Podcasts about Marketo

For B2B marketers, reaching the right decision-makers can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Traditional lead generation tactics often produce high volumes of low-quality leads that rarely convert, while valuable opportunities slip through the cracks. Account-based marketing (ABM) flips this model on its head by focusing your resources on a carefully selected …

Thank you, Martin, for going back in time with The Sales Evangelist podcast. Thanks to him, we're going back to episode 1177 where I deep-dived into why leads are creating more work for us.In this episode, I share why many small organizations struggle with their inbound sales and how to fix it. The challenge is always deciding who should follow up on them and how to do it effectively.The Sales TeamAssume that a sales team is composed of three people: the marketing person who does almost everything, the junior assistant who helps with content creation, and the outsourced person who does the marketing strategies. Among the three, who should follow-up the lead? Not all leads are created equal. This means that before deciding who will follow up the lead, the lead should be evaluated first.You don't want your salesperson pitching to a lead that in the end would go to another competitor.Do a Pre-QualificationDo a pre-qualification in your organization to know if the people you are going to have the conversation with are ready to consider the deal. Set a benchmark and rules for what you consider a marketing quantifiable lead. Consider the following questions: What is considered a sales qualified lead?What is the KPI of your organization? How many new inbound leads do you want to get per quarter/per month?How much money do you want to generate from those leads?The answers to those questions will lead you to your ideal customer. It would also help you identify the triggers that qualify them to be a marketing quantifiable lead and a sales qualified lead. The work is far more efficient because when a lead comes in, your salespeople can vet them and follow the pre-qualification factors you've set to see if the lead can generate new business for the organization. This is also helpful in maintaining your current customers. Create a SystemCreate a system to efficiently manage the workload. The marketing team can do the pre-qualification to increase the odds of the lead being converted into something real. Whenever a lead comes in, let marketing take a look at it and check the website and the title of the person. Then let the intern or junior marketing rep take over the other tasks like looking into LinkedIn, HubSpot, Marketo, or other platforms you have to find the data that you can transfer into your CRM. Marketing can help fix the problem of having to go back to the beginning of the funnel and pre-qualify the leads again because they're not yet ready at the moment. Website Leads MatterThe sales team sometimes takes for granted the leads that they didn't hunt for. A good example is leads coming in from the websites. It is disheartening when a sales rep doesn't take that into consideration when a lead comes in via the website. Whenever an inbound lead comes in, it is best to use your flow process to follow-up particular prospects. It should be written and put in your company's playbook so that everyone can read it and use it with every inbound lead that comes in.Follow-up Right Away A stat from insidesales.com said that a lead that's contacted within five minutes is 100 times more likely to convert than leads that are followed-up 90 minutes later.When a lead comes in, follow up right away. You're more likely to convert than if you wait. The sales team can take a quick visit to the person's website, check their LinkedIn profile, and the pages they've visited on your site. Focus On The People That...

Chandar Pattabhiram, marketing maestro and Chief Go-to-Market Officer at Workato, shares his expertise on the agentic economy and the revolutionary impact of AI on go-to-market strategies.• The rise of AI agents brings productivity without pause, enabling organizations to shift from reactive to proactive approaches• Current AI implementation remains largely experimental and edge-focused rather than addressing core business processes• Workato's approach focuses on cross-functional processes versus siloed applications to prevent agent sprawl• Traditional go-to-market principles still apply – win more, win bigger, win faster – but AI provides unprecedented efficiency• Enterprise context is crucial for AI effectiveness – it's not just about LLMs but Enterprise Learning Models (ELMs)• AI enhances storytelling capabilities but emotional connection remains essential – "heart to head, not head to heart"• Success requires identifying your "onlyness" and selling to markets that value your unique differentiation• Bring philosophies rather than playbooks when moving between companies• Balance technical understanding with human connection – "CTFO: chill the F out"• Life ultimately comes down to health, experiences, and relationships (H-E-R)Ready to master go-to-market strategy in the AI era? Chandar Pattabhiram reveals the secrets behind scaling companies into billion-dollar powerhouses:

What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Keith Jones, Head of GTM Systems at OpenAI. Also just a quick disclaimer that Keith is joining the podcast as Keith the technologist and human, not the employee at OpenAI. The views and opinions he expresses in this episode are his own and do not represent OpenAI.Summary: The best martech buying process isn't a spreadsheet. It's a cognitive extraction exercise.Keith Jones asks stakeholders to write what they want, say it out loud, and then feeds both into GPT to surface what actually matters. That discipline applies to agents too. Most teams chase orchestration before they have stable logic, clean data, or working workflows. Keith's bet? The future of SaaS is fewer tools, built in-house, coordinated by agents not a graveyard of dashboards pretending to be automation.Why Sales Ops People Who've Actually Sold Have the Sharpest KnivesKeith Jones did not set out to work in sales operations earlier in his career. He landed in it sideways, like a lot of the best people in ops do. He was hired with the catch-all title of “Business Operations Associate,” which could mean anything or nothing, depending on the day. His job, in practice, involved forecasting bookings and revenue in Excel based on shipping data. No one told him he was in sales ops. No one even used that phrase. If someone had asked him whether he wanted a career in sales operations, he wouldn't have known what they meant.The company later shifted him into a field sales role. They were trying to grow the team internally, so they dropped him into the southeast region and told him to start talking to CIOs and chief nursing officers. He moved to Atlanta and started selling. That job was hard in a way that most people who build systems for sales teams never understand. The structure was just enough to keep things moving, but not enough to support real learning. He had a quota, a few tools, and a manager who held weekly one-on-ones. There was no real training. No consistent coaching. No safety net. If he wanted to make it work, he had to figure it out himself.That experience never left him. Now that Keith leads systems for go-to-market teams, he still thinks about what it felt like to sit in a seller's chair. Every tool that didn't work, every field in Salesforce that meant nothing, every process that made his job harder stuck with him. He builds differently because of that.> “You're given a quota, a few tools, some vague expectations, and then shoved into the wild.”The biggest disconnect he sees in GTM systems comes from people who have never sold anything. Many of the systems designed to help sales teams are built by career admins or operations specialists who've never had to ask for a purchase order or explain why a deal fell through. These people often optimize for what the business wants, not for what the seller needs to survive the quarter. Keith doesn't speak about this in abstract terms. He lived through it.After his healthcare role, he joined a startup in Atlanta as employee number eight. He came in as an account executive, but quickly became the go-to person for explaining the product. He wasn't the most technical person, but he could speak the language. That mattered. As the company grew and new reps joined, Keith found himself teaching them how to explain the product to customers. He was still selling, but he was also building shared knowledge. That part felt natural.Then his CEO pulled him into a room and told him something blunt. “You're really bad at cold calling. You don't even do it.” Keith agreed. He hated that part of the job. As an introvert, it never felt right. But the CEO followed up with something more important. “You know the product better than anyone else on the floor. I think you should be our first sales engineer.” Keith said yes immediately.There was one more thing. The Salesforce admin had just quit, and the CEO asked if he wanted to learn Salesforce too. Keith said yes to that as well. That moment when he stepped into a role that combined technical depth with operational design set the course for everything that came next.Today, he leads systems at a scale that touches thousands of sellers. He remembers what it felt like to sell without support, and he refuses to push that experience onto others. He builds tools that actually work because he knows what failure feels like.Key takeaway: Sales ops works best when it is built by people who have actually sold. If you want to build tools that sellers will use, you need someone who has lived with the friction of broken ones. Sellers do not care about elegant reporting architecture if the CRM slows them down. They care about speed, clarity, and context. Hiring operators who have carried a quota gives you an unfair advantage. They remember how it felt to lose time chasing bad leads or cleaning up messy data. That memory turns into better workflows. You can teach someone how to configure Salesforce. You cannot teach someone how it feels to miss your number because your systems were designed by someone who never had one.The Difference Between GTM Ops and GTM SystemsWhen people talk about GTM operations, most of them blend it with GTM systems like it's all one job. It's not. They share a Slack channel, maybe a budget, and definitely a few dashboards, but the actual work is completely different. Keith has lived on both sides of that line. At OpenAI and before that at Mural, he ran GTM systems. Back at Gartner, he saw how every company defines these roles differently, sometimes with intention, sometimes out of inertia. But when he breaks it down, the split is actually pretty clear.GTM ops exists to support the field directly. That means helping sellers, marketers, and customer success teams get their work done. Think enablement, process design, live troubleshooting, deal support, and training that doesn't feel like a waste of time. These teams sit next to the people they're helping and shape operations based on actual conversations and feedback.GTM systems is a whole different rhythm. These are the people writing the workflows, building automations, owning the CRM, and threading together tools that are supposed to work seamlessly but rarely do. They are not front-facing. They are deep in the guts of your tech stack. They touch code, configuration, architecture, and logic trees that determine whether your rep gets the right lead or a ghost contact from 2017.> “We rely heavily on our ops colleagues to feed us guidance from the field so we can build the right solutions. That's the balance that works.”Keith's favorite model is one where GTM ops and GTM systems are separate but inseparable. Not one inside the other. Not one reporting into the other. Two teams, side by side, solving for different parts of the same outcome. Ops listens and adapts. Systems builds and scales. When that rhythm is right, sellers feel supported without even knowing why. When it breaks, people stop trusting the process and start hacking together their own.He makes an important distinction when talking about marketing ops. Unlike sales ops, which skews toward operational execution, or systems, which skews technical, marketing ops often lands in the uncomfortable middle. It needs to speak both languages. You might be setting up nurture logic in Marketo one hour and then coaching a team through campaign QA the next. Keith sees it as a dual-mode function, one that requires:Operational discipline to support marketers with templates, briefs, budgets, and targeting logicTechnical fluency to build and maintain systems that track performance across platformsThe tension between systems and ops is real. I's not a fight. It's a rhythm. And when ...

Brand isn't just a creative exercise — it's a product that drives ROI.Back for his third appearance on the Focus on Brand podcast, Sergio Claudio (ex-Adobe, Marketo, Zuora) joins us to challenge how organizations perceive and measure creativity. Is it just a cost center—or a powerful growth engine?In this episode, Sergio unpacks how creative work can (and should) drive business outcomes. From C-suite blockers to strategic alignment, we cover how to elevate creative teams from "make it pretty" to make it perform.What we cover:

Is it possible that a whole generation of consent-management solutions built for the EU-driven opt-in world are unsuitable for the opt-out scenario predominant in the US? How are DPOs and AI Governance professionals to deal with “shadow AI” and “shadow IT”?  Daniel Barber is DataGrail's CEO and co-founder. Prior to DataGrail Daniel led revenue teams at DocuSign, Datanyze (acquired by ZoomInfo), ToutApp (acquired by Marketo) and Responsys (acquired by Oracle). He also advises several high-growth startups. References: Daniel Barber on LinkedIn Unveiling DataGrail's 2024 Data Privacy Trends Report: The Time Data Subject Requests Surged 246% in Two Years DataGrail Privacy Inspector (Chrome Web Store) Max Anderson (Ketch): Privacy Tech spotlight I – the future of CMPs, value vs. hype in privacy compliance SaaS (Masters of Privacy, April 2025)

What's up folks, today we're diving into the AI talent crunch and exploring which marketing roles have the strongest staying power and which are most likely to be replaced by AI.Summary: Shit is changing fast. Don't wait for someone to guide you. Navigate this transition by focusing on judgment tasks while letting AI handle predictions. At risk are campaign operators, generic content creators, and report-pulling analysts. Set to thrive are resident AI implementation experts who select worthy tools, data orchestrators connecting proprietary data to AI, product/customer marketers with genuine empathy, ethics guardians preventing bias issues, and localization specialists understanding cultural nuances.Marketing Jobs AI Will Kill (And What Skills Actually Matter Now)AI tools have cut strange new patterns into the marketing job market. Pay attention and you'll spot which roles face extinction risk, which command premium salaries, and which hang precariously in the balance. We've watched marketing teams across dozens of companies scramble to realign their talent strategies around this new reality. Some roles vanish while entirely new job titles materialize almost weekly.One of the good things is that AI impacts marketing jobs based on task predictability and context, not seniority or experience. A CMO who mostly approves creative and manages schedules faces more displacement risk than a junior analyst who excels at extracting bizarre but valuable insights from data chaos. You probably feel this tension already. Half your marketing tasks could disappear next quarter, but the other half suddenly requires superpowers you're frantically trying to develop before your next performance review.This episode is meant to give you something to think about in terms of your particular role in marketing. We'll explore roles we think are at risk of vanishing and roles that are well positioned to become even more valuable. Shit is changing fast, no one is going to take your hand through this transition. You need to own it and take action.Marketing Roles Most at Risk to be Replaced by AIAI's Coming for Your Campaign Ops Job (Unless You Evolve Now)Phil and Darrell explored which campaign operations roles will vanish first and which might actually strengthen in the algorithmic storm ahead. Darrell struck first with brutal honesty about traditional campaign operations: "The role of configuring marketing automation tools to spec will be definitely at risk." He's talking about those roles where marketers simply implement predefined elements - predetermined images, pre-written text, established CTAs, and mapped-out lead routing. AI already handles this configuration work. Darrell has witnessed actual demos from startups building tools where marketers type requirements and - poof - the system builds it automatically. What seemed like science fiction months ago now exists in alpha versions across the industry.Phil slightly pushed back by referencing one of Darrell's recent posts, fracturing campaign ops into distinct categories rather than treating it as one vulnerable block. "Campaign ops encompasses way more than pressing buttons in Marketo," he insisted. He sorted these functions into two buckets:* **Highly vulnerable to AI replacement**:   * Reporting execution  * Campaign analysis and performance tracking  * Paid media bid adjustments  * Email automation and nurture flows  * Landing page and form creation* **Likely to survive the AI wave**:  * Setting strategic objectives and KPIs  * Creative decision-making requiring business understanding  * Budget planning involving cross-functional negotiation  * QA processes demanding human judgment  * Development of truly innovative best practices> "I had it in the unclear bucket because there's a box of some things under there that I feel like are still pretty likely to survive," Phil explained. "Coming up with campaign goals requires so much business understanding, strategic alignment, and political navigation."The conversation crystallized around evolution rather than extinction. Darrell sees campaign ops professionals transforming from button-pushers to strategic partners: "What it's going to evolve into is actually looking at objectives and KPIs, changing requirements, and modifying briefs." He advocated for campaign ops to shift toward continuous "always-on programs" requiring constant optimization rather than churning out repetitive one-off campaigns - a far more AI-resistant position.Key takeaway: To keep your campaign operations job when AI comes knocking, immediately shift your focus from tactical execution to strategic functions. Master business alignment skills, develop creative decision-making capabilities, and build continuous optimization programs. The marketers who survive will be those who stop configuring systems to spec and start reshaping campaign requirements based on deep business understanding and cross-functional collaboration.AI Will Eat Generic Content Creation (But Experts Will Thrive)Phil explored a pretty obvious category of marketing roles: "I think a lot of folks are really excited about Generative AI and using it to create basic posts and pages without editing any of the text." The bloodbath has already begun. Copywriters and content marketers producing unremarkable work find themselves outpaced by algorithms that can churn out mediocre content at scale, for pennies. The particularly exposed are those creating "routine content without a distinctive voice or cultural nuance," especially when working across global markets where nuance matters deeply.Darrell pulled no punches on what's coming: "Bad content is going to become obsolete." AI tools supercharge this dynamic, flooding channels with generated material that looks competent but lacks soul. The truly valuable is content that actually connects with people. Content that makes them feel something. Content that solves real problems in ways that show genuine understanding.What struck me as particularly insightful was Darrell's observation about subject matter experts potentially winning big in this new reality. These experts:* Often possess deep knowledge but lack time or writing skills* Can now leverage AI to amplify their expertise with minimal effort* Only need to provide "the spark of an idea and a few bullet points" * Create output that vastly outperforms generic content from disconnected marketers> "All it takes is like the spark of an idea and a few bullet points. And you have a full post and it's gonna be way better than someone, like a marketer for example, that doesn't really care about the product or about the industry and is writing like crappy content."This represents a fundamental power shift in content creation. The value no longer sits with those who can string sentences together but with those who bring authentic expertise, perspective, and lived experience. AI struggles with these human elements, the exact qualities that make readers stop scrolling and actually pay attention.Key takeaway: Your content survival strategy requires becoming either irreplaceably human or strategically AI-augmented. Build genuine subject matter expertise, develop a distinctive voice that reflects your unique perspective, and learn to use AI as an amplifier rather than a replacement for any kind of original thought. The future belongs to the specialized expert who can provide the strategic direction that AI can't generate on its own.Which Data Analyst Jobs Will Survive the AI Revolution?Marketing data analysts who build dashboards for a li...

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.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have you ever turned to freelancers to grow your agency's capabilities? What about using fractional support once you realized you couldn't do everything as the founder and face of the agency? What if the key to sustainable growth isn't building a massive in-house team, but leveraging the right fractional support at the right time? Today's guests are two agency owners who turned a modest freelance setup into a thriving multimillion-dollar business—largely through referrals and the strength of their personal networks. They share how a flexible team of contractors became their secret weapon, offering the agility to scale without the overhead of a traditional agency structure. Tune in to learn how former competitors found a way to build a successful collaboration and why fractional support was a big part of their operation from the start. Sydney Mulligan and Lauren Aquilino are the co-founders of Emmie Collective, a for-hire network of elite independent & freelance marketing, sales, and revops consultants with big tech energy. They share their journey of entrepreneurship, reflect on their backgrounds as former competitors in the marketing industry, and the bond that brought them together. Sydney also recounts her experience of being laid off while on maternity leave, which sparked the idea for Emmie Collective while Lauren discusses her transition from freelancing to building a business as demand for her services grew. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why the fractional model was the best option for bootstrapping an agency. When should the agency owners stop being the face of the agency? External funding vs. control in agency growth.  Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. When Competitors Become Co-Founders Before forming their partnership, Sydney and Lauren worked at competing agencies while also participating in Marketo's customer champion program. Their paths diverged when both eventually left their respective agencies—Lauren to pursue freelance work, initially planning for just 10 hours weekly during summer to rest after quitting her job. However, her freelance business quickly expanded beyond expectations, growing to 20 hours weekly and requiring additional contractor support. Meanwhile, Sydney had taken an in-house position but faced an unexpected setback when she was laid off during her maternity leave. As she navigated the job interview process, she began conversations with Lauren, who was contemplating transforming her freelance operation into a formal business. Lauren recognized Sydney as a valuable potential partner—in fact, the only person she would consider building a business with. After discussing their business vision, they decided it was time to meet face-to-face. Their first in-person meeting in Florida became what they jokingly refer to as their "speed dating" session. During this three-day encounter, they exchanged ideas and developed business plans while Sydney cared for her six-week-old baby. The meeting proved decisive—by the time they both landed back home, they had confirmed their mutual desire to build an agency together. Why the Fractional Model Is Best for Bootstraping an Agency Their participation in the customer champion program helped Sydney and Lauren establish strong reputations within a specialized niche market. With this foundation, they were able to launch their agency business with a strong base of referral clients. One unexpected advantage they discovered was the relative ease of attracting consultants eager to work with their new agency. Anticipating potential staffing challenges typical for startups, they had proactively designed their business model around freelancers and contractors. This strategy allowed them to sidestep the common industry pressure of requiring employees to meet specific billable hour quotas. Instead, freelancers had the flexibility to determine their own workload and schedules. To this day they continue to work with consultants, firmly believing that fractional support provides clients with optimal access to senior specialized expertise. By leveraging fractional experts, their agency effectively addresses specific client challenges, enhances operational efficiency, and frees internal resources to focus on strategic growth initiatives. When Should the Founders Stop Being the Face of the Agency? Balancing Growth and Client Relationships Sydney and Lauren's agency growth eventually confronted them with the challenge of hitting the limit on what they could do by themselves. With the agency growing, more and more clients and consultants coming in, and traveling for events, it just got to be too much. Sydney recalls a particularly stressful period when she felt overwhelmed, unable to keep track of their growing client base and the myriad responsibilities that came with it. They recognized they could no longer manage everything alone. When an agency owner clings to control it causes issues with bottlenecking, even become an operational issue and their agency's biggest profit leak. For Sydney and Lauren, was time for a change and the first crucial step was hiring a fractional account manager to ensure there was someone else keeping track of every client. This not only alleviated some of the burdens on Sydney but also allowed them to focus on strategic growth rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day operations. It's not an easy shift to make, and quite tricky for Sydney and Lauren, who built the agency on the back of their own networks and therefore are still the face of it. They continue to wrestle with how much to pull back, risking that clients feel they no longer interact with them. For those facing similar challenges, it's worth noting that even prominent agency leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk maintain their status as organizational figureheads while having minimal involvement in daily operations. This successful transition typically requires thoroughly training team members in core agency values to ensure consistent decision-making and actively promoting team capabilities to clients—emphasizing that a dedicated team provides superior service compared to founder-only support. External Funding vs. Control in Agency Growth After bootstrapping their business, Sydney and Lauren now face the question of whether or not to take on funding to continue to scale. While they recognize the potential advantages that investment capital could bring—accelerated expansion and resources for recruiting top talent—they also remain cautious about the significant tradeoffs involved. Most of all, they worry about the fundamental shift from being independent business owners to essentially working for investors since "once you start raising money, you'll always be raising money"—with a continuous cycle of accountability to external stakeholders. For the time being, they continue to prioritize maintaining complete control over their growth trajectory, preferring the stability and autonomy of their current approach even if it means potentially slower expansion. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

Digital Impact and the Human Element of AI-Driven Transformation: Insights from Steve Lucas

“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.

What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Ashley Faus, Head of Lifecycle Marketing at Atlassian. Summary: Marketing frameworks often fail because they ignore how humans actually behave. People don't follow neat, linear paths; they explore, double back, and leap ahead based on genuine interests. Drawing from her diverse experience across corporate communications and lifecycle leadership, Ashley exposes how artificial walls between marketing functions create dysfunction while offering a solution: an integrated ecosystem where audience insights, compelling content, and strategic distribution flow continuously between teams. Her approach identifies truly predictive behaviors and measures success through bold experiments rather than smaller tweaks. By respecting how people naturally learn and make decisions, Ashley's content structure creates pathways that connect conceptual, strategic, and tactical pieces, making your content genuinely valuable to visitors and dramatically more effective at converting those ready to purchase.About AshleyAshely started her career with generalist marketing roles at a bunch of different small companies before settling into a role in the commercial aviation industryShe took on a generalist Marketing role at a training firm where she got a taste of marketing operations including a Marketo integration and lots of email campaignsShe later had 2 content strategy and product marketing roles at network security companiesToday Ashley is Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Portfolio at Atlassian where she's been for over 7 yearsShe's been interviewed on more than 50 podcasts, her writing has been published on TIME, Forbes, MarketingProfs, she's a well traveled speaker and she has an upcoming book coming out in May called ‘Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI'Why You Should Look for a New Job Every 18 MonthsAshley has spent over seven years at Atlassian, navigating through four distinct roles while the company itself transformed dramatically around her. This longevity stands out in an industry where most professionals change employers every 2-3 years. Through corporate communications, integrated media, product marketing, and now lifecycle marketing, she's crafted multiple careers without changing her email address.> "I look for a new job every 18 months, so that I am prepared to make a move and solve for any gaps at that roughly two to two and a half year mark.""I look for a new job every 18 months," Ashley explains, "so that I am prepared to make a move and solve for any gaps at that roughly two to two and a half year mark." This calculated strategy creates perpetual career momentum. You begin exploring opportunities six months before the typical stagnation point, positioning yourself to evolve professionally right when most people start feeling restless. The genius lies in the timing: plan your next move while you still love your current role, not after burnout or boredom sets in.The company Ashley joined barely resembles today's Atlassian. "We actually have grown like five or six times, both from an employee standpoint and from a revenue standpoint as well," she notes. This parallel evolution of both person and organization created a unique synergy, allowing her to ride waves of company growth while pursuing her own skill development.Her initial role came with an unexpected twist. Despite being hired for corporate communications, PR represented one of her weaker skill areas. During interviews, the hiring manager focused more on her versatility across content strategy, email marketing, and social media. Genuine curiosity opened doors that formal applications never could. "Because I was nosy and stuck my nose in other people's business," she admits candidly, "they were like, 'should you come sit with us?'" These informal interactions led to her integrated media role, which connected previously siloed functions:Press relationsOwned channels like email and socialThought leadership contentBrand marketing campaignsAshley applies this proactive mindset when managing her team. She challenges them with pointed questions about their future: "Who do you want to be when you grow up? Are you growing up in the next year? In the next five years?" This framing transforms vague aspirations into concrete timelines. "That breakdown of how to get to where you want to be in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years starts with the next 12 months or 24 months," she explains.The social media team placement at Atlassian illustrates how organizations evolve their understanding of marketing channels. "At the time, our social media person sat on the email team because the mindset was that this is a broadcast channel," Ashley recalls. Both she and her interviewer recognized the flawed logic in treating social platforms as one-way communication tools, creating immediate rapport around a shared marketing philosophy.Key takeaway: Schedule dedicated job hunting time every 18 months, even when fully satisfied with your current position. This practice maintains your market value, expands your professional network, and positions you to make strategic moves at the two-year mark when growth typically plateaus. The next perfect role might exist within your current company if you actively seek it out.The Overlap Between Lifecycle, Content and Product MarketingMarketing departments love creating artificial walls between functions. Product marketing owns messaging. Content creates assets. Lifecycle handles channels. We've all seen the org charts with their neat little boxes. Ashley brings refreshing clarity to this organizational fallacy, particularly for companies using product-led growth strategies where traditional marketing borders simply cannot hold.The organizational divide shifts dramatically depending on your go-to-market motion. "In larger companies using product-led growth versus a sales-led motion, there's a lot more blurring of the lines," Ashley explains. SEO strategy, trial signups, and in-product upgrade experiences often migrate to product marketing in PLG companies, even at enterprise scale. This reveals a fascinating truth many marketers miss: your core GTM motion fundamentally reshapes role boundaries more than company size does.> “I don't understand how you're gonna write content with no insights from the market, the competition, and the audience. I don't understand how you're gonna distribute content with no understanding of the channel mix and the quirks of the different channel."Ashley's decade of experience across multiple marketing functions gives her rare perspective on their interdependence. Ten years ago, she led marketing strategy at Duarte when marketing automation platforms were just becoming table stakes. "I actually had to do the RFP, choose between Marketo, Pardot, or Silverpop," she recalls. This hands-on experience taught her how lifecycle marketing (channels, nurture campaigns, cross-sell strategies) and content marketing (creating assets for those channels) form an inseparable partnership:Content marketing typically focuses on creating assetsLifecycle marketing typically focuses on channel strategyBoth become meaningless without the other's expertiseAt large companies like Atlassian, specialization creates absurd scenarios where a single email might involve five different people: one writing copy, another creating visuals, someone handling lead scoring, another doing audience segmentation, and finally someone building and testing the actual email. While this level of specialization brings depth, it risks bre...

Steve Lucas discusses his book “Digital Impact” and strategies to unlock the true potential of AI. Steve is the CEO of Boomi, a global software company specializing in intelligent integration and automation. He is former CEO at Marketo and has held leadership positions at Adobe, SAP, and Salesforce. Listen for three action items you can use today. Host, Kevin Craine Want to be a guest? DigitalTransformationPodcast.net/guest Want to be a sponsor? DigitalTransformationPodcast.net/sponsor

What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Danielle Balestra, Director of Marketing Technology and Operations at Goodwin. Summary: Marketing operations power organizational change through deep system understanding. Danielle reveals how strategic operators transform corporate landscapes by mapping intricate human networks, turning complex bureaucracies into adaptive innovation platforms. Her approach reconstructs marketing from a tactical function into a critical strategic driver, where understanding organizational dynamics becomes the primary method of creating meaningful business transformation.About DanielleDanielle started her career at a big ad agency in NYC before trying marketing at all sorts of different places like b2b media, financial education and brand reputation intelligenceShe spent time as a Senior consultant at a boutique agency and also freelanced as a Marketo specialistShe became Director of Marketing Ops at one of the top cancer hospitals in the US and later VP of Marketing Ops at CIT Bank where she led a big MAP transformationToday Danielle is Director of Martech and Operations at Goodwin (a global law firm), where she manages of team of 16 that includes web, CRM, Ops, Email and Solution ArchitectHow to Defeat Enterprise Inertia with Tactical Marketing Ops StrategiesMarketing ops in enterprise moves like molasses compared to SaaS startups—and Danielle has the battle scars to prove it. After years in consulting, she deliberately jumped into the enterprise arena, not despite its notorious sluggishness but because of the massive internal transformation potential. "The reason I pivoted into large enterprise was because it's an opportunity to sell innovation internally, but also get paid," she explains with refreshing candor.You face a completely different animal when implementing martech in a 4,000+ employee organization. Your job morphs into part-marketer, part-internal lobbyist:Finding the hungry change-makers scattered across departmentsBuilding coalitions with colleagues who crave efficiency Selling the vision repeatedly to overcome institutional inertiaImplementing solutions that feel revolutionary in environments resistant to changeThe satisfaction comes from moving mountains that seemed immovable. Tech startups already expect and fund scaling technologies—the path glows with green lights. Enterprise paths bristle with red tape and "we've always done it this way" roadblocks.Danielle's enterprise journey reads like a marketing ops fairytale gone rogue. "My three enterprises was like Goldilocks," she laughs. Memorial Sloan Kettering, despite its prestigious reputation, crawled at a pace that drove her to distraction. "It took us six months to put a preference center up. This is way too slow." The bed was too soft. CIT offered more speed but lacked investment for sustained growth. The bed was too hard.Then came Goodwin, where the legal industry's appetite for evolution aligned with her expertise. Fresh leadership—a new COO and chairman committed to "running business with data and intelligence"—created fertile ground for her marketing ops vision. This bed was just right. The transformation feels electric precisely because legal firms typically move at glacial speeds.You'll recognize the right enterprise fit when leadership actively hungers for data-driven decisions rather than merely talking about them. Words matter less than resource allocation and willingness to disrupt comfortable patterns.Key takeaway: Map internal influence networks, document wins with leadership-valued metrics, and secure early budget control. Build a six-month roadmap of small victories that advance your larger vision without triggering organizational resistance. Treat internal stakeholders as customers by selling efficiency improvements as competitive advantages.Why Enterprise Martech Can Be as Fun as Tech StartupsEnterprise martech gets a bad rap for being outdated and slow. "Legacy enterprise tools-ish," as the skeptics call platforms like Microsoft Dynamics and Marketo. But this surface-level dismissal misses what actually happens inside regulated industries. Danielle dismantles this misconception with the calm precision of someone who's lived both worlds. "Being in a healthcare organization, being at a bank, do you really want to put your data out there for anyone to grab?" It's a practical question that trendy martech vendors conveniently sidestep.> "The banks and even some financial institution clients have had data lakes and orchestration systems in place for over two decades. This is old hat for them and just new for the tech world."Regulated industries pioneered data intelligence while today's "innovative" startups were still in diapers. "The banks and even some financial institution clients have had data lakes and orchestration systems in place for over two decades," Danielle points out with a hint of amusement. "This is old hat for them and just new for the tech world." The irony stings: what passes for cutting-edge today has been standard operating procedure in banking since before most SaaS companies existed. These industries understood customer behavior, engagement patterns, and product usage long before "customer journey orchestration" became a conference buzzword.The real enterprise challenge isn't technological capability—it's processing time. When vendor onboarding takes nine months and you need a solution in six, you return to established platforms with comprehensive portfolios. Danielle's experience with an event scanner technology purchase illustrates this perfectly: "We started the process in 2019 and ended it in mid-2020. It took us almost a year to process that." During that implementation period, the vendor was acquired by another company! You face two options:Wait patiently through lengthy security reviews for innovative toolsExpand usage of already-approved enterprise platformsAccept that this gatekeeping prevents wasteful impulse purchasesAcknowledge that crucial tools still eventually make it throughMicrosoft Dynamics gets unfairly maligned in this "latest and greatest" obsession. Danielle's first experience with the platform revealed unexpected advantages: "Working with an organization that still programs and builds from their own code is pretty awesome." With native integrations, consistent data across systems, and direct connections to BI reporting through Fabric, Dynamics eliminates the integration headaches that consume marketing operations teams. No more asking, "Why is this in Salesforce but not in Marketo?" The data lives in one cohesive environment.Key takeaway: Master enterprise martech by: (1) Ruthlessly audit system integration points, recognizing each connection as a data vulnerability and maintenance challenge. (2) Distinguish between product limitations and implementation failures by testing workflows across deployments. (3) Create a security-first evaluation matrix scoring tools on compliance, data isolation, and authentication before considering features. Transform security constraints into competitive advantages that protect data and career.Building Martech Stacks That Solve Actual Business ProblemsEnterprise martech builds differently—forget your perfect-world stack exercises. While workshop participants happily connect hypothetical Salesforce instances to Outreach in frictionless diagrams, real enterprise teams face vendor mandates and security roadblocks that crush agility. "You can't really just connect to this," as the stark reality goes. Danielle brings refreshing clarity to this enterprise constraint, flipping perceived limitations into p...

T.K. Kader, founder of Unstoppable and the original founder of ToutApp (acquired by Marketo), is today's guest. We explore why outbound is far from dead, what the greatest GTM leaders have in common, and TK's three pillars of go-to-market success. Listen in to hear TK's learnings and takes from scaling ToutApp, working at Marketo during its turnaround, and now coaching over 500 founders on GTM strategy.In this episode, you'll learn:The three pillars of GTM success - and why most teams get them wrongHow to leverage AI to make outbound work better than everWhy referrals are the most underutilized GTM channelHow to align product, sales, and marketing for predictable revenue growthFor more from ZI Labs, visit ⁠www.zoominfo.com/labs⁠ Ben on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/bensalzman Millie on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/milliebeetham

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have overwhelm or frustration ever made you want to sell your agency? When you're burned out, the grass might look greener — but one agency owner learned that it's not. Discover why he sold after just two years plus why the acquisition was dissolved and he grew his original business back to 5X within the next four years. Learn more about his reflections on why his initial burnout came to be, the reasons that partnership failed, and how he managed to rebuild his agency even stronger by surrounding himself with the right people. Alex Polamero is the founder of Ninestone Partners, an agency focused on the middle of the funnel. They build marketing and sales automation systems that help clients scale and effectively nurture prospects to closing. He discuss the evolution of his career, going from solopreneur to building and selling his agency and remaining as an equity partner. Alex also dives into his mindset and reasons behind his agency's sale and the events that led to him taking back ownership of its name and original clients. In this episode, we'll discuss: Selling as a way out of the burnout trap. Cashflow issues and not making payroll.  Lessons after buying back his agency. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Building an Agency by Filling the Gap Alex has over 20 years of experience working with CRMs, beginning as an Oracle superuser with an extensive network of contacts and later becoming a Marketo-certified expert managing marketing for a billion-dollar real estate firm. Seven years ago, he took the leap to start his own venture, Ninestone Partners. When he first launched his business, Alex viewed other agencies as competitors, seeing them as rivals in areas like website development and paid advertising. However, years of experience shifted his perspective. Today, his agency operates as a collaborator, working alongside other agencies and specializing in the middle of the funnel—where their expertise truly shines. According to Alex, most people don't know the nuances of every automation system, which one to use in each industry and how to help businesses grow quickly. This knowledge gap is where his team excels, helping businesses grow quickly by leveraging the right automation strategies tailored to their needs. Escaping Burnout by Selling the Agency Two years after starting his agency, Alex had two full-time employees and several contractors, even managing automated marketing solutions for a larger 25-person agency. Despite this success, he found himself overwhelmed and burned out. Looking back, he realizes the root of his struggles was that he hadn't chosen between being a solopreneur—taking most of the profits to fund his lifestyle—or committing to being a true business owner. Straddling both worlds, he continued accepting new projects for quick profits without building the necessary team infrastructure. His fear of hiring and potential failure led to increasingly unsustainable workweeks filled with late nights and weekends. This approach inevitably led to stagnation. Alex faced a classic dilemma: unable to handle more clients alone, yet afraid to bring on additional help. Like many inexperienced business owners, he had initially prioritized money over time and it took years before he learned to value time with his employees, family, and himself. His mindset reflected a common misconception among agency owners: that leadership means outworking everyone else and that constant busyness equates to productivity. Exhausted from this unsustainable approach, Alex ultimately sold his agency in a deal keeping him on as an equity partner. The arrangement promised relief from the administrative and management duties he disliked, allowing him to focus solely on sales. Post-Sale Breakdown: Cashflow Issues and Not Making Payroll The first weeks post-sale were great for Alex. He finally had time for himself and even went on a skiing trip with some friends. However, eight months later, the reality of balancing multiple roles began to take its toll. Juggling his sales responsibilities, equity partnership duties, and technical operations proved far more challenging than he had anticipated. Around this time, Alex and his partners discovered a critical issue: their invoicing process had completely broken down, resulting in six months of unpaid invoices, an oversight that left them without the funds to pay their 25 employees. With no money to cover payroll, Alex was forced to take out a high-interest loan, a decision that weighed heavily on him and his family. It became clear that not everything was going as well as he'd initially hoped. After this, Alex and the other partners reached the conclusion that there were some aspects of running the business in which they just didn't agree. Why Clarity is Key: Growing 5x in Four Years The heart-to-heart with his partners culminated in an offer to buy back his agency. Under the terms of the deal, his partners would retain his equity and any new clients acquired during that year, while Alex regained his previous clients and rights to the Ninestone name. Though he restarted with only half the business he had before the partnership, Alex viewed it as a fresh start. Four years later, his agency had grown to five times its size at the time of the split. This period was a lesson in humility and forced Alex to confront the reality of his situation and acknowledge that he didn't have all the answers. It also underscored the inherent uncertainty of the entrepreneurial journey—a reality he had to embrace rather than resist. Furthermore, the experience taught Alex an important lesson about having clarity as you start to build your business. Do you want to be a consultant working only with contractors and never having to build a team? Or do you want to build a business that you can sell in the future? The pathway is different; the mentality and systems are different for each approach. Once he committed to a clear direction, he Alex understood he needed to surround himself with experts. The founder does not need to do it all and be a lone wolf. Instead, being part of a pack brought him much more joy and helped him grow much more than he'd expected. Embracing Collaboration and Uncertainty to Unlock Your Agency's Potential What's the biggest bottleneck holding your agency back at the moment? As Alex learned with experience, he had been the bottleneck stifling his agency's growth by trying to juggle multiple responsibilities without a clear delineation. During his second run with the agency, he knew that as the visionary leader, he needed an integrator that would handle operations, freeing him up to focus on sales. By collaborating with others and delegating tasks according to expertise, owners can focus on their strengths, ultimately leading to a more efficient and successful operation. Basically, Alex figured out where he wanted to go and who he needed to hire to get there. Ultimately, the journey of building a business is not just about reaching a destination but about embracing the process as an ongoing experiment. Adopting a mindset that values experimentation and collaboration can lead to both personal fulfillment and professional success. Entrepreneurship is inherently uncertain. However by acknowledging this, you can cultivate a culture of innovation within your team, encouraging creative problem-solving and the exploration of new ideas. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

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, Dave is joined by Gurdeep Dhillon, CMO of Contentstack. Gurdeep has built an impressive career leading marketing at some of the biggest names in enterprise software, from SAP to Adobe, Marketo to Zoura. Now at Content Stack, he's challenging conventional B2B marketing wisdom in rethinking how enterprise companies should approach demand generation and brand building. In this conversation, Dave and Gurdeep dive deep into why marketing is ultimately a game of memory and reputation, not just lead generation.Dave and Gurdeep cover:The role of Demand Gen in 2025 (and what's changed)Why Brand and Reputation should be prioritized over Lead GenerationProven strategies to create urgency and close sales deals in enterprise marketsA glimpse into ContentStack's team structure and how they plan for growthTimestamps(00:00) - - Intro to Gurdeep (07:17) - - Brand and Audience Marketing (08:29) - - How the Role of Demand Gen is Changing (12:39) - - Brand and Reputation > Lead Generation (17:29) - - How Contentstack is Doing Demand Gen (20:07) - - How to Create Urgency to Win Sales Deals (21:48) - - Making a Good Offer in B2B Marketing (23:04) - - Why Being Bold and Taking Risks is Important in Marketing (29:29) - - Selling Your Vision to Leadership (32:10) - - How Contentstack Has Over 10,000 Global ICP Accounts (36:53) - - Team Structure at Contentstack (41:51) - - Running Marketing and Operating a High-Performing Team (44:07) - - Setting Effective Annual Plans (46:22) - - AI's Role in Marketing (49:56) - - Closing Thoughts Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.comJoin the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***This episode of the Exit Five podcast is brought to you by our friends at Revenue Hero. It's 2024, your buyer has probably moved on to an alternative after a few minutes of not hearing from you, let alone 29 hours.What those companies need is automated scheduling for qualified leads.And that's where RevenueHero comes in. Their platform is the fastest way for qualified leads to schedule a meeting with your sales team. Plus they have the most sophisticated matching algorithm so all your leads get booked with the right rep whether they are a new account or already a customer. Check them out at revenuehero.io/exitfive.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

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.

GTM Disrupted host Mike Smart and Rod Cherkas, author and CEO of HelloCCO explore how customer success has evolved into a key driver of growth in SaaS businesses. Rod draws on his extensive experience as a customer success leader at companies like RingCentral, Marketo, and Gainsight to inform the discussion. He shares insights from his new book, REACH, and explains how SaaS companies implement this framework to fuel top-line growth and generate expansion revenue. Key Takeaways from this Episode Include:  Leveraging Customer Success as a Growth Engine  Adopting the REACH Framework  Utilizing AI as a Transformational Tool for Customer Success About Rod Cherkas Rod Cherkas is a highly regarded consultant to CEOs, CCOs, CROs, and their customer-facing leaders. He has held post-sale executive roles at several customer-centric organizations, including Intuit, RingCentral, Marketo, and Gainsight. Currently, he is the Founder and CEO of HelloCCO, a strategy consulting firm that collaborates with innovative companies across various industries to develop, execute, and scale strategies for their customer-facing functions. Rod's work focuses on improving customer retention, increasing profitability, and optimizing productivity. He is the author of the bestselling books, "The Chief Customer Officer Playbook" and "REACH: A Framework for Driving Revenue Growth from Your Existing Customers." To learn more about Rod to go - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodcherkas/ or https://rodcherkas.com/

In this short segment of the Revenue Builders Podcast, Battery Ventures Operating Partner, Bill Binch, talks with Revenue Builders on getting specific on what makes your reps successful and the importance of understanding that success profile as a CRO. If you are hiring in 2025, don't miss this segment. KEY TAKEAWAYS[00:00:27] - Introduction to Bill Binch's career highlights (Battery Ventures, Pendo, Marketo).[00:01:11] - The importance of having a clear and compelling personal and company value proposition as a CRO.[00:02:17] - Lessons from Marketo: Hiring top talent and being ruthless about performance in the early days.[00:03:15] - Defining traits of successful sales reps and discovering the “Monday Morning Meeting Rule.”[00:04:11] - Inputs that predict outputs: The critical metric of nine weekly customer-facing meetings.[00:05:02] - Structuring onboarding and enablement to align activity with success expectations.[00:05:38] - Setting success profiles in interviews to align hiring with organizational goals.HIGHLIGHT QUOTES[00:01:11] - "As a CRO, if you're not audible-ready with your employee value prop or your own story, you're at risk. You're really at risk."[00:02:56] - "If you weren't cutting it at Marketo in 60 days, it was a hard place to be. That ruthlessness shaped our success."[00:03:48] - "Our reps who start the week with nine customer-facing meetings consistently hit quota. Meetings multiply."[00:05:02] - "We shifted enablement from outputs to inputs—measuring activity first to build downstream results."[00:05:38] - "When you start here, this is what we're going to manage you to. Does that sound good?"Listen to Bill's Full Episode Here: https://revenue-builders.simplecast.com/episodes/a-revenue-builders-journey-from-seller-to-leader-to-operating-partner/Enjoying the podcast? Sign up to receive new episodes straight to your inbox:https://hubs.li/Q02R10xN0Check out John McMahon's book here:Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/1K7DDC4Check out Force Management's Ascender platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/Read Force Management's eBook: https://www.forcemanagement.com/roi-of-sales-messaging

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Embark on an inspiring journey with Andrea Lechner-Becker, CMO at LeadMD, as she recounts her dynamic shift from the sports entertainment arena with the Phoenix Suns to becoming a maestro of marketing automation. Holding the baton for tools like Eloqua and Marketo, Andrea orchestrates a symphony of insights into the ever-evolving landscape of marketing analytics in the B2B realm. She emphasizes the vital importance of bridging the gap between marketing endeavors and tangible sales results—a task she approaches with both passion and precision. Her expertise, garnered from the distinct challenges of sports marketing, carries over into her profound understanding of customer psychology, offering a masterclass in what B2B marketers should focus on when it comes to analytics.Our conversation then waltzes into the delicate balance of consulting pricing and specialization, where Andrea's seasoned perspective shines bright. The art of valuing expertise, rather than mere time spent on tasks, comes under the spotlight as we navigate the intricacies of pricing strategies and service packaging. We unveil the essence of setting boundaries and communicating transparently with clients, ensuring that the value delivered is unmistakable. Andrea then shares her heartfelt transition from consultant to CMO, where empathy and common sense become the guiding stars. As we uncover the ground realities behind strategy execution, we celebrate the unique position that comes with marketing to fellow marketers, all while embracing authenticity and a genuine marketer's perspective in the consulting world.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

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Discover the transformative journey of Julie James, a celebrated Marketo champion, as she unveils the secrets to a thriving career in the MarTech consulting world. Her story is not just a narrative; it's a roadmap for marketing professionals aiming to pivot their careers with finesse and strategic prowess. From her inaugural steps in the industry to establishing her consultancy, Julie's experiences serve as a masterclass in building lasting client relationships, adapting to diverse Marketo environments, and the continuous upskilling required to navigate the dynamic terrain of marketing technology.Expand your understanding of the intersection between marketing theory and practical application with our episode's esteemed PhD guest, who seamlessly marries academic insights with real-world consulting challenges. This dual perspective sheds light on the immense value of hands-on experience with tools like Marketo, Salesforce, and Google Analytics. The guest's candid discussions reveal the trials and triumphs of both teaching and consulting, while accentuating the importance of lifelong learning and the ripple effect of empowering students with applied knowledge.Join us as we delve into the practicalities of freelancing and consulting, from the art of transparent billing to the juggling act of client management. I share my preference for billing by the hour, fostering transparency and trust. Moreover, we weigh the merits of starting a marketing career on the client-side versus in an agency, and speculate on the potential impact of specialized marketing qualifications such as a hypothetical PhD in Marketo. Before we part ways, we extend a hearty thanks to Julie and invite you to enrich your marketing acumen by tuning in to these insights, stories, and strategic musings on the SMTC Podcast.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

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

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Today we are joined by Sangeetha Parsan and Mary Wallace from Informa to talk about the lessons learned from rolling out a CDP at a global enterprise organization.Sangeetha is Vice President, Professional Services at Informa. She has been in IT leadership in various capacities at Informa for several years. Prior to Informa, she was part of IT project management and technology with UBM, which was acquired by Informa. And, her early career was in solution architecture for web/CMS/Ecommerce. Mary Wallace is Senior Director, Marketing Technology. She has held several leadership roles in Marketing, Marketing Operations and technology at Informa. Before Informa, Mary led marketing technology efforts at UBM before it was acquired by Informa. She has held roles in marketing, marketing services, IT, and project management.Tune in to hear: Overview of CDP Implementation: Sangeetha Parson and Mary Wallace discussed their experiences and challenges while implementing a Customer Data Platform (CDP) at Informa, a global enterprise. They emphasized the importance of enhancing customer engagement and operational efficiency through technology, particularly in response to challenges posed by the pandemic.Strategic Deployment: The rollout of the CDP was strategic, addressing data silos by integrating data to provide a comprehensive 360-degree view of customer interactions. This integration helps in understanding customer behaviors and preferences across different business sectors of Informa, facilitating more targeted and effective marketing strategies.Adoption and Change Management: Sangeetha and Mary highlighted the critical aspects of ensuring successful adoption of new technologies within large organizations. They underscored the necessity of engaging with different business units individually to understand their specific needs and then scaling solutions. Training, transparency, and trust were identified as key elements to foster acceptance and utilization of the CDP.Future Outlook and AI Integration: Looking forward, the integration of AI and machine learning is seen as the next significant step to enhance the capabilities of the CDP. This advancement will allow for even more precise data analysis and segmentation, potentially transforming strategic decision-making processes and operational effectiveness at Informa.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

In this episode, John Kaplan and John McMahon are joined by Bill Binch, a seasoned sales leader and Operating Partner at Battery Ventures. Together, they explore Bill's extensive career, beginning at major companies like Oracle and PeopleSoft, moving to startups such as Marketo, and eventually stepping into the VC world. Bill shares key lessons on effective sales management, transparent leadership, and strategic hiring. He also emphasizes the importance of consistent messaging, proactive problem-solving, and the integration of new technologies like AI in achieving revenue goals. This episode provides practical insights into growing within the sales domain, understanding the motivations behind career transitions, and the roles of anticipation and deliberate growth for CROs looking to evolve into advisory or operating positions within investment firms.Tune in and learn more on this episode of The Revenue Builders Podcast.ADDITIONAL RESOURCESConnect and learn more about Bill Binch:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-binch-302a4a2/Listen to Bill's podcast:  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sound-bites-with-bill-binch/id1732334718Read Bill's Content:  https://www.battery.com/blog-author/bill-binch/Enjoying the podcast? Sign up to receive new episodes straight to your inbox: https://hubs.li/Q02R10xN0HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT[00:01:33] Lessons from Oracle and PeopleSoft[00:04:32] Purposeful Career Moves and Sacrifices[00:09:02] Navigating Career Challenges and Mentorship[00:13:05] The Importance of Learning and Patience[00:32:19] Transitioning to Smaller Companies[00:45:57] Transparency and Community Building at Marketo[00:47:13] Simplifying the Message: A CRO's Skill[00:48:48] Recruitment Challenges and Strategies[00:51:55] Building a High-Performance Sales Team[00:52:37] The Importance of Employee Value Proposition[00:55:47] Traits of Successful Sales Reps[00:59:28] The Role of a CRO in a Startup[01:01:07] Navigating the CRO-CEO Relationship[01:05:25] Forecasting and Accountability[01:09:48] Transitioning to an Operating Partner Role[01:18:43] Advice for Aspiring CROs and Board MembersHIGHLIGHT QUOTES[00:02:28] "People that raise their hands and say the word yes, opportunities open up for you when that happens." — Bill Binch[00:10:50] "Learn, earn, and return. And you don't ever stop; as you grow, you acquire more of those stages." — Bill Binch[00:11:00] "So it starts with learning your craft, learning your skill, getting good at something." — Bill Binch

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Joining us today to talk about establishing Marketing Technology as a tool for business impact is Mirko Roettgers. Mirko is General Manager at Triggerfish, a global marketing technology agency based in Brisbane, Australia. Mirko is an experienced senior leader who helps implementing marketing and technology solutions that align to organisational strategic goals, with demonstrated experience across digital, marketing and technology disciplines. Prior to joining Triggerfish, Mirko held leadership roles in digital transformation, digital marketing, and other related fields both internally and at agencies. Tune in to hear:  - Mirko shares insights on the significance of marketing technology in achieving business goals, stressing the importance of aligning tech initiatives with organizational strengths.- The episode dives into the challenges and strategies for measuring the effectiveness of marketing operations teams, highlighting the dependency on various factors like sales and market conditions, and the need for metrics that directly tie to revenue.- The conversation shifts to how personalized marketing strategies can enhance customer retention and satisfaction, with examples of successful implementations in different sectors.- Mirko offers advice on how to approach new marketing technologies, emphasizing the need for clear objectives, limited scope, and gradual implementation to ensure sustained value from tech investments.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

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Join us as we sit down with Johnny Rodgers, one of Slack's original employees. During his time at Slack - from the beginning until post-acquisition - Johnny wore several hats. Earlier this year, he and some other former early employees started sharing some stories about the early days (and beyond) of Slack. You can read those and subscribe for notifications as new posts are published at buildingslack.com. Tune in to hear: Journey of Slack: Johnny discusses his transition from web development to joining the startup that became Slack. He shares insights on how Slack evolved from a gaming company into a revolutionary communication tool.Building Products People Love: The discussion delves into creating software that people can genuinely enjoy using, drawing from Slack's goal to replace email and streamline workplace communication.Customer Engagement and Feedback: They highlight the importance of listening to customer feedback to improve products and services continually. Johnny emphasizes the responsive approach Slack takes to incorporate user suggestions and resolve issues.Technology Adoption and Change Management: The episode covers strategies for effective technology adoption within organizations, including fostering internal advocates and understanding the challenges of introducing new tools.Link to Johnny's websiteLink to the podcast episode "How I Built This" mentioned in the episode 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

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!In todays episode, Michael Hartmann talks with Eric Hollebone, President and CEO of DemandLab, a notable figure in the marketing and operations sphere with extensive experience in digital marketing and a robust background in engineering. They delve into the convergence of art and science in marketing, emphasizing the increasing need for a scientific approach due to the advent of digital tools which make marketing efforts more measurable and precise. This discussion spans from the integration of digital strategies in higher education to the internal marketing challenges within businesses.Tune in to hear:Eric and Michael discuss the importance of incorporating scientific methods into marketing to enhance precision and accuracy, attributing this shift to the advent of digital tools which have made measurable marketing accessible to more businesses.Eric shares his insights on the current state of marketing education, stressing the need for more practical, digital-focused curricula to prepare students for modern marketing demands.They explore the issue of marketing departments struggling to communicate their financial value within organizations, which often leads to their underestimation and underfunding during budget allocations.The conversation highlights the crucial role of marketing operations in bridging the gap between creative marketing efforts and business-centric analysis, facilitating better internal storytelling and resource allocation.Looking forward, Eric emphasizes the need for marketers to adopt a more data-driven approach, integrating analytics and financial understanding to better justify marketing investments and strategies.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

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Can the latest ABM technology truly revolutionize your marketing strategy, or is there more beneath the surface? Join us on this compelling episode of OpsCast as we sit down with Jessica Fewless and Andrea Frazier to explore the oft-misunderstood world of Account-Based Marketing. Jessica brings a rich tapestry of experience from her unique career journey that includes transitioning from sales to marketing, with a notable stint in non-profit organizations. Meanwhile, Andrea shares how her solid background in agricultural economics provided her with the analytical prowess essential for excelling in marketing operations. Together, they unveil personal stories and professional insights that shed light on unconventional paths to success in ABM.In this episode, we challenge the misconceptions surrounding the implementation of ABM technology. The discussion focuses on the critical need for strategic planning and data readiness before purchasing ABM tools. We dissect the common pitfalls faced by companies who rush into technology investments without a solid ABM strategy, often leading to less-than-stellar results. Jessica and Andrea emphasize the importance of due diligence, continuous evaluation, and validation of sales claims to ensure that your ABM initiatives are on the right track from the onset.We also delve into the operationalization of ABM, highlighting the essential role of Marketing Operations (MOPs) in both strategic planning and execution. Drawing from pilot programs and real-world examples, we discuss how to set realistic expectations and effectively utilize existing technology to drive success. Moreover, we explore the transformative potential of MOPs professionals when they transition from mere order-takers to crucial players in shaping ABM strategies. By asking insightful questions and demonstrating strategic thinking, MOPs can significantly contribute to the overall success of ABM initiatives. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and practical advice from our esteemed guests, Jessica Fules and Andrea Frazier.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

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Embark on a journey through the dual worlds of Tom Keefe—by day, a dedicated Director of Marketing Operations at Engagio; by night, a savvy MarTech consultant with an entrepreneurial spirit. This episode peels back the layers of moonlighting in the marketing tech space, as Tom generously shares his playbook for balancing a full-time career with the thrills and spills of consulting. From the meticulous establishment of an LLC to the intricate dance with tax considerations, he lays bare the essential steps for those who dare to tread the path of simultaneous employment and self-employment. Get ready to absorb wisdom on boundary-setting, the art of time management, and the cultivation of personal growth through customer interactions that only a seasoned professional like Tom could impart.As the conversation waxes strategic, Tom dives deep into the economics of consulting, breaking down the pros and cons of retainer agreements and hourly billing with the finesse of an industry maestro. Whether you're navigating diverse industries, collaborating with agencies, or standing your ground on pricing, his insights illuminate the consulting sphere with precision and practicality. Discover how to value your expertise, manage your consulting workload alongside a demanding job, and why learning to adjust rates in line with project complexities is the linchpin of success. Tom doesn't shy away from the financial gymnastics of freelancing either, tackling the complexities of accounting for the absence of employer benefits and striking that delicate balance between earning and saving. Tune in for an episode rich with guidance for both the MarTech novice and the seasoned consultant alike.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

Homeownership is an important part of economically empowering people. Even though efforts have been made to level the playing field, underserved communities still face significant barriers in the buying market.  Equal access alone doesn't translate into equal opportunity, especially when race, religious beliefs, and language continue to influence the experiences of potential buyers.  This means marginalized communities remain on the sidelines, lacking the right tools and education to confidently step into ownership. What can be done to help people in these communities prepare to buy? What tools can we use for education when it comes to credit and buying? Can we leverage AI to translate to all potential buyers? CEO of Home Lending Pal, Bryan Young joins me to talk about the struggles underserved communities face when it comes to home-buying and how we can solve them.    Equal access doesn't necessarily mean equal opportunity. -Bryan Young   Things You'll Learn In This Episode  -Go from transactional to relationship based Shifting from a transactional approach to a relationship-based fosters trust and loyalty. How can focusing on building relationships rather than just transactions lead to meaningful success? -Doing things differently Adapting our approach is crucial when current methods aren't closing the gap. How can we recognize when it's time to pivot and try a new strategy? -AI is a pathway to significant impact. AI is a powerful tool for creating significant impact while also driving revenue growth. How can we use it to make a real difference for underserved communities? Guest Bio Bryan Young has a track record of success as an entrepreneur and in corporate America. At 24, he was recognized by both Bloomberg and Ernst and Young as a top entrepreneur under the age of 40 for launching and building the BEC agency. After selling the agency, Bryan was Marketo's first Senior Strategic Consultant, a position created specifically for him to lead global client engagements with Microsoft, Google, Panasonic, and the NBA league office among others at a 1,000+ person company. Before his time at Marketo, he was most known for leading the digital strategy for Obama and the DNC in 2012 and Republican Congresswoman Renee Ellmers in 2010 (NC). He is currently enrolled in Wharton's Chief Strategy Officer program. Email Bryan byoung@homelendingpal.com  Visit https://www.homelendingpal.com/  Follow @homelendingpal on Instagram Find @Home Lending Pal on LinkedIn   About Your Host ​​Licensed Managing Broker, REALTORS®, avid volunteer, and Major Donor, Marki Lemons Ryhal is dedicated to all things real estate. With over 25 years of marketing experience, Marki has taught over 250,000 REALTORS® how to earn up to a 2682% return on their marketing dollars. Six-time REALTOR® Conference and Expo featured attendee, one of 100 speakers selected to speak the REALTOR® Conference & Expo five times, and an Inman closing Keynote Speaker. Marki's expertise has been featured in Forbes, Washington Post, http://Homes.com , and REALTOR® Magazine.   Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!

Text us your thoughts on the episode or the show!Ever wondered how transitioning from restaurant operations to sales can shape an executive career? Meet Stephanie Valenti, our guest who has navigated this unique path with remarkable success. In this episode, Stephanie shares her journey from managing restaurants to leading sales teams and eventually holding executive roles across diverse industries. Discover how her operational mindset became the foundation of her achievements in sales and leadership, and gain insights into the evolving landscape of sales and marketing alignment.Stephanie opens up about the power of vulnerability in leadership and the unexpected reactions she encountered when she admitted gaps in her knowledge. Learn how fostering a culture of collaboration and respect can lead to professional growth and team cohesion. We'll also discuss the surprising lack of formal sales education in colleges and the importance of continuous learning and adaptability, regardless of your career stage.Dive into the complexities of operational roles within organizations with Stephanie as she explains the distinctions between revenue operations, go-to-market operations, and traditional sales and marketing operations. Hear her practical advice for marketing operations professionals aspiring to transition to revenue or sales operations roles, including the need to understand stakeholder language and business priorities. Finally, Stephanie shares her strategies for effective leadership and her active engagement on LinkedIn, offering a wealth of knowledge for anyone looking to advance their career in operations.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

Episode #25: From Stuck to Successful – Interview with DJ Waldow – Business Owner, Writer, Startup Founder, Email Rebel DJ Waldow loves words. He's also my hero because he wrote the world's best book about email marketing. The Rebels Guide to Email Marketing is a book that changed my life because of the concepts in it.  DJ has spent time at many software companies like Bronto, Marketo, and Zignal Labs. He now does what he wants on his own time and schedule as the owner of his copywriting agency, and even started Simple Summers. Listen to this show about how email marketing can change your life, your business, and how creativity and science should be engrained into every part of sales and marketing. Resources:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/djwaldow/

Tune in for our centennial celebration!In this special milestone episode, we're celebrating the 100th episode of Facts vs Feelings with a live audience and special guest Tom Lee, Managing Partner and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors. Together with hosts Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson Group, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist at Carson Group, Tom discusses market outlooks, evolving investment strategies, and key economic trends shaping the future.What's next for the S&P 500? How do historical patterns and Fed actions impact today's market? And why should financial advisors pay close attention to demographic trends and Bitcoin? Tom Lee offers his bold predictions, including the path to S&P 15,000 and the evolving role of Bitcoin in investment portfolios.They discuss: Tom's bold prediction: S&P 500 reaching 15,000 by 2030The impact of demographic trends on long-term market cyclesNavigating short-term volatility, particularly in September and OctoberInsights into Bitcoin's potential and its role in a diversified portfolioThe Federal Reserve's rate cuts and their influence on market outlookStrategies for small-cap stocks in a shifting economyAnd more!Resources:Any questions about the show? Send it to us! We'd love to hear from you! factsvsfeelings@carsongroup.com Connect with Tom Lee: X: Tom LeeWebsite: FundstratConnect with Ryan Detrick: LinkedIn: Ryan DetrickX: Ryan DetrickConnect with Sonu Varghese: LinkedIn: Sonu VargheseX: Sonu VargheseAbout Our Guest:Thomas Lee is a Managing Partner and the Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors. He is an accomplished Wall Street strategist with over 25 years of experience in equity research, and has been top-ranked by Institutional Investor every year since 1998. Prior to co-founding Fundstrat, he served as J.P. Morgan's Chief Equity Strategist from 2007 to 2014, and previously as Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney. His areas of expertise include Market Strategy, Small/Mid-Cap Strategy and Telecom Services. Mr. Lee received his BSE from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in Finance and Accounting. He is a CFA charterholder and is an active member of NYSSA and the NY Economic Club.

In episode #140 of the Transform Sales Podcast: Sales Software Demo Review, Amir Reiter interviews Kriss Rudeegraap, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sendoso, a direct mail and gifting platform designed for B2B sales and marketing teams. Kriss discusses how Sendoso helps companies cut through the noise and improve engagement by automating the process of sending personalized gifts and direct mail at scale. The conversation covers Sendoso's ideal customer profiles, including software tech, financial services, and professional services companies, and highlights how the platform integrates with popular tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo. A demo showcases features such as Smart Send, AI-driven gift recommendations, and robust analytics, demonstrating how Sendoso enhances pipeline generation, campaign tracking, and ROI. The episode aims to educate listeners on leveraging personalized direct mail for relationship-building and increasing sales efficiency across various industries.  Try Sendoso Here: https://getcloudtask.com/sendoso #TransformSales #salessoftware #cloudtask 

SEASON: 4 EPISODE: 14Episode Overview:If you are ready to improve your productivity and increase your revenue, then you are going to enjoy this episode of Becoming Preferred as we dive into the world of sales enablement and go-to-market transformation with a true industry luminary.My guest on this episode is a powerhouse in the realm of business strategy, leadership coaching, and sales enablement. He's the author of the game-changing book, Sales Enablement 3.0: The Blueprint to Sales Enablement Excellence, and his expertise has transformed countless businesses from struggling to thriving.In today's episode, my guest will share his insights on creating clear paths to success for small to medium-sized businesses. We'll explore how companies can improve productivity, increase revenue, and navigate the complexities of today's market, so get ready for a conversation packed with actionable advice, inspiring ideas, and transformative insights. Join me now for my conversation with the brilliant strategist and sales enablement guru, Roderick Jefferson!Guest Bio: Roderick Jefferson is an internationally recognized, business-focused speaker. He has shared his dynamic and energetic voice in a variety of events including keynotes, guest lectures, webinars, podcasts, and domain expertise panels, with companies such as ATD Conference, B2BMX Conference, Cisco, Collibra, LinkedIn, MindTickle, Revasum, Oracle, Sales Assembly Conference, Sales 3.0 Conference, Sales Enablement PRO Conference, Salesforce (Dreamforce), SAP, Seismic, Showpad, SiriusDecisions, Uber, and Zoom.Roderick is also an acknowledged thought leader in the sales enablement space and author of the Amazon #1 New Release & Bestselling book, Sales Enablement 3.0: The Blueprint to Sales Enablement Excellence. He has held a variety of executive leadership, sales, sales enablement, operations, and customer experience roles at 3PAR, AT&T, Business Objects, Magnit, Marketo, Oracle Marketing Cloud, NetApp, Netskope, PayPal, Roderick Jefferson & Associates, Salesforce, and Siebel Systems, and Siteimprove.Resource Links:Website: https://roderickjefferson.com/keynotes/Product Link: https://amzn.to/3vENYAoInsight Gold Timestamps:04:25 You learned the importance of setting the goal, and how were you going to get there?05:39 I think you train animals, you enable people07:03 Sales enablement in 3.0 is both art and science07:29 It's communication, it's collaboration, and it's orchestration09:38 What isn't sales enablement?11:44 I'll see trainers that are teaching people how to give presentations instead of having conversations15:36 Culture is what happens when no one is watching17:20 Where I see the biggest problem18:48 What a sales onboarding program might look like20:49 We're constantly validating24:29 What's gone forever and what are the new things that we should be preparing for24:37 Those two big little words, AI26:33 You're doing it because of a why, not a what, and you're getting to the root cause28:32 A strategic investmentConnect Socially:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roderickjefferson/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThevoiceofRodTwitter (X): https://x.com/ThevoiceofRodYouTube:

SummaryIn this episode, Sydney and Lauren interview Jon Miller, the OG founder of Marketo (among other successes, of course). They discuss various topics, including Jon's experience with yoga, his new startup, and what his family thinks he does for a living. They also delve into the early days of Marketo and the challenges of being an entrepreneur. The conversation touches on the differences between Marketo and HubSpot, as well as the evolution of marketing automation platforms over the years. The conversation covers various topics related to the history of Marketo and the experiences of the speakers at Marketo Summits. They discuss the early days of Marketo, including the first Marketo Summit at the San Mateo Marriott and the rebranding of the company's colors. They also share personal stories from the Summits, such as meeting Will Smith and Hillary Clinton. The conversation touches on the domain gate incident in 2017 and the creation of the Phil's Housekeeper Twitter account. Finally, they mention the new rules of B2B marketing. The conversation explores the shift from the old marketing playbook to the new rules of marketing. The old playbook focused on generating leads and nurturing them through the sales process, while the new rules emphasize building relationships and providing value to customers. The old playbook relied heavily on measurable metrics, while the new rules appreciate the complexity and nuance of the customer journey. The conversation also touches on the importance of managing energy and incorporating daily exercise, as well as the use of prediction markets in politics. Get full access to Pretty Funny Business at www.prettyfunnybusiness.com/subscribe

In this episode of Virtually Live! The Podcast, Nohar Zmora, VP Brand and Strategic Marketing at Kaltura, sits down with Jon Miller, MarTech Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Marketo & Engagio, to explore the future of B2B marketing. Jon shares his fascinating journey from studying physics to becoming a prominent figure in the marketing world, highlighting how his analytical background has shaped his approach to modern marketing. The conversation dives deep into the evolution of traditional B2B marketing tactics, emphasizing the need for strategies that align with today's rapidly changing buyer expectations and economic realities. They also discuss the transformative role of AI in marketing, particularly how it can automate complex operations, empower marketers to make more informed decisions, and drive more efficient campaign execution. Whether you're a seasoned marketing leader or just starting out, this episode offers valuable insights to help you stay ahead of the curve and confidently navigate the future of B2B marketing. Tune in now, and don't forget to subscribe for more expert discussions!

Daniel Ruby is a VP of Marketing at Nobl9. Ruby is a dynamic marketing executive with a focus on B2B marketing, and has significant experience building teams and driving successful, data-driven programs for a range of startups and mid-sized organizations. As the Director of Online Marketing for Localytics, Ruby was the first marketing hire and scaled his team to a full-fledged marketing department with domain specialists focused on mobile apps.   Ruby also has a background in journalism and spent several years guest lecturing marketing courses at Bentley University, bringing this dynamic skill set to his current role at Nobl9. Ruby holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MBA in International Business from Brandeis University.  Questions ·      We always like to start off by asking our guests if they could share with us a little bit about their journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today. ·      Could you share with our listeners, what is Nobl9 and what exactly are you providing? What service are you providing? How are you adding value to your customers lives using this platform? ·      Could you give us an example, like a use case of an application, you can choose any industry, and kind of just give us an idea of what that looks like so the audience can get a more practical view. ·    Could distinguish or differentiate for our listeners, what's the difference between an SLO and an SLA? ·      Now, Daniel, could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? ·      Where can listeners find you online? ·    Before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track. Highlights Daniel's Journey Me: Now, Daniel, could you share with our listeners, we always like to start off by asking our guests if they could share with us a little bit about their journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today.   Daniel shared that he was a journalist for a while, and kind of realized that there was not much of a market for it, so he kind of went and got an MBA to get a job, and kind of fell backwards into marketing as it is. And over the years, he's been with more than 10, mostly 10 startups, driving marketing, driving the customer experience in terms of from the moment that they're introduced to them as a brand until the moment that they no longer want to be or need to be working with them.  He finds a lot of joy in trying to make that experience pleasant, for lack of a better term. He's self-taught with most of the marketing stuff that he does, and he's kind of over the course of the years he's become very arrogantly convinced about a few core tenets of really communicating to customers and communicating to potential customers that have served him well, and it kind of always comes back to giving value at every step of the journey.   About Nobl9 – Enhancing Software Reliability and Value for Your Business Me: Now, could you share with our listeners, what is Nobl9 and what exactly are you providing? What service are you providing? How are you adding value to your customers lives using this platform?   Daniel shared that Nobl9 is basically a platform for software reliability. So, if we think about how somebody engages with a digital product, or even an in-person product with a digital back end to it. They are the premier, and kind of really only well-established provider of what's called Service Level Objectives, or SLOs. And an SLO was basically taking all of the different data points that make up your product, be it from the software, from the infrastructure, from third party microservices, etc, etc, etc, and rolls it up and actually gives a customer centric view into how reliable is their product.  And the reason that they do this is because most reliability, historically has been around is the product up. Is it up? Is it down? But anybody who's ever used a mobile app or a digital product, or even like a scan to pay service at a cafe knows that it's not just is it up? Is it working, or is everything within it doing what it's supposed to do?  So, he knows marketers like himself have taken the word holistic and kind of beaten it to death. But they do provide a holistic customer centric view. What is the customer experience like when actually using your product?   Me: So, Nobl9 is helping the application to maintain its reliability and have as little or no downtime as possible while the customer is interacting with it correct?   Daniel agreed, correct and kind of beyond downtime, is it, does it load fast enough? Do all of the different features load fast enough? Is there anything blocking my ability as a customer to buy from you or to use your service, or whatever you're trying to do? So, that's effectively what they do.   Practical Use Case – How Nobl9 Enhances Software Reliability Me: Okay, could you give us an example, like a use case of an application, you can choose any industry, and kind of just give us an idea of what that looks like so the audience can get a more practical view.    Daniel shared that it's a little engineering, and he's a marketer so he feels like he's not necessarily smart enough to completely understand the engineering speak of it. But if you think about like an Ecommerce app, if you open up the app and it loads in traditional reliability, that's reliable. But how many times have you gone into an app.   So, let's say your path in using E commerce app is, you're going to load the app, going to search for the product that he wants to buy, he's going to add it to his cart, he's going to go to his cart, he's going to check out. And maybe there's a login to My Account somewhere in the way.   With SLOs, what you can do is you can have all of the different steps of that path viewed as part of this overarching experience with the app. So, if you go to add something to your cart, the app sits there and hangs, that's not good reliability.   If you go to the cart itself, and for whatever reason you go to pay and like the app's connection to PayPal for whatever reason isn't working, and you get this message back that says, hey, we can't complete your payment, try another credit card or something, that's a bad experience. And that's the kind of reliability breakdown that leads people to quit using a product.  So, they make sure that strategically, all of the things that make up that path, you'll have a server dedicated to your shopping cart, you'll have a micro service that is dedicated to completing a purchase. They make sure that all of that you've got visibility into how the experience is for the end user, not just some third-party service that tries to connect and says yes, it can connect, no it can't connect. It's the whole experience of a digital product and they make it easy to understand.   Understanding the Difference – SLOs vs. SLAs Me: Now, at the beginning, you mentioned that it's based on your SLOs or Service Level Objectives. And just wanted to know if you could distinguish or differentiate for our listeners, what's the difference between an SLO and an SLA?   Daniel stated that that's a great question. So, an SLA is typically an agreement that you have with your users. You say you'll be able to use my product or my service xx percent of the time. And that's more of a contractual conversation than it is, a reliability conversation. When you start actually building it, in order to make sure that you're achieving this SLA that you've agreed upon with your clients, you've got to make sure that you know all of these different elements of their experience are operating at a certain efficiency. So, he hates to over complicate things, but there's actually a step in between called an SLI, a Service Level Indicator.  And so, a Service Level Indicator is things like, “I want my website to load in less than 100 milliseconds.” That's a Service Level Indicator. And the SLI is effectively a consistent goal, but then what you do with SLOs is you take that a little bit further.   So, an SLO operates within what's called an error budget, and you get a certain number of errors per month, per week, however, you want to set it up. And an error is when you don't meet that SLI and you say, “I know that it's maybe not impossible, but either improbable or just extremely expensive to make my website load in less than 100 seconds every single time.”  So, what an SLO does is it says, okay, I expect to meet this SLI however often I have decided is actually impactful on the customer experience, and whenever I don't, you get an error, and at that point, you're like, okay, it's an error, but an error is not an outage.  Daniel stated that he doesn't know if he's explaining this really well, but basically if you look at an SLO graph, it's going to be going down into the right and that is your budget. You say, okay, I expect this part of my service will meet my everyday life 95% of the time. And then you see the little graph going down, which, every time it doesn't meet that, it froze an error, and a certain amount of errors, it's just part of digital product development is understanding that you have to accept some errors. 100% perfection, it's impossible.    Me: Does not exist.   Daniel agreed, it does not exist. And a lot of people think about reliability in the number of nines, “My product is available 99.99% of the time.” That would be called four nines. Every nine that you add to that number basically increases your IT costs by an order of magnitude. So, at a certain point, you got to understand with SLOs are really the ideal way to do it.  At what point does this actually impact my customers? At what point does this actually impact my users?  It allows you to be strategic, and it allows you to see things when they begin. So, you mentioned outages earlier, an outage, your whole product crashes, it's unavailable to anybody. Those don't happen in a vacuum, there's something that causes them. And if you've got an SLO or a set of SLOs really, displaying the health of your service, the health of your product, you're suddenly going to see a bunch of errors coming in.  And you may or may not have enough forewarning to say, “Oh, crap, we're about to have an outage. Well, this server in my cloud provider is having massive latency issues, it looks like the server is about to crash, and that's going to take everything down.” You can have a little bit more of a runway to try and identify the actual issue behind a potential outage. And that's where you strategically define how much, how many errors can I tolerate in a month?  And then you basically have a real time view at all times.  Is my product, is my service running the way I expect it to, and the way I expect it to is from the perspective of the customer. Are my customers able to do what they expect to be able to do when they launch my app, or when they use my product.   App, Website or Tool that Daniel Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he can't live without in his business, Daniel shared that personally, it's HubSpot. He spent a few years as a HubSpot consultant, a third-party consultant for HubSpot integrations. And he could say a marketing automation platform, but he got a fanboy a little bit about HubSpot because it takes everything that used to be complicated about sales and marketing and customer support and customer experience, and kind of rolls it up. You've got your CRM, you've got your automation platform, you've got your email platform. He's actually taken to feeding his HubSpot metrics into Nobl9 SLO lately, because there's so much rich data within HubSpot.  And he's been running little things like, they'll change a script for their biz dev team. And then they'll just run a metric on calls connected to calls having a success, either a demo or a follow up request.  And HubSpot's got such great data, and then he can turn that into an SLO where he can say, “Okay, I expect the submission rate on my forms to be X percent. I expect the completion rate of our inside sales calls to be X percent over 80% of the time.”  And he can run that in an SLO, he can see that like if he changes something, but simple little things, if he changes the colour of the submit button on a form, he can see in real time what the view to submission rate is that's changing, and he can act on that. He can put a little note in the SLO with that time stamp and say, “Hey, I changed the color of this button” and see how that's making an impact. Or, if he looks in HubSpot and see, “Oh, crap, my submission rate has been terrible for the past 36 hours, what's happened?” And he can go into his SLO and say, “Oh, there's a little note here, I changed something in the UX. I changed something colour wise. I added a question, I removed a question.” And you see direct historical cause for that.  But going back to HubSpot in general, he really respects HubSpot's approach to they call it the flywheel, which is all about delighting customers and delighting prospects.  And they really do a great job of giving you the tools to actually give value in your marketing and sales and customer service processes. He doesn't know what he's do without HubSpot right now, he'd probably try and hack something together with Salesforce and Marketo and be more complicated and less easy to get adoption internally. But luckily, he doesn't need to.    Where can listeners find Daniel online? LinkedIn – Nobl9inc X – @nobl9inc   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Daniel Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert, Daniel shared, “Nothing is a failure unless you fail to learn from it.” He stated that he's got a great team that he works with at Nobl9. And some are early in their career, some have been working in marketing for several years, some have advanced degrees, some don't.  And so, he's been with Nobl9 since January, and one of the things that he wanted to do quickly was make sure that people were comfortable making mistakes and understanding that an action and its outcome is not the end of that process. If you don't learn from it, why it worked, why it didn't, then you've made a mistake. But failure is as important an element in driving success in any business scenario. So, he likes making sure that people know that, and he likes making sure that they feel comfortable, because without being comfortable with failure, how are you going to try anything revolutionary?   Me: True. Thank you so much for sharing, Daniel.   Now, we just like to thank you so much for hopping on this podcast and sharing all of the great insights about Nobl9, the wonderful work that your team is doing as it relates to ensuring that customers are having a more seamless and frictionless experience across these platforms and increases the reliability. And we really appreciate some of the great nuggets that you shared with us as it relates to what is a Service Level Objective versus a Service Level Agreement and a Service Level Indicator, great information to learn, to understand the whole process, because in order to navigate the customer experience, there is really a lot that you have to take into account to ensure that the customer walks away feeling like, yeah, that was that was fun, it was easy, it wasn't hard, and I was able to do it really quickly. So, thank you so much.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

This week our host Brandi Starr is joined by Jill Rowley, Chief Growth Advisor at Stage 2 Capital.  Meet Jill Rowley, a trailblazer in the world of B2B SaaS with over 24 years of experience. From her tenure at industry giants like Salesforce, Eloqua, and Marketo, to her current role as Chief Growth Advisor at Stage 2 Capital, Jill has been at the forefront of go-to-market innovation. With a passion for customer-centricity and a keen eye for industry trends, Jill introduces the game-changing concept of "near bound" strategy, emphasizing the power of collaboration and partnerships in delivering unified solutions to customers. In this episode of Revenue Rehab, Brandi and Jill dive deep into the evolving landscape of buyer-seller relationships, the crucial role of the Chief Partner Officer, and actionable insights for implementing a near bound go-to-market strategy that drives growth and customer success.   Bullet Points of Key Topics + Chapter Markers: Topic #1 The Power of Partnerships in Go-to-Market Strategy [07:15] "I believe that every company needs to have an ecosystem strategy, a partner strategy as part of their go-to-market," Rowley emphasizes. She proposes the need for a "chief partner officer" who "should have an equal seat at the go-to-market table" and be responsible for "understanding all of the data around partners" and "the different partner motions." Topic #2 Navigating Risks and Ethics in Partnerships [18:42] Rowley highlights the importance of transparency and trust in managing partnerships, especially when a company is "building capabilities that could be competitive to partners." She stresses, "You have to be very transparent with the partner in terms of your roadmap and your intentions," and "if you aren't transparent, and the partner finds out later that you've now built a competitive product, that's going to erode trust." Topic #3 Implementing a "Near Bound" Go-to-Market Approach [31:56] To start implementing a "near bound" go-to-market strategy, Rowley advises companies to "be very deliberate in terms of which partners you're going to start with." She suggests "assessing the health of the partnership" regularly and emphasizes the importance of "doubling down on trust and transparency." Rowley concludes, "The company that's going to win is the company that makes their customer successful. And if that means they're successful, because your partner did something amazing, celebrate that." So, What's the One Thing You Can Do Today? Jill's 'One Thing' is to be deliberate about incorporating partnerships into your go-to-market strategy. "Look at your current go-to-market strategy. Look at your current tech stack. Look at the data that you have today in your CRM. And then look at the white space. What is missing? What partners can you bring in to surround your future customers in a way that helps them achieve their desired outcomes and helps you achieve your business outcomes? Be very deliberate and intentional about the partners that you choose to work with.  Buzzword Banishment: Jill's buzzword to banish is "prospect". She dislikes this term because it promotes the wrong mindset, focusing on the seller's perspective rather than the customer's. Jill believes that using more customer-centric language can help shift the dynamic and improve the buyer-seller relationship. Links: Get in touch with Holly on: LinkedIn Subscribe, listen, and rate/review Revenue Rehab Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts , Amazon Music, or iHeart Radio and find more episodes on our website RevenueRehab.live

Pierce launched a consulting business that grew to millions in revenue and dozens of employees. But he noticed his customers kept asking for the same solution. So he launched Knak, an email marketing and landing page builder that integrates to Marketo. Unlike most founders, he didn't go all-in. He kept working on his consulting business full-time until Knak hit $1M in ARR. After he transitioned over to Knak, he bootstrapped it to $5M ARR and then raised a $25M Series A. Here's the story of how Knak found product-market fit. Why you should listenHow to transition from a consulting/services business to a scalable tech startup-- and why it might be more painful than you think. What you need to do to shift from SMB to midmarket and from midmarket to enterprise. How to use enterprise customers to scale to $10M+ without needing thousands of customersHow to balance urgency and patience to build a successful startup Keywordspatience, learning, building a company, failures, product-market fit, consulting business, marketing automation platforms, template product, creation platform, raising funding, urgencyTime Stamps:(00:00:00) Intro(00:08:50) The Story of Knak(00:11:04) Going from Zero to a Million(00:16:16) Pivoting from SMB to midmarket(00:19:42) Adding "obvious" features to get closer to PMF(00:24:07) How to position against incumbents(00:27:35) Turning Into a Enterprise  Platform(00:30:30) Finding True Product Market Fit(00:33:34) Bootstrapping to Series A(00:40:02) One Piece of AdviceSend me a message to let me know what you think!

Episode 343 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jonathan Corbin, Co-Founder & CEO of Maven AGI and our first sponsored podcast episode! Yes, please welcome Silicon Valley Bank (more info about SVB below) as a supporter of The VentureFizz Podcast. Any time I see a funding announcement for a new company, I get excited, as I'm an optimist and I hope that every company will scale and reach great milestones… but when I saw the news about Maven and how they are using Generative AI for enterprise customer experience… it was different… it was a no-brainer moment and I'm calling it now… this is going to be an anchor company in the Boston tech scene. Why? The team. They have a world-class team from HubSpot, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Stripe. Take Jonathan for example. He was the Global VP of Customer Success & Strategy at HubSpot where he led a team that was responsible for over 200,000 customers. Prior, he held leadership roles with major tech companies like Sprinklr, Marketo, Adobe, and others. He is one example of a team that is uniquely qualified to solve this problem. The problem. The use case for Generative AI at Maven just makes a world of sense and they already have early customers with amazing results which he gets into in during our discussion. Backing. In May, Maven announced that it had raised $28 million from investors Lux Capital, M13, E14 Fund, Mentors Fund and 786 Ventures, with participation from executives from OpenAI, Google, HubSpot, and Stripe. Maven is absolutely a company to keep an eye on and one of the key companies that are part of the next wave in the Boston tech scene. Oh... and they are hiring - you can check out their jobs here. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * What the fundraising process looked like for Maven. * Jonathan's background story and a journey through his career path, plus his early entrepreneurial roots as a kid. * How he learned to lead a global organization of over 1,000 team members at HubSpot. * What led Jonathan and his two co-founders Eugene Mann and Sami Shalabi down the path of starting Maven. * All the details about Maven and the velocity they have been operating under in terms of building the platform and getting early customer adoption. * Advice for startups on building out a customer success function. * The vibe for the AI startup community in the Boston tech scene. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $40B in loans as of Q1 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Send us a Text Message.This week, we are pleased to bring you a conversation with Rod Cherkas, a SaaS veteran, consultant, author of two books on customer success, and vocal contributor to the CS community.  Rod and Alex discuss his past at Marketo and Gainsight (among others), his newly released book REACH, as well as where he sees the CS profession heading.Chapters:00:00:00 - Intro00:01:18 - Rod's Background and Path to CS00:02:42 - Journey from Product to Customer Focus00:03:45 - Intuit's Customer-Centric Approach00:04:27 - Applying Experience Design Principles00:05:02 - Hello CCO00:07:00 - Developing Executive-Level Skills00:09:08 - Practical Impact of REACH Framework00:10:29 - Importance of Marketing Playbooks00:11:16 - Commercial Focus in CS Teams00:13:03 - Learning from Digital Marketing00:15:45 - Embracing Digital and AI in CS00:16:15 - Prioritizing Accounts with Growth PotentialEnjoy! I know I sure did...Rod's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodcherkas/Rod's Website: https://hellocco.comRod's Books:- CCO Playbook: https://amzn.to/3y44XBS- REACH: https://amzn.to/3Wn5wAm+++++++++++++++++This episode was edited and sponsored by Lifetime Value Media, a media production company founded by my good friend and fellow CS veteran Dillon Young.  Lifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs of CS and Post-Sales professionals.  Lifetime Value is offering select services at a deeply discounted rate for a limited time.  Navigate to lifetimevaluemedia.com to learn more.+++++++++++++++++Lifetime Value MediaLifetime Value aims to serve the audio/video content production and editing needs. Support the Show.+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review. Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic

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

Ever found yourself frustrated with the maze of marketing tactics? Today I'm joined by Michael Barber, and we kick things off by venting about the trials and tribulations of marketing, but what unfolds will surprise you. As we journey through the discussion, we find ourselves shedding tears, not over marketing woes, but over the essence of humanity and leadership.Michael shares his invaluable insights on the five essential attributes required to thrive as a leader in 2024. Trust me when I say, this isn't your average leadership advice. Michael's list is a game-changer, and you won't want to miss a single word.So be sure to tune in and grab your notepad because this episode is packed with wisdom that will leave a lasting impact on how you navigate the worlds of marketing, leadership, and humanity. Get ready to build not just any legacy, but a meaningful and enduring one. Tune in now and let's explore together with Michael Barber.Learn more about Michael:Michael Barber is the Head of Global Marketing at Grow Schools. Before heading there to lead the marketing team, he worked with brands like MeUndies.com, Johnson & Johnson, Church & Dwight, Hass Avocado Board, and Ithaca College. His career began at Mighty Interactive, the agency founded by Jay Baer, and then he led teams at agencies like Sitewire, Nomadic Agency, and COHN before establishing his own consultancy, Barber & Hewitt. In late 2017, barber&hewitt joined Godfrey, one of the largest B2B agencies. Michael was named one of Marketo's Fearless 50, an award recognizing the world's top marketers driving fearless marketing and digital transformation.Michael's Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljamesbarber/Connect with Veronica on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vromney/If you're serious about advancing your career in marketing and you're looking for some personal insights into how then I invite you to schedule a free Pathway to Promotion call with me: https://pathwaycall.com/If you found value in today's episode, I would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review.

Learn how to make your brand unforgettable and elevate your business. Today, we're dipping into something that is the heartbeat of any successful business: the power of branding. Not just any branding, though, but the kind that makes your business unforgettable. It's about creating a brand that resonates so deeply with your audience that it sets you apart from everyone else in the best possible way. Bill Kenney, the mastermind behind FocusLab. Since launching in 2009, Bill and his team have redefined what it means to work with a branding agency, elevating brands like Marketo, Netflix, and Adobe to new heights. Beyond their impressive client roster, FocusLab has played a vital role in turning 18 clients into unicorns. That's right, unicorns. Bill's recently taken his expertise to the next level with his book, "Conquer Your Rebrand," sharing the sauce behind creating impactful brands. Key Takeaways: Branding goes beyond visuals; it's about your business's story and the emotions it sparks. Rebranding can attract better clients and elevate your business. The brand must be consistent across all platforms, reflecting your authentic self. The perception of your brand by others significantly impacts your business's success and appeal. Branding is an ongoing process that evolves to stay relevant to your audience. Standing out means showcasing what makes your brand unique. Insights on strengthening your brand and offering strategies to move your business forward. All this and more on this week's episode of Beyond 7 Figures. Stay tuned next week when we talk to Steve Welch. So, don't forget to subscribe to the show to get that episode as soon as it gets released. Until then, be profitable. Links: Bill Kenney's website: https://focuslab.agency/ Bill Kenney's Book: https://conqueryourrebrand.com/ Bill Kenney's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billskenney/

Jason Lemkin created and runs SaaStr, the world's largest community for B2B/SaaS founders, and is the managing director of SaaStr Fund, a $90 million venture capital firm specializing in early-stage enterprise investments. He is also the mastermind behind two major tech conferences each year—one in the Bay Area, drawing in over 15,000 people, and another in Europe, with a crowd of more than 3,000 SaaS executives, founders, and entrepreneurs. Before SaaStr, Jason wore many hats: CEO and co-founder of EchoSign (later bought by Adobe), vice president at Adobe Systems, co-founder and president of NanoGram Devices Corp., vice president of NeoPhotonics, and a senior director at BabyCenter. In our conversation, we discuss:• How far you should go without a salesperson• Signs it's time to hire salespeople• Why you need to hire two salespeople• How to compensate your salespeople• How to interview salespeople• When to hire a VP of Sales• How to prevent their flaming out• How to scale your sales org• How to improve the relationship between your sales and product teams• Much more—Brought to you by:• CommandBar—AI-powered user assistance for modern products and impatient users• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.• LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/building-a-world-class-sales-org-jason-lemkin-saastr/—Where to find Jason Lemkin:• X: https://twitter.com/jasonlk• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmlemkin/• Website: https://www.saastr.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Jason's background(06:18) The importance of sales in B2B businesses(11:23) Signs that you should start hiring salespeople(14:19) Attributes to look for in early sales reps(19:08) Hiring a VP of Sales(26:43) The role of a VP of Sales(30:06) Interviewing salespeople(45:16) Determining sales compensation and quota(53:34) Transitioning from 100% commission to a smaller percentage(56:58) Indicators of a hard-to-sell product(59:39) Scaling the sales organization(01:05:26) Understanding sales roles and titles(01:10:02) Product involvement in sales, and vice versa(01:20:32) Thoughts on product teams taking on P&L responsibilities(01:27:23) One thing founders can do to become better at sales(01:31:02) The ideal trial length for a free trial sales team(01:39:50) Closing thoughts(01:41:43) Lightning round—Referenced:• Marc Benioff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff/• Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com/en/• Yamini Rangan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaminirangan/• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/• Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/• Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com/• GitHub: https://github.com/• Columbo: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1466074/• What is Davos and why is it important? Your guide to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting: https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/01/15/what-is-davos-and-why-is-it-important-your-guide-to-the-world-economic-forums-annual-meeti• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/• Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/• Glengarry Glen Ross on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Glengarry-Glen-Ross-James-Foley/dp/B002NN5F7A• The Wolf of Wall Street on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Wall-Street-Leonardo-DiCaprio/dp/B00IIU9FQY• A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting-a-sales-pitch-that-wins-april-dunford-author-of-obviously-awesom/• Pipedrive: https://www.pipedrive.com/• Sam Blond on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-blond-791026b/• Gong: https://www.gong.io/• Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/• ZoomInfo: https://www.zoominfo.com/• Apollo: https://www.apollo.io/• Daniel Chait on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhchait/• SAP: https://www.sap.com/• Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-on-building-product-sense-navigating-ai-optimizing-the-first-mile-and-making-it-through-t/• VistaPrint: https://www.vistaprint.com/• Procore: https://www.procore.com/• Matt Mullenweg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/• Wordpress: https://wordpress.com/• SaaStr University: https://app.saastruniversity.com/collections/20252• From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue: https://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Inevitable-Hyper-Growth-Companies-Predictable/dp/1119531691• Pavilion: https://www.joinpavilion.com/• Top 10 Learnings about Free Trials with Tomasz Tunguz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfQNJpnxmMw• The Terminal List on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/The-Terminal-List-Season-1/dp/B09HYNH8TK• Top Gun: Maverick on Paramount: https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/top-gun-maverick• OpusClip app: https://www.opus.pro/• OnePlus Open smartphone: https://www.amazon.com/OnePlus-Dual-SIM-Unlocked-Smartphone-Hasselblad/dp/B0CHN7M531/• SaaStr conferences: https://www.saastr.com/events/• Marketo: https://go.marketo.com/about-marketo-landingpage-emea.html• Zoomtopia: https://zoomtopia.com/• Money20/20: https://us.money2020.com/• Shoptalk: https://shoptalk.com/• Jeff Lawson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffiel/• Eric Kwan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erickwan/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Second Skin: Tales and Truths from the Mosh Pit of Life by Jason Miller  ABOUT THE BOOK: Second Skin is a raw and unfiltered memoir that thrusts you into the author's turbulent journey of self-discovery toward becoming a leading voice in B2B digital marketing.  Battling mental health demons, grappling with the “what the fuck am I gonna do?” dilemma, and narrowly avoiding getting swallowed by life's uncertainties.  Amid adversity, heavy metal emerges as their saving grace, providing an outlet for their pain and a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness. This gripping narrative unfolds against the backdrop of a crumbling music industry, where the author encounters amusing anecdotes that shed light on just how screwed up the music business can be.  As the industry crumbles around them, the author encounters hilarious anecdotes that expose the absurdity of it all.  With a devil-may-care attitude and a cockeyed plan for reinvention, they dive headfirst into the wild world of B2B marketing, merging heavy metal madness with marketing brilliance. Brace yourself for a fast and furious tale that explores the depths of mental health struggles, celebrates the triumph of embracing passion, and leaves you howling with laughter at the sheer fuckery of the business.  Get ready for a wild ride that proves you can rock your way through the darkest times and come out stronger, louder, and more resilient.  This is a metalhead's journey of becoming. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jason Miller is a digital B2B marketer who has held senior marketing roles at LinkedIn, Marketo, and Active Campaign.  Before entering the B2B space, he spent 10 years at Sony Music developing and executing marketing campaigns around the biggest names in music.   He is a popular keynote speaker, digital marketing instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, and best-selling author of Welcome To The Funnel: Proven Tactics To Turn Your Social Media And Content Marketing Up To 11, which was featured on episode 28 of The Marketing Book Podcast in 2015.  Also an accomplished rock photographer, Jason photographs the world's biggest rock stars on stages across Europe and the US. He has shot more than 1 million photos, interviewed thousands of musicians, and documented and published his work in the limited edition book Down In Front. His photos have been featured in Vive Le Rock magazine and on album covers of diverse artists from Warrior Soul to the comeback album of Pop Princess Tiffany.  And, interesting fact – he is NOT the Jason Miller who is the author of Sex, Sorcery, and Spirit: The Secrets of Erotic Magic! Click here for this episode's website page with the links mentioned during the interview... https://www.salesartillery.com/marketing-book-podcast/second-skin-jason-miller