Lauren Benon

For any PMM having a hard time nailing messaging… Facts - There’s no ‘Don Draper’ moment where inspiration will strike in the middle of a meeting. The good news is you have everything you need. 1. Look at your wins. Find the last 6 months of closed/won deals in your CRM. Find the patterns, and talk to the AEs if you need to. Better yet go talk to the customers themselves. Why did they buy? What made them pick you? 2. Once you have a good sample, use your judgement and distill out 3-5 ‘winning use cases’. These are the foundational proof points of why you’re differentiated. And they’re real 3. Then build the top and bottom. Top = what’s the one unifying value prop across the winning use cases. Bottom = what’s the product capabilities that support those use cases 4. Document this, turn it into your first call deck, and your website nav + core pages Refine this every 6 months. Sales will love it, and customers will actually believe you #productmarketing #messaging

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How do you roll out a new comp plan? The amazing team at Square just rolled out a refreshed incentive plan for our Global AE team, and the feedback has been really positive. How did we get it right? We did a few things really well. 1) We foreshadowed the change. For months now, we have been communicating to the team that we are going to update our north star metric in 2025, so the team knew KPIs and incentive plans would need to change. Thank you Nick Molnar for providing clear guidance and crisp messaging on this point. 2) Our compensation partner Xun Wang ran twice weekly meetings to keep us on track and ensure that we were well ahead of every deadline despite the quick turnaround that I pushed for. She also took our business requirements and came back with a simple and elegant comp plan design that clearly messaged the change in behavior we wanted to see. 3) Our finance partners Daniel Sidorenko and Alysha Puducheri worked tirelessly on setting quotas on the new metrics that had the appropriate stretch to achieve our ambitious plan, but were allocated in a responsible way so each team feels that they can achieve. 4) Finally, Tom Hanrahan ran a master class on the roll out with crystal clear articulation of the why, an simple explanation of the plan, and making clear what change in behavior we are incentivizing with the change. I feel truly lucky to be part of this world class team, and am excited to see the impact that this change will have.

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Hey folks! Rare opportunity to join Zapier's executive team running sales and success and reporting to me. Fair warning this role isn't for just any sales or success leader. We aren't looking for someone hoping to attach themselves to a great opportunity and surf the wave. Zapier has grown substantially in our self-serve business, but sales is a relatively small percent of the company. If we'd raised a bunch of money (we didn't) an easy way to think about it is that the self-serve business is a growth stage company, but the sales side is a series A company. There's a lot to figure out! While we aren't abandoning our SMB roots, we are ready to expand upmarket. We launched a dedicated Enterprise plan on April 2 and in May had our best sales month yet. On top of that we have a lot of new product that we expect to be pretty compelling inside larger organizations: Tables, Interfaces, Chatbots, Central, and Canvas. If you're a sales or success leader that's eager to build something nearly from the ground up, roll your sleeves up, spend time with customers, sell to customers yourself, and figure out the model for Zapier's expansion upmarket, I hope you'll check this out. For the right person this can be a career defining opportunity.

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Happy Holiday's! We all know Q4 is showing some challenges. Lower occupancy, concessions and VERY involved ownership groups. Please remember Rent provides solutions that are not one size fits all. RentSearch. can keep your prospect list warm by precisely targeting actively-searching renters looking for their next place. How? First-party audience data that targets renters actively searching for their next home. Reach out so I can tell you more about how RentSearch can keep your click-through and occupancy rates high & differentiate on the power of first party data. #MultifamilyMarketing #ApartmentMarketing #OnePlatformEndlessPossibilities #Redfin #Rent #Truemarketingpartners

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Hey all 👋 I could use some help from GTM leaders/saas folks... Who is the best *marketing leader/head of marketing* you've ever worked with? For context, we're looking to bring in a Head of Marketing here at Circle to join our GTM leadership team. We're currently approaching $25M in ARR and growing fast (~100% y-o-y). This marketing leader will help us continue to scale to $100M+ in ARR. I'm biased, of course — but this can truly be a career-defining opportunity for the right person. —You'll get to shape how we tell the story of *3* brand new products that we're bringing to market this year. —The product is fantastic. Our product/engineering teams are the best I've ever worked with. The customers are the best I've ever worked with. You have all the raw materials necessary to do truly great marketing. We're already growing fast. You'll just help us go faster. —There are lots of new channels and untapped opportunities to go after. So there's plenty of room to come in and make an immediate impact. —This role sits on our leadership team. It's a group of the highest potential GTM leaders I've ever worked with. And we're ready to truly invest in product marketing as a function. — There's LOTS of momentum in the business. Our leading indicators like pipeline, win rates, word-of-mouth, NPS, retention, etc. are all really strong and getting better week-over-week. If you know a truly great marketing leader - I'd love to connect with them. I'd be grateful if you could tag them below or shoot me a DM. And if no one comes to mind, I'd be grateful if you could share this post for a bit of reach. Thanks! 🙏 Here's the JD: https://lnkd.in/e5fzB7T6

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🚀 We are hiring for a sales leader, tell all your friends 🥞 Seeking a VP of Sales to lead Stacker sales efforts and make me go umbrella shopping. JD linked in comments, but tl/dr, I want: 1) Someone that understands our customer and will take our process + pitch to the next level. Experience and rolodex from selling into content/marketing/pr at enterprise size brands is a big want, not necessarily a must-have. But I need confidence this person will push us forward in our understanding of customer problems, content marketing/PR trends, and where we fit in. 2) 80% team & process development, 20% rainmaker. You will be responsible for taking our sales team to the next level. You will also be responsible for setting the bar, and driving big conversations that I get to brag about to the company and my friends. 3) Understands the editorial nuance that is Stacker. Stacker is only as good as the content we source from partners - we are not a SaaS product that can be sold to every company with a corporate blog. My biggest fear is we bring in a rainmaker that can close deals, but doesn't understand the nuance of what makes a great long term customer that thrives on our platform. You do not need an editorial background, but you do need to have a real appreciation for media + journalism. JD + application link in comments. Spread the word. --- Fine print: best way to apply is through the link in comments (I am not the hiring manager!) - but if you do feel so compelled to reach out to me, best way ti impress me is to give me 3 bullets on why you meet the above criteria (or feel free to AMA!)

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Check out a video highlight from the live SalesHood event co-hosted with Denise Behrens and Karen House. They both discussed how Sales Kickoff (SKO) events have evolved over time, shifting from being primarily celebratory and motivational gatherings to becoming highly strategic and impactful sales enablement sessions. The key changes they identified include: ➡️ SKOs are now designed to deliver actionable insights, equipping sales teams with tools, content, and strategies directly aligned with revenue goals. Incorporation of Technology: ➡️ Sales Enablement Platforms and tools like SalesHood are increasingly used to personalize and scale SKO content, makingContinuous Learning: ➡️ SKOs are no longer isolated events; they kickstart year-round learning and alignment initiatives. ➡️ Companies are blending in-person and virtual elements to accommodate diverse teams, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity. The video concludes by emphasizing the need for organizations to adapt their SKOs to remain competitive and relevant in a dynamic market. Thanks for sharing your insights Denise and Karen! Watch the 2 minute "what's changed" video here

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I recently had an amazing conversation with Barrett King, Sr. Director of Revenue at New Breed, an Elite HubSpot partner. Barrett has great perspective based on over 15 years in the industry and 9 years with HubSpot during their hyper growth stage. He explains that strategic partnerships are the new superpower for growth in B2B SaaS. Barrett shares how the best partnerships in the SaaS space can go beyond immediate revenue generation and deliver the key ingredients for long term growth and hyperscale. Key Take Aways from this conversation include: ·        Leveraging Partner Market Fit ·        Partners as Customer Experts ·        Shift to Intent-Focused Marketing Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gN_jk-QN #GTMdisrupted #gtmstrategy #prodmgmt #GTM #gotomarket #GrowBetter

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Think your current on-site recommendation settings are good enough? They might just be the bottleneck you’ve never noticed. If you're looking at improving metrics such as CaC, RoaS, CR or AoV then keep reading. Review your platform to recognize the complexities of your current recommendation settings. Are they too confusing? Do you lack sufficient control? I'd bet my left nut that you feel that either working with your recommendations needs too much development work to configure OR that it's a black box which you implemented and now you have little to no control of it and you just have to trust that it kinda works. Switching to platforms with intuitive, easy-to-manage dashboards, like Hello Retail, can dramatically improve how quickly and effectively you implement changes. Bring in expertise! 👩‍💻 Often, ecommerce businesses try to manage recommendation settings internally. However, consulting with ecommerce specialists from the start can lead to tailored strategies that are optimized for conversion from day one. You know your products but fitting those products into an algorithm can be challenging if you don't know where to start and what the possibilities are. Don’t do guesswork, be data-driven. 📊 One of the primary things that always attracted me to digital sales and E-commerce is that literally everything is measurable. Use that data for gods sake ;) Utilizing a straightforward platform allows you to make data-driven decisions quickly. Forget trial and error; with the right tools, you can adjust your strategies based on real-time analytics and results. More in the link in the comments.

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"So make the friendship bracelets Take the moment and taste it You've got no reason to be afraid” 🎤 “You’re On Your Own Kid” by Taylor Swift One of the most common questions I get at Gainsight (beyond “why do you have so many shoes?”) is “what have you learned about running events?” Coming off the high of having 2000 members of the #CustomerSuccess community together with us in St. Louis last week at #Pulse2024, I thought I’d share 5 things I’ve learned over 11 years of Pulse events: 🎉 Create and Execute On a Bold “Fun” Theme: So many conferences are SOOOOO boring! A big chunk of the reason is the events lack a soul. For us, the formula that’s worked is to start with a cultural concept that evokes emotions. In this case, we made Pulse 2024 all about high school and the 1980s. We then had our design dream team, led by Hayley Cromwell, execute a stunning visual experience, including high school lockers, a Breakfast Club spoof and branded jean jackets! 💪🏾 Link the “Fun” Theme to a Business Theme: We juxtaposed the humanity of the past (1980s and high school) with a human and vulnerable look at the future. Everyone naturally has excitement and anxiety about the effect AI will have on humans. We announced what we called the “Human-First AI Playbook,” including dozens of AI-powered features in our product. ❤️ Lead With Vulnerability: As many of you know, I’m a fan of bringing vulnerability to business. This shows up at Pulse in many ways. One is me doing a closing keynote about my personal journey. This time, I shared a story about adversity and uncertainty (climbing out of the Grand Canyon after just tearing my ACL in the canyon) and what it means about understanding our own work and personal futures, particularly in the face of AI. I think opening up sets the tone for others being “real” with fellow attendees. 👊🏾 Build Community: Nothing brings me more joy than seeing the #CustomerSuccess community coming together - to help each other, give advice or be a shoulder to cry on. We try to reinforce the concept that “Pulse is not a Gainsight conference, it’s a community conference.” In the first keynote, we do our annual “Pulse fist bump” (find a neighbor and give them a fist bump). Symbols like this go a long way. 😂 Moms FTW: While Andy Cohen (our celebrity guest) was funny, no one could top my mom. Quite bizarrely, my mother has become a big part of the Pulse community and regularly has been featured in the keynote. Whether walking onto the stage to give me a fist bump and tell me “you forgot your lunch” or pitching Andy Cohen on a TV idea (see below), family help to humanize the experience of a business conference. While those are my learnings, the real stars of the show were our EPIC events team, led by Lauren Olerich and Kat Leong. Best in the business, my far! What have you learned from hosting events (whether big conferences or small dinners)?

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Last week I sent a cold email to a C-level executive at one of America's top 10 largest companies. To my surprise, I got a reply within a couple hours. With millions of customers and +$200B in annual revenue, turns out improving their customer support is a top C-level priority. Like many enterprises, they struggle with large support volumes, but lack the insight to understand what customers actually struggle with. Seems we hit the nail on the head with Fullview's value proposition here because we're already starting a POC to give their +5000 support agents better insight to user issues, and will help them reduce resolution times 💪 Moving fast here and can't wait for 2025! #growth #startup #product #customersupport

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Some thoughts on the "RevOps tech as a category is dead" hysteria. 1) Something can't be dead when it never really lived. The category didn't get to PMF, the end, bye. 2) Notice how it's the founders, sales, and marketing people saying the category is dead and the RevOps folk saying "well yeah, because we never needed these products"? RevOps tech in the state that it is now is created by happy ears. 3) A department can have authority and be strategic without a budget. I honestly didn't think we'd need to have this talk, but okay. RevOps isn't a standalone department, it sits over three revenue-generating teams. That means we use the budgets available to those teams to make them better. A captain's armband doesn't make you a captain, and a budget sure as 🦆 doesn't create authority or make you more strategic. 4) RevOps exists to make things efficient. Purchasing unnecessary (let's be honest) software is by default not efficient and needlessly adds operating costs. 5) Every piece of RevOps software I've seen was something I can do in less time, for free, and better with the tech I already have. The category could rise again, but the products on offer need to be - gasp - not basic. 6) Finally, as an aside - supporting vs strategic is a false dichotomy. RevOps can, and should be, both. I have no issue saying that RevOps supports Revenue teams, because that's what we do. We don't sell, we don't market, we don't look after customers. We support those that do, to do it better, faster, easier, and armed with the full context. That's both supporting and strategic in one flacon, and if you really hate the idea that your role supports somebody, it may be time to talk to a therapist.

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I continue to be amazed at how strong Shopify is on getting frontline teams (AEs, AMs, CSMs, etc) so dialled in on how to leverage a partner ecosystem Today for example, we at AfterShip - a top rated/reviewed Plus certified App - had the pleasure of presenting to 80+ frontline Shopify Reps to showcase our deep product & commercial partnership. What makes Shopify unique in this regard is: 1/ how well they shield their employees from low-value partners, as they are super picky on who gets access to the precious calendars at Shopify, meaning reps REALLY pay attention on these 📆 2/ they are constantly investing in teaching their frontline teams about the power of ecosystem potential (after all, as Harley says, Shopify wouldn't be where it is without its partners!), meaning it's a part of their DNA/culture 3/ they are exceptional at hiring top talent, so the people we actually get to work directly with at Shopify are technically & commercially skilled to partake in legitimate partnering activities that actually move the needle. We are proud to partner with the Global Leader in Commerce and look forward to enhancing the experience for our 10,000+ merchant base. #Ecommerce #Retail #Partnerships

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3 e-comm tech takes that will fire me up (in a good way!) on calls I’m on in 2025: 1. Omnichannel over everything - I still can’t emphasize enough how many people AREN’T thinking about places like Walmart, Target, or Instacart. I get that there will always be smaller brands that have to just think about Amazon, but if you’re a 9-figure brand on there and aren’t thinking beyond, there are brands coming for you through the backdoor on Walmart and Target in 2025. 2. AI is mostly marketing - I’m open to changing my mind on this with time. But e-comm tech providers that mainly talk about AI for larger brands in competitive categories would be a major 🚩 to me, at least in 2025. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to who have been burned by the LinkedIn hype machine and are so ready to get out. We have cool AI features at Pacvue. I don’t know this for a fact, but they’re probably some of the best out there. AI can help sellers who can’t afford an agency and need to try something easy for a better ROAS. Some tools know they’re this and are cool, others will try to say their robot can do everything, and it’s disservicing the industry. The best performers leverage AI to inform and then implement smart automation strategies to run laps around ones that are hands off wheel. We see this data. If you want to win in 2025, I’d say either find a partner that allows this, or use an agency that can do it for you. 3. Ads aren’t everything - Sales teams will probably laugh at this, but you definitely get the vibe from some people that if you throw more money at stuff and get the right PPC tool, all of your Amazon problems will be solved. Ads get a lot of airplay on here haha. Teams that are thinking about automated workflows for digital shelf, supply chain, competitive insights, and tedious operational tasks are going to be miles ahead in 2025, and might even be able to win by spending less! It’s not as sexy as all of Amazon’s ad features, but better conversion and profit aren’t a bad alternative. There are probably more but this is already too long of a post! All of my takes are just from learning from way smarter people in the weeds of this every day that I get the privilege to talk to and work with month over month! I’m excited to have more conversations this year and see where things shift.

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This was a really interesting take from Ray Rike on the latest episode of The Transaction. As we moved the GTM toward upsell/cross-sell, expansion CAC rose significantly. Check out Ray's take below

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This has happened to every seller 😕 Its been happening for a long time... But Ive seen an uptick in this happening more often this year Your champion isn’t taking the proposal to the exec team... like y’all planned 🤦🏾‍♂️ A really alarming trend Ive been seeing the past couple of years 😳 Sellers work with their champion(s).... Sometimes for months through: - disco - demos - pricing - pilots/trials - exec summary prep Then when it comes time to for the champion(s) to take the solution recommendation and exec summary to their exec team.... They just sit on it 🤔 Which can be very annoying and very frustrating BUT honestly... Not surprising 🤷🏾‍♂️ Risk aversion is at all time high! Nobody wants to rock the boat...especially alone! Here are ✌🏾 ways you can avoid sending over the exec summary to your champion, crossing your fingers 🤞🏾 and hoping all goes well. 1/ Multi threading - 👩🏻‍🏫 Krysten Conner is the undeniable multi thread queen! Do yourself a favor and check her out! 2/ Keep the Execs informed - As sellers it is your job to bridge the gap that exists between your customer and their internal exec teams. After EVERY meeting send a recap meeting to the exec(s) at your customer recapping your conversation and confirming you are on the right track. Screenshot attached of the email template. 💡 Tip - Send a version of this after every meeting and reply to the same thread instead of starting a new thread. The reality is that you as sellers, have more access and talk to the exec team more often than your champion does in some cases. Its our responsibility as sellers to connect the dots and take ownership of delivering the value in your deal to the exec team!

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if you're a founder or GTM leader at a <100 person B2B startup, Daydream's developed a killer data toolkit to help you reach ambitious revenue goals. even if your data is a mess right now, we'll help you uncover & then operationalize data signals fragmented across your GTM tools, product usage, and the internet in order to close deals faster and more efficiently appreciate the shout out Kamil!

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I’m curious - for revenue leaders out there: how are you thinking about outbound pipe gen roles? What title(s) and mix of skillsets have you found to be the most effective? I’m working with Nick Casale to build out our revenue org at AirOps, and we’re looking to hire a rockstar to own outbound pipe gen. Our ideal candidates: --> High IQ + EQ --> Scrappy and competitive --> Analytical + reasonably data savvy --> Can figure out new tools and automations (the emerging AI GTM stack) + excited to learn/master prompting --> Exceptional writer --> Not afraid to make a cold call (but won’t just be dialing for $'s) --> Motivated to own and crush a pipeline generation quota --> Wants to pursue a career in Sales or Growth If you or anyone you know fits the bill, DM me. The JD to apply is in the comments 👇

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Today’s the day! Piper, your new AI SDR, has arrived. ✨ I know so many CMOs facing massive pipeline targets with no added budget for headcount. And what happens when they hit their number? Their reward isn't more headcount or program dollars. Just bigger pipeline targets. Tough stuff, right? In the age of AI, marketing and sales leaders no longer have to grow their payroll to grow their pipeline. Meet Piper, your best SDR, automated. Piper is on a mission to generate more pipeline 24x7, 365. Catch all the highlights of our launch event here: https://bit.ly/3Jmv7So As always, special shout out to the Qualified product and marketing teams who made this vision a reality.

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