fwd: thinking, a b2b marketing podcast

On today's episode Charlie and Crissy are discussing how they have been seeing an uptick in companies wanting to take on more GTM Ops projects and invest in their GTM Ops foundation. Then they discuss how many stakeholders request "simple" projects from the GTM ops team or from consultants and why those simple projects really aren't simple. Atleast, for most organizations.

00:00 5 Data Issues That Will Confuse AI21:00 Should We Use the Title GTM Engineer?32:21 How to Handle Conversion Rate Data the Right WayHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Intro3:55 Fitness test for GTMOps30:13 Should you attend in-person conferences?37:33 Tools for AI data NormalizationHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Intro01:47 Maturity Model for Reporting30:57 Testing Chatgpt Operator47:34 When to Rip & Replace Your Ops Processes?Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Intro00:15 Where do GTM Ops Projects Go Wrong? How to identify issues and suggestions for reducing complexity24:30 GTM or GTFO: 5 "Best" ABM Stats?38:27 Is Campaign ROI Worth It? How to get campaign-level ROI reportingHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Introduction00:19 Deep Dive on Clay: What you need to know and a realistic approach to using this tool in your org27:32 GTM or GTFO: Analyzing marketing data using Deepseek 40:05 Q&A: Should you be tracking sales touchpoints in multi-touch attribution?Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Introduction00:37 Our Predictions for GTMOps in 202526:33 GTM or GTFO: Is AI email personalization worth it? 37:01 Q&A: When is data quality good enough?Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

In this episode, we dive into some nitty-gritty GTM data/reporting challenges! From why BI/Warehouse infrastructure might be failing your reporting needs (and possibly making things worse) to exploring the buzz around incrementality reporting for B2B. Plus, your burning questions on custom object funnel tracking and our Salesforce package are answered.00:00 Introduction01:12 How a BI/Warehouse setup often doesn't solve your GTM data/reporting issues (and in fact can make them worse)19:30 GTM or GTFO: Incrementality reporting. What is it? Is it effective? Should you do it for B2B?39:00 Answering audience questions about our custom object funnel tracking methodology and Salesforce packageHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Charlie and Crissy run through a live demo of our custom object funnel tracking method in Salesforce, chat to an AI SDR live on the podcast, and discuss when you should and shouldn't buy an ABM platform. 00:00 Intro02:27 Live Demo of Our Funnel Object Tracking: we walk through a screen share of our custom object funnel/lifecycle/pipeline method and show a few use cases (Here is the link if you want to watch the demo on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUuOBmysM4U)25:14 Live Call from an AI SDR: we get a AI SDR to call us, any good? Listen and see for yourself36:29 When to Buy an ABM Tool: we explore a Linkedin comment question on when to buy a ABM toolHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/

00:00 Intro00:58 AI is Taking SDR Jobs, we're seeing it across clients. Is it good/bad and what are the implications? 17:52 Is "Founder Brand" For Everyone? Should all CEOs be public personas? 27:11 Nurtures are dead (or are they?) and what is the current state of nurturing in 2024/25?

00:00 Introduction01:01 Is Attribution data divisive? Is it the data's fault or is it a people problem? 21:26 GTM or GTFO: reacting to a video on measurement 31:18 What term should we use: funnel, lifecycle, pipeline or something else?Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Introduction01:02 GTM/Marketing/Rev Ops is Escalating in Complexity18:12 Is Linkedin Beef a good GTM Strategy?31:50 When in the sales process should you create an Opportunity?Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Intro01:16 Funnel Attribution vs. Multi-touch Attribution11:32 How to avoid the credit game drama between marketing and sales17:59 The different biases 20:49 The data structure needed for each type30:34 Which type to start with 34:33 Can you use multi-touch attribution data for funnel metrics reporting?Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Check out Charlie's latest chat with the crew from the RevOps Champions podcast. They talk about:- What is GTM Ops - The unfulfilled promise of RevOps - Data, reporting, and attribution - And lots more! Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube!Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Struggling to get a complete view of your different GTM motions and their performance? You can report on marketing MQLs ok, but not on Outbound, Partner, Account-Based, or Customer Expansion? Crissy breaks down unifying your GTM data and shows a couple examples. Want to see what she is sharing? Check out the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/Nlm6qL7dwQY Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

00:00 Intro01:35 The biggest UTM mistakes companies make13:59 What we have learned deploying 15 Lifecycle/funnel custom objects into complex B2B SaaS Salesforce environments 30:38 How to level up how you communicate and interact with leadership if you're in GTM OpsHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Crissy sat down with Finn on The Founder-Led Marketing Show and had a wide-ranging conversation on:- How to Build a GTM Ops Team - How to Track a Buyer Funnel- How to Build Unified Reporting- And lots more! Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

If you're leading any of the GTM teams (marketing, sales, customer success) this is for you. Or if you're working in these teams (or in an ops team) and need to get leadership onboard with focusing on GTM ops send this video to them today. 00:00 Intro00:06 Top 3 CMO Struggles00:21 Top 3 CRO Struggles00:30 The pains and GTM Ops focus 01:20 1st reason01:59 2nd reason02:14 3rd reason02:46 4th reason03:21 5th reasonHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Account-Based Marketing has been the rage for several years now. And over and over again we see leadership pushing the teams to operationalize an Account Funnel while underinvesting in the Person Funnel.This isn't the way. For 3 reasons. And Crissy breaks down why.00:00 Intro00:27 First Reason01:35 Second Reason02:48 Third ReasonHear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

We're back with Charlie, Crissy, and Xander discussing some of the biggest questions in B2B SaaS GTM. 00:00 Intro00:27 Discussion on the newest outbound tools (e.g. Clay) 18:54 What people get wrong with ABM and how we define ABM vs. Account-Based Operations 37:49 Our new Go-To-Market Operations Framework Hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Charlie joins the RevOps Lab podcast to talk about tracking funnel metrics across the entire marketing and sales funnel.What you'll learn in this episode:- How a CRM can help you with tracking and if it is the only source of truth- Which potholes to avoid- How the reporting is done with a custom objecthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/RevOps Letter: https://www.getweflow.com/revopsletter Janis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippstelzer/ Philipp on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiszech/ Weflow: https://www.getweflow.com/

Stop the chaos! Why is it that every marketing automation platform we audit, whether it's Marketo, Hubspot, or Pardot, has every automation firing at once? Why is it that the order of operations is never factored in, so there are sync issues, routing issues, and super slow speed to lead? Well, it's because few people realize that you need to architect Marketo, Hubspot, or Pardot in a particular way. Xander will explain all in this episode.If you want to hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-x5u0G03LWmU0Ds_4zR8wSubscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Every B2B company has a funnel tracking process. And quite often, that process is seriously limited or broken.Leads get lost, data is inaccurate, and businesses struggle to produce insights and accurate reporting.I've seen this first hand, and so has this week's guest - Charlie Saunders. We've both spent years as consultants fixing broken funnels.In this episode, we talk about the many reasons funnel tracking goes wrong and dive deep into the architecture of the scalable solution Charlie's team has developed.Check out more episodes of Justin's podcast here: https://revops.fm/If you want to hear more from us:Subscribe to us on Youtube!Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.cs2marketing.com/revenue-growth-architects#subscribe-to-newsletterFollow Crissy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crveteresaunders/Follow Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesaunders/Follow Xanderon LinkedIn: lhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/xanderbroeffle/

Crissy joined the Collective Wisdom podcast by Demand Collective to discuss how marketers should architect their revenue process and marketing campaigns.

Crissy joins the Attribution Time podcast to share her perspective on all things attribution.

Crissy joined the Humans of Martech Podcast in a wide-ranging discussion. The discussion explored the evolution from tactical management to strategic leadership, and the adaptation to changing marketing strategies. Also, the significance of specialized platforms in marketing automation, the critical role of the sales funnel in revenue growth, the shift in email marketing towards ‘inbox influence', and revitalizing outbound marketing strategies. This episode is a concise yet profound guide, offering actionable insights for martech professionals to navigate their careers and strategies effectively.

Charlie and Crissy joined Chris Walker on the Revenue Vitals podcast to talk through the intricaies of funnel/pipeline architecture vs. MT attribution. The conversation spotlights the foundational importance of understanding how funnel tracking sets the stage for a company's go-to-market success, transcending mere marketing analytics.The discussion provides a nuanced exploration into the stark differences between funnel tracking and multitouch attribution. While both concepts play vital roles within a company's data-driven decision-making processes, they each serve distinct purposes.Chris, Charlie, and Crissy dissect common missteps companies face, emphasizing the need for a strong, actionable understanding of buyer progression and sales optimization.

Crissy joined the Operations With Sean Lane podcast to share her thoughts on consulting vs. in-house for ops professionals. They discuss how consultants have many more data points and companies they're exposed to so their ability to find patterns and create frameworks is accelerated at an unfairly high rate. And she shares the frameworks she has used consulting over 100 high growth B2B tech companies.

What do you do after recording more than 200 episodes of a podcast?Take a break!In all seriousness, we have decided to take a quick hiatus from delivering new episodes weekly for a bit while we focus on a fresh new strategy for our content and what we add to this podcast channel.It's been a pleasure to deliver valuable insights and actions on go-to-market operations and strategy to you every week (since 2019!). But right now we just feel like it might be time to shake it up a bit.In the meantime, we will be sharing past recordings we have done for other podcasts that we thought you would love.Stay tuned for what is next from us and we'd love for you to stay subscribed here to make sure you don't miss future updates. And we also ask that you follow us on YouTube for any new video content we put out in the meantime.And if you are a fan and want to send us a special note and inquire on what is next - email us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

You've identified a large amount of accounts that are a good fit for your business and fit your ICP. Now what? That's where account tiering comes in.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're taking a look at how to use account tiers and how it can be an effective tool for prioritizing accounts, as well as defining what the strategy will be from marketing and sales for those accounts.We'll dive into defining your Ideal Customer Profile, then venture into thinking about layering your accounts into three types: key accounts, valuable accounts, and programmatic accounts. And then we will cover how to maintain and use these account tiers long-term.Tune in to learn how to get the most out of your account-based Go to Market strategy with tiered accounts.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Documentation is the silent hero of operations, particularly when it's done well. Yet many operators skip this step altogether.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're sharing our top 3 tips for creating documentation so that you don't skip it and people will actually use it!We'll discuss why documentation and project management are different, why your documentation practice should start with a good old-fashioned document, and how best to organize your various documentation so that someone looking for it can find it and make sense of it.Whether you're a full-on documentation pro or just beginning to appreciate the satisfaction that one can derive from proper documentation, we've got tips to help you up-level your Rev Ops documentation processes in this episode.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Despite the naysayers predicting its untimely demise, lead scoring as a buyer prioritization tool still has a lot of life left. But if you're going to score your leads, you better do it the right way.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we identify three of the most common lead scoring mistakes folks tend to make and (crucially) what you can do to avoid them.For starters, we'll look at why lead scoring should actually be viewed more as buyer prioritization and has less to do with just their activity and should be more aligned to the fit and buyer intent. We'll also answer why having the proper data is key for lead scoring and why you should be iterating and improving your lead scoring efforts over time. Tune into this episode for a primer on lead scoring best practices guaranteed to make this prioritization tool one of the sharpest in your marketing ops arsenal.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

How's your handle on the differences between funnel metrics and multi-touch attribution? We see a lot of confused marketers confidently referring to one when they actually mean the other, and we think it's high time to set the record straight.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're quickly (in around 10 minutes) demystifying the confusion around funnel metrics and multi-touch attribution by discussing five key differences. These include how funnel metrics and MT attribution are measured, what they're best at, the biases each introduces into your data, and how difficult each is to track and analyze. Tune into this episode to finally (and completely) understand the differences between funnel metrics and multi-touch attribution.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

If you feel like an order taker, simply responding reactively to incoming requests rather than taking the time to think strategically, or you struggle to get anything “valuable” completed at your org, a RevOps roadmap might be what you're missing.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're working through how to build out a RevOps roadmap that is going to be valuable to the business but also can be executed efficiently by you, your team, or your shared resources effectively. We will talk you through the same process we use when we engage our own CS2 clients and how you can copy it yourself. Tune into this episode to learn how to build a rev ops road map that supports your goals and makes you feel accomplished when you look back later.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

If you look at open roles in marketing operations today you will see a slew of senior manager or director titles. All of which have a mile long list of responsibilities but that is another story. If you try to look for anything VP level or above it seems like it is non-existent. So this begs the question: Is a senior-level role realistically in the cards if you stick to marketing ops, or do you need to pivot to a different kind of position to fulfill your professional goals?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we debate whether marketing ops does indeed have a career ceiling. We'll take a look at why it might, why roles at different size companies matter, and what other career paths might make more sense for those in Ops looking to go up the ladder. Tune into this episode to ensure you're cultivating the right approach to your marketing ops career path.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

With two hundred episodes officially under our belts, you'd think we'd take a victory lap. Not so! Instead, we're taking episode 200 as a time for reflection on our marketing ops blunders, gut-wrenching mistakes, and embarrassing moments.From botched mass email sends to public speaking freeze-ups to Marketo interesting moments gone wrong, are you even doing marketing ops if you haven't experienced a pulse-quickening mishap from time to time? Tune into this episode to learn from our mistakes and find some commiseration for yours.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Working in RevOps can be an extremely rewarding career path, but it can also be fraught with difficulties and frustrations that can get in the way of those operators succeeding in their role or simply just enjoying it too!In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're facing down three harsh truths about working in RevOps and discussing the best ways to navigate them. Whether you're a veteran or just taking your first steps into a rev ops career, tune into this episode to learn how to tackle these common problems.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Over the past 9 years of running CS2, we have worked on A LOT of funnel projects. So much so that funnel architecture is a key foundational area where we feel like we drive the most impact for clients. Why? Because most of the time organizations are not doing it the right way and we have truly taken the time to figure out the best way to operationalize the funnel and what small things should be avoided for better adoption.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're taking you through rebuilding the funnel from scratch—and how to do it the right way. We're getting rid of endless lists of acronyms that require a collection of footnotes to understand. We're defining conversion points with clearly demonstrated value. And best of all, we're doing all of it in a way that anyone in your business can easily comprehend.Tune into this episode to learn how to build a funnel that your revenue team will adopt and your whole organization clearly understands.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Recency Bias. Bad data. Form Friction. There are plenty of reasons to question the usefulness of self-reported attribution. In fact, Charlie once believed self-reported attribution to be pointless. So what made him change his tune?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're reconsidering self-reported attribution to find out what turned Charlie from cynic to supporter. We'll debunk our previous criticism and discuss why if you're doing great marketing that engages your buyers, they should want to tell you.Tune into this episode to find out why self-reported attribution may help you fill an important insight gap.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Building out an SDR team is costly, and frequently results in an organizational focus on keeping that team busy—not driving revenue. Partner that with the advance of AI tools and a shift in the way businesses are handling their outbound sales efforts and the traditional role of the SDR feels less clear than ever.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects we're critically analyzing the role of the SDR on modern sales teams. We discuss why trusting junior folks to nurture your best leads doesn't make sense, why SDRs could be more effective in a hybrid marketing role, and why the right move might be investing those resources in other programs altogether.Tune into this episode to find out why it may be time to critically rethink the role of the SDR in your business.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

How often have you followed up with your SDRs and discovered that the prospects they were reaching out to based on content syndication efforts didn't actually remember that white paper or perhaps never downloaded it in the first place? Everyone seems to agree that content syndication doesn't really work. So why are we all still doing it?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're going to get to the bottom of why so many marketing teams are still using this strategy despite lackluster conversion rates. And what you might be doing operationally to also further perpetuate the problem and what you can suggest your team does to ensure it can be successful if they still want to invest.Tune into this episode to rethink content syndication and discover what alternatives will actually yield the results you're looking for.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Ready or not, 2024 is here! What is on your 2024 roadmap? Does it include partner program operations? Or are you tackling your email strategy and deliverability? Or are you prioritizing a new AI project?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're looking at all these topics and more as we count down the nine marketing ops topics and projects that are top of mind for our clients heading into 2024. Find out how we're thinking about customer retention, ops team convergence, custom object funnel tracking, and much more for 2024.Tune into this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects for insight into where companies are and should be investing their resources in operations this year.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

What's the best marketing automation platform? It wasn't that long ago that when clients were looking for an enterprise grade solution they did not consider Hubspot. At CS2, for example, migrating clients from Hubspot to Marketo was commonplace.It seems the times are changing and Hubspot has stepped up to the plate to become a more robust platform that fit's a company's needs even as businesses grow beyond those early start-up stages. Particularly in the last year, there's less and less of a reason to move off of Hubspot.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we ask if Hubspot is now positioned to unseat Marketo as the top marketing automation platform. To add fuel to the fire, we'll discuss how Hubspot CRM is giving Salesforce a run for its money as well.Tune in for a thorough discussion on Hubspot that might make you rethink your preferred marketing automation platform.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Third-party intent data is a buzz-worthy topic in B2B marketing and sales, but is it useful intelligence or so much snake oil? In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're sifting through an industry report and our own anecdotes to think critically about third-party intent data.Gain insight into the challenges of using third-party intent data effectively, learn the results of a revealing MIT research report that may shed some light on the subject, and find out what transformed our initial excitement into skepticism.Tune in for this investigation on third-party intent data to understand if it's a useful tool in your operations tool kit or a data source with a lot of drawbacks.Read the MIT report referenced in this episode: "Is first- or third-party audience data more effective for reaching the ‘right' customers? The case of IT decision-makers".Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

This episode is an interesting one folks! Listen in and hear Xander, Crissy, and Charlie debate on the best way to operationalize account stages for ABM.Defining the stages for a person funnel is easy. We have that nailed down. But nailing down the BEST way to handle account stages is still a new area where we are evolving our thinking on how to advise on the best way to set it up for most organizations. To date its been more bespoke based on the client and their goals.During our debate, we tackle everything from what the account stages SHOULD be, how your person funnel can play a role in setting them up, why ABM tool stages are not the same as account stages, and what metrics your leadership actually wants to see and how the account stages and potential account status or tier can help support that as well.So tune in for an episode and see us battle-test our thoughts and see if it might change the way you think on account stages as well!Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Over the last year, there has been an over-reliance on using email as a channel from budget-starved marketers because it's “free” and is the quickest way to get in front of potential buyers.But what are the hidden costs of bad email practices? Are buyers numb to email since it's so oversaturated? And are you hurting your brand and deliverability more than the small returns you get from your “spray-and-pray” tactics?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're rethinking B2B email strategy as the world heads into 2024 and how to adjust your tactics and engagement tracking knowing email is much harder to master and also with new guidelines from Yahoo and Gmail coming in February 2024 for bulk email senders so they can ensure their messages are getting delivered.Tune in for an episode filled with tips on how to get the whole revenue team to improve how they approach email sending and ensure you start to see more success with it in the next year.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Marketing teams are working furiously to fulfill MQL quotas as the end of the year swiftly approaches. But are MQLs the best metric to determine your marketing team's performance? What other metrics might provide a better indicator of the health of your business and the success of your campaigns?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're breaking the MQL myth that more MQLs = hitting your revenue goals. We've packed this episode with discussions from how demand capture is not brand-building to why some sources like content syndication have such low conversion rates and what you're better off doing instead. And we're going deep on why focusing too much on MQLs over other metrics will lead you astray.Tune in to this episode and find out how to use other funnel metrics that tie directly to opportunities!Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

How well are you tracking your SLAs? And perhaps more importantly, how many of them are you tracking? Measuring your speed to lead is all well and good, but focusing on it exclusively doesn't solve all your funnel velocity issues.In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we'll examine the other SLAs you should be measuring to have a holistic view of how prospects are moving through your funnel. How long has it been since the last touch? How long are you letting meetings sit before they turn into an opportunity? How long are opportunities in flight before they close? We'll touch on all of these and more.Tune in to find out how we're thinking about SLA management and how aligning on SLAs with your SDR, Sales, and Demand teams will help you improve funnel velocity.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Over the last year an interesting debate has heated up around Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs like Marketo, Hubspot, Pardot) and if they are necessary in this modern era of martech.The argument against MAPs is there are new more focused best in breed tools (like iPaaS, data warehouses, data automation, more advanced B2C emailing tools) that when architected together are more powerful than a jack of all trades, master of none MAP.So in this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we'll examine the aspects you should consider when deciding if this is the right strategy for you.We will discuss pricing, capabilities, scalability, and complexity. We'll compare marketing automation platforms to point solutions. And how you can perform an audit to see if what you're paying for is the best tool for the job.Tune in to find out if a marketing automation platform makes sense in 2023, and which of the available options make the most sense for your marketing ops team.Do you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered? Reach out to us at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Whether you're expanding from a mighty Marketing Ops team of one or adding headcount to an already established crew, what are the best practices for growing your Marketing Operations team?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're sharing a framework we've used internally at CS2 and with our clients to determine how and when to build out your marketing ops team. Simplify your hiring practices by considering our four framework pillars: splitting the workload between Marketing Ops and Campaign Ops, closing your teams' skill gaps, considering future business needs, and preparing for increased marketing analytics demands.Tune in to find out how our framework can help you build the ultimate marketing operations team from the ground up or expand your current team strategically to positively impact business goals.And if you have a marketing ops question you'd like answered, reach out to let us know at rga@cs2marketing.com.

Your website's chatbot just might be one of your largest MarTech expenses. And this begs the question: Is it worth it?Maybe you'd be better off with a simple (and cheaper) form. How likely is it that you'll be able to get your sales team fully enabled in chat anyway? Would those meetings with prospects come through even without a chatbot pinging them from their browser?In this episode of The Revenue Growth Architects, we're taking a critical look at website chat tools, including how they've evolved and how we think about using them in marketing operations today.So tune in to find out if website chat tools are right for your business or a drain on your MarTech budget.Key Takeaways:The landscape of chat tools has evolved, with several options available on the market.While chatbots offer enticing levels of automation, getting the most out of them requires a significant amount of setup and maintenance.Focusing on creating a user-friendly website and exploring other avenues like online communities might be a better way to engage with prospects.There's a strong case to be made for using chat tools for customer support and a product-led motion.The human touch is crucial when it comes to providing the best experience for your prospects.Jump into the conversation:[00:03:41] Chatbots are time-consuming compared to live chat.[00:14:51] Are chatbot getting you more meetings or are they redundant?[00:23:04] How to evaluate different chat tools based on their effectiveness.[00:24:51] When determining the best char solution, consider simplicity.