Kiefer Hazaz

Normalizing to meet market demand isn’t the same as dying… Rightsizing to meet market demand is what happens when companies need to earn a profit vs inflate valuations. If the growth projections aren’t based in reality nothing you do based on it will be either

4

5 Comments

This pretty much sums up why GTM Strategy is in everyone's vocabulary.... It is more critical than ever to have your executive and revenue teams all sailing in the same direction. This is achieved by analyzing the business and current customers, all agreeing on your ICP "Ideal Customer Profile", mapping their Buyer Journey, creating segmentation of GTM prioritization, and allowing marketing to create an integrated marketing plan that they work with Sales to execute .....and stay the course! Thanks to the ancient Roman philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca for this beautiful quote. #gtmstrategy #abm #abx #icp

4

5 Comments

😱 Recently David Spitz reported that the average SaaS company now takes 35 months to pay back GTM costs, up from 19 months 2 years ago. Some companies are taking up to 10 years... and some are already bouncing back! The metric in question is the S&M-to-Net New ARR payback period. So what’s causing this & how can it be reversed? 🚀 Let’s break it down: 🔍 Possible & Probable Causes ♦ Marketing & sales strategies have become less effective ♦ Increased competition is leading to higher customer acquisition costs ♦ Inflation & economic downturns impacting customer spending  ♦ Budget cuts in marketing & sales due to economic uncertainties ♦ The SaaS market is becoming more saturated, making it harder to stand out ♦ Longer sales cycles as customers evaluate more options ♦ New products may not align with shifting market needs  ♦ Inefficient targeting of ideal customer profiles ♦ Poor alignment between sales & marketing teams ♦ Inefficient sales processes & lack of proper training 🔑 Here are some Ideas & Recommendations to Fix It: Improve GTM Efficiency ♦ Put more focus & effort on your GTM maturity level & what steps you need to take to achieve greater GTM efficiency ♦ Refine your target audience & ensure you are reaching the right customers with personalized & relevant messaging. Realize up to a 760% increase in revenue ♦ Foster better collaboration between sales & marketing teams to ensure aligned strategies & goals. This can result in an average of 32% annual revenue growth Optimize Sales Processes ♦ Invest in continuous training for your sales team to improve their skills & efficiency. Can improve sales performance by 20% ♦ Utilize CRM & other sales tools to streamline processes & track performance more effectively. Can improve sales by up to 29% Enhance Product-Market Fit ♦ Regularly gather & act on customer feedback to refine your product & better meet market needs. Customer feedback loops can improve customer satisfaction by up to 15% ♦ Innovate & improve your product to stay ahead of competitors to provide unique value to customers. Innovators and disruptors grow 4x faster Economic Adaptability ♦ Consider changing your pricing model to lower the barrier to entry for new customers. This can increase conversion rates by up to 30% ♦ Monitor & manage your S&M costs closely to ensure they are aligned with revenue goals. This can lead to a 10-15% increase in profitability Leverage Data & Analytics ♦ Regularly track & analyze key performance metrics to identify areas for improvement. Data-driven decision-making can result in 23 times better acquisition ♦ Implement A/B testing for your marketing campaigns to determine the most effective strategies. This can improve conversion rates by 10-30% 🚀🚀 These recommendations should help any company reduce their GTM payback period & achieve more sustainable growth! #SaaS #GTM #BusinessGrowth #SalesStrategy #MarketingEfficiency #CustomerAcquisition #NetNewARR #BusinessOptimization

25

Hot Take… RIP #PLG, Long Live #SLG But before you throw shade, let me explain… 🔹 There are undoubtedly exceptions, I’m sure many will highlight monday.com, Freshworks, etc. 🔹 PLG works well for low ACV deals with low CAC… think SMB and mid-market customers. Target CAC payback <12 months 🔹 PLG is a fantastic top of funnel marketing channel for enterprise sales ⭐ But for 6-figure enterprise sales, you need enterprise salespeople pressing the flesh with customers

81

16 Comments

SDRs are so critical to success, depending on company size, yet like many GTM functions, they too are under reduction pressure. Data from Jason S. of Live Data Technologies (article in comments) showing that SDR function may be normalizing some, not wholesale decreases like the headlines suggest. SDRs are the glue between the Marketing and Selling function. 3 years ago on one of my LI posts, we all said that SDRs would be future CEOs. Now the headline is cut them. It's an incredibly challenging job for a junior person. And may be better suited for inbound and/or transactional type selling with narrower buying committees. What are you experiencing with your SDR function? ___________ 👏 Follow B2B Fusion on Go To Market best practice strategies. 👍 Like and subscribe to B2B Fusion YT videos, 200+ GTM best practices! 🤙🏽 Struggling with faster, more efficient growth? Let's talk.

10

9 Comments

Suck at partner marketing like me? Kaitlin Waite at Expel is a genius at building partnerships in highly technical companies. In fact, I'm now working with her to help understand how I can build out a proper strategy at Identity Matrix. Want to learn how to build your strategy out? Check out the full GTM Secrets episode in the comments! #b2bmarketing #saas #marketing

7

1 Comment

Buyers Attention is crashing in 2024 Engaging b2b buyers today doesn't just feel harder, it empirically is. We analyzed our platform's data from the first half of 2024 compared to 2023 (~13.8M b2b website visits), and noticed this trend (see full report in the comments): In 2023, the average b2b buying group of companies visiting the website, with associated CRM deals in various stages in the pipeline had, on average, 13 individual visitors with a total of 51 website sessions and 81 page visits. In 2024, the average buying group dropped to 9 people, a total of 33 sessions and 54 page visits - a 33% decrease. What does this tell us? ================== Your buyers ability to ingest and digest new information is rapidly decreasing. You have a narrower window of opportunity to get your message across, with fewer people from the buying committee. What can you do? =============== Here are 5 aspects to consider that could address this challenge: 1. Is your main value proposition clear and concise? _____________________________________________ I mean brutally, idiot-proof-level clear? Does it take more than 5 words to describe what we do? If so, why? Your CEO may love fancy, category-defining jargon that may speak to investors but it's causing unnecessary confusion for your real target - the buyers. This is a pipeline killer (from personal experience). 2. Is the competitive landscape clear to your audience? ___________________________________ Don't assume they understand whos your competition. Our homepage presents our competitors logos. This helps potential buyers position us very quickly with little mental effort. 3. Is your unique-selling proposition clear? ______________________________________ Beyond what you do, and who you compete with, what makes your solution or approach unique? Is it faster/better/cheaper? For us, the main differentiator is our ability to consolidate several solutions and being a dedicated b2b website experience optimization solution (shameless yet honest plug). 4. Personalize experiences at the account AND persona levels ______________________________________________________ You may have up to 3-5 different personas, even for deals under $200K ACV. Most of these people will remain anonymous (not fill ANY form on your site) even after the account is won. You must support their journey too. 5. Human-first and Value-based GTM motions ________________________________________ Despite the growing noise and diminishing attention, we still connect with new people, we are still eager to learn and discover new things. We are just way more selective about who we’re paying attention to. Leverage your human capital for GTM, for quality content creation, for real conversations and interactions with people (as opposed to capturing leads). Measure success in terms of capturing ICP attention, not leads. Align your GTM org around these metrics which today are much better predictors of pipeline and revenue generation. 

17

2 Comments

In today’s fast-paced sales world, understanding customer interactions is crucial. Join our exclusive Ask Me Anything session for sellers eager to maximize Salesloft Conversations.  Learn how to turn raw data into actionable insights that boost revenue with guidance from seasoned experts on conversation intelligence. What you’ll learn: > Effectively decode conversations to find hidden opportunities and risks > Optimize strategies with real-time insights > Discover innovative ways to build stronger relationships > Get tips to maximize your investment and time Register here: https://lnkd.in/em7pGPUK

10

You know where almost all of the #GTM experts and consultants miss, especially right now. They neglect to remind their audience or their clients that GTM success in B2B is HARD AS HELL. Its unforgiving. Its relentless. Doing just enough, isn't enough. Strategy must have execution. Find me a successful GTM team, and I'll show you a team who understands exactly what they are in for, every single day. Sure, there are some folks or teams who were "right place right time" - but they are the exception to the rule. Most of them know this, a lot of them shift to consultant roles because they know the path of less resistance is to ride out the reputation of the "good timing" vs. trying to do it again, and again. The key question for any consultant, or anyone offering "advice" - have you done it more than once? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

5

2 Comments

Anyone who has shopped for software knows the online pricing page makes a big impact on your early decision to learn more or move on. Great tips here from Mainsail Partners for making SaaS pricing pages effective.

10

Tomasz Tunguz's recent article on the emerging selling agents category was both timely and insightful. It prompted me to share my own research and preview my upcoming salestech landscape update. Like Tom, I've been stunned by the rapid emergence of autonomous business development rep (BDR) and sales development rep (SDR) solutions in a relatively short timeframe. This trend, catalyzed by generative AI, warrants creating a new category to track the innovation occurring in this space. It's worth noting there is no established nomenclature for this emerging category yet - "Autonomous BDRs/SDRs" is my current working term. These autonomous sales agents are sometimes called digital workers and serve two primary use cases: • Autonomous BDRs are software agents able to ingest your ideal customer profile (ICP) and personas. They can learn your value proposition from your website and other materials. They then autonomously source leads and execute personalized, AI-generated outbound sequences - typically email cadences for cold outreach or warm-up. • Autonomous SDRs tackle the inbound motion - autonomously responding to, qualifying, and routing incoming leads. They can be applied to nurturing as well. It's important to note that, having proactively reached out, prospects are more amenable to automated engagement. The human touch can be layered in at key junctures as needed. While automating early-stage inbound motions with autonomous SDRs seems long overdue, I advise prudence when evaluating autonomous BDRs for outbound prospecting. For organizations facing prospecting challenges, autonomous BDRs may seem appealing as a way to offset poor engagement and low conversion rates with increased volume. However, they carry significant risks of damaging email deliverability and, worse, harming your brand if executed poorly. Compounding matters, some offerings lack transparency on how they work. In my exploration, I encountered vague solutions from small lead gen agencies that raised suspicions about their robustness. As a firm believer that successful outbound prospecting hinges on precision targeting and messaging, I urge anyone considering autonomous BDRs to check how the solution is built and how guardrails can be implemented. Automating a flawed process will only amplify negative outcomes! Moreover, engaging prospects via autonomous bots when they lack any prior brand context demands meticulous expectation-setting and seamless handoffs to human representatives. Mishandling these delicate transitions risks damaging brand perception and trust. For now, I am sharing the vendors I have identified thus far in the space. I welcome any additional players or firsthand experience sharing. Providers are also encouraged to proactively reach out to discuss early results and best practices. Link to Tom's article in the first comment to this post #salestech #salesautomation #ai

30

14 Comments

TL;DR- start-ups need to be regularly reviewing their ICP via intense scrutiny of their customer segments. Don't continue to chase the entire TAM you created pre-rev, instead perform iterative experiments, test messaging, scent your funnel appropriately and constantly evolve your ICP. First attempt at video to refine my thoughts on Peloton. They crafted a detailed TAM and SAM but even then over estimated how many actual households they would land in. Its a common case to see an up and coming start-up talk about how much of the TAM they will be able to convert to SAM but history shows us that this is almost always overinflated, Be realistic with your revenue milestones (and how much of the SAM you will own) as often it is the case that the cohort of customers that gets you to your first $1m ARR will not be the same as those that propel you past $10m. Continue to test, refine and explore your ICP with an ever watchful eye on CAC and runway.

14

I meet and talk with 5-10 of the greatest GTM minds on the planet every week. CRO’s, VPs of Sales, CMO’s. 100% agree that getting outbound right is one of the hardest parts of their business, why? 1. Recruiting is hard again The same voices that sold tech sales as an easy path to 6 figures are now the voices saying the BDR role is dead. They sold a bill of goods to people who didn’t understand how hard this role is, are surprised these people who chose a path because it was sold as “easy” aren’t performing, and now have ulterior motives to pivot to a new message. Hard jobs are hard to recruit for. 2. Lack of Leadership 2020 through mid 2022 we had a bunch of capital bloat and talent bloat enter the market. Just like we have overvalued “zombie” companies we have overvalued “zombie” leaders who don’t know how to coach good habits for this type of market. Outbound was easy from 2014ish to summer 2022. 8 years is a long time, most of the voices we hear only know those times or only know what type of sales motion. 3. Absolute statements muddy the waters I've been around the block enough to click on their profile and see their track record. 99.9% of folks make these statements only sold transactional commodity technology, sold to GTM teams, or in most cases – only both. What works depends on multiple factors: ASP, buyer persona, and complexity of your sales process/customer’s buying process. Depending on what you sell – sometimes you are going to need to pick up the phone or send a note to get someone’s attention. That will NEVER change. 4. Generational consideration for career pathing is key BDR is still hands down the best route to market for future AE’s. You have to learn to prospect and get meetings before you can run a meeting, qualify, and manage a deal. No argument from me on CAC math – thousands of products require veracious qualification, deal management, and creating customer consensus. You can not run those types of deals and prospect. If any Voice had EVER done that type of role or ran a team that did, they wouldn’t say what they are. For BDRs to stick around for more than 14 months, you need steps in the BDR path where comp, responsibility and role grow over time. 5. Results are tanking Point 1&2. You are the equivalent of a fire fighter that starts a fire then takes the glory when you put it out. I absolutely loved the movie Backdraft – but stop it. These are the ideas of “not famous” GTM people. People who spend all day serving their customer and developing their people – not posting on this platform. They don’t care about clicks, followers, or impressions. They care about revenue and earnings. Outbound is hard. It (almost) always has been. Ya’ll need to block the noise and focus on what works for your business and try everything. Even the hard stuff. #AllGasNoBrakes #DialedIn

280

32 Comments

Earnings calls are a treasure trove of information for sellers. But… 😰 Carving out the time to listen to earnings calls or read the full transcript is very rarely something reps do. Copy.ai to the rescue! Check out the video for a workflow that analyzes earnings calls to identify strategic initiatives and challenges. Then, brainstorms some sales angles based on your company’s value prop. Try the workflow for yourself here: https://lnkd.in/eXu-uMCD #gtmai #sales #sdr

134

23 Comments

Sequence is absolutely *crushing* its GTM content engine. Worth checking out their most recent report "Sequence Principles" detailing tactical revenue lessons from 100+ B2B companies. Some highlights: 1. Clear ICP messaging (B2B sales leadership) 2. Easy scrolling/skimming ability across sections 3. Real-time founder testimonials (like Sasha Orloff) 4. Highly tactical advice (i.e. packaging, bundling, metrics) 5. Simple design without overwhelming folks w/ dense content Highly recommend taking a look - big s/o to the Sequence team ⚡

85

13 Comments

Leadgen agencies vs hiring SDRs? 🤓 When you're looking to expand your business, you've got two choices for ramping up lead generation: hiring a lead gen agency or bringing in sales development reps (SDRs). Let's break down the pros and cons of each 💪: 🤝 Expertise and speed vs. In-House control - Agencies: They've got tons of experience across different markets and can quickly adapt strategies to boost your outreach. Plus, they get you into new markets without the need for permanent hires. - SDRs: Hiring SDRs means more control and better team engagement. Training them to fit your company culture can create a dedicated in-house team that grows with your business. 💰 Cost considerations - Agencies: Although the initial cost might seem high, they can save you cash in the long run. They cover costs like hiring, benefits, and training, and they help avoid pricey SDR turnover costs. - SDRs: Recruitment and operational costs are involved, but a dedicated in-house team can lead to a high ROI through personalized lead nurturing and customer relationship building. 🛠️ Access to tools and resources - Agencies: They often have the latest tools and comprehensive databases, which means better lead targeting without extra costs for clients. - SDRs: An in-house team lets you build a tailored database for your business needs, which can be a valuable asset... Over time. 💼 Focus on core business functions - Agencies: Outsourcing leads lets you focus on key business areas, avoiding distractions from other demands. - SDRs: Employing SDRs can boost team collaboration, integrating lead generation efforts closely with overall business strategies, and leading to innovative solutions. ⚙️ Management and operational efficiency - Agencies: They reduce your team's managerial load, giving you more time for strategic growth. - SDRs: Managing an SDR team takes effort, but it provides opportunities for leadership development and a motivated sales force. Each choice has its perks, depending on your business needs and market conditions. In my own opinion, it's not about pitting agencies against in-house SDRs ⚔ . It's about finding the right balance ⚖ . By teaming up with a leadgen agency, you get their external expertise and cool tools, while your SDRs bring their focus to your brand and long-term goals. It's a win-win! You get the best of both worlds! ☯

2

1 Comment

Yesterday, I ran a GTMsession for GTMfund portfolio company founders and their executive teams with the brand and content marketing legend, Udi Ledergor 🏳‍🌈. (🤔 GTM what now? GTMfund… GTMnow…) Yes, we have more words attached to the acronym GTM, though not widely talked about since they’re internal. GTMsessions are monthly private digital live sessions on various go-to-market topics, led by an executive operator who is an expert in the field. They’re available to GTMfund portfolio companies and their executive teams. Being closed-door and not open to the public, these sessions allow any and all questions to be comfortably asked, the conversation tailored to be hyper-specific to startups and their current concerns, questions, etc. We didn't even get through half of the moderated points that I had prepared because the questions for Udi just kept rolling in (a good thing, that's the point of these sessions). Udi dropped some 🔥 insights that we’ll share more on later, but for now, Stan Rymkiewicz nailed summarizing key takeaways on how Gong thinks about content creation and distribution that I've dropped in the comments. One key pain point discussed in the session was the challenge of keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of content marketing. It often feels like by the time one strategy is implemented, its effectiveness has already diminished. So, what’s next? How do you stay ahead of the curve? Since GTMsessions are private, their recordings aren’t shared openly. However, the feedback was so phenomenal that we knew other revenue leaders could benefit from the conversation. If you’re a revenue leader looking to understand the future of content marketing and stay ahead of the curve: Join me for a GTMnow digital live event with Udi Ledergor 🏳‍🌈 , Jon Miller, and Pete Lorenco. You'll learn from them how to stay two steps ahead and walk away with content tactics and inspiration. 🗓 June 18th at 10:00 AM PST / 1:00 PM EST 👉 To register: https://lnkd.in/gsdsai23 (pictured here: two passionate hand talkers 👋 )

86

38 Comments

B2B executives don’t realize that department-level source attribution is the *cause* of their pipeline problem, not the solution. I sat in yet another meeting yesterday where Marketing, Marketing Ops, and Biz Dev leaders debated which attribution model they should use…..5 minutes in, I wanted to blow my brains out ☠️ I just can't take it anymore. These debates are useless. The SDR leader wants a first-touch attribution model so SDRs get credit when they load leads into the database, citing that the SDRs get “demoralized” when they book a meeting that gets tagged as inbound. The Marketing team wants it to be “Marketing-sourced” if there’s any Marketing touch within 45 days. The Partner team wants it to get tagged as “Partner” and take precedence over everything when a Partner is involved. Every department just fights over credit for sourcing the lead, every department celebrates “sourcing” a % of revenue, while the financial planning model breaks down IRL and the company misses growth targets by a mile. Then - and this is the hilarious part - they try to fix the problem by changing the attribution model 😭 😭 It’s like admitting you have a drug problem, and then deciding to switch from cocaine to meth. So, to reinforce the fundamental flaws of this approach: 1. Using lead source attribution credit by department, regardless of which attribution model you use, is a terribly sub-optimal way to plan, measure, and optimize your GTM when you need to deliver scalable growth aka sustainable unit economics. 2. Comparing Demand/Marketing (triggers and detects buying signals) with Prospecting (engage buyers 1:1 and book qualified meetings/opps) is like comparing apples to monkeys. They are NOT the same thing and any logical human would arrive at this conclusion with a small amount of critical thinking. 3. Using this incredibly short-sighted and simplistic planning model forces all Marketing investments to appease the attribution model - skewing investments all to 1 part of the buyer journey (database capture) and causing extreme self-inflicted pain & dysfunction in the Pipeline Creation process. 4. We should be measuring, comparing and optimizing the effectiveness of our Supply Chain (all of the 1st-party and 3-party signals that enter our Revenue Factory for Prospecting). 5. We should be measuring, comparing, and optimizing the effectiveness of our Prospecting (all of our efforts to engage buyers 1:1 and create qualified opportunities, including AI, SDRs, and AE prospecting motions). ___ If you spend just a small amount of time thinking about the current situation, you’ll too see that all of these debates & meetings & tech projects are a total waste of time. It's time for C-Level executives to fix the real problem. Stop planning, measuring, and optimizing your GTM like 4 low-quality department-level assembly lines. And start running your GTM like a Unified Revenue Factory. #b2b #gtm #marketing #sales #finance

472

78 Comments