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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.

In this episode of Power Producers Podcast, David Carothers is joined by Eric Stein, the president of Insured Solutions and author of the newly published book The Blueprint. Eric brings a wealth of experience in the insurance industry, especially in alternative workers' compensation and risk management. Throughout the episode, he shares insights into the complexities of captives and alternative risk transfer, breaking down the steps agencies should take to prepare for these advanced insurance structures. From understanding high-deductible programs to managing collateral and underwriting, Eric emphasizes the importance of laying a solid foundation before transitioning into self-insured or captive models. He also delves into the practicalities of running a business with virtual assistants, outsourcing, and the technological tools that have helped him with scale operations. Key Points: Captives and Alternative Risk Transfer Eric Stein explains the transition process from guaranteed cost programs to alternative risk solutions like captives. He highlights the importance of proper preparation, risk management strategies, and collateral requirements that agents need to consider before taking the plunge into captives. Building Risk Management Programs Eric discusses how he built a successful alternative risk workers' comp program, including the creation of custom risk management packages for clients. He stresses the significance of managing risk effectively before committing to high deductible or self-insured programs. Leveraging Offshore Virtual Professionals Drawing from his experience, Eric shares how he successfully utilized offshore virtual assistants to scale his business. He talks about the process of outsourcing back-office work, from telemarketing to CSR tasks, and the importance of developing solid processes to ensure smooth operations. Documenting Processes for Virtual Assistants Eric emphasizes the necessity of having documented workflows before outsourcing tasks to virtual professionals. He provides valuable advice on how agencies can streamline their processes and integrate offshore support effectively, ensuring they get the most out of their virtual team. The Power of Automation and Marketing Eric also touches on how marketing automation has helped him grow his business. From email marketing to using systems like Salesforce and Pardot, he explains how automation frees up time for high-value activities, such as client relationship building and business development. Exclusive Offer For the first 10 listeners who email Eric at eric@insuredsolutions.net, he's offering a free digital copy of his book The Blueprint, where he dives deeper into his unconventional journey and the strategies that led him to success in the insurance industry. Connect with: David Carothers LinkedIn Eric Stein LinkedIn Kyle Houck LinkedIn Visit Websites: Power Producer Base Camp Insured Solutions Inc. Killing Commercial Crushing Content Power Producers Podcast Policytee The Dirty 130 The Extra 2 Minutes

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...

Guest: Ben Chestnut, Former CEO and Co-Founder of MailchimpIf you find yourself selling your startup, then Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut has some important advice for you: Get a dog. When Intuit bought Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion, the company asked Ben if he wanted to stay on as CEO, but he chose to “walk off into the sunset” and let the new owners take over. After that, he estimates it took 6 to 12 months before he stopped checking his email, social media, and calendar with the same level of stress a CEO might have. Adopting a dog, he discovered, forces you to “get OK with the voices in your head."“After the acquisition, that's all I do, I walk the dog,” Ben says. “And the dog was good therapy ... No judgments from a dog.”Chapters:(01:09) - Growing slow (03:06) - The long journey (07:48) - Is money a burden? (09:35) - Building globally in Atlanta (11:22) - Ben's upbringing (12:59) - The first 10 years (17:58) - Scaling to one billion emails (19:22) - Freemium (23:32) - No equity (26:00) - Deciding to sell (33:55) - “I'm a sunset guy” (35:29) - Stress and support (37:25) - Time with the parents (39:07) - Get a dog (42:24) - The voices in your head (46:03) - Serial and “Mailkimp” (53:00) - Hiring interviews (57:14) - Fitness routines (59:27) - Lights off (01:01:46) - AI & reinvention (01:06:30) - The worst days (01:09:15) - What “grit” means to Ben Mentioned in this episode: Intuit, Wolt, DoorDash, LinkedIn, Dan Kurzius, Salesforce, ExactTarget, Pardot, Constant Contact, Rackspace, Free by Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine, Charles Hudson, the Freemium Summit, Drew Houston, Dropbox, Evernote, Phil Libin, TechCrunch, Brian Kane, Catalyst Partners, Georgia Pacific, Scott Cook, Bing Gordon, Vinay Hiremath, Loom, Joe Thomas, Caltrain, Flickr, Saturday Night Live, Droga5, Cannes Film Festival, Strava, Twitter, LinkedIn, Nvidia, Glean, Rubrik, Amazon AWS, and Mechnical Turk.Links:Connect with BenLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This week we sit down with Mallory Lee, a seasoned RevOps leader whose career spans transformative roles at Pardot, Terminus, and more. Together, we tackle the realities of RevOps today, from debunking the myth that RevOps is the buyer for tech tools to navigating the challenges of unified operations.Mallory reflects on her time leading teams through the rise of ABM platforms, highlighting lessons learned about hype, strategy, and staying grounded in reality. She also shares her candid perspective on the role of RevOps as the backbone of a company's strategy. We explore how RevOps can bring alignment across go-to-market teams, why getting the ICP right is a never-ending challenge, and how tech platforms like marketing automation must evolve to keep up with modern demands.Whether you're a RevOps practitioner, a SaaS vendor, or just someone who loves geeking out over strategy, this episode is packed with unvarnished truths and actionable insights.Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak. If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform. You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that's slick, modern and beautiful. When they're done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button. What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it's got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners. Try Knak About Today's Guest Mallory Lee is an experienced Revenue Operations professional with 15 years of experience collaborating across the GTM Org and C-Suite to scale B2B SaaS revenue. She's held marketing and RevOps leadership positions at companies like Terminus and Nylas, is a product advisor for RevTech companies, and co-founder of the RevTech Review. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[00:57] - Favourite RevOps career path[01:34] - Why you shouldn't build software for RevOps[05:26] - Iterating on your go-to-market message[07:50] - Shortcomings of ABM tools[16:21] - Signal-based selling and the role of RevOps[25:52] - Marketing automation landscape[33:58] - Unified RevOps[46:09] - Product consulting[48:41] - RevTech ReviewThanks to Our SponsorMarketers: it's planning season. Time to live in your office with the world's biggest spreadsheet and hope that finance doesn't slash your budget. Planning is tough, but at least you can put your best foot forward with a structured framework that covers all the bases. Our friends at Uptempo have just launched the Blueprint for Marketing Planning. It's a totally free and comprehensive guide for enterprise marketing teams. You'll get a seven-step planning process that integrates top-down strategy with bottom-up execution and gives you a crystal clear picture of how you'll hit your number. Get your free copy now: Uptempo Planning Guide Resource LinksThe RevTech Review Learn MoreVisit the RevOps FM Substack for our weekly newsletter: Newsletter

Salesforce Foundations es el nuevo framework de Salesforce que ofrece marketing, ventas, servicio, comercio, AI (AgentForce) y manejo de datos del cliente (Data Cloud) todo bajo una sola plataforma. Salesforce Foundations ahora requiere administradores del ecosistema centrados en la relación con el cliente, en lugar de gestores de departamentos individuales o módulos, para supervisar las capacidades de CRM, datos, omnicanalidad e IA. #solvis #capsulasdecustomerengagement #podcasdecrm #cdp #agentforce Podcast de CRM https://podcast.cx2advisory.com/ Sobre Salesforce Foundations https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/trails/grow-your-business-with-salesforce-foundations ¿Adiós al Marketing Cloud Engagement y Pardot? https://www.cx2advisory.com/blog/dreamforce-2024-el-futuro-del-core-de-salesforce-con-el-marketing-cloud ¿Por qué los AI Agents van a fallar con tú CRM? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mqHRlW3qz0 Salesforce ofrece una solución CRM completa e integrada que mejora la gestión de las relaciones con los clientes mediante datos unificados, automatización del marketing y funciones de IA, y que está dirigida tanto a empresas como a PYMES.

A visionary and growth-focused marketing strategist, I am Tracy A. Wehringer, a leader with a proven track record in spearheading revenue-generating marketing initiatives across global B2B landscapes. My expertise lies in crafting marketing centers of excellence, underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of diverse marketing disciplines and robust business development strategies. With a flair for strong executive leadership, I excel in communication and thrive in environments that demand revenue acceleration and cost containment. My approach is always strategic, data-driven, and customer-centric, ensuring that every marketing effort aligns with the broader business objectives for sustainable growth. My journey is marked by solving complex challenges and turning marketing into a powerhouse for sustainable growth. What I Solve: •Tech Integration Challenges: Navigating the complex maze of integrating technologies like Salesforce, Pardot, and Five9. My approach led to a staggering 79.16% increase in net-new revenue, showcasing my ability to blend technology seamlessly for revenue growth. •Customer Retention Hurdles: Overcoming the prevalent issue of customer churn. I've implemented strategic communication automation in Salesforce, achieving an impressive 93% retention rate, far above industry norms. •Data Utilization and Optimization: Transforming underutilized data into a goldmine. I spearheaded a data enhancement initiative, increasing targeted data accuracy and volume by over 62%, and propelled marketing qualified leads by 67%. •Sales Funnel Inefficiencies: Revamping and streamlining the sales process. My strategies have drastically cut down the sales funnel duration, from an average of 6.3 months to just 1.7 months, optimizing sales efficiency and effectiveness. •ROI and Cost Challenges: Delivering a monumental Marketing Return on Investment (MROI) of 597% and playing a crucial role in a Six Sigma quality team, I've driven cost savings exceeding $24 million, showcasing my ability to balance quality and cost efficiency. My Vision: To redefine marketing as a critical revenue driver, not just a cost center. I focus on aligning every marketing initiative with the broader business objectives, ensuring strategic, data-driven, and customer-centric approaches for long-term growth.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyawehringer/ https://moonshot-strategy.com/   Quick recap Summary Marketing Challenges for Solopreneurs and Entrepreneurs Michael and Tracy discussed the challenges of marketing and growth for solopreneurs and new entrepreneurs. Tracy, the founder of Moonshot Strategy, shared her experiences and goals, emphasizing her focus on driving growth and connecting with the right audience. Michael, who initially had an accounting career, expressed regret for not paying more attention to marketing earlier in his life. The conversation was intended to be a casual discussion, with the aim of sharing insights and experiences. Entrepreneurial Marketing and Sales Challenges Tracy and Michael discussed the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in marketing and sales. Tracy shared her approach to helping clients, which includes an advisory session to understand their goals, challenges, and strategies. She also emphasized the importance of understanding the client's vision for the future, their business model, and their relationship with Wall Street. Tracy further explained her process of analyzing the client's data, tech stack, customer definition, and talent mix to provide a comprehensive view of their current situation. Michael acknowledged the importance of Tracy's work and the challenges entrepreneurs face in marketing and sales. Marketing and Sales Alignment for Organizational Growth Tracy and Michael discussed the importance of marketing and sales in organizational growth and success. Tracy emphasized the need for a complete understanding of an organization's current state and future goals, and the importance of aligning marketing efforts with key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect the organization's vision. She also highlighted the significance of having financial conversations with the CFO or CPO to provide a true return on investment for marketing efforts. Michael agreed, noting that many organizations struggle with understanding marketing and sales, and that bringing in expertise can help organizations reach their goals. They both agreed that understanding the organization's KPIs and having financial conversations are crucial for success. Understanding Customer Needs and Building Trust Michael emphasized the importance of understanding and meeting customer needs, whether it's a board of directors, shareholders, or individual customers. He stressed the need for trust and confidence in delivering what customers want, which can lead to positive outcomes and customer loyalty. Michael also highlighted the role of storytelling in sales and marketing, connecting potential customers with their desired future. He further discussed the importance of creating a positive work environment for employees, which can lead to organizational success. Lastly, he shared the advice of Michael to make one's own economy, understanding external forces but focusing on creating one's own environment. Building Trust and Relationships for Lifetime Value Michael and Tracy discussed the importance of building trust and relationships with customers to increase lifetime value. They emphasized the need for effective marketing and sales strategies, as well as a focus on customer onboarding and satisfaction. Tracy highlighted the significance of customer amplification, where customers promote the brand through testimonials, case studies, and speaking engagements. Both agreed that having customers do the marketing and sales work has more weight and is the ultimate goal. Sharing Positive Experiences and Testimonials Michael discussed the importance of sharing positive experiences with others, using the example of a colleague named Tracy who helped him achieve impressive results. He emphasized the value of testimonials and personal experiences in promoting a product or service. Michael also shared his own experience of taking a local tourist tour in his city, which led him to discover new things about his surroundings. He concluded by highlighting the benefits of such experiences, including learning something new and spending time with other people. Focusing on Customer Experience and Feedback Michael and Tracy discussed the importance of focusing on customer experience to transform an organization. They agreed on the value of customer councils, where customers can provide insights and suggestions for improvements. Michael shared his experience with patient advisory councils in healthcare clinics, highlighting the positive impact of implementing customer suggestions. Tracy emphasized the significance of understanding customer needs beyond surveys and the potential for customer councils to enhance lifetime value. Both agreed on the importance of making customers feel heard and valued, leading to a sense of ownership and improved experiences. Identifying Areas to Stop Doing in Business Tracy and Michael discussed the importance of identifying areas to stop doing in business, particularly in relation to quarterly business reviews. They emphasized the need for effective communication and change management when making such decisions. Tracy shared her experience with a merger and acquisition, highlighting the importance of retaining talent. Michael agreed, noting that communication is key in all aspects of life. The conversation ended with Tracy sharing her contact details and offering her newsletter for further information.  

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/

What if you could use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform your business operations? In this episode, we welcome Dave Norris to discuss the profound impact of Salesforce's strategic acquisitions — such as ExactTarget, Pardot, Heroku, and Slack — on the developer ecosystem. We cover the intricacies of integrating diversified data systems and emphasize the importance of centralized data management through MuleSoft. We'll explore how Data Cloud handles structured and unstructured data, enhancing AI functionalities with tools like Prompt Builder and the newly released Data Cloud Vector Search. This episode sheds light on how grounding AI with enterprise-specific information can significantly boost productivity and deliver accurate, context-rich responses. Listen in for a detailed description of data and AI within the Salesforce ecosystem! Show Highlights: Centralizing data with MuleSoft and the role of Data Cloud in data ingestion, mapping, and security Using AI capabilities like Einstein AI within the Salesforce ecosystem Integrating structured and unstructured data using Data Cloud for enhanced AI functionality Practical insights and use cases, including predictive AI in animal adoption data General availability of Data Cloud Vector Search and its impact on semantic searching Enhancing enterprise productivity by grounding AI with specific enterprise data for more accurate responses Links: Data Cloud + Einstein AI: The Developer's Pocket Guide - https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/05/data-cloud-einstein-ai-the-developers-pocket-guide Bring Your Own Large Language Model in Einstein 1 Studio - https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/03/bring-your-own-large-language-model-in-einstein-1-studio

What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Stephen Stouffer, VP, Digital Transformation & Innovation at SaaScend.Summary: Stephen shares practical and innovative examples of combining AI tools with iPaaS tools to do things like parsing email auto-responses and subcontracting tech support questions from family members. He's a fan of starting simple, gradually advancing to more complex solutions, all while maintaining a keen focus on ethical considerations and human interaction. We also cover growth potentials of having a stint in the agency world, is martech really for engineers and the benefits of thinking of emails like billboards on the highway. About StephenStephen started his career as a web developer before moving to a marketing analyst role where he got his first taste of marketing and sales alignment as well as marketing automationThis led him to a Marketing Automation Migration Manager role at Cheshire Impact where he managed over 25 platform migrations in less than a yearHe then worked in-house at a few software companies including iDonate, Thryv as well as FireMon – a security policy management platform where he served as Sr Manager of Marketing Operations and led all the magic behind each GTM programMost recently, Stephen's returned to his agency roots as VP of Digital Transformation and Innovation at SaaScend – a 20-person revenue operations agencyAutomating Parental Tech Support with AIStephen's journey into automating tech support for his mom using AI showcases a blend of ingenuity and practicality. Faced with an array of tech-related questions from his mother, from resetting routers to converting recipes into different metric units, he sought a solution that could offer simple, direct answers without the clutter of search engine results. Recognizing the ease with which texting comes to his parents compared to navigating the internet, Stephen ingeniously integrated Twilio with GPT, leveraging Tray.io as the intermediary. This setup allows text messages to transform into queries for OpenAI's API, which then sends back clear, useful responses.The beauty of this system lies in its simplicity and effectiveness. By funneling questions through a familiar medium—text messaging—Stephen's mom can now access a wealth of information at her fingertips. Whether she's looking for new restaurant suggestions after moving to a new area or needs quick answers for her culinary adventures, the AI assistant provides concise, relevant information. This approach not only empowers his mother to find information independently but also maintains their daily communication, highlighting the importance of family connections amidst technological solutions.Key Takeaway: Stephen's inventive use of AI for handling his mother's tech support inquiries demonstrates the transformative potential of integrating simple technologies to solve everyday challenges. This strategy not only streamlines the process of obtaining information but also enriches the user's experience by delivering tailored answers through a preferred communication channel.Making Use of Email Auto-responses with ChatGPT and Tray.ioStephen's presentation at Dreamforce was a bold exploration of AI's potential in streamlining email management, a topic ripe with complexities and nuances. Opting for the risky path of live demos, he engaged his audience directly, inviting them to submit various types of emails into an open text field. Utilizing Tray.io as his iPaas tool of choice, these inputs were then processed through OpenAI's API to classify the emails and execute appropriate actions based on their nature—whether setting up follow-up tasks, unsubscribing contacts, or updating records in Salesforce and Pardot.This daring demonstration not only showcased the practical applications of AI in automating mundane tasks but also ignited discussions on data compliance and ethical considerations in AI usage. Stephen's session highlighted the efficiency and adaptability of AI in handling massive volumes of email responses, providing a glimpse into the future of digital communication management. The success of this live demo, buoyed by flawless internet connectivity, underscored the reliability and transformative power of AI in enhancing operational processes within the tech ecosystem.Stephen's process for integrating auto-responses from email clients into GPT is remarkably straightforward. By designating a reply-to address in your automation platform, all auto-responses are directed to a specific inbox. From there you create a forwarding rule for all incoming emails in that inbox to another address provided by Tray.io. This address acts as an endpoint, channeling the email content directly into the iPaas tool for processing. From there you can prompt ChatGPT by bringing in the payload of those individual emails.Despite the simplicity of this setup, Stephen cautions about the volume of data being handled, highlighting the importance of managing the flow to ensure accuracy in parsing and prompt building. This method not only simplifies the initial step of data collection but also underscores the intricacies involved in refining AI to perform nuanced tasks like accurately unsubscribing contacts.Key Takeaway: Stephen's Dreamforce presentation exemplified the innovative use of AI in automating useful tasks that are often left behind because of the manual nature. His live demo reinforced the potential of AI to transform mundane operational tasks into automated, intelligent workflows, setting a precedent for future applications in business and technology.Unveiling the Early Stages of AI in Marketing OperationsStephen's insights into the maturity of the martech market, particularly regarding the integration of AI into marketing operations, highlight a crucial phase of development that many professionals are navigating. His observations, shared after captivating the audience at Dreamforce, shed light on the novelty and potential of AI to revolutionize marketing practices. Stephen emphasizes that we are at the beginning of this journey, with much of the excitement and innovation concentrated in regions like North America, notably ahead of other areas such as Europe and Australia. This disparity showcases the varying pace of technological adoption across the globe, reminding us that advancements like marketing automation, now seen as standard in some parts, are just gaining traction elsewhere.Stephen points out a common misconception within the industry: the belief that AI's application is limited to those with deep technical expertise, such as data engineers. This notion, he argues, often overshadows the simpler, yet profoundly impactful uses of AI that can benefit marketers at all levels. For instance, AI's capability to generate email subject lines or assist in content ideation represents an accessible entry point for professionals seeking to leverage technology to streamline their workflows.The enthusiasm Stephen encountered post-Dreamforce, where attendees expressed astonishment at AI's capabilities, underscores a widespread underestimation of AI's current role and potential in marketing. This reaction suggests a gap between the perceived complexity of AI applications and the practical, immediate benefits they can offer. Stephen's approach to demystifying AI—highlighting straightforward applications and encouraging experimentation with basic tasks—provides a valuable roadmap for professionals looking to embrace AI without feeling overwhelmed.Through his experience, Stephen advocates for starting small with AI, focusing on automating simple tasks that can significantly enhance efficiency and creativity. This strategy not only makes ...

Episode Notes/Resources: In this episode of Ad Victoriam's Salesforce Simplified, we're talking with Salesforce Ben's Operations Director, Lucy Mazalon, about the differences between Salesforce's Account Engagement (Pardot) and Marketing Cloud.  The reason we've called on Lucy for this topic is that she is an 11x certified Marketing Champion and the founder of The DRIP, Salesforce Ben's sister blog for marketing professionals. Lucy Mazalon on LinkedIn:  http://tinyurl.com/45ca9j9k Salesforce Ben: 
https://www.salesforceben.com/
 The DRIP on LinkedIn: http://tinyurl.com/3zdavd3a Subscribe to The DRIP Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/bdhkvtf7

What's up everyone, today we have the pleasure of sitting down with Debbie Mayen, Head of Marketing Operations at Logitech.Summary: Debbie went from dreaming of diplomacy to steering the global martech ship at Logitech and takes us through a masterclass in making well timed bets and the art of simplifying martech. Her marketing operations mantra includes clear processes, open lines of communication, and giving her team the reins to shine. She walks us through why she's big on the whole marketing-meets-IT vibe, pushing for teamwork that taps into the best of both. And how her focus on celebrating wins and building an anti-fragile culture is key to withstanding chaos and uncertainty in a profession riddled with burnout. About DeborahDeborah got her start as an International Project Manager where she led big IT projects, and later pivoted to international MARCOM projects and bizdevThis led Deborah to a pivotal role as Marketing and comms manager at Encyclopaedia Britannica where she would spend 7 years managing marketing activities in Latin America and BrazilShe also spent 5 years as a Marketing Automation Project Leader at Molex – where she was focused on optimizing tech stack and lead generation processesToday, Deborah is Head of Global Marketing Operations at Logitech, where her team drives operational excellence for Logitech's B2B Marketing team focused on strategy and automation, segmentation and ABM Embracing Nonlinear Paths into MartechDebbie's foray into the world of martech is a tale of unexpected turns and adaptation. Growing up with a nomadic lifestyle due to her father's career in the oil industry, Debbie was exposed to diverse cultures and languages from an early age. This multicultural upbringing sparked an initial desire to pursue a career in international law or diplomacy. However, as she ventured through university, the reality of the constant movement and its impact on family life led her to reconsider her career trajectory.Opting for a more stable living situation, Debbie still yearned to maintain her connection to the international sphere. This longing eventually steered her toward the realm of international business, landing her a role at Encyclopedia Britannica, focusing on the Latin American market. It was here, amidst the challenge of managing a vast geographic area with a limited budget, that Debbie stumbled upon martech.In the early days of martech, with fewer than 200 vendors and most tools available only in English, resources were scarce. Yet, this did not deter Debbie. Leveraging tools like Silverpop, she ingeniously maximized her small budget to achieve significant impact across Latin America. This experience not only honed her skills but also ignited a passion for martech, drawn to its capacity for measurable results and efficient campaign management without the need for expanding her team.Debbie's entry into martech was born out of necessity but flourished into a deep-seated love for the field. Her journey reflects a seamless blend of her identity and her professional path, showcasing how embracing change and leveraging available resources can lead to unexpected and rewarding destinations.Key Takeaway: Debbie's transition from aspiring diplomat to martech enthusiast underscores the power of adaptability and the unexpected paths our careers can take. Her story is a testament to the impact of embracing one's background and challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation in the ever-evolving martech landscape.Navigating the Dawn of MartechDebbie's entrance into the martech scene came at a time when the landscape was vastly different from today's sprawling ecosystem. Reflecting on Scott Brinker's landscape charts, she recalls a period of consolidation and the nascent stages of martech, drawing parallels to the current explosion of AI tools in the sector. For Debbie, the early days presented both challenges and opportunities. The relatively small number of tools available meant she could delve deeper into the resources at her disposal, turning limitations into advantages.This era of martech was marked by significant acquisitions, such as Silverpop's integration into IBM's portfolio and Pardot's acquisition by Salesforce, signifying the beginning of industry consolidation. For Debbie, being part of the martech field from its inception allowed her to develop a comprehensive understanding of marketing automation platforms, a knowledge that would set the foundation for her future expertise.Her early start in martech endowed her with the ability to navigate the ever-expanding landscape without getting overwhelmed by the plethora of choices available today. Debbie's journey underscores the importance of foundational knowledge and the advantage of focusing deeply on available tools before branching out. As the martech landscape continues to grow, her experience offers valuable lessons in staying grounded amidst the noise and the allure of new technologies.Key Takeaway: Debbie's early experiences in the evolving martech landscape highlight the benefits of deep specialization and a focused approach to technology adoption. Her story is a testament to the power of leveraging limited resources for maximum impact and the importance of discerning evaluation in the face of rapid industry expansion.The Art of Simplifying MartechDebbie champions a philosophy of simplicity in navigating the galaxy of martech tools. She believes in a measured approach, cautioning against the allure of new technologies without a clear understanding of organizational needs. For Debbie, each addition to the martech stack represents not just potential benefits but also added complexity and potential debt. She emphasizes a cost-benefit analysis to ensure the advantages of any new tool significantly outweigh the costs, considering factors like team workload, system integration, and the tool's alignment with the company's evolving goals.This practical mindset extends to prioritizing work-life balance for her team and ensuring that any new technology seamlessly integrates into existing systems without creating unnecessary burdens. Debbie's old-school martech perspective of "less is more" serves as a guiding principle, advocating for a focus on what truly adds value and drives forward the company's objectives.Key Takeaway: Debbie's strategy in martech selection is grounded in simplicity and practicality, underscoring the importance of a discerning approach to tool adoption. Her advice encourages a balance between embracing innovation and maintaining a streamlined, effective martech stack that aligns with both immediate and long-term business goals.Navigating the Challenges of Marketing Operations at LogitechAt Logitech, the marketing operations team faces the intricate challenge of serving various internal and external stakeholders across different groups and brands. Debbie highlights that the key to managing these challenges lies in recognizing the team's central role as a service arm within the organization. With each business group having unique demands, it becomes crucial to maintain a bird's-eye view of all requests, ensuring no group is unaware of the others' needs.Process orientation emerges as a fundamental strategy for the mops team. By adhering to well-defined processes, the team not only safeguards the quality of their work but also empowers themselves to manage and prioritize requests effectively. Debbie stresses the importance of clarity and communication in this dynamic environment. She encourages her team to engage in open dialogues with stakeholders, offering the ability to push back on requests when necessary, provided it's done with clear reasoning and possible alternatives.This approach fosters a culture where markete...

Jesus Hoyos, juntos a colegas en Solvis Consulting, Raul Cuevas, Adriana Olarte, Luz Dary Ferreira e Israel Regalado, nos dan sus observaciones del nuevo producto de Salesforce - Marketing Cloud Growth Edition. Hablamos sobre: 1. ¿Si este es el futuro de Salesforce, tener todo en su plataforma core? 2. ¿El Marketing Cloud Growth Edition remplazara en el futuro a Marketing Cloud Account Engagement o Marketing Cloud Engagement? 3. Las bondades del Marketing Cloud Growth Edition 4. La confusión de tener 3 productos de Marketing - ¿Cual es cuál? #podcastdecrm #capsulasdecustomerengagement #solvis La Evolución del Ecosistema de Salesforce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PVfoPnnSUc&t Marketing Automation vs Customer Journeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWOjcFPATWM&list=PLMRlvxkpMiwF3UFaWeY3a6HK4UJjjK8hG Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMRlvxkpMiwF3UFaWeY3a6HK4UJjjK8hG Integrando Marketing Automation y CRM https://www.youtube.com/live/sD8cxeEcFgA?si=c-BlJoiuQ2T6vPms El uso de soluciones de Landing Pages] https://www.youtube.com/live/hPZ8SHDij-w?si=STCQC5g01aH6ula8 Marketing Cloud de Salesforce, conectando multiples CDPs https://youtu.be/aiDCqlMd6nM?si=ji8b5kB2Q7HWg-UR Adquisición de Clientes usando Pardot, Sales Cloud y Marketing Cloud https://www.youtube.com/live/KzhIzho__Mw?si=VZjR6exYSlO5t_71 Podcast de CRM: https://podcast.cx2advisory.com/

La Evolución del Ecosistema de Salesforce: Pardot (Marketing Cloud Account Engagement), Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, y Social Studio Hablamos de las diferentes nubes integradas, eCommerce, el Data Cloud, y la evolución a soluciones verticales de Salesforce para el manejo de clientes (B2B) y/o consumidores (B2C) Podcast de Jesus Hoyos: Este video de #capsulasdecustomerengagement ahora lo tendremos en el canal YouTube de Solvis y en todos los medios de podcast de Jesus Hoyos. Podcast: https://podcast.cx2advisory.com/ Playlist en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMRlvxkpMiwF3UFaWeY3a6HK4UJjjK8hG Adquisición de Clientes usando Pardot, Sales Cloud y Marketing Cloud (Video) https://www.youtube.com/live/KzhIzho__Mw?si=jRQbI170rSNU1L-f Ecosistema de Salesforce para Customer Engagement (Publicación) https://www.solvisconsulting.es/ecosistema-salesforce-para-customer-engagement #salesforce #marketingcloud #marketingautomation #b2b #b2c #cdp #datacloud #ai #industrias

Summary: Sara offers practical advice for martech pros: emphasizing data literacy for informed marketing decisions, advocating simple attribution models in B2B contexts, and highlighting the balanced integration of engineering expertise in martech strategies. She underscores the significance of AI in automating tasks while stressing the importance of human-centric skills like communication in an AI-enhanced marketing world.What's up everyone, on today's celebratory 100th episode of the podcast, we're incredibly pumped to chat with the legendary Sara McNamara, Senior Manager, Marketing Operations at Salesforce.About Sara Sara got her start at Cloud on Tap as a Salesforce Pardot Marketing Automation Consultant where she completed 30+ Pardot implementations in under 2 years She took her Ops talents to Cheshire Impact, a Select Pardot and Salesforce Partner before moving to an in-house Automation Manager role administrating 3 instances of Pardot Her journey led her to a pivotal role at Cloudera, an open-source data platform for enterprise where she was quickly promoted to Senior Marketing Operations Manager after leading 2 enterprise MAP migrations in 6 months She's advised marketing leaders at companies like Google and PayPal on how to find and attract the best MOPs talent She's also a Member of 3 key communities; RevGenius, Women in Revenue and Pavilion She holds over 30+ licenses and certifications across popular martech and her work has been recognized by Pardot, Salesforce, Drift, and others When Cloudera was on the exit ramp, Sara made a mega-move to Slack. As Senior Manager of Marketing Transformation & Innovation, she had a big job shaping things up at a massive scale  But after a year of making waves, Salesforce swept in and bought Slack. That meant Sara's SFDC/Pardot hot takes and spicy industry insights came to an end  But let's be clear: Sara's brilliance hasn't dimmed one bit. If you're navigating the murky waters of MOPs or crafting your own career path, she's your north star. She's not just a source of marketing knowledge—she's arguably the finest guidepost out there for career insights Sara thanks so much for making our 100th episode extra special and taking the time to chat with us

What's up folks, today we're joined by Lauren Aquilino, Founder & Principal Consultant @ EMMIE Collective.Summary: The essence of Lauren's message transcends the specifics of MOPs; it's about the symbiosis between finding work that resonates on a personal level and the professional ecosystem that supports it. This is where fulfillment is found, and where problems are not just tasks but puzzles that invigorate the marketer. Her advice was not mere commentary but a call to action for marketing professionals to document their victories, engage with communities, and redefine the value of mops within their organizations, ensuring that the role is not just sustained but celebrated for its strategic importance.About Lauren Lauren started her career as a Campaign Manager at Hyland, an enterprise content service provider where she spent 5 and a half years working her way up to Marketing Analyst and later Team Lead of the Demand Programs She later took on the role of Marketing Automation Operations Manager at GE where she owned Marketo and set the global marketing automation strategy across other martech tools as well In 2017, Lauren left the in-house world and joined the dark side of agency at Revenue Pulse as a Principal Consultant. There she would become a 2x Marketo Champion and Certified Expert as well as a Salesforce Certified Admin After taking a career break as a Covid-era homeschool teacher and wrangler of a fearless toddler and attempting to open a coffee shop in a dilapidated 1840s church, Lauren became a yolopreneur August 1st 2022. She joined forces with the acclaimed Sydney Mulligan to launch EMMIE Collective EMMIE is a for-hire network of marketing Ops and Sales Ops freelancers with big tech energy She's also the cohost of Pretty Funny Business, Lauren's nonsensical playground brand for the hell of it, a hilarious new podcast with the top marketing and MOPs pros The Accidental Genesis of EMMIE CollectiveWhen Lauren delved into the creation story of EMMIE Collective, she shared a narrative that many entrepreneurs can resonate with—success often sprouts from the seeds of adversity. Lauren's journey began not with a deliberate intention to start a martech freelancer network but as a response to the upheaval of COVID-19. The decision to step back from her role at Revenue Pulse was pivotal. Faced with the complexities of juggling work and a young family under the constraints of a pandemic, Lauren sought to keep everyone on one schedule. This pursuit of work-life balance inadvertently set the stage for EMMIE Collective's inception.The ambition to purchase a church, a dream stemming from Lauren's passion for creating a communal third space, ironically nudged her back to work. Subcontracting for a friend in unfamiliar territory with Pardot became a catalyst for growth. Lauren's adaptability and openness to learn were instrumental, emphasizing that it's not the tools that define success, but the fit for the business and the individual's capability to harness them effectively. What started as a solo venture quickly evolved, and Lauren found herself at the helm of a growing consultancy.Lauren's story highlighted the organic nature of EMMIE Collective's expansion—how one client led to another, and how one consultant brought in another, embodying the adage of building the airplane while flying it. The addition of Sydney to the team was serendipitous, aligning perfectly with the needs of the collective. Her reputation and skills added significant value, illustrating the strength of forming strategic alliances based on mutual respect and opportunity.Key Takeaway: EMMIE Collective stands as a testament to the unexpected paths that lead to entrepreneurial success. It serves as a sanctuary for those who've grown weary of the corporate grind, offering a collaborative network that thrives on flexibility, respect, and mutual growth. Lauren's experience is a reminder that sometimes, the best outcomes arise from the most challenging situations, and that embracing change can pave the way for unforeseen opportunities.The Multifaceted Benefits of Side Hustles in MarketingWhen Lauren was asked about the impact of side hustles on her career, she offered an insightful perspective that extends beyond the conventional wisdom. She champions the idea of side hustles not merely as additional streams of income but as avenues for personal fulfillment and professional development. Lauren's stance is that side hustles should be passion-driven endeavors, aligning with one's interests, such as yoga in her example, to ensure they serve as a complement rather than a detractor from one's quality of life.Lauren's experience underlines the necessity for marketers to cultivate interests outside their core job, especially when their work is highly technical and the threat of feeling replaceable looms. In her view, this sense of replaceability is exacerbated when one's day job lacks a deeper sense of purpose or is entrenched in a profit-driven environment. Side hustles, therefore, can act as a counterbalance, offering a sense of uniqueness and value that one's primary occupation might not provide.Moreover, Lauren's reflections on EMMIE Collective's business model reveals the value of side hustles in creating a flexible work ecosystem.The collective's freelancers, including a standout Salesforce admin named Nikki who also runs a skincare business, demonstrate that a side hustle can sometimes become the main hustle. This fluidity showcases how side hustles can evolve and adapt to one's changing career aspirations and personal goals.Key Takeaway: Lauren's discourse invites marketers to reassess the role of side hustles in their lives. It's not just about having a secondary job; it's about finding joy and purpose outside of one's primary employment. Side hustles can enhance skills, diversify income, and most importantly, provide a fulfilling escape from the replaceable nature of technical roles. For those looking to embark on such a journey, Lauren suggests seeking out passions that could lead to professional opportunities, creating a harmonious blend of work and personal satisfaction.EMMIE Collective's Answer to In-House Marketing StabilityLauren discussed the unique challenges in-house marketing teams face and how EMMIE Collective addresses them with its network of consultants. Her insights delve into the nuanced struggles of businesses desperate for stability in their marketing operations. Contrary to what one might expect, Lauren finds that clients are often open to the collective's unconventional setup, likely due to the network's reputation and the trust it engenders.The drive for stability is at the forefront of client concerns, especially as the market continues to wobble between a surplus of talent due to layoffs and a drought caused by high turnover. Lauren's collective steps into this breach, not just offering expertise, but also a promise of consistency that's hard to find in the volatile job market. Where companies are grappling with the financial and operational repercussions of high turnover, EMMIE Collective provides a team that can absorb these shocks.Clients have embraced the collective's model, finding comfort in the assurance that their operations will continue unimpeded, even if an individual consultant moves on. This safety net is particularly valuable in specialized areas where training and expertise are not easily replicated. Lauren shared an anecdote about a client who, instead of risking the hiring and training of a campaign operations manager, chose the security of the collective's model. This model shifts the burden of continuity from the client to EMMIE Collective.Key Takeaway: The client responses to EMMIE Collective's model underscore a vital market need for dependable marketing expertise that can withstand the tumult of the job market. Lauren's approach with her collective offers businesses not just top-tier talent but also a buffer against the instability of in-house turnover. For marketing operations professionals and the companies they serve, this model could be a template for sustainable engagement, ensuring that knowledge and expertise remain within reach, irrespective of market fluctuations.Lauren's Candid Reflections on Being a Marketo ChampionLauren, when queried about her experiences as a two-time Marketo Champion, offered a down-to-earth reflection that demystified the accolade. She acknowledged the prestige that comes with the title, emphasizing its significance more to the external world than to her personal narrative. Being a Marketo Champion wasn't a daily badge of honor she wore but a milestone that undeniably propelled her career forward.During her tenure at GE Lighting, Lauren decided to apply for the Marketo Champion program, a decision that would mark a turning point in her professional journey. The Champion status was not just a nod from the vendor; it was a testament to her caliber of work recognized within the tight-knit community of Marketo users. This recognition came with its set of responsibilities and the continual effort to maintain the standard that the title demanded.Lauren's candidness revealed that the path to becoming and remaining a Marketo Champion is laden with hard work. Her decision to not pursue the title a third time was a choice influenced by shifting priorities, illustrating that professional growth sometimes requires focusing energy elsewhere. Her advice to those aspiring to be champions is pragmatic: document your work meticulously. This ongoing process eases the burden when the time comes to compile and present one's achievements.Key Takeaway: Lauren's journey as a Marketo Champion underscores the value of industry recognition and how it can fast-track one's career. Yet, it also brings to light the importance of balance and setting priorities. For marketers eyeing the Champion status, Lauren's guidance is clear – document your successes as they come, so when opportunities arise, you're prepared to showcase your expertise with ease.Navigating Professional Challenges with AuthenticityLauren's approach to professional challenges is both preemptive and grounded in self-respect. She stresses the importance of creating an environment where everyone, from consultants to clients, feels valued and respected. The concept of “no shitty clients” isn't just a casual phrase—it's a principle that guides the EMMIE Collective's client relationships. By setting clear expectations and boundaries from the outset, Lauren ensures that her team only engages with those who treat them well and respect their expertise.This stance is crucial because, as Lauren points out, the happiness of her consultants is paramount. If they are discontent, it echoes through to the clients and affects the quality of work. The mission is clear: keep the consultants exceptionally satisfied, ensuring they are well-compensated, engaged in projects they enjoy, and shielded from negative client interactions. However, Lauren acknowledges that despite these precautions, difficult situations do arise.When confronted with less-than-ideal circumstances, Lauren advocates for authenticity. She advises staying true to oneself and maintaining professionalism. Acting as part therapist and part consultant is sometimes part of the job, providing a space for clients to vent while still offering solid, professional advice. The key is consistency and steadiness, demonstrating to clients that you are a reliable presence regardless of the circumstances.Key Takeaway: The core of Lauren's message is to avoid problematic situations when possible, but when they're unavoidable, tackle them with authenticity and professionalism. This approach not only helps in managing difficult professional relationships but also ensures that personal integrity isn't compromised. Lauren's experience serves as a reminder that in the complex dance of client-consultant relationships, those who remain true to themselves and their values are best positioned to navigate challenges without losing their cool.Advancing the Marketing Operations FieldLauren confronts the question of maturing the marketing operations (mops) sector with a sense of urgency and a touch of frustration. She recognizes a pattern of recurring issues that plague the industry—a cycle that seems to perpetuate itself with the birth of new companies and the expansion of existing ones. From her perspective, the problem isn't necessarily the complexity of the issues, such as form errors or GDPR compliance, but rather the industry's approach to addressing them. The expectation that marketing teams can simply 'figure it out' leads to a constant state of catch-up rather than advancement.Despite the evolution of marketing tools and strategies, Lauren notes that foundational challenges remain. This is, in part, due to a disconnect between those at the forefront of marketing technology and those just entering the field. There is an assumption of knowledge that often doesn't exist, and it's a gap that needs bridging. The focus should be on education and proper implementation, which means bringing in teams of specialists who can not only execute but also impart knowledge.Lauren suggests that the way forward involves recognizing the ongoing learning curve within the field. For veterans of marketing operations, she recommends patience and a willingness to mentor. This would facilitate a shift from simply using tools like HubSpot to understanding the strategic implications of these tools. Such a shift is essential for the maturing of the industry.Key Takeaway: To advance marketing operations, there needs to be a collective shift towards structured implementation and ongoing education. Lauren's insights call for a balance between innovation and foundational understanding, ensuring that all team members, regardless of their experience level, are aligned and proficient. This involves experienced practitioners stepping into more instructive roles, patiently guiding newcomers through the intricacies of mops work.Nurturing a Lasting Passion for Marketing Operations Amidst Industry ChallengesLauren addressed the issue of maintaining enthusiasm in marketing operations, acknowledging the talent crisis and the reality that not everyone is cut out for the sometimes monotonous rigors of mops work. Her personal drive stems from a genuine love for problem-solving—a trait she identifies as crucial for anyone in this field. The same fascination that sees her engrossed in logic puzzles for enjoyment is what makes the intricacies of marketing operations stimulating rather than draining for her.This intrinsic motivation is key to enduring the challenges that come with the territory. Where some see repetitive tasks, Lauren sees opportunities to engage in a kind of cerebral craftsmanship. It's an aspect of the job that often goes unnoticed: the satisfaction derived from solving complex problems and the joy found in mastering the tools of the trade, whether that's building Smartlist filters or crafting Salesforce reports.Lauren also touched on the importance of community in keeping the flame alive. The mops community, to her, is a collective of friendships and professional relationships that provide support, share knowledge, and offer a sense of belonging. It's this very community that can turn a challenging day into an opportunity for collaboration and camaraderie. For Lauren, belonging to such a community underscores the fact that even if the job itself sometimes feels repetitive, the social and collaborative aspect brings a refreshing and rewarding dimension.Key Takeaway: Lauren's passion for marketing operations is sustained by her innate love for problem-solving and the robust community that surrounds her field. Her advice to those considering a career in mops is clear: seek work that inherently interests you and engage with the community. The latter not only provides support but also enhances the job's fulfillment factor, ensuring that you remain motivated and find satisfaction in your work, no matter how tough the going gets.Understanding the Complex Role of Marketing Operations ProfessionalsLauren shed light on the multi-dimensional challenges marketing operations professionals face. The common misperception of mops roles as simple taskmasters—clicking buttons and sending emails—is a major factor contributing to the profession's lack of appreciation and subsequent burnout. There is a disconnect between the perceived simplicity of the role and the complex, often technical, reality of the work involved. Lauren points to an example where a single individual is expected to manage a multitude of sophisticated platforms—a testament to the undervaluing of mops expertise.The problem is compounded when companies prioritize expanding their tech stacks without proportionally supporting their mops teams. Lauren recounts an instance where a client was gifted a new marketing tool as if it were a mere trinket rather than a significant addition to their workload. She echoes the sentiment of a former colleague who believes that the cost of supporting a tool should be triple the price of the tool itself, highlighting the importance of adequate resources and staffing to manage these systems effectively.Furthermore, Lauren touches on the historical tension between marketing and sales, noting how this dynamic often leads to marketing being seen as subordinate, with its operations and budget being the first on the chopping block during financial cutbacks. The conversation extends to revenue operations (RevOps), where despite the integral role of mops, the leadership frequently defaults to sales.Key Takeaway: There's a clear need for a better understanding of the value and complexity of marketing operations within organizations. Lauren's insights advocate for a reevaluation of how marketing ops is perceived and treated. A shift towards recognizing the specialized skills involved and the importance of adequate resources could help alleviate the burnout endemic in the profession and lead to a more balanced and respected role within the business ecosystem.Should Marketing Operations Pivot to a More Technical Identity?Lauren pondered the nuanced question of whether the term 'marketing' adequately represents the depth and breadth of responsibilities that fall under marketing operations. The current nomenclature, she suggests, might contribute to the underestimation of the technical and cross-functional nature of the role. Lauren argued that the work of a marketing operations professional extends far beyond traditional marketing activities, touching various business-critical processes that are foundational to the smooth running of a company.This expansive role often includes managing lead conversion and distribution processes, as well as providing operational support to business development representatives and other teams. The challenge, Lauren notes, is communicating the importance and complexity of these tasks to those outside the department. The introduction of terms like Revenue Operations (RevOps) might be an attempt to address this misalignment by encompassing marketing, sales, and customer service operations under one comprehensive umbrella.Yet, despite the attempts at rebranding, Lauren acknowledges a persistent issue: bandwidth. Marketing operations teams are often expected to undertake significant projects that exceed their resources. This leads to what is known in the tech world as 'technical debt'—the accumulation of maintenance work that gets passed down and often discovered by new hires tasked with database clean-up, much to the knowing amusement of veteran team members.Key Takeaway: Lauren's insights point towards a need for a redefinition of marketing operations to reflect its technical and strategic significance within a business. A shift in perception, coupled with transparent communication about the team's capabilities and needs, is vital. Emphasizing the technical aspects of mops might garner the recognition it deserves, enabling businesses to allocate sufficient resources to manage and invest in their marketing technology stacks effectively.Redefining Marketing Operations' Impact on RevenueLauren addressed a common misconception in the business world—the notion that marketing operations (mops) teams don't directly contribute to revenue generation. This misconception stems from a limited understanding of the critical role mops plays in the larger revenue cycle. She brought forward an instance where a prospect, after meeting with EMMIE Collective's Sidney, questioned the direct impact on qualified pipeline through an assessment of system setup.Through this lens, Lauren illustrated the difficulty of conveying the indirect yet substantial influence mops has on a company's bottom line. A prime example she mentioned was an audit revealing that record synchronization time was reduced from 30 hours to mere minutes, a clear indicator of efficiency gains that, while not reflected in immediate revenue spikes, certainly contribute to revenue recovery and streamlining the sales process.The challenge of educating others, including CEOs, on the value of mops is not lost on Lauren. Her narrative suggests that there is a gap in knowledge at the executive level, which can be bridged with the right communication and tangible examples of operational improvements. The fact that operations teams are not always seen as revenue drivers does not diminish their value; rather, it highlights a need for better understanding and recognition of their contributions.Key Takeaway: Lauren's experience sheds light on the essential, albeit indirect, role that marketing operations teams play in revenue generation. Their work in improving systems and processes might not yield instant financial results, but it's crucial for long-term efficiency and effectiveness. Educating company leaders on the strategic importance of mops is critical, reinforcing that without these teams, understanding and optimizing for revenue would be a challenge.Strategies for Work-Life Harmony in Marketing OperationsLauren, in discussing her career break and subsequent return with EMMIE Collective, imparted that the fundamental step toward achieving work-life balance is aligning one's time with their core values and priorities, regardless of parenthood status. When asked about the impact of her career pause, Lauren emphasized the universal need for this alignment, urging professionals to consistently evaluate their time investment against what truly matters to them.Her return to the workforce, particularly to marketing operations—a field notorious for its demanding nature—was marked with a heightened sense of balance and a new venture that seemingly offered more flexibility than her previous roles. Lauren candidly shared that being a working parent inevitably involves juggling responsibilities and occasionally dropping the ball. The key, however, is ensuring that what falls are the 'plastic balls,' the less critical aspects of life, rather than the 'glass balls,' which represent the vital parts of one's life and work.Lauren's personal experience with burnout serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of mental health, especially in a field as intensive as marketing operations. She experienced a moment of clarity where she recognized the need for change and took control of her schedule to prevent further mental exhaustion. Asserting control over her work schedule and learning to decline meetings or tasks that didn't align with her priorities became a crucial strategy for her well-being.Key Takeaway: Lauren advocates for a mindful approach to work-life balance, one that involves a clear understanding of personal values and the courage to set boundaries. Her story is a permission slip for others feeling trapped in the high stakes of marketing operations to seek change, prioritize mental health, and embrace the autonomy they have over their careers and lives.Choosing Career Contentment Over Growth in Marketing OperationsLauren shared a perspective on career balance that diverges from the common trajectory of constant upward mobility. When asked about harmonizing happiness and career growth, she revealed a pivotal decision—to cap her career growth in favor of contentment and better work-life alignment. This decision was influenced by her managerial experiences at GE and her familial responsibilities, leading her to consulting where she could leverage her skills without the demands of people management.Her journey to establishing EMMIE Collective was characterized by strategic choices, emphasizing capability over hierarchy, as evidenced by her recruitment of experienced professionals who require minimal oversight. Lauren has redefined career growth not as a ladder to climb but as a path to forge based on personal aspirations and a desire for a fulfilling life outside of work.This philosophy extends to her approach to happiness—where professional satisfaction is deeply intertwined with personal joy. Lauren's story is a testament to the power of defining success on one's own terms, recognizing that for some, growth might mean expansion, but for others, like her, it's about depth and richness of experience both at work and at home.Key Takeaway: Lauren's narrative offers a refreshing take on the concept of work-life balance, underscoring the importance of recognizing one's limits and redefining career success. Her experience suggests that sometimes, the most significant growth occurs when we have the courage to choose happiness over traditional notions of career advancement, a valuable lesson for professionals navigating the complexities of modern career paths.Episode RecapThe essence of Lauren's message transcends the specifics of MOPs; it's about the symbiosis between finding work that resonates on a personal level and the professional ecosystem that supports it. This, Lauren posits, is where fulfillment is found, and where problems are not just tasks but puzzles that invigorate the marketer. Her advice was not mere commentary but a call to action for marketing professionals to document their victories, engage with communities, and redefine the value of mops within their organizations, ensuring that the role is not just sustained but celebrated for its strategic importance.Lauren peeled back the curtain on the true essence of side hustles for marketers, presenting them not just as gigs but as gateways to personal and professional growth. She made a compelling case for their value beyond income diversification, positioning side projects as a platform for marketers to enhance skills, find joy, and escape the fungibility that often shadows technical roles. Lauren's narrative suggested that these ventures are more than a backup plan; they're an avenue to pursue passions that may very well blossom into full-fledged careers, blending work with intrinsic satisfaction.Transitioning into the operational realm, Lauren shared the blueprint of her EMMIE Collective's model, a response to a glaring market need for steady marketing expertise. By providing top-tier talent on-demand, her approach is more than a service; it's a hedge against the constant churn of in-house roles. This model, as Lauren demonstrated, isn't just an alternative; it's a potential archetype for sustaining engagement and keeping expertise accessible, come what may in the job market.Underpinning this discussion was the underappreciated complexity of marketing operations. Lauren made a case for its reevaluation within organizations, emphasizing the necessity of marrying technical acumen with strategic insight. She championed a transparent dialogue about the capabilities and requirements of mops teams, advocating for the recognition of their indirect yet critical contribution to revenue generation—a reminder that these roles are pivotal in streamlining systems for long-term business health.Lauren didn't shy away from the endemic issue of burnout in the profession. She called for structured implementation, continuous learning, and an internal shift that celebrates the technical prowess involved in mops. She envisioned experienced practitioners taking up the mantle of mentors, guiding novices through the complexities of the field, and fostering an environment where knowledge transfer is as pivotal as innovation.✌️ —Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with Midjourney

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

What's up folks, today we're joined by Ryan Gunn, Director of Demand Gen & Marketing Ops at Aptitude 8.Summary: HubSpot is not just a user-friendly CRM but also a forward-looking tool in the rapidly evolving world of AI and martech. While it's not a substitute for a dedicated data warehouse for complex queries, it serves well as a real-time connector to other systems via CRM cards. Gaining practical skills from HubSpot's developer portal is critical—certifications alone won't cut it. If keeping up with martech changes overwhelms your in-house team, specialized consultancies offer a reservoir of constantly updated expertise. Sound documentation serves as the bedrock of your internal processes, setting you up for long-term success. Don't just read about it; listen to the podcast episode for deep, actionable insights into leveraging HubSpot for AI integration and data quality.About Ryan Ryan started his career by getting his feet wet freelancing in design and social media projects He took on the role of Inbound Marketing Account Exec at Boyle public affairs where he got to wear a bunch of different marketing hats, including his first taste of Hubspot He later became Senior Digital Marketing Manager at WealthForge, a fintech company where he owned marketing automation and lead gen Ryan the took on the challenge of Head of Marketing at Array, an event technology startup where he built their marketing department from the ground up in two years Today, Ryan works at Aptitude 8, an Elite HubSpot partner consultancy where he started in a client facing consulting role helping clients with big hairy migration projects like migrating Marketo and Pardot into Hubspot and marketing attribution projects Today he's Aptitude 8's Director of Demand Gen and MOPs responsible for growing the consultancy's services business and brand awareness HubSpot's Emerging AI Landscape and Market AdoptionWe started by asking Ryan about his experience with HubSpot's new AI tools and their current usage in the market, he offered a comprehensive view. HubSpot is rolling out two significant tools: Content Assistant and ChatSpot. Content Assistant serves as an internal ChatGPT, letting users draft blog posts or emails directly within HubSpot's interface. ChatSpot, while more complex, operates as an external system linked to your CRM data, generating reports through natural language prompts.However, these tools are still in the nascent stage. Ryan revealed that the implementation rate is relatively low at this point. Despite the curiosity among clients to explore these features, the tools haven't fully integrated into business processes yet. But don't let that deter you; HubSpot is ahead of the curve in the AI game. According to Ryan, HubSpot has already laid out a roadmap for AI-based tools that will extend far beyond just Content Assistant and ChatSpot. We're talking about reporting assistants, automation assistants, and even an AI-powered website builder.This isn't a mere extension of existing features; it's a reimagination of what a CRM can be. HubSpot is not stopping at providing the basic CRM tools; they're layering AI functionalities on top, touching every aspect of their platform. While current adoption may be slow, Ryan sees this as an indicator of an inevitable, transformative change in how businesses will interact with CRMs.Key Takeaway: The adoption rate of HubSpot's new AI tools may be in its infancy, but that's more a function of market readiness than a comment on the tools' potential. With an expansive AI roadmap, HubSpot is setting the stage for a future where AI isn't just an add-on; it's intrinsic to the CRM experience. It's worth keeping an eye on HubSpot's next moves, as they'll likely set the pace for the industry.The AI Integration Dilemma for Emerging Tech FoundersWhen Ryan was asked about the hesitation some tech founders have regarding AI integration into their products, his stance was unequivocal: it's early days, but progress is rapid. A mere six months ago, AI was barely a blip on most of our work radars. Now, it's becoming integral. Founders find themselves at a crossroads, forced to make a pivotal decision. Either integrate AI into their software or offer the option to connect their software with AI tools via third-party platforms like Zapier.But this isn't a decision to make lightly. According to Ryan, it boils down to whether the company aims to be a comprehensive platform or a specialized point solution. Opting for the latter means the pressure is on to excel in that niche. If they don't, larger platforms like HubSpot are poised to scoop up those features, layer AI functionalities over them, and package it as a part of their already established CRM systems. These integrated solutions may not be better, but they offer convenience by residing in an ecosystem clients are already invested in.So what's the crux of the issue? To integrate or not isn't just a technical decision; it's a strategic one that could define a company's future. Choose to stay specialized, and you need to be the best in that realm to stay relevant. Integrate AI, and you may not outshine the giants, but you become a part of a broader, rapidly evolving landscape.Key Takeaway: Hesitation to integrate AI into your product could lead to missed opportunities. You're choosing between being a specialist in a niche or part of a wider, faster-evolving tech ecosystem. Each has its merits, but understand this: indecision is a decision in itself, and the pace of AI development waits for no one.The Vital Role of Data Structure in AI AdoptionWhen Ryan was asked about the practicalities of implementing AI tools in CRM systems like HubSpot, he was quick to pinpoint the critical role of data structure. It's simple: your AI experience is only as good as the data you provide. If you've got a shaky foundation, don't expect the sophisticated algorithms to correct your mistakes. AI isn't a magic wand that turns bad data into insightful outcomes; it's a magnifier that accentuates the quality—or lack thereof—of your existing information.This isn't a new phenomenon. Ryan compares the situation to current reporting structures within organizations. How many times have you heard, "I don't trust this report" or "These numbers aren't right"? Often, the blame doesn't lie with the reporting tool but with the underlying data or its flawed structuring. Just like you wouldn't blame a mirror for how you look in the morning, pointing fingers at AI for poor results steers the attention away from the actual culprit: bad data.This brings us to an important realization: if you're going to integrate AI into your processes, you need to take the time to audit, clean, and structurally organize your data. AI isn't forgiving; it doesn't make bad data better, it makes it obvious. And in the realm of business where data-driven decisions are pivotal, shoddy data is not just an inconvenience—it's a handicap.Key Takeaway: Before even thinking about adopting AI into your CRM or any business process, ensure your data is clean and well-structured. Anything less and you're setting yourself up for failure. AI amplifies the quality of your data; it doesn't fix it. Make this your first step in any AI implementation journey.The Tug-of-War Between All-In-One Solutions and Niche ExpertiseWhen asked about the consolidation of martech tools, particularly in platforms like HubSpot, Ryan offered a clear-cut viewpoint. The future belongs to either all-encompassing platforms or specialized point solutions catering to niche markets. There's a thinning middle ground, and if you're neither a giant like HubSpot nor focused on a niche, you'll likely be pushed out of the marketplace.Ryan also shed light on the growing demand for industry-specific expertise. Clients are turning away from large agencies that claim to be jacks-of-all-trades but masters of none. They want agencies that excel in distinct verticals or use-cases. It's a trend that's not limited to service companies; tech providers face the same reality. HubSpot may offer an extensive toolset, but it can't cater to every specialized industry need. That's where point solutions step in, offering highly customized options that HubSpot can't afford to focus on due to its broader customer base.But let's not underestimate HubSpot's adaptability. Ryan likens HubSpot to the Apple of martech—a comprehensive, seamless ecosystem. It's no longer just a canned platform; its extensibility allows for customization down to individual CRM cards and custom code, thus enabling companies to craft tailored solutions within its structure. In a way, HubSpot is morphing into a platform where you can build point solutions atop its robust foundation.Contrary to the perception of being solely HubSpot-focused, Ryan clarified that his agency is not strictly "tool agnostic," but they do possess expertise in any tool that complements or integrates with HubSpot. He recognizes that even with HubSpot's expansive features, there are instances when an external tool may be more fitting for a specific use case.Key Takeaway: If you're a business deciding between an all-in-one solution like HubSpot and a specialized point solution, know this: the ecosystem you choose will heavily influence your capabilities. You'll either embrace the depth of a niche tool or the breadth and adaptability of a platform like HubSpot. Make your choice based on your specific needs, not the general buzz in the industry.The Data Warehouse vs. HubSpot CRM: Where Should Your Data Live?When asked about the evolving role of data warehouses and HubSpot CRM as the "source of truth," Ryan provided an insightful two-part answer. On one hand, data warehouses are starting to integrate AI tools that could mimic functionalities like HubSpot's chatbot features. With these AI tools, you can query all customer data that's consolidated in the data warehouse, across various systems. Ryan believes that while these advancements are underway, HubSpot itself isn't inherently built to serve as a data warehouse. It excels in areas like usability and quick onboarding but falters in serving as a comprehensive data repository.The issue intensifies when teams have to toggle between multiple systems for a single task. Data loss and inefficiencies arise, especially when manual data transfer between systems is required. Ryan points out that this inefficiency can be mitigated by using CRM cards. These cards retrieve and action data not stored in HubSpot but are built into your HubSpot contact or deal record. They facilitate real-time connection with other systems like ERP for tasks such as inventory management or dynamic pricing. All of this is done without ever leaving HubSpot, making the process seamless and efficient.Yet, the fact remains that HubSpot shouldn't try to be your data warehouse, according to Ryan. Its design and functionality are geared towards user-friendliness and quick task execution. If you're dealing with complex data retrieval and queries, a dedicated data warehouse with AI capabilities is where you should be looking.However, the nuance here is that while HubSpot should not be your data warehouse, it can still serve as a hub to access that data. The CRM cards function as a practical bridge between HubSpot's easy-to-use interface and the heavy data lifting that takes place in a specialized data warehouse.Key Takeaway: HubSpot serves a specific need and does it well, but it's not designed to be a data warehouse. Leverage CRM cards to bridge the gap between HubSpot's user-friendly environment and the more complex, data-rich capabilities of a data warehouse. This way, you're not sacrificing efficiency or risking data loss.Navigating the Complex Landscape of Data Management in HubSpot ImplementationsWhen asked about the challenges that have evolved in the realm of data management and collection, especially with the rise of Google Analytics 4 and HubSpot's expanding capabilities, Ryan had a layered response. The HubSpot ecosystem itself has become significantly more complex over the years. What started as a simple inbound marketing tool has grown into a platform that encompasses CMS and Sales Hub, and it now finds itself in an even more complex martech ecosystem.Ryan emphasized that data attribution has become increasingly difficult to nail down. Unlike five years ago, marketers today face the challenge of eroding first-party and third-party data. Cookies are going away, forms are losing their appeal, and this makes it difficult to track precisely what drives revenue. In such a climate, data serves more as a directional indicator rather than a strict "source of truth."In terms of operational challenges, Ryan pointed out that the key is not to get bogged down in trying to capture every data point, which is both resource-draining and virtually impossible. Whether you're a small business with a one-person marketing team or a larger entity with a full-fledged marketing operations setup, the objective should be to collect what's reasonable for your scale.Ryan's perspective is a wake-up call. Trying to pinpoint an exact ROI down to the last cent is no longer feasible or even sensible. Instead, businesses should aim to get a directional sense from their data. HubSpot, with its user-friendly interface and versatile features, can serve as a reliable tool for that, even if it isn't built to be a data warehouse.Key Takeaway: Stop chasing an exact ROI from your data. Focus on gathering actionable insights that give you a directional sense of your marketing efforts. With the right approach, even amidst data challenges, platforms like HubSpot can be powerful allies.Navigating HubSpot's Maze: A Candid Take on Data Management and AttributionWhen asked about the operational challenges of implementing HubSpot and focusing on data attribution, Ryan offered a cautionary perspective. Shoving all your data into HubSpot isn't the move. Why? Because data overload leads to an intractable mess that becomes someone else's nightmare when your in-house HubSpot wizard moves on. Ryan advocates for a minimum viable product approach to data. Capture only what's absolutely essential for making informed decisions. The goal isn't to turn HubSpot into a dumping ground for data but to transform it into an effective tool for relevant, actionable insights.Ryan stressed that HubSpot's reporting functionality can be quite user-friendly when used effectively. Here's the low-down: create a deal-based custom report. Link any property on the deal record to your revenue numbers. He emphasizes the utility of HubSpot workflows, specifically the 'create a deal from a contact' action. By automating deal creation through workflows, you can copy any property from the contact record to the deal record. And why does this matter? It captures data at the time of the deal creation, giving you a snapshot of the customer's last interaction before conversion.Ryan pointed out one of HubSpot's significant limitations: its inability to effectively track a timeline of interactions over time. For example, if a contact fills out multiple forms that influence lifecycle stage changes, HubSpot won't intuitively show this data sequence. However, Ryan offered a workaround. At the moment a deal is created, capture the last form the contact filled out. This data will be preserved on the deal record, even if it changes on the contact record later. This strategy, Ryan argues, offers a valuable attribution tool within HubSpot's framework.For those getting lost in the nitty-gritty of data management, Ryan's approach simplifies it. Instead of grappling with a flood of information, focus on gathering only what's crucial for making effective decisions. Yes, HubSpot allows you to create detailed attribution reports. But simplicity and precision often trump complexity. Make it about actionable insights, not data hoarding.Key Takeaway: Don't turn HubSpot into a data landfill. Prioritize essential data that informs decision-making. Leverage HubSpot's 'create a deal from a contact' feature to link data to revenue effectively, and gain insights that are immediately actionable.Why HubSpot's Developer Portal is Your New Best Friend for LearningWhen asked about the ideal pathway for acquiring HubSpot skills, Ryan flipped the script entirely. Forget years of standard use or merely relying on HubSpot's official certifications. Ryan's game-changing insight? Anyone can set up a developer account on HubSpot, granting you access to enterprise-level tools. With this, you're not just restricted to learning; you're empowered to solve real-world problems in a sandbox environment.Ryan has been in the HubSpot game for almost a decade, but this revelation only came to him in the last year. The developer portal, he pointed out, enables you to take questions from communities, like those on LinkedIn, and then run experiments to find solutions. It's not just theoretical knowledge anymore; it's about rolling up your sleeves and digging into the weeds to resolve genuine issues. The aim isn't merely to understand HubSpot but to apply that knowledge in complex, real-world scenarios.It's not that Ryan discounts the value of HubSpot certifications. He actively encourages taking them to stay current. But where certifications can teach you the "what" and the "why," the developer portal teaches you the "how." The questions you encounter from the community are grounded in genuine business challenges, bringing you much closer to the day-to-day experiences you'll face with clients.The contrast couldn't be more stark between standard certifications and handling a client's live concerns. By using the developer portal, Ryan has shifted from passive learning to active problem-solving. You're not just being taught; you're learning by doing. In a landscape filled with ever-increasing tools and features, this hands-on approach may be the most beneficial way to stay ahead.Key Takeaway: Don't limit your HubSpot education to official certifications. Use HubSpot's developer portal to get hands-on experience with enterprise tools and solve real-world problems you encounter in online communities. This practical approach will fast-track your learning and make you a go-to HubSpot expert.The Power of Collective Expertise in Martech ToolsWhen asked about the complexities of becoming a specialist in a single martech tool versus a generalist in multiple platforms, Ryan offered some keen insights. According to him, the challenge for in-house marketers is manifold. These professionals often juggle tasks that leave them no room to stay updated on the consistent changes in tools like HubSpot, which practically churns out new features daily.Ryan emphasized the underestimated value of a community of experts within a consultancy or services company. Using his own experience at aptitude eight as an example, he illustrated that it's not about hiring one person with specialized knowledge, but rather tapping into a reservoir of collective intelligence. He recounted how the company's internal communication channels become a flurry of problem-solving activity whenever a client issue arises.Interestingly, Ryan attributed his own 'aha moments,' such as the comment he made on Mike Rizzo's post, to this collective wisdom. These insights don't solely come from his own experience; they're shared knowledge gained from ongoing conversations with colleagues. Ryan firmly believes that the power of many far outweighs the capability of one, especially when navigating the intricate world of martech tools that continuously evolve.The dialogue also addressed the question of whether small teams should rely on in-house expertise for managing tools like HubSpot or Iterable. Ryan's perspective makes it clear that the advantages of hiring a services company go beyond simple delegation. It's about leveraging a vast pool of information that is continually updated and shared across experts in the field.Key Takeaway: Don't underestimate the collective knowledge within a specialized consultancy. While an in-house expert may struggle to keep up with constant updates, a team of professionals can provide real-time solutions and avoid costly errors. In this fast-paced martech environment, the wisdom of the crowd is invaluable.The Imperative of Documentation in Marketing OperationsWhen asked about the challenges of change management in marketing operations, particularly with the turnover of employees, Ryan emphasized the critical role of documentation. Unlike many in-house teams that often neglect this step, his team ensures that every project or retainer is accompanied by comprehensive documentation. This comes in various forms—spreadsheets, loom videos, and detailed Word documents. The goal is straightforward: to create a seamless transition for clients or internal teams, especially when there's a change in the delivery team.This documentation-first approach tackles a significant gap in many organizations. Typically, an employee's departure over two weeks leaves a vacuum filled with undocumented tasks and processes. It's akin to trying to piece together a puzzle without knowing what the final picture looks like. Ryan's approach fills this gap and ensures that tasks don't fall between the cracks. They even use a well-structured project management system to track completed tasks, upcoming activities, and the state of different projects.But Ryan's advocacy for robust documentation doesn't end with client-facing projects; it extends to the internal team as well. Ryan praised his VP of People Operations for setting an example with an impeccable onboarding process that includes pre-recorded videos and walkthroughs for every piece of software used by the company. This recorded content serves as a resource that new hires can revisit, which is particularly helpful when absorbing a large amount of information in a short period.What sets Ryan and his team apart is that they've baked documentation into their operational DNA. They're not just doing it for clients or for transitions; they recognize it as a cornerstone of effective operations. Ryan candidly admits that even he could do more on this front, an acknowledgment that the process of documentation is an ongoing endeavor.Key Takeaway: Documentation isn't a one-off task or a box to be checked; it's an ongoing commitment that has a profound impact on the efficiency and resilience of an organization. Make it a part of your operations rather than an afterthought, and you'll find that changes and transitions become markedly easier to manage.Finding the Sweet Spot Between Career and Personal LifeWhen asked about how he manages to remain both happy and successful while juggling multiple roles, Ryan highlighted the significance of balance. "You have to make sure you're not dipping too far in one direction or another," he said. He touched upon a challenge many of us face—burnout. Diving too deep into work, according to Ryan, not only led to emotional exhaustion but also caused physical injuries. It's clear that imbalance in one area can have a domino effect on other parts of life.Ryan emphasized that maintaining this equilibrium isn't merely about managing work. It extends to ensuring you're getting enough sleep, exercise, and even a dash of outdoor activity. Ignoring any of these aspects can create a lopsided life that, in the long run, serves no one. Exercise stands out as a particularly important component, acting as a sort of anchor that helps to maintain a stable mental state, thereby enabling more effective work and a more fulfilling personal life.What's striking about Ryan's perspective is its simplicity. There's no magical formula or secret sauce for a balanced life. It comes down to fundamental aspects like sleep, physical activity, and time spent outdoors. His advice aligns with the well-documented idea that happiness and success don't always spring from extraordinary actions but often from getting the basics right.However, the real world always poses the challenge of application. Recognizing the need for balance is one thing; implementing it in the chaos of everyday life is another. But if we take a page out of Ryan's book, it starts by setting small, achievable goals for these fundamental aspects of life. After all, as he pointed out, the cost of imbalance is not just emotional but can have physical repercussions as well.Key Takeaway: Balance doesn't require revolutionary actions; it needs attention to basics like sleep, exercise, and a touch of the outdoors. The focus should be on maintaining this balance to prevent burnout and ensure both happiness and success.Episode RecapHubSpot is more than a CRM—it's a glimpse into the future of AI-driven business, and you can't afford to be left behind. If you're a tech founder, listen up: choosing whether to integrate AI isn't a 'maybe someday' decision. It's now. Don't let the slow adoption rates of HubSpot's new AI features fool you; marketers are is just catching up to what the tools can do. Your data is the fuel for this AI engine, but bad data? That's like throwing sand in the gas tank. If you're going to play the AI game, you've got to get your data house in order, period.HubSpot isn't a 'one-size-fits-all' solution, especially when it comes to data. Sure, it's user-friendly, but for the heavy data lifting, you'll still need a dedicated data warehouse. Where HubSpot shines is in its evolving adaptability. They're constantly adding functionalities, making it not just a CRM but part of an expanding martech universe. So, make your choice wisely. Are you looking for an all-in-one platform, or do you need specialized tools? Each path will define your capabilities, and this isn't a decision to make lightly.If you're striving to become a HubSpot pro, don't just settle for certifications. Dive into HubSpot's developer portal. It's not a playground; it's a training ground for tackling real-world problems. Here's your chance to go beyond the "what" and "why" and dig into the "how." Practical skills trump theory every single time.And let's talk collective smarts. In the fast-paced world of martech, even the sharpest in-house marketer can get swamped. That's where a specialized consultancy steps in. You're not just outsourcing tasks; you're tapping into a hive mind of expertise. This shared pool of knowledge is continually refreshed, giving you insights and solutions you couldn't get flying solo.Don't underestimate the grunt work of thorough documentation. It's not sexy, but it's the backbone of any successful operation. Documentation isn't just for the client transition; it's also a lifesaver for internal processes, especially when you're juggling team changes. It's not an extra—it's essential. Get it right, and you'll not only survive the inevitable team and tech changes, but you'll thrive. Now go on, give that episode a listen. It's packed with real talk you won't want to miss.If you're grappling with the complexities of AI, data attribution, and martech decision-making, this podcast episode is your roadmap. Ryan doesn't just skim the surface; he dives deep into actionable strategies for leveraging HubSpot, integrating AI, and maximizing your data quality. This isn't a passive listen; it's a call to action for anyone looking to be a front-runner in the rapidly evolving martech space. So don't miss out—listen to the episode and arm yourself with the insights to stay ahead

After 100 interviews with 100 incredible entrepreneurs, Aaron and the Web Masters team are diving into the archives to extract some of the best advice about entrepreneurship and building profitable Internet businesses. We're calling it "Startup Gold."In the first episode of Startup Gold, we're catching back up with David Cummings, founder of Pardot, to explore his thoughts on what it takes to build a truly great product.For a complete transcript of the episode, click here.

Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer SocietyJoin my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/[Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍‍Guest: Dalton HandyBusiness Name: TempMeeCheck out Dalton's Media:‍Website: http://tempmee.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tempmeeapp/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tempmee/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tempmee/Twitter: https://twitter.com/tempmeeapp‍Dalton Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalton-handyEmail: Dalton@TempMee.com ‍Other Mentions and Links:HubSpotMarketoSalesforcePardotSlackGoogle AdsYelpCapterraHannible Barca - "We will either find a way, or make one"Steve JobsCary Gahm, Edward Thomas, and Debra SimmonsUberThe Infinite Game - Simon Sinek‍‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍‍My Key Takeaways:Making sure potential patients can find you online and optimizing your website is an often overlooked essential first step.Utilizing a CRM like Hubspot can help keep all of your patient communication and followup in one place.Sending out email newsletters to remind the community that your office is up to date and spreading helpful information is a great way to stay in touch. Be sure not to overwhelm your email list though!Try to make your office and website have a unique twist, ensuring an office across the country couldn't directly copy you.Always provide options for contacting your office. Making it hard for patients to call, text, or email will be a big point of friction.If you're running a private practice, think about how you can set yourself apart from DSOs! You may be able to add more of a personal touch than most dental organizations.‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)Michael: Alright, it's time to talk with our featured guest, Dalton Handy. Dalton, how's it going? Uh, pretty good. Dalton: Michael, how about you? Michael: I'm doing pretty good, man. Thanks for asking. If you could tell us a little bit about your past, your present, how'd you get to where you Dalton: are today? I. Yeah, so I've been in marketing for eight years now.I started my career coming out of the University of Denver in, in a slightly lesser known field of marketing operations. So it's all like the systems and processes that make marketing work, right, to be able to prove value and to get a feel for everything. So I started my career there. Um, I'm now here at Tempe, which is my third startup where I, I really think that I thrive, right?This is where I am able to build, I'm able to really see the impacts of my efforts, um, and I'm more connected with, with our users as well than I have been at a much larger corporation. So this is the second time that I've built a marketing department within, within a startup, and so far it's been going really well.Gotcha. Michael: So, real quick temp me Dalton: is what? Temi is a dental staffing community, so we help offices find placement with assistance as well as hygienists for both temporary, multi-day and permanent placement services as well. Gotcha. Michael: So before the other two startups that you worked at, was it in the industry, dental industry, Dalton: or No.Great question. Not in the slightest. I've spent a lot of time in cybersecurity and then the other startup that I was at was actually a highly verticalized software company. So they specialized in software for, um, portable toilet vendors, roll off dumpsters and septic pumpers. So it was very specific.Really cool company there, and that's where I really discovered my passion for startup marketing and being able to have that a lot bigger connection with, with your customers and have a lot more fun with what you're doing as a marketer too. That's where I really found my passion for it. And so even though it's kind of a funky industry, I'll, always be forever, but grateful.Yeah. Nice Michael: man. So you've been in marketing for a minute now, right? And it's cool that you're working in a company that like, you know, is revolved around our industry, right? The dental industry, of course. But when it comes to, you said you created systems and processes that make marketing work down to us.Okay, cool. What Dalton: is that? Yeah. So one of the key things that you'll note, uh, as particularly as you get into bigger companies, bigger corporations, you're gonna have a lot of different systems. But from a marketing perspective, one that's gonna be crucial is your marketing automation platform, right? So you're gonna do a lot of things outta this platform.One's gonna be sending your emails, you can build landing pages, you keep track of all your contacts and your database in that, and then you can also, you know, implement. Uh, all of your website tracking so you can see who's on your site when, what pages they're engaging with, collect data via forms, and then connect all of those activities together, right?So as soon as somebody fills out a form, cool. Now we're going to direct them over to the right sales representative, but also we're gonna send them. A text, an email, you know, whatever that might be that is in line with their previous action and then make sure that they've got the right communications going their way.So that's really the hub of, uh, any marketing operations person is going to be focused heavily on that system. But then they're also gonna be working with all of the other arms of marketing. So whether you've got, you know, your trade show, people that are sending leads one way, great. You're gonna be working with them to make sure that they can prove R o I.On their adventures. Uh, you're gonna be working with the paid media folks. Obviously, all, all your branding people, your email marketers, you really help tie everything together. So it's a, it's a really cool way to start your career, I think, because you get so much exposure to all of those different types of marketing.Ah, Michael: okay. So then how can we, I guess, funnel that into, Practice, right? Meaning like we got our front office, we have our dentist, our practice, and I know you said that's one of your area of expertise is where you build a marketing department. So could you in this real quick amount of time, like build us a marketing department for the practice?Dalton: Yeah, I think so. You know, even as somebody who hasn't done that specific niche, I think there are quite a few things that you can do right off the bat, right? And there are varying levels of automation platforms that I would start with, right? If you've got the platform and you've got access to the right tools, then you can start to build from there.So that's always kind of my step one. In fact, when I started at temp me, even during the interview process, I made it abundantly clear. Hey guys, when I start, we're gonna buy HubSpot. That's gonna be like the first thing that we're gonna do, and then we'll go from there. so, you know, looking at those, those tiers, right?So on, on the very top, like enterprise end, you've got things like Marketo. You know, Salesforce has Pardot, part O, whatever you wanna call it. and then HubSpot is great. It scales up and down as you want. so that's, that's usually a go-to start, or a starter kind of, um, automation package. So, Getting that system in first, right?Making sure that you've got everything centralized and you're gonna need one person that's dedicated to this, right? Typically, it's not gonna be somebody that is already an office manager that already has, you know, their, their plate is entirely full. But what this person should be able to come in and do is, number one, let's work with an agency.Make sure that your website is well optimized, right? Anybody who's looking for you, is gonna be able to find you, whether that's from an s e o perspective or from a pay-per-click perspective at, you know, at minimum on Google, those are the low hanging fruit. Making sure that the people who are looking are able to find you.Then what you do is you can take all that information, process it through your platform, and make sure that you're following up with people appropriately. Right? Everybody hates it. If you submit a contact form, you know you're interested in the business, you're potentially gonna buy something, spend money, and then you don't hear back.You know, it's a bit of a slap in the face, right? So that's one of the nice things about these platforms is you schedule those. Automatically to, to go out. As soon as somebody submits the form, you know, you're gonna set a reminder for maybe the marketing person, maybe the office manager to put in a call, Hey, let's get you on the schedule.You know, what does, what does that really look like? So that would be kind of my, my beginning of that. In addition to, I. You know, putting together some simple things, a newsletter, some content pieces, just to, just to really show people that your practice is at the forefront of dentistry. Um, that you're really staying up to date, you know, obviously on all your CE and things like that.but that they're not going to somebody who is I. Posting, right? Mm-hmm. I, I don't, that, that's not the practice that I want to go to. I want to go to somebody who is, who's really on top of their game, and I think that you can really highlight all of that through your various marketing efforts. Email is a great one because it's free, right?You can, you can always email. there's a bunch out there. My, my recommended cadence on email too is typically gonna be two to three times a week at absolute max. I would probably, for a practice. Once every two weeks. Something like that would be more of the max that I would go to. Just to stay in touch, stay in front of people, make sure that they're getting useful information, but not overwhelm 'em with any, any information that you've got going on.Michael: Yeah, interesting. So HubSpot and Pardo or Pardot you said, right? if I just got it, I'm listening to this episode. Okay, I got HubSpot now what do I do? Right. Kind of thing. Dalton: Yeah, for sure.Okay. So there's quite a few sections within, I'll use HubSpot, the As the example. That's what we use now. I think it's, it is great for, Many levels of business. So there's gonna be your marketing hub and there's a sales hub For our perspective, you know, obviously a lot more, uh, focused on the marketing hub.So you've got a few different sections. One's gonna be all your contacts, so this is gonna be people that are already in your system, existing patients, things like that. Uh, and then it's also gonna collect the new folks that as they come in, so you'll wanna set up a few normal fields just to track the things that are relevant to you, right?So, Uh, you know, for example, when somebody hits our website and fills out a form, we wanna figure out are you representing a practice? Are you a hygienist? Are you an assistant? You know exactly who are you? So you set up a few custom fields to get that right information so that you can speak to people as they want to be spoken to.Right? That's always gonna be any, uh, goal with any marketing effort. So you set up, you know, your foundations there and you can build some basic workflows, right? So if you've got your website, you put a form on the website. Okay, cool. As soon as that form is filled out, you can create what's called a workflow to say, great, I'm gonna shoot them a text saying exactly this.I'm gonna shoot them an email saying exactly this. You can use some customization tokens as well. So basically what that'll do is if they give you their first and last name, great. Let's use that in the email just to show that you know, we're listening and, and we care. Uh, and then you've got, you know, default values.Then you can also connect that to any other, many other systems that you've got. So, for example, if you use Slack, internally or something like that, you can send an alert to say your office manager to follow up with that person and, and place a call so you can place all their information there.Those would be my, my number one steps, and then you'd start to build out some email templates, probably some landing page templates, things that you can reuse time and time again as you launch different initiatives. Gotcha. Michael: Okay. So it's a lot we can do with that, right? Dalton: Yeah. It's, it's really, we use it certainly as like our, our centralized hub for all things marketing.and then, you know, as you get all of that data coming in, then you can say, okay, cool. How much are we really getting out of our Google ads? Right. And you can start to kind of go deeper and dive into how successful, uh, all of your channels are, are so far. Michael: Hmm. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. So it's really good for like tracking as well and everything like that.Dalton: Yeah, most definitely. And particularly, you know, on the email side, it's great. You can take a look at any email, you're gonna see your open rate, bounce rate, click rate, click through rate. You can see what links are being clicked on, what isn't all, all that good stuff, um, just baked right there into the app.Michael: Gotcha man. Awesome. Okay, so then let's talk a little bit more about, business when it comes to dentists. So like, what can a practice owner, a dentist do today to improve their marketing or their business? Dalton: I think number one is always gonna start with the website, right? That's an area where people are always gonna pop to anytime they're considering, you know, joining or coming to your practice, as a patient.So that's, that's always where I wanna start, number one, making sure that it's at least up to date, you know, with the right information, hours, all that good stuff, but also that it has a welcoming atmosphere. I think. one thing that is, Always a little bit tricky is overusing stock imagery, right? Mm-hmm.I think that that can be something that's a little tricky. It's not gonna necessarily give people the feeling of safety and comfortability, uh, as they come in and check out your practice. And then you also wanna make sure I. Every conversion point is optimized, right? So if I'm coming to your website as somebody who's considering, being a patient at your practice, I wanna make sure that once I decide, cool, this looks great, that I can get in touch with you as quickly as possible, I.Whether I wanna pick up the phone now, I'm 30, that's never the answer for me, right? I wanna ha have multiple options. So, uh, you know, whether it's a text line, incorporating chat onto the website or just filling out a form, Hey, this is what I'm looking for, this is when I'd like to come in, that type of thing.And then even if somebody gives me a call back, I'm, you know, that understand about that. but making sure that people can really get ahold of you is something that. Is absolutely essential and is often actually overlooked. Right? We, we put so much time and effort into making a beautiful site that really speaks to the core of who we are, what makes us special, all those things.And then it's easy to forget, oh wait, we're here to generate business From this site. Yeah. Michael: For you personally, right now, let's just say you got on Delton, got on the website, practice looking for somebody, some pops up right on Google. Would you search on Google or how would you look? Go about?Dalton: Yeah, absolutely. That'd be, that'd be my first go-to. I'm gonna look at dental practices around me, right? 'cause I want something that's, you know, close proximity. So we moved two years ago to, to this specific area of Denver that we live in. And so it's exactly what I did was I hopped on Google Maps, actually is is another thing.And that's, its home, it's own whole area of ss e o. Um, but yes, Google and Google Maps are gonna be the primary way that I would try to find a new practice. Michael: Okay, so you went on Google Maps, and then you clicked on the first one or the first couple, right? And then how would you want it to go from that point on?Would you, what is the first things you're looking at? What are the things where you're like, all right, I'm gonna contact now, or I'm gonna save it for later. Lemme look at somebody else. What made you wanna save it for later? And look it for Dalton: somebody else? I'm looking for a little bit of familiarity, right?I wanna hit your site and understand, a practice halfway across the country couldn't have this exact same website, right? So actually one of the things that stuck out to me about the practice that I go to. They had this really cool, uh, initial picture on their homepage of, I think it was everybody that works at the office just decked out in their Bronco gear, right.They'd say, you know, they're, they're all about the Broncos there. Yeah. And, uh, so I was like, okay, cool. I get, I get, you know, a little bit of something about who they are without even having to read anything. And so I think, you know, being able to put, put out who you are, and that's something that we're trying to do.Temp me too is, is highlight some of the things that culturally make us special because there's inherent familiarity and comfortability that lies within that. Um, but I, I think that be personal, show who you are, show what makes you special, those are absolutely something. There are things that anybody can do and can tap into to make people feel comfortable and, and excited about, you know, coming to your practice.Gotcha. So Michael: you got on that website and immediately you booked something or were you like, let me look, let me look at. Other stuff. Dalton: I checked a couple others around just to, you know, do my due diligence. I'm the kind of person who, if I'm going on vacation, I'm gonna make a spreadsheet that has all of the different options and then rank on different variables.Right? That's, that's how I do my decision making. It's never one and done. Um, but that one really stood out to me, right? I, I felt like I understood what they were about and so I circled back after maybe looking at three or four more. Also, obviously checked the reviews, right? That's always a huge thing, uh, making sure that primarily your Google reviews are in good shape.Uh, there are a num number of ways that you can incentivize people to get those reviews, but also responded to is a good thing to look at, right? That's, that's somebody that to me is on top of their business and really caress, right? Negative reviews will happen. There's always gonna be, you know, some.Patient that you can never make happy, right? Mm-hmm. But responding to those reviews in a kind way that shows compassion, understanding, and that you're just caring about your business is, is always a great look. Michael: Yeah. And so the three to four that you were checking out that you're like, nah, they don't fit, but this is like your due diligence, what was the things where you were like, actually, what was the one outta the, the four that you were looking at where you were like, And you know what I mean?Like the bounce rate was super fast where you're just like, nah, I don't want to Dalton: get on this one. Yeah. I think the ones that I would've pointed to like that were ones that looked like something I could have made, you know, in a week. I exclusively stock imagery. There's nothing that points to this office being special.it is really cut and dry. And then certainly anybody that had less than like 4.4, 4.5 stars on Google with the, with their reviews at a good volume, that was always gonna be a huge concern. Michael: Do you check more on Yelp or on Google? Dalton: I check more on Google personally. Yeah. Okay, gotcha.Interesting. Yelp is always interesting, right? There's, uh, different components to basically any rating or review site, whether it's Capterra for software or Yelp for, you know, basically anything. there's always a pay to play component, so I'm naturally a little, little skeptical, right? I think the overall rating is usually gonna be in good shape, but I also understand that the order in which things are presented to me isn't necessarily gonna be, I.In the order of quality, uh mm-hmm. You know, the one through 10 isn't gonna necessarily be reflective of that quality. Michael: Yeah, that's true. That's true. And so then on the, on the website that you went with the Broncos, everybody, right? Like in the ones that you decided to, that's it. How did you contact Dalton: them?Ooh, that's a good question. I'm not sure I remember. Uh, I believe that I filled out their contact us form. Okay. And that's what Michael: you like? Dalton: Yeah, that's, that's what I like. 'cause then I can, you know, drop a line, particularly if I'm, you know, buying software or something like that, I can drop a line to multiple different options.See how they get back to me. To me, that's gonna be indicative of their performance as a business. And then go from there. Right. Maybe some, some offices weren't gonna be, Weren't going to be accepting new patients, anything like that. Of course, if that's the case, you'd expect a notice, you know, on the website that Hey, don't waste your time here, we're full.Um, but then go from there in terms of, you know, responding to any emails that they send me, they expect a phone call, that type of thing. Michael: Gotcha. Because sometimes, like when, I remember when I was working in the practice, like we would get a form filled out and they told us they wanted us. To call you guys.Yeah, and I don't know if that was the best thing. Would you prefer that or would you prefer like a text message or an email? What would you prefer Dalton: as an individual? I would prefer a text. I. As a marketer, my recommendation would be to hit 'em with everything you know, is, is an automated email, an automated text, and then a phone call after a little while.Right. Just to, just to give people the options with the understanding of, Hey, I'm not gonna overwhelm this person over the course of a period, but I'm gonna make sure that as they get their information that they're hearing back from me through whatever channel they might be, uh, most accessible via.Michael: What would be like the time period? So let's just say you hit 'em back with an email first. You don't hear from them and I don't know specific Then do we hit them back like the next day with a text and then if we don't hear them the third day, we hit them with a call? Or is it more like all in a 24 Dalton: hour period?Uh, typically I'd get all of them within a 24 hour period, and then that'll kick off usually a sequence. So, A good example is right now, if you come to the Temp Me website and you fill out the form there, say, say you're a hygienist and, uh, you're interested in that number one within five minutes, actually it's, it's much closer to one minute, which is the target.you'll get a text and you'll get an email just saying like, Hey, here's the link to download the app. And also here is an opportunity to speak with one of our onboarding representatives if you have questions about it. Here's, here's where you go to download or to schedule that. Then we'll, uh, we'll wait a day and then we'll send you, Hey, just checking in.We saw you had the interest, you know, is now a good time to chat? Anything like that. And we'll also have a call or two placed at that point from our onboarding representatives. And so that's sequence, we'll, we'll spread out a couple texts, a couple emails across about a week. There are a lot of studies that show particularly on more of the outbound, right?So it's not somebody coming into your website and filling out a form. But on the outbound side, it takes anywhere from like seven to 12 touches really to get somebody to pick up the phone or to accept that call, right? It, it takes time. It takes. Persistence as well. So I would encourage people to not give up.Right. There's a good reason that somebody filled out that form in the first place. Maybe they found something else, maybe they haven't. But, a flurry of touches almost immediately is great. And then some persistent touches as well. Michael: I like that. Okay, good. And then you mentioned make yourself culturally different, and then you mentioned temp me.So what culturally makes temp me Dalton: special? I. That's, that's my favorite question. are a super values driven culture, and by that I don't mean that we have anything just like plastered on the walls. Granted, we do have our values on the walls, but but the current space that we're in, we actually took over from a bank that had, the slogans put on the walls right there.like an owner, you know, be empowered. You know, these really kind of vague things. ours. We're developed when our company was like five people, and they sat down and said, Hey, what makes us special? And so they came up with this list of five core values. And so those are things that we incorporate into everything that we do.Uh, we hire by them if we ever need to part ways with somebody. We do that, buy the core values, right? So we go through and, and analyze is this person a fit based on our core values? And then we ensure that, all of the actions that we're taking are in alignment with those values. That serves as such a strong, guidepost, north Star, you know, whatever you want to call it.And then our, our founders are extremely invested in those values and making sure that, you know, everybody else is as well. Um, so between that and then setting extremely high goals and, you know, giving a, a direct pathway toward reaching those goals is a great start for building the culture that you, that you want to see.Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So what are Temp me's core values? Dalton: Yeah, so number one is called it's your ship. Uh, what this really means is, Hey, we put a lot of faith in our hiring efforts. You've joined our team. We feel like you are the absolute best person to do exactly what you do. Go run with it. You don't need to ask for, for permission, uh, even when things don't go, uh, as perfectly as you'd think.Learn from it, move on. Right? We want people to be empowered to make their own decisions. Of course, in a practice, you know, sometimes that can, I could see that going a little sideways, but for most of the day-to-day stuff, right? You're trained, you know what to do, go make it happen. Second one. Uh, hard work doesn't have to be serious for me.This is super different than work hard, play hard, right? Mm-hmm. To me, in like a tech setting, work hard, play hard is going to be, you know, you're going to really kind of hate what you do from like eight to six, but then we might throw a killer happy hour where everybody just gets super messed up, right?Like That's what work hard, play hard sounds like to me. Uh, don't get me wrong, we have great happy hours. Uh, that's, that's all fun too. But, For me, this is, Hey, we spend so much of our lives working, we should enjoy what we're doing. Both the output that you have as an individual, as well as the people that you're working with, right?You're spending so much more time with your coworkers than you are, you know, even some of your best friends in a lot of cases. That they should be people that you enjoy. So if you're not enjoying those things, number one is, is that a you thing or do we need some to make some changes at, at a cultural structural level?So that's one of my favorites honestly. number three is, is leave it better. So this one's I. Super practical. Hey, you walk into our kitchen at the office, uh, if you see a paper towel or something out, even if it's not yours, throw it away. Right? There's a, there's a percentage of people that make the world worse than they found it.There's a large percentage of people that leave it about the same, which is cool too, right? You know, you're not, you're not leaving a negative impact or anything. But then there's a small percentage of people that actually leave the world better than they found it. And I like to apply this to conversations, you know, and, and any type of interaction in addition to the actual, like physical cleaning of any space.I hope that your day is two to 5% better 'cause we have this conversation, right? I, I hope that I can bring a little bit of, uh, something interesting, something fun, you know, make your day just a little bit better because we've had this conversation and I think that that's really consistent throughout our organization as well.number four is gonna be find a way or make one. So this comes from kind of the Hannibal Barka quote of, uh, taking the elephants, uh, over the Alps to Sack Rome. I could not say the Latin version. Uh, it's out there. It's, you know, if, if you're really curious, I'm sure you can Google it, but for this is, Hey, we, we don't give up at the first thing.Right? You know, there are a lot of cool things about our platform just from a tech perspective that, you know, took multiple iterations and somebody saying, you know what? I'm not gonna give up on this until I find it. that is able to really help you achieve that next level of success, right? So we wanna make sure that people are diligent, that they're not easily dissuaded, that type of thing.And then the last one is true believer. So, we want people to be on our team that really believe that we can achieve our goals, right? We want to change the way the world works, uh, not just for dentistry, but for for other verticals as well. And. That doesn't happen if you don't believe that it can.Right. So this kind of ties into a lot of like Steve Jobs philosophy in quotes. but yeah, you have to believe to be able to succeed. So those are the five. Michael: Okay, good. That's real. I like that. I like that a lot, especially, um, I like all of 'em, but I like to leave it better than or leave it better. Right.Dalton: Yeah. And actually that one comes from a really cool story. So, um, one of our co-founders, Kerry, he grew up, well, actually both of our co-founders grew up in northern Michigan, but, uh, Kerry spent a lot of time traveling around the country with his mom in like a, an old station wagon. so Carrie and his mom and family would take a lot of these road trips and one time at a gas station.Kerry goes to throw his water bottle away, you know, physically throw it at a few yards or whatever. He misses and tries to get in the car. His mom says, no, Kerry, what are you doing? Go pick it up. And so he's said, fine, mom, you know, whatever. He goes, picks up the water bottle, puts it in there, and he comes back to the car and his mom says, no.Carrie, you're not done yet. There were, you know, a half dozen other pieces of trash right there while you're picking up your water bottle. You could have done that and you could have made the world a better place. Uh, you know, even if so slightly. And that's the kind of people that we are. So that's exactly where this core value comes from, is, is Carrie's mom and being, you know, one of those people that really strives for better and that, you know, leaving no impact isn't good enough.We have to leave a good impact. Michael: Yeah, I like that man, real quick, who's the founders of Tempe? Dalton: Yeah, so Carrie Game and Ed Thomas are the, uh, are the partners that are now running things, but we also were founded by a 30 year hygienist, Debra Simmons, who actually came to them with the idea, right? She's like, Hey, this system isn't working.You know, she, she was a hygienist as well as an office manager, and so she is like, man, I, I see the need for this. You guys, you know, are, are entrepreneurs. You've built businesses before. There's gotta be something here. Right? And so they, they worked it all out from there. Ed took it to Carrie. Carrie thought it was a terrible idea at first, actually.And then, uh, they sat down and I think they, they stayed on the phone for like eight hours that night. Just hashing it out, you know, talking about, well, what if we did it this way? 'cause I think the original idea was I. More of a scheduling app, right? Mm-hmm. Of like, you can have one shared schedule that a bunch of people hop on, that type of thing.And, uh, that, that wasn't gonna necessarily be the way, but now they settled on, you know, our, our current concept and really just have run with it from there. So, Deb isn't as involved in our business currently, but I, I know that she retained her stake and is, uh, still invested in the business, which is, which is really cool.Michael: Gotcha. So currently, what is it right now? Temp me. Yeah, Dalton: so a easy way to think about it is Uber for dental staffing, right? Uh, if you're in office, you go on, you post a shift that you've got coming up. Say, you know, your hygienist is taking a long weekend. She's gonna be out Thursday. It's Monday. Cool. I'm gonna post that, and it's gonna go automatically out to all of the relevant hygienists in your area.So, they'll get notified via their phone. It's all through the app. They get notified, they can either accept it, they can counter offer, which is a pretty cool feature, or they can just leave it be, we don't have any minimums or anything like that that they need to meet to operate through our platform.All the payments handled through the platform and, and everything like that. So it's really a quick, easy way to find the people that you need to keep your practice moving along. Is this Michael: like available everywhere, everywhere right now or is it more, you know what I mean, like rural Texas?Yeah. Dalton: So right now we're doing, uh, good amounts of shifts in 22 states, uh, every week. and then, you know, some rural areas have great coverage. Others not so much, right? It's always gonna be dependent on whether or not there are enough people to build a marketplace there. So if there's. Three offices and 10 hygienists in, you know, 25 mile radius.That's probably realistically not gonna be something that we can have a huge solve for unless, you know, people are really willing to expand their radius within the app and you know, they're driving 50, 75 miles, whatever that might be, to pick up shifts at an office. So we definitely do have much easier success in the metro areas, but it's not exclusive to the metro areas by any means.You guys Michael: vet like everybody or like what is the vetting process? So when it comes to all this, Dalton: Yeah, great question. So every person that's on our platform, every professional that's on our platform has been vetted. So from a hygienist perspective, uh, to sign up, you're gonna need to enter, you know, all your basic information, you're gonna enter your licensure information.So we'll check that, make sure there are no derogatory marks on the record, that everything's up to date, current, all that good stuff. And then we'll also require a picture of the state id. to, you know, make sure that you are, who you say you are. All, all things match up between kind of the three main areas there.Then for the assistance, it's super similar except for, licensure for assistance varies wildly state by state. So we take that on a state by state basis. You know, I think Minnesota and Texas are great examples of, they operate super similarly to hygienists for the most part. If you're gonna have, you know, a license, we can pop on, check it out, all that good stuff.Florida, our home state is super different. It's, there are three routes. You can have six months of on-the-job training, you can graduate from a program or you can pass a certification course. Right? So in those, different ways, we have to evaluate each of them. So you may have to submit some additional documentation, things like that.And then we do ongoing verification as well. So at the end of every shift, that's worked through our platform, both parties. So the office and the professional are gonna rate one, another, one to five and include comments, right? So anybody who is consistently receiving poor remarks, uh, poor scores, you know, hey, they really don't know what they're doing, anything like that.We'll have conversations with that person. Try to really get to the bottom. Is this an unreasonable ask from the office or is this person, you know, not really cut out to, be utilizing our platform? In which case, you know, we do have to restrict their access. Hmm. How often does that Michael: happen, Dalton? Like where you're like, ah, you, I don't know how you even got on this platform.Dalton: It's pretty rare. to the, I don't even know how you got on this platform. Never happens. The, that's, you know, that, that'd be the super extreme end of it. But I think the, Hey, your, your skills aren't quite up to where they need to be is probably less than one to 2% of our platform. So, you know, sometimes things come up, right.We're all humans, they're, life is hard. There's gonna be. All these external things that can impact somebody's ability to do their job, but ultimately we, we have to, you know, prioritize patient care and making sure that patients are well taken care of, regardless of who, who's in the office that day.Mm-hmm. So when it comes down to make those tough decisions, that's, what we signed up for, honestly. Michael: Yeah. Okay. And this is for all like associates, hygienists, assistants, and everything? Or is it just right Dalton: now? We've got hygienists and assistance currently, and then we should actually be rolling out associates in kind of, uh, we'll call 'em beta states here in the next 30 to 60 days, we'll call it.So there are other considerations on the associate side, right? So you've gotta have matching. I. insurance. Right? So that's, that's one whole thing that has to be in place. We're expanding our background checks as well for that side, and then ensuring, you know, that we're, we've got all of the malpractice insurance and everything that's rolled up to the associates before we roll that out.'cause, you know, missing some of those things would be, yeah, really rough. That's, that's not what we're trying to do. So that's the only reason that we haven't rolled those out already. But we're super excited to bring that functionality. We do permanent placement services for all three of those groups already, though.Michael: I was gonna ask you that, like has it ever happened to where it's like, man, I love this person and they love us. Like, can we just keep them or Dalton: all the time. Yeah, all the time. I mean, it's, we're, we exist because there's a staffing shortage, right? Mm-hmm. a lot of the time, uh, that's going to happen.And so we just ask for our buyout fee, which is typically a couple thousand dollars. If you compare it to when I have to go hire somebody from my team, if I work with an external agency or anything like that, I'm gonna pay 20% of their salary. Our fee is significantly less than that. You know, it's, it's, you know, three grand or whatever.it's, it's gonna be a much easier burden, but then it's all free and clear that office, that professional, uh, they're gonna be tied to one another. That's a W two employee moving forward and they're good to Michael: go. Yeah. Nice. So what, what are, if I can ask, what are like the major, maybe top three major cities that are utilizing Tempe right Dalton: now?Tampa is a huge one for us. So that's, you know, we're born and raised in South Florida, so that one makes a ton of sense. Uh, and then there are quite a few others that are spread throughout the country. Atlanta is also very big for us, New York there I. Honestly, quite a few where we're doing really great business.You know, I think people have really latched onto the concept and understood, hey, this is a new way to really get into what we call skill sharing, right? Mm-hmm. So, uh, even though the concept is very similar to gig work, we really shy away from that term because to, to us, that is somebody that is not necessarily specialized in the field that they're working, I could take my car, sign up for Uber, join kind of gig work right now. Uh, if, if that's something that I wanted to do, I could not start practicing hygiene or become an assistant, nor should I, but, uh, you know, we wanna recognize that these people have very specific skill sets that they have worked for.years to develop. And so in, in utilizing our platform, they are truly sharing those skills with the greater marketplace. And we wanna be very cognizant of that. So I think people understand that, um, they're excited to have a little bit more freedom with how they work, uh, ability to gain extra income, things like that.And then of course, offices need their staff to keep going. And as we've seen post covid, they're just. Quite frankly aren't enough dental staff to go around. So this type of skill sharing model I think is a great way to help bridge those gaps. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. Nice. I like that. And then how does this kind of compare, or what would you say is like the, ' cause there's others, right?Competitors, yeah. So well, what makes it different, I guess? Dalton: Yeah, great question. I think we can break it up into both sides of the marketplace. Right? So which side are you more curious about? Offices or professionals? Ooh, both. I. Okay, uh, let's start with offices. One cool thing about our platform is offices don't have to pay to sign up and there's no monthly fee.We only pay on the, or we only charge on the temp side when we actually help you get a fill. So we only charge after that connection has been made. That individual has confirmed that they're gonna work at your office, all that good stuff. So, From an office perspective, it's a great additional tool to have in case you ever need any type of staffing.we also process all the payment through our platform, so certainly as opposed to, some competitors, but primarily, you know, more old school ways of like cutting a check or anything like that. You don't have to worry about any of that, which is obviously a huge positive for our professionals as well.They get their money via direct deposit. In the latest at like four days, they also have the option to get express pay. So as soon as the hours are confirmed by both parties, they get paid out. They have to pay a small fee, you know, to tell the banks to hurry up is essentially what that fee is. that's a huge perk there.another perk for our offices is that they can post up to five shifts without having to pay anything. You don't even have to enter your credit card information. So, You can really get a feel for if this is gonna be something that's gonna be beneficial for us as well as, you know, the, the provider quality is extremely high, particularly as compared to, you know, more traditional temp agencies where, you know, most of the, most of our providers do have a current full-time job.There are people that are at the absolute peak of their profession that are just looking to pick up a little bit of extra work around the sides. So with that, you know, you're getting somebody who can come in, who's gonna take great care of your patients, who's gonna be, you know, more than likely a joy to work with around the office and is the epitome of a professional.So those are kind of the, a few of the key areas that we offer for the offices. You know, there's tons of ancillary stuff like it's. Extremely easy to use, right? Mm-hmm. It takes about 45 seconds to post a shift that, that you've got open. as well as we've got some market rate guidance baked into that.So based on your area, we're gonna kind of suggest are you at a hundred percent of the market value rate? Are you under, are you over? That type of thing, which really, you know, is a nice little coaching tool for offices to know what they really should be posting yet. 'cause sometimes it doesn't feel like it should be that high or that low, it's a great way to keep people in line.On the professional side, it's, it's all about freedom, right? Mm-hmm. So we don't mm-hmm. Have any restrictions or anything like that, uh, baked into our platform. Professionals can use us, they can use other apps where whatever's gonna make the most sense for them is highly encouraged by us. Right? There's no minimum.So if you want to work a shift that pops up on your phone, then great. Grab it. That's amazing. We're excited. We'd love to have you. Uh, but if it doesn't make sense for you to not work or to pick up any temp shifts for six months, a year, whatever that might be, then cool. Don't you know that we, we don't feel like we have, uh, any foot to stand on to tell people what to do.And so we, we really want people to be able to make their own way in life, and we really like to break it down into more solid terms around the money that they can make. So, Across the nation. You know, a temporary hygienist full day shift is gonna net you 400 to four 50 bucks. So hey, you pick up one shift a month.Cool. That's a car payment. You know, that's saving up for a vacation. These are really tangible things that we believe and see make a big impact on people's lives, and that's part of the reason why we do what we do is to see that impact and, and to see them be able to live a little bit better life.Just because they work through our platform is, is really cool. Michael: Yeah. Nice man. Okay. Awesome. So really, really great benefits. Features too. But benefits, right when it comes to professionals and also the office. Dalton: Absolutely. And I should add one more thing is we put a huge emphasis on high touch with high tech.So, you know, the platform is high tech. It's easy to use, it's great it operates, you know, as, as it intended, all that good stuff. But we've got a ton of real people that make temp me work. So whether that's. Uh, professional that's coming on. There's a team of onboarders that are just dedicated to making sure that all of their questions are answered, right?We understand that this, you're using us full-time, part-time, whatever, this is still employment, right? This is where your money is coming from. We understand that that's not always gonna be the most comfortable thing to just sign up for an app and start accepting shifts. Right this, there's a lot at stake.It feels like there's a lot at stake, so we wanna make sure that you hear from real people, that you have the opportunity to voice Any questions, concerns, anything like that? I. And then it's also very much true of our customer success team. It's a large team of some of the kindest, most helpful human beings that you've ever encountered in your life, so you can access them.We've got very expanded hours, even though we're on the east coast. Uh, typically, you know, you can, you can reach us from seven to seven is, is typically what we say. And then, you're gonna be able to reach them by text, by email, by phone. There's a bunch of ways to make sure that you get what you need.And I think that that's actually a huge differentiator for us in the marketplace. Michael: So I like that, man. Yeah. it does come down to that like, we want convenience, we wanna reach out to people, we wanna be able to fill out that form. Text, you know what I mean? But when it comes to us wanting to complain or do or find somebody, we're like, I wanna speak to a human.give me, you know what I mean, kind of thing. And so, or when we're having a hard time with something, sometimes we're not all tech savvy, right? Yeah, absolutely. So we do wanna speak to, to a human right instead of like, um, zero now and then talk. So I like that, man. Interesting. Now these next questions are just to get into the head of someone who isn't totally involved on the clinical side of dentistry, uh, every day.What would you ton like to see more from a dentist?Dalton: You mean just from a, a business perspective or specifically if I'm visiting the dentist, things like that. Let's do both. Okay. from a business perspective, I think that I'd like to see. More particularly private practice owners, really tapping into that sense of community that, I think a lot of us grew up with. Right. You know, I think about the dentist's office that I went to, growing up. I grew up in a small town, and so I went to the same dentist for basically my entire, you know, childhood life, you know, from three to 18 or or whatever it age it is.You start going to the dentist, I don't even know. Really tapping into that from a marketing perspective, I think is extremely powerful. And I think that that's one of the areas that private practices can win in a market, you know, that we're all aware is, is largely being consolidated by, by DSOs. So that's one thing from a business perspective that I would absolutely love to see.from a, you know, patient perspective, I really don't have any complaints, man. I, I think about, you know, all my, all my experiences. I walk in. Everybody at the front desk is extremely happy, welcoming, friendly. The booking process is smooth. You know, there's so many tools out there. If you go to a trade show these days and just wander the exhibit hall for a little bit, you're gonna just be inundated by all these platforms, tools, whatever, to make your business run more smoothly.And I think. Plenty of offices a

In a recent interview GTM Disrupted host Mike Smart sat with Sangram Vajre, best-selling author and Co-Founder/CEO of GTM Partners, a data driven go-to-market analyst firm to chat about the urgent need for B2B companies to modernize their go-to-market functions. Sangram shares his experience and insights on how to use a go-to-market framework to scale a company at every stage to sustain growth. His call to action for B2B companies that struggle with stagnant Net Recurring Revenue (NRR) is based on clarity, alignment and trust starting at the C-Suite. Sangram's Bio: Sangram has been at the forefront of the B2B marketing trends for over a decade. He is the author of two books on B2B marketing the most recent one “MOVE The 4-question go-to-market framework” is a Wall Street Journal best seller. Sangram believes his primary job is being a great husband and Dad. His side gig is running GTM Partners. Prior to his most recent side gig, he was co-Founder and Chief Evangelist of Terminus the ABM platform company. He has also served as head of marketing for Pardot, a Salesforce company. To Learn more about Sangram to go - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sangramvajre/ Correction Please Read: At 21 minutes into the show I stated that Product Board acquired the product management community “Mind the Product”. Correction – on February 1, 2022 Pendo.io Inc. announced that it acquired Mind the Product the terms were not disclosed.

Summary: Wyatt Bales served up an awesome episode, calling marketers to defend themselves with SQL proficiency amidst rising AI and automation. His vision? The future marketer as a 'full-stack' pro, tech-savvy and strategic, partnering with AI to steer marketing operations to be faster and more data-driven. Wyatt emphasizes maintaining a strong grasp on foundational skills alongside AI tools. In his projected future, consumers willingly opt into hyper-personalized, non-intrusive ads, reshaping advertising dynamics. His takeaway? The marketing landscape is becoming a less daunting journey, navigated by versatile, full-stack professionals who strike the perfect balance between tech and strategy.About WyattWyatt Bales, Chief Customer Officer at Bluprintx. Wyatt got his start as an analyst at Unilever where he got the knack for using Teradata systems and decided to go consulting for the vendors themselves.  At Teradata, he implemented marketing automation and an analytics software for a few Fortune 100 customers. A few colleagues of his went over to a lesser known company called Marketo, where he started as employee # 201  He moved up to Solutions Architect where he focused on revenue attribution and was assigned to some of Marketo's largest accounts such as Microsoft, Facebook and Philips66.. 3 years later, Wyatt took a Senior Marketing role at Uber where he eventually relocated to Amsterdam to lead their Enterprise CRM strategy team where he was the principal architect for Uber's global roll-out of Marketo's ecosystem After being a customer of Bluprintx while at Uber, he got the itch to get back into consulting and open a new Bluprint location in Amsterdam, where he led the European consulting practice Today Wyatt manages the global P&L and a team of 85 Bluprint consultants and engineers The Silent Struggle: Marketing Headcount vs Technology IntegrationWyatt begins by addressing a crucial, yet often overlooked issue in the realm of marketing technology: the ongoing tension between maintaining adequate team size and implementing advanced technology. While discussions about the shiny new tech and exciting innovations typically dominate the conversation, he emphasizes that the human aspect, specifically the team size, can get sidelined.Reflecting on his extensive experience, Wyatt recalls numerous instances where businesses grappled with this reality. Often, they found themselves constrained by their inability to grow their teams to match their objectives. "I don't have enough people to do that," a common lament, resonates across various companies he has engaged with. This constant struggle to secure sufficient headcount is a reality that many marketing teams face. But, why is this the case?Wyatt points to a counterintuitive relationship between technological progress and team size. As businesses lean more heavily into automation and AI, there's a growing belief that these advancements can replace the need for large teams. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the enterprise space, where headcount tends to remain stagnant, even as marketing technology gets introduced at an accelerating rate.One might be quick to laud this as a victory for efficiency. However, Wyatt prompts us to consider the other side of the coin: What are the implications of this move towards automation and its impact on team size? Are we heading towards a future where automation overtakes human creativity and effort in marketing? And if so, what are the implications for those who've made their careers in this space?Takeaway: Wyatt's reflection presents a compelling portrait of the struggle within the marketing world. The tug of war between advancing technology and the need for human intellect exposes a significant challenge faced by many companies today. As we move further into the realm of AI and automation, businesses must grapple with the question: How do we strike the balance between leveraging cutting-edge technology and preserving the invaluable human element that drives creativity and innovation?Becoming Future-Proof: The Power of SQL SkillsWith the growing concern about AI potentially replacing entry-level jobs in marketing, Wyatt offers a lifeline: learning SQL. This piece of advice is significant in an era where anxiety about job prospects, particularly among soon-to-be graduates, is increasingly prevalent. Wyatt provides reassurance, suggesting that mastering SQL can equip individuals with a skill that's in high demand and potentially immune to the trend of job automation.For those unfamiliar, SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used for managing and manipulating databases. It's a valuable skill across various marketing roles, including strategy, market operations, and analytics. And according to Wyatt, this skill can act as a powerful tool for carving out one's career path, regardless of the turns the industry might take.As companies continue to leverage data to inform their strategies, the role of data analysts becomes increasingly pivotal. They're needed to extract, manipulate, and funnel data into systems that drive decisions. Wyatt argues that this role is still a considerable distance from being automated. As such, individuals skilled in SQL and capable of tasks like joining two datasets together or building dashboards have strong job prospects.Key Takeaway: Wyatt's advice to graduates or those feeling the heat of AI's rising influence is to invest time in learning SQL. This specific, tangible skill set serves as an excellent defense against automation's encroachment into the job market. It's a reassuring message that underlines the enduring value of technical skills, even in an era increasingly dominated by AI.The Future Marketer: Bridging Technical Skillset and Strategic MindsetWyatt foresees a transformation in the DNA of successful marketers in the coming decade. He predicts a bifurcation, where marketers will be divided into two distinct groups: those who cultivate a more technical understanding and those who continue to rely on traditional marketing skills. According to Wyatt, technical expertise isn't merely a buzzword; it's a credibility builder. Mastery of technical skills, such as writing SQL queries, discussing API integrations, and coding, boosts a marketer's credibility not only among engineers but also among senior executives. However, this doesn't downplay the importance of strategy. If a marketer can balance technical prowess with a sound understanding of strategic elements, such as mapping out a lead funnel or discussing conversions, they will possess a unique skill set that is highly sought after. This hybrid profile—the technical strategist—will be the most valuable player in the future marketing landscape.Wyatt goes one step further and outlines an ideal marketer for the future. Such a marketer would know how to leverage tools like AI and GPT for creative tasks, like generating copy or designing, and integrate these capabilities into a broader marketing stack. He gives the example of 'content supply chains', where campaign briefs can go through market automation all the way to delivery, without the need for a single developer or market operations person. This vision isn't far-fetched; it's becoming reality today. And a marketer who can navigate this landscape, integrating AI tools with enterprise systems, will hit the sweet spot in terms of value.Key Takeaway: Wyatt provides a clear vision for the future marketer—someone who pairs technical acumen with strategic insight and embraces the integration of AI tools into marketing processes. This profile is not only the ideal solution to the challenges presented by automation but also the key to unlocking new opportunities in the evolving marketing landscape. Such a blend of skills and understanding will make one an invaluable asset in the rapidly transforming world of marketing.Automating the Campaign Process End-toEndWyatt paints a vivid picture of a revolution in marketing. According to him, the line between project managers, campaign creators, and implementers is gradually blurring. This is not merely theoretical speculation; it's the practical reality that he and his team have been building over the past six months.When a campaign brief comes in, a request form with up to 25 fields captures all the necessary details, from target audience persona to copy, naming conventions, tags, and channels. The campaign idea, after a strategic whiteboarding session, evolves into a concrete action plan that can mostly be automated from request to delivery and reporting. Here's where it gets really interesting. The request form doesn't just sit idle, waiting to be actioned. Instead, the details provided — keywords, personas, etc., — are leveraged to generate content drafts automatically. An AI model, similar to OpenAI's GPT-4, scrapes the internet, generating multiple examples of emails that could be used for the campaign. Wyatt shared that these examples are sent back to the campaign requester for approval or tweaking, all within the platform they are using, Workfront, a versatile tool from Adobe.Once approved, the content passes to compliance — possibly another AI function in the future. Time tracking kicks in as soon as an agency opens the note for approval, allowing accurate measurement of time and spend for ROI calculations. Post agency approval, the content goes for localization in up to 45 languages — again, without any manual involvement.The result? A fully approved, localized email campaign ready to roll out in every language needed. The package is then sent to your Marketing Automation Platform, in their case, SF Marketing Cloud, where all the corresponding journeys and assets are created. The sender, who could be the same person who initiated the request, gets a notification that the package is ready to go. With a simple click, the campaign launches.Yet, the innovation does not stop there. Wyatt shared that all this data — every step, every interaction — is pushed to Tableau. This allows for insights not only on campaign performance but also on the efficiency of the campaign execution process itself. Executives can see how many employees it took to launch a successful campaign and how long it took. This becomes particularly relevant in industries that struggle with staff retention, such as banking and healthcare.Takeaway: Wyatt's and his team's revolutionary campaign process automation eliminates the traditional silos in marketing, allowing a single strategist to wear the hats of a copywriter, operations manager, and even an analyst. It's a terrifying but exciting new world where AI and software could potentially replace the need to retain dozens of marketing campaign management personnel. The most compelling part is that it's not science fiction but the reality that's being built today. With this approach, marketing becomes more efficient, fast, and data-driven, ensuring better ROI and quicker turnaround times.Marketing Operations Pros Will Always Have a Strategy Seat at the TableIn response to concerns about automation rendering marketing operations obsolete, we maintain an optimistic view. We believe that the transformation in the works is not a death knell for marketing ops personnel but rather an opportunity for growth and evolution in their roles.In the process Wyatt illustrated, while automation handles a lot of the batch-and-blast tasks, it doesn't eliminate the need for human involvement, especially in the whiteboarding and strategy planning stages. This is where many ops professionals could shift their focus, thus transforming their roles rather than being replaced.The power of automation could potentially extend beyond just sending a batch of emails. It could leverage higher-quality data, honed from previous user history, to create micro-segments and tailor individualized emails based on factors like when a user created their account or initiated a free trial. This opens a new door to comprehensive personalization, making the messages more relevant and engaging for the recipients.Interestingly, Wyatt acknowledges that these possibilities exist but stresses the importance of scale. What he's building is intended for large corporations with thousands of employees — not a one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses.However, he emphasizes the potential benefits of automation: reducing the monotonous tasks in marketing ops and freeing up time to focus on the creative and strategic aspects of the job. With the nitty-gritty details taken care of, ops professionals can concentrate on channel performance and optimization, further enhancing campaign effectiveness.Takeaway: Automation in marketing operations doesn't signify an end but rather a pivot towards more strategic and creative roles. With tedious tasks handled by AI, marketing ops professionals can focus on strategy, channel optimization, and advanced personalization. They'll have more time for deeper, more comprehensive A/B testing and can finally run the robust campaigns they've dreamt of, boosting campaign performance and enhancing their contribution to the business.Preparing Today for the AI-infused Marketing Department of TomorrowWyatt is unapologetically forward-thinking about the role of AI in the marketing world. When it comes to envisioning the marketing department of the future, he's clear about one thing: data models. After all, the tuning and precision of AI tools hinge on the quality of the underlying data. How can organizations prepare for this impending AI revolution, particularly if it feels like they are traversing the territory of science fiction? Wyatt provides an insightful perspective on this based on his own professional journey.His prior role at Teradata, a major database company, meant he had a decent grip on SQL. But when he transitioned to Uber, he discovered a whole different ball game. At Uber, a striking 60-70% of employees were proficient in SQL, often more adept than he was. That meant even senior directors could whip out a query builder and write SQL code on the fly to solve a problem. The profound realization for Wyatt was that technical know-how like this not only bridged hierarchical gaps but also allowed for quicker, more efficient problem-solving.Wyatt urges today's marketers to embrace this dual proficiency. Firstly, in SQL and data science to manage basic data analytics and data store definitions. Secondly, in AI, to understand how this technology can revolutionize business operations and marketing strategies. Having expertise in both these domains would make one a much sought-after "unicorn" in the industry, able to command conversations at both technical and business levels. Whether at a big tech giant, a small start-up, or a traditional enterprise organization, this unique skill set, according to Wyatt, is sure to make one stand out.Takeaway: As AI continues to permeate the marketing sphere, Wyatt's words ring true – proficiency in data models and AI, coupled with a firm understanding of business context, will set marketers apart in this rapidly evolving landscape. Preparation for the future starts now, and it starts with mastering these skills.The Big Question: Learn SQL or Use Text-to-SQL Tools?Wyatt's perspective on the increasing emergence of AI tools that can convert plain text into SQL was enlightening. He didn't dismiss the value of these AI tools, but he also emphasized the continued relevance of knowing SQL as a marketer. The analogy he drew was insightful; just as one doesn't need to be an electrician to understand the basics of a fuse box, one doesn't need to master SQL but should have a fundamental understanding of it. Wyatt's perspective is that knowing SQL is not just about performing technical tasks, but it is a fundamental skill for a marketer. The skill lets marketers interface with their data directly, it enables them to converse at eye level with developers and engineers, and it also gives them independence and efficiency in a meeting or a discussion.According to Wyatt, tools like text-to-SQL should complement your SQL skills rather than replace them. While they can indeed be useful when tackling more complex queries involving joins and unions, or when looking to understand specific patterns like trend lines, they should not replace the basic knowledge of SQL.His standpoint makes a lot of sense in today's business context. When a marketer has the ability to modify a query on the fly in the middle of a meeting, it comes across as more professional than having to juggle between multiple tabs with your AI tools to achieve the same. Wyatt argues that it's not an either-or choice between SQL and AI tools, but rather how these two can best be used in conjunction.Takeaway: While AI tools like text-to-SQL are becoming increasingly powerful, having a basic understanding of SQL can offer a unique edge for marketers. It's about complementing AI tools with SQL skills, not replacing one with the other. In Wyatt's view, SQL is not just a technical skill, it's a life skill for future marketers, and it enables them to be more professional, efficient, and independent.Speeding Up Your Development Process with AI, But Keeping Your Technicals GroundedWhen we navigate the intricacies of technical subjects such as JavaScript, it's intriguing to note how AI tools, like GPT, can make a world of difference. These tools are indeed "wicked" for generating code templates, but he cautions that these automated solutions are far from infallible. They often need to be carefully vetted, as they can produce errors, and moreover, they lack the human ability to understand the full context of a particular situation.In agreement with this perspective, Wyatt acknowledges that AI tools can significantly accelerate your development process, providing invaluable templates to work off of. However, he emphasizes the necessity of having a foundational understanding of the technical aspects of your work.Reflecting on a hypothetical scenario, Wyatt paints a picture of a boardroom meeting where one's technical knowledge is put to the test. If a question arises about how a certain mechanism works, and you've relied solely on AI without understanding the underpinnings of the technology, it will become glaringly obvious. Takeaway: In the fast-evolving world of AI, it's alluring to lean heavily on these advanced tools. But Wyatt suggests a balanced approach. Use AI to accelerate your development process but don't neglect the foundational technical skills. It's the blend of AI utilization and in-depth technical understanding that will help you maintain your credibility and shine in your profession.The Shift Towards Warehouse-Native in Martech: A Game Changer or Just Another Buzzword?In the realm of marketing technology, the movement towards a warehouse-native approach is gaining traction, transforming the fundamental structures that have dominated this space. With companies like Vero, Message Gears, and Castled.io paving the way, Wyatt finds himself in agreement with this emerging trend. He firmly believes that in the context of enterprise-level operations, the concept of an interface or a duplicate database might soon become obsolete.Drawing from his own experience, Wyatt reflects on conversations with customers who have either tried their hand at building their own customer data platforms (CDPs) or have invested in existing solutions such as Segment. The recurring question, he notes, seems to be around the necessity of traditional marketing automation tools when data could be directly accessed and managed through warehouse-native structures.The concept of circumventing the traditional methods by directly packaging HTML or querying staged views of leads is gaining ground. It reflects a growing desire to simplify and streamline processes by leveraging the capabilities of data warehouses. Wyatt also discusses the implications this shift might have on pricing models in marketing automation, hinting at a possible evolution or a radical change that companies like Marketo and Salesforce might need to address.However, Wyatt notes a caveat - while the warehouse-native approach may be the way forward for enterprises, the traditional marketing tech model still holds relevance for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Tools like HubSpot and MailChimp still have a considerable place in the market, catering to businesses that might not require or benefit from a warehouse-native structure.Interestingly, he also envisions a merging of work management tools like Asana with marketing tech platforms for SMBs, creating end-to-end solutions that cater to their unique needs. This could lead to a greater diversification of the martech landscape, with warehouse-native solutions dominating at the enterprise level and more integrated, all-in-one solutions gaining traction in the SMB sector.Despite these potential shifts, Wyatt doubles down on the importance of marketers having a foundational knowledge in SQL. In his opinion, the value of such a skill set could be amplified in a future where marketing professionals are directly engaging with data warehouses. This emphasizes the need for marketers to continue developing their skills and adaptability to thrive in an evolving technological landscape.Takeaway: The advent of warehouse-native tools could revolutionize the martech landscape, particularly for enterprise-level businesses. Amid these changes, foundational knowledge in SQL could become a critical skill for marketers, underscoring the need for continuous learning and adaptability in a rapidly evolving field.The Great Debate: Packaged vs. Composable CDPStartups today are beginning to grasp the importance of data, but with it comes a significant question: should they choose a packaged or a composable Customer Data Platform (CDP)? Wyatt shared his experiences from the front lines, offering insights from his encounters with diverse clientele. His observations revealed that while Segment CDPs are a common choice among his clients, some are starting to realize the potential pitfalls of this option. The licensing cost can become a deterrent over time, especially for startups that may not yet be generating significant revenue. Simultaneously, Wyatt is noticing the rising prominence of Salesforce's data cloud in the CDP conversation. Salesforce is repurposing its ABM or B2B tool, Pardot, and shaping it into a flexible platform that can handle high transactional activity and large-scale events while sitting on top of an existing database. However, this landscape doesn't solely revolve around traditional CDP platforms. Wyatt introduced an exciting alternative in the form of data integrity solutions, such as the one offered by Soto.io. This tool isn't about duplicating databases but rather about creating a transparent, informative layer over your database. It provides an accurate assessment of your data's quality, giving startups a clear view of their warehouse contents. Takeaway: The verdict on packaged vs. composable CDP is far from settled. While some startups are gravitating towards packaged solutions like Segment and mParticle, others are exploring the composable stack. The final choice depends on your startup's unique needs and the vision of its data team. The journey of learning and discovery in this space is ongoing, making it an exciting debate to keep an eye on.The Future of AI in Martech: Optimizing for the IndividualDespite the considerable buzz around AI, the reality is that the practical use of AI in businesses is often dependent on the quality of data available. This is a challenge that Wyatt believes will be a critical focal point over the next five to ten years.Yet, Wyatt doesn't shy away from revealing his excitement for the future of AI in marketing. His company is working on a side-by-side comparison of different AI vendors' channel optimization capabilities. The aim is to understand how AI can improve channel optimization and ultimately enhance customer engagement.Channel optimization, Wyatt explains, has been a game of chance for too long. He envisions a future where AI learns customer preferences so seamlessly that it doesn't feel intrusive. Imagine a world where marketing messages arrive just as you finish your morning coffee or when you're winding down for the evening. The interaction would feel less like being sold to and more like an organic part of your routine. As Wyatt articulates, this potential for personalized, almost intuitive engagement is the ultimate promise of AI in marketing. Despite the operational challenges in the world of martech, Wyatt's anticipation for AI's role in channel optimization is palpable. This vision of AI-enhanced marketing operations is not only exciting but also a testament to the game-changing potential of AI when backed by robust and clean data.Takeaway: In the future of AI in martech, the focus is not just on automating processes but also on optimizing individual engagement. As Wyatt suggests, AI could make marketing feel less intrusive and more like an organic part of daily life. However, this future relies heavily on the quality of data, emphasizing the critical role of data management in harnessing AI's potential.Advertising of the Future: Opting in for ValueA thought-provoking concept drawn from the sci-fi book 'All Our Wrong Todays' by Elan Mastai, presents an alternate future where advertising is not merely one-to-one communication, but hyper-personalized based on an individual's current mood, daily activities, and even upcoming events. In this alternate world, the protagonist, an employee of an advertising agency, introduces an idea of offering consumers a flat fee to opt out of all ads. Interestingly, this proposal fails spectacularly, as consumers in this world prefer to pay for hyper-personalized ads that bring them genuine value and communicate the right message at the right time.Wyatt echoes this notion, introducing the example of 'We Are 8,' a company that is already bringing elements of this future to life. Co-founded by one of Wyatt's former colleagues at Uber, 'We Are 8' offers an opt-in advertising model where prospects get paid for each click they generate. This business model shifts the dynamics of advertising, empowering users to create their own journeys with the brands they engage with, while also profiting from each interaction.This shift could lead to a radical redefinition of advertising, with consumers in control, curating their own experiences, and benefiting directly from their engagement with ads. If successful, this approach could turn the conventional model of advertising on its head, allowing businesses to target consumers who are not just interested, but also invested in their brands.Takeaway: The future of advertising could see a shift towards a model where consumers willingly opt in for hyper-personalized ads that offer genuine value, echoing a theme from the sci-fi world. 'We Are 8' exemplifies this future, offering an innovative model where consumers get paid for their engagement, signifying a radical change in the dynamics of advertising.The Advent of the Full Stack MarketerThe full stack marketer. A role that promises to navigate the ever-expanding landscape of marketing technology, harnessing the power of data, and deftly architecting marketing strategies that resonate with the evolving consumer mindset.Wyatt reflected fondly on his experience as a Solutions Architect at Marketo, recalling it as one of the most rewarding stages of his career. There, he engaged with a myriad of clients, each presenting their unique challenges, and spent his days creatively piecing together solutions on whiteboards, devising strategies that would integrate different systems - some quite antiquated - into a functional and efficient whole. The reward lay not only in the intellectual exercise but also in the diversity of industries he got to work with and the range of problems he encountered.In Wyatt's view, the evolution towards becoming a full stack marketer or a solutions architect - whatever you choose to call this exciting new role - follows a natural progression. After gaining familiarity with SQL, integrations, deployments, and the grind of day-to-day operations, one is equipped with a wealth of opinions on tools, APIs, and vendors. Such expertise becomes an invaluable asset, especially in an age where 'native integrations' are often a misnomer and knowing which vendor will cause 'throughput' issues can save substantial headaches down the line.Takeaway: The future of marketing may well lie in the hands of these 'full-stack' professionals who combine an understanding of technology with marketing strategy, who can bring together disparate systems into a cohesive whole and who know from experience which tools deliver and which merely promise. This new breed of marketers could make the journey of navigating the digital marketing landscape a less daunting expedition, making it a truly exciting prospect for anyone considering this career path.Seeking Balance and Happiness in the Tech WorldWyatt, a seasoned C-level executive, keynote speaker, drone pilot, award-winning outdoorsman, and successful real estate investor, offers some rare insights into finding happiness and maintaining balance in a fast-paced career, especially in the tech sector. He sheds light on his approach to navigating the high-pressure world of martech while retaining his personal contentment and grounding.For Wyatt, the key to happiness in this challenging industry lies in the pursuit of humility. His ethos is deeply rooted in acknowledging the surreal nature of the martech industry and keeping things in perspective. He often reminds his team and himself, that despite the high stakes and stress involved, they aren't performing surgery or saving lives, but merely facilitating email clicks.Maintaining this sense of humor about their work and understanding the relative gravity of their tasks, according to Wyatt, allows him to stay upbeat. He encourages his team to appreciate their unique circumstances – the freedom to work from home, to travel, and the flexibility to shape their career trajectory. Recognizing these privileges and never taking them for granted forms the backbone of his happiness.When it comes to finding balance among various roles and responsibilities, Wyatt's approach is refreshingly candid. Upon moving from the U.S. to Amsterdam, Wyatt sought an enhanced quality of life, distancing himself from the American trend of excessively long work hours. He drew inspiration from his parents who, despite working on a farm, maintained a flexible schedule, investing time in family activities and making up for it later in the evening.Wyatt applies this same philosophy to his day, breaking it up with gym sessions or two-hour coffee breaks in the sunshine with his employees. He might find himself working late into the night to complete a deliverable or a presentation for a client, but he never loses sight of the larger picture. The key, according to Wyatt, is to prioritize physical and mental health, invest in others, and let career-related concerns follow suit.Takeaway: Wyatt's philosophy highlights the importance of humility, perspective, flexibility, and prioritizing personal well-being over career-related concerns in finding happiness and balance in the tech sector. His insights are a reminder that maintaining a sense of humor and perspective about one's work, coupled with investing time in relationships and health, can lead to a more fulfilling career in the tech industry.Financial Freedom and Podcast RecommendationsIn the world of real estate investment, Wyatt maintained a sense of modesty. He was quick to dispel any illusions of grandeur, remarking, "I'm quite a humble, small shot guy, by no means like this massive tycoon or anything like that." He emphasized, however, the importance of passive income and financial freedom, acknowledging its empowering potential for people to not have to rely solely on a paycheck.When it came to recommendations for individuals interested in understanding more about real estate, Wyatt cited the BiggerPockets podcast as a valuable resource. Though he clarified that he had no direct association with the team, he expressed admiration for their practical and down-to-earth approach. "Anywhere that you are interested in real estate," Wyatt suggested, "whether you just want to rent out your home, consider buying a home, or want to refinance, they've got some good stuff."Shifting gears from real estate, Wyatt shared his personal favorite podcast, Checks and Balances by The Economist. It provides a refreshing perspective on current affairs that, according to Wyatt, escapes the doom and gloom often associated with news outlets.

Episode OverviewAre you automating your sales process?In this episode, Carol focuses on the role of automation in sales. She emphasizes how you can expand your Salesforce practice with Pardot - a powerful marketing automation tool. She also highlights how it can be used for effective lead generation and nurturing and to deliver comprehensive solutions to clients.You will specifically learn:How SF and Pardot can work seamlessly Who is a great fit for it How to use content to grow your Cloud Consulting businessAbout Carol SpringerCarol owns and leads Gabriel Sales, a Marketing Automation agency and Salesforce Partner. In her role, she is a highly sought-after certified Salesforce admin and marketing technology consultant, working with companies of all sizes to help them leverage the power of Pardot and Salesforce to achieve their marketing and sales goals. Her deep understanding of the technology, ability to deliver results quickly, and passion for helping companies succeed have made her a trusted advisor for Pardot and Salesforce users.When not taking clients to the next level, she loves mentoring new trailblazers; other hobbies include slow travel, yoga, hiking, and producing her travel and remote work podcast “Where Next?”Resources and Links483 - Show NotesGabrielsales.comCarol's LinkedIn profileCarol on Twitter: @CarolSpringerCarol on Instagram: @carol_freelance_lifeCarol's Upwork profilePodcast: Where Next? Travel with Kristen and CarolYouTube channel: Sales Tech by Gabriel SalesUpworkBook: Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale Humantic AICloud Consultants CollectiveScaling Blueprint Join our newsletterThe Cloud Consultants ShowPaul Higgins MentoringConnect With PaulOn LinkedIn

Join Adam O'Donnell on Sit Down Startup as he sits down with David Cummings, the founder of Pardot, which eventually sold to Salesforce. In this episode, they discuss pivoting from unsuccessful strategies, customer discovery, and marketing automation platform, while sharing their personal stories of startup challenges.

Welcome back to the Foremost Media Marketing Chat Podcast! In this episode we spoke with Nikki Johnson, the director of marketing over at Domino North America. Nikki is a high risk, high reward marketer who's been in the game for over 2 1/2 decades and has quite a few successes under her belt. So many, in fact, that Jon Ballard called Domino "one of the best marketing companies out there". Today she spoke on how to engage the Millennial buyer, adding the human element to manufacturing, and a particular win involving Foremost Media, a trade show, and Guitar Hero! Marketing to Millennials Millennials have been in the workforce for some time and now they're becoming your primary buyers. So, what can we learn from them and about them in order to better our messaging toward them. Nikki talks about exactly this in detail in today's episode. Firstly, Millennials prioritize building relationships and relationships are built on trust and shared value systems. Demonstrating that you are worth trusting and that you're company is one built on virtue is paramount. Learn all this and more by listening in to the 16th episode of the Foremost Media marketing chat podcast Time Stamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:27 FoxJet Guitar Hero trade show booth 5:00 We're still marketing to individuals 7:13 Millennials are the new buyer 8:45 How to market to Millennials 15:14 What's your tech stack look like for compiling your information? 17:24 The challenge of great manufacturing 22:12 Proof, proof, and proof again! 25:11 Dare to be daring, risky, and different 26:40 PACK EXPO trade show returns! 29:19 Crazy ideas can bring things to the next level 32:22 Respect the intelligence of your buyer 35:05 Learn From the next generation Resources Mentioned Domino North America (https://www.domino-printing.com/en-us/home.aspx) Salesforce (https://www.salesforce.com/) Pardot (https://pi.pardot.com/) Google Analytics (https://analytics.google.com) Find more marketing insights and show notes here (https://www.foremostmedia.com/resources/blog/posts?category=foremost-podcast)

In this episode, listen in as Sydney Mulligan and Lauren Aquilino take their quarterly business trip to see each other IRL. This time? To St. Augustine, Florida. Listen in to hear the shenanigans they get into, the top things they did NOT do in St. Augustine, and Lauren's secretly terrible bucket list item. They also recount a hilarious conversation about duplicate records in systems like Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot and Pardot. And, they recap a visit to the Fountain of Youth followed by a golden hour photoshoot at The Local motel. Cheers! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/prettyfunnybusiness/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/prettyfunnybusiness/support

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upNonprofits need to stay in touch with their donors, volunteers, and members to keep them engaged and informed. And with so many communication channels available, email remains one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to do so. But managing email campaigns can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially for small nonprofits.That's where email automation comes in. With email automation tools, nonprofits can streamline their email campaigns, save time, and provide a more personalized experience for their audience. If your nonprofit uses Salesforce as its CRM, there are several email automation options that you can integrate with it.To talk about this, we've brought someone on with a ton of expertise in Salesforce email tools: Aaron Beatty. Aaron recently founded Engage Evolution to design solutions for marketing cloud, pardot for nonprofits and other industries as well after years of experience helping other companies achieve these goals in house.In this episode Sarah and Aaron get into brass tacks about email service providers, email automation and even Salesforce connected tools that can help with push messaging, SMS messaging and scheduling and tracking your social media. Talk about an all-around tool!Some Key Take-Aways:Build the strategy before you build the toolKnow exactly what it is you're lookin to use the data or automations for before you engage an implementation partnerHave marketing and sales stakeholders involved in the planning and implementation of new tools to make sure they are going to solve the actual problems those departments are facing. If you wait until the tool is built to simply train them on it you're likely to realize you've missed crucial questions or data points.Create hyper-personalized emails for recipients beyond the traditional mail merge/Name fields. What information do you already have about this person? Have they filled out interest surveys? Come to specific topic based webinars? Use that information to send only truly relevant content and your open rates will soarIf you are a Salesforce Admin looking to get into Marketing Cloud, the best way to do this is with on the job trainingRemember, you have loads of transferrable skills as an Admin that will help you with Marketing Cloud, the skills to really focus on are the soft skills: communication, understanding your clients' pain points, digging into feature requests and helping them think through their toolsIf you want access to Sarah and everything Technopath is doing, be sure to join our free community to gain more clairty and confidence with helping nonprofits with Salesforce tech: https://npsp-academy.mn.co/share/nxvxYbrrqeCqJ_yb?utm_source=manual

Since 2007, Laine has been a dual citizen of the MarTech and traditional marketing worlds, serving B2B and B2C clients in New York City, Atlanta, and beyond. Laine founded LMB DigiMarketing in 2015 with a mission to make highly effective marketing automation more accessible to growing businesses. With a Digital Marketing certification from Emory University, and specialist certifications from MailChimp and Salesforce – Pardot, her happy place is orchestrating streamlined marketing platform integrations. Laine and her (less qualified but equally enthusiastic) office dog, Midge, make a great team.In her spare time, she enjoys concerts, traveling, traveling to concerts, and more concerts. Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showSubscribe to Side Hustle City and join our Community on Facebook

Adam Gordon has been in recruitment for 23 years and was the founder of the first recruitment automation solution, Candidate.ID, which he sold to iCIMS in March 2022. Adam then became the Vice President of Marketing Automation Technology for iCIMS. Adam is also the Co-Host of Recruiting Brainfood. Candidate.ID, recently re-named to iCIMS Marketing Automation, allows talent acquisition teams to become far more efficient and effective in getting their employment brands and opportunities in front of candidates. Instead of blasting the same email to all candidates, marketing automation systems like Marketo, Pardot, and iCIMS Marketing Automation automatically send different emails to different candidates depending on factors such as which emails they open and when, which links within those emails they click, and what content on the career site they engage with. Recruiters are notified when a candidate of interest then engages with enough of the right contact so recruiters get to spend far more of their time with candidates who are already interested, instead of having to first determine which candidates might be interested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introduction: Welcome to Five & Thrive: a weekly podcast highlighting the Southeast's most interesting news, entrepreneurs, and information of the week, all under 5 minutes.  My name is Jon Birdsong and I'm with Atlanta Ventures. Y'all what a week! From TechStars to Venture Atlanta, to the cocktail parties, dinners, and happy hours, I can say it was so fun. And it was wonderful to meet so many investors who come to Atlanta once or twice a year and showcase the city and meet in person. Congratulations to Allyson Eman on another amazing Venture Atlanta.   Quiet Giant: I was reminded of this past week's quasi-Quiet Giant out of Durham, North Carolina called Spiffy. Their short tag line is on-demand car wash and detailing service. While that may seem obvious as there are several mom and pop shops willing to meet you in your driveway to give you the detail your car wants and needs, Spiffy has raised over $60M in funding around this fast growing, successful tech enabled service that washes cars for several enterprise fleets. Examples include trucking fleets, rental car services, and much more. And the best part, car wash and detailing services are just the beginning. CEO, Scott Wingo and team have figured out that these fleets need much more than to glean and be cleaned – they also need brakes checked, new tires, oil changes, and disinfectants adhered. The auto maintenance shop is now coming to you. Check out Spiffy and see if they are in your zipcode today and book your next appointment over the phone or through their mobile app.    Beta Product of the Week: I met this entrepreneur last week in a serendipitous lunch at Jack's Deli. He overheard what a friend and I were talking about in another booth, introduced himself and shared the product he's building. The name of the product is called Ambitious App. Their brand promise: Learn in-demand digital skills in 5 minutes a day. He is launching the private beta this week. The CEO, Alim Charaniya, is a technical founder who wants to deliver bit-sized educational content to our generation of short reels and tik toks but package it all up in a productive way so there is a quantified and gamified learning. One of the go-to-market strategies that I already admire and respect from Alim is that he's building community before the product has been launched. For example, if you go to the link in the show notes taking you Ambitious App's website, Alim and his team filter you into a slack channel where you are immediately introduced to other like-minded learners.  In a world that is changing so fast in an industry (education) that has hardly evolved from that traditional classroom setting in a century, this is another innovative angle to learn outside of the classroom rat race.  Product of the Week: We've covered this product before, especially this time of the year and definitely this time of the political season, but the product is a simple website called GeorgiaVotes.com. If you live in Georgia and love early voting analytics, Ryan Anderson (@GTRyan) on Twitter has you covered. Each night, GeorgiaVotes updates the early voting records from the Secretary of the State's website and analyzes who has voted and compared those voters to elections prior. We interviewed Ryan on The Atlanta Story Podcast last year and will make sure to link to that interview in the show notes.   Event of the Week: The ATDC keeps coming with some great programming. This time it is with entrepreneur Tristan Walker. If you remember, Tristan sold his company to Proctor and Gamble in 2018 and moved to Atlanta from California. He is speaking at the P&G alumni event which has joined forces with the ATDC. This will be a fireside chat with Tristan mixed with networking on Tuesday, November 8th – which is also election day!  News of the Week: Shout out to Clint Green and team who just launched Revenue Ready. This is the ecosystem at work as Clint spent seven and a half years at Salesloft and before then Pardot, not only selling and closing deals, but learning the systems and processes to put in place to scale. Now he and his team have packaged up their services to take your company. If you're looking to tighten up the opportunity process and cement your sales playbook check out Revenue Ready as they have been there and done it.    Annnnd, that's 5 minutes. Thank you for listening to Five and Thrive. We provide 5 minutes of quality information, so you can thrive in the upcoming week. Please subscribe to the show and spread the good word!  Resources discussed in this episode: Quiet Giant: Get Spiffy Beta Product of the Week: Ambitious App Product of the Week: GeorgiaVotes.com The Atlanta Story - Ryan Anderson Event of the Week:  Fireside Chat with Tristan Walker News of the Week: Revenue Ready

Kathryn O’Day is a partner at Atlanta Ventures where she empowers entrepreneurs to learn, build, and grow. She has been scaling Atlanta tech companies for over a decade as employee #9 at Pardot (acquired by Salesforce) and COO at Rigor (acquired by Splunk). Kathryn lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons. She is […] The post Kathryn O’Day With Atlanta Ventures appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

** Are you a Martech Enthusiast? Subscribe to our 2-weekly newsletter at clubmartech.com ** Switching marketing automation platforms can be tricky and requires a lot of preparation. Altudo has moved from Eloqua to Pardot and Akhil Mittal shares some learnings in this episode. In this episode, Elias has a chat with Akhil Mittal, who is SVP Global Sales & Marketing of Altudo. They are a martech agency specialized in corporate solutions. Topics we discuss: Things to consider when switching platforms: pricing and technology Best-of-breed versus all-in-one platforms CRM and marketing automation integration  LinkedIn Akhil Mittal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhilmittal2/  Website Altudo: https://www.altudo.co/    ** Are you a Martech Enthusiast? Subscribe to our 2-weekly newsletter at clubmartech.com ** The Marketing Technology Podcast is brought to you by Marketing Guys, the #1 Martech agency in Europe. If you want to be on this podcast or would like to know more about Marketing Technology, visit our website at marketingguys.com or contact Elias Crum at e.crum@marketingguys.nl    

Abu and Leo explore the life of iconic planetary ecologist Pardot Kynes and examine his extraordinary impact on Arrakis, the Fremen, and the entire galaxy through his dream of terraforming Dune.This episode contains SPOILERS for only the first half of Dune.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GomJabbarCheck out our merch: https://www.gomjabbarshop.comThis podcast is part of the Lore Party Podcast Network. Visit our site to learn more about all our great shows: https://loreparty.com/Sponsors:Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/lore to get a huge discount off your NordVPN Plan + Free Threat Protection + 1 additional month for free! It's completely risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee!

Buying a tool like HubSpot or Pardot is a shrewd move. These platforms help to get the maximum return on digital marketing spending. But the software alone won't do this, you need a team or partner. In this episode of the show Alex & Dave explore the reasons why working with a partner agency makes sense.

Techrides host Edwin Marcial rides along with serial entrepreneur and investor David Cummings. David is the founder of the Atlanta Tech Village (ATV) — the United States' 4th largest tech hub. David built ATV after selling his marketing automation software company Pardot for $100 million dollars. He is also the founder of Atlanta Tech Ventures through which he has invested in several of Atlanta's hottest startups including Calendly,  SalesLoft and Terminus.Join Edwin and David as they ride in David's 2017 Acura NSX and discussDavid's early career in entrepreneurship including starting a software business in High School and building another Hannon Hill while a student at Duke.Founding and selling Pardot for $100 MillionWhy he built the Atlanta Tech Village, one of the largest startup work spaces in the USWhat he looks for in the companies he is looking to invest inThe characteristics he thinks make a successful founderKey mistakes that lead to startup failuresHow startups should think about raising moneyHow Atlanta's startup ecosystem has changed post pandemicAdvice he has for those just getting started in entrepreneurship or thinking about getting startedThe Atlanta startups companies he is most excited aboutTo see the full video for this episode and other episodes, along with images of our guests and featured cars, go to https://techrides.io 

Sales teams have been churning out customer quotes for as long as there have been salespeople in the field. Before the advent of quoting software, prices and quotes were generated manually on spreadsheets. As virtually all companies across all industries have come to realize, spreadsheets are slow, cumbersome, and prone to human error. In fact, the more complex the quote, the more the odds rise of errors creeping in to disrupt the selling process. And if a customer wants a quote immediately, well, forget it, it'll take a few days. In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, we'll hear from Gerent solution architect Lisa French on why Salesforce CPQ has been an absolute game-changer for sales teams around the world, allowing instant, accurate, and even complex quotes in the field while the sales rep is across from the customer. Guest Bio Lisa French openly admits to being a geek. She “speaks” a number of different computer languages, programs with them fluently and is one of Gerent's top solution architects. Lisa specializes in Pardot and CPQ and is Salesforce-certified on both. She has nearly 20 years' experience with Salesforce technology and programming, all of which she brings to Gerent every day. Key Ideas 01:57 – Why CPQ is a game changer for sales teams 04:08 – How CPQ allows sales teams to create complex quotes and pricing engines 06:28 – What happens when you can integrate CPQ with an ERP 10:43 – CPQ comes in two versions: Industries CPQ and Salesforce CPQ 13:11 – Is CPQ a user-friendly solution? 14:54 – Two case studies that prove CPQ's worth

There is plenty of technology available for marketing teams that can help generate leads. But when you begin to examine which technology generates quality leads, scored on their likely convertibility, and powered by AI, the choices narrow down dramatically. Pardot is one such technology that is a standout, head and shoulders above the others. Pardot is no Marketing Cloud, which is the pinnacle in marketing technology for tracking the customer journey but it's not trying to be. Pardot makes it easy for marketing teams to provide strong, convertible leads to sales teams. And by “easy”, we mean easy to use, easy to implement and easy to determine quality leads. In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, we dig into Pardot with Gerent's top Pardot implementation specialist, Lisa French, and discover why Pardot makes so much sense from a cost, UX, and results basis. Guest Bio Lisa French openly admits to being a geek. She “speaks” a number of different computer languages, programs with them fluently and is one of Gerent's top solution architects. Lisa specializes in Pardot and CPQ and is Salesforce-certified on both. She has nearly 20 years' experience with Salesforce technology and programing, all of which she brings to Gerent every day. Key Ideas 00:19 – What it is that makes Pardot such a productive tool 04:45 – Pardot is of benefit for both B2B and B2C marketers 05:58 – This is how Pardot separates itself from Marketing Cloud 09:50 – Pardot with Einstein AI tracks behavior scoring, lead scoring and generates campaign insights 15:16 – Case studies that prove Pardot's worth

Sangram Vajre is the co-founder of Terminus, the leader in account-based marketing, and the host of The Flip My Funnel Podcast. He joins the podcast to discuss is his new book, MOVE-The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework, and explains the MOVE framework and the 3 P's (problem-market fit, product market fit, platform-market fit). 0:00 Intro 1:05 Conversation with Sangram 3:10 Growing on LinkedIn 4:30 Consistency 5:50 Community of modern-day marketers 10:05 New book 12:53 Working at Pardot 17:35 McDonald's 19:00 Joe Rogan's podcast 19:55 Is your go-to-market broken 25:06 MOVE framework— Market, Operations, Velocity, Expansion 29:40 Collaborating on book 32:00 Making personalized videos 36:45 Roles in go-to-market function 38:44 Content within MOVE framework 40:07 Order book 40:42 Outro Join The JuiceORDER SANGRAM'S BOOK MOVE HERE Follow Sangram| Twitter | LinkedIn | Terminus | The FlipMyFunnel Podcast Follow Brett:| Twitter | LinkedIn    

Permission is a foundational part of email deliverability. That is, a recipient has given explicit and informed consent to receive email from you. In this episode, we're joined by Skyler Holobach, the Senior Manager of Email Reputation for Pardot & Salesforce Marketing Cloud to discuss the essentials of permission and understanding the legal and technical aspects of acquiring data.

When marketing is not aligned with other departments and is seen as the cost center of the business, it is often the first department to be put on pause during a challenging time. Yet, there is so much value that marketing and the technology being used can provide. A 12X Certified Salesforce MVP, Founder & Blogger of The Spot for Pardot, and the CEO & Founder of Sercante, Andrea Tarrell, encourages marketers and gives great examples of how to leverage a marketing automation platform, to provide value to the other departments at their company.    Takeaways: Marketing automation should not be siloed to just marketing. Talk to other departments, see what repetitive communication and tasks are being done that could be automated with the platform. Where else can your marketing automation system provide value to the company? Use campaign influence reporting to gain marketing campaign performance insights across the entire buyer's journey. Your marketing efforts go beyond just the MQL and the SQL, what about all of the other touches in between? Just because your marketing team is used to keeping up with a certain cadence of communication, does not mean they need to keep doing it. There is no point, unless the communication is providing value to its recipients. When working remotely, consider turning off your video if you are walking around on a video conference call, think more about your tone for digital communication, and set expectations for how collaborative digital platforms should be used. Implementing marketing technology without a strategy in mind, will often result in the technology being unused and a waste of an investment. In B2B marketing, take comfort in the fact that trying to drive human change and adoption is part of the hard work. Career Advice from Andrea Tarrell - Take the leap! If you dream of starting a company, or changing your career, do not doubt yourself or compare yourself to others. Have confidence in your ability and go for it.   Links: The Spot for Pardot: https://thespotforpardot.com/ Sercante: https://www.sercante.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreatarrell/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreatarrell Venturing Virtual: https://venturingvirtual.com/   Busted Myths: Marketing is a cost center and it should be put on pause during difficult economic times. -  This is NOT the case. Marketing is a way to drive business. If anything companies should look at the full picture, prioritize efforts, and go after quick win campaigns that will drive business faster.   Shout Outs: 1:18:26 Delta Airlines   Ways to Tune In: iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show YouTube - Full video(https://youtu.be/PLBsP0YY7ho)

Just because the term marketing automation does not have the word sales in it, does not mean that this technology cannot be used by both teams for a successful lead to revenue process. A Marketing Strategist and Architect, Digital Marketing Expert, Branding Evangelist, and the Director of Marketing at Millar, Inc., Michelle Sanders, shares practical actions that marketing can do to help sales leverage the information from a marketing automation platform.  This episode is filled with marketing and sales alignment strategy, suggestions for cleaning your marketing automation database and career advice to achieve your goals. Check it out!   Takeaways: Meet with sales and show them the information they can take from Pardot, the marketing automation tool, so they know what they can use for context in their sales conversations. Communicate with sales and let them know when automated emails are coming out with sales as the sender, so they do not do double the communication. Marketing automation is not a platform that can be set up and left alone. It needs to be managed, audited, cleaned, and organized consistently.  To keep marketing email campaigns up-to-date, go through your marketing automation platform monthly and discuss what campaigns should be discontinued, what content needs to be updated, and are there any new ones that should be started? When cleaning your marketing automation database, use your buying cycle length and a prospect's last activity to inform when to delete a prospect. Prospects that have not engaged and have not bought far past when they would for a typical buying cycle, are only clogging up your database. Marketing is more than just pretty pictures and events. It is the only department that focuses on the entire customer journey from net new to post sale.  Brand is not just a logo. It is the experience your company or brand creates with its prospects, customers, and employees. Consistent messaging is key both internally and externally to create a strong brand experience. Look at your top customers and analyze their buying and customer journeys. Think about what marketing campaigns they have interacted with along the way and use that to help inform you about what marketing has been the most effective.   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellersanders/ Millar, Inc.: https://millaroem.com/   Busted Myths: Marketing automation is only a marketing tool. - Marketing automation is not just for marketers, but it is extremely useful to sales. The platform provides data and context as to what marketing campaigns leads and contacts have been interacting with throughout their buying cycle. Sales can leverage this information in their conversations.

Marketing automation technology is often purchased hoping that it will be the silver bullet to solve all of the company's problems and what is worse, there is sometimes not even a plan in place for what to do with it after the fact. Therefore the technology sits, is underutilized, and becomes cluttered with data and disorganized assets. A Writer, 6x Certified Salesforce Ohana member, Editor at Salesforce Ben and The Drip, and Marketing Automation Consultant, Lucy Mazalon, urges marketers to put in the work to maximize the use of their marketing automation platform, to get the best production out of the advanced technology.   Takeaways: Have a plan in place for how marketing automation technology, like Pardot, is going to be used, to get the most out of it. The Campaign Influence of marketing campaigns on Opportunities should not be the only success measurement of marketing. Not everything can be quantified, as marketing is also about building brand loyalty. If you do not track the first marketing touchpoint of where your leads are coming from, how will you know where to prioritize efforts to get more leads? Marketing automation technology platforms are great, but if you spend the money and then do not have any content to pour into the tool, what good will it do? The creation of a white paper is not something that can be automated. Take the time to declutter your CRM and marketing automation databases. It will help unclog your system and yield authentic reports. Have an organization system in place for how you will manage all of your marketing assets. If your team can never find the files they need, simple tasks can turn into stressful assignments and wasted time. Before jumping into Salesforce Pardot connected campaigns, meet with your team to create a campaign hierarchy that fits your business needs. Start with the end in mind and consider what reporting leadership would like to see. Career Advice from Lucy - It may be tough in the beginning, working long hours, and getting through difficult situations, but everything is going to be okay. Be yourself in the workplace, empathetic to your coworkers, and consider the situations they are in around you.   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucymazalon/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucymazalon?lang=en Salesforce Ben: https://www.salesforceben.com/about/ The Drip: https://www.salesforceben.com/thedrip/ Website: http://mazalon.com   Busted Myths: Pardot will help your business get more leads. - Pardot will not help you get more leads, but rather process leads more efficiently. Marketers still need to put in the work for lead generation campaigns. If used properly, Pardot is the driver along the lead-to-revenue journey.  

Marketing automation platforms can be complex. There is a specific process to follow for set up, and then once the technology is set up, teams often use it at a minimalistic level when there is so much more that can be unleashed. A Marketing Leader, Speaker, Mentor, the Author of Marketing Automation Unleashed, Founder & CMO of Cheshire Impact, and the host of The Hard Corps Marketing Show, Casey Cheshire, is interviewed by former guest and the Chief Evangelist of BombBomb, Ethan Beute, for a special episode where the host talks marketing automation and sets the record straight!   Takeaways: The whole point of using an implementation partner is to skip all the mistakes and painful moments that can happen. A partner has already seen mistakes that happened from previous clients and they are able to apply that experience to your business' implementation.                                Most people only use 30% or less of their marketing automation tool. Marketing automation in four words is capture, nurture, automate, and report. Capture is all about getting leads that come to your website to convert. “...somehow we expect our customers to come to our website and get married to us on the very first form...you see this all the time when you have a form with 12 fields.” - Casey Cheshire Progressive profiling allows you to ask a series of questions over several visits to your site. Pardot will never ask the same question twice. Nurturing with marketing automation is about encouraging prospect growth, actually solving their problems, and providing value with your content. If a prospect says reach out to me in six months, nurture them along the way to keep your brand top of mind. Marketing automation allows you to automate processes that would otherwise take up precious hours of your time.  A marketer can automatically send prioritized leads to sales that are considered to be sales qualified. “The whole point of marketing automation is to prioritize human time.” - Casey Cheshire A marketer's report should display which marketing campaigns are working and which are not. More marketing activities does not necessarily mean more results.   Links: Email: casey@cheshieimpact.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseycheshire/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyChesh Cheshire Impact: http://cheshireimpact.com/ Marketing Automation Unleashed: https://go.cheshireimpact.com/cheshirebook Caseycheshire.com: https://caseycheshire.com/   Busted Myths: The marketing automation platform is done being set up once the implementation is over. - This is NOT the case. A marketing automation platform needs to be continually added to, it needs to be given a process for how it can be developed and optimized towards your business needs.  

David Cummings co-founded Pardot during the heat of the recession. Initially, David wanted to replace the function of the traditional contact forms you find on most websites. Instead of contact forms landing in your inbox for you to use as a lead magnet, what if they went directly into your CRM platform according to your business' unique rules? In other words, what if they could be inserted into your CRM platform in a structured fashion and monitored for micro web analytics so that you knew exactly what your customers were doing on your site. A year after launching, they were slowly, but steadily, growing and proceeded to add email marketing, automation rules, landing pages, and other modules to their toolkit. The momentum never stopped until they sold the company for over $100M.

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, host Collin Stewart welcomes Derek Grant, VP of Commercial Sales at Atlanta-based sales development juggernaut SalesLoft. Derek knows his way around a sales team. Before joining SalesLoft, Derek held high-profile leadership positions at industry-leading firms like Pardot, as well as customer experience focused startup FullStory.   Throughout the pod, Collin and Derek discuss SalesLoft's evolution towards account-based sales, as well as how it's marketing and sales teams collaborate to execute on a detailed account-based playbook. Highlights include: a minimum threshold for account-based sales (8:12), why SalesLoft run an account-based playbook (9:26), SalesLoft's account-based segmentation (17:29), a “Hypothesis of Need” (20:57), executing an account-based playbook (27:06), Derek's best and worst plays (33:11). 

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, host Collin Stewart welcomes Derek Grant, VP of Commercial Sales at Atlanta-based sales development juggernaut SalesLoft. Derek knows his way around a sales team. Before joining SalesLoft, Derek held high-profile leadership positions at industry-leading firms like Pardot, as well as customer experience focused startup FullStory.   Throughout the pod, Collin and Derek discuss SalesLoft's evolution towards account-based sales, as well as how it's marketing and sales teams collaborate to execute on a detailed account-based playbook. Highlights include: a minimum threshold for account-based sales (8:12), why SalesLoft run an account-based playbook (9:26), SalesLoft's account-based segmentation (17:29), a “Hypothesis of Need” (20:57), executing an account-based playbook (27:06), Derek's best and worst plays (33:11). 

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, hosts Collin Stewart and Aaron Ross welcome Anthony Zhang, Head of Sales Development at Atlanta-based hull. Anthony is a long-time business development professional and SDR leader – he was the first SDR at Pardot, the first hire at Salesloft (where he eventually went on to become the Director of Sales), and a veteran sales consultant and advisor. Anthony is a powerhouse. Throughout the pod, Collin, Aaron and Anthony take a detailed look at Anthony's tips and tricks on how to set up a successful sales development operation (also known as Anthony's SDR pre-flight checklist). Highlights include: mapping out sales development and process (1:33), the dangers of tracking too much (11:41), executing your plan (23:00), and analysis vs. iteration (26:00).

On this edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast, hosts Collin Stewart and Aaron Ross welcome Anthony Zhang, Head of Sales Development at Atlanta-based hull. Anthony is a long-time business development professional and SDR leader – he was the first SDR at Pardot, the first hire at Salesloft (where he eventually went on to become the Director of Sales), and a veteran sales consultant and advisor. Anthony is a powerhouse. Throughout the pod, Collin, Aaron and Anthony take a detailed look at Anthony's tips and tricks on how to set up a successful sales development operation (also known as Anthony's SDR pre-flight checklist). Highlights include: mapping out sales development and process (1:33), the dangers of tracking too much (11:41), executing your plan (23:00), and analysis vs. iteration (26:00).

Jay McBain, Global Advisor at Channel Mechanics, joins me, Jen Spencer to discuss shadow channels and the shift from IT buying power, verticalization (or hyperfocused vectorization), the future of the channel and more on this episode of The Allbound Podcast. Jen: Welcome to The Allbound Podcast, I am Jen Spencer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing here at Allbound. And today, I'm joined by Jay McBain who co-founded the company ChannelEyes, currently serves as Chairman Emeritus of the CompTIA Vendor Advisory Council and Managed Services Community. He is a Board member of the Channel Vanguard Council, the Ziff Davis Leadership Council, and CRN Channel Intelligence Council. In short, this man knows channel. Welcome, Jay. Jay: Thanks, Jen, really appreciate it. Glad to be here. Jen: Absolutely. Well, it's good to have you. And especially, really wanting to get caught up with you and what's going on in your world and I'm sure our listeners are also really interested about five months ago, you took on a free agent status. You said, "Okay, I'm leaving ChannelEyes," which was the channel tech startup that you helped co-found. So catch us up, what's had your attention the last year or so? Jay: Yeah, absolutely. I had spent the last while at ChannelEyes as CEO and they're working on some really interesting stuff around predictive analytics and artificial intelligence. And I think in the next three to five years, most of us in the channel will be using computers to help us do our daily tasks...help us with our daily tasks and get us to the finish line faster. And I think now that the company transitions to a CEO that can better position the company with some of the leading CRM players in the market like Salesforce and Microsoft. And who knows, further down the road, to really make something happen. Jen: Great, great. So what are you focused on right now as a channel professional in your world? Jay: That's a great question and I was at CompTIA last week and probably answered the question at least 100 times so... Jen: I'm sure. I'm sure. Jay: One of the answers is I spent almost 20 years working at IBM and Lenovo in different channel roles including channel chief roles. And they were always Americas based, either North America or full Americas, and I never really got a lot of exposure to Europe and Australia and Asia-Pacific. And what I've decided to do in the last five months is work closely. I've been to Australia and going back again working with a very large telco there, I'm working with this great company in Ireland which is where I'm sitting right now in Ireland. The company is called Channel Mechanics and they've really looked at the channel management space and they've done some really innovative things. So looking internationally but also looking obviously to work with some very interesting challenges, which I'm sure we'll touch on on this podcast. Jen: Great. So let's, dig in to some of that. I've followed a lot of what you've been writing about specifically around channel, something that you previously called out, is that a large number of channel programs that tend to get stuck in the exact same place. And you wield it down to two key conclusions. So one, that some vendors will simply win because their product wins. And then two, that other vendors will win because they know how to influence the channel. So I'd like to know, what do you mean by that? Jay: Yeah, this is one of my kind of personal passions and I think it started when I read the book "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. He's got this great chapter early on in the book. I think it's chapter 2, about Paul Revere. What a great connector Paul Revere was in 1776 and why that won the day more so than riding a horse through all these towns, and why the other person who left on horseback that night wasn't successful. And this idea of influencers or connectors and super connectors, when I moved to the United States from Canada in 2009, I looked at the market and looked at the millions of people that participate in the channel and I didn't have 15 years to catch up to the relationships that I had in Canada at the time. So I kind of boiled it down and said, "What is this influence and how would you measure it?" And in 2009, I generated a list of the top 100 most influential people in the global channel and I did it again, actually, about 4 months ago on my blog. And seven or eight years had passed and it's interesting to see people have changed positions and everything else. But it's a very analytical numeric way of assigning scores for people's influence. And just to give a quick synopsis is back in 2009, I figured out that there are 16 magazines that channel people read. There's 150 trade shows globally that channel people go to. There's thousands of vendors. There's dozens of distributors. There's bloggers, thought-leaders, associations, analysts. When you look around this web of influencing sites, what people read, where they go, and who they follow, it's across different mediums but they're all available. So I took and read every magazine. I wrote down every name of everyone in the magazines. I went to most of the trade shows in my first year and took note of who the keynote speakers, and the advisory council, and the board members, and all the key people at these events. I did the same for peer groups. I did the same for the associations and analysts. And as I came around, I came to about 1,000 names. But what was more important to me is how visible they were across multiple different communities. In our channel, it's so wide and diverse. But more importantly, it's decentralized. Channel partners don't have the time to go and read 12 magazines. So they tend to focus on one community and at most, maybe two to get their information to reinforce their expertise and to really peer network. And we look at these organizations, there's about 30 of them in North America that they're a part of. And I was really looking at how many people influenced in more of these 30 communities. And really, for me, reach was more important than maybe... that's all I could find out on Google. I couldn't find out how important they were in each community but I could definitely measure their reach. And so, I just added this really simple spreadsheet, and I just started adding check marks beside each name every time I saw them more than once. And after 1,000 names and thousands and thousands of check marks, I just sorted by whoever had the most check marks. And interestingly enough, in 2009, Larry Walsh, who was long time CRN editor, kind of patriarch of the channel, but he ranked number one and I didn't know who Larry Walsh was but I knew I had to go meet him. And then, all the way down the list I wanted to meet. And as I met probably 20 to 30 of the top 100 people, the other 70 came rushing to me. Not because I was important but because they sensed that I was doing this and talking to these important people and maybe I was important. But to a connector, they don't want to be left in the dark. So it's really important to them to know what's going on and to be able to kind of stay on the inside of things. So it was kind of really fascinating and over the last seven or eight years, I've written a lot and I've studied the level of influence that people have in the channel and there's a direct correlation between people having a high influence and carrying their company to great new heights. Jen: I think that holds true, regardless of what sort of industry or what segment of the market you're in, especially from that leadership perspective. I think it's also interesting, we talk to a lot of folks who are not your traditional type of channel organization, not your traditional enterprise IT company. Maybe they're a small or more mid-market size organization, software company, ready to kind of build a channel. A lot of folks are looking at an agency-based program. Upcoming on a future podcast episode, I'm going to be interviewing Pete Caputa from HubSpot who's now at Databox and has assured us that he's building the agency partner program to end all partner programs. And so when I think about influence, I think about an individual like that. So would you say that this concept of influencing the channel is just as strong in the evolution of where channel is going? Is it even more important than ever? I mean, what is your take on it because looking at 2017 compared to 2008, not that much time has gone by but there's been a lot of change in that time period? Jay: Well, there absolutely has, and some of the things I wrote about later last year, I call them shadow channels. But I've got this personal belief that your average vendor, their channel program is going to grow by at least 5X in the next three or four years. And the reason really goes back to the customer buy-in journey. And people at HubSpot know this very, very well but over the last 10 years, 90% of all IT decisions 10 years ago were made in the IT department. Makes sense, CIO. And today, it's flipped completely where 72% of all decisions are made outside of the IT department. It's now the VP of sales and marketing, operations, and finance, and HR, and all the way down the line that are making big technology decisions that are business decisions. And what's happening to traditional vendors is sometimes they're not in the room. Well, most cases, they're not in the room. When a VP of marketing like yourself is making a technology decision, a lot of times you don't have the person who's fixing your printer in the room. Jen: Wait, wait, hold on. Jay, I'm the person who fixes the printer here, so should it be someone else fixing... Jay: Oh. Jen: Just... Jay: That's right. Startup life, you know. Jen: Startup life. Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, I had to insert that. I had to insert that. But no, no, I agree with you 100% what you're saying, right? So I buy technology all the time and we do have someone here who's responsible for overseeing all technology and he has a zero influence on what I choose to buy to run our sales and marketing team. Jay: Right. And so, in the sense of if you put yourself under traditional vendor's space and you're trying to install traditional hardware, like you're selling software or other services, and now you need to get in front of Jen Spencer and, you know, who are you using to influence you. You might have somebody from HubSpot or Marketo in the room. You probably have somebody from your industry in the room that's a tech expert on your industry. In some cases, this could be accountants. They could be legal firms. They could be digital agencies. In your case, it might be a digital agency in the room. You could also have other ISVs in the room that play in ecosystems like a Marketo or HubSpot or Pardot or whichever one you play in. They're going to be in there because they know how to drive more leads for a company specifically like yours. You may have a startup in the room that's built with piece of technology and you're going to be one of their early customers so they want to make sure it succeeds. But you look at the five people in the room and it's not the printer person. It's not the person that installed your phones. So in other words, it's not the IT department. And so, if you're a traditional vendor spending all your time trying to recruit MSPs and solution providers and VARs from days gone by, guess what? You just missed out of a technology decision because your influence isn't in the room when it was made. Jen: Right. Jay: Now put yourself in the shoes of...let's talk VP of marketing and let's talk ambulatory care...healthcare clinic, midsized, 50 doctors, in the Northeast U.S. And in the room with that VP of marketing, again, it's probably that person from Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot, whatever it is, Eloqua, probably somebody that is an expert in healthcare driving leads for midsized clinics who's had success in the past, with five other clinics of the same size and scope. But these five people are different five people than what the IT department would have in the room. And so, you're not talking about routers and PCs, and you're not talking about, traditional licensing and everything else. You're talking about driving more leads or you're talking about a marketing problem. And to be relevant, vendors either a) need to train their current channels to be valuable to the VP of marketing in the clinic, which is less likely to happen. It's more likely that they then have to go and recruit and nurture these five other types of partners, and you call them alliances. You can call them whatever you want but the incentive is different, the way you manage them and measure them is different. The entire relationship is different. But the point is, there's so many more rooms that you have to be influencing now that your channel program is just invariably going to grow. Jen: So, you call these “shadow channels”, and when I think about like shadow marketing, shadow IT, usually, it's a very negative connotation to it. There's work going on that's outside of your viewpoint, that is in most cases negatively-impacting whatever the core function is. But what you just described doesn't sound negative, right? So are these shadow channels, is this the future? Is this a good thing for these organizations? Jay: Yeah, well, there's good and bad. And depending on the audience that I talk to, is which one I'll start with. The good news is businesspeople are now making business decisions around technology. All companies are becoming technology companies and all other professional organizations and industry, association, everything else, are becoming technology-based just because that's the way world works. All 27 industries now are pretty much 27 tech industries depending on agriculture, fisheries, or whatever they do. You know, that's become such a big role. So, the world has changed. And the reason it was called shadow IT or rogue IT is back in the day, where 10%, and then it became 20%, and then 30% of decisions are made by these people who have no idea what's going on with technology and they don't understand security and they don't understand backups and disaster recovery and they're not of the adult in the room which, you know, the CIO or IT department would claim to be. And so they were rogue, they need to be stumped. Well, the fact of the matter...and these are Gardener numbers, by the way, 72% of all the decisions today are now made outside of IT, so it's no longer rogue or shadow. It is literally the new normal. And the prediction by 2020 is that 90% of all decisions will be made outside of IT. So in 10 years, there's been pretty much a 180-degree turn in terms of where the decisions are made. And this isn't changing. And businesspeople are making business technology decisions and that's the way the world should work. It's been a big boom for SaaS companies. And it's been pretty hard for technology companies and hardware companies, specifically, because they're trying to still find their place in these conversations when these decisions are being made outside of their normal feasibility. Jen: It makes perfect sense and it's a good opportunity for consultants, for people like yourself to let you go in and really help some of those organizations along this evolution of the way that channel and selling today, tech buyers today has definitely changed. I want to ask you now about another topic that you've written about, that you spoke about. You talked about channel vectors or vectorization. And you said that verticalization is being replaced by hyperfocused vectorization. So I'm hoping perhaps you can clarify what you mean by that. And then, I want to explore, what today's executive needs to consider as he or she is scooping out plans to grow through channel over the next 5 years, because there are a lot of these organizations that maybe they've hit $10 million in annual recurring revenue and they're looking at, "How do we get to $100?" And they're looking at channel as a way to do that. So what do they need to know from this new vectorization perspective? Jay: Yeah, it's another example of me making up a word and then all of a sudden... Jen: I love it. Jay: It's really good for Google SEO if you actually make up your own word. It's actually pretty cheap, first of all. But all kidding aside, let's go back to the healthcare VP marketing in a midsized clinic. And you're looking at the 5 people in the room and 10 years ago, for an IT provider, it was okay to say, "Hey, I got to move from being a generalist to a specialist." "Well, what are you going to do?" "Hey, well, I'm going to specialize in healthcare." "Well, that's fantastic." So what they do is they go out and read HIPAA and HITECH, and, they get a couple people certified, and they can talk their way out of a paper bag when it comes to patient records and compliancy and even some legal. But again, the world in this journey has changed things for them. So if you're that VP of marketing at a midsized clinic and you have somebody in your office that says, "Hey, I know a lot about healthcare." You're like, "Well, that's great. That's one of the vectors. What would be even better is if you knew not only healthcare but midsized clinics, so the sub-industry. The fact that you put in a solution for a 500-doctor firm probably doesn't have a ton of relevance to me because I don't have those resources. So that's another thing. The fact that you installed in Colorado may not be as relevant as it is in New York because of the different statewide bureaucracy and everything else. I mean, there's just that 50 different systems in 50 different states. So if you start asking these questions, there's actually five vectors. And as a VP of marketing in a midsized clinic, you're not going to ever get that perfect person who has all five. "Listen, I've just done the last five clinics exactly your size, just down the street. I've just done your competitors. They're the guinea pigs. I know exactly what to do. Here's my price. I can get started right away." That would be perfect. That doesn't work. So all you only end up doing is, "If somebody knows healthcare that's better than not knowing healthcare." I put that in quotes, air quotes. But that's one vector. So, flipping it aside, "I want somebody who knows my business. I want somebody who's been successful in my sub-industry. I want to know somebody who's been successful in marketing. I don't care if you put in an accounting app, or I don't care if you put in an IT solution. I need the drive leads. I need you to be focused on my line of business. I need you to be focused on my sub-industry. I need you to focus on my region." So these are the types of things that you push back on. And if you can get two or three out of five, it's much better than just getting that generalist in the room who might have one out of five, or none out of five. Jen: I think that's such a good kind of point to make and maybe even to end on here, because we've talked about how the channel is no longer just a channel. It's no longer just kind of a one-way street or even a two-way street. I mean it is a complete ecosystem. The story you just spun about healthcare IT, about being able to plug in to Salesforce to really put that on steroids to make it work for somebody to do their business, I mean that is absolutely our present and our future of the way that sales ecosystems are growing. And organizations that embrace it, organizations like Salesforce, organizations like Microsoft, that embrace that type of channel environment are reaping the rewards of it, the benefits of that in addition to their partners as well. So I love it. I'm glad you invented the word vectorization. I'll have to start using it. Jay: Great to participate. I've actually wanted to do this since you started. But one of the key things is you asked me to look forward five years. Jen: Yeah, absolutely. Jay: Vendors need to look at the toolset that they're using. And many of the tools that they're currently managing the current triangle of gold and silver and bronze partners they have the same program they built 20 years ago, they need to refresh their tools. If they're going to grow their channel by 5X, they need to seriously look at a tool like GoalBot, take collaboration to a completely different level. They need to look at a tool like Channel Mechanics. They need to look at new, fresh thinking around how to do this because if you try to force-fit your old ecosystem, your old infrastructure into this new world, it's going to be very, very difficult. And many vendors are now realizing that and looking for those right SaaS companies and others to plug together, to kind of manage these new channels, measure these new channels and set these new channels. And in the end grow with these new channels. Jen: Absolutely. I mean, it's that old saying that, "What got you to where you are today may not be what's going to get you to where you want to go tomorrow." And so, I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment. Thank you so much. I'm not going to let you go just yet, though, Jay. So since you said you listened to the podcast, you've been excited about being on it, then I'm going to ask you some other questions. So you already know this is coming. Jay: I know it. Jen: Okay. All right. So, yeah. Well, I'd like to ask some more personal questions just so we can kind of shake things up and get to know a little bit more about you as a person. So first question I want to start with is what's your favorite city? Jay: Oh, that's a good one. I have traveled to 27 countries now. All of that spent on vacation, one of the blogs I write is "Rollerblades and Red Bull," the idea is to get to every country in the world. Right now, it would be tough to say the absolute but I would say Prague. Jen: Prague, awesome. I haven't been there but I've heard amazing things about it. So I heard it's a really beautiful city. Jay: Very, very difficult to rollerblade in, by the way. Jen: Okay, I won't try that, at least not the first time I go. Okay. Question number two, are you an animal lover? Yes or no? Jay: Yes, we have...we just actually...we had two dogs and one cat. And they were all 13 or 14 years old and we lost them all within 6 months. But, we're kind of in that mode now. We've got two young daughters as well I've got two daughters in college. But we're thinking about the family pets now and looking at different breeds so very excited to rescue some new pets. Jen: Oh, good. Well, you have to keep us posted. We love pets at Allbound. Our pets have an Instagram account called "Allbound Critters." So when you do have a new pet join your family, you have to let me know so I can give you guys a shout-out there. Jay: Will do. Jen: Okay, next question for you, Mac or PC? Jay: Well, being a 20-year IBM and Lenovo guy, the answer's going to shock you, I'm 95% Apple. So from iPhones to Watch to the laptop I'm on right now, everything, except for real work, is on an Apple. When I talked about analyzing the thousands of people that run this industry and running all these AI and macros and heavy, heavy lifting, I have one super-powered, liquid-cooled, top-end gaming machine at home that I do serious work on. But everything else is Apple. Jen: Everything else is Apple. All right. All right. There you go. And last question. Let's say I was able to offer you an all-expenses paid trip, where would it be to? Jay: That's a good question. So back to visiting every country in the world, the next, probably Middle Africa. Jen: Oh, what interests you about Middle Africa? Jay: A) that I haven't been there. Jen: Okay, yeah. Jay: I've been to most regions... You know, when I see the weather report that has 50 or 60 cities, most of them...well, almost of them I've been to. So now, I'm in the mode of, "I've got to go to dangerous places now." You can't go to the Middle East. A lot of Africa is off-limits. But it gets much harder to travel once you've knocked off the easy ones. Now you've got to start knocking off ones that have government warnings, or can add a little bit of risk. So that's what entices me about going to Middle Africa and maybe at Uganda, or Kenya, and help build schools or do something good for the world. Jen: Sounds wonderful. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for joining me, for sharing some of your time with us, especially calling in from Ireland where I know it's late at night. If any of our listeners would like to reach out to you personally, what's the best way for them to connect with you? If folks want to talk about going to Kenya with you, or they want to talk about fixing their channel, how should they reach you? Jay: Absolutely. My website, my blog that most of what we've talked about today, is jaymcbain.com. It's jaymcbain.com. There is at least 50 ways on there that you can contact me through every social and my cellphone and everything else. If you just want to hit me with a quick tweet. It's the letter "J" mcbain, M-C-B-A-I-N, so jmcbain. Hit me there and we can go from there. Jen: Perfect. Well, thanks again, Jay. Thanks, everyone else, for tuning in, and catch us next week for an all-new episode of The Allbound Podcast. 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Dee Dee de Kenessey, Agency Partner Program Manager at Wistia, joins Jen Spencer on The Allbound Podcast to discuss the why behind creating a partner agency program, owning the customer relationship, and divvying up valuable time between partners. I'm so happy to have you. For anyone who's not familiar with Wistia, Wistia provides professional video hosting for businesses, they help businesses add their videos to the web, track performance, and really find new ways to build and engage with their audiences using online video. Dee Dee, is there anything I missed there? Anything you want to add about Wistia? And then tell us a little bit about yourself. Sure. I think you hit the nail on Wistia. That's sort of it in a nutshell. I've been at Wistia for the past year, and I run our agency program over here. We work with a lot of agencies who are doing video for clients in all capacities; some of them are production shops, some of them are marketing agencies, some of them are large ad agencies, but we've got actually a lot of our customers do exactly that. So it's been really fun to come to Wistia in the last year and to launch and be running this program. So you joined Wistia and the Partner Program a year ago. How long has the program itself been in place? Did it start when you arrived or was it something that you sort of adopted when you joined the company? It started when I arrived. So Wistia brought me on to develop and run this. I came to Wistia just a year ago, January 2016, and we launched the program three weeks after I started. Unbelievable. It was pretty unbelievable. It was one of those things where I said, "I think the best way to do it is just to dive right in and build it as I go." And really what that allowed me to do was to really listen to our first round of agencies that signed up. So instead of building anything in a vacuum and crossing my fingers and hoping that it worked, it was great to be able to listen to that first cohort, ask them questions, and build what they needed. So it was a hectic beginning, but I'm glad we dove right in. Why did it make sense for Wistia to begin an agency-based program? What was your executive team hoping to achieve by developing this kind of program and hiring you to come build this? Well, most businesses, when they set out to make a video, hire someone to do that video for them. It's not unusual that you'll find businesses that have internal video teams, but most of the time it's an external hire to actually contract out or to get an agency or production shop to do that. So, again, that can be anyone from an independent videographer or a video-production studio, or a marketing agency that just offers video services. So, really, agencies are a natural fit for Wistia. In fact, many of Wistia's customers are, and have historically been, agencies. It really made sense for Wistia to dig deep into that cohort of its customers and to figure out if we could find a way to really partner with them and help them be more successful. And what I've found and what I saw coming in is that there were sort of two huge opportunities within video for both the production shops and the broader marketing agencies. So, regardless of what type of an agency you are, agencies that are doing video have an opportunity to upsell their clients or just increase the size of the deals they're closing by adding video services to their existing portfolio. So either agencies are adding video on for the first time, maybe they offer services and now have an opportunity to increase that by adding video on top of the SEO or the social work or the e-mail marketing they might be doing, or, for those that already offer video, adding additional video services. The real success comes when agencies go from just doing video production to running full video marketing campaigns. So instead of just making the video, the agency can own the strategy, and the planning, they can do the marketing around that video, and if they're using a platform like Wistia, they can measure and prove the success of that video. What we've found - what agencies found, partnering with us and starting to do this - is that their clients are willing to pay more for those services because they ensure the success of the video. So part of our goal with starting this agency partner program is to educate the agencies that were already using Wistia about how to run these types of campaigns, and how do you you use Wistia to prove out the success of their videos, and then how to upsell, or sell larger deals. The other opportunity lies in going from doing sort of one off video projects, to having a retainer model of work. Most people just sort of say, "Hey, we want one video for our home page, and that's it." That's sort of the equivalent of asking an agency to just write one blog post, and hope that it goes viral, or one tweet and hope it goes viral. And video can do so much more than just go on YouTube, or go on a home page. Video boosts results across the board for both marketing and sales initiatives, if it's lead nurturing, or closing deals, or whatever it is. So, again, we saw another opportunity to help educate agencies about what the opportunities are that come with using video in different parts of the marketing and sales process for clients. Videos are also getting cheaper and cheaper. Wistia has a ton of great resources for our agencies about how to record on an iPhone, or make a lighting kit for under a hundred bucks. We wanted to help agencies also do more and better video, and then help them make the case to move to that retainer model, which is just a more sustainable source of income for them. So really, our goal in creating a partner program is to help agencies do those two things. And of course it's a win-win, right? If video becomes an agency's core strength, if they're closing larger deals, if they're getting onto a retainer model and doing more and more video, then the more clients they'll introduce to Wistia and the longer those clients stick around. Being able to help agencies be successful in two ways was really the main driver. Well I can definitely see how using a platform like Wistia can help an agency add value to that client for sure. From a very nitty-gritty partner program detail sort of perspective, who owns the customer? Are the agencies reselling Wistia, or are the agencies referring the business to Wistia? So who owns that customer relationship? So the agencies are reselling Wistia. We decided to go the route of having an agency partner reseller program, as opposed to sort of having an affiliate program where people just get credit for links in to Wistia or referring leads because we wanted to own the end relationship with the client. I actually came from HubSpot before Wistia and a lot of our inspiration for a successful model of a great agency program comes from Hotspot's agency program. I think they do great things with their agencies. One thing that is core of their model, which we've taken up and has been really valuable, is owning that end relationship with the client. Because at the end of the day, agencies and their clients, it's a temporary relationship. They might work together for a couple years, or a couple months, but at the end of the day, they usually part ways. You want to make sure that your company owns that end relationship so that when an agency disappears, they don't also take all their clients with them. Right. So let's say - well, here I'm Allbound, right? So I'm Allbound and let's say I hire an agency to create all of my marketing content, which includes videos, and my agency then recommends that I host those videos in Wistia. Is that all wrapped into that one contract I sign with my agency? How do you handle it from a document perspective? So you stay in connection with that customer but the agency also still plays a supportive role in that customer relationship? Absolutely. That's a great question. So the way that we have it structured is we ask our agencies to separate out the cost of Wistia from sort of the general charge, or to at least make it very clear within the contract that they're signing with their clients, that Wistia is a separate account, a separate charge. We ask that every agency signs their clients up with unique Wistia accounts, and we want the end client to own that account, basically to be the account holder, and own the billing. It's as simple as that. Every agency is made a manager on any client account, so that's how they have full access to the account, they can do all the work in the account, they have access to basically everything but billing. And that's also our way of tracking which agency is associated with which accounts, is whether or not they're manager on there. We ask that either that the agency sign their clients up for Wistia, or just tell the client to sign up for Wistia, and as long as the agency makes themselves a manager in that account, then all that credit for that account, for the sign up, the resale, and sort of the future work goes to the agency. Well, I mean, it's great to also hear that this is built into your product, right? It sounds to me like the Wistia platform was built with the intention, the plan, of going to market at least partially through partners. To be able to support that kind of a relationship which is great. I mean, it would be much more challenging for you to determine your success and to track that kind of engagement without that feature within the product. Absolutely. I think it wasn't actually the initial intent. I don't think this was the plan all along. I'm not sure Wistia knew exactly what it was going to do, but they certainly knew that they had agencies in their ecosystems and that they wanted to have a specific type of user in the account that was a manager and that was different from just a normal user, was different from the account owner, and just had different sort of privileges and permissions mandated. That feature has really made the difference. That makes a ton of sense. Now you brought these partners on, you just get started, you bring on that initial cohort like you said. I'm sure you've expanded since the initial recruitment that you've done. How do you determine which of your partners are going to earn that lion's share of your attention? Is it based on revenue that they generate? Is it based on their own potential for growth? A combination? How do you decide where you're going to spend your very valuable time? That's actually the question that occupied me the most and probably still occupies me the most today, but especially when I was starting out the program. Wistia, the company is about 80 people right now, it was about 60 when I joined a year ago. Our agency team is fairly small. So, as I was building, not only was I thinking how can I make this a sustainable, scalable program within this business, but I was also thinking how can I build something that doesn't require a giant team to run it right off the bat? That could still scale up if it's just me or just a couple of us working on it. So the way that we broke it down and sort of framed it out is every agency that signs up in our program has access to a really nice robust source of resources and training. I made sure that every single one of those things were built scalably and were fairly self sustaining. By scalable I mean that we have a resource center that we continually add new resources too. We stay top-of-mind not by having a weekly call with every agency, but by sending out a weekly newsletter. We've got a self-sustaining community in Slack that's attended to by the most active agencies in there. We use marketing automation to take care of our on-boarding process, the things like that. Frankly, and most importantly, we eat our own dog food - we use a ton of video. So instead of having webinars or calls or just emails, video has actually been an incredible way, a really engaging way, to stay in touch with agencies and to have them get familiar with us, put a face to the name, and be able to communicate with them in a way that doesn't just feel like yet another email. And then on top of that, we determine which agencies in particular we pay most attention to from our tiered program, which basically just rewards the top agencies by looking at a combo of the revenue they're bringing in every month and the account activity. We wanted to sort of reward them and pay attention not just to the ones that were reselling the most Wistia accounts, but that were actually actively getting in there and doing good work for their clients. And those agencies get sort of additional benefits, and part of that is some more one-on-one attention. So they get a sales manager to help look at their client portfolios and help them close deals, and they get a customer success manager to help them use Wistia. When agencies reach a certain level, that's when we can justify and scalably and sustainably pay more attention to them. So when you launched the program initially, did you launch with a tiered program, or was that something that came later? That came later, maybe about six months in. I didn't want to build it initially, though it was in the plan all along, because I wanted to make sure that we were setting the tiers in a place that was reasonable, but also aspirational, right? So, I didn't want to set the tiers to some number of accounts or MRR or activity that no one would be able to get to, or that everyone would be able to get to, and then have to course correct from there. I wanted to see sort of who are our strongest agencies, and what are they doing on their own, before we set it up. Makes sense. Engagement is going to be really important. You touched on so many different ways that you're transferring knowledge to your partners; leveraging video, obviously using marketing automation, creating this sort of cadence of communications. What's the biggest challenge that you have actually engaging your partners after they come onboard? When I was doing my research as we were launching and as I was talking to people at other agency programs and doing some homework there, I kept hearing two things over and over again. The two biggest challenges for any - not only a new agency program but just for agencies that are in partner programs in general, the two biggest challenges are staying top-of-mind and helping those agencies make that first sale. And I have found that is absolutely right. It is hard to stay top-of-mind because agencies do so much, right? Not only are they running every part of a business for themselves, but they're taking care of their clients or really it's switched. Oftentimes they take care of their clients first and have a tough time making time to run their business and do their own marketing and they're partnering with different people, they might also be a Marketo partner, might also be a Salesforce partner so staying top-of-mind is a tough one. And also making that first sale. I have definitely seen that if they figure out how to sell Wistia once, then they got it. They understand, not only do they sort of understand what it takes to make that first sale and they got their spiel down, their pitch deck, whatever it is, but they also are then seeing actual dollar-value coming in for it and are incentivised to make that second sale, if see it helping them. So those two things are really tough and we try a bunch of different things to get at both of these things, and I think we do a fairly good job. Those are the two tough things and they're always tough. Yeah. I think it's consistent. When we talk to other partner program leaders who are building agency-based programs. It is hard because, like you said, they are very focused on their customers as an agency. We say it's like the Cobbler's kids have no shoes, right? That's right. They put everything that they have all into their customers and then they kind of think about themselves last, so you're always going to be challenged with that. I also find that there are a lot of SaaS companies today that are vying for the attention of agencies and looking to agencies as a way to expand that customer reach. So if you've got one agency that you're partnering with they're probably partnering with other companies as well. I'm just curious, have you noticed any sort of complementary technologies or complementary organizations where you have a lot of crossover? Maybe one of your agency partners is doing a lot of business with you and maybe another entity, or maybe a bridge that you hadn't previously identified. Yeah. Absolutely. That's actually really been helpful for us because one of the easiest ways to stay top-of-mind with agencies is for them to really see value in the partnership with you. That sounds obvious, but say you've got a group of agencies and they are only Salesforce partners, then when that program grows, to a certain extent, it's hard to differentiate themselves. So they're then looking for that next opportunity so that they can be both a Salesforce and Wistia partner and then they can say to their clients, "Hey, I don't just offer Salesforce help, I also do this other thing. I'm different." It's a way for them to stand out. So if they can find the value in that, that really helps.   The partners, the other SaaS companies that we've found to be really great partners for us in that respect and we just share a lot of agencies, are the marketing automation ones. HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot are sort of in the big three partners for us and love working with all three of them. There's no competition there. The things that we offer are mutually beneficial and in fact partner really well on top of each other. We use other marketing automation platforms as well, it's not just those three. There are a lot of ones that just offer email, right? So sort of your MailChimps, etc., and that's also great for an agency to be able to say, "Hey, not only are we a MailChimp agency and can offer email services but we also offer video services - we're a Wistia agency." So again, for us it's all about sort of complimentary marketing services. That makes perfect sense. Wistia is a very scalable product, so I can see how you have the opportunity to partner with organizations both on kind of the lower SMB part of the market and then go all the way up, up enterprise. So that makes perfect sense to me. It gives you a lot of opportunity, from a partnership perspective, to find organizations out there where you can nicely complement each other. So, as you said, when we kind of first kicked this off, you've literally just wrapped up your first year building and overseeing Wistia's agency partner program. So if you could go back in time one year what advice would you give yourself? What a great question this is. I love this one. In the last year we went from zero partners to over 500, and it's been a pretty incredible year. We set some pretty aggressive goals for sign up and revenue and hit them all, which was incredible. This past year, I couldn't help but worry or want to move faster. It's tough when you build something new and you're not sure exactly how it's going to go. If I could give myself advice, it would have been to have a little bit more patience and to trust my intuitions. I knew, I really knew, that it was going to be successful from the homework I had done before coming to Wistia, to the sort of intuition I had about how things were going, and then the initial results the first few months in. It's hard to relax when you're building something new at a company, when you're still proving it out, both internally and externally. So my advice is to relax a little bit, which, of course, hindsight is 20/20. It's tough when something is your baby and you really want it to work, but at the end of the day, hard work goes a long way and pushing things forward goes a long way. I do believe that if something is the right fit, it's going to work. I knew from the get-go that this was the right fit, that this kind of a program was going to work for Wistia, it was going to work for the people at the agencies using Wistia. So I wish I had trusted myself just a little bit more. That's great. That's really great advice to calm that self doubt. Oh, it's so hard. I know. Luckily, there are organizations like you mentioned HubSpot, and they built an amazing agency-based partner program where it's generating, I think, 40% of their revenue now. So it's been done. You had the building blocks. You got the head on your shoulders. You've got a great product. But patience, man. It all just takes time. So before I let you go, I like to ask people just a couple of more personal questions - I have five - in a quick little speed round. Are you ready for this? Sure. Okay. Just so we can get to know you a little better. All right. So first question is what is your favorite city? New York City. That is where I was born and raised. It's the best. Question number two, are you an animal lover? Yes or no. Oh, yes. I have two cats and I think they're great. I also love dogs, I don't discriminate. Dogs and cats, hopefully someday I'll have lots of both. Good stuff. Question number three, Mac or PC? Mac all the way. I wish it weren't true. I feel a little bad about it, but they're so sleek. Okay wait. Why do you feel bad about it? I don't know. I know that I am really, at the end of day, paying more just because it's prettier. That makes me a little sad, but they're so beautifully designed. Now that I'm on a Mac, I can't imagine ever not being on a Mac. I know. I'm right there with you. Okay, question number four, Uber or Lyft? Uber, but I-- You sound pained. I do feel a little bad because I've used Lyft and Lyft is just as, I don't know - there's really no distinguishing difference. I think it's probably because the Uber app comes first in my phone before the Lyft app, even though they're side by side, but I guess it's Uber. Alright. Last question, let's say I was able to offer you an all-expenses paid trip, where would it be to? Oh, it would be to Morocco. Hopefully someday I'll be able to go to, that's where I would love to go. Wonderful. Well, I would love to be able to send you. That'd be great. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your insights, Dee Dee. It was such a pleasure. If any of our listeners would like to reach out to you personally and ask some additional questions, get to know you a little bit better, what's the best way for them to do so? Easy way to do it is on LinkedIn. I'm on there, Dee Dee de Kenessey. Also, Twitter is easy, it's just @deedeedkc. If people want to get in touch with me in a sort of more direct way - although I do look at both of those, they can also email agency@wistia.com. I'm usually on the other end of that, certainly it would get to me if someone went through that way. I'm absolutely welcome to people reaching out regardless of whether or not you're starting a new program, or are an agency, or are just running an agency partner program, want to do a little commiserating or brainstorming. I love that. Some of the most inspiring moments I've had this past year have been talking to other people who run other agency partner programs or who are starting out, and being able to brainstorm together has been great. Wonderful. That's so great to hear. Again, thank you for your time. Thanks everyone else for tuning in and join us next week for a brand new episode of The Allbound Podcast.