now. And so it's almost like we can't get away with not doing that because that's how you prove that we're real people and we're taking the time to be real people. But it does have to flow all the way through. You don't want...that person to have had some interaction with a pre-sales chat bot that was terrible. And you're to have to fight that because there's a lot of people out there who are like, don't, there's going to be some negative connotations because people have had bad interactions. And so how do you address them? And interestingly, if you can get marketing to play ball with you and you do some of these,some of these interactions better than everybody else, that's right now at least, know, God knows in six months, but right now that's gonna make you stand out. ⁓ I was talking to someone who had an aura ring and had an issue with the aura ring, went to the website and was super annoyed that they could not get a real person. Just so annoyed.And it was a chat bot and said, I spent 10 minutes fighting the stupid chat just to try to get a person. And then finally said, forget it. Fine. I'll interact with the chat bot. And they said, in three minutes, the chat bot had looked up my data, knew that my battery wasn't working, and told me that they were sending me a new aura ring the next day. Right? And so all of a sudden, he's like, I felt like such an idiot.Mark Petruzzi (18:36)Ha ha ha.KK Anderson (18:39)This is awesome!Sabrina Parsons (18:40)Yeah, he's like, I push back on it so much because I've had such terrible experiences and I really didn't want to use it. And then it turns out if I had just embraced it, I would have been better off. But that's the opportunity, particularly for marketing and sales to work really well together, because there are people who are doing it terribly. So don't be those people.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.