Robin Daniels’ Post

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.

Sam Jacobs does a great job calling out CROs who are just glorified heads of sales. The inflated C-level title is why there is often friction with heads of marketing, and why in the CMO community a major red flag is reporting to a CRO and not the CEO or President. The modern CRO needs depth in sales, marketing, and CS - plus some finance, to successfully do their job. If you’re just giving a C-title to your head of sales, you have the wrong person for the job.

Them: "You need Sales/Marketing alignment" Me: "If only it were that simple..." You actually need alignment across 4 teams: 1. Marketing 2. Sales 3. Customer success 4. Account management It's great to drive new revenue. But the real $$$ comes from: - New revenue - Recurring revenue - Upsell revenue - Referral revenue. Which requires: - Marketing campaigns that generate qualified demand for sales. - Sales teams that close the right deals, turn away poor fits and manage expectations. - Customer success teams that get new clients that first win. - Account management teams that keep the relationship alive, upsell when there's an opportunity, and feed data back to the other teams. Complex? Yes. Difficult? Yes Doable? Yes Lucrative? Hell yes!

Did you know that sales organizations that thoughtfully design and optimize sales territories are proven to realize 10-20% increases in sales productivity?   What does it take to redesign your approach to territory design? It all comes down to a mindset shift. https://lnkd.in/gi-Rb9Bd #sales #RevOps #GTM

Part of creating a frictionless sales process is abandoning the traditional sales paradigm. I see CEOs, CROs and VPs all fall into this trap of continuing how they were doing sales 5, 10 or 15+ years ago. But times have changed! Sometimes, without a culture of learning, your sales reps will hit quota and miss quota, and you won't know why if you're just silo'd in on reporting MoM. Furthermore, interpreting a spreadsheet leaves room for error and even manipulation of the actual leads. And time and time again I see the last step, sales will close the deal and then move on. Instead, they need to be solely focused on making the customer experience the best it can be. A warm intro to your CS rep, a gentle and friendly reminder or thank you every few months as a check in. When your sales team is focused on learning, growing, supporting one another and using data to make informed decisions, you'll eliminate "friction" in your sales efforts, and that makes everyone happy. Want more tips on sales, marketing and lead gen? Follow Kris Jonson #revenuegoals #leadgeneration #frictionlesssales #salesstrategies #smarketing

Many sales and revenue leaders get this wrong. They take in fragmented instead of holistic approach to the sales process/buyer journey. 👉 Example 1: 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Our opportunity to closed-won conversion is dropping 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: We need to train our sales reps in negotiation and deal closing 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: Let's see what happens in the entire process 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: You find that sales and/or marketing are targeting companies outside your ICP. Those would rarely get enough value/impact to buy. 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Refocus efforts on the right accounts 👉 Example 2: 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Churn is too high 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: We need to train our CSM team / spend more time with customers 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: Let's see what happens in the entire process 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: You find that sales and/or marketing are targeting companies outside your ICP. Those would rarely get enough value/impact, let alone recurring impact. 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Refocus efforts on the right accounts Just like your sales reps, you should peel the union. Identify the symptoms and then peel that onion. Until you found the root cause. For this, you need a good process, data and time. If you need help to get this right. Send me a DM #sales #salescoaching #salesenablement #salesdevelopment #revenueenablement

3 Stupid Mistakes CROs and other Sales Leaders Make that Hinder Revenue Growth💥. That absolutely CAN be avoided. 1️⃣ Sales bias? Many CROs come from sales backgrounds, but true revenue acceleration requires alignment across functions. Sales is important, but you can't keep low-key neglecting marketing and customer success. Embrace all functions on the GTM team to create a harmonious revenue engine that propels your business forward. 🚀 2️⃣ Data neglect stops here! Yes, data is crucial, but it's the critical aspects that often get overlooked. Ensure seamless reporting functions under RevOps, empowering your team with valuable insights. Develop dashboards in Salesforce and a BI tool for consistent leadership review. Don't forget to incorporate AI into your analytics stack for even greater awareness. And remember, weekly insights are imperative to stay ahead of the curve. 📊 3️⃣ Say no to RevOps surprises! Establish a streamlined process for tool decisions. Include IT and/or RevOps in the evaluation process to prevent unexpected implementations. Stick to your RevOps roadmap and avoid overwhelming your team with unnecessary tools. Train efficiently on existing tools and fully unleash their potential. It's time to optimize and simplify! 💡 Don't let these mistakes hold back your revenue growth potential! 💰 These are pretty simple changes that I promise will have a tremendous impact on revenue growth. Take action now and embrace effective Revenue Operations strategies. Listen to your RevOps team. If you don't trust them, then add a Consultant until you do. Drop a comment or DM me to discuss how you can maximize your revenue growth with aligned RevOps practices, data-driven decisions, and the power of AI. 🌟

Marketing and sales teams have serious issues. And when sales and marketing clash, revenue pays the price. Company revenue thrives on a powerful one-two punch - sales delivering on closing deals and marketing driving the pipeline. But at too many organizations, a tag-team has become a grudge match. Sales blames marketing for lackluster lead quality. Marketing accuses sales of promptly dismissing premium prospects. Executives are frustrated by spotty revenue growth. In reality, flawed processes and misaligned goals pit these functions against each other. Teams wasting time on territory disputes means dollars left on the table. The core issues driving dysfunction typically include: 🤔 Confusing definitions of sales-ready leads 😡 Unshared metrics for success 😲 Lack of visibility into strategies 😤 No clear ownership of customer journey stages The impacts of this misalignment are real - higher customer acquisition costs, lower win rates, and extended sales cycles. So how can organizations foster collaboration between sales and marketing? 🏆 Set unified goals and metrics for pipeline and revenue. Incentivize hitting shared targets 💕 Increase transparency through regular meetings, shared CRM systems, and integrated messaging platforms 🛠 Provide proper lead qualification training and tools to marketing to meet sales' standards 📄 Document responsibilities and handoff points for each funnel stage A strong alliance between sales and marketing teams is critical for execution of the customer journey and overall business success. So marketing and sales leaders, what steps are you taking to break down silos and encourage alignment at your organization? It starts with you! #marketing #sales

I don't expect that everyone will agree with this, or jump on this bandwagon, but this is how I'm starting to look at the future of #enablement. My take on this is evolving, and I already regret not specifically calling out Sales/Rev Ops, which I was including (quietly in my head, I guess) in Enablement, when I wrote, "Sales enablement equips the sales force with the mindsets, knowledge, skills, and tools to generate their own leads, convert marketing/demand gen leads, and turn both leads into opportunities they can win." I'd also like to call out the difference between account management (territory, key, and strategic accounts) compared to Customer Success or Service. So, with those coming expansions/edits/clarifications in mind, here's what I've got, so far: 🔹READ HERE: https://lnkd.in/eSdusZDV Edits coming in the relatively near future.

It happens to all of us - the team falls way short of its revenue target, and fingers are pointed everywhere. Sales and marketing blame each other. Sales claims the leads were garbage while marketing argues the sales process was flawed. The reality? Both were right to some degree because their goals were misaligned from the start. According to an MarketingProfs report, companies with tightly aligned sales and marketing teams achieve 36% higher customer retention and 38% higher sales win rates. When sales and marketing don't share the same goals, the entire revenue engine suffers: - SDRs pass unqualified leads due to volume goals. - Marketers generate the wrong lead types to hit vanity metrics. - Sellers get filtered or nurtured by the wrong prospects. It's an uphill battle that perpetuates wasteful spending, missed quotas, and strained partnerships between the two revenue teams. Hitting your targets becomes an ongoing game of chance rather than a predictable result of coordinated strategies. The solution is meticulous shared goal-setting and constant realignment. Here are three tips: 1. Model and map your entire revenue funnel together from MQLs to closed revenue, agreeing on definitions and handoffs. 2. Set tiered goals focused on quality over quantity, like sales-accepted leads and sales cycle metrics. 3. Conduct frequent QBRs to analyze results, identify leaks, and dynamically adjust tactics on both sides. When sales and marketing efforts are not aligned, you're destined for dysfunction, territorial conflicts, and missed goals. Take the time to tightly coordinate incentives around transparent, realistic targets. A thriving revenue engine depends on it. #revenueoperations #salesandmarketingalignment #salesgoals