July, 2026. – In a recent interview, Ari Guevara of the Roastbrief community sat down with Mike Swainey, the new President of Decision Counsel, and Adrian Tumiati, who recently joined the firm as an Executive Strategist. A boutique B2B go-to-market strategy and content marketing firm, Decision Counsel delivers programs focused on building brands, driving sales, and fostering sustainable customer relationships for global brands such as JD Power, Axos Bank, Calix, S&P Global, Spotify, TransUnion, and Amazon’s Audible, among others.
Swainey and Tumiati discussed the company’s growing focus on integrating AI and agentic AI technologies into marketing, sales, and revenue operations programs and how these innovative technologies are reshaping B2B marketing.
It is a pleasure to be with you both. First of all, congratulations. How does it feel to be undertaking these new roles at Decision Counsel, and what is the outlook for the future of the agency?
Mike Swainey: Hi Ari, thank you so much for having us today, and I’m looking forward to speaking with you about Decision Counsel. I was recently named President and have begun to settle into the role over the last month or so. Prior to this role, I served as an Executive Strategist. I am excited about our future and where Decision Counsel is headed. I’m here with my colleague Adrian Tumiati as well. He was recently added to our growing team.
Adrian Tumiati: Thank you, Mike. It’s a pleasure to join the DC team. I saw the direction the firm was taking to innovate the B2B marketing and creative space, and I was eager to get on board for the company’s next chapter. I actually know Mike from a previous life, as we worked together at a previous agency. Joining Decision Counsel allowed me the chance to reconnect with a colleague I admired.
I would like to start with you, Mike. As the newly promoted President of Decision Counsel, can you discuss how AI is changing the way your company and the clients you serve are doing business?
MS: Today, I think almost everyone in the marketing and creative spaces is using some form of generative AI in their day-to-day activities. We have clients who are integrating multiple AI tools and tactics into their everyday workflows.
As an agency, we’ve seen leaps and bounds in our ability to respond, in particular, to video needs. In the last year, our video studio has leveraged AI tools to create assets that would not have been possible to create otherwise. For us, it’s all about scale, speed to market, and ensuring the quality of work we do with AI continues to improve. It’s to the point now where we can produce prototypes and assets faster, at a quality level that would otherwise require us to bring in additional resources or schedule costly shoot days. Some of the tools are becoming very sophisticated, so it’s both operationally and cost-efficient to integrate them into our workflows, and many of our clients are doing the same.
AG: Couldn’t agree more, Mike. Using these tools effectively across business operations can deliver a unique competitive advantage we’ve not experienced before.
Adrian, you focus on systematic revenue orchestration across marketing, sales, and leadership in complex B2B organizations. How do you foster alignment between these disciplines without holding endless meetings? Can AI help improve integration between teams?
AT: Without endless meetings? If I find the secret to that, I’d be sure to share. I think one of the most important things for cultivating team success and alignment is allowing them to integrate more fully. Like other major brands, Decision Counsel clients have access to extensive technology and data, as well as a workforce with deep expertise. As Mike mentioned, AI tools are helping these teams connect the dots across these networks, allowing them to produce quality results faster than would otherwise be possible. So, from an operational standpoint, integrating AI tools into workflows is a great way to improve integration, because that’s where challenges always lie, especially at the enterprise level.
Understood, thank you, Adrian. Mike, I read that Decision Counsel is integrating AI agents across its operations and developing agents specifically to address client needs. Can you explain how AI agents are used and how they can complete tasks that would otherwise be delegated to another person?
MS: At Decision Counsel, we’re strong advocates for always keeping a “human in the loop” in the decision-making process, but using AI to improve efficiency through automating some tasks. For example, when using it for content and creative brief development, we can turn weeks or months of research into actionable insights in minutes. Another focus for us is market analysis. We can create and refine strategic briefs in a fraction of the time traditional research requires, helping clients quickly gain a deeper understanding of their markets and audiences.
And do you think this way of working in tandem with AI tools is complicated, or can everyone on the team do it?
MS: From my perspective, there is a learning curve, but it is accelerating. For example, as we gain more experience working with different types of tools across end-to-end integrated revenue programs, we learn the AI touchpoints, and the technology becomes that much more sophisticated. It’s like once you’ve experienced a certain type of software, the next iterations get better. Not only that, but your learning curve and your ability to succeed with those tools improve exponentially the more exposure you have to them over time.
From the strategy viewpoint, Adrian, let’s discuss using AI to activate strategy at scale. What is the difference between a strategy that sounds good in a boardroom and one that actually scales across complex enterprise organizations?
AT: Many organizations have substantial industry expertise and customer knowledge that naturally position them as authorities in their space. However, if they cannot be discovered by AI, they miss out on an opportunity to reach their target consumers. AI models tend to surface insights from authoritative research and benchmark data. Yet many organizations store that info on their websites or in file formats like PDFs, which AI cannot easily find. One of the most exciting aspects of working with AI at Decision Counsel is connecting our clients with the right tools and agents to answer the questions people are actively asking about their business, helping potential customers find and engage with them.
Yes, and AI needs your guidance to create these incredible marketing and strategy campaigns tailored to meet your clients’ specific needs. I know that you both have extensive backgrounds in account-based marketing (ABM). How can AI specifically improve this sector in terms of predictive marketing, personalization, and orchestration?
AT: A lot of the tools we use, such as Demandbase and 6sense, can leverage AI to connect the dots, allowing users to see buying motions, drivers, and demand. What I love about AI is its ability to quickly organize massive amounts of data and even take a first pass at developing insights from these findings. AI is changing how we identify what really matters and translate that information into an actionable strategy.
MS: I agree 100%. I would add that AI has been incredibly helpful in the targeting aspect of ABM and in creating your ideal customer profile (ICP) by gathering information and generating useful programs and plans. The hypernature of AI targeting allows us to find the right buying committee members who may be in the market for an ICP-fit client. As I mentioned earlier, we’re also seeing improvements in output quality, and I believe we’re seeing improvements in overall scoring and deal progression that weren’t as precise prior to this technology intervention.
Mike, what is the single biggest mistake you see B2B companies make when they are trying to moderate their go-to-market strategy in this AI era?
MS:
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is rushing to solutions before defining objectives. Under pressure, marketers often jump straight to tactics without a clear strategy, driving activity that isn’t tied to meaningful business outcomes. Effective marketing starts with clear priorities, objectives, and desired results. Every program should have a direct connection to a business goal–whether that’s building a pipeline, driving revenue, or increasing engagement. When I define my strategy, I know exactly how my programs will help the organization achieve a specific end goal. As we often say, it can’t be activity for activity’s sake.
Adrian, what would you say?
AT: I agree. Most companies don’t have a strategy or execution problem; they have an orchestration issue. As strategists and growth marketers, that’s where we create the most value. Say a company has a strong product, talented people, a very capable marketing team, CRM, and everything looks great on paper, but the operations are disjointed. Sales is looking for leads, marketing is looking to entice new targets, and customer success is looking for retention. All of these departments may be operating in silos despite being aligned under one boilerplate.
Meanwhile, its customers do not view the business as compartments; they view it as one brand. So without alignment across these internal disciplines, messaging gets lost, and overall goals and objectives fall by the wayside.
To conclude the discussion, I would like to ask you both what is next for you and Decision Counsel? Let’s start with Adrian.
AT: We were just talking about orchestration and, for me, that is what I’m most excited about. At Decision Counsel, we have the ability to bridge worlds for our clients. Our team has a strong strategic foundation that allows us to execute and connect strategy. While many agencies have this capability, Decision Counsel has the vision and grit to push clients towards their highest goals. We’re also all so passionate about the work we do.
MS: I would add to that as well – you know, we’re in a really unique spot at Decision Counsel. As I look ahead to the second half of this year and into next year, we’ve got the people and the processes in place to really grow the agency. But of course, first and foremost, help our clients grow and help them achieve their objectives. I’m excited because we’re looking to add new capabilities and offerings we haven’t had to date, including revenue operations, media, and others. That’s a good way to look ahead to how we begin to tee up those services for clients in service of their growth. We know it’s a need that a lot of clients have been asking us for.
As we continue to grow, we’re adding capabilities that make Decision Counsel a more powerful end-to-end resource for clients. And I know that here in the back half of 2026 and as we go into 2027, a lot of that will come to the forefront. I think it’s going to propel our growth, and I couldn’t be more bullish about our future.
Thank you both for taking the time to speak with me and share your insights with the Roastbrief community. For more information about Decision Counsel and its services, visit decisioncounsel.com.
