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Episode SummaryIn this episode, Host Chris Moody is joined by Eric Feige to discuss how businesses can win with go-to-market (GTM) strategies by setting realistic digital transformation goals, fostering cross-functional alignment, and leveraging tools like Demandbase for scalable growth. Eric's breadth of experience—from entrepreneurship to consulting with Fortune 500 companies—offers unique perspectives on the practical steps organizations can take to achieve revenue growth, avoid common pitfalls, and innovate without unnecessary risk. Eric also shares advice on using AI and composable technology to accelerate success in go-to-market strategies.Key TakeawaysCross-Functional Collaboration is Essential: GTM success requires alignment across sales, marketing, technology, and compliance teams, with a clear P&L owner driving the effort.Set Realistic Digital Transformation Goals: Break down large initiatives into achievable milestones that deliver short-term wins and lay the foundation for long-term growth.Leverage Tools to Scale Without Additional Labor: Platforms like Demandbase help integrate insights, streamline workflows, and enable scalable, personalized outreach without adding overhead.The Importance of Beacon Projects: Start with “beacon projects” that showcase clear value across teams and convert skeptics into advocates for change, aligning everyone on revenue objectives.AI as a Catalyst for Personalization: While AI can help optimize content and enable hyper-personalized messaging, its impact is amplified when integrated with robust go-to-market platforms.Quotes"AI enables us to scale personalization, but success still lies in orchestrating the right data, systems, and teams."Best Moments (03:30) – The Foundations of Cross-Functional GTM Success(08:40) – Setting Realistic Digital Transformation Goals(13:10) – Tools for Scalable Revenue Growth(19:50) – Introducing Beacon Projects(26:25) – AI's Role in GTM TransformationResource RecommendationsBooks:Beastie Boys Book by Michael DiamondAbout the GuestEric Feige is a seasoned leader and digital transformation expert with experience as a venture-backed entrepreneur, digital strategist, and head of digital at top organizations like Deloitte, KPMG, JP Morgan, and Prudential Financial. As the Managing Director at VShift, Eric helps businesses unlock sustainable revenue growth by aligning digital goals with cross-functional collaboration across sales, marketing, and technology teams.Website: https://www.vshift.com/Connect with Eric.
Episode SummaryTune in as host Paul Gibson sits down with Matthew Creswick, Chief Marketing Officer at Huble Digital, to explore the 95-5 marketing strategy. This insightful episode dives into balancing long-term brand building with capturing in-market demand, the evolving buyer landscape, the role of AI, and how intent data is changing the game for B2B marketers. Whether you're a seasoned pro or new to the field, this episode offers actionable advice and fresh perspectives on marketing strategy.About the GuestMatthew Creswick is an experienced marketing and business leader with over ten years of experience in the HubSpot industry. He has held senior roles, including Regional Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Product Officer, and has worked across Europe and Southeast Asia.A certified HubSpot trainer with a Bachelor's degree in Business Management with Marketing, Matthew has been featured in Content Grip, the Huble Blog, and HubSpot.com. He is also a member of the CMO club in Exit Five and was recognized as an AMCHAM NextGen 2020 Leader.An active speaker and host, Matthew has presented at GWI Live and hosted multiple GWI virtual events.Beyond work, he enjoys football, golf, technology, and traveling the world.Website: https://huble.com/Connect with MatthewKey Takeaways- Understanding the 95-5 Framework: Focus on being memorable to the 95% not currently buying while effectively converting the 5% in-market.- Modern Buying Behaviors: Buyers prefer independence and typically resist traditional funnel tactics like forms and cold calls.- Power of Intent Data: Leveraging tools like Demandbase empowers marketers to identify accounts actively searching for solutions.- Building a Memorable Brand: Investing in brand equity ensures customers recall you when they're ready to buy.- AI's Role: AI enables scalable personalization, like crafting one-to-one tailored content and identifying actionable insights.Quotes"Brand isn't just for billion-dollar companies with Super Bowl ads. It's the asset that keeps your pipeline alive even when your ad budget dries up.”Recommended ResourceBooks: - Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight.- Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth GodinNewsletters:- Exit Five by Dave Gerhardt.- Newsletter by Kieran Flanagan from HubSpot.Shout-Outs- Gary Vaynerchuk - Chairman – VaynerX, CEO – VaynerMedia, Creator – VeeFriends- Seth Godin - Founding editor of the Carbon Almanac, blogger and entrepreneur.- Dharmesh Shah - UK & Ireland Country Director, Present Technologies- Kieran Flanagan - Marketing (CMO, SVP) | All things AI | Sequoia Scout | Advisor- Dave Gerhardt - Founder, Exit Five
The CEO's Strategic Growth Edge: A Go-To-Market System That Scales“You don't need more leads—you need clarity. Clarity on where your business can grow the most, the fastest, and at the highest margin. That's what a real go-to-market system delivers. It's not about volume anymore—it's about alignment, focus, and making sure every team—marketing, sales, and customer success—is executing toward the same outcome. That's how CEOs scale with confidence.” That's a quote from Sangram Vajre, and a sneak peek at today's episode.Welcome to Revenue Boost: A Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Kerry Curran—revenue growth expert, industry analyst, and relentless advocate for turning marketing into a revenue engine. Each episode, we bring you the strategies, insights, and conversations that help drive your revenue growth. So search for Revenue Boost in your favorite podcast directory and hit subscribe to stay ahead of the game.In The CEO's Strategic Growth Edge: A Go-to-Market System That Scales, I'm joined by bestselling author and GTM expert Sangram Vajre to discuss why go-to-market isn't a marketing tactic—it's a CEO-level growth system. In this episode, you'll learn the three phases every business must navigate to scale, why alignment beats activity in every growth stage, how CEOs can drive clarity, trust, and margin-focused decisions across teams, and why AI is only a threat if you're still riding the demand-gen horse.If you're a growth-minded CEO or exec, this episode gives you the roadmap and the mindset to scale faster, smarter, and stronger. Be sure to listen through to the end, where Sangram shares three key tips—his ultimate advice for any leader ready to level up their go-to-market strategy. Let's go!Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:00.77)So welcome, Sangram. Please introduce yourself and share a bit about your background and expertise.Sangram Vajre (00:06.992)Well, at the highest level, I feel like I've had the opportunity to be in the B2B space for the last two decades and have had a front-row seat to categories that have shaped how we think about go-to-market. I ran marketing at Pardot. We were acquired by ExactTarget and then Salesforce—that was a $2.7 billion acquisition. It was a huge shift in mindset, going from a $10 million company to a $10 billion one, and I learned a lot.I became a student of go-to-market, if you will. That was in the marketing automation space. Then I launched a company called Terminus, which has been acquired twice now. Along the way, I've written three books. The one we're going to talk a lot about is MOVE, which became a Wall Street Journal bestseller. That book has created a lot of opportunities and work for us.I walked into writing this book, Kerry, thinking I knew go-to-market because I had two $100M+ exits. But I walked out of the process a student of go-to-market because I learned so much. Writing it forced me to talk to folks like Brian Halligan, the CEO of HubSpot, and partners at VC firms who have seen 200 exits—not just the three I've experienced.It really expanded my vision. Now I lead a company called Go-To-Market Partners. We're a research and advisory firm focused on helping companies understand who owns go-to-market and how to run it at a transformational level. Our clients are primarily CEOs and executive teams. That's our focus.Kerry Curran, RBMA (01:46.094)Excellent. Well, I'm very excited to dive in. I first saw you speak at Inbound last fall, and what really resonated with me was the shift from just an ABM program to a company-wide GTM program—one that includes everything from problem-market fit all the way to customer success, loyalty, and retention. Really making GTM the core of revenue growth.So I'd love for you to dive in and share that framework and background.Sangram Vajre (02:23.224)Yeah. And by the way, for people who've never attended Inbound—you should. I've spoken there for eight years straight and always try to bring new ideas. Each year, they keep giving me more opportunities—from main stage to workshops. I think you attended the 90-minute workshop, right? Hopefully it wasn't boring!Kerry Curran, RBMA (02:48.61)Yeah, it was excellent. I love this stuff, so I was taking lots of notes.Sangram Vajre (02:52.814)That was fun. The whole idea was: how can you build your entire go-to-market strategy on a single slide? Now, people might think, “There's no way—you need way more detail.” But it's not about making it complete; it's about making it clear.So everyone can be aligned. For example, in the operating system we've developed, we write research about it every Monday in a newsletter called GTM Monday, read by 175,000 people. The eight pillars are based on the most important questions. And Kerry, I don't know if you'll agree, but I think I've done a disservice for two decades by asking the wrong question.Like, I used to ask, “Where can we grow?”—which sounds smart but is actually foolish. The better question is, “Where can we grow the most, the fastest, the best, at the highest margin?” That's the true business perspective. So the operating system is built around these eight essential questions.If every executive team can align on these—not with certainty, but with clarity—then they can gain a clear understanding of what they're doing, where they're going, who their ICP is, what bets they're making, and which motions to pursue. I've done this over a thousand times with executive teams, helping them build their entire go-to-market strategy on a single slide. And it's like a lightbulb moment for them: “Okay, now I know what bets we're making and how my team is aligned.” It's a beautiful thing.Kerry Curran, RBMA (04:50.988)Yeah, because that's one of the hardest challenges across business strategy and growth: where to invest, where to lean in. So bring us through the questions and framework.Sangram Vajre (05:01.688)Yeah. So the first one is “Where can you grow the most?” The second one is really about what we call the Market Investment Map. I'll give you maybe three or four so people can get an idea. The Market Investment Map is especially useful for companies with more than one product or more than one segment. This is the least used but most valuable framework companies should be using.You might remember from the Inbound talk—I used HubSpot as an example since I was speaking at Inbound. It's interesting because at my last company, Terminus, we acquired five companies in eight years. So we had to learn this process. The Market Investment Map is about matching your best segments to the best products to create the highest-margin offering.If your entire business focuses only on pipeline and revenue—which sounds right—you're actually focused on the wrong things. You may have seen people post on LinkedIn saying, “I generated $10 million in pipeline,” and then a month later, they're laid off. Why? Because that pipeline didn't matter. It might have been general pipeline, but if you looked at pipeline within your ICP—the customers your company really needs to close, retain, and expand—it might have only been half a million. That's not enough to sustain growth or justify your role.So, understanding the business is critical. It's not just about understanding marketing skills like demand gen, content, or design. Those are table stakes. You need to understand the business of marketing—how the financials work, how to drive revenue, and how to say, “Yeah, we generated $10 million in pipeline, but only half a million was within ICP, so it won't convert or drive the margin we need.” That level of EQ and IQ is what leaders need today.Our go-to-market operating system goes deep into areas like this.Kerry Curran, RBMA (07:31.022)And I love the alignment with the ICP. I'm sure you'll get deeper into that. I also know you talk about getting rid of MQLs because the real focus should be on getting closer to the ICP—on who's actually going to drive revenue.Sangram Vajre (07:45.892)Yeah. John Miller, a good friend who co-founded Marketo, has been writing about this too. I was the CMO of Pardot. Then we both built ABM companies—I built Terminus; he built Engagio, which is now part of Demandbase. We've been evangelizing the idea of efficient marketing machines for the last two decades.We're coming full circle now. That approach made sense in the “growth at all costs” era. But in this “efficient growth” era, everything can be measured. The dark funnel is real. AI can now accelerate your team's output and throughput. So we have to go back to first principles—what do your customers really want?I was in a discussion yesterday with executives and middle managers, and the topic of AI came up. Some were worried it would take their jobs. And I said, “Yes, it absolutely will—and it should.” I gave the example I wrote about recently: imagine you were the best horseman, with saddles, barns, and a generational business built around horses. Then Henry Ford comes along with four wheels. You just lost your job—not because you were bad, but because you got infatuated with the horse, not with your customer's need to get from point A to point B.Horses did that—it was better than walking. But then came cars, trains, airplanes. Business evolves. If you focus on your customers' needs—better, faster, cheaper—you'll always be excited about innovation rather than afraid of it. So yes, AI will replace anyone who stays on their horse. If you're riding the demand gen horse or relying only on content creation, a lot is going to change. Get off the horse, refocus on customer needs, and figure out how to move your business forward.Kerry Curran, RBMA (10:21.708)Yeah. So talk a bit about honing in on the ICP. I know in one of the sessions you asked, “Who's your target audience?” And of course, there was one guy in the front row who said, “Everyone,” and we all laughed. But I still hear that all the time. Talk about how important it is, to your point, to know your customer and get obsessed with what they need.Sangram Vajre (10:45.56)Yeah. So the first pillar of the go-to-market operating system is called TRM, or Total Relevant Market. We introduced that in the book MOVE for the first time. It's a departure from TAM—Total Addressable Market—which is what that guy in the front row was referring to during that session. It was epic, and I think he was a sales leader, so it was even funnier in a room full of marketers.But it's true—and real. He was being honest, and I appreciated that. The reality is, we've all been conditioned to focus on more and more—bigger and bigger markets. That makes sense if you have unlimited funds and can raise money. It makes sense if the market is huge and you're just trying to get in and have more people doing outbound.As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, we did a session where someone said something profound that I'll never forget. He said, “The whole SDR function is a feature bug in the VC model.” That was fascinating—because the whole SDR model was built to get as many leads as possible, assign 22-year-olds to make cold calls, and push them to AEs.We built this because it worked on a spreadsheet. If we generate 1,000 leads, we need 50 callers to convert them. It's math. But nobody really tried to improve it because we had the money. Now we're in a different world. We have clients doing $10–15 million in revenue with five-person teams automating so much.People don't read as many automated emails. My phone filters out robocalls, so I never pick up unless it's someone I know. Non-personalized emails go into a folder I never open. Yet people keep sending thousands of them, thinking it works.For example, I send our GTM Monday newsletter via Substack. It's free for readers, and it's free for me to send—even to 175,000 people. Meanwhile, marketers spend thousands every time they email their list using legacy tools. Why? Because these people haven't opted in to be part of the journey the way Substack subscribers have.The market has changed. Buying big marketing automation tools for $100,000 is going to change drastically. Fractional leaders and agencies will thrive because what CEOs really need is people like you—and frameworks like a go-to-market operating system—to guide them. You and I have the gray hair and battle scars to prove it. What matters now is using a modern framework, implementing it, and measuring outcomes differently.Kerry Curran, RBMA (14:08.11)Yeah, you bring up such a valid point. In so many of my conversations, I see the same thing. It's been a sales-led growth strategy for years. Investments went to sales—more BDRs, more cold emails, more tech stack partners.Even as I was starting my consultancy, I'd talk to partners or prospects who'd say, “Well, we just hired more salespeople. We want to see how that goes.” But to your point, without the foundational framework—without targeting the right audience—you're just spinning your wheels on volume.Sangram Vajre (15:06.318)Exactly. One area we emphasize in our go-to-market operating system is differentiation. Everyone's doing the same thing. Let me give you an example. Last week, I looked at a startup's email tool that reads your emails and drafts responses automatically. Super interesting. I use Superhuman for email.Two days later, Superhuman sent an email saying they'd launched the exact same feature. So this startup spent time and money building a feature, and Superhuman—already with a huge user base—replicated and launched it instantly. That startup is out of business.With AI, product development is lightning fast. So product is no longer your differentiator. Your differentiation now is how you tell your story, how quickly you grab attention, how well you build and maintain a community. That becomes your moat. Those first principles matter more than ever. Product is just table stakes now.Kerry Curran, RBMA (16:33.878)Right. And connecting that to your marketing strategy, your communication, your messaging—it also sets up your sales team to close faster. By the time a prospect talks to a rep, your marketing has already educated them on your differentiation. So talk more about the stages and what companies need to keep in mind when applying your go-to-market framework.Sangram Vajre (17:07.482)One of the things we mention in the book—and go really deep into in our operating system—is this 3P format: Problem-Market Fit, Product-Market Fit, and Platform-Market Fit. We believe these are the three core stages of a business. I experienced them firsthand at Pardot, Salesforce, and Terminus through multiple acquisitions.If you remember, I always talk about the “squiggly line,” because no company grows up and to the right in a straight line. If you look at daily, weekly, or monthly insights, there are dips—just like a stock market chart. So the squiggly line shows you can go from Problem to Product, but you'll experience a dip. That's normal and natural. Same thing when you go from Product to Platform—you hit a dip. Those dips are what we call the “valleys of death.”Some companies overcome those valleys and cross the chasm, and others don't. Why? Because at those points, they discover they can market and sell, but they can't deliver. Or maybe they can deliver, but they can't renew. Or maybe they can renew but not expand. Each gap becomes a value to fix in the system.And it's hard. I've gone from $5 million to $10 million to $15 million, all the way to $100 million in revenue—and every 5 to 10 million increment brings a new set of challenges. You think you've got it figured out, and then you don't—because everything else has to change with scale.I'll never forget one company I was on the board of—unfortunately, it didn't make it. The CEO was upset because they were doing $20 million in revenue but didn't get the valuation they wanted. Meanwhile, a competitor doing only $5 million in revenue in the same space got a $500 million valuation. Why? Because the $20M company was doing tons of customization—still stuck in Problem-Market Fit. The $5M company had reached Product-Market Fit and was far more efficient. Their operational costs were lower, and their NRR was over 120%.If you've read some of my research, you know I'm all in on NRR—Net Revenue Retention—as the #1 metric. If you get NRR above 120%, you'll double your revenue in 3.8 years without adding a single new customer. That's what executives should focus on.That's why we say the CEO owns go-to-market. All our research shows that if the CEO doesn't own it, you'll have a really hard time scaling.Kerry Curran, RBMA (20:23.992)That makes so much sense, because everything you're talking about—while it includes marketing functions—is really business strategy. It needs to be driven top-down. It has to be the North Star the whole company is paddling toward.I've been in organizations where that's not the case. And as you said, leadership has to have the knowledge and strategic awareness to navigate those pivots—those valleys of death. So talk about how hard it is to bring new frameworks into an organization and the change management that comes with that. As you evangelize the idea that the CEO owns GTM, what's resonating most with them?Sangram Vajre (21:26.456)Great question. First of all, CEOs who get it—they love it. The people who struggle most are actually CMOs and CROs because they feel like they should be the ones owning go-to-market. And while their input is critical, they can't own it entirely.In all our advisory work, Kerry, we mandate two things:The CEO must be in the room. We won't do an engagement without that. The executive team must be involved. We don't do one-on-one coaching—because transformation happens in teams.People often get it wrong. They think, “We need better ICP targeting, so that's marketing's job.” Or, “We need pipeline acceleration—let sales figure that out.” Or, “We have a retention issue—fire the CS team.” No. The problem isn't a department issue—it's a process and team issue.The CEO is the most incentivized person to bring clarity, alignment, and trust—the three pillars of our GTM operating system. They're the ones sitting in all the one-on-one meetings, burning out from the lack of alignment. The challenge is most CEOs don't know what it means to own GTM. It feels overwhelming.So we help them reframe that. Owning doesn't mean running GTM. It means orchestrating clarity, alignment, and trust. Every meeting they lead should advance one of those. That's the job. When the ICP is agreed upon, marketing should be excited to generate leads for it. Sales should be eager to follow up. CS should be relieved they're not getting misaligned customers. That's leadership. And there's no one more suited—or incentivized—to lead that than the CEO.Kerry Curran, RBMA (24:08.11)Absolutely. And the CFO plays a key role too—holding the purse strings, understanding where the investments should go.Sangram Vajre (24:20.622)Yes. In fact, in the book and in our research, we emphasize the importance of RevOps—especially once a company reaches Product-Market Fit and moves toward Platform-Market Fit.If you're operating across multiple products, segments, geographies, or using multiple GTM motions, the RevOps leader—who often reports to the CFO or CEO—becomes critical. I'd say they're the second most important person in the company from a strategy standpoint.Why? Because they're the only ones who can look at the whole picture and say, “We don't need to spend more on marketing; we need to fix the sales process.” A marketing leader won't say that. A sales leader won't say that. You need someone who can objectively assess where the real bottleneck is.Kerry Curran, RBMA (25:17.836)Yeah, that definitely makes so much sense. Are there other areas—maybe below the executive team—that help educate the company from a change management perspective to gain buy-in? Or is it really a company-wide change?Sangram Vajre (25:33.742)Yeah, you mentioned ABM earlier. Having written a few books on ABM and building Terminus, we've seen thousands of companies go through transformation. We now have over 70,000 students who've gone through our courses. I love getting feedback.What's interesting is that ABM has been great for aligning sales and marketing—but it hasn't transformed the company. Go-to-market is not a marketing or sales strategy. It's a business strategy. It has to bring in CS, product, finance—everyone.Where companies often fail is by looking at go-to-market too narrowly—like it's just a product launch or a sales campaign. That's way too myopic. Those companies burn a lot of cash.At the layer below the executive team, it gets harder because GTM is fundamentally a leadership-driven initiative. An SDR, AE, or director of marketing typically doesn't have the incentive—or business context—to drive GTM change. But they should get familiar with it.That's why we created the GTM Operating System certification. Hundreds of professionals have gone through it—including you! And now people are bringing those frameworks into leadership meetings.They'll say, “Hey, let's pull up the 15 GTM problems and see where we're stuck.” Or, “Let's revisit the 3 Ps—where are we today?” Or use one of the assessments. It's pretty cool to see it in action.Kerry Curran, RBMA (27:35.758)Yeah, and it's extremely valuable. I love that it's a tool that helps drive company-wide buy-in and educates the people responsible for the actions. So you've shared so many great frameworks and recommendations. For those listening, what's the first step to get started? What would you recommend to someone who's thinking, “Okay, I love all of this—I need to start shifting my organization”?Sangram Vajre (28:09.082)First, you have to really understand the definition of go-to-market. It's a transformational process—not a one-and-done. It's not something you define at an offsite and then forget. It's not owned by pirates. It's iterative. It happens every day.Second, the CEO has to be fully bought in. If they don't own it, GTM will run them. If you're a CEO and you feel overwhelmed, that's usually why—you're running go-to-market, not owning it.Third, business transformation happens in teams. If you try to build a GTM strategy in a silo—as a marketer, for example—it will fail. The best strategies never see the light of day because the team isn't behind them. In GTM, alignment matters more than being right.Kerry Curran, RBMA (29:27.982)Excellent. I love this so much. Thank you! How can people find you and learn more about the GTM Partners certification and your book?Sangram Vajre (29:37.476)You can go to gtmpartners.com to get the certification. Thousands of people are going through it, and we're constantly adding new content. We're about to launch Go-To-Market University to add even more courses.We also created the MOVE Book Companion, because we're actually selling more books now than when it first came out three years ago—which is crazy!Then there's GTM Monday, our research newsletter that 175,000 people read every week. Our goal is to keep building new frameworks and sharing what's possible. Things are changing so fast—AI, GTM tech, everything. But first principles still apply. That's why frameworks matter more than ever.You can't just ask ChatGPT to “give me a go-to-market strategy” and expect it to work. It might give you something beautifully written, but it won't help you make money. You need frameworks, team alignment, and process discipline.And I post about this every day on LinkedIn—so follow me there too!Kerry Curran, RBMA (30:54.988)Excellent. Well, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation, and I highly recommend the book and the certification to everyone. We'll include all the links in the show notes.Thank you, Sangram, for joining us today!Sangram Vajre (31:09.284)Kerry, you're a fantastic host. Thank you for having me.Kerry Curran, RBMA (31:11.854)Thank you very much.Thanks for tuning in to Revenue Boost: A Marketing Podcast. I hope today's conversation sparked some new ideas and challenged the way you think about how your organization approaches go-to-market and revenue growth strategy. If you're serious about turning marketing into a true revenue driver, this is just the beginning. We've got more insightful conversations, expert guests, and actionable strategies coming your way—so search for us in your favorite podcast directory and hit subscribe.And hey, if this episode brought you value, please share it with a colleague or leave a quick review. It helps more revenue-minded leaders like you find our show. Until next time, I'm Kerry Curran—helping you connect marketing to growth, one episode at a time. See you soon.
Episode SummaryIn this special in-person episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody joins Davis Potter live from Austin, Texas, for a candid deep-dive into the evolution of account-based marketing. Davis draws on his experience across enterprise giants and nimble startups to unpack the real differences between demand gen and ABM—and why most companies are stuck in the middle.Together, they dissect the pitfalls of outdated ABM models, the importance of unifying go-to-market teams, and the need for signal-based measurement over legacy lead scoring. Davis explains the “account-based arrow,” ForgeX's new data model, and shares practical tips for aligning product marketing with ABM functions for retention and growth. Whether you're a team of one or leading a global strategy, this episode is packed with insights you can act on immediately.Key TakeawaysABM vs. Demand Gen: True ABM is more than just targeted demand generation; it requires a unified approach across sales and marketing. Strategic ABM Implementation: Organizations should tailor their ABM strategy to their specific needs, considering factors like deal size and resources. Measurement and Reporting: Effective ABM measurement involves tracking various metrics, including account engagement and pipeline progression, and requires a unified data model. Cross-Functional Alignment: Alignment between ABM teams and other functions, such as product marketing, is crucial for success. Evolving ABM: ABM is not static; it requires continuous evolution and adaptation to changing market dynamics and organizational needs. Quotes“If you're just building lists off third-party intent and running ads, you're not doing ABM—you're just doing better DemandGen.”“Product marketing is not optional in an ABM strategy—it's foundational. They understand the customer better than anyone.”Best Moments 00:09-00:20 – Davis Potter's background and journey to 4Gex. 04:45-05:00 – The importance of aligning go-to-market strategy with business goals. 06:29-07:00 – Transitioning from demand generation to account-based marketing. 10:50-12:00 – The double funnel approach to measuring ABM success. 25:30-26:00 – The challenges of ABM benchmarks and data interpretation. 33:00-34:00 – The critical role of product marketing in ABM. Recommended resources:Newsletter:ABM Tactics LinkedIn newsletter – Tactical, real-world GTM advice from the trenchesCertifications:New ABM Certification Program by Demandbase in Partnership with ForgeXB2B Leaders to followAkriti Gupta, Director of Marketing at LinkedIn Désirée Daniels, Retail Industry & ABM Marketing at LinkedInAbout the GuestDavis Potter is the Co-Founder of ForgeX, a firm dedicated to modernizing account-based go-to-market strategies through research-backed insights and scalable methodologies. With experience launching ABM programs at organizations like Google Cloud and Scale AI, Davis brings a rare blend of enterprise sophistication and startup agility. His unique journey—spanning billion-dollar enterprises and high-growth tech companies—has equipped him with a comprehensive view of ABM's past, present, and future.Davis is passionate about aligning sales, marketing, and product teams around unified goals and measurement systems. He frequently speaks on evolving ABM frameworks, first-party data strategies, and the shift from vanity metrics to actionable signals. Davis also co-leads the ForgeX and Demandbase certification program, shaping the next generation of account-based marketers.Connect with Davis.
“AI can accelerate everything, but if you don't have a clear strategy and alignment across leadership, you're just scaling inefficiency faster. Before you invest in tools or systems, you need to know why they matter, how you'll measure impact, and whether your organization is built to move fast enough to see results.” That's a quote from Mark Goloboy and a sneak peek at today's episode.Welcome to Revenue Boost, A Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Kerry Curran—revenue growth expert, industry analyst, and relentless advocate for turning marketing into a revenue engine. Each episode, we bring you the strategies, insights, and conversations that help drive your revenue growth. Search for Revenue Boost in your favorite podcast directory and hit subscribe to stay ahead of the game.In a world where AI is evolving faster than your org chart, how do you build a marketing engine that's both smart and scalable? In From Strategy to Speed: Building a Modern Marketing Engine with AI, I sat down with Mark Goloboy, founder of Market Growth Consulting. We unpack how AI is transforming B2B marketing—and why strategy still comes first.From RAG pipelines and LLM optimization to lean team structures and rapid execution, Mark shares what today's business leaders need to know to move fast, stay aligned, and drive measurable growth. If you're tired of the AI hype and ready for more practical ways to accelerate performance, this one's for you.Be sure to listen through to the end, where Mark shares what you need to do to get started building your AI marketing engine today. Let's go!Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:01.359)So welcome, Mark. Please introduce yourself and share your background and expertise.Mark Goloboy (00:07.502)Excellent. Thank you, Kerry, for having me. Mark Goloboy, I'm the founder and CEO of Market Growth Consulting. We provide a variety of services to everything from small businesses to public companies. Our clients range from a private manufacturer north of Boston to global public companies.My background is on the sales-facing side of marketing. I've been the head of demand gen, marketing operations, and marketing analytics as I grew into marketing leadership. About two and a half years ago, I went out on my own to work directly with CEOs to fill in marketing gaps.At smaller companies, we place fractional CMOs and heads of demand gen to lead marketing, filling in subcontractors and agencies to execute. At larger companies, we run projects covering everything from marketing strategy, org strategy, budgeting, go-to-market strategy, and building out systems—we're currently doing a HubSpot to Salesforce and Marketo migration. We also do executive staffing, placing directors through CMOs either as temp-to-perm so clients can try before they buy, or through contingent staffing where if we find the right person, the client hires them for their future marketing leadership.Kerry Curran, RBMA (01:37.057)Excellent. Thank you, Mark. You've seen it all and are still very involved across business challenges and needs from a marketing, demand gen, and go-to-market perspective. There are lots of hot topics we could cover, but what are you hearing the most from your clients today? What's hottest for them?Mark Goloboy (02:03.662)Marketing really grew in 2022 and 2023 in terms of department size. But I think a lot of us felt it—venture-backed companies especially, but really everyone—wanted to get smaller again in 2023 and 2024. That was a painful adjustment across the industry. Now, as we move through 2024 into 2025, everyone is focused on:How do we do more with less? How do we think about fractional or contract roles in areas we never would have previously?That extends into AI-driven marketing, where every leader is looking to be more efficient and scale faster and smarter by using tools that take over some of the marketing workload. The real challenge now for marketing leaders is finding the balance between the people they need to hire, the money they need to spend, and where AI can make them faster, smarter, and more scalable—while still needing human review and strategic oversight.Kerry Curran, RBMA (03:38.947)Yeah, I agree. And you see so many emerging tools. I think if you search for AI in MarTech today, there's been a huge increase in companies claiming to offer something new or different. But AI actually means a lot of different things. You and I were talking earlier about how important it is to dig into the formula and structure behind what's labeled "AI." What are you seeing from that perspective?Mark Goloboy (04:15.054)Well, I think the big challenge, for me at least—I'm a solo entrepreneur running my own business with just myself and no employees—is figuring out how to work efficiently while wearing many hats.I use subcontractors who are experts at what they do, and I hire based on likeability and capability because my clients will keep rehiring me if they like who I bring them and the work gets done right.But because I'm a solo operator, I have to maximize my own productivity. So every day, I start by looking at what's on my plate and ask: "Could AI help me do this faster, better, or more scalably?"Whether it's a deliverable, a proposal, or a project plan, I always pause and think about how AI can be part of the solution—even if it's just for my internal work, not necessarily client-facing marketing.Kerry Curran, RBMA (05:31.545)Thank you.Mark Goloboy (05:43.870)Each of the major frontier models—OpenAI, Google Gemini, Claude, and others—are developing rapidly. Every time I try something, it's a little different, and the outputs are constantly improving.Last week, I had a meeting with a prospect using an ABM tool I had never heard of. I wanted to appear knowledgeable, so I asked OpenAI to compare it to Sixth Sense and Demandbase, which I know well.Within a minute, it gave me four pages of detailed research on each tool, plus a comparison grid. That would have taken a junior marketer on my team two months to produce. That's how fast this technology is evolving.Kerry Curran, RBMA (06:57.549)Yes, same for me. There's so much you can do faster now. You mentioned video editing, and I recently used napkin.ai to turn raw text into beautiful slides. It's such a game-changer for solo entrepreneurs.Mark Goloboy (07:27.790)Exactly. Externally, too, clients come to us with needs, and it's up to us to creatively think: "How can we use AI to deliver this better?"Last year, we trained an AI model to write like a PhD psychologist who had run a department at Columbia Med. Using her writing, interviews, and videos, we trained Google Gemini to mimic her voice—and she couldn't tell which blog posts were hers versus AI-generated.This was mid-2024, when people still said AI content was bland. But we were producing PhD-level work that passed her own review.Kerry Curran, RBMA (08:39.865)Yeah, it's pretty incredible. It helps us do a lot more and get a lot more out of our hours and days—getting smarter and more effective. What are some of the other ways or tools you've developed for your clients to help them with their demand gen and other aspects of business?Mark Goloboy (09:00.270)Yeah, so I joke with my clients that I didn't know what the letters RAG meant in December—but now I do. It stands for Retrieval Augmented Generation. That's about developing agentic pipelines to connect your internal data sources—whether documents, databases, or internal systems—to the large language models (LLMs), so you can move information between them and generate outputs informed not just by public data, but by your own proprietary data.Right now, we're building RAG agentic pipelines for a PR firm, for example. Their CEO prioritized the three use cases that would save their account managers the most time:Meeting scheduling and rescheduling, which wastes hours every week. Contract review, since they're doing placements in major media outlets and need to review hundreds of contracts a month. Media monitoring, summarizing brand mentions across the web and sending daily summaries to clients—something that takes an hour per client per day. By automating these processes, they save massive amounts of time, and as they grow, they don't need to hire as many new account managers.Kerry Curran, RBMA (10:58.467)Yes, that's super valuable. I love that it allows them to free up time to be more strategic instead of bogged down in busywork. So what are some of the steps required for someone to set this up? How did you learn more about creating these pipelines and the RAG system?Mark Goloboy (11:20.398)There are some really good places to learn. The first one I always recommend is the Marketing AI Institute. Paul Roetzer is the founder, and I learn the most from him.Paul and his content lead put out a one-hour podcast every week that breaks down everything that's changed in AI since the last episode. It's incredibly rich information. I usually listen at 1.5x speed and get through it in 40 minutes. I don't care about every topic, but I hear what matters and know where to dive deeper.Beyond that, I follow a few amazing marketers—Liza Adams, Nicole Leffer, and Andy Crestodina—who are brilliant at testing new things and sharing what works. They save me countless hours of trial and error.Kerry Curran, RBMA (12:41.133)Thank you—we'll be sure to include all of those in the show notes as well. One thing you mentioned was that the podcast covers what's changed in just the past week. AI is changing so fast. What should people keep in mind when they're building these tools or leveraging different sources?Mark Goloboy (13:01.336)I'm used to building very permanent, robust systems—CRM, marketing automation, ABM platforms—that are meant to deliver value for years. But with AI, we have to accept that some development is disposable.It's crucial to prioritize effort. We help clients understand: we're not building something that will last 5 years. Some of the code we build today might be obsolete in 6–12 months.For example, OpenAI just launched a new pipeline tool that replaced the one we were using. If we had spent six months building on the old system, it would already be outdated.So we advise clients: build for today's ROI and be ready to pivot constantly. If you're rigid, you'll miss the opportunity.Kerry Curran, RBMA (14:47.747)Yeah, it made me think about how, in a lot of organizations, it takes so long just to get buy-in and approvals to start using new tools. It's a whole culture and mindset shift—especially for marketing leaders.Mark Goloboy (15:07.788)Exactly. I couldn't imagine a one-year approval cycle for an AI project. By the time you'd get sign-off, the tools would have changed and you'd have to start over.You need faster review and approval cycles. Otherwise, AI-driven innovation simply won't be possible.Kerry Curran, RBMA (15:29.475)Yes, definitely. And that's another benefit of bringing someone like you in—you're well-versed in what's changing, and you have the curiosity and experience to guide them through it.Mark Goloboy (15:45.954)Exactly.Kerry Curran, RBMA (15:47.407)So for people listening who want to get started—maybe building custom pipelines or just leveraging AI more—what are the foundations they need to have in place?Mark Goloboy (16:14.830)The most important thing is a good strategy.When we come into companies, often because of turnover—whether it's the CRO, CMO, CEO—they don't have strong alignment on strategy anymore. If you don't have a clear strategy that demands an investment, and you don't know how you'll measure the value of what you're building, you're setting yourself up for failure.So we always start at the strategic level first.We also move fast. If you want a slow project, there are large consulting firms that are happy to take years and millions of dollars. That's not us. We think in three- to six-month project cycles—then we operate and optimize from there.We want to move quickly and get you results now, not years down the road.Kerry Curran, RBMA (18:29.229)That's such an important point. And it ties back to so many of the themes we talk about on this podcast—internal alignment, clear business goals, and unified execution across the organization.One of the tools you mentioned that I think is really fascinating helps address the trend of AI tools becoming new search engines. Can you talk about how you're helping your clients optimize for that?Mark Goloboy (19:19.950)Absolutely. Most of my clients are B2B. And historically, Google was how people found solutions. You wrote your content for Google—end of story.But now, with ChatGPT and other LLMs, people are searching inside AI to get answers. It's shifting fast—from 80/20 Google to maybe 50/50 Google/LLMs within a few years.We partnered with a tool called Brand Luminaire. It analyzes how LLMs like Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT surface information about your brand and your competitors.Critically, it shows you what sources the LLMs are pulling from. That means you know where to focus your writing, PR, and SEO efforts—not just for Google, but for the LLMs too.It's a massive shift. Brands that don't adapt will lose mindshare at the point of research and decision-making.Kerry Curran, RBMA (22:06.307)That's excellent. It's something all brands are going to need to prioritize as search behavior expands beyond just Google.So this has been great, Mark. Thank you so much for sharing so many practical insights and tools. For people who want to get in touch with you and learn more about your services, where should they go?Mark Goloboy (22:29.454)They can email me directly at mark@marketgrowthconsulting.com—I'm very functional with my branding: market growth consulting is what I do!Or you can find me on LinkedIn—I'm easy to find with my unique last name.Kerry Curran, RBMA (22:46.541)Awesome. We'll put that in the show notes too. Thank you again, Mark, for being here and sharing so much of your expertise.Mark Goloboy (22:55.064)Thank you so much for having me, Kerry.Kerry Curran, RBMA (22:57.071)Thank you.Thanks for tuning in to Revenue Boost: A Marketing Podcast. I hope today's conversation sparked some new ideas and challenged the way you think about how to incorporate AI into your marketing strategy and initiatives.If you're serious about turning marketing into a true revenue driver, this is just the beginning. We've got more insightful conversation, experts, guests, and actionable strategies coming your way. So search for us in your favorite podcast directory and hit subscribe!And hey, if this episode gave you value, share it with a colleague and leave a quick review. It helps more revenue minded leaders like you find the show. Until next time, I'm Kerry Curran, revenue marketing expert helping you connect marketing to growth one episode at a time. We'll see you soon.
In this episode, Avanish and Mike discuss:Mike's journey from his early tech roots in Silicon Valley to his role as CRO at Zscaler, including his transformative work growing ServiceNow from $500M to $6B in the Americas regionThe importance of always viewing platform strategy through the customer's lens - helping them achieve outcomes rather than managing multiple point solutionsHow a successful platform requires breaking down silos not just within your own organization, but often within your customer's organizationThe "one team" concept of the three-legged stool: customer, vendor, and partner, all working together toward shared successWhy ecosystem partners are mission-critical, providing industry expertise and customer insights that vendors can't replicateThe role of security in enabling productive AI adoption, with Zscaler helping customers leverage generative AI safely at scaleHow to develop meaningful metrics with partners beyond just pipeline generation, focusing on mutual success plans and regular reviewsThe importance of playing the long game with partners - "It's not how you behave when things are going great, it's how you behave when things hit the fan"Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Mike RichMike Rich is a highly accomplished technology sales professional with a career spanning more than 30 years.During his tenure as President, Americas at ServiceNow from 2011–2023, Mike played a pivotal role in the company's success. Under his leadership, the AMS region experienced unprecedented revenue growth, catapulting from $500 million to $6 billion+.Mike focused on initiatives like vertical industries that enabled customer-facing teams to partner closely with customers. During his time, the company's overall growth skyrocketed from $80 million to $8 billion. Throughout his career, Mike has kept customer satisfaction as the north star, ensuring that every business decision aligns with the goal of providing unparalleled value to clients and career advancement for employees.Before ServiceNow, Mike held leadership roles at enterprise software companies Borland, Rational Software, and Kana.Mike's leadership philosophy revolves around building diverse teams that prioritize achieving desired mutual outcomes. His passion is fostering environments where collaboration, mutual respect, and teamwork are paramount.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Mike RichFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
Episode SummaryIn this episode of OnBase, host Paul Gibson welcomes Hannah Ajikawo for a deeply insightful conversation on building strong go-to-market foundations and how AI is reshaping the future of sales execution.Hannah reflects on her career journey and the moment she realized that many teams don't truly understand strategy. She outlines the importance of focusing GTM energy on where businesses win most, shares her “go-to-market building blocks” framework, and explains how AI can enhance precision across the buyer journey—from awareness to pricing strategy.Whether you're leading a sales team, rolling out new tech, or trying to scale confidently, this episode is full of practical wisdom.Quotes“If you really sit down, remove ego, and look at the data—you'll find where you win. Focus there. That's the cheat code.”Best Moments (00:53) – Hannah Ajikawa's career journey and the founding of Revenue Funnel. (02:51)-04:39 – The importance of GTM fundamentals and addressing underperforming teams. (05:54) – How repositioning and focus transformed pipeline generation for a B2B tech company. (10:00) – AI's influence on GTM strategies and sales processes. (12:22) – Areas of GTM most primed to benefit from AI integration. (16:19) – Actionable advice for strengthening GTM foundations. (22:46) – How AI is changing account-based go-to-market approaches.Tech RecommendationsDemandbase – For GTM prioritization and signal intelligence.Sybill.ai – AI-powered call analysis and coaching.Twain.ai – Tailored messaging and engagement optimization.SimpleTalk.ai – Conversational AI for real-time needs handling.Resource RecommendationsPodcastsThe Founders PodcastDiary of a CEO (Stephen Bartlett) NewslettersSubstack (for AI newsletters)BlogsGates Notes- Bill Gates' blog Daniel Priestley's content B2B Leaders to followJen Allen-Knuth, Founder, DemandJenLisa Kelly, Founder and CEO, Radical ResultsBarry Flaherty, GTM LeaderAbout the GuestHannah Ajikawo is an award-winning go-to-market consultant and founder of Revenue Funnel, helping B2B scale-ups unlock growth and optimize their revenue engines. With 16+ years of experience, Hannah has been recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice, LinkedIn Sales Insider, Salesforce Influencer, and one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Sales by Demandbase. She is also a HubSpot Modern Sales Leader and a global expert in aligning sales processes with modern buyer journeys to drive sustainable growth.Connect with Hannah.
The Healthtech Marketing Podcast presented by HIMSS and healthlaunchpad
Why do so many healthcare technology marketers want to do ABM but can't get started?A. The technology investment can be very expensiveB. The technology is complicated and a bit overwhelmingC. Other reasonsThis episode focuses on a possible solution to A and B. It's called Unbundled ABM.It's a concept that can lower the barrier to entry to starting with ABM, but proceed with caution.It's not all sunshine and lollipops.In this episode, we explain unbundled ABM and its pros and cons. We start by unbundling the mother of all ABM systems, Demandbase, into its core functions. This will help you figure out what lego blocks you need to get to reconstitute a system that emulates what enterprise-grade ABM applications deliver.For this episode of The HealthTech Marketing Show, I am joined by Mark Erwich, Chief Strategy Officer, and Paul Vandre, Account Director and Digital Lead, to discuss "Unbundled Account-Based Marketing”. Mark is a veteran ABM practitioner and he provides a comprehensive breakdown of the nine components that make up a complete ABM platform, explaining the functions and benefits of each. Paul then discusses the unbundled approach, selecting individual tools to handle specific ABM functions, which gives firms more flexibility and potentially cost savings in scaling ABM.Key Topics Covered:"(00:00) Intro""(03:34) Definition of unbundled ABM and how it differs from enterprise platforms""(04:32) The ABM journey from demand gen to targeted account marketing""(07:05) Definition of a true ABM platform as specialized software for account-based strategies""(08:21) Overview of ABM platform functions including account selection and intent data""(09:51) The nine components of an ideal ABM platform""(16:46) Resources required to run ABM at scale""(18:36) Paul's explanation of Health Launchpad's approach to unbundled ABM""(24:16) Comparison to "cutting the cable" - potential advantages and drawbacks""(26:47) ABM maturity model and implementation considerations""(29:32) Demandbase CEO's perspective on different ABM approaches""(31:24) ABM as change management focused on pipeline growth, not just MQLs"Resources:These posts were mentioned in the epsiodeDemandbase CEO's thoughts on Unbundled ABMI'm pro ABM, but skeptical of “ABM Platforms”Unbundled ABM | B2B MarketingInterested in exploring whether unbundled ABM might be right for your organization? Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call—just an opportunity to talk through your ABM questions and challenges.Learn more about Unbundled ABM in our detailed blog post.Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamturinas/Subscribe to The HealthTech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!
“People buy from people.”And that's why B2B influencer marketing actually works.In this week's podcast episode, I sat down with Vahbiz Cooper, Digital Marketing Manager at Demandbase, to dig into:What Are the Benefits of Influencer Marketing for B2B Companies?How to Find the Right Influencers?Maintaining Influencer RelationshipsEffective Channels and Content FormatsMeasuring ROI in Influencer MarketingCase Studies and Campaign ExamplesCommon Mistakes to AvoidFuture of Influencer MarketingFinal Advice for B2B Influencer Marketing“The biggest benefit is building trust. When someone with authority talks about your product, it's not just another sales post. It's a recommendation.”If you're in B2B marketing and thinking about influencer campaigns, this one's for you.Market Mentors is brought to you by Matt Dodgson, Co-Founder of Market Recruitment. Market Recruitment is a recruitment agency that connects B2B Tech & SaaS businesses with world class marketers to help them grow.If you'd like to be a future guest on the Market Mentors podcast, you can apply here.
In this episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody sits down with Craig Chiofalo to explore what it truly takes to build and lead a world-class support engineering organization. Craig pulls back the curtain on the operational strategies and tech stack powering Demandbase's award-winning team—including how tools like Salesforce Einstein and SupportLogic are transforming their approach to proactive support. He also shares lessons on hiring for excellence, scaling impact without ballooning headcount, and why deep, daily collaboration across product, engineering, and customer success is the cornerstone of lasting success.Key takeawaysRight Team, Right Tech: Hiring the right talent, enabling them with strong onboarding and internal tools, and layering in AI-driven technologies can drive exponential impact without scaling the team linearly.Cross-Functional Collaboration Is Everything: Craig attributes much of the team's success to deep integration with product, engineering, and customer success—teams that work together daily to elevate the customer experience.Award-Winning Process Maturity: From rewritten job descriptions to internal training certifications and advanced sentiment monitoring, Craig's team has refined its approach year after year to earn industry recognition.Operationalized AI: AI tools like SupportLogic and Salesforce Einstein are leveraged not just for efficiency, but for better sentiment analysis, proactive support, and smarter data insights.Measure What Matters: In addition to SLAs, Craig's team emphasizes customer satisfaction and effort scores—tracking detailed metrics while staying focused on proactive issue resolution.QuotesOn Team Excellence“This team is phenomenal—not just individually, but in how they collaborate. That synergy is the catalyst behind everything we've achieved.”On Leveraging AI Thoughtfully“AI should be seen as an assistant. It's like a dishwasher—you still load it and unload it, but it saves time and effort on repetitive tasks.”(04:00): How Craig rewrote job descriptions and created testing processes to hire and retain top-tier talent.(09:00): A deep dive into Salesforce Service Cloud, SupportLogic, and the internal troubleshooting app that dramatically reduces time to resolution.(14:00): How the team uses data and proactive alerts to prevent fires before they happen.(18:00): Craig's thoughtful breakdown of AI as a productivity enhancer, not a replacement.Tech RecommendationsSalesforce Service Cloud + Einstein: A central support platform now enhanced with AI capabilities for smarter case handling.SupportLogic: Real-time sentiment analysis and escalation prediction across customer interactions.Resource RecommendationsNewsletter:MIT Technology Review – AI-focused and practicalHarvard Business Review – Daily updates on leadership and strategyMcKinsey – Insightful newsletters with AI-related contentShout-outsUmberto Milletti, Chief R&D Officer at DemandbaseAngelle Stromeyer, RVP Customer Success at DemandbaseErika Setla, Sr. Director, CX Strategy & Ops at DemandbaseAbout the GuestCraig Chiofalo is a customer-focused leader with over 20 years of experience directing customer support, service, and success teams across SMB to enterprise clients. Currently Vice President of Support Engineering at Demandbase, Craig leads a Stevie Award–winning team recognized for delivering outstanding customer service. He brings a proven track record of building high-performing, collaborative teams that exceed goals, with a leadership style rooted in fairness, energy, and a deep passion for technology.Craig has held key roles at IBM, Silverpop, CallRail, Calendly, and Salsify, often joining during critical growth phases to scale operations, implement smart automation, and drive cross-functional alignment. His expertise spans platforms like Salesforce, Zendesk, Jira, Confluence, and SQL—always with a hands-on, data-informed approach to delivering exceptional customer outcomes.
Evan Hughes hosts Judy Sheriff, Ciara Hopkins, and Scott Schilling on this ABM deep dive.They cover:Defining ABM: All our hosts agree that ABM should be seen as a comprehensive alignment of marketing and sales strategies tailored to target specific accounts by understanding ICPs.Tools: Organizations don't always need expensive tools like Demandbase or 6sense to initiate ABM. Utilize existing CRM systems and focus on high-quality data analysis.Collaboration: Successful ABM demands alignment between executive leadership, sales, and marketing teams to ensure strategies are mutually reinforced across all channels.Measurement: Engagement metrics provide valuable insight, yet they must be clearly defined and agreed upon within the organization to effectively ascertain ABM success over time.While also taking audience questions, the hosts reinforce that without foundational alignment and clear objectives, ABM strategies will fail. It's vital to establish a realistic timeline, get full leadership buy-in, and have dedicated resources to guide strategic ABM initiatives in order for them to be successful. Episode topics: #marketing, #demandgeneration, #B2BSaaS, #digitalmarketing #advertising #ABM #roundtable #marketingexpert #accountbasedmarketing______Subscribe to Stacking Growth on Spotify and YouTubeLearn More About Refine LabsSign Up For Our NewsletterConnect with the guests:Judy SheriffCiara HopkinsScott SchillingConnect with the hosts:Evan HughesMegan Bowen
Sarah McConnell, VP, Demand Generation at Qualified, discusses using AI to drive pipeline growth. In this episode, Sarah outlines the three stages of AI integration: pre-AI, co-pilot, and agentic AI. They discuss the implications of replacing human SDRs with AI, emphasizing the need for onboarding and quality control. Success stories include Demandbase doubling their pipeline and Greenhouse increasing meetings by 130%. The conversation also touches on the build vs. buy decision for AI SDRs, considering cost and expertise. Show NotesConnect With: Sarah McConnell: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // LinkedIn // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Revenue Generator Podcast: Sales + Marketing + Product + Customer Success = Revenue Growth
Sarah McConnell, VP, Demand Generation at Qualified, discusses using AI to drive pipeline growth. In this episode, Sarah outlines the three stages of AI integration: pre-AI, co-pilot, and agentic AI. They discuss the implications of replacing human SDRs with AI, emphasizing the need for onboarding and quality control. Success stories include Demandbase doubling their pipeline and Greenhouse increasing meetings by 130%. The conversation also touches on the build vs. buy decision for AI SDRs, considering cost and expertise. Show NotesConnect With: Sarah McConnell: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // LinkedIn // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Can family wisdom help your career?Vahbiz Cooper is a marketing professional in the B2B SaaS industry, serving as Digital Marketing Manager at Demandbase.In this insightful episode, Vahbiz shares her journey of balancing traditional Indian upbringing with modern career ambitions. She offers valuable insights on:How the "respect goes both ways" philosophy from her family has shaped her approach to workplace boundaries and communicationWhy company culture dramatically impacts work-life balance and the importance of finding an environment that aligns with your valuesThe power of regular family gatherings and check-ins for maintaining strong relationships in both personal and professional contextsVahbiz's story demonstrates how young women can leverage their cultural heritage as a competitive advantage without sacrificing their authentic voice or professional ambitions. From Dubai's luxury-focused environment to her current role, she reveals how traditional wisdom continues to guide her success in unexpected ways.
In this episode, Avanish and Dennis discuss:How Freshworks evolved from a single help desk product to a multi-product platform serving 74,000 customers globally, from small businesses to enterprises like Airbus and Nucor SteelThe importance of being "pulled" by customers into new markets rather than pushing—recognizing when customers you didn't expect are adopting your productsThe challenges of building and scaling a multi-product company where products are at different maturity levels and target slightly different ICPsWhy ecosystem strategy is critical at Freshworks, including both technology integrations with thousands of partners and a services ecosystem to source and implement solutionsFreshworks' differentiated approach of building "uncomplicated" solutions in a market dominated by complexity—particularly for mid-market and low-enterprise customers (up to 20,000 employees)Dennis's philosophy of customer-centricity: "When in doubt, go talk to a customer"Building an ecosystem strategy that includes both technology integrations with thousands of partners and a global services network, with direct sales in nine countries and partner-led expansion everywhere elseAbout the HostAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Dennis WoodsideDennis Woodside is the CEO and President of Freshworks. He joined Freshworks as President in 2022. Dennis has spent more than two decades at innovative companies in Silicon Valley. Previous roles include Chief Operating Officer of Dropbox and sales and strategy leadership roles at Google for more than 10 years, including CEO of Motorola Mobility after Google acquired the company.Dennis serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula in California and previously served on the boards of the American Red Cross and ServiceNow. Dennis holds a B.S. in Industrial Relations from Cornell University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.About FreshworksFreshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) provides people-first AI service software that organizations use to deliver exceptional customer and employee experiences. More than 72,000 companies, including American Express, Bridgestone, Databricks, Fila, Nucor, and Sony choose Freshworks' uncomplicated solutions to increase efficiency and loyalty. For the latest company news and customer stories, visit www.freshworks.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Dennis WoodsideFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
Episode SummaryIn this episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody sits down with Chad Holdorf to discuss how agentic AI is revolutionizing B2B go-to-market strategies. They explore the rise of AI-driven agents, why automation leaders are doubling down on AI, and the biggest mistakes B2B teams make with AI adoption. Chad also shares real-world use cases from Demandbase, showing how AI agents streamline workflows, enhance intent-based targeting, and deliver predictive recommendations to sales and marketing teams.If you're a sales or marketing leader, this episode will give you actionable insights on how to integrate AI-powered GTM workflows while ensuring data accuracy, personalization, and efficiency.Key takeaways:AI Agents Are Reshaping GTM – AI-driven agents can help 10x productivity, making teams more efficient while removing friction from sales and marketing workflows.The Biggest AI Mistake – Companies focus too much on the technology itself rather than on solving real customer problems. AI should be outcome-driven.From Data Overload to Actionable Insights – AI-driven intent signals analyze vast amounts of GTM data, surfacing key insights and next best actions for sales and marketing teams.AI SDRs Are Failing Without Context – AI agents that lack proper customer data make embarrassing mistakes, like sending irrelevant emails to buyers who already know the product.Agent Base: AI with Context & Accuracy – Demandbase's Agent Base ensures that AI-driven sales and marketing actions are informed by accurate, unified data, preventing misalignment between teams.AI Must Be Embedded in the Workflow – AI agents should enhance existing workflows rather than requiring users to switch between multiple tools, ensuring smooth execution.Future of AI in B2B – The next wave of AI will focus on deep research capabilities, personalized recommendations, and predictive actions, eliminating guesswork for GTM teams.Quotes:"The most powerful AI agents aren't just about automation – they're about solving real customer problems and making revenue teams more effective.""Without the right data, AI agents are just noise. The difference between success and failure in AI-driven GTM is data accuracy and context."Best moments:03:00–05:00: Chad shares his journey to Demandbase and his vision for AI-powered GTM strategies.08:00–10:00: Why AI adoption is skyrocketing but the execution still lags behind in B2B companies.12:00–15:00: Breaking down how Agent Base delivers real-time AI-driven insights without adding complexity.18:00–22:00: The biggest failures of AI SDRs and how data-driven AI agents can solve these issues.25:00–30:00: The future of AI in sales & marketing – from predictive modeling to agent-driven engagement.Tech recommendations:Perplexity AI – AI-powered deep research for customer insights & content generation.OpenAI / Gemini – AI tools for data processing & workflow automation.Book recommendations:The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey – A classic on performance psychology & learning through observation.Podcast recommendations:My First Million – A business podcast that breaks down growth strategies & success stories.Leaders to follow:Gabe Rogol, CEO at DemandbaseUmberto Milletti, Chief R&D Officer at DemandbaseKelly Hopping, CMO at DemandbaseMarc Benioff, Chair & CEO at Salesforce.Parker Harris, CTO at SalesforceSign up for AgentbaseMeet Chad at the Forrester B2B Summit (March 30) & EMEA Conference in London (April 30).Sign up for Demandbase's AI Agent Design Partner Program – coming soon!Follow Chad Holdorf on LinkedIn for AI-driven B2B insights.About the guest:Chad Holdorf is VP of Product at Demandbase, leading product to transform how marketers drive pipeline and revenue. With 15+ years in product, including leadership roles at Pendo, Salesforce, and John Deere, he builds high-performing teams, drives bold product strategies, and delivers results.Connect with Chad Holdorf.
Looking to break through to decision-makers in your cold outreach?Watch Nate Hippauf from Common Room as he reveals his unique approach to gathering intelligence from below-the-line reps that leads to successful connections with decision-makers.Find out what Nate learned while crushing his quota at Demandbase (178% meetings booked, 158% demos held), as he shares his exact process - from research strategies to converting conversations into meetings.You'll Learn:How to turn conversations with below-the-line reps into valuable account intelligenceWays to master the research process that drives higher reply ratesTechniques that convert below-the-line insights into above-the-line meetingsThe Speakers: Will Aitken and Nate HippaufIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: JustCall and SalesloftLooking to up your sales skills?Sales Training for YOU: Use code SELLBETTER to save $200 off your yearly membershipSales Training for your TEAM
In this episode, Avanish and Lara discuss:The four distinct phases of software company growth and what each requires - from finding product-market fit ($0-100M) to demonstrating platform vision ($100M-1B) to scaling enterprise deals ($1B-5B)The critical importance of not neglecting your core business while scaling - how ServiceNow used tiered pricing models to continue monetizing their core productsWhy platform and ecosystem strategies are "two sides of the coin" but must be tailored to each company's specific situation - there is no one-size-fits-all approachThe "win-win-win equation" that must exist for successful partnerships - creating value for customers, partners, and your companyCreating cultural alignment around ecosystem strategy - including Dave Schneider's innovative approach of inviting partners to ServiceNow's sales kickoffHow to avoid "throwing money against the wall" with partnerships that lack strategic foundationBuilding unfair advantages at scale through customer relationships, installed base data, and continuous innovation to stay ahead of imitatorsHost: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Lara CaimiLara Caimi is the President of Worldwide Field Operations at Samsara. Lara brings nearly 25 years of experience to Samsara, where she is responsible for leading Sales and Customer Outcomes. Before Samsara, Lara was Chief Customer and Partner Officer for ServiceNow, overseeing nearly 2,500 global employees across organizations including customer success, professional services, and channel ecosystem. Previously, she served as ServiceNow's Chief Strategy Officer. Before joining ServiceNow, Lara was a partner at Bain & Company, where she advised technology companies on growth and go-to-market strategy.Lara holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and English Literature from St. Olaf College, a MIB from the University of Sydney as a Fulbright Scholar, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Lara CaimiFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and intent data platforms like 6sense and Demandbase promise to revolutionize your go-to-market strategy—but are they actually delivering results? In this episode of the Sales Technology Podcast, host David Dulany sits down with Kristina Jaramillo, President of Personal ABM, to unpack the growing skepticism around ABM tech, why many teams struggle with implementation, and how sales, SDRs, and marketing teams can stop chasing bad intent signals and start closing bigger deals.Kristina shares real-world insights on:✅ Why intent data alone won't drive conversions✅ The missing strategy behind most ABM tech investments✅ How SDRs, sales leaders, and marketers can align for real revenue impact✅ The biggest mistakes teams make when adopting ABM—and how to fix themIf you're in Sales, Marketing, RevOps, or GTM leadership, this episode is packed with actionable insights to turn your ABM strategy from a money pit into a revenue machine.
Lewis and Elliot invite special guest Vahbiz Cooper, Digital Marketing Manager at Demandbase, to talk about the key tactics behind successful employee advocacy programs.Vahbiz shares how Demandbase adopted an advocacy program, the best ways to keep employees engaged long-term, and the role of leadership in driving adoption. She also discusses creative onboarding strategies.Key Topics Discussed:How to drive user adoption for employee advocacy programsThe role of leadership in ensuring program successCreative ways to onboard and engage employeesMaking advocacy accessibleIf you're looking for practical advice to enhance your advocacy program, this episode is full of expert insights!#MarketingPodcast #EmployeeAdvocacy #SocialMediaMarketing #BrandEngagement
What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Golec, Founder & CEO at Channel99. Summary: The Godfather of ABM takes us through his humble beginnings in Detroit's industrial trenches to category creation and entrepreneurial expeditions. His journey spans building magnetic company cultures, cracking the code on remote work, sharing candid hiring wisdom, and transforming marketing failures into fuel for growth. Now building Channel99, he's rewriting attribution with a touch of AI engineering, predicting marketing ROI, using a white box approach. About ChrisChris started his career in the manufacturing world, working at DuPont and then GE where he moved from Engineering, Sales and Marketing rolesThe first startup he co-founded was a supply chain enterprise software where he also had the role of VP of Marketing, He grew the company to 75 people and raised $10M in VC. After only 6 years he sold to i2 Technologies for $380M A few years after his exit, Chris started his next company, Demandbase, the well known ABM platform. Along a 13 year journey as CEO he would create and lead the category of ABM software, hiring more than 1,000 people and crossing the elusive 200M in revenueToday Chris is on his 3rd company, Channel99, an AI powered attribution platform for B2B marketersFrom Industrial Paint Lines to Silicon ValleyChemical engineering graduates in Detroit followed a well-worn path: automotive paint lines, waste treatment facilities, and methodical career progression through established industry giants. The conventional trajectory promised stability but offered minimal room for pioneering new ground. This reality sparked Chris's pivotal decision to pursue innovation beyond Motor City's industrial confines.DuPont's Delaware operations presented an intriguing opportunity to spearhead European manufacturing technology adoption in the US market. The role demanded technical expertise while cultivating strategic thinking, setting the stage for an unorthodox career evolution. Engineering polymer sales, though seemingly mundane, opened doors to Boston's dynamic business landscape, where GE recognized potential in this chemical engineer turned sales strategist.The 1990s tech boom transformed the West Coast into a crucible of innovation. As GE's industry marketing lead for high-tech materials, Chris orchestrated global deals with Apple and HP, bridging the gap between traditional manufacturing and Silicon Valley's emerging titans. The experience revealed a stark reality: technical expertise alone created opportunities, but market understanding determined success. In 1995, this insight drove Chris and fellow GE engineers to launch Supply Base, despite their complete unfamiliarity with software development.Supply Base embodied Silicon Valley's audacious spirit. A team of engineers, armed with industrial experience but zero software knowledge, secured funding through sheer determination. The venture grew into a profitable enterprise, culminating in an exit that coincided precisely with the market peak on March 13, 2000. Yet amid this success, frustration brewed. B2B marketing remained technologically underserved, a gap that became increasingly apparent as Supply Base scaled. This observation planted seeds for future innovations in marketing technology, proving that sometimes the most valuable insights emerge from professional pain points.Key takeaway: Career evolution thrives on identifying market gaps and embracing unconventional paths. Chris's journey demonstrates how technical expertise combined with market understanding creates opportunities for innovation, especially when traditional industry boundaries blur in the face of technological advancement.Why Top Talent Gravitates to Companies with Purpose-Led CultureCreating genuine company culture runs deeper than the usual corporate playbook suggests. Demandbase's remarkable journey illuminates how sustained, intentional investment in organizational DNA attracts and retains exceptional talent. Chris discovered through years of leadership that authenticity, transparency, and meaningful impact serve as the bedrock of thriving workplace environments, transcending typical office perks or superficial initiatives.Demandbase's cultural investment materialized into tangible recognition, propelling them to the tenth spot among 500,000 companies on Glassdoor by 2016. The achievement reflected genuine employee satisfaction measured through independent surveys rather than manufactured accolades. This momentum persisted as the company consistently earned "Best Places to Work" distinctions throughout the Bay Area, validating their approach to fostering genuine workplace connections.The company's distinctive approach integrated philanthropy seamlessly into their organizational fabric. A partnership with Stop Hunger Now transformed from an office-wide meal-packaging initiative into a stadium-scale operation at their annual customer conference. This resonated profoundly with their marketing-focused clientele, spawning similar programs across multiple organizations. Additional initiatives supporting women's education and the Challenge Athlete Foundation enabled employees to contribute meaningfully beyond their B2B software focus, creating ripple effects throughout the industry.Cultural development demands attention from inception, though its manifestation evolves with company growth. While Series A funding often marks the formal introduction of HR functions and recruitment strategies, companies under 20 employees thrive when leadership directly shapes and nurtures cultural foundations. The rise of remote work introduces new challenges, requiring deliberate effort to maintain community through strategic in-person gatherings and shared experiences that transcend virtual boundaries.Key takeaway: Purpose-driven culture requires deliberate cultivation from day one. Organizations that prioritize authentic connections, maintain radical transparency, and create opportunities for meaningful impact naturally attract and retain exceptional talent. This foundation enables sustainable growth while fostering genuine employee satisfaction and engagement.Why Remote Work Fails Junior Employees (And Soars for Veterans)Remote work demands a brutally honest examination beyond the standard flexibility narrative. The stark reality reveals a complex equation where career stage, personality type, and organizational DNA collide to determine distributed success. During a pre-pandemic executive assessment at Demandbase, the remote work preference split tracked perfectly along introvert-extrovert lines, foreshadowing the fundamental role of personality in distributed work effectiveness.Career stage emerges as the make-or-break factor in remote work dynamics. Fresh graduates and early-career professionals require an apprenticeship period that Zoom simply cannot replicate. The professional polish developed through observing seasoned colleagues handle meetings, presentations, and workplace politics creates an invisible foundation for later career success. Close CRM's remote-first model crystallizes this reality; they exclusively hire veteran professionals with 10+ years of experience, acknowledging that virtual environments demand battle-tested practitioners who learned their craft in the trenches of traditional offices.The SDR experience at Demandbase's New York office illustrates this principle in vivid detail. Post-pandemic, a group of SDRs met face-to-face for the first time, creating an impromptu laboratory for examining remote work's limitations. Physical proximity unlocked a treasure trove of professional development opportuniti...
Guest: Jon Miller, Co-Founder & CEO of a Stealth AI StartupJon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and former CMO of Demandbase, argues that B2B marketing's traditional playbook—built on predictable demand generation, MQL scoring, and SDR-driven outbound—is broken. The “gumball machine” approach, where marketers expect predictable revenue by simply feeding in budget and campaigns, no longer works. Buyers have evolved, becoming more resistant to outbound tactics and opting for anonymous research. To succeed, revenue leaders must shift from short-term lead generation to long-term brand building, customer experience, and relationships.Key Takeaways:
In this episode, Avanish and Jim discuss:Jim's 46-year journey from IBM to Salesforce, including his role in scaling Salesforce from $22M to $5B in revenueHow customer demands, particularly from companies like Cisco and Merrill Lynch, shaped Salesforce's platform strategyThe strategic decision to separate the application layer from the platformCreating a successful customer success organization to drive adoption and showcase customer storiesThe evolution of Salesforce's partner strategy and metrics for measuring ecosystem successHow the "tactics dictate strategy" philosophy helped Salesforce respond to market needsAbout Our GuestJim Steele is the President of Global Strategic Customers and Partners at Salesforce. Previously, Jim served as Salesforce's President of Worldwide Sales and Chief Customer Officer for over 12 years, from 2002 through 2014 where he led the growth of the company from $22 million to more than $5 billion in revenue. Jim rejoined Salesforce in 2020 as President of Global Strategic Sales with his primary focus to bring the full power of Salesforce to its largest and most strategic customers. Most recently, Jim has also assumed responsibility for Salesforce's Alliances & Channels organization, the Emerging Business operating unit, and Private Equity practice. Previously Jim served as Chief Revenue Officer and President of Yext, President and Chief Revenue Officer of InsideSales.com and President of Worldwide Sales at Ariba. Jim started his career at IBM where he spent over 22 years in executive leadership and senior sales roles including VP and GM of Sales in Asia, based in Tokyo.About our HostAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the AppExchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Jim SteeleFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
Episode Summary In this episode of the OnBase podcast, Chris Moody hosts Jeremy Schwartz, who shares insights on the seismic shift from MQL-based approaches to buying groups in Account-Based Marketing (ABM). Jeremy discusses his extensive background in marketing and the challenges of traditional lead-based systems, emphasizing inefficiencies like low conversion rates and misaligned metrics. He highlights the transformative potential of buying groups, explaining how they enable better targeting and personalized engagement across accounts. Jeremy delves into the importance of leveraging data science, marketing automation, and RevOps collaboration to identify and activate high-value opportunities, while sharing practical examples from his experience at Palo Alto Networks. This engaging conversation offers actionable strategies for aligning sales and marketing teams to drive opportunity creation and improve pipeline outcomes. About the guest Jeremy Schwartz is the Sr. Manager of Global Lead Management & Strategy at Palo Alto Networks. He is a seasoned Global RevOps Marketing Leader with over 25 years of experience driving growth and innovation for B2B organizations. Renowned for pioneering strategic buying group models, Jeremy specializes in optimizing demand generation and lead management to deliver measurable results. His expertise lies in architecting large-scale, integrated campaigns that enhance visibility, engagement, and revenue. Committed to fostering collaboration, Jeremy aligns marketing and sales to achieve operational harmony and shared objectives. By leveraging data-driven insights, he transforms complex challenges into strategic growth opportunities, creating long-term business impact and scalable success. Connect with Jeremy Key takeaways - Traditional MQL models lead to inefficiencies like low conversion rates, wasted resources, and engagement with low-priority contacts. Jeremy explains how these models fail to identify real opportunities within accounts. - Jeremy describes buying groups as the next evolution in ABM, focusing on identifying multiple stakeholders within an account and targeting them collectively to improve opportunity creation. - First-, second- and third-party intent signals are critical to identifying active buying groups within accounts. Understanding these signals allows for better allocation of resources and more targeted marketing and sales efforts. - Jeremy outlines how buying groups allow both marketing and sales to work together by using personalized tactics for different stakeholders, creating a seamless activation process. - By analyzing historical data, companies can identify key personas involved in successful deals and tailor their outreach to align with the needs of similar stakeholders in the future. - Jeremy highlights the importance of tools like Demandbase, LeanData, Marketo, and custom-built applications for implementing and scaling buying group strategies effectively. - Jeremy predicts that buying group adoption will accelerate, and technology will evolve to better support this motion, offering enhanced tools for targeting and collaboration. - The successful adoption of buying groups requires an iterative approach that starts with manual processes, develops clear workflows, and eventually integrates technology to scale. Quotes On Identifying Buying Groups: “Being able to see who's in a buying group and understanding their personas is the first step to transforming your account-based strategy.” On Optimizing Resources Based on Signals: “Don't spend money where you see low or no engagement. When you see a high signal account, throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at it.” Communities: - Buying group members (LinkedIn community): A community dedicated to discussions and insights on buying group models in B2B marketing. He recommends this group for professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of buying groups and to engage with industry experts.
This episode features an interview with Louise Clements, CMO at WorkJam, the world leader in the digital frontline workplace, revolutionizing how HQs and their frontline workforces work together.In this episode, Louise discusses why she is no longer looking at attribution and is instead focusing on intent. She also dives into how she is using AI to automate and improve their marketing efforts and managing joint ownership of the funnel with sales. Key Takeaways:AI makes marketing better by giving the team more time to reflect and think. CMOs should be investing in automation. Marketing is increasingly owning go-to-market and jointly owning the funnel with sales. This is a bit of an evolution, and it allows you to focus on influence over attribution. Obsessing over first and last touch attribution is not useful. CMOs should focus on driving intent. Quote: “One thing that we've done is we've sort of stopped worrying about first touch and last touch attribution. I don't care. Is it ultimately working? You can drive yourself insane, worrying about specifics. Instead, it's looking at how all of those channels connect. And I think one of the greatest things in the last couple of years is, we've got these fabulous new tools. As B2B marketers, whether you use Sixth Sense or Demandbase or whatever, you can go in and understand intent in a way that we never could. So ,what I'm looking at is, are we driving intent? And then, let's time box that campaign and everybody who came in or who we touched. I want to understand what's the time lag? Are they going to come back? And I'm looking at things like that way more.”Episode Timestamps: *(03:41) The Trust Tree: The power of investing in PR *(15:28) The Playbook: Focus on driving intent *(41:05) The Dust Up: Agencies and fighting over scope*(42:30) Quick Hits: Louise's quick hits Sponsor:Pipeline Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com. Qualified helps you turn your website into a pipeline generation machine with PipelineAI. Engage and convert your most valuable website visitors with live chat, chatbots, meeting scheduling, intent data, and Piper, your AI SDR. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.Links:Connect with Ian on LinkedInConnect with Louise on LinkedInLearn more about WorkJamLearn more about Caspian Studios
Send us a textTrish Sparks leads Clever as CEO. Previously she was VP of Customer Success and Sales. Trish came to Clever with a wealth of executive leadership experience at companies such as LinkedIn, where she scaled a global customer success organization, and at DemandBase, where she was Chief Customer Officer. As a North Carolina Teaching Fellows Scholar, she started her career as a middle school teacher in Wake County Public Schools. Trish holds BS degrees in Business and Education as well as an MBA from Meredith College. After living in the Bay Area for 20 years, Trish now resides in Chapel Hill, NC.
This season will feature conversations with key decision-makers who have to support the journey to a platform or any ecosystem. We will talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be bought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Kevin discuss:Kevin's career journey and his experiences shaping ServiceNow's growth.What it means to authentically be a platform company and how ServiceNow approached platform-first scaling.How customer feedback drove ServiceNow's expansion into new domains like HR and customer workflows.The key factors for entering new markets, including market fit, size, and differentiation.The importance of hiring domain-specific experts and adapting go-to-market strategies.Building and leveraging ecosystem partnerships to drive growth and scale.Balancing core revenue innovation with new domain expansion to ensure sustainable growth.Guest: Kevin HavertyKevin Haverty was formerly the Vice Chairman, Global Public Sector at ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW). In this role, he worked directly with CEO Bill McDermott on expanding ServiceNow's strategic footprint in the public sector and mentoring the company's next generation of early-in-career professionals.During the past decade, Kevin successfully led and grew ServiceNow's world-class go-to-market organization. He most recently served as the company's Chief Revenue Officer, and also held the roles of EVP and SVP of Worldwide Sales and VP of Americas Sales.Earlier in his career, Kevin held several senior sales leadership roles at EMC, Data Domain, Thomsen Financial, and Brocade. He also served 10 years in the U.S. Army National Guard, attaining the rank of Captain.Kevin holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Providence College, where he was a distinguished military graduate of the Army ROTC program. He currently serves on the Board of Sprinklr. Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Kevin HavertyFollow our host, Avanish Sahai
This season will feature conversations with key decision-makers who have to support the journey to a platform or any ecosystem. We will talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be bought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Dave discuss: Dave's background and what led him to start TidemarkTidemark's VSKP framework on how a Vertical SaaS company can win their category, expand their offerings, and then, for a select few, extend through the value chainWhat it really means to be a control point and why it mattersThe mindset (and perhaps mindset shift) that is required to build a strong ecosystemThe wedges you need to be mindful of and the problems they can cause on your journeyThinking about the varying horizons of your product roadmap and how to synthesize them in actionable paths forwardHow to determine if your team is ready for the platform journeyAnd much more! Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow. From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase. Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale. Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Dave YuanFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark
Meet Heidi Solomon-OrlickHeidi is a proven veteran in Enterprise sales as well as a DEI and active aging advocate. With over 3 decades of global sales and executive leadership experience Heidi has generated over $1.5 Billion in revenue throughout her career in the BPO industry and has created thousands of jobs globally. She currently serves as Founder & CEO of GirlzWhoSell and CRO of The DORS Group Powered by Keller Williams. Founded in 2020, GirlzWhoSell is committed to democratizing professional sales and to building the largest pipeline of diverse, early-stage female sales talent. Heidi is a 2x author who, in 2022, released the highly acclaimed and award-winning book “Heels to Deals: How Women Are Dominating in Business-to-Business Sales.” Heidi is a 3x Stevie Award Winner for Women of the Year in Sales (Gold), Worldwide Sales Executive of the Year (Gold) and Women Helping Women (Bronze). She was listed in the Top 100 Women Magazine, was featured in Top Sales Magazine, was listed in the Top 100 Women in Sales published by Demandbase in both 2022 and 2023 and the Sales Collectives list of Women in Sales to Follow in 2024. Finally, Heidi has been ranked in the Top 50 Women Leaders of New Hampshire and was recently nominated for the SheRise 2024 Women in Leadership award.Highlights00:00 Welcome to the Social Capital Podcast01:21 Introducing Today's Guest: Heidi Solomon-Orlick02:51 Heidi's Journey and Influences05:13 Sales as a Life Skill06:00 The Intersection of Athletics and Sales10:34 Closing the Gender Gap in Sales16:35 Advice to My 20-Year-Old Self19:43 Lori's Why and Final Words of Wisdom21:40 Wrapping Up and Staying ConnectedConnect with HeidiLinkedInGirlzWhoSellHeels to Deals: How Women are Dominating in Business-to-Business Sales
Episode Summary In this Special episode celebrating the release of our 500th episode, OnBase welcomes Demandbase CEO Gabe Rogol to discuss the company's recent rebrand and the future of account-based GTM strategies. Gabe shares the vision behind the transformation, emphasizing Demandbase's commitment to solving modern B2B challenges through enhanced integration, transparency, and AI-driven automation. He explains how these changes aim to better align marketing and sales efforts for long-term account success. Gabe also dives into the next phase of account-based strategies, highlighting new insights, data strategies, and automation that will drive alignment and efficiency across teams, shaping Demandbase's path forward. About the guest As the Chief Executive Officer of Demandbase, I'm responsible for fulfilling the company's mission of transforming how B2B companies go-to-market. Since joining Demandbase in 2012, I've been committed to setting the product and corporate strategy for the company. Throughout my two-plus decade career, I've held various leadership positions, including managing world-class customer service and sales teams at IDG and other leading publishers. I received my BA in Comparative Literature and Russian Language and Literature from Brown University. Connect with Gabe Rogol Key takeaways - Purposeful Rebranding: Demandbase's rebrand isn't just cosmetic—it reflects a strategic shift to address evolving B2B needs. Gabe highlights the importance of aligning brand, product, and go-to-market strategy to better meet customer challenges. - Account-based GTM as a Strategic Approach: Gabe emphasizes that account-based go-to-market strategies should be treated as a C-suite initiative rather than a marketing tactic. This shift requires cross-functional alignment, especially between marketing and sales, to maximize account lifetime value. - Enhanced Data Strategy: Successful account-based approaches rely on robust data strategies. Gabe discusses how integrating various data sets—like intent, engagement, and firmographics—is essential to provide actionable insights and ensure alignment. - The Role of AI and Automation: AI-driven automation is key to the future of account-based strategies, reducing manual tasks and delivering actionable insights on audience targeting, messaging, and engagement across platforms, creating a more efficient and effective go-to-market approach. - Focus on High-Value Accounts: Demandbase's approach prioritizes identifying and aligning resources with accounts that offer the greatest potential lifetime value, shifting focus from broad lead generation to targeted engagement with the right customers. Quotes On Rebranding: “Rebranding isn't just a new look; it's a whole-company initiative. It's about understanding where our market is going and clarifying what we want to represent in this new era for Demandbase and the account-based go-to-market category.” On Strategic Alignment: “An account-based approach should be a C-level strategic initiative—not just a marketing tactic. Aligning sales, marketing, and operations around high-value accounts is essential for long-term success.” On Data and Intent: “Intent data is powerful, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. Real success comes from layering intent with technographic, firmographic, and engagement data to create a holistic, actionable view of target accounts.” On the Future of Account-Based Marketing: “We're entering a new phase focused on automation and insights. By delivering audience, message, and action insights across platforms, we're setting the stage for a more efficient and impactful go-to-market strategy.” On AI's Role: “AI has the potential to fulfill the true promise of account-based marketing by automating complex processes and delivering the insights teams need to focus on what really matters: driving value for high-impact accounts.” Connect with Gabe Rogol | Follow us on LinkedIn | Website
Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Ever wondered how a math enthusiast turned aerospace engineer finds his calling in the world of marketing? Join us as we sit down with Stefano Mazzalai, a seasoned expert in marketing technology and operations, who takes us through his unconventional career path. From numerical simulation and software development in the aerospace sector to the strategic heart of marketing operations, Stefano's journey is a testament to the power of analytical skills in shaping a successful career. Discover the pivotal moments and decisions that led Stefano to pivot from engineering to marketing, guided by a desire for new challenges and an unexpected love for marketing discovered during his MBA journey.Stefano's unique perspective bridges the often siloed worlds of marketing and engineering, offering insights into the art of balancing stakeholder demands without exhausting resources. He unpacks the strategies for translating marketing needs into technical specifications, a skill that's increasingly vital in today's data-driven business landscape. Stefano emphasizes the necessity of understanding trade-offs and the importance of aligning extreme requests with business requirements and capabilities. His balanced approach not only achieves strategic goals but also fosters productive internal relationships, ensuring sustainable success.In the final stretch, we tackle the intricate world of data quality and governance within B2B contexts, comparing it with the often-misunderstood ease of B2C data strategies. Stefano highlights the importance of leveraging technology to overcome data quality challenges, drawing from his experience at Demandbase. He shares valuable insights into establishing clear data definitions and governance structures, underscoring their critical role in aligning marketing operations with larger company objectives. Learn how to measure the impact of data initiatives and maintain data accuracy, ensuring that marketing efforts are seamlessly aligned with overarching organizational goals. Tune in for a masterclass in marketing operations and data strategy from someone who's walked the path and emerged a leader.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations Professionals MOps-Apalooza is back by popular demand in Anaheim, California! Register for the magical community-led conference for Marketing and Revenue Operations pros.Support the show
Hooking your audience is one thing, but keeping them emotionally invested in your content is another. So for this episode of Remarkable, we're taking marketing lessons on doing just that from the Irish dark comedy, Bad Sisters.It's a show about four sisters who plot to kill their diabolical brother-in-law, and the season starts with his funeral.Series creator, Sharon Horgan, says, “We had to keep an audience with us for 10 episodes and keep them wanting the same outcome." That is, the death of their brother-in-law, John Paul. So with the help of our special guest, D2L CMO Brian Finnerty, we're talking about hooking your audience, knowing your target, and doing trial and error. About our guest, Brian FinnertyBrian Finnerty is a B2B marketing specialist with over 25 years experience leading enterprise marketing teams. He currently serves as CMO at D2L. His expertise includes brand strategy, B2B demand generation, and global customer acquisition from mid-market to Fortune 500. He previously served as VP of Revenue Marketing for Udacity. Prior to joining Udacity, Brian served as VP of Growth Marketing at Demandbase, where he was responsible for demand generation, field marketing, and customer marketing at Demandbase. Brian has also been a marketing leader at two ad tech companies, Marin Software and Smaato. He co-founded an e-learning startup that specialized in software developer training, with a rules-based code judging engine. He is an active Customer Advisory Board member for both 6sense and Sendoso.What B2B Companies Can Learn From Bad Sisters:Start with a hook. Bad Sisters grabs viewers' attention because it's about four sisters plotting to kill their brother-in-law, and it starts with his funeral. So the question is: “How did he die?” This is what drives viewers to keep watching. So how can you get your audience invested in your content? What question do you want to inspire them to ask?Know your target. This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but just like the sisters truly knew their brother-in-law and all the ways they could potentially do him in, so should marketers get to know their audience so they can appeal to them. Brian says, “The sisters do a lot of research and they really know their target audience. Like, what does JP like to eat? What does he like to drink? If you were to poison him, how would you do that? So they really do research, like, ‘What are the ways that we can do this and get away with it, and free our sister from the prison of her marriage?' So they really do their kind of their targeting and their research, which I think any good marketer does.”Do trial and error. Try different marketing strategies and keep dialing it in based on data you get from the tests. Brian says, “[The sisters] do that right throughout the show. Like, they're testing ways to bump this guy off. Some of them end in sort of miserable failure and some of them have some potential of succeeding and you're never quite sure. Not unlike a lot of digital campaigns, where you're trying to find that perfect balance and the right approach.”Quotes*”I think for marketers, if you're not pushing the envelope, testing new messaging and testing new approaches to your website, conversion, optimization, your customer journey, your buyer's journey, then you're not trying hard enough. You're not getting enough data from the market to optimize and improve.”*”In a B2B context, it is tough to really identify a villain. And that kind of marketing turns me off. Some companies will identify their competitors as villains and really go after them. As a marketer, I would say instead of identifying your competitors as a villain, which I think is a mistake, you look at either the cost of doing nothing, or like, ‘What is the counterpoint to your mission?'”Time Stamps[0:55] Meet Brian Finnerty, CMO at D2L[3:02] D2L and Brian's Role as CMO[4:04] How Bad Sisters was created[9:30] Authenticity and Cultural Representation[22:18] B2B Marketing Takeaways from Bad Sisters[22:21] The Importance of a Good Hook[23:00] Research and Targeting in Marketing[24:08] Trial and Error in Marketing[28:30] Creating a Great Villain[33:48] Brand and Content Strategy[36:10] Effective Content Marketing[38:34] Leveraging Content Across Teams[42:58] Favorite Campaigns and Final AdviceLinksConnect with Brian on LinkedInLearn more about D2LAbout Remarkable!Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.
The Healthtech Marketing Podcast presented by HIMSS and healthlaunchpad
In this episode of The HealthTech Marketing Show, we go deep on marketing measurement and attribution with guests Gretchen Hoffman, B2B SaaS Marketing Leader, and Mark Erwich, Chief Strategy Officer for Health Launchpad. As healthcare marketers face increasing pressure to prove the value of their efforts, Adam, Mark and Gretchen discuss the shift from traditional lead-based metrics to a more account-based, opportunity-driven approach. They also explore how data analytics and AI are reshaping the landscape. Key Topics: [5:15]How marketing measurement has shifted dramatically due to AI and advanced data analytics, changing how marketers track and optimize demand generation. [11:04] Aligning Sales and Marketing through ABM [13:58] Practical advice on implementing ABM. How tools like Demandbase and 6sense help marketers analyze the full buyer journey and optimize account engagement. [23:16] The limitations of traditional attribution models and how healthcare marketers can effectively measure marketing activities' impact, especially in long sales cycles. [31:10] How to report the impact of marketing to the C-suite, including focusing on pipeline velocity, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value (CLV). [36:24] Actionable advice on adopting AI, ABM, and better reporting strategies. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with others in your network who might benefit from it!
Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Joining us today is Chris Golec - a serial entrepreneur - who is currently Founder & CEO of Channel99, a company that leverages AI to help companies improve B2B marketing programs and invest in growth. Prior to Channel99, Chris has been active advising CEO's and marketing executives, investing in start-up's, and supporting various philanthropic organizations. Previously, he founded Demandbase to transform B2B advertising, marketing and sales through innovations in digital technology and pioneered the ABM technology category. Prior to starting Demandbase, Chris founded Supplybase to help global manufacturers collaborate with their supply chain to bring new products to market. Before becoming a software entrepreneur, Chris held multiple sales, marketing and engineering positions with GE, DuPont, and GM.Tune in to hear: - Chris shares the initial vision behind Demandbase and the shift towards Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in the B2B space. Discover what led to this strategic pivot and its impact on the company's growth.- Explore the role of AI in reshaping the future of marketing operations. Chris discusses the potential changes and opportunities AI presents for marketing teams, with a focus on automation and data insights.- Learn why Chris launched Channel99 and how it addresses the challenges of marketing analytics. He delves into the unique opportunities it offers for data-driven decision-making in marketing.- Chris explains what it means to be an AI-driven Marketing Investment Decision Platform and how the use of economic analysis helps in predictive marketing. Real-world scenarios and examples are discussed for better understanding.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations Professionals Meet Jeto, your new Marketo campaign co-pilot!Jeto is an application that centralizes all your campaign intake into a single place by allowing marketers to easily create, launch, and manage campaigns without stepping foot in Marketo. The best part is that it also fully automates the Marketo program builds, enforces governance, and integrates with your entire martech stack.Ready to cut costs, speed up your campaigns, and make marketing operations a breeze? MOps-Apalooza is back by popular demand in Anaheim, California! Register for the magical community-led conference for Marketing and Revenue Operations pros.Support the show
This week we chat with Grant Grigorian, a long-time friend of mine and founder of Mogi.ai, to explore whether AI is actually a game-changer for data analytics. We examine what's broken in the current landscape of data analytics, the complex world of marketing attribution, and the “last mile of analytics” problem (that is., how do you get business users to actually read and use the analyses you produce). Then we dive very deep into practical applications of AI for data analysis, looking at concrete examples to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of large language models (LLMs) and contrasting them with traditional machine learning approaches. In closing, Grant reflects on the future of data careers in the age of AI. Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak. If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform. You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that's slick, modern and beautiful. When they're done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button. What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it's got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners. Try Knak About Today's Guest A startup guy who loves B2B marketing technology, analytics, and AI, Grant Grigorian is a serial entrepreneur. Coming from an operations background, Grant founded Path to Scale, a marketing analytics company, that sold to Engagio (later acquired by DemandBase). Today he's the CEO and co-founder of Mogi, an app that simplifies marketing data analysis by automatically delivering insights and recommendations to your team.https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantgrigorian/Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:06] - What's broken in data analytics[08:45] - Using data to justify marketing's existence[18:15] - Analyzing marketing tactics[24:39] - The “last mile of analytics” problem[28:56] - Strengths and weaknesses of LLMs to extract insights from data[45:49] - Difference between LLMs and machine learning[50:37] - The importance of context for AI[54:39] - Impact of AI on data careers[1:00:07] - Motivations as a repeat founderThanks to Our SponsorMarketers: it's planning season. Time to live in your office with the world's biggest spreadsheet and hope that finance doesn't slash your budget. Planning is tough, but at least you can put your best foot forward with a structured framework that covers all the bases. Our friends at Uptempo have just launched the Blueprint for Marketing Planning. It's a totally free and comprehensive guide for enterprise marketing teams. You'll get a seven-step planning process that integrates top-down strategy with bottom-up execution and gives you a crystal clear picture of how you'll hit your number. Get your free copy now: Uptempo Planning Guide Resource LinksMogi.ai Learn MoreVisit the RevOps FM Substack for our weekly newsletter: Newsletter
Influencer marketing has taken the B2B world by storm, and it's easy to see why. As buyers increasingly trust recommendations from industry experts and peers over brand pages, influencer marketing has become a key strategy for B2B brands to build trust and boost brand awareness. In this episode, Vahbiz Cooper, Digital Marketing Specialist at Demandbase, walks us through why brands are turning to influencers, how to choose the right people to represent your brand, and why content quality matters more than follower count. She also shares practical tips for running smooth campaigns, avoiding common pitfalls, and keeping things engaging and fun for both influencers and audiences. She dives into her favorite influencer campaign, which featured a creative unicorn piñata initiative that caught everyone's attention, as well as the most challenging campaign she's worked on—and the lessons she learned from it. Plus, she gives us a sneak peek at an exciting campaign she's currently working on! Whether you're new to influencer marketing or looking to refine your strategy, this episode offers actionable insights on creating successful, engaging campaigns. Hot Topics: Why B2B brands are turning to influencer marketing to build trust How to select the right influencers for your campaign The behind-the-scenes process of managing complex influencer campaigns Real-life examples of successful campaigns and lessons learned
In this episode, CJ interviews Bryan Morris, CFO of Demandbase, for an in-depth discussion on the complexities of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). As the planning season for 2025 kicks into gear, Bryan shares his insights on setting the right OKRs, aligning them across departments, and explaining why they often lose momentum. He discusses his approach to tracking OKRs, the tools he uses, and his thoughts on making midyear adjustments. Bryan also talks about the value of weekly written executive team updates and formats for efficient meetings. Bryan, a strong advocate of personality tests, unpacks how they enhance talent management, before shedding light on the tough side of leadership and how to approach moving people out of the company when it's not working. The episode wraps up with Bryan's insights on a CFO's decision-making power over an organization's software stack, including the risks of tool consolidation and the hidden costs of poor tech choices.If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI checklist.—SPONSORS:Leapfin is accounting automation software that automatically prepares and posts reliable journal entries. High-growth businesses like Reddit, Canva, and Seat Geek choose Leapfin to eliminate manual tasks, accelerate month-end close, and enable accounting leaders to provide faster insights to help their companies grow. To automatically standardize your revenue data with measurable business impact, check out leapfin.com today. Planful is a financial performance management platform designed to streamline financial tasks for businesses. It helps with budgeting, closing the books, and financial reporting, all on a cloud-based platform. By improving the efficiency and accuracy of these processes, Planful allows businesses to make better financial decisions. Find out more at www.planful.com/metrics.Mercury is the fintech ambitious companies use for banking and all their financial workflows. With a powerful bank account at the center of their operations, companies can make better financial decisions and ensure that every dollar spent aligns with company priorities. That's why over 100K startups choose Mercury to confidently run all their financial operations with the precision, control, and focus they need to operate at their best. Learn more at mercury.com.Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC.NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than 37,000 thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI checklist. Maxio is the only billing and financial operations platform that was purpose built for B2B SaaS. They're helping SaaS finance teams automate billing and revenue recognition, manage collections and payments, and put together investor grade reporting packages.
Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!In today's episode, we talk with Asher Mathew, Co-Founder and CEO of Partnership Leaders. Partnership Leaders is a private network built to elevate the role of partner teams in their companies. Prior to Partnership Leaders, Asher held senior leadership roles in partnerships and GTM, including roles at Demandbase, Avalara and LeanData. Tune in to hear: - Asher explain the concept of operational debt, its impact on businesses, and how it parallels technical debt.- The evolution and importance of partner go-to-market motions like co-sell, co-market, and co-serve.- The critical elements of building and funding communities, maintaining their ethos, and ensuring stakeholder support.- The unique role of partner marketers and the need for better internal support to enhance external effectiveness.- The benefits and challenges of strategic partnerships and co-building initiatives in today's business landscape.Episode Brought to You By MO Pros The #1 Community for Marketing Operations Professionals MOps-Apalooza is back by popular demand in Anaheim, California! Register for the magical community-led conference for Marketing and Revenue Operations pros.Support the Show.
Most people are hesitant to use AI in their sales process. They're afraid it will remove the creativity and human element. So we've invited Vin Matano, a former top AE and SDR at Demandbase, to share how AI has helped enhance creativity in his sales process leading to 27%+ reply rates and presidents club awards. He'll be sharing his favorite free AI tools and how he uses them from prospecting to close.You'll Learn:The best free AI tools on the marketHow to use AI to prospect & book meetingsWays to use AI in your sales process to close more dealsThe Speakers: Jed Mahrle and Vin MatanoIf you want to catch The Daily Sales Show live, join hereFollow Sell Better to get the latest actionable tactics from sales pros at the top of their gameExplore our YouTube ChannelThank you to our sponsors: Tuesday, Vidyard and Zoominfo
What do CROs expect from enablement? Well, what better way to find out than to ask one?! In this episode of the State of Sales Enablement podcast, Coach K speaks to Kevin "KD" Dorsey, a Demandbase top 25 sales leader and one of Salesforce's top 16 sales influencers to follow. KD has built teams from 0-$100M several times and insists that enablement reports to him at every organisation he works for.Here are some of the questions this episode tackles: Why is there a disconnect in the industry about the role and responsibilities of sales enablement?How can sales enablement teams influence metrics they do not have full control over?What is the role of sales leaders in defining and guiding sales enablement activities?What is the importance of top performer analysis in sales enablement?What methodologies and frameworks can be used to improve sales manager performance?Connect with Kevin "KD" Dorsey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kddorsey3/Explore KDs Sales Leadership Accelerator: https://www.salesleadershipaccelerator.com/slamembershipoverviewExplore KDs community: https://www.patreon.com/insidesalesexcellenceConnect with Coach K: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmkmba/
Vahbiz Cooper, Sr. Executive of Digital Marketing at Demandbase, joins our host, Camela Thompson, in this episode of the Revenue Marketing Report. Vahbiz shares which channels to leverage, including a unique approach to community marketing. Vahbiz's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vahbizcooper/ For more great content like this, visit https://calibermind.com/thought-leadership/podcasts/
Summary Jon Miller, pioneer, market maker, thought leader and the OG of MarTech joins Dan for over 60 minutes of engaging dialogue and new revelations. The conversation covers the journey of Marketo, the emergence of marketing automation solutions, the challenges faced, and the eventual merger with Demandbase. It also delves into the creation of Engagio and the lessons learned from early success. The themes include Marketo's market entry, product development, category expansion, leadership impact, and the evolution of ABM solutions. The conversation covers Jon Miller's career journey, the merger of DemandBase and Engagio, the changing landscape of marketing, the impact of AI on marketing, and the definition of success. Jon shares insights on thought leadership, personal branding, and the evolving role of marketing in the modern era. Takeaways Marketo's success was driven by the right positioning, a good product, and strong sales and marketing execution. Early success can lead to an overly rosy signal of product-market fit, and it's important to be cautious of early signals. The evolution of ABM solutions and the need for a full ABM platform that covers the entire spectrum of ABM capabilities. The impact of leadership changes on marketing performance and the importance of having the right leadership in key positions. Lessons learned from the creation of Engagio and the challenges faced in building a new company after early success. The eventual merger of Engagio with Demandbase and the vision of combining the strengths of both platforms to create a comprehensive ABM solution. Jon Miller's career journey and the merger of DemandBase and Engagio The changing landscape of marketing and the impact of AI Insights on thought leadership and personal branding The evolving role of marketing in the modern era Jon Miller's definition of success Chapters 00:00 The Market Entry and Success of Marketo 03:30 Product Development and Category Expansion 07:03 The Impact of Leadership and Early Success 13:45 Lessons Learned from Engagio and Building a New Company 27:14 Navigating the Marketing Landscape: Jon Miller's Career Journey 30:49 The Impact of AI on Marketing: Changing the Game 34:30 Thought Leadership and Personal Branding in the Modern Era 41:03 Redefining Marketing: The Evolving Role and Future 53:30 Defining Success: A Moving Bar
https://blog.thesaleswhisperer.com/p/its-your-fault 00:00 The Challenge of Sales and Marketing Alignment 03:13 The Role of Location in Alignment Efforts 26:56 The Impact of Brand Advertising and Lead Generation 31:27 Challenges of Modern Prospecting Methods 36:03 Sales and Marketing Alignment in the Digital Landscape The conversation revolves around the challenges of achieving sales and marketing alignment to drive B2B growth, as discussed by Kelly Hopping and John Eitel of Demandbase. They explore the importance of collaboration, shared metrics, and leadership in fostering alignment. The use of AI in marketing and sales strategies is also highlighted, along with the impact of remote work on alignment and communication. The conversation delves into the practical aspects of account-based marketing and the role of technology in targeting the right audience. The conversation covers topics related to advertising, lead generation, personalized outreach, and the changing landscape of sales and marketing. It delves into the impact of brand advertising, the effectiveness of targeted ads, the importance of personalized outreach, and the challenges of modern prospecting methods. The conversation also explores the evolution of sales and marketing alignment, the role of account-based marketing, and the need for human connection in a digital world. Takeaways Success in entrepreneurship requires discipline, perseverance, and the ability to learn from failures. Pivoting and adapting to market needs is crucial for the growth and success of a business. Transparency and open communication are essential in building trust with customers and employees. Imposter syndrome is common among entrepreneurs, but pushing through the hard days is what separates successful entrepreneurs from others. Focus on small, incremental steps to build a business from scratch Provide just enough help to overcome obstacles Be willing to do the boring tasks that are necessary for success Hire a virtual assistant to free up time for strategic work Outsource tasks to maximize efficiency Enjoy the journey and celebrate milestones along the way Market like you mean it. Now go sell something. SUBSCRIBE to sell more, faster, at higher margins, with less stress, and more fun! https://www.youtube.com/@TheSalesWhispererWes ----- Connect with me: Twitter -- https://twitter.com/saleswhisperer TikTok -- https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaleswhisperer Instagram -- http://instagram.com/saleswhisperer LinkedIn -- http://www.linkedin.com/in/thesaleswhisperer/ Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/wes.sandiegocrm Facebook Page -- https://www.facebook.com/thesaleswhisperer Vimeo -- https://vimeo.com/thesaleswhisperer Podcast -- https://feeds.libsyn.com/44487/rss Sales Book -- https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/c/way-book BUSINESS GROWTH TOOLS https://12WeeksToPeak.com https://CopyByWes.com https://CRMQuiz.com https://TheBestSalesSecrets.com https://MakeEverySale.com https://www.TheSalesWhisperer.com/
Vahbiz Cooper, Sr. Executive of Digital Marketing at Demandbase, joins our host, Camela Thompson, in this episode of the Revenue Marketing Report. Vahbiz shares what to look for in an influencer and how to maximize your collaboration. Vahbiz's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vahbizcooper/ For more great content like this, visit https://calibermind.com/thought-leadership/podcasts/
Vahbiz Cooper, Sr. Executive of Digital Marketing at Demandbase, joins our host, Camela Thompson, in this episode of the Revenue Marketing Report. Vahbiz shares how to grab your audience's attention by differentiating your brand. Vahbiz's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vahbizcooper/ For more great content like this, visit https://calibermind.com/thought-leadership/podcasts/
Today's episode welcomes Austin Jouett, Full-Cycle Account Executive at Intentify Demand - a provider of demand and lead generation services, specializing in B2B sectors such as SaaS, IT technology, FinTech, Martech and HR Tech. They help businesses connect with their ideal prospects by delivering high quality and meticulously verified data including contacts, companies, firmographics and technographics.Austin started out in door-to-door sales. There he was trained to never take no for an answer, which led to a lot of aggression from his prospects. This made him appreciate the safety of remote phone sales and gave him a thick skin when it comes to rejection.His first SDR gig was at Demandbase, where he generated $2.8 million in pipeline becoming their top SDR in 2022. He started off as an inbound SDR, where he used qualified.com and an in-house ABM platform to prospect into deanonymized accounts. Prospects had to go through 3 different passes between differently ranked salespeople, which is not a great customer experience and led to a lot of ghosting.Austin's daily workflow for inbound and upsells consisted of taking the users of their ABM platform, analyzing signals within Demandbase and writing pipeline acceleration reports for his prospects. This got him to book a record of 16 meetings in a single month, which was 2.5x his quota. Tune into the full episode to learn Austin's way of generating pipeline!Connect with Austin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinjouett/Connect with Alan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-j-zhao/Want to convert your website visitors instantly? Try Warmly for free - https://warmly.ai/ (05:13) - What D2D skills translate to SDR skills? (07:25) - Human-level prospecting (08:20) - How Demandbase SDR's prospected (10:33) - Stop passing around prospects (15:28) - Prospecting into net new accounts (21:22) - Turning prospects from cold to warm (24:25) - What signals work best during outreach? (27:02) - How to improve your signal-based selling approach
This episode features an interview with Kelly Hopping, CMO at Demandbase, a go-to-market company for B2B brands. They help marketing and sales teams overcome the disruptive data and technology fragmentation that inhibits insight and forces them to spam prospects. In this episode, Kelly talks about her strategy to make sales love the marketing team and to collaborate with sales on their ABM strategy. She also discusses the ROI on retaining a customer, versus getting a new customer, and how the brand is really the full customer journey. Key Takeaways:Account based marketing only works as a collaborative effort between sales and marketing. It's marketing's job to make the sales team love them, providing them with a brand they are proud to represent and high intent leads. The ROI on retaining a customer is much better than on getting a new customer. Taking great care of the customers is not just a sales or customer experience responsibility. Part of retaining customers is building brand loyalty by making sure customers love the product and building community. Quote:“ I have a general belief, I tell my team, my number one goal is to make sales love us. And that doesn't mean that we do all bottom of the funnel, like pipe create, but it means we're going to give them a brand that they're proud to represent. We're going to give them great air cover at events and through social. We're going to give them high-quality pipeline that has good intent. We're going to focus, so we're not going to try to boil the ocean. We're going to be laser-focused on an ICP and we're going to work together on conquering them. We're going to give them content that's usable versus like a thousand pieces and they have to sort through it. We're going to give them five pieces and a really clean bill of materials that they need to close the deal. And we're just gonna be really, really, really focused on those things. So, to me, that's ultimately the strategy is if sales is successful, then we've done our job right.”Episode Timestamps: *(3:53) The Trust Tree: Building sales and marketing alignment *(23:26) The Playbook: Your brand is the full customer journey *(34:41) The Dust Up: Tensions with sales and ensuring you send them good opportunities*(37:33) Quick Hits: Kelly's Quick hitsSponsor:Pipeline Visionaries is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for pipeline pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.Links:Connect with Ian on LinkedInConnect with Kelly on LinkedInLearn more about DemandbaseLearn more about Caspian Studios
How do you get high email open rates? Discover the secret framework in this episode of the "Sales Evangelist Podcast." I, the podcast host, sit down with special guest Vin Matano and discuss his four-part cold email secret. I'm telling you, you don't want to miss this episode. Vin shares his deep expertise in cold email outreach. Tune in to learn his effective email strategies that'll bring you tremendous success. Who Is Vin Matano? Spending six years at Demandbase, Vin started as a BDR (Business Development Representative) before moving into a closing role on the mid-market major's team. Recently, he embarked on an entrepreneurship journey, eager to leverage his rich experience in sales. But that's not all. In this episode, Vin unveils the number one outreach channel that played a pivotal role in growing his pipeline. The reveal happens right at 1:09. And no, it's not cold calling. Can you guess what it is? Cold Emailing Success: What's His Secret? (2:36 – 4:04) Many sales representatives struggle with personalized outreach. What on earth are you supposed to write? Vin shares the ideal email structure to help you figure it out: Observation Problem Statement Solution Call -To - Action Click play and discover why this email framework gives high open rates! Crafting Irresistible Subject Lines (4:51 - 8: 01) Please don't tell me you believe click-bait subject lines equals high open rates. Because it doesn't! These types of email subject lines are misleading and deceiving. You don't like to be lied to, so why should you lie to your customers? Vin and I delve into a straightforward email trick to boost customers' trust in your brand and encourage them to read your emails. Our special tip: Don't be flashy; stay boring. This approach empowers you to take control of your email marketing strategy and build stronger connections with your audience. The Role of Multi-Threading in Prospecting (17:23 - 18:20) At the very end of this episode, Vin shares how he uses multi-threading to win stakeholders. Discover how his approach helps ensure that your email outreach is more effective and has a better chance of getting a response. “You're overcomplicating it. Reread your email, and if it needs a better flow, put a random first sentence, a random problem statement, and a random solution. If those don't talk together, it's a bad email.” - Vin Matano. Resources Vin Matano on LinkedIn Vin Matano on TikTok Vin Matano on YouTube Vin Matano on Instagram Vin Matano on X Sponsorship Offers This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot. With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales. 2. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse. 3. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation. Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin. Credits As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.
"Content without consumption is just a massive waste. And I feel like often we build these big, robust content strategies and a big list of all these pieces of content we need to create, and we don't optimize it to get consumed."In this episode, we're joined by Demandbase's CMO, Kelly Hopping to discuss the new era of ABM and the key ingredients to success. Kelly dives into the transition of ABM from a focus on targeted, individual account strategies to a broader and more scalable approach that includes one-to-few and one-to-many strategies. She also discusses the critical need for alignment between sales and marketing teams and how crucial content is to the success of ABM. Tune in to your favorite listening app to take your ABM strategy to the next level.In this episode, you'll learn:Align sales and marketing teams effectively by simplifying tools and ensuring both teams utilize foundational data for efficient account-based marketing (ABM) strategiesOptimize content creation by focusing on generating bite-sized, searchable, and promotion-ready material that addresses specific customer pain pointsPrioritize content consumption by strategizing on the distribution and utility of content to ensure it reaches and resonates with the target audienceResources:Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-gandolf/Check out The Juice HQ: https://www.thejuicehq.com/Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyhopping/Check out Demandbase: https://www.demandbase.com/Timestamps:[05:46] Account based marketing: focus on key accounts[06:32] Account-based marketing aligns sales and marketing effectively[12:56] Utilizing customer data for targeted sales approach[15:32] Different types of content fit into ABM[18:45] Embracing uncertainty and investing in long-term transformation[21:05] Kelly's transformed content team boosted traffic and revenue