Lauren Schwartz

Tired of losing hard-earned deals? Solve for Revenue Leak. In Clari’s 2024 Revenue Leak Report, RevOps leaders said leak happens at every stage of the funnel. - Creating: Poor and slow upsell pipeline tracking - Converting: Unsure where pipeline is dropping off - Closing: Slipped deals Don’t let Revenue Leak drag down another quarter – or another year. Download the Revenue Leak Report for more: https://lnkd.in/g9gnGrdz  

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As CS is getting increasingly aligned with the revenue function, this conversation is happening a lot... CRO: "I just took over customer success, can someone explain to me what our CSMs do?" VP CS: "We make sure that our customers are getting value from the product..." CRO: "OK, what does that mean?" VP CS: "We answer all of their questions and log support cases." CRO: "Isn't that support?" VP CS: "Well no, because we have QBRs" CRO: "OK, well what do we talk about in the QBRs?" VP CS: "All the tickets we fixed and the features that we rolled out" CRO: "Ok, what other things do our CSMs do?" VP CS: "We help with implementations and continuous improvement!" CRO: "Isn't that professional services?" VP CS: "Well we read an article that says that we shouldn't charge for services, so our CSMs just do it." CRO: " 🤯 " VP CS: " 🤯 "

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Churn rates in SaaS are often taken for granted. A 5% churn rate? Sounds manageable until you unpack the numbers. If you're losing customers at that rate every month, you're left with less than half of your original users by the end of the year. The average B2B churn rate might be lower due to the methodical decision-making process, but there's no getting around the fact that B2C companies are more susceptible to quicker exits. Voluntary churn is where the real battle lies, as buyers pull the trigger on cancellations for reasons ranging from budget cuts to outright dissatisfaction. So, what's the play? You need to visualize your churn as a strategic battleground. Whether it's by tightening your onboarding processes, identifying churn indicators early, or even tailoring your cancellation offers, the aim is simple: keep the customers you’ve worked hard to acquire. Churn isn’t just a metric—it's a mindset. Let's debate: Is it smarter to accept a higher churn as a given in a rapidly changing market, or is the focus on reducing churn at all costs a more sustainable strategy? Keep it civil, folks. https://lnkd.in/ehMpvWed

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ZI Labs is headed to Seattle and Chicago this week—are you around? Join us this week for two amazing events: 1) Seattle: GTM Plays Cooking Class Wednesday Oct 16th, 6 pm PT Millie Beetham and I believe in the power of signals and storytelling in GTM, much like a classic recipe. Just as cooking requires the right ingredients, timing, and techniques to create a memorable dish, a successful go-to-market strategy demands the same attention to detail.  Join us for an amazing evening of cooking, dinner and learning. We’ve got 12 amazing GTM Leaders signed up from Stripe, Outreach, Highspot, Airtable, Salesforce and more!  Have one more spot. Who is in Seattle we should know about? 2) Chicago: AI + GTM Masterclass (and then dinner), Thursday Oct 17th, 3:30 pm CT Join us this Thursday for an AI + GTM Masterclass, where we’ll explore how to blend AI into your strategy. We’ll create a recipe for success that fosters innovation and connection, moving beyond just AI copywriting. Discover how AI can save time for your sellers, brainstorm opportunities within your territory, and streamline your team’s GTM efforts. What You’ll Learn: 🔍 AI’s Impact: Discover how AI is reshaping the B2B arena and how you can leverage its power. 🛠️ Blueprint for Success: Develop a comprehensive AI readiness framework to assess your capabilities, identify gaps, and implement effective strategies. 🤝 Network & Collaborate: Connect with like-minded leaders from the Chicago area, sharing experiences and insights in a dynamic environment. 2 spots left, so don’t miss out! DM me or tag someone in Seattle or Chicago if they should join us. Let’s unlock the potential of AI together! #AIMasterclass #GTM #AI

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If you're on the fence about taking a Revenue Architecture course, either in-person in Santa Cruz June 3-4 (see comments) or remote (see our website), please read what CEOs, RevOps Leaders, GTM Strategists, CMOs, Chief Customer Success Officers, and others have to say about this program: “THAT. WAS. AWESOME. 👏” “WOW. This course blew my mind.” “The "funnel" was turned on it's side.... literally....” “I wish I had taken this course years ago, but I'm so glad to have this information in my brain now.” “📜 This course has been an absolute game-changer, equipping me with the essential models for sustainable growth that constitute the Recurring Revenue Operating Model.” “This course is simply outstanding!” “World class instructor and the course content. It was fresh, appropriate for today's realities and most importantly - tangible". "You learn it and tomorrow use it”. “I highly recommend this course as it's super relevant for revenue leaders looking to add more science and data to their recurring revenue operations”. “Anyone wanting to deepening knowledge of how to drive growth and success with a company or division should absolutely take the Revenue Architecture class” “While I thought I had an amazing understanding of SaaS and Revenue models from years of building models, board decks and working with revenue teams and leaders...not to mention my MBA classes and focus in data analytics… I learned a ton!” “I can't say enough good things about this program." "I'm really fortunate to have had the opportunity to sharpen our tools and thinking." “Highly recommend it to every revenue & marketing operations professional out there!” “This course has given me a deeper understanding of the specific, proven models and frameworks to consistently achieve revenue goals 📈” “Incredible instruction! I can’t wait to elevate what I’ve always done with the teachings from this course! 💪🏻” “The methodology taught in this course allows you to architect your revenue in a way that achieves sustainable growth by understanding the fundamental principles of recurring revenue and the specific frameworks to apply across your GTM team.” “This course has been a game-changer for me. It was an incredibly insightful journey that taught me the fundamental models for sustainable growth that make up the Recurring Revenue Operating Model and provided a wealth of practical tools and resources. Honestly, it's one of the best courses I've taken professionally! 💯” “What a great course by Winning by Design on understanding the ins and outs of recurring revenue business 📈” "This will enable you to do the right thing at the right time to maximize success 🚀” “The Revenue Architecture course was an incredible course. I learned ways to increase growth by making some minor improvements, look at GTM motions and make sure they align with my business, and take the "right" action at different inflection points on the growth curve so my company doesn't flame out.”

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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 👋 )

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Despite tightening marketing budgets, in-person events continue to be a core marketing channel for B2B SaaS companies. According to Sagefrog Marketing Group, LLC, in person trade shows and events are the leading area of marketing spend for 2024, with 38% percent of respondents saying that exhibiting or sponsoring in-person conferences will be a tactic they employ. It’s clear marketers understand the value but with budget pressures and a move towards efficient and sustainable growth, 41% say the pressure to prove the value of their marketing efforts is high. For events in particular, justifying the spend and proving the ROI is more important than ever. In our latest blog post, we look at the different ways to sponsor events, why events remain a core B2B SaaS marketing channel, and run through three ways to measure the ROI of your event marketing efforts. Blog post first in comments section. How are you measuring ROI for Events? #Events #conferences #ROI #marketing #saas #B2B #saastock2024

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If you are responsible for enablement at your company, your #1 job beyond all others is to get a strong executive sponsor. It might be the CRO, it might be the COO, it might be the CEO, maybe by some miracle it is the CFO. Maybe it's a strong SVP. Title doesn't matter - organizational respect and resource gathering does. Trying to do ANYTHING in enablement without a strong exec sponsor to: 1. Get resources (people, money, attention) 2. Align teams (sales, success, marketing, product....not necessarily in that order) 3. Create priority (over the zillion other things that a company could do) Is a huge waste of time and energy. If you don't have it, create it. If you can't create it, find somewhere you can or accept that your results will be greatly diminished and your work will be generally uninteresting/frustrating.

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I think Jason M. Lemkin is right: (2025 could be a big year) "- Toast now worth $40B, up 118% this year - Samsara now worth $30B, up 79% this year - Monday now worth $14B, up 63% this year - HubSpot now worth $39B, up 39% this year - Shopify now worth $148B, up 55% this year - ServiceNow now worth $230B, up 62% this year - Salesforce now worth $340B, up 40% this year" http://disq.us/t/4s02wxl

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What’s the best use of Generative AI for revenue teams? Here’s my take: Generative AI is a powerful productivity tool for modern reps. Today, we can take common tasks that reps need to do on a daily basis and we can simplify with AI. Consider: I’m a sales rep and I’m on a call with a prospect. I want to record the call and send a summary at the end of it. And I want an email ready to go with notes and follow-up actions. Before AI, I’d spend hours pulling together this information. With AI, I spent minutes. With the right AI strategy, revenue orgs can automate and organize everyday tasks. And, in the process, free up rep time for relationship building, strategizing, and more. How is your company deploying Generative AI?

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I've  interviewed around 75+ GTM leaders now ranging from small startups to unicorns like Clari & Gong and leaders at companies like Deloitte. There's somewhat of a common consensus that outbound sales and traditional marketing plays aren't delivering results like they used to. Lower success rates, rising CAC, longer payback periods. One play that most growth teams have seemingly started paying attention to is the results that come from getting founders and execs on board with posting 3x weekly thought leadership / personal brand style content on LinkedIn. Some (Clari, ColdIQ, trumpet 🎺, Lavender 💜, Salesloft, lempire) have taken it one step further and encouraged a big chunk of their team to post on LinkedIn consistently and it's become one hell of a pipeline generating activity. I heard about another CEO who predicted that in 5 yrs from now every company will train their entire team from the intern to the CEO in building an audience online. The reason that more teams haven't started this push already is due to the difficulties around getting the entire team onboard with creating and sharing quality + authentic content consistently. For example, Nehal Tenany at Clari spends a significant chunk of her day writing posts and repurposing them for several others to share on their personal LinkedIn. We're looking to really get to the core of the problem and ideate around how to build a solution that makes this strategy easier to execute. Beta launching in a few weeks! Any ideas on what's stopping more teams from rolling this strategy out and how to solve for this? 

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The latest ICONIQ Capital benchmark on "Marketing Budgets & Productivity" is a must read. One takeaway, that we heard echoed in the keynote from Sangram Vajre the SF GTM Partners event last week: "Despite the allure of bottoms-up and PLG models, we believe it is imperative that companies do not over-rely on these motions. While bottoms-up models will remain an important strategy, we believe maturing a direct sales motion is critical for long-term growth for most companies. We predict that SaaS marketing teams will be increasingly faced with the challenge of supporting multiple growth strategies across PLG and SLG, direct and channel, and top-down and bottoms-up approaches in the coming years" https://lnkd.in/ggk_ADgm

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My eyes roll when I read “industry-leading." It means nothing. The REAL winners in tech have: ✅ Differentiated POV ✅ Cohesive content strategy ✅ Intentional distribution ✅ Smooth mktg <> sales handoffs ✅ Patience for the plan to play out It’s not enough to shout that you’re in first place anymore. It’s time to play (and win) in the attention economy.

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The AEs and SDRs from 5 years ago are the CROs and VPs today. This may sound somewhat self-serving, but here it goes. It’s been cool to see the goodwill I created with those AEs and SDRs over the years turn into meaningful opportunities, pipeline, and revenue for Copy.ai. This has never been the primary intent of my presence or content here. But I will say, it’s a nice benefit. Build trust, provide value, be kind, build your network. It’s worth it for many reasons. #sales #sdr #gtmai

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Awesome to see UserEvidence listed on Will Reed's Top 100 - a list of Series A and B startups building high-performance cultures - that was featured in PitchBook's newsletter today. Shoutout to some of my favorite other GTM tech companies who also made the list - Writer, CommonRoom, Goldcast, Pocus, Demostack, Warmly, QuotaPath. Check out the full writeup in the link in comments - but here were some of the highlights of our culture: Balance: being headquartered in Jackson Hole, WY, it's hard to stay at your desk all day, and the mountains and rivers call. We've hired a diverse range of individuals who all have intersting hobbies and passions outside of work, and we believe if you give people time, space, and flexibility to pursue a balanced lifestyle, they will bring that energy and stoke to work. Humility: We hire very smart and accomplished people - but it's important to us that people are curious, and they are good listeners - and that comes from a place of humility. Creative: we sell to a fun audience (marketers) - so we encourage our team to be bold with their ideas, opinions, design/presentation. Bringing some fun, realness, and authentic humaness to what we do helps us stand out from the crowd. #willreedstop100

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I started in marketing ops 14 years ago. The complexity in MOps is 10x what it was. Here are 5 reasons why: (1) More tech, more processes, more data Companies have been building a very complex and interconnected tech stack, processes, and data for a long time now. This leads to a situation where it's very easy to fix one problem in one place and create a problem in another. (2) The SaaS downturn  The last few years have been rough on SaaS companies. In response, teams and funding for Ops got cut. This meant that the required investment into GTM ops has been no where near enough for 2-3 years. The result is poorly implemented tech and bad data. (3) Tech debt The above two issues lead to tech debt. Most companies only pay the interest on their tech debt and not pay down the debt itself. Navigating tech debt makes any new project way more complicated. (4) Team turnover Ops has always been a high turnover role. Add in layoffs. And it's like you've had a dozen different contractors try to build a house after one another. That story doesn't end well. (5) More stakeholders Because of the downturn more stakeholders are involved in projects. On one hand, this is good for alignment. On the other hand it adds a lot of chefs in the kitchen. So, what do do about all this: (1) Pay down your tech debt (every new project should factor in deprecating old data/automation) (2) Retain and empower your team (give your ops team the budget and resources they need for the difficult job they have) (3) Reduce accumulated tech (get rid of shelfware, deprecate old processes, consolidate tech) Not an exhaustive list. But a good start.

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In case you missed the news last week… Insider. closed a landmark $500M Series E. There are a few reasons why this news is so significant: 1️⃣ This is the single largest funding round ever received by a woman-founded MarTech Unicorn 2️⃣ The round was led by a new investor, General Atlantic 3️⃣ Few B2B SaaS Unicorns have ever received a single funding round of this size This funding is about more than raising capital; it’s about the future of the industry. We aren’t stopping to celebrate. As the opportunity in front of us grows, so does our responsibility. We will work harder, and push further. We’re not done, not even close. The vision grows, the work calls, and we are nowhere near the finish line. We still have so much to do. #BuildersGottaBuild Read more about the news here > https://bit.ly/3YJky4k We are hiring across the globe. Check out open positions and join us on the journey > https://lnkd.in/ed8WwvE7

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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

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Are you more likely to respond to outreach from a CEO/Exec or an SDR? Ghost prospecting is a new outbound approach that is taking off 🚀 An Outbound Growth Manager (OGM) quarterbacks the outbound plays and prospects as other identities in the business that have higher leverage profiles - Senior AEs, VPs, Execs, Founders/CEOs. I’ve had several folks ask me about the key skills & responsibilities of an OGM recently. Here’s a breakdown from having now built this model at several companies: 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 🌐 → 𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨: Know the strengths & limitations of various data sources that you can leverage to build initial lead lists. Understand the coverage & depth of attributes captured in B2B databases like Apollo.io, LinkedIn Sales Nav, Ocean.io, ZoomInfo, Firmable etc. → 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙀𝙣𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 & 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨: Be able to use a platform like Upbound.ai, Clay or Persana AI to run data clean-up, enrichment & research tasks. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 🖋️ → 𝘾𝙤𝙥𝙮𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: Perfect the craft of copywriting for multi-channel sequences, for different identity types (i.e. whether the sequence is for a rep or for an exec), and for different buyer persona types. Be able to match the comms style of different industry & seniority levels of your prospects, using products like Lavender 💜 & Twain to help. → 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: Ideate & create lead magnets that you can utilize in your outreach to provide value before asking for time or a meeting. Build these in Canva, Google Sheets etc. 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 👍 → 𝘼𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙 & 𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚: Spin up secondary domains and mailboxes, manage mailbox warm ups, monitor reply rates & signals for inbox rotation. Decide on deliverability infra depending on desired outbound channels, choosing from tools like: Instantly.ai, Smartlead, lemlist, La Growth Machine → 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨: Distribute & align campaigns to the relevant identities. Ensure smooth handoffs with the identity when responses come through. 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙮 🗓️ → 𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝 & 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨: Constantly iterate on your campaign experiments based off both data & intuition. Run a weekly cadence of reviewing & evolving your campaigns with key stakeholders. Scale your best campaigns with more advanced AI techniques and test new tools/workflows like RB2B & Sendspark. 🦾Eric Nowoslawski, Brendan Kazanjian, Michel Lieben 🧠, Scott Martinis - you guys are pros at this, what have I missed?

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