Ang McManamon

A wave of consolidation is sweeping through the sales tech industry. I recently listened to a brilliant episode from the Topline podcast, featuring Salesloft CEO David Obrand, that shed light on the current state of the GTM tech landscape. As highlighted in the episode, key players like Clari, Gong and Outreach are expanding their offering to boost their TAM and offer more comprehensive solutions. Whilst the trend is understandable, the danger is long-standing partnerships start to fray as overlapping functionalities emerge - partnerships that were once the lifeblood of the sales tech ecosystem. For us, it begs the question. In a world of all-encompassing GTM suites, is there still a place for specialized, best-in-breed solutions? I believe the answer is a resounding yes - but only if they can offer extraordinary value. To thrive in this new era, point solutions must not only deliver great results but also seamlessly integrate into a company’s core tech stack and existing workflows. At MultiplyGTM, we’re laser-focused on providing planning intelligence that complements rather than competes with the everyday solutions revenue teams rely on, and goes deep in addressing a critical need - empowering revenue leaders with the confidence and clarity to achieve their goals. Whilst we may lack the resources of larger players, our goal is to provide unparalleled planning intelligence and insights that drive revenue, while growing sustainably and delivering immense value to our customers with our domain expertise. We're on the cusp of announcing some game-changing partnerships too that will extend our reach and impact, while maintaining our focus on delivering the revenue planning capabilities that drive profitable efficient growth. Stay tuned! 🚀

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CS teams NEED to start "managing up" with execs and the board by talking about REVENUE. Yes, you can keep talking about sentiment and feelings, but start with the $. Don't lead with churn- Bottom-line-focused execs don't like that headline, so you need to tell the story better. An informal poll had CS teams owning over 50% of the revenue of many SaaS companies. Lead with this and have it be your first talking point. From there you will be able to get more things done with other departments, as your requests will be revenue-focused Need to get a Customer Success Platform as you scale? Point to revenue and the potential to lose revenue without efficiencies Need to hire more to prevent burnout? Point to Revenue potential with renewals and upsells Talk in the language your execs and board want to hear.

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Revenue Operations (RevOps) stands out as the most desired strategic approach that delivers long-term value in today’s SaaS world.   RevOps was never about just about short-term gains; it’s a holistic, data-driven approach that aligns sales, marketing/content, and customer success/growth teams to drive revenue growth by improving the ratio of customer acquisition cost to total lifetime value. If you’re opting for this approach as a sales/revenue manager you also need to train/hire the right people who demonstrate the following:   1.   Your team needs to navigate changing market dynamics, adopt new technologies (e.g. making personalized videos to make onboarding or sales reach outs easier) and make their peace with the fact that all departments have the same end goal (can be instilled by have a collective incentive) 2.   You need people who will breakdown silos between departments. Seek out individuals who not only excel in their specific role but also thrive in cross-functional environments. 3.   Your hiring strategy should reflect your long term focused will to invest in talent that not only meets current needs but also has the potential to grow with the organization. Consider candidates/training regimes that will instill passion for continuous improvement and professional development.   No sales/revenue manager can do this on their own. They need their team to be on their back supporting their ideas and that can only be achieved if constant feedback is being taken from them otherwise there will never be any ownership of the changing policies. Keep the following points in mind:   1.   Your team members have valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not especially sales and onboarding. You can only learn the ground reality by encouraging an open feedback culture where everyone feels safe to share their ideas and concerns. 2.   The feedback needs to be regular so that it allows you to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize processes and strategies. 3.   As Daniel Pink says when employees feel heard and valued, they’re more likely to be engaged and showcase ownership towards the organization’s success. Actively giving feedback fosters a culture of trust and accountability.   RevOps is a long-term approach that requires a strategic approach to hiring/training and a commitment to continuous feedback and improvement. Invest in adaptable talent and leverage key and valuable insights of your team. #SaaS #RevOps #Sales #B2BSaas  

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Are you building an SDR/BDR function? Stop what you are doing and read this. Megan Hardy is some you need to learn from - I’m stoke I get to learn from her EVERYDAY She’s really brilliant. She’s freaking cool. She’s got a fire to win like no other. She’s a builder. She’s a wife and mother with an awesomely cool family……..ask Chester Hardy….he’ll agree 😁 She cares about her people……..but doesn’t put up with nonsense. She done this multiple times….. She’s been an SDR (multiple times), AE (multiple times), run enablement (multiple times)…… Built a kickbutt SDR/BDR organization multiple times……… Read the dang thing….. She knows her stuff……. https://lnkd.in/gFG7qSem. #sdr #bdr #sales #saas #enablement #rockstar #leadership #restauranttech #wfm #leader

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Should CRO’s even exist? Not if they’re going to be: - Super expensive glorified head of sales - With no marketing or CS experience - Compensated like an account executive  - No focus on ICP or aligning the entire GTM motion - No coordination with peers in cross-functions - No P&L fluency or ability to read a P&L  - Only focused on new business with no understanding of recurring impact - No knowledge of the bowtie or systems designed to deliver ongoing customer value - Have a short term view and only care about the quarter CROs should absolutely exist if they: - Can come from Marketing, CS, or RevOps not just Sales - Have foundational understanding and respect for other functions - Are compensated like all other executives - Are focused on driving tight alignment across the GTM motion - Are focused on collaborating across Sales, Marketing, CS leveraging data generated from RevOps - Are focused on a customer journey that begins when the prospect lands on the website and continues through at least 3 annual renewals - Have a deep knowledge of the bowtie  - Have built expertise as revenue architects - Have a long term view that balances short term urgency with long term enterprise value Revenue generation is a team sport. Recurring revenue is driven by recurring impact. If you’re leading the revenue function, you have to understand that and you have to be an expert at driving tight alignment across the customer journey to deliver that impact. This is the way.

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What's the pulse for Tech Sales Hiring? I think we're well past the bottom of the market. 49% of respondents are getting at least 3 approaches per month right now. Gong's CEO, Amit Bendov noted on SaaStr this week: "Businesses overspent and overbought in 2021 Over-cut and underspent the following year and rationalised. Companies are now out of the shock and back to moderate growth". IMO Hiring activity reflects that for now and will trend upwards from here.

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SDRs are so critical to success, depending on company size, yet like many GTM functions, they too are under reduction pressure. Data from Jason S. of Live Data Technologies (article in comments) showing that SDR function may be normalizing some, not wholesale decreases like the headlines suggest. SDRs are the glue between the Marketing and Selling function. 3 years ago on one of my LI posts, we all said that SDRs would be future CEOs. Now the headline is cut them. It's an incredibly challenging job for a junior person. And may be better suited for inbound and/or transactional type selling with narrower buying committees. What are you experiencing with your SDR function? ___________ 👏 Follow B2B Fusion on Go To Market best practice strategies. 👍 Like and subscribe to B2B Fusion YT videos, 200+ GTM best practices! 🤙🏽 Struggling with faster, more efficient growth? Let's talk.

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There are two ways to solve gaps in signal-based selling. Only one is guaranteed to work at scale. 1) Revenue Enablement Provide continuous training for (a) every new hire who joins a team and (b) every 6 months to refresh reps on essential information, workflows, and processes. Many factors can impact the effectiveness of enablement activities (from the comprehensiveness of training materials to the trainer’s institutional knowledge, to how closely the individual reps were paying attention that day). Enablement only becomes harder as more people and processes are added to the mix because there are so many moving parts. 2) Revenue Operations Through automation, RevOps can reduce gaps — especially from human error — that cause friction or inaction among reps. Specifically, end-to-end automation. Most common “automations” in signal-based selling usually don’t go far enough. Therefore teams are overly reliant on enablement touchpoints to stay aligned. Ex: A champion moves to a new role and this is automatically updated in Salesforce This automation gets the process from point A to point B, but still relies on multiple human touches from B to Z. End-to-end automation ensures that essential tasks throughout an entire workflow are set up to keep the process moving toward an end goal. It anticipates gaps and opportunities for human error from point A to point Z (meeting booked). Ex: A champion moves to a new role, the CRM record is updated, a rep is notified, and a multi-step persona-specific email sequence is triggered. Would every rep follow this process if it was entirely manual (even with enablement training)? Probably not. That’s why every signal play should be accompanied by clear workflows enabled with end-to-end automation. The play can scale with your team. Signals without action are just noise for reps. Automation guarantees signals get actioned.

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An enterprise sales kickoff (SKO) is critical for aligning the sales team with the company’s strategic objectives, energizing the team, and setting the stage for a successful sales year. Beyond alignment of company goals, product and service education, motivation and morale boost, skills development, networking and team building, marketing and competitive insights, goal setting and accountability, inspiration and vision, strategic planning, and a feedback loop from the field, there are also several consistent mistakes/NOT-to-do many organizations ignore before, during, and after their SKOs! Here is my latest post on Ten Sales Kickoff Insights shared by GTMnow - https://lnkd.in/eQxQrKuJ GTMfund Sales Community #SKO #SalesKickoff #GlobalKickoff #KeynoteSpeaker #RelationshipEconomics #CoCreate #CurveBenders #ConsequenceOfAI

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Enterprise sales reps, hear me out -- you've got to stop thinking that "Proficient with Microsoft Word" is a differentiated selling skill. What I mean: Ten years ago, you could build a really unique account plan by doing google+social sleuthing because it was (a) relatively hard work that (b) not everyone would do even if they could. Today, I'm still seeing Enterprise sellers stand out from the pack by doing hard work that their peers won't — specifically, by going hard after primary sources instead of using the web. In other words, they're not settling for "Proficient with Microsoft Word." 3 approaches I've heard in the last month of discussing this with leaders of enterprise sales teams: 1. Sales rep using their 1st+2nd degree network to contact and interview literally anyone with recent work experience at the target company. Doesn't matter if they have to start below the line in the wrong department — they turn one referral into another and eventually have account insights that no competitor does. For penetrating a huge org this is invaluable. 2. Having the sales rep and SDR pair up on calling into the Sales organization of the target company, and just nicely ask for insights "sales rep to sales rep". The advantages of calling the sales org, despite not being your actual persona, are that (a) they pick up the phone more than other depts and (b) as sales reps they know how to be helpful if they want to be. I didn't personally expect this to work that well and was surprised how well it did when we tried it. 3. Hiring former employees of the target company as consultants for building account plans and/or designing RFP responses. This is harder work than sending out AirPods, champagne bottles, or gift cards in exchange for meeting — but you get a willing coach, maybe even a former executive, helping you sell. That's huge. (Obviously I'm biased toward using Emissary.io to simplify this.) There are no shortcuts in sales but there is always "doing what others won't." Would love to hear other under-utilized, hard-to-do tactics!

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The path to $10MM ARR is about finding your repeatable, scalable sales motion. The formula is simple, but not easy. It looks like this: Effort + Enthusiasm + Messaging + Lead Quality = Results When you are scaling a sales team, your job is to manage the inputs. Those are the things on the left side of this equation. If you can reduce the variability of the inputs, you will have more consistent results. Put another way. Consistent inputs leads to consistent outputs. Let's break it down... 1. Effort is the driver for your sales performance. You cannot scale without consistent effort. Effort includes the velocity of sales activity (phone calls, emails, meetings, etc.). Effort also includes the way that you execute your sales activity. This is your sales process and sales playbook. You can improve the quality of your effort with learning and development. 2. Enthusiasm is an amplifier for your effort. You have to act like you want to earn the business. A little enthusiasm goes a long way in closing more business. I've found that you can't teach enthusiasm. You must hire for it. 3. Messaging is how you get prospects to believe what you believe. Your messaging is your value prop. It's how you approach your ICP. It's the way that you convince customers that their current version of the world is no longer acceptable and they must make a chance. The best messaging illustrates the consequences of inaction. 4. Lead quality drives your conversion rate You have to stay focused on your ICP. The more variable your lead quality, the more inconsistent your sales results. The best effort, enthusiasm, and messaging are helpless if you are focused on the wrong accounts. This is the formula for predictable, repeatable, scalable sales. Manage the consistency of your inputs and you will have consistent outputs. What about you? What's your formula for repeatable results?

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Want to elevate your sales game and win over C-suite executives? 📈 Learn from the best with ZoomInfo's top sales tips, including insights from our CEO and Founder, Henry Schuck!  Discover the definitive guide to selling to the C-suite in 2024: bit.ly/4aSCL3i

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Gong's GTM teams love DealHub! We're geeking out over how Gong, the Revenue Intelligence leaders, are using DealHub.io to, well, rock their sales world! Their Deal Desk, RevOps, and Sales teams are all raving about the platform. Here's why DealHub is a hit at Gong: * Less Busywork, More High Fives: DealHub slashed manual work by 50%, freeing up time for what matters – closing those deals. * Crystal Clear Visibility: Say goodbye to pipeline mysteries! Everyone at Gong has a bird's eye view of the sales process. * Faster Sales Cycles: DealHub helped Gong accelerate their deal cycles, meaning quicker wins and happier customers. * Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Collaboration is key! DealHub fosters seamless communication between all of Gong's awesome teams. Curious how DealHub can boost your RevOps magic? Check out the full story! https://okt.to/WeHlgw #RevOpsLife #SalesTeamWins #DealHubLove #CustomerSpotlight

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There is a strong need to move away from a theoretical understanding of buyer journeys and adopt a data driven and learning based approach to understand these journeys. With RevSure AI , Marketers now don't need to do any guesswork, just need to apply creativity at the right places to make the customer journey seamless! #marketing #ai #customerjourney

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Great dinner and discussion on the cutting edge of outbound automation and signals. Two nuggets from the discussion: 1) Email deliverability is especially critical for GTM motions with large scale outbound automation (usually selling to SMBs and wide TAM). There doesn’t seem to be a silver bullet, and banking on one deliverability vendor / approach is risky. 2) Bulllish on signals and automation for up-market GTM motions, but needs to be done thoughtfully. Likely keeping reps in the driver’s seat and less end-to-end automation.

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How do you reduce costs while accelerating growth? That was the crux of the question posed in a post recently by Michelle Benfer after a dinner she attended with other Revenue Leaders. While Executive Leadership too often favors reducing " sales support staff" (aka RevOps/Enablement) over reducing sales headcount, Michelle argues that, when done right, RevOps makes revenue orgs less reliant on headcount not more. What do you think? This topic was tailor-made for The GOATS of Growth podcast, so I asked her to join me. In this clip you'll hear her describe what she thinks best-in-class RevOps looks like.  Michelle, you are what best-in-class GTM leadership looks like, and I thank you for joining me! Please follow Michelle for more great content and reach out if you have more questions--ONLY after listening to the episode. Here is the link to the full episode. https://buff.ly/3Cjhr6Q. Please subscribe to the show if you like what you hear!

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Top 5 key metrics I recommend CROs use for inside sales professionals: 1. Speed of response 2. Efficiency of progression through the process 3. Number of calls per day 4. Number of positive outcomes 5. Demo sets As a CRO leader, these are five metrics that I live by. 

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The new episode of The Science of Scaling Podcast dropped today. In this episode, I speak with Ang McManamon the VP of Sales at Crunchbase. We dissect managing sales through a pivot, specifically how she managed the team as the market transitioned from one of the most bullish markets in tech in 2021 to one of the biggest down markets in tech in 2022. Example discussion points include: How to manage a board that is demanding an unrealistic revenue target? (1) Educate them on the current bottoms-up GTM model by showing them where the team has been performing on the key drivers of revenue outcomes over the past 2 quarters (i.e. the average productivity per rep (PPR), MQLs generated per month, average sales cycle and close rate on sales opportunities, etc.). We implement this framework with our portfolio companies Stage 2 Capital before issues like this even surface in order to establish the narrative from the beginning. (2) Illustrate where these metrics need to be to achieve the revenue outcomes they are demanding. Often this analysis yields the conclusion that the team would need to 2x PPR, MQL generating, and and close rates essentially overnight. Hopefully, they start to see how unrealistic the plan is and that the plan is going to lead to unnecessary burn and departures of top performers (3) Using the bottoms-up model, devise an aggressive but realistic plan that assumes say a 10%-20% Q/Q improvement in each of the performance drivers and the revenue outcomes that this performance would yield. (4) The board may ignore this line of thinking but at least we have educated them on the revenue mechanics and can use that framework to report back results at the next meeting. How to quantitatively assess whether a revenue miss is due to a macro condition, like the economy, or sales execution, like hiring and training the salespeople? An area few boards and leadership teams look at to conduct this diagnosis is the quarter-over-quarter performance of individual AEs, especially the consistent top performers on the team. If the company misses the target and you look under the hood and find that the historic consistent performers are still performing as usual and the miss was driven from AEs hired in the last year, we have a sales leadership execution issue. However, if we look under the hood and see that even the top performers' PPR decreased, perhaps at about the same time and about the same amount, then we have likely have a diagnosis outside of sales execution (i.e. economy, competition, product, etc.) Anyway, Ang is awesome and was completely open about this journey that so many leaders experienced over the past two years. Check out the episode here! https://lnkd.in/e2QiuPEH

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