Ted Blosser

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

71

14 Comments

The way most SaaS companies structure sales leadership compensation creates inter-team competition in a *NEGATIVE WAY* that costs millions of $’s in revenue and 100’s of hours of headaches a year. Here’s why (and a simple change you can make to fix it): Typically sales managers are compensated on the performance of their direct reports. For example, if their 8 Account Executives crush their targets, the manager's compensation reflects this. This sounds reasonable, right? But what about the rest of the sellers? What about the other 25 Account Executives who need to succeed for your company to hit its growth goals? Sales Managers have different strengths and need to be incentivized to help the ENTIRE sales organization, not just THEIR team. That’s why every time I started a new sales leader role here’s what I did…. I switched the manager comp plan so 20% of their variable earnings were based on the total sales orgs performance, not just their direct reports. I often got pushback, but this simple change always led to stronger collaboration, teamwork, and unity. And helped us avoid account controversy, resentment and entitlement. Sales leaders aren't coin-operated, but they are human and humans respond to incentives. Make sure you're incentivizing the right behavior. And create one team.

47

5 Comments

The AEs and SDRs from 5 years ago are the CROs and VPs today. This may sound somewhat self-serving, but here it goes. It’s been cool to see the goodwill I created with those AEs and SDRs over the years turn into meaningful opportunities, pipeline, and revenue for Copy.ai. This has never been the primary intent of my presence or content here. But I will say, it’s a nice benefit. Build trust, provide value, be kind, build your network. It’s worth it for many reasons. #sales #sdr #gtmai

176

12 Comments

hey RevOps - if you're a high-velocity SMB shop selling a large number of small deals, how should you grant quota credit to AEs? 🤔 Signature date? Payment date? Contract effective date? Like most things in RevOps, simple questions like this do not have simple answers. This question was posted in the RevOps Co-op Slack group recently and the community provided some 🔥 feedback like: 📍 Signature date seems to be the most popular choice, but always with a big caveat 📍 That caveat relates to the amount of churn or turnover when it comes to signed deals that don't pay - if the AEs are closing crumby customers that don't pay, then you want to use payment date instead 📍 If you have deals that get signed far in advance of the contract effective date / subscription start date, this adds additional risk to revenue - so may want to consider using the contract effective date instead 📍 Some folks do a mix; for example, 50% at signature, and 50% at payment (or some other metric, like 6 months after deal signature) 📍 In all cases, you want to make sure the structure is set up to drive the behavior you want to encourage without a huge delay between the work done and incentive provided Anything else you'd add to this list? #revops #revenueoperations #salesops #salesoperations #compensation #incentivemanagement

25

3 Comments

Renewals are the lifeblood of every SaaS company. However, we don’t talk enough about what makes a great AM/CSM who handles renewals. Since there are so many lists on what makes a great AE, I thought I’d take a stab at what makes a great AM/CSM who handles renewals: 1/ They prioritize the renewals that move the needle Renewal rate comes down to simple math. What renewals are going to move the needle for them? Great AMs/CSMs spend their time where they’ll get the most bang for their buck. 2/ They prepare 6 months in advance Average AMs/CSMs prep 3 months in advance. Great ones plan 6 months in advance. This includes asking hard questions well ahead of time during a mid-year QBR, so they know where to spend their time. 3/ They can re-sell the product Stakeholders change. Priorities change. Competitors try to break in. Great AMs/CSMs can sell the product as well as their AEs and know how to position their value props and handle objections. 4/ They know how to negotiate I don’t know any procurement person in the post-ZIRP era who doesn’t try to negotiate their contracts. A great AM/CSM knows how to turn negotiations into win-wins. 5/ They know the difference between procurement and decision-makers Similar to point four, they know how to negotiate and with whom. Negotiating with procurement is much different than negotiating with a key stakeholder. Each party wants something different, and it’s important to recognize what that is. 6/ They know how to rope in their AEs or extended teams Just like the best AEs know how to “quarterback” deals, a great AM/CSM knows how to rally resources to help with renewals. AEs, Execs, SEs, and Professional Services can all be brought in to help show the customer extra love. 7/ They develop a renewal champion We always talk about champions in the presales process, but not enough about champions during renewals. A great AM/CSM knows how to develop champions to help push renewals through. An AM/CSM who knows how to do these things is worth their weight in gold. Keep them happy as long as you can!

37

4 Comments

Myth: Custom sales collateral takes forever to create. The truth? It doesn’t have to. The real problem isn’t the complexity of customization - it’s the lack of the right tools and processes. Sales and marketing teams often rely on outdated workflows: ❌ Email threads for feedback. ❌ Version control nightmares. ❌ Templates scattered across platforms. This leads to delays, miscommunication, and materials that don’t hit the mark. Clatter flips the script by centralizing collaboration and streamlining the entire process. With our platform, teams can create, edit, and approve tailored sales collateral in record time—all while keeping it on-brand. What outdated workflow myth is holding your team back?

3

4 Comments

How do you define an MQL? And how does this compare to what other companies do? 🤔 Someone asked this question in the ROC Slack group recently, here's how the RevOps Co-op responded 👇 1️⃣ 2 out of 4 BANT criteria met Consensus here was BANT is the responsibility of the sales team, not the marketing team, so shouldn't be used. 2️⃣ Exceeds lead score threshold based on demographic and behavior data This was a popular choice. Lots of folks said an MQL should be a hand-raiser that meets some sort of grade / score threshold. 3️⃣ Based on account and title fit with ICP This can be the basis of a lead score or grade mentioned in number 2 above. ☝️ 4️⃣ Based on Minimum Viable Customer Profile (MVCP) This is basically a twist on number 2 and 3 above, but I thought it was intriguing. It's basically a more broad version of your ICP using secondary criteria. For example, if your ICP is a Fortune 500 account, your MVCP may be any company with > $50M revenue. Or if your ICP is HQ in the US, your MVCP could be HQ in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. What do you think - anything missing here for different ways to define an MQL? PS - thanks to Malorie Packard, Colby Ricker, Colin Illar, Jeff Ignacio, Jacqueline Freedman 🦋, Rex Biberston, and others for participating in this 🧵 #revenueoperations #revops #marketingops #marketingoperations #mops #GTMOps #alltheops #MQL

23

11 Comments

Startups are asking for their CSMs to be very technical, and it's burning $$$ and employees out. Would you rather have your CSMs be able to code, or have the ability to have C-level conversations? The 2 often do not co-exist. Having a CSM that is technically adept may be impressive, but it's important to remember tha customer success is about relationship building first and foremost. Therefore, having the ability to have meaningful conversations with C-level executives should take precedence over coding skills. Create a strong foundation of trust and credibility with your customers by engaging in strategic conversations around their unique needs. Find out what their key objectives are and how your company can help them achieve those goals. A CSM should be able to understand the customer's business, help them navigate through any potential challenges, and develop strategic recommendations that move the needle.  With that being said, there are a lot more technical product out there. Devops, cloud infrastructure, API only, etc. Your CSMs will need to be able to understand the VALUE that these products are providing to the customer. Not just getting them up and running, but helping them understand how they can use it more effectively to benefit their business.  Having an engineering background may also allow for better customer interactions, but I have found that it is a scale, and the more someone leans towards heavy development skills, the LESS they will be able to connect with the customer at a business level. The very technical CSM is often IMPOSSIBLE to find. And if you find 1 unicorn, you will spend months looking for another 1. While this is happening, your existing team is drowning to keep up with a huge book of business.  The ideal CSM should be able to provide strategic advice and guidance on how customers can best leverage your product for maximum value. They should also have an understanding of different technologies so that they can help those customers who are more technically savvy and need assistance with more complex projects. At the enterprise level, I prefer a strategic CSM paired with either a Solution Architect, and sometimes a Customer Success Engineer that has the development background and can make the tweaks and configuration needs that a customer has to enable the strategic decisions that the CSM is helping with. I am recording a podcast with Lizzy Rosen about this - drop any questions that you have below. What are your thoughts on this? Besides that, my eyes are closed?

99

26 Comments

I agree with my Silicon Valley buddy, Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight on this. ⚙ Why? One of the things I always say is that, "It all starts with sales." 🤔 Without sales, there is no company. The better the sales org operates, the better the company will do. So why not optimize and unify the sales organization by having the CCO report to a CRO (rhetorically asked). 📈 It's a great way to ensure that customers are delighted post-sales and that they keep coming back. 🤝I've seen this configuration foster a cohesive strategy for maximizing customer satisfaction and revenue growth. This alignment ensures that customer-focused initiatives are deeply integrated into the organization's broader revenue strategy, enhancing the effectiveness of both functions. 🙌 It seems to promote a unified approach to identifying and capitalizing on customer insights, ensuring that customer needs are addressed proactively. This reporting structure also facilitates better communication and coordination, leading to more comprehensive customer engagement and streamlined decision-making processes. 💪 I believe this configuration strengthens the organization's ability to enhance customer experiences and drive sustainable revenue growth, contributing to long-term business success. #leadership #management #sales #innovation #venturecapital

6

3 Comments

Most sales leaders focus on their top performers. But your best reps will crush quota whether you help them or not. Here's the uncomfortable truth about scaling revenue... Your top 10% will succeed despite you. They'll figure out how to sell your product and close deals even if you give them zero support, no collateral, and an undefined ICP. But you can't build a scalable revenue engine on top 10% talent alone. It's just math. Even with a rigorous interview process and strong recruiting brand, our 12-month retention rate at Levelset was around 55%. And that was GOOD. The key to scaling isn't finding more unicorns. It's raising the floor for everyone else. That means writing down exactly what success looks like. Not just hoping good people will "figure it out." I learned this the hard way. For the first 4 years (or so), we closed deals almost in spite of ourselves. No real sales playbook. No defined process. Just talented people working hard. When we finally documented our exact process - from first touch to close - our ramp time plummeted and consistency shot up. The uncomfortable truth? Most founders spend way more time recruiting than preparing to train and support their hires. Your playbook doesn't need to be fancy. Start with one document: "How to Run a Demo." Make it painfully detailed. Your top reps will hate it. Your new reps will love you for it.

42

6 Comments

Need to transform your SDR team’s performance? How to help your sales team achieve results that will earn you trust and budget. First, audit your content arsenal. Are your SDRs armed with the right tools? Invest time in creating or curating great collateral that addresses your Ideal Customer Profile’s (ICP) pain points and your solutions. Convert the best-performing material into templates. If budget allows, invest in intent tracking tools like ZoomInfo. Provide your SDRs with real-time intelligence on potential leads. This could involve identifying companies visiting key pages of your site or using tools that detect general intent based on topics. Now, launch micro-campaigns. Develop industry-specific value propositions and targeted landing pages. Your SDRs need ammunition that speaks directly to each vertical. Always measure & optimize. Track response rates, meeting conversions, and pipeline velocity. Use these insights to refine your approach. Don’t fear failure – it’s the only way to hit the target. Make small changes based on what works and what doesn’t. What’s working for your SDR enablement? While it can be an overwhelming project, it’s crucial for establishing the foundation for solid growth. #B2BMarketing #SalesEnablement #CMO #Leadership

30

2 Comments

28 CCOs and Post-Sales leaders have spoken 📢 What is the CURRENT STATE of Customer Success? -- Over the past 6 months, I asked 28 podcast guests this question. Nearly everyone had the same answer. What's the Current State of CS? ➡ "Unsettled" ➡ "Identity Crisis" ➡ "Transformation" ➡ "Really messed up" (but don't listen to me, hear for yourself directly from folks who feel this way... totally unprompted). -- Why is this function in SUCH a state of flux? ✳ The problem is not CS... it's a CEO / Board problem Very few Enterprise SaaS companies today actually have strong Product-Market Fit (PMF). There are tons of non "mission critical" products out there justifying themselves for a spot in the stack. For 70% of leaders I speak with, they say their CS teams are filling key product and value gaps that the company has not yet addressed. Just because you had PMF at $10M does NOT mean you will keep it at $20M, $200M or beyond. It's always changing and the only way to keep it is to listen to your customers selflessly. ✳ Without strong market fit, CS becomes focused on "Checklist Management" rather than Change Management Tasks, journeys, and "busywork" that comes out of a lot of CRMs and CSP workflows are designed to show CS activity is up... but it is not at all aligned to moving the needle for the Customer. In order to become "mission critical", post-sales MUST. DRIVE. ADOPTION. And that has very little to do with what your company thinks is important (sentiment, engagement, usage) and everything to do with what your customer feels is important (improving their workflows, achieving their business goals, hitting their leading indicators). ✳ CS efforts do not correlate to Revenue nearly as much as they need to CEOs, CFOs, and Boards look at two metrics: how much $$$ did you bring in, and how much $$$ do I need to pay you? If the first is less than second, you are literally a cost center (not just perceived as one). CEOs, CFOs, and Boards are expecting the payback period of investing in CS to be one-year. If teams are expecting CS activity to generate revenue WITHOUT a Customer Value Framework proven to increase adoption... teams will end up spinning cycles and burning cash (and unfortunately RIFs are not far behind) -- So... what does the FUTURE of CS and Post-Sales look like? (teaser: video coming out in 2 weeks) This is really a question that CEOs, CFOs, and Boards will have to answer. They have to see demonstrated quantifiable value coming out of post-sales to continue investing in the function. To position CS and Post-Sales in the best possible light, we have to reimagine our function through the lens of our Customer. It's less about how we define Customer Success. We need to ask: How does our Customer define Success? What is your take? #FutureCustomerValue #CustomerValue #CRO #CCO

52

11 Comments

I did an informal poll on CSM vs Sales commission splits. I was pleasantly shocked to see that over 95% of companies do not have Sales take a commission on renewals unless it’s a particularly challenging one; the AE is there to help with it as a “bounty renewal”. in this case, the AE gets a % but is not taken from the CSM. Other interesting data points: "Commission on upsells and renewal made up 30% of the total compensation package. However, the exact commission % was determined by dividing the 30% by $$$ into the total ARR managed by the CSM." What metrics should this be based on? Most followed this model to Typically, companies that are earlier in their CS maturity will base this off a few leading indicators (adoption milestones, EBRs, etc.), and then move to comping on lagging indicators (retention, expansion, NRR, etc.) once their leading indicator activities have been proven. The following are examples of metrics you can use, not an exhaustive list: Leading: QBRs and/or EBRs (attained vs scheduled) Product adoption milestones (product dependent) Lagging: Net Revenue Retention (NRR) - this is likely the most common Retention Expansion Advocacy (hard to make this scale across large teams and mixed portfolios - this is better as a SPIFF or annual metric to Bonus on) From there, you can determine the weight of each metric on the bonus. I'll give an example using a bonus that is achieved by a renewal retention goal and an NRR goal. Criteria for 100% Bonus Attainment: 90% Renewal Retention (50% weight) 125% Net Revenue Retention (50% weight) "This keeps it pretty simple with two priorities. Retain and Expand Revenue. The Retention goal being assessed separately ensures CSMs don't have significant churn masked by massive upsells. In this example, if a CSM had 85% Retention and 115% NRR, they'd end up at 93.22% to goal for their overall commission/variable comp."

24

I did an informal poll on CSM vs Sales commission splits. I was pleasantly shocked to see that over 95% of companies do not have Sales take a commission on renewals unless it’s a particularly challenging one; the AE is there to help with it as a “bounty renewal”. in this case, the AE gets a % but is not taken from the CSM. Other interesting data points: "Commission on upsells and renewal made up 30% of the total compensation package. However, the exact commission % was determined by dividing the 30% by $$$ into the total ARR managed by the CSM." What metrics should this be based on? Most followed this model to Typically, companies that are earlier in their CS maturity will base this off a few leading indicators (adoption milestones, EBRs, etc.), and then move to comping on lagging indicators (retention, expansion, NRR, etc.) once their leading indicator activities have been proven. The following are examples of metrics you can use, not an exhaustive list: Leading: QBRs and/or EBRs (attained vs scheduled) Product adoption milestones (product dependent) Lagging: Net Revenue Retention (NRR) - this is likely the most common Retention Expansion Advocacy (hard to make this scale across large teams and mixed portfolios - this is better as a SPIFF or annual metric to Bonus on) From there, you can determine the weight of each metric on the bonus. I'll give an example using a bonus that is achieved by a renewal retention goal and an NRR goal. Criteria for 100% Bonus Attainment: 90% Renewal Retention (50% weight) 125% Net Revenue Retention (50% weight) "This keeps it pretty simple with two priorities. Retain and Expand Revenue. The Retention goal being assessed separately ensures CSMs don't have significant churn masked by massive upsells. In this example, if a CSM had 85% Retention and 115% NRR, they'd end up at 93.22% to goal for their overall commission/variable comp."

27

2 Comments

🪦 R.I.P SDRs? 🪦 When I open my Linkedin every second post is debating whether SDRs will be still around in the future or if this function is no longer needed due to automation and AI. Here is my take on this: - Some teams(especially SMB focused) might realise they don't need to segment sales roles into pipeline generating and closing roles, they will be going back to full cycle sales roles - Lot of SaaS teams restructured recently, this also means SDR teams got leaner, on the other hand due to AI and new tools they can be a lot more productive, making these teams more efficient - I also see a new trend where some SDRs are shifted to a "Sales Development Engineer" role, where this function knows all the in-and-out about scaling and automating pipeline generation with the help of AI and automating workflows - New GTM playbooks will focus more on "warmer" leads, especially visitor and intent data Few weeks ago, I was debating the same topic at a roundtable discussion at SaaStr Europa with various revenue leaders and I could feel excitement about the advancement of technology and AI, but there was a strong agreement that at the end of the day people love to buy from other humans. You can read more about this topic and how leading SaaS teams are changing to a playbook that can be successful in this changing environment. What do you think will we still have SDRs in 3 years time?

28

4 Comments

Outbound Sequences can do more harm than good for SDRs. (I think when used appropriately, they can be a massive help, but most teams use & abuse them -- completely missing the point of them & wonder why they can't land in the primary inbox & get no responses) I think the days of the traditional 27 day sequence are over. We need change. Most tasks get long overdue anyway and end up not being completed. Here's the issue with them: Often, SDRs are reactive to their sequences/cadences... When in reality, you should be pro-active. Let me explain: Imagine you send your first initial email and it gets opened 5+ times. Or you send a LI connect request and they accept it + look at your profile. Most SDRs will move onto their next task and ignore the intent signal. Instead, use prospect engagement as a way to be more pro-active. IE: do not wait 3 days from the day you sent your first email if there's a ton of engagement. Try calling them same day, bumping your email the next day and throwing a connect request on LI. You should try and switch your messaging up based on prospect engagement, too. IE: your cold call opener should be different for someone who has accepted your LI request + looked at your profile / opened your email a bunch vs someone who hasn't engaged at all. Be the quarterback of your sequences.. Don't let them control you! Second issue: most sequences end up piling up overdue tasks.. This is because sequences have way too many steps. If you liked this, I share 1 free outbound prospecting tip that 4200+ SDRs and AEs read every week. https://lnkd.in/e2cJkJqr

108

38 Comments

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.

1,127

122 Comments

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.

44

13 Comments