Champify

Tools, tech, data providers, routing, scoring, prioritization, automation, segmentation, intent, etc., etc. Some form of these buzzwords comes up in nearly every conversation I have with GTM leadership teams thinking about their outbound strategy. The best GTM leaders today focus on a whole DIFFERENT set of themes: Sales culture Accountability Operating cadences Playbooks Enablement Performance management Manager enablement I’m hosting a sales workshop focused on at Empower 2024, SalesIntel.io's Annual Digital Summit to discuss common themes I see across the best "revenue machine" builders I've learned from. Those who attend will learn how to build and accelerate an outbound culture. My free session will run from 2:05 - 2:35 pm ET, on October 1st. The agenda has been built to empower senior level B2B sales, marketing, and revops leaders. Attendees will walk away with tactical tips, strategies, and exercises to improve their team’s efficiency and the company’s overall GTM motion, the next day. See Full Agenda/RSVP below The changes made over the next 2-3 months is what will set up a big 2025. P.S. Can’t make it live? RSVP to get recordings.

Our Commercial segment finished last Q with a 5x increase in ACV compared to the same Q a year before (shoutout Emily Brown ☀️). Here's what we focused on to get to these improvements: ✔ Hyper focused on the right accounts that we know can buy. We looked at customers that were adopting, growing and renewing. This led us to creating a much stronger, highly defined ICP for this segment. ✔ Hyper focused on Decision Making personas. Targeting our buyers/top personas with tailored messaging has meant we've stopped wasting time on the wrong people. ✔ Using signals to find high priority accounts. By using Champify and 6sense to track champion/DM movement and intent signals, we're hitting accounts at the right time. ✔ Qualifying out. This segment gets a high volume of inbound demo requests and rather than wasting time on accounts that are window shopping, we're laser focused on those accounts that are coming to us with a genuine problem to solve.

We won our biggest deal in company history – more than 4x larger than our average contract value –  from a referral we never asked for. Here's why being a true consultant in sales deals matters: It started with an intro call with a prospect. Our AE was extremely well prepared, mapped out the potential buying committee, and studied everything he could about the business. He came in with a unique, well researched POV. However, he quickly realized the company wasn’t an ideal fit for us. We helped educate the prospect, share our learnings, challenge their thinking, and then ultimately explained exactly why we didn’t think we were the best fit for them. He thanked us for the honesty, paused for a moment  and said…. “you should speak with my wife.” Later that day, he introduced us via email and 4.5 months later we closed the deal >4x larger than our ACV and has PLENTY of room to grow. TAKEAWAY: Referrals can come from anywhere Being transparent about your shortcomings builds credibility and fosters relationships Play the long game

Outreach's survey said 58% of leaders felt “competitive pressure” was a top two challenge to revenue growth. Here's why I think that's wrong and people are misdiagnosing the problem: BACKGROUND Outreach surveyed 500 GTM pros to figure out the biggest challenges to revenue growth in 2024. 58% of them said “competitive pressures” was the biggest revenue challenge. After talking to over 50+ GTM leaders in the last 30 days, the biggest enemy in this market is STATUS QUO. Sure, refusing to move forward may feel like “economic uncertainty” or “competitive pressure,” but both of these are symptoms of the real problem. In this market, buying new software is seen as a risk. There’s a lot of shelfware and unfulfilled promises. People are choosing to stick with the status quo. Is status quo technically a competitor? Maybe, but it needs to be handled differently. Here is a two step process to get in front of the real challenge. 1) Fighting status quo Recognizing that the status quo is the biggest enemy is critical. Rally the GTM org on this being the true, main “competitor” and have workstreams to chip away at this monster. This typically includes different discovery questions, unique trap setting questions, deep training on negative consequences, and rock-solid BVAs (business value assessments). People like Jen Allen-Knuth are experts here and it makes sense why so many people follow her content :) 2) Have an advocate or “raving fan” strategy 27% of your happiest users, buyers, implementers, partners, and executive connections are changing jobs every single year. Go look back at a recent QBR deck – a common theme most companies find is that folks with proven experience with your solution are involved in way more of your closed-won deals than you might expect. They are proven change-makers. These are the key people advocating for your solution (whether your reps know it or not), helping de-risk “do nothing,” and oftentimes fighting off your competitors within buying committees. Regardless what solution or internal process you use – having a dedicated strategy/process/system is one of the most sure-fire bets to move the needle quickly for H2. TAKEAWAY Dive past your CRMs closed/lost reasons and think critically about the real challenge. Almost every company I speak with is fighting against Status Quo. Companies are taking their time to evaluate all of their options. You probably need to speak to each company multiple times before they’re ready. Or find an advocate willing to fight for you. Develop an action plan to chip away at the gorilla in the room!  *Source: Outreach’s recent “Sales 2024” survey*

I finally got around to reading Outreach’s analysis of Sales 2024 and by looking at the answers to this question I think I uncovered one of the leading causes of pipeline gaps. Here’s what I think is happening: "Which sales roles are responsible for generating pipeline at your company?" According to C-level executives, 64% said account executives. According to sales staff, 29% said account executives. C-level execs are building a plan where hitting revenue and pipeline targets depends on AEs sourcing their own pipeline , but from this survey AEs and the broader sales org clearly do not understand their responsibilities and the impact it has on revenue. Here’s why: Many leadership teams are cagey about the inputs to make a rep successful. Why? Their model is built on 60-70% attainment. Showing your reps the math behind inbound + sdr sourced opps + AE self sourced goals adding up to less than 60% of your number is demotivating and an attrition risk. In this model, I understand why leaders want to keep this math hidden. But this makes it impossible for reps to control their own destiny, and clearly understand what is expected to hit above their number. After talking to 50 leaders at successful companies where >50% of their revenue comes from outbound, I found the best revenue orgs always enable their sellers with a clear “Recipe Card” or “Path to Success”. They use true, historical data + REALISTIC assumptions of future quarters to give reps a path to hitting their number. From this recipe card, reps + managers can plan what they want to focus on to hit their goals. Using this recipe card they can: -- Plan to self source more pipeline -- Target win rate and velocity -- Increase ACV and change the mix of the types of deals in their pipeline The strategy should be determined based on the skillset of the rep + manager based on the skillset of the rep. TAKEAWAY It’s sales leadership’s job to communicate clear expectations and create a shared understanding between the exec team and the sales org. The best leaders I’ve worked with/for and that I interact with as customers give their reps clear, mathmatical guidelines to be successful. If the numbers don’t pencil out, it’s better to know upfront so AEs can develop a plan to close the gap. If you want to see the exact recipe card we use for our reps, comment below or DM me and I will DM you with an editable version you can use for your team!

In a recent interview with Champify, Daisy Chung, Head of Revenue Strategy at Orum 🥇 said "Nurture is the new PG". Here's why I think she's right and what Champify does to build a strong nurture muscle. BACKGROUND The first impression your sales team gives is huge. 28% of our open opps have had at least one conversation with us in the past. Our win rate when we’ve had a previous conversation historically is 37%. “Do nothing” or “Prioritization” are the biggest closed lost reason for Champify. Our sales process is focused on being helpful, providing a unique POV, and trying to provide insights so that when the timing is right, we are viewed as a trusted advisor. That means by staying in touch we can (and should) win deals in the future. We did analysis to figure out when teams decided to Do Something. We found: - There was a strategy shift (usually led by a new CRO or new VP of Marketing)  - A former champion moved into the account and was willing to fight for the product - There was a reduction in SDR headcount leading to needs for greater efficiency or AEs to self-source pipeline - Another quarter went by, and the pipeline and outbound efficiency became are bigger challenge HERE’S HOW WE USE THIS TO BUILD OUR NURTURE PROGRAM 1. Marketing moments trigger personalized outreach led by sales For every marketing moment, marketing supplies the sales team with a list of relevant previously engaged contacts, and sample messaging the team can use to deliver continuous value at regular intervals. Unique messaging closed-lost deals is a strategy in every marketing launch.  .  2. Require a re-engage date for every closed-lost opportunity Within Salesforce, to close a deal each rep is required to include a re-engage date. Every week, an email goes out to each rep with all the opportunities they are responsible for so they can include the account in their PG plan. 3. Use Champify to monitor executive and champion arrivals at our accounts with stalled deals When a new executive arrives, we do recon with our existing connections at the account (bonus if there are former customers) to understand what new initiatives might come in with leadership change. We then use the recon and our existing relationships to deliver a strong case to the new execs. Note: we never reach out to the new exec to say “congrats on your new job - buy my software”. 4. Retarget with thought-leadership and case studies to stay top of mind We have a retargeting audience where we have content based ads - whether it is tactical advice from leaders at great companies, case studies, or thought leadership posts from our team so that we can always stay top of mind. TAKEAWAY: Net new revenue doesn’t mean net new people.. Educated buyers buy faster. A sure-fire way to win business is to continue to offer value until the timing is right. Don’t sleep on your existing CRM contacts. Set up systems to enforce and measure re-engagement, Nurture is the new pg.

A few weeks ago, I talked to Sarah Brazier – 4x president club winner at Gong. Here is her 4 step playbook for turning existing fans into pipeline and accelerants in active deals: 1) Understand the contact’s previous role – an end user, previous economic buyer, influencer, or person responsible for adoption post-sale influences your strategy 2) Use a specific playbook based on their experience with the goal of sparking a dialogue – “below the power line play” is great for understanding an account, building account maps, and forming unique POVs 3) Approach advocates as part of your overall account strategy – ex users and buyers are ONE PART of the account plan - you should still prospect the exact right titles, work exec connections, and use relevant offers (events, webinars, content) 4) Think further than top of funnel – Sarah uses advocates to gain momentum in POCs, get direct feedback, and and tie to big company-wide priorities to accelerate deals Watching her chop it up with Peter Zendt – a successful rep at Clari – about the STRATEGY behind making an advocate-based strategy successful was a masterclass. It’s clear these two people have thought deeply about this topic, speak from experience, and are still in the trenches practicing what they preach. Recording here: https://lnkd.in/e3XsctZ4 PS: I see buyers continuing to put less weight into 3rd party review sites and more on their network, communities, and hearing directly from customers. Dimmo 🦖 helps you do just that – without engaging in a premature sales cycle. Big shoutout to the Dimmo team.

Jose Soares from Navan shared this pro tip about building a PG culture: "You can't expect what you don't inspect. You have to, on a weekly basis, go into the details because you can't expect the results if you're not doing the small things and inspecting them. It's super important to focus on those small details because that's what creates consistency." That's why we're thrilled to launch our new and improved team reports in Champify. Now it's easier than ever to look at your team's performance and impact on pipeline (and to find what low hanging fruit they might be missing 👀 ). And it's customizable, no matter what Salesforce fields you use. Check it out 👉 https://lnkd.in/eVT6RNzv

Lucky to have Will Falkenborg 🌭 on our team! 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

Our first 3 customers all just renewed for their 3rd year - some moving to multi-year agreements. Here’s our 7-step playbook for renewing (and expanding) key customers: 1. Proven, documented value with real metrics → fluffy ROI and “time savings” don’t cut it today 2. Consistent monitoring of adoption and success metrics – then taking action as early as possible with warning signs – run toward negative trends, not away 3. Multiple stakeholders – our CSMs are the quarterbacks, but having multiple lines of communication is key (exec, eng, product, etc) 4. Handle support issues and customer questions as quickly as possible – every one is an opportunity to over deliver and WOW the customer 5. Ask the hard, direct question early when there are doubts and address the doubts in a timely manner 6. Periodic exec updates – you are fighting for attention with 100s of other apps and workflows – making sure the right people within the account know about the success, progress, and active projects is critical 7. Find natural touchpoints with customers to foster feedback - speaking at events, giving product feedback, collaborating on content, etc – increasing touch points increases the chance of you learning important account intel TAKEAWAY As a first-time founder, watching the team close new logos is just as exciting as it was when I was starting as a rep 10+ years ago Now, renewals get me 10x more excited Simple, not easy