In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff White and Carman Pirie are joined by David Ceballos, Marketing Manager for the Industrial Emissions Division at Testo Instruments. Drawing on his background in automotive sales, David shares a practical, buyer-centric approach to improving lead quality in B2B manufacturing. The conversation explores how asking better questions, reducing unnecessary form friction, and respecting buyer intent can lead to more meaningful sales conversations, stronger trust, and higher-quality MQLs; without sacrificing the customer experience.

In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff White and Carman Pirie peel back the curtain on the Q4 edition of the Industrial Buyer Pulse from Kula Partners. Drawing on insights from 258 industrial buyers across the US and Canada, they explore buyer confidence, spending priorities, shortlisting behavior, and the growing role of digital self-service and AI in supplier research. The conversation digs into what actually triggers buying decisions, how often new suppliers are winning deals, where human interaction matters most, and what supply chain risks buyers are navigating today. This episode offers practical insight for industrial marketers and sales teams planning for 2026.

What does “marketing with purpose” actually look like in practice? In this episode of The Kula Ring, Jeff and Carman are joined by Alice DiSanto, VP of Marketing at Autonomous Solutions. Alice shares how deeply understanding culture, leadership, and people is the foundation of authentic, effective marketing. From conducting confidential listening tours to aligning teams around shared values, she explains how purpose-driven marketing starts inside the organization and becomes a powerful competitive advantage. This conversation is a must-listen for marketers looking to humanize technology, build trust, and create brands that genuinely reflect who they are.

For our final episode in the Holiday Series we are returning to our chat about creating a brand made for loyal customers. Klein Tools has been manufacturing tools made for trades people for over 165 years. In today’s episode, we sat down with Greg Palese, Vice President of Marketing at Klein Tools, to discuss how they continue to grow engaged customer relationships. By speaking directly with end users, Klein Tools is able to deepen relationships and increase sales. Even more, Greg discusses how they focus on solving end user problems by visiting job sites to see first-hand how Klein Tools can help their customers.

For our second episode in our Holiday Series we are taking a second look at when we chatted with Cynthia Kellam, Global Senior Director, Digital, Data and Customer Experience Center of Excellence at TE Connectivity, again to discuss how collecting and using digital data can create better customer experiences. She explains their journey of building a better Voice of Customer system to help all business units in TE Connectivity make customer-focused decisions. Cynthia explains how she avoids survey fatigue, uses automation techniques, and visualizes data for actionable success.

For the first episode in our 2025 Holiday Series we are looking back at our conversation with Augie Ray, Senior Research Analyst and Executive Advisor of Customer Experience at Gartner, about how CX is the most important aspect of marketing and how to focus on customers’ unmet needs.