Andrew McGuire

Wondering how to merge PLG and SLG for maximum impact? Japna Sethi talks about how they made this work at companies like Dropbox, Productboard, and Calendly. She calls it "defining the API" between the two growth motions so the right PLG leads get passed on to your sales team and shares the details on the approaches at the companies she has worked. For the full episode: https://lnkd.in/d-2ZAvir

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"The old B2B playbook is broken. It's time for a new approach." 🚨 I recently sat down with Stan Woods of Velocity Partners to discuss the current state of the B2B GTM playbook and why the traditional approach is no longer effective. (Check out the full interview with the 🔗 X below!) As we dug into the topic, it became clear that the symptoms of a broken playbook are everywhere. CMOs are struggling to grow pipeline with static budgets, SDR productivity is plummeting, and overall growth has slowed dramatically. So what's the root cause of this dysfunction? The old playbook, which I helped to pioneer at Marketo, simply isn’t working. There was a time when content like Definitive Guides truly excited and engaged buyers. They were eager to exchange their contact info for valuable, educational resources. But now? The market is overwhelmed by mediocre content, and buyers are wise to our tricks. They're conducting research anonymously, off our websites, rendering traditional lead nurturing and scoring powered by marketing automation far less effective. Many teams have turned to intent data as a potential solution, but it's not a silver bullet. Intent signals provide clues, but not definitive answers. They're most effective when treated as one ingredient in a larger recipe, combined with meaningful engagement signals. That’s one reason why it's time for B2B marketers to re-embrace brand. I'm not talking about logos and color schemes. I’m talking about what people think and feel about you when you’re not in the room. It's about building trust and affinity with the 95% of your audience that isn't actively in-market. Of course, this requires a new approach to measurement. Metrics like time can serve as a proxy for engagement, and the ultimate goal is to link this engagement to revenue. By segmenting accounts and buying groups, and tracking their movement through the buying journey, we can start to paint a more accurate picture of marketing's impact. Content has a vital role to play in this new world, but the approach must evolve. Rather than gating content behind forms, consider the "New York Times model" of ungated content that informs, educates, and entertains. The key is to earn the subscription — make your content so valuable that buyers actively opt-in to hear from you. Finally, it's time to rethink our obsession with #attribution. In complex B2B sales cycles, much of the buying journey happens offline and can't be accurately tracked. Over-rotating on attribution not only leads to inaccurate findings, but also undermines the alignment between sales and marketing. The focus should be on team-based pipeline goals. The B2B landscape has changed, and our playbook — and technology — must change with it. Check out the full interview below! #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #BrandBuilding #GoToMarket Do you agree that it's time for a new GTM playbook? Let me know in the comments!

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Do not read this post if your quota attainment per seller is >70%, Average Deal Sizes have grown >2x in the last year and if you don't need more Sales Pipeline. For those of you that do, I'm proud to announce a revolutionary way for your GTM teams to drive productivity with DatabookGPT. But, don't listen to me, listen to our customers: “As we pilot the new DatabookGPT, we find it’s driving down the creation of our initial account plans from seven weeks to seven minutes,” said Chris Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at Grant Thornton. “It's a game changer." "Every AE at Databricks lives by our value of 'customer obsessed.' Understanding the value the Data Intelligence Platform delivers for every customer is essential. DatabookGPT was built on Databricks and supports our sellers by giving them that account intelligence," said Ron Gabrisko, Chief Revenue Officer at Databricks. "Through our teams' use of Databook, we saw our average deal size increase by 54.8% in FY24", said Kirsty Mundy, WW Field Enablement Microsoft, Industry Solutions Delivery Learn more at www.databook.com. It's Generally Available now for companies looking to grow their deal sizes, shorten their sales cycles, and grow pipeline. #accountintelligence #enterprisesales #strategicrelationshipmanagement

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Here are 3 differences between a low-performing and high-performing #CSM. Low-performing CSM (LP CSM) <---> High-performing CSM (HP CSM) 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐝 <---> 𝐈𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 #CS can be overwhelming. There is always a lot going on. From customer requests, demands, expectations etc to internal goals, KPIs, priorities etc. LP CSMs have a really hard time managing this. While HP CSMs know how to prioritize, say no, and focus on what moves the meddle, the LP CSMs spend their time putting out fires, chasing customer requests and running around. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 <--> 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 LP CSMs are reactive with their work. They start their day by opening up their email or Slack, see what is being asked of them and jumps in to resolve those things. HP CSMs spend one hour on Sunday night planning out their week to see what they need to accomplish, what will move the needle and create a plan of attack. 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 <--> 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 LP CSMs typically still need to improve their business acumen, but can still be good at talking about their product and all the features and things it can do. That becomes their focus with customers, how to use the product or service. HP CSMs on the other hand, have high business acumen and focus on the "why" as much as the "how". Why will this feature help? Why is this important for their business goals? What is their business really? HP CSMs know how to talk business, not just product. At the end of the day, there are many, many tactical and strategic difference between low and high performing CSMs that I could list out. But these 3 are typically fundamental. If you spend your entire time chasing tasks and requests, you will not have time to move the needle on anything important. If you are tactical and start each day from scratch in CS, you will never be "ahead" of the game and constantly stay in chase-mode. If training a customer on the product is just about the features, the CSM wouldn't be needed...just send them a training video and do group training sessions for customers. So as a CSM - or leader of CSMs - ask yourself: am I (are we) in control, proactive, and business-minded? If yes, then you have the foundation to succeed. If no, then you have some work to do... *** 🛎️ If you enjoy my content, follow me for more ♻️ Repost to share with your network #CS #customersuccess #CS #accountmanagement #revsetter

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The key to winning deals and nailing GTM? Aligning buyer and seller priorities. For the buyer, purchasing might be priority #20. Sellers who win are the ones who elevate it to a top 3 priority by understanding and solving what truly matters

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CRO and RevOps roles are failing. The vision isn't materializing. The CRO was meant to lead all revenue, to break down silos, to align goals, strategies, process, metrics across the entire revenue engine. How often is this actually happening? RevOps was meant to help these CROs actually make this happen. As the CRO works with the CEO, ELT and Board to set the vision and build the team, RevOps was meant to build the tactical plans, processes, reporting and systems to help the CRO execute. How often is this actually happening? How many CROs can say they have: - Oversight of all sales, marketing, AND CS? - Aligned all these teams on a set of shared goals? - Visibility into metrics from Lead to Close to NRR? - Clearly defined processes across the revenue team? - Insights from data on what's working and what's not? - A real target and annual plan built on real historic data? - RevOps that brings insights and ideas to drive revenue? How many RevOps teams can say they have: - Clear company level OKRs? - Clear big priorities to tackle? - Time and space to focus on them? - Time and space to actually be strategic? - The resources to find better ways to GTM? - And not just a flood of one-off random request? As a result, both the CRO and RevOps titles are being rebranded. They've become meaningless terms for the above reasons. So we're now debating what to call these roles instead. Forgive me for being a Debbie Downer. I LOVE GTM! And we're getting there. One small step at a time. One company at a time. But most companies have a long way to go. ✌️

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The first version of the SaaS GTM playbook was written twenty years ago. Salesforce championed it. Mark Roberge published The Sales Acceleration Formula about Hubspot’s journey. Over the next two decades, we analyzed, quantified, instrumented, & optimized many aspects of the SaaS GTM. Account executive to SDR ratios, sales cycle lengths, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime values, net dollar retention. The new software GTM playbook has yet to be written. But the companies who figure it out will become the next wave of massive businesses. On Tuesday, Theory held an event with [Dave Morse] formerly at Hebbia & Scale AI, Flo Crivello from Lindy, Paul Yacoubian from Copy.AI, & Chris Changfrom Gradient to discuss how AI changes these practices. These were my take aways : - Selling AI is being discovered because the technology is new. Buyers don’t know how to use it or how to buy it. - Because the sales motions are new, we can’t apply the previous playbook to the new sales process. The CEO/founder should hire a sales leader that they fully trust who focuses on ultimate success. The sales process is a part of the product : using both the customer’s language & the ultimate use of the product through success efforts - Between PLG vs sales led, more companies were sales-led. If starting with PLG, the template sells the product. Fight the empty box problem with great concrete templates that demonstrate how to use AI. If selling top-down, most of the conversations today are at the C-suite rather than the mid-market predominantly because the buying process is new. - Figuring out how to consistently produce wow moments with non-deterministic software is essential. - The room was split on pricing model : seats, usage, or some hybrid. Ultimately, pricing captures 15-30% of the value the software/AI creates. Developing a strong case for this with buyers will be key because the ROI question from buyers is real especially as the broader software market feels pressure. - Only VCs care about the word agents / agentic : for most enterprises, agents mean a customer support agent. Many teams don’t care about the underlying technology, they seek a solution to their problem. Tomorrow, we’ll be publish the results of the 2024 GTM Survey which we’ll reveal at Saastr in which we dig into the use of AI on sales processes & the impact to efficiency. Thanks to the panelists & attendees for a great discussion.

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Salesloft is in the business of helping companies create durable revenue growth, which inevitably means helping companies scale. Far and away the most common misstep I see leaders make in the scale phase is a failure to scale process and planning alongside headcount and revenue projections. It’s an absolutely critical step for business longevity. Smaller companies have the benefit of agility, but as businesses grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to make adjustments on the fly. It’s like steering a big ship – it just turns slowly. Adjusting to this new timeline can be difficult, especially for companies that have scaled quickly and within a different market dynamic than what we face today. They need to take a page from the book of their publicly owned peers and set goals for 6 or more quarters out, then work backwards to identify what needs to happen today. Every choice you make must be framed around the question, “Is this the most important body of work for our customer base, our ability to scale, and our ability to differentiate and win?” This also extends to software investments and digital transformation planning. Companies that intend to scale need to evaluate the platforms they’re considering through the lens of 2-5 years. That means making sure the option you choose not only solves the problem you face right now but can grow and adapt as your business evolves. Platform investments need to drive speed of execution, mitigate risk, and provide innovation that increases the return on investment in the future years. If you don’t trust your vendor to outpace your growth with their own innovations – or help you anticipate the challenges that will come with growth and prepare for the methodical turn toward them – then it’s not the right choice. Keep that in mind as you optimize your growth and investment strategy. #salestech #revtech #B2Btech #revenueorchestration

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Struggling with churn? Validate the value your customer receives. This is not a static metric/KPI - it needs to be nurtured, revisited, redefined, and reinforced throughout the customer lifecycle ♻ #customersuccess #sales #customervalue #value

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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 same page… AEs, SDRs, CSMs & renewal managers How are you tracking to your goal achievements 🎯? Some mid-year reminders for the team. - Re-align to find out what has changed in your shared account(s) - Stay connected on a regular cadence - Build report and trust - you want to rely on each other - Meet in person if possible - see previous bullet - Enable tough feedback sessions - so important - Share current customer status and revisit top priorities - Strive for a unified front & strategy - Known when to engage leadership - target this as a step - Share your success metrics, KPIs, and percent to goal Success is a #team sport Have a great day!

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What are your thoughts on seeing their deals mapped out in a deal velocity scorecard? This is part of the performance dashboard we're building for MidFunnel. The idea is that sellers can see how their deals are faring. Managers can quickly get a pulse on deal progress. The velocity is calculated based on the responsiveness of communication. Next we're considering adding qualitative insights on prospect eagerness as well. #sales #sales-tech

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Customer Success isn’t just about keeping clients happy, it’s a boardroom-level conversation that investors will scrutinize. ⬇️ At #SaaStr2024, Nick Mehta from Gainsight broke down 10 critical questions that every founder and customer success leader should be ready to answer when engaging with investors. #CustomerSuccess #SaaS #TreeAndLeafPartners #NickMehta #Investor #Leaders #SaaStr2024

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Most sales leaders don't understand that sales ramp time is crucial for accurate forecasting. It measures how long new sales reps take to reach full productivity. Accurate data helps align hiring with revenue goals. Integrating CRM and HR data provides better insights. Avoid using only quota attainment to gauge ramp rate. Tailor ramp assumptions to your business for precision. Automating these calculations can save time and improve accuracy. Optimized sales ramp tracking can significantly impact planning.

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Pipeline Heroes use scripts in cold calls. Scripts that induce: Curiosity Dont target the meeting as the only purpose of the call Scale follow-ups and next actions for those in ICP, but not in market Treat conversations as reconnaissance and a cornerstone of a relationship with a stranger PipelineHeroes use scripts because they are professionals and want to be Accountable Measurable Scientific

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If you know your ICP and you know deals close when you have demos w/ a specific decision maker, in the right industry, at the right company size, at the right time - then your team’s leading indicators should be focused on the activities that drive that desired result.

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CPQ is hard and it's about to get SO much harder. A ton of companies will need to re-architect GTM infrastructure. Rev Ops is about to get hit with an AI tsunami 👇 TLDR: We're moving into a world where the default is usage-based pricing. The CPQ piece of your Go-to-Market Stack is highly unique. You can’t just treat CPQ as an extension of the CRM. It’s an entire Product discipline. Making CPQ work requires involvement from EVERY team: • Sales • Revenue Operations • Finance • GTM Systems • CS & Renewal Strategy But here’s the kicker. CPQ is about to get SO much harder 🔥 The main driver is the seismic shift we’re about to see in pricing. A move from seat-based to usage-based models is all but certain. • Customers would already prefer to pay for outcomes, not seats. • Emerging AI tools deliver capabilities DIRECTLY tied to outcomes. • And those outcomes (i.e. the VALUE) will be aligned with cost. It’s a fundamental shift in how we price, sell, bill and, recognize revenue. And CPQ is the glue that sits between Front Office & Back Office applications. It will require a large scale overhaul on both ends of the infrastructure. For Sales team, it will need to be able to handle things like: • Predictive usage forecasting for segmentation • In-app notifications for usage thresholds and upsell opportunities • Real-time ROI calculators based on actual customer usage For Finance & Rev Ops teams, it will need to handle: • Real-time revenue forecasting based on usage trends • Dynamic pricing based on consumption • Flexible dunning processes for usage-based overages • Integration of usage data into lead scoring models There are tools that handle portions of these capabilities. But there will be countless gaps to fill in. This is the last segment of Internal Tooling where you want a sprawl of vendors. THE GOOD NEWS This pricing transformation is coming. Adapting to it will take a huge cross-disciplinary effort. • Rev Ops & Finance to re-imagine the underlying processes and strategy. • GTM Systems to identify the right tools and design, implement properly. But most CPQ issues are actually more of a process problem. The fact that implementing it on top of immature processes spells disaster. Well, you're about to be gifted with a hard reset. Companies will NEED to re-think pricing strategy from the ground up. They will need to implement large scale change to the GTM infrastructure. And this time, you can build on a far stronger foundation. My Prediction: 1. This will be an area where making the investment is not an option 2. A stronger overlap between pricing and product will form 3. As a result, visibility into the role and value of Rev Ops will increase 4. Investment will flow to these teams with less budgeting headache 5. We will see a hiring surge across all teams involved in Quote to Cash __ #SaaS #Pricing #AI

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Outbound is moving in a new direction and revenue teams must keep up or get left behind. UserGems 💎 asked 100+ SaaS revenue leaders to weigh in on what's fueling their pipeline generation, what's breaking down, and how to navigate the road ahead. #marketingops #saasfounders #ceo #entrepreneurs #startupfounders #ai #playbook #techstack #bestpractices #expertadvice #b2bmarketing #saasmarketing #softwareindustry #softwarecompanies #outboundmarketing #saas #marketingtactics #marketingstrategies #cmo #marketingadvice #personalisation #marketingstrategy #marketingtips #growthmarketing #marketingdata #marketingpersonalization #martech #marketing2024 #marketingai #aipowered #aienabled #outboundstrategy #marketinginsights #saasbusiness #saasstartups #saasproduct #customervaluecreation #productvalue #valuecreation #successstrategy #gtmomentum #gotomarket #earlystagestartup #revenueboost #monetization #revenuegeneration #productgrowth #customerengagement #customeracquisition #gtmmotion #gtmplays #customerintelligence #marketingintelligence #gtmstack #revops #revenueoperations #revenueenablement #salesenablement #signalbasedselling #revops #revenueteams

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The average tenure for a PE/VC-backed GTM executive is 17 months. At this pace, you'll work for 14 companies over a 20 year career. Here's the 7 things you need to achieve your professional goals in this environment: 1. Foundational training on modern Go-To-Market best practices.  You have to understand how the world is moving - doesn’t matter how big (or small) your company is.  You have to understand the new basics and what you learned at Salesforce in 2005 won’t cut it.  2. Functional training in your role from trusted outside resources (your company will NOT have the means to sufficiently train you on anything but their industry and their product). 3. A group of peers you can bounce ideas off of, stress test new approaches, and help you avoid common pitfalls.  You can’t afford to make big bets without asking a few people that don’t work at your company.  You are risking your job and in some cases your career. 4. Regular, centralized access to the newest sales and marketing technologies so you know how to use them and whether they’re a fit for your team.  AI is happening NOW.  You need demos, you need to be testing, and you need to know what's happening. The world is changing RAPIDLY. 5. Centralized access to top tier private equity and VC firms managed independently of your current employer’s financing strategy. You need to be in the room where it happens. 6. The ability to negotiate executive compensation with assistance from the world’s leading experts. The smallest tweak to your equity agreement could have a 5, 6, or 7 figure outcome on your net worth. 7. A permanent homebase filled with people that care about you and are looking out for your best interests without conflicts or obligations to anyone else. A place whose incentives are completely aligned to your professional success. That’s what we do at Pavilion. That’s what we’re building. It’s not about any one course. It’s not about a Slack community. It’s not about a big event in Boston.  Or London.  Or Austin.  It’s about helping you live a meaningful and fulfilling career. It’s about helping you sleep better at night, knowing that a community of 10,000 has your back at all times. It’s about landing in Sydney or Barcelona or Kansas City or Salt Lake or Seattle and knowing you can instantly plug into a group of operating executives that are there to help and support you. It’s about looking backwards in 5, 10, or 20 years and saying to yourself, “All things considered, that was a great ride and I accomplished what I set out to do.” If any of this sounds appealing. If you’re feeling lost or alone or adrift. If you want help with your career and resetting your destination to maximize wealth creation, impact, possibility, and fulfillment. Well then - join us! If you want to learn more, DM me.

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