Erik O'Brien

With 40+ GTM workshops – where do you start? Here’s an overview of the Centrae PE Revenue Acceleration Framework. Some people call it a “PE Portfolio Company Playbook” or a “Toolkit”. Either way, it’s a proven approach to growing revenue for lower middle market companies. We start with an assessment, then guide the company through a learning plan to leverage the right workshops for their business. Here are just a few: 1.   Market Research -TAM/SAM -Ideal Customer Profile -Buyer Persona -Buying Process Maps -Value Proposition 2.   Sales Fundamentals -Sales Revenue & Budget -Sales Org Design -Talent Hiring & Onboarding -Territory Design -Compensation & Quota -Pricing Strategy -Channel Strategy -Sales Leadership -Customer Success 3.   Marketing Fundamentals -Lead Management -Strategic Brand Direction -Marketing Org Design -Campaign Strategy -Content Strategy -Digital Strategy -Product Naming 4.   Sales Execution -Prospecting -Opportunity Management -Deal Desk -Configure, Price & Quote -Channel Optimization -Sales Operations -Technology Stack -Key Account Enablement -Win Strategies -Sales Plays & Playbooks 5.   Marketing Execution -Buyer & Competitive Positioning -Lead Management -Content Development -Product & Marketing Launch -Campaign Build -Customer Marketing -Account Based Marketing -Field Marketing -Agency Marketing -Marketing Operations Any other Commercial/GTM/Revenue Growth in your toolkit?

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Live or Let Die? Is this a selection problem or a model problem? The average tenure for a PE/VC-backed GTM executive is 17 months. (Source: Pavilion).  Remember these are carefully screened senior executives, such short tenures imply something is seriously OFF! Is the current model of full-time, high-CTC, upwardly mobile execs simply dated !! We think in the world of blitz change (powered by AI / digital), BIG players with lots of capital have a disproportionate advantage. To succeed as a startup  you need long-term vision, but a short-duration plan and wartime leadership. That’s why at ScalerZ we work towards leanscaling from strategy to enterprise outcome in 9 months, if you are growth stage and you can’t do 2X in 12 months; you will be seriously wounded or dead in 24 months. This is a choice you need to make!! #growth #model #startups #agile #wartimemode #9months #timetovalue

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Matt Lyles, Chief Experience Officer of Brand Builders Group, highlights the importance of leveraging AI to enhance the work life of your team. "Focus your AI investment on simplifying the employee experience. This allows your people to focus on what matters most: building relationships with customers." Learn more about strategic AI investments for a better workplace and stronger customer connections on our blog. https://lnkd.in/eWnABFcc #iQor #AI #CX #CustomerExperience #SymphonyAI #FutureofAI #CXInnovation #BPO #CustomerEngagement #TechTrends #AITrends #SmileWithiQor

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"AI has made a lot of things easier...but what is the tangible impact that AI has had on customer experience?" asks Bradford Smith, CCXP, Founder of Vector Business Navigation, Inc. 🧐 If you're curious about this, mark your calendar for 🗓️ June 5th from 11 AM to 12 PM EST. Because Brad, along with Niraj Ranjan Rout, Gabe Smith, CCXP, and Michelle Spaul, will be getting to the bottom of some of the burning questions about AI in customer service: 💻 How to invest in AI to improve customer service? 📊 What metrics can you measure to track success? 💰 How do we identify the link between AI investments and business revenue? ✍️ Also, don't forget to jot down your questions and bring them along. Save your seat here: https://lnkd.in/gcHYdDfs Nitesh Nandy | Vishal Chopra | Moinak Ray | Balram Verma #AIinCX | #HiverxCXPA | #AIinCustomerService | #CustomerService 

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This Week in GTM focused on Harry Stebbings' interview with Mark Roberge, which provided a framework for how startups should scale to the enterprise. Openprise emphasized the critical role of data quality in effective segmentation. Anthropic and Menlo Ventures launched a $100 million fund to support early-stage startups using Anthropic’s AI technology. #TGIF #AI #segmentation https://lnkd.in/e_tb6Bj5

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How are GTM leaders preparing their teams (and themselves) for a future with AI? Here are a few areas that GTM leaders we asked are focusing on: 1. Increase the surface area of creative exploration — Use AI to help ideate to accelerate the creativity of your marketing. 2. Accelerate written content creation — Use AI to write the first draft of your written content to help increase your publishing velocity. 3. Making Video More Accessible and Effective — Unblocking your team from creating videos, and increasing the production quality through AI-augmented editing. 4 – AI-Powered Co-Pilot For Marketers — Use AI as your co-pilot to offload tedious or repetitive tasks. Learn more about how GTM leaders are leveraging AI to help their company's grow faster here: https://lnkd.in/gbmP2yfE

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Headed to ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership's MMC+Tech conference next week? We want you to weigh in on some... Unpopular Opinions 👀. Before Rhoni Rakos, Justin Burniske, MBA, and Laura Sparks take to the stage to dismantle, defend, and reframe some of the most conventionally held beliefs around marketing and technology, they want your two cents! Where do you stand on these topics, and what are your own mar-tech opinions you think might start a (friendly) debate? Help drive the conversation by taking this < 2-minute survey! https://hubs.la/Q02y6DK00

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One tactic for improving pipeline generation in 2024: Build a robust partner ecosystem. Not too long ago, folks at Ebsta and Pavilion analyzed 4.2 million opportunities, generating over $54 billion in revenue, from 530 best performing companies. Here are a few major takeaways ⤵ 👉 Top B2B sales professionals focus on sources of revenue, not pipeline. 👉 Partner referrals account for the greatest source of revenue (31%), even though they only make up 10% of pipeline. 👉 The sales velocity for partner referrals is higher than other channels (3.8x). Yet, only 12% have a partner program. What does this mean? It means there are still tons of sales opportunities for you to reap. And if you have a partner programs, you've got a head start! Learn how you can set up a referral partner program in the comments below ⤵ This discovery also further proves that #referralpartnerships is the top-performing GTM motion now!

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Ever wonder what a best in class AI strategy looks like? In a recent episode of the GTM with AI Podcast, Lindsay Rothlisberger, Director of Revenue Operations at Zapier, shared a powerful use case of AI enhancing go-to-market alignment. Here's what they're doing: When a deal closes, the customer success team often lacks context about the customer's journey. This gap leads to inefficiencies and impacts the customer experience. Zapier tackled this challenge by using AI to bridge the gap between sales and CS. How It Works: Transcription Analysis:  AI summarizes Gong call transcripts, extracting key customer insights. Automated Handoffs:  This summary, along with deal notes, is automatically sent to the CS team. Improved Efficiency:  This process saves 2-3 hours of prep time, allowing CS teams to engage effectively from day one. This results in: - Enhanced Customer Experience: Customers receive seamless service as CS teams are well-prepared with all necessary information. - Operational Efficiency: Sales teams focus on high-value tasks, knowing that AI ensures smooth transitions. - Cross-Functional Alignment: Both sales and CS teams operate in sync, thanks to accurate and timely information flow. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/d6WSQfpC #AI #GTM #Podcast #Zapier

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Rod Cherkas, CEO of HelloCCO and Author of The Chief Customer Officer Playbook and his latest book Reach, shared valuable insights on the roles of customer marketing during his conversation with Megan Heuer and Jon Russo. Here's a summary of what he discussed: "Companies have limited amount of resources, let's say for their customer success teams. They want to make sure they're focusing those resources on the potentially highest value companies or companies with the highest growth potential, which potentially leaves a large percentage of customers that should be nurtured, but not necessarily actively followed up on and this is a perfect place where customer marketing can help. Now some organizations have started to create at their low end of the market. For example, something that they're calling a digital CSM team or a tech touch approach or digital approach. And I think that's a really good way to do it, but I would flip it a little bit and rather than having it be led by somebody that used to be a customer success leader or a customer success manager is bring in a customer marketer to run those types of programs." Rod will be live with us again this Friday sharing more about his customer revenue framework on his newest book release, Reach!   Join us on LinkedIn Live every Friday 11aET/8aPT. Check the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/e_rXA9gF

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📊 Are you trying to figure out what key metrics you need to grow your business? Look no further, discover the metrics driving SaaS success! Watch our on-demand webinar, "Key SaaS Metrics to Grow Your Business," hosted by Wolter Rebergen, VP of RevOps. Learn how to optimize funding decisions, prioritize roadmap features, and focus on success drivers. Don't miss out: https://hubs.ly/Q02sd5980

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QUESTION FOR YOU: What's a cool, specific application you're using hashtag #GenerativeAI for? 🙋🏻‍♂️ I'm asking because on today's #SalesGameChangersPodcast, Brian Shealey from Rohirrim, spoke about the role #AI can play in accelerating large and cumbersome proposals. #RFP He does a great job explaining how the solution saves time, money and resources for companies in the #GovernmentContracting space. It's standard to have to respond to a proposal to get public sector business. It's also becoming standard operating practice in commercial markets as well. 🎤 EPISODE 678: Generative AI for Proposal Development with Rohirrim Sales Leader Brian Shealey 📖👂🏻 Read the transcript or listen at https://lnkd.in/eEukKDZ3. 🎙️Subscribe and rate the podcast at http://bit.ly/sgcitunes BRIAN’S ADVICE: “Be passionate about what it is that you’re doing. Always be hungry and thirsty for more knowledge and continued improvement. That is the biggest difference in my mind of some of the greatest sales leaders and salespeople I’ve worked with, is there’s a continued curiosity. Constantly improve yourself and bring new knowledge and challenge paradigms that are out there, that are dated.” ❓Is responding to proposals an important aspect of what you do? #ai #aiforbusiness #SalesLeadership #PublicSector [Reminder to register for the August Institute for Excellence in Sales Big Stage Program August Sales Excellence Big Stage: Making or Breaking Your Customer Experience: Great 8 Skills of Today’s B2B and B2G Sales Rockstars. Register at https://cvent.me/o1d1nZ.]

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How do you build an emotion-based experiment? It starts with knowing your customers. 💡 Talia Wolf, founder + CEO of Getuplift says this customer research is essential. Understanding 𝒉𝒐𝒘 people buy and make decisions, versus simply moving elements around, will lead to better hypotheses that have a bigger impact on the customer journey. In the latest episode of the “1000 Experiments Club” podcast, AB Tasty Head of Growth Marketing UK John Hughes spoke with Talia about leveraging emotional marketing and how relating to your customers can lead to better conversions. To uncover more valuable insights from their conversation head to our blog or listen to the episode on your favorite streaming service. ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ #podcast #experimentation #cultureofexperimentation #innovation #datascience 

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Randy Wootton, Amber Wendover (Principal at Thinking People Consulting), and Tom Perry (Chief Career Officer/Founder at Engaged Pursuit) sat down on the SaaS Expert Voices podcast to discuss the importance of clear communication and investing in your team's potential to drive organizational success. 💡 Amber introduced a practical framework for managing repeated behaviors: the "Rule of Three." 1️⃣ First time: Assume it's a miscommunication or a bad day.  2️⃣ Second time: Consider it a coincidence and address the issue.  3️⃣ Third time: Recognize it as a behavior pattern that needs direct attention. With this method, leaders can maintain clear communication, set expectations, and foster an environment of trust and accountability. 🎧 Discover more insights on fostering authentic leadership and building a growth-oriented culture. Tune in to the full episode! https://lnkd.in/gx8QhZ2n #SaaSExpertVoices #OrganizationalSuccess #Leadership

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Brady Broadbent and Suril Butala analyzed many Board of Director decks, in which they pulled out 3️⃣ key best practices for 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 to ace their presentation:  📏 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁: Evaluate the foundational elements of sales, including systems, training, and procedures, and map these to their respective outputs. 📝 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 > 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Actively identify the primary drivers of efficiency in your sales machine and closely monitor how these results are trending on a daily and weekly basis. 📈 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Map to future expectations and scaling your sales team for future budgets. The best sales leaders have a strong grasp of their current lead gen, pipeline, and bookings capacity, and understand what these KPIs need to look like in two, three, four quarters to make budget. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gGpuvUzr

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Uncover the Hidden Costs of Ad Hoc Design Have you ever considered how inconsistent design impacts your brand and bottom line? Our latest blog post delves into the unseen costs of ad hoc design and offers insights on creating a cohesive, effective strategy. Don't let disjointed design practices hold you back. Learn how to streamline your approach and elevate your brand. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dJmEk56H #DesignStrategy #BrandConsistency #RothkoPR #MarketingTips

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As Larry Freed, one of Sarah's mentors, told her (over and over): "You can’t manage what you can’t measure." What you measure and track is going to change as your business grows and changes. If you're working hard to create a well-oiled and aligned GTM machine. You need to have absolute clarity on how and what you are measuring. This will tell you the success of the motions you pick. So here are all the metrics you need to think about by the stage of your business, by the motions you pick, and a quick refresher on all the motions that exist currently. --- Join 55,000+ leaders mastering their go-to-market strategies with us! - https://lnkd.in/gkjzWzNn #GTM #GTMonday #Metrics #Measurement

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