The First 100 Days

In this limited series from UserGems, Krysten Conner sits down with revenue practitioners to unearth new data about the value of past customers to future revenue. Caroline Pegram, Account Executive at UserGems, joins this episode to dig into the question: "How important is it to multi-thread deals?" They cover: de-risking deals with multi-threading strengthening win rates by including champions best practices for multi-threading the right way Follow along wherever you listen to podcasts! For the video version of this podcast, watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/uxW-5hUzv4k

In this limited series from UserGems, Krysten Conner sits down with revenue practitioners to unearth new data about the value of past customers to future revenue. Trinity Nguyen, VP of Marketing at UserGems, joins this episode to dig into the question: "Our customers love us. Won't they come back on their own anyway?" They cover: how many past champions don't come back on their own the percentage of pipeline generated by "Forgotten Gems" how sellers can embrace FOMO (fear of missed opportunities) to hit quota Follow along wherever you listen to podcasts! For the video version of this podcast, watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Gs6MZ76m5yY 

In this limited series from UserGems, Krysten Conner sits down with revenue practitioners to unearth new data about the value of past customers to future revenue. Christian Kletzl, CEO & co-Founder of UserGems, joins this episode to dig into the question: "How much are previously champions actually worth to your growth?" They cover: how previous champions impact win rate  how much your deal size can increase with Gems on an opp how past customers can shorten your sales cycle  Follow along wherever you listen to podcasts! For the video version of this podcast, watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/ijabU6QgRg8 For the written version, visit: https://bit.ly/42gIjAc 

“I saw a lot of great salespeople really struggle with understanding the value of cross-functional interactions, both for the customer and for themselves.” — Ross Rich Matt Yalowitz, Head of Corporate Development at Stripe, and Ross Rich, CEO of Accord, know one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a sales rep is undervaluing collaboration with the rest of your organization. And when you're selling a complex product, it's even more important to lean on your team. This kind of teamwork is easier said than done. So how do you develop strong internal collaboration while moving quickly and serving your clients? Listen in to hear Ross and Matt's answers.

“If you're not super clear to the sales team about what's in it for them, you'll invest a lot of time, resources, and people power into creating leads but will miss the follow-up process that converts them.” -- Devin Reed Content is the center of many marketing organizations. But it'll go to waste if you're not doing it right.  Devin Reed, Head of Content Strategy at Gong, shares the importance of communicating what's in it for your audience. And that applies to both your end customers and your internal customers—the sales team. In this episode, Devin shares his advice for creating content that raises eyebrows and enables your sales team to close deals.

“When you celebrate the win, it creates dopamine. And then that dopamine gets converted into noradrenaline, which is what gives you the effort to do the next thing.” – Kevin Bailey, Founder & CEO of Dreamfuel  When it comes to supercharging performance - mindset is everything. And during the first 100 days of a startup it can be the difference between anxiety and exhiliration.  Dreamfuel is a neuroscience based coaching platform whose goal is to help organizations improve employee mental health. Not just as a well-being perk, but to boost revenue. It's aligning emotions, feeling, thoughts and actions to hack elite performance.  Jamie Sewell, VP of Growth, and Kevin Bailey, Founder and CEO, discuss how to guarantee success with visualization, how to understand your team's mindsets, and how to optimize for mental strength and resilience.

“People started focusing so much on the extreme leading indicators of growth, but it's not just growth that matters. It's running an efficient business.” ~ Brian Murray Growth matters, but survival comes first. High growth rates don't mean much if your business isn't self-sustaining or able to raise the next round of funding. Brian Murray and Ethan Ruby, are partners at Craft Ventures, an early-stage VC and growth fund that is designed by founders for founders, and are the leader in B2B SaaS and Marketplace startups. The key to achieving efficient growth comes from aiming for the same revenue goal and from tracking the right metrics of the business. Spoiler alert: most revenue leaders have never looked at these metrics before, but will need to this year. What does the term “efficient growth” mean and what is considered good? Press play to find out.

“If nobody's willing to take ownership of their piece in it, everybody will get on the defensive as to why it should have worked. And it's always the other person's fault.” - Chris Boehlke, Vice President of Business Development at Bear Fox Marketing When the blame game is baked into an organization's culture, revenue alignment is simply impossible. Assigning blame when key targets aren't met is toxic, yet that's often the default for companies. Creating a culture of trust is both imperative and difficult. And rapid growth can quickly erode alignment across teams. Full-service agency Bear Fox Marketing is a case study in successfully navigating rapid growth and revenue alignment through extreme ownership. Chris Boehlke, Vice President of Business Development at Bear Fox Marketing and Isaac Ware, Former Director of Paid Media, discuss how to establish a culture of trust and transparency.

“We're really bad at this. Let's talk about these things in a cross-functional way. That's how we're getting better.” ~ Megan Boone, Senior Director of Revenue Marketing Vulnerability and healthy conflict are key ingredients when it comes to creating revenue alignment between sales and marketing at ThoughtSpot, a company that provides Google-like search capabilities for data analytics. Kristin Agnelli, Senior Global Director of Sales Development and Megan Boone, Senior Director of Revenue Marketing, discuss how they have fostered a culture based on transparency and trust - while  managing to make sales and marketing meetings fun along the way.

“We had ABM capabilities within our product and we had to drink our own champagne. We were like, we have to do it. We didn't even really need to build the business case for it. It's just, we gotta do this.” ~ Justin Keller, VP of Revenue Marketing at Drift The working relationship between Sales and Marketing is everything when it comes to Account Based Revenue. We've heard this over and over. But it's elusive. When it happens effortlessly it can feel like lightning in a bottle. It's been years since SigStr first launched into the B2B SaaS space. So when we got Justin Keller, VP of Revenue Marketing at Drift and Kevin Vanes. VP of Sales at Terminus, together to reminisce about launching their successful ABM initiative at Sigstr, it served as a reunion filled with behind-the-scenes goodness.

“If the communication isn't there and you're not aligning on the KPIs that matter things will start to crumble.” While working together at Alyce, Director of Evangelism and Customer Marketing, Nick Bennett, and his Sales counterpart, Christina Nalband, relied on open, honest, and constant communication to get things done. Christina and Nick break down how they built an accounts-based model together while candidly sharing the challenges involved to gain the alignment needed.

For this season of The First 100 Days, we are going deep on one topic: revenue alignment.  We'll feature two guests on opposite sides of the revenue function. And as you can imagine, sometimes there are conflicting priorities and agendas, limited resources, and strong personalities. Over the course of the season, we're breaking all of that down to help our audience achieve revenue alignment across departments.  Our hosts, Trinity Nguyen and Christian Kletzl, unpack how teams resolve conflict, develop successful campaigns, and crush their organization's goals while sharing practical tips to implement immediately.

What are the most important lessons you've learned as a revenue practitioner? For Jerry Brooner, President of Global Field Operations at Enable, the answer comes down to three things: consistency, talent development, and leading by example.  In this episode, he describes the leadership lessons he's learned building sales teams for both Fortune 100 companies and high-growth startups and how they affect the way he shows up today. Listen as Jerry shares the importance of knowing what you can – and can't– teach when developing talent and how sales leaders getting “in the trenches” can make a huge difference in building trust.

What are the most important lessons you've learned as a revenue practitioner? For Jerry Brooner, President of Global Field Operations at Enable, the answer comes down to three things: consistency, talent development, and leading by example.  In this episode, he describes the leadership lessons he's learned building sales teams for both Fortune 100 companies and high-growth startups and how they affect the way he shows up today. Listen as Jerry shares the importance of knowing what you can – and can't– teach when developing talent and how sales leaders getting “in the trenches” can make a huge difference in building trust.

What assumptions are you making about your market? More importantly, how often are you testing those assumptions?  Ruth Zive is the SVP of Marketing for Ada, an automation platform that bridges the divide between brands and the people who love them. For her, the key to success as a revenue practitioner is constant experimentation. Listen as Ruth shares how she guided the company from series A to series C in just three years and how constant experimentation plus always backing your decisions with data is the secret to increasing your win rates.

What assumptions are you making about your market? More importantly, how often are you testing those assumptions?  Ruth Zive is the SVP of Marketing for Ada, an automation platform that bridges the divide between brands and the people who love them. For her, the key to success as a revenue practitioner is constant experimentation. Listen as Ruth shares how she guided the company from series A to series C in just three years and how constant experimentation plus always backing your decisions with data is the secret to increasing your win rates.

Employers are in the midst of an intense war for talent that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon.There are five million more weekly job postings available now than there were a year ago. And according to Microsoft's Work Trend Index survey, 41% of employees are considering leaving their current employer.While many factors (a lack of career advancement opportunities, pandemic-related struggles, and more) may have led us to this inflection point, Josh Vesely, SVP, Randstad believes most employees don't leave an organization. They leave a manager. In this episode, Josh offers insight into the forces underlying the Great Resignation and breaks down the ways managers can build the relationships that lead to greater performance.

Employers are in the midst of an intense war for talent that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. There are five million more weekly job postings available now than there were a year ago. And according to Microsoft's Work Trend Index survey, 41% of employees are considering leaving their current employer. While many factors (a lack of career advancement opportunities, pandemic-related struggles, and more) may have led us to this inflection point, Josh Vesely, SVP, Randstad believes most employees don't leave an organization. They leave a manager. In this episode, Josh offers insight into the forces underlying the Great Resignation and breaks down the ways managers can build the relationships that lead to greater performance.

“Customers don't want order takers. They want partners.” When you look at the behemoth that is demand gen, innovation is the crux of everything you do. What worked last year, even a month ago, isn't a guaranteed win today. Shelley Morrison, Vice President of Global Demand Center at Domo, brings the same strategy for transformative growth to business as she does to her career. In this episode she shares lessons learned from a global project she had to execute in 30 days and what it takes to be successful as a modern demand generation marketer.

“Customers don't want order takers. They want partners.”  When you look at the behemoth that is demand gen, innovation is the crux of everything you do. What worked last year, even a month ago, isn't a guaranteed win today. Shelley Morrison, Vice President of Global Demand Center at Domo, brings the same strategy for transformative growth to business as she does to her career. In this episode she shares lessons learned from a global project she had to execute in 30 days and what it takes to be successful as a modern demand generation marketer.

“There's nothing in marketing that you should do to check a box. It's either you're doing something because it's going to make an impact, or get outta here.”  Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs, is obsessed with demand generation marketing and believes it's the number one way to drive business today. But too many companies get it wrong and treat marketing as a support role to sales rather than using it as an offense. Listen to Chris's conversation with Trinity to understand how investing in marketing can help companies capitalize on revenue and valuable growth opportunities.

“There's nothing in marketing that you should do to check a box. It's either you're doing something because it's going to make an impact, or get outta here.”  Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs, is obsessed with demand generation marketing and believes it's the number one way to drive business today. But too many companies get it wrong and treat marketing as a support role to sales rather than using it as an offense. Listen to Chris's conversation with Trinity to understand how investing in marketing can help companies capitalize on revenue and valuable growth opportunities. 

Businesses must adapt quickly or risk failure. The question is, can this flexibility be taught? For Bryce Nobles, Leader of Growth at MX, the answer is “Yes.” Bryce has experience in sales, marketing and operations, and his ability to adapt quickly has enabled him to reach, target, and lead effectively. In this episode, he joins Trinity to discuss hands-on ways to embrace innovation so you don't get into a sales and marketing rut. 

Businesses must adapt quickly or risk failure. The question is, can this flexibility be taught? For Bryce Nobles, Leader of Growth at MX, the answer is “Yes.” Bryce has experience in sales, marketing and operations, and his ability to adapt quickly has enabled him to reach, target, and lead effectively. In this episode, he joins Trinity to discuss hands-on ways to embrace innovation so you don't get into a sales and marketing rut. 

Young companies rely on the accomplishments of their sales teams to meet their growth goals. With the high level of pressure, how do you set them up for success? Prior to founding Everstage, Siva Rajamani was a Director of Rev Operations during a 6x period of growth. Siva joins Trinity to share how he used his experiences in RevOps to solve challenging sales problems during his first 100 days as CEO of Everstage.

Young companies rely on the accomplishments of their sales teams to meet their growth goals. With the high level of pressure, how do you set them up for success? Prior to founding Everstage, Siva Rajamani was a Director of Rev Operations during a 6x period of growth. Siva joins Trinity to share how he used his experiences in RevOps to solve challenging sales problems during his first 100 days as CEO of Everstage.

When Catarina Hoch talks about her first career, she still speaks about it with passion. But switching from sales to marketing came with a steep learning curve.  “As an SDR, you are often task-oriented. Whereas with marketing roles, you need to be switched on to the trends and always learning, evolving, and understanding what's going on in the market,” Catarina says. We sat down with Catarina to find out how she transitioned from sales to marketing on her terms. Plus, some of her best advice for revenue leaders. Take a listen.

When Catarina Hoch talks about her first career, she still speaks about it with passion. But switching from sales to marketing came with a steep learning curve.  “As an SDR, you are often task-oriented. Whereas with marketing roles, you need to be switched on to the trends and always learning, evolving, and understanding what's going on in the market,” Catarina says. We sat down with Catarina to find out how she transitioned from sales to marketing on her terms. Plus, some of her best advice for revenue leaders. Take a listen.

Competitive advantage is about winning the customer by differentiating and delivering better than anyone else. Achieving superior perception (in value, performance, cost, and meeting customer needs) demands clear goals and strategies to sustain market leadership. Brett Gilbert , VP of Sales at Momentive-AI, started his career with major companies like Oracle and Salesforce and has learned not only how to be a successful sales leader but also how to maneuver through acquisitions while maintaining a competitive advantage. 

Competitive advantage is about winning the customer by differentiating and delivering better than anyone else. Achieving superior perception (in value, performance, cost, and meeting customer needs) demands clear goals and strategies to sustain market leadership. Brett Gilbert , VP of Sales at Momentive-AI, started his career with major companies like Oracle and Salesforce and has learned not only how to be a successful sales leader but also how to maneuver through acquisitions while maintaining a competitive advantage. 

Jennifer Lien has been a marketer in tech for the past fifteen years, most recently at Facebook as Head of Enterprise Marketing for the Asia Pacific region. She was born in the United States, raised in Taiwan, and has moved across the Pacific multiple times to pursue new and exciting opportunities.  In this episode, Trinity and Jennifer discuss embracing  uncertainty both in cultures and careers. Listen as she shares her insights on how to approach decision making, empowering you with takeaways to reach your goals.  

Jennifer Lien has been a marketer in tech for the past fifteen years, most recently at Facebook as Head of Enterprise Marketing for the Asia Pacific region. She was born in the United States, raised in Taiwan, and has moved across the Pacific multiple times to pursue new and exciting opportunities.  In this episode, Trinity and Jennifer discuss embracing  uncertainty both in cultures and careers. Listen as she shares her insights on how to approach decision making, empowering you with takeaways to reach your goals.  

We're back with exciting news about The First 100 Days! To empower you with immediate action items from the stories you listen to each week, season three will feature our guest's favorite sales and marketing playbooks step-by-step. You'll still hear candid conversations with revenue generation leaders on how they maneuvered the first 100 days of major career and life transitions, but now with actionable next steps to speed up your success. We're excited to present dozens more incredible stories and practical tips for maximizing the efficiency of your sales team in today's hyper-competitive demand gen world. Don't miss out! Follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Career paths are rarely straight lines. But, when is it the right time to leave your decade-long career in sales? Nicole Penland recently joined Reciprocity Inc. as the Director of Demand Generation a few years after making the jump from sales to marketing. She joins us to discuss how her sales experience helped her create revenue-generating programs and how one book set her on the right path for her first 100 days at Reciprocity.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Dozie Anyaegbunam, the Co-Founder and Community Lead at Not Enough Writers, a safe space for African writers to connect, develop capacity, vibe, and get access to writing opportunities. “We can put up all the funnels and try to use all the complex terms, but in the end, it's a human being who is going to make that decision.” Dozie has experience in B2B and B2C. What's the difference? There are plenty. So, in this episode, he focuses instead on one major similarity.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Kevin Marasco, the Chief Marketing Officer at Zenefits, a human capital management software. “I think of it less as a product-market fit, but more like a product-market-go-to-market fit because the market is fluid and changing. As marketing, sales, and revenue leaders, we have to be evolving continuously who we target, how we target them, and what products we're building for them.” Kevin built a career on successful go-to-market strategies. He shares insight on how the “Chasm Concept” will help you reach your next business stage.

When evaluating your next career opportunity, it's easy to get caught up in the new title or pay increase. However, how do you successfully assess your next step? Especially if it means leaving your comfort zone. Kevin Marasco, the CMO at Zenefits, joins us to discuss what to consider when evaluating your next career move. Kevin's philosophies led him to a variety of positions, which eventually led him to marketing. Taking the next step as an entrepreneur or employee is challenging, so tune in to learn how to position yourself for a successful transition.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Graham Collins, the Head of Growth at QuotaPath, a sales compensation & commission tracking software. “When you're weighing out compensation and evaluating that as part of a new sales leadership role, understand what is important to you and how attainable and sustainable you think it is.” Graham pulls from his vast experience to share insight on how to craft compensation plans. Since compensation plans are at the core of what motivates your sales team, tune in to learn Graham's valuable tips.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Graham Collins, the Head of Growth at QuotaPath, a sales compensation & commission tracking software. “Compensation is like the background music in a movie. You notice it if it's really bad, but you don't notice it if it's really good. That's the way the compensation really should be.” As an experienced leader in sales development, Graham shares tips and tricks for a smooth compensation plan rollout. Since compensation changes can severely disrupt a sales team, his key insights focus on timing and delivery.

Companies are comfortable using sales teams to control customer experience during the buying process. However, people now expect more autonomy in their buying experience. How do you transition from sales-led to product-led growth to meet market demands? To assist in adjusting your marketing strategy for product-led growth, Stephanie Cox, VP of Sales and Marketing at Lumavate, joins us to share what she learned from transitioning Lumavate. Moving to a product-led growth platform is stressful because customers use your product without training or supervision, so tune in to learn how to overcome your future obstacles.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Stephanie Cox, VP of Sales and Marketing at Lumavate, a low-code platform that enables marketers to quickly build and publish mobile apps without needing code. “When we think about B2B versus B2C or this experience of product-led versus sales-led, in reality, it's really thinking about what would an average consumer do with it. Sometimes I think we forget that we're all that person.” If you're wondering what to do with your user experience data, listen to Stephanie Cox explain the importance of empathizing with your customer. With over 15+ years in marketing and sales for B2B, B2C, and B2B2C companies, Stephanie pulls from her many experiences to share easily applicable advice to understand your customer better.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Kate Donahue, Head of Product Marketing at Pitch, an app to help teams build presentations collaboratively, effectively, and beautifully. “Getting in the heads of your users is by far the most important thing you can do at a product-led company.” Kate logged hundreds of hours interviewing their customers for feedback while preparing for Pitch's beta launch. You only have one chance to make an impression, so tune in to learn how to understand your customer's needs.

In a space where users have a high expectation of software, you only have one chance to make an impression. This means you must understand your customer's needs.  Kate Donahue, Head of Product Marketing at Pitch, logged hundreds of hours interviewing their customers for feedback while preparing for Pitch's beta launch. If you are searching for how to create a successful marketing foundation for product-led growth, tune in.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Eduardo Valladolid, the Head of Demand Generation & Customer Marketing at Thought Industries, a B2B customer education and external training platform provider. “I think the new ‘this is how we've always done it' is ‘this is off-brand.' That's where I encourage marketers to get out of that brand box and open their eyes to a new font, a new color palette, less stock imagery, introducing custom images, or revamping the event agenda. There are different ways of expanding while you're small. You have a great opportunity to treat it as a sandbox and do different things.” If you are hesitant about taking on a new role, Eduardo Valladolid shares how to orient your mindset for success. The core of his message: Keep an open mind and actively seek out new ideas.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Eduardo Valladolid, the Head of Demand Generation & Customer Marketing at Thought Industries, a B2B customer education and external training platform provider. “I was able to shine a little bit within the sales team and show them that I'm more than just an event marketer. I'm here to help drive revenue for the company.” Eduardo Valladolid recognizes how a strong relationship between sales and marketing can lead to faster revenue growth. In this episode, Eduardo shares how as an event marketer at BlackLine he successfully built relationships to connect the sales team to strategic clients.

The journey to a long successful career does not include quitting your stable tech job to travel the world on a motorcycle. Or, does it? Sinje Gottwald shares how to navigate life-changing decisions that go against cultural norms and what she learned during the first 100 days of solo tripping on a motorcycle. If you need the motivation to act on the radical idea sitting in the back of your mind, tune in.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by Blaise Bevilacqua, an avid traveler and Senior Account Executive at UserGems, a SaaS tool that helps companies connect with past customers. “Traveling taught me flexibility. I still get butterflies when I am about to dial into a call because I do not know what people's personalities are like, and that can have a huge influence on the outcome. Think on the fly because things will not go as planned.” Before his career in sales, Blaise Bevilacqua spent two years teaching English in Korea. By frequently hitchhiking to travel the country, he learned flexibility and how to connect genuinely with people, even if you do not speak their language, which helped his growth as a tech sales leader.

On this Keepin' it 100, Trinity is joined by an avid traveler and Senior Account Executive at UserGems, Derek Wang. “Traveling sparks a natural curiosity. Curiosity is a leading factor for success for myself and my colleagues. Salespeople who are naturally wanting to ask questions to learn more about your prospects, what your customers are doing, and what they are looking for, provide more value.” Derek Wang's entry point into tech sales was in Medellin, Colombia, which transpired after he quit his first marketing job in China. The avid traveler shares how the lessons learned from traveling to seventy-one countries led him to become a successful revenue leader who helps SAS startups scale their sales teams and sales strategies.

The customer is at the center of every company's priorities. What happens when your target customer persona needs to change? Brett Li, the Head of Marketing at Tonkean, shares how to efficiently and effectively discover your customer during the first 100 days of marketing a new product. What is on Brett's cheat sheet? Tune in.

On this Keepin' it 100, Nelson is joined by Nicole Penland, Director of Demand Generation at Reciprocity, Inc, a risk and compliance SaaS company. “The advice I would give is to find the area you're passionate about and learn about it. Understand what's happening within the industry that you're focused on so when you're ready to go, you're in.” After pursuing a career in inside sales, Nicole leaped to a marketing role after earning recognition for her “campaign in a box” ideas. Nicole shares how to turn a good idea into a new initiative or new role in an organization and how to prepare to execute it in those critical first 100 days.

On this Keepin' it 100, Nelson is joined by Kirti Dewan, Vice President of Marketing at Bugsnag, a full stack app stability monitoring solution. “The takeaway is to just be yourself. I literally wrote the LinkedIn message as though it was a conversation. It's not going to work every single time because people have different circumstances that they need to work with, but it does pay off at some time. People do like to help other people.” Before her role as Vice President of Marketing for Bugsnag, Kirti served in other marketing leadership roles as a consultant for various companies. Kirti shares the secret sauce to becoming a successful consultant: being authentic and cold calling.