Richard Holland

Busy week ahead! We're all across Europe the coming week. We're kicking off our European tour with Gainsight's CxO Summit in beautiful Ascot. I'm joined by a select group of other inspiring Customer Success executives from across Europe. What's on the agenda? Small group, all day long workshops to provide new insights and visions, exchange experience and networking. And I've been told there's some surprise childlike-joy fun activities as well - to satisfy the always present inner child in me. 😆 Alongside incredible speakers, we'll be sharing thoughts on: 🤝 How to make AI really relevant to the Customer Success organisation. 🤝Stay ahead in the customer retention race: How to build loyalty for your customers and build effective communities 🤝 Turn your customer succes into a revenue generator Looking forward to see familiar faces and get to know new inspiring leaders! #cs #saas #retention #gainsight

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Shallow sales tactics don’t cut it anymore. It's time to go deep. ⬇️ Did you know that 72% of buyers prefer to not deal with sales-reps? Why? Dial & pitch is out ➡️ deep sales is in; delivering a 56% stronger pipeline and 2.3x larger deals. 💸 Your offering may draw in your prospects, but they stay because of you. #DeepSales #RelationshipBuilding #Sales #Marketing

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Tired of losing hard-earned deals? Solve for Revenue Leak. In Clari’s 2024 Revenue Leak Report, RevOps leaders said leak happens at every stage of the funnel. - Creating: Poor and slow upsell pipeline tracking - Converting: Unsure where pipeline is dropping off - Closing: Slipped deals Don’t let Revenue Leak drag down another quarter – or another year. Download the Revenue Leak Report for more: https://lnkd.in/eeVWViQz  

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Signature Success Plan customers get 83% ROI. Learn how you can... - achieve your goals faster - avoid downtime - create and deploy scalable solutions Watch the video to learn more!

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How do you detect atrophy in your team? Many of the conversations I’m having with revenue leaders centre around how they can become more proactive vs reactive. A big part of this is detecting atrophy - those reps who may be blindly slipping into decline or heading for a bad quarter. To be proactive requires ruthless focus on LEADING indicators. Rather than obsession over LAGGING metrics. Leading indicators typically include KPIs such as: - pipeline value ($ opps created) - pipeline volume (# opps created) - stage to stage conversion (%) - activity volume Another great leading indicator is competency scores - ie what level of competence are reps demonstrating vs key competencies you expect them to display. Close monitoring of leading indicators helps you as a leader make proactive interventions so your team can course correct before it’s too late. It might just save your quarter. #leadership #data #growth #metrics #objectivedata

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It should not be so hard to empower your sales teams. But, in 2023: 📉 53% of CROs struggled to increase sales velocity and rep productivity 📉 72% of salespeople spent time not selling 📉 28% of sales reps expected to attain quota This year, learn how to leverage the power of sales enablement 🚀 https://lnkd.in/gZ7qQftm #salesenablement #change #saas

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Here are a few of the questions submitted ahead of the webinar on 'SDR Team of the Future' with David Wilkins Shabri Lakhani and Nicola Anderson Are sales cadence tools harming or helping? Is SDR outreach really the best way to grow your business? Best operating model for SDR teams ? How to manage tenured SDR's and ensure continued performance? Team structure, process, KPIs, all the good stuff What makes an SDR Team successful? From my experience to date, AI can get you 90% there at best, but you still need a human to check and make it 100%. How long do you think it will take for us to get to 100%/fully automated and in the meantime, who should be responsible for checking the AI output (SDRs, AEs or leaders)? Is the SDR function (for humans) dead ? How do I integrate AI successfully into our outbound motion? And what tools should we be looking at, apart from chatGPT Best practice for creating smooth marketing and sales teams focused on solely conversion What does a ‘best practice’ SDR team look like today and what are thoughts on overcoming the remaining challenges most effectively in the future - ie what next? Why are so many SDRs missing target? How should we comp SDRs to facilitate the creation of good quality pipeline, whilst simultaneously allowing them to maintain control over their compensation? If we don't invest in SDRs, what happens to our talent pipeline of the future? ****** There's a lot going on in the world of SDRs right now! If you want to hear the answers to your questions, you should join us 13.00-14.00 this Thu, May 9th! Link below. #sdr #pipeline #bdr #outbound #prospecting

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One for the SDRs and AEs in my network… Earlier this year, I had the privilege of speaking at the SDRs of London event on a topic that I often get asked: “What’s next for SDRs?” One point I was keen to make during our breakout sessions was that transitioning from an SDR to an AE role used to be viewed as the “Golden Bullet.” No more cold calls, trigger tracking, or thoughtful emails. But the reality in 2024? It’s very different. ⚡️ With AI-driven mass outreach and evolving tech, the skills SDRs have developed over the years are more important than ever. In my opinion, the biggest shift from SDR to AE isn’t just about refining your pitch or mastering product demos—it’s about managing your emotions and the inevitable stress. 😅 As an AE, you’re no longer just chasing weekly KPIs. You’re managing complex deals, juggling priorities, and facing the weight of closing. 💼 Despite what LinkedIn might tell you, bad months happen. It’s how you handle the lows that defines you. 🔄 So, in the spirit of Mental Health Day (loosely), take a moment to re-center and keep things in perspective. Stay focused, stay grounded, and remember: doing the right thing always pays off in the long run. ✨ To all the SDRs and AEs out there—keep pushing, and take care of yourselves. 🙌 #Sales #MentalHealth #SDRtoAE #SalesLeadership #Resilience

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Rev Ops.....has 'efficient growth' replaced 'growth at any cost' for you? Do you know which people and teams are most productive and most efficient?...Lative can help with this! The past two decades saw businesses striving for growth, often overlooking efficiency. Now, it's time to change the narrative. Discover how Lative supports a shift towards sustainable revenue and cost-efficient growth using data-driven insights. 📊 Request a demo today! 👉

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Londoners, whats your plans tomorrow after work? Come join me and; Alex Wood | Sales Leader at Aircall Galit Weinberg | Director of Sales at GoCardless Rosi Y. | Head of Enablement Stenn along with the Wiser elite team. We'll all be in a room full of other sales leaders to discuss the results from the ‘The State of Sales Coaching 2025’ – the largest sales coaching-specific survey ever conducted. Who’s the event for? Sales leaders who know the impact and importance of coaching and looking to improve their coaching strategy in 2025 using the learnings from a critical piece of research. When: Tomorrow (13th November) 6.30-9pm Where: Wiser HQ - 10 Bakers Yard, London, EC1R 3DD How: Grab your free ticket here: https://lnkd.in/eZhKd4hC Expect networking with other sales leaders, food, drink, and great insights from the panel. — See you there if you like? #salescoaching | #salesperformance PS I look worse in real life, this is me calling it out now ha. It's a half decent picture. 😅

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🚀 SaaS Leaders - How to ensure you retain your best salespeople Salespeople are the key to growth of your SaaS organisation, particularly during the early years. However, they job they perform is arguably among the most complex and volatile of any given role within the business, leading to higher levels of attrition than any other area... 💡 Job seeking persists despite satisfaction: According to HBR, more than 50% of sales professionals are either actively or passively seeking a new role at a given time. Even many high-performing professionals, with strong results and company recognition, are exploring new opportunities despite being content in their roles, indicating that satisfaction alone isn't enough to ensure retention. 💡Traditional retention strategies are ineffective: Compensation adjustments, title changes, work-life balance, and sales culture improvements have little impact on retaining talent. Instead, sales professionals are more concerned with career growth opportunities and feeling confident in their trajectory for success in both the short and long term. 💡Compensation isn’t enough: Pay raises alone don’t motivate sales professionals to stay. In an industry where variable pay and commissions are common, sellers prioritize having the resources and clarity to succeed within their assigned territory over marginal base salary increases. 🤔 So what can you do to build longevity and progress within your sales team? ☝ Build talent from within: Companies with lower attrition focus on developing their sales teams internally rather than relying solely on hiring new talent. These organizations are reinvesting in sales enablement programs that build real capabilities for their salesforce, moving beyond basic onboarding and training to create a more skilled, long-term sales team. ☝Leadership support is key: CEOs and leaders need to be directly involved in supporting sales talent. When leaders beyond the sales department engage with sellers, it creates a culture of advocacy and inclusiveness, which boosts morale and leads to lower attrition rates. ☝Clear path to success: Top-performing companies transparently outline success paths for sellers, ensuring they have realistic goals and solid territory assignments. Salespeople are far more likely to stay if they believe their assigned territory provides real opportunities for growth and over-performance, rather than being stuck with leftover or underdeveloped accounts. ☝Long-term strategies over short-term fixes: Retention bonuses and quick fixes like title bumps won’t solve turnover issues. Sales leaders who focus on providing both immediate success opportunities and long-term career development foster a more committed and engaged sales team, ultimately reducing turnover in a sustainable way. Any other strategies you've seen work? Let me know below!

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Intent data is a hot commodity at the moment, but most sales teams don’t know how to effectively use it. Here’s how Cognism is using intent today: ✅ Account selection and prioritisation: Every account in our CRM has an account prioritisation score and when any of our intent signals (reverse IP lookup, cookie capture, funding data, etc.) are seen the prioritisation score goes up. This is shown clearly to the sales rep. They can then deep dive into the exact intent signal and decide what to do next. Ensuring each seller is focusing on the right parts of their territory. ✅ Account messaging: Once the intent signal is seen our seller will have a list of suggested ways to reach out. Our approach is generally direct – “We saw someone at your organisation was looking at X. Just curious whether this is also on your radar." Relevant messaging will always increase response rates. ✅ Contact level insight: We’re using tools like trumpet 🎺 to give us insight into what our prospects are most interested in. Building digital sales rooms on the tool allows us to see not just what they are looking at the most but also who - an absolute game-changer for accelerating sales cycles by 28% by helping you focus on what matters most. Sign up with trumpet 🎺 for free here: https://bit.ly/3QzbACd

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How aspiring female tech professionals can to transition into the field - writes Cassie Petrie EMEA SMB MD, SAP Concur https://bit.ly/41baG51

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It’s never been more difficult to be in sales. To be successful, you need high-value outbound messaging that distinguishes you as the right solution for your prospect. But let's face it — not all reps have the time or access to real-time data to truly understand each prospect's needs...  It's time to meet SAM, the AI-powered sales assistant from Similarweb. Only with SAM do you get: 💡Prospect-tailored insights based on buyer intent, sales signals, and your prospects’ use case 📬Hyper-personalized, ready-to-use outbound messaging that spotlights your company as the right solution 🗓️Instantly generated insights accessible through Gmail and Google Calendar, making sales reps ready for any meeting  You can learn more about SAM’s capabilities here → https://bit.ly/3QOi5BB

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Who is in? Pavilion GTM EMEA Summit – 10th-11th July 2024 – London When Pavilion asked me to host the sales stage at their event, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Introducing the world’s best sales leaders to the stage is something I’m privileged to do at Sales Confidence. And now I can’t wait to do it for at GTM EMEA. Here are four of the speakers you can catch on my stage at the event: Rob Cook – VP Enterprise Sales EMEA, Salesloft Rob’s going to talk about ‘The 2080 Problem’. You get 2080 hours every year that you can spend selling, but we only spend 1/3rd of that time with customers. How can we use sales analytics to make that time count? 🧭Zachary Gropper – CEO & Co-Founder, Insight Revenue Zach’s going to share his ‘4 Keys To Overcome Buyer Indecision’. You’ve heard about the JOLT Effect? Join Zach as he brings it to life with real-life data and actionable insights to accelerate pipeline. Guy Rubin – Founder & CEO, Ebsta Join Guy as he shares exclusive sales insights from more than 500 high-growth organisations. How do the best reps drive results? And how can you do what they do to increase pipeline, shorten sales cycles and close more deals? Werner Schmidt – CEO & Co-Founder, Lative Werner will tell us about his ‘Building Blocks to Profitable Efficient Growth’. In a world where investors demand profit rather than growth at all costs, this insight will be absolutely invaluable. I’m looking forward to introducing these sales leadership titans at Pavilion GTM EMEA – and I hope you’ll be there. To join me, the Pavilion team and 200 of the best GTM leaders on the planet on July 10th and 11th in London, click this link and grab your spot. https://lnkd.in/evXp2Abi

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Say goodbye to manual tracking and hello to efficiency. Below, my colleague Trevor Rogerson dives into how automated notifications and alerts can revolutionise your sales process. Alerts from your CRM help to keep you ahead of the game by notifying sales reps immediately when leads convert or new opportunities arise, ensuring that no lead is left behind, and making your sales operations smoother and more effective. #CRM #CRMSolutions #SugarCRM

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Being 3X more effective at achieving your sales goals can feel like a dream ☁️ But it becomes a reality when you enable the i̶m̶possible ✨ Among other things, The State of Sales Enablement Report 2024 shows that when sales managers provide coaching feedback within seller training, sellers are 44% more effective at consistently achieving their sales goals. Download the State of Sales Enablement report today to uncover more best practices 👇 https://hghspot.co/3xR3i2C #sales #survey #enabletheimpossible

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