Claudia Ring

Thanks to two MOps-minded members of the MarTech community -- Milt Hwang and Steve Petersen -- for discussing the steps marketers need to take when a #martech vendor gets acquired. We're in an time of consolidation, both in the stack and in the market, and recent rumors about HubSpot and Alphabet and Salesforce and Informatica demonstrate that even market leaders can get gobbled up overnight. #marketingops #mops

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The biggest mistake marketers are making with ABM? Jumping in before the GTM team is tightly aligned on ICP and the fit + intent signals that matter most. This often comes with additional problems: Letting Sales arbitrarily select target account lists —> we make it much harder on ourselves if we don’t use fit and intent signals to prioritize ICP accounts and prospects that are most likely to buy and get immediate value Spray and pray tactics —> high volume, transactional, low quality, generic outreach just results in your whole TAM blocking and unsubscribing ABM without rigorous data standards —> using dirty/outdated data to multi-thread, to show up everywhere for target accounts, to (gulp) automate any part of your ABM workflows = playing with fire Piping in a bunch of signals without a clear plan of action —> just creating distracting noise (results in wasted $$ and muted Slack channels) Teams taking action on random signals without GTM alignment/coordination = total chaos Sendoso is a direct mail and gifting platform, yes. But gifting is so much more than sending swag or gift cards in exchange for a meeting. It’s a high impact ABM art that helps revenue teams take timely personalized actions with the right people to deepen relationships, increase pipeline conversion rates and speed up deal cycles. To do this well, our team uses a variety of signals to select the right accounts and automate thoughtful, personalized engagement touchpoints across the entire customer journey, from segmented outbound marketing to sales interactions with ABM accounts and creative direct mail campaigns that deliver a delightful experience for buying committees. We’re obsessed with data quality/accuracy, and partnering with the best signal providers is crucial for us. I’m so excited about the UserGems 💎 Signal Platform announcement today! We’re loving their signal library and workflows. If you’re also obsessed with data-driven, account-focused marketing and thoughtfully automated workflows, they’re an amazing addition to the marketing stack.

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As both an in-house CMO and a fractional, I have experienced first-hand the gaping whole in visibility and collaborative planning for GTM resourcing and target goals. For a Marketing leader, you often don't get the visibility you need into sales team capacity actuals and plans to know how well they can cover pipeline and demand generation; you don't have a clear data picture on whether or not you are generating enough pipeline at the sales team or rep level each month; and it was a true struggle for everyone to report from the same dataset. Kudos to Revcast for identifying and solving these data insight problems!

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Sharing RevOps co-op community best practices on something we all know is critical - designing territories to ensure the success of your sales force and, by extension, your company. The number of different strategies available make selecting the right one both challenging and critical. The team at RevOps Co-op delve deep into this topic 👇 https://gag.gl/Nm2xoO #RevOps #Data #DataQuality

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“It’s not ABM or ABS, it’s Account Based” Sales & marketing should be working together 🤝 Yesterday I was so lucky to host a live stream webinar with G2 and GTM Leaders with the incredible Anya Slowenko, Matt Gales, Maria Monks and Ollie Sharpe We unpacked… 🎯 How to identify your ICP 💰 Tapping into those in market buyers 🤝 How to align sales and marketing 🔨 Tools that help you build your account based strategy This conversation was so insightful and really highlighted the importance of taking the buyer on a journey Don’t undo all of the hard work marketing has done to educate the buyer once they have stated engaging with the sales team 📚 Align your teams by bringing marketing and sales into meetings together to discuss strategy, language and how you tier accounts Comment 🎥 if you would like to watch the recording and I’ll send it to you! Thanks again to G2 for partnering with us, and our films team for this incredible set up 🔥 Watch this space 👀 #ABM #ABS #AccountBased #Webinar

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At Mahdlo Executive Advisors we approach revenue as a 1-2 punch with sales and marketing alignment. RevOps metrics are foundational to driving sustainable growth, revenue, and a cohesive brand experience. When marketing and RevOps metrics are aligned, we better understand customer needs and adapt strategies to deliver the experiences that strengthen brand loyalty. #revops #marketingstrategy #revenuegrowth #cmo #csuite #cro #growthmarketing

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This is stuff you're not going to see on RepVue or Salesforce State of Sales. We've been gathering data from GTM leaders on the performance of their team. We asked a few questions that we feel like aren't talked about enough. "Rate your sales team's productivity." "Do you mandate activity minimums? "How important are leading indicators vs lagging indicators?" The results are very intriguing. On of the most obvious ones is that team leaders feel their individual contributors are *AVERAGE* at best at being productive with their days. Huge opportunity there for sure. It backs the findings we saw in another study that said productivity software is one of the only spends companies are willing to make in this type of economic environment. When sales gets more and more difficult... you have to get more and more intentional with productivity, strategy and you're going to succeed.

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Some years ago I was in charge of setting up HubSpot sales analytics and analyzing data for actionable insights. HubSpot is a fantastic CRM with dashboard customization, but creating the reports I needed was often a struggle. I relied on spreadsheets to calculate certain data points, which was time-consuming and difficult to maintain. That's why we created Forecastio - to simplify sales data analysis and provide AI-driven insights from your HubSpot data. If you want to learn how to supercharge your Hubspot sales analytics and easily make data-driven decisions, click the link to read more! #SalesAnalytics #HubSpot #Forecastio #RevenueLeadership #DataDrivenInsights

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In a hyper-competitive SaaS landscape, your game-changer isn't just what you're selling — it's how you're selling it. Enter Product-Led Growth (PLG), the strategy turning traditional sales models on their head. Think Slack, Zoom, Calendly. These companies didn't just create great products; they made those products their best salespeople. How? By letting users experience value firsthand. If you're interested in joining the PLG revolution, here's a snapshot of the playbook: • Craft an irresistible user experience • Align your entire org around PLG and focus on solving user problems. • Build for scale from day one, invest early in tech that grows with you. • Data driven decisions! Use analytics to continuously refine and optimize the user journey. Curious where you stand on the PLG spectrum? Download our Product-Led Growth Readiness Checklist. Assess your maturity across 8 key areas and chart your growth. https://hubs.ly/Q02SCvtT0 #ProductLedGrowth #SaaS #GrowthStrategy #ProductDev

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It’s a fascinating time in SaaS right now, as dozens of vendors compete to figure out the best way to use AI for outbound growth. There are companies offering literal AI SDRs—agents that will autonomously compose emails, send them at scale, even conduct two-way conversations. Others (more common) have AI creating first drafts but keeping the human in the loop. And still others see AI more as a research assistant: crawling the web on targeted missions, creating briefs for human sellers to consolidate info on an account or suggest relevant talking points. My honest take after talking to about a dozen vendors / experts in the past few months: it’s a brave new world, very early in the game, and I don’t think anyone has totally figured it out just yet. But if I had to bank on someone’s vision for how to leverage AI for outbound intelligently and sustainably—without just creating a massive spam cannon—I’d probably trust Jordan Crawford. He believes growth of the future will definitely leverage AI, but it will be a team sport, with the following players:   1) Customer insights expert—someone who knows why customers buy. 2) Growth strategist—the creative person who figures out the data points that indicate who to reach out to and the offer to send. 3) Technical expert—handles domains, deliverability, and AI workflows (might be the same person as #2). 4) The XDRs—people-focused sellers who actually talk to prospects and build relationships. This model makes a ton of sense to me, as did pretty much everything Jordan said in our recent chat (even the extended surrealistic analogies!) • How to use AI as a thought partner • Why relying totally on simple signals are not the answer • How to make AI plays resilient • Mid-market vs. Enterprise buyers • The rise of mouse jigglers • And a Star Trek tangent that warmed my heart You’d be hard pressed to find a more insightful and funny dude in this space. Truly loved hanging out with him—this is a must-watch/listen episode.

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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/S0b1WB #RevOpsLife #SalesTeamWins #DealHubLove #CustomerSpotlight

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CRO and CMO Jessica Gilmartin shares a first-hand account of how Calendly revamped their lead routing, qualification, and GTM org. #plgplays #productledgrowth #revenueengine #valueengine #saas #saasgrowth #salesfunnel #buyersjourney #buyerenablement #gtm #saasbusiness #saasstartups #saasproduct #productmanagement #revops #leadconversion #businessgrowth #scalingup #revenuegrowth #revenuestrategy #gtmstrategy #revenueboost #monetization #revenuegeneration #productgrowth #customerengagement #customeracquisition #gtmmotion #gtmplays #customerjourney #plgstrategies #plg #slg #saleseffectiveness #bestpractices #expertadvice #customerrelationship #useracquisition #userengagement #useronboarding #customervaluecreation #productvalue #successstrategy #gtmomentum #gotomarket #valuecreation #bestpractices #customerfocus #customercentricity #saassales #saasmarketing #growthlevers #growthdrivers #leadmanagement #leadcapture #leadnurturing #leadrouting

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It's much riskier to NOT employ a nearbound/ELG approach to finding and winning customers. Still, it's perceived as risky by many following old GTM scripts. If you're going to take a risk as a GTM leader (you should), you need some data in your quiver. Luckily, the wonderful people at Crossbeam and Pavilion have joined forces to help get you some flaming arrows of data. If you're a GTM leader, jump in and help with this effort, and get early access to the data. Survey below!

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Should every partner be a special snowflake? There's a delicate balance between building the meaningful relationships that make partnerships a unique GTM rhythm and building the operational efficiency to scale them. This is particularly difficult for partner enablement functions. Aaron Howerton and Adam Pasch and I got right into it on this episode of Literal Scratch. Also a little shout to Chris Lavoie, PhD... can't stop thinking about your post on leading indicators.

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📈 141% increase in the number of upselling deals closed per seller?! How did Paycor do it? With Gong insights — that’s how. This story with Jeff Weaver is truly incredible, and such a testament to what’s possible with improved pipeline management, forecasting accuracy, and productivity workflows. As Jeff says in the story, “Gong is the most monumental technology to come along since the CRM itself.” https://lnkd.in/gznbz6wJ #AI #RevenueIntelligence

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Nearly a quarter of product, sales, and CS folks have never collaborated on content. Beam Content 💡 found that 46% of non-content GTM folks (customer success, product, sales, etc.) aren't being effectively utilized in content creation. To quote my favorite Seinfeld episode: "That's not going to be good for business. That's not going to be good for anybody." In my experience, junior content marketers often feel that asking for SME help is disruptive to other teams, so they feel intimidated. Here are some ways to get experts from other teams more involved: 📍 Find the right person for the job. Who is the PM who owns the product feature you're trying to showcase? Which sales rep or CSM is most experienced in the particular use case you're creating content around? People like to showcase their expertise when they feel like they're the most qualified to do so. More eyes on the work they're doing? More recognition and validation? Yes please. 📣 Prepare a pitch. When you ask them, explain why their help matters to larger company goals or to the customer. What is the need you're trying to serve? 👯 Make it as easy as possible. Writing is hard, and you *chose* this path. It can be a huge blocker for SMEs. Ask for an IRL, recorded "brain dump" conversation instead, which will generate probably more raw material than you need. (I guarantee the 24% of people who said it was "cumbersome" were asked to do the writing themselves.) 🏅 Give them credit and share the impact People like to be recognized and thanked for their work, so don't forget to thank them when the piece goes live. Follow up with them if it's having an impact on pipeline or brand awareness so they know their work mattered. Creating a culture of content starts with everyone being able to see how content is created. It's a team sport, but you have to be willing to invite people to join the team. __ 🧠 Want more ways to prove content's value and improve your impact? My newsletter Contentious is launching in June: one tip, one content antipattern (and how to avoid it) and one big idea in your inbox every two weeks. Link in my profile!

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No one has ever said "wow that product is so well positioned!" (unless you're a PMM). Buyers don't notice good positioning and messaging. But they do notice this: - When a company has a strong and unique point of view - They know it's clearly for them or not - It's easy to know how they'll use it and the benefit they'll get - The company feels exciting and interesting a new way Summed up these companies just have a strong identity. They know exactly what they are all about and they are quick to remind you. When you don't have this or it's confusing or it just sounds like everyone else... you've got a weakly positioned product or company. Those who do have it... it's not by accident, I promise you they are investing in product marketing. How do you spot a well positioned product / company?

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It really is the gift that keeps on giving… 🤣 I keep coming back to Sopro’s “State of Prospecting 2024” report, because there’s so much invaluable material in there for anyone interested in running an efficient GTM/Engagement strategy. This was our third annual report, so we’ve honed the format and insights considerably.   In particular, I wanted to highlight a major change we observed in B2B buying trends. The average number of stakeholders involved in buying decisions has increased from 3.6 in 2023 to an all time high of 4 in 2024. 47% of companies see between 3 and 5 decision makers involved in buying decisions, while 11% have between 6 and 9. So the rumours are true: B2B sales are getting more complex. Decision Maker Units (DMUs) are increasingly the norm and gone are the days of the solo buyer. The lessons? Our best advice is to profile the decision influencers surrounding your typical buyer persona. Don't prioritise these within primary outreach. Once a business reaches your intent pool, and/or becomes an active sales opportunity, it's time to engage the DMU. Do this by:  - Adding all active DMU candidates to custom Social Display audiences.    - Introducing subject-specific DMU support material to help buyer champions navigate internal discussions about your proposition.  - Engaging all active DMUs personally with social connections, profile engagement, bespoke content... and if you can, chocolate brownies.  It works. Change doesn’t have to be scary. Once you map these out, the answers are straightforward to implement, low-cost and well worth the process.  And it all helps with building those warm fuzzies. #B2B #Sales

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📈 76% BOOST IN REVENUE Verse.ai helps its customers convert leads by combining AI and human expertise, so it’s thrilling that Gong has helped them do the same! They were able to drive a 76% boost in revenue with Gong Engage and increase forecast accuracy by 25% with Gong Forecast. As Verse’s SVP of Revenue, Damien Swendsen, says: “Gong allows us to increase both the velocity and volume of deals while ensuring quality isn’t sacrificed.” That’s what it’s all about — being able to do more with less and ensuring that you’re still serving your customers at the highest level. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/giXtAVk4

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