Patrick Tuttle

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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Revenue pros need to get ahead of the renewal conversation. Don’t take your renewals for granted. Instead: (1) Understand what’s going on with the business. Where are they winning and where are they struggling? (2) Demonstrate the impact you’ve had on their business. Make the case for renewal plain and simple. (3) Bring a point of view to the renewal conversation. This may mean restructuring to find an agreement that works for everyone. How are you getting ahead of renewals?

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The same page… AEs, SDRs, CSMs & renewal managers How are you tracking to your goal achievements 🎯? Some mid-year reminders for the team. - Re-align to find out what has changed in your shared account(s) - Stay connected on a regular cadence - Build report and trust - you want to rely on each other - Meet in person if possible - see previous bullet - Enable tough feedback sessions - so important - Share current customer status and revisit top priorities - Strive for a unified front & strategy - Known when to engage leadership - target this as a step - Share your success metrics, KPIs, and percent to goal Success is a #team sport Have a great day!

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Many sales organizations spend days or weeks on account prioritization and territory planning exercises. There's got to be a better way... If you're heading to Gartner CSO next week, don't miss Ami Arad's presentation on May 21 at 2:05pm! He'll contrast the traditional ways sellers prioritize their accounts and the new way made possible through buyer intent and predictive models. Get the details here: https://okt.to/GhFXdQ

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If I asked your AEs or SDRs how they define excellence for their role at your company, what would they say? Would it vary by person? What about by manager? Clarity brings focus, focus brings excellence, excellence brings success. #ae #leadership #sdr #bdr

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Sales folks especially SDRs and AEs I will tell you a hack about how to achieve more in less time ↓ "Start blocking your calendar thoughtfully and strategically every single day" Working out of whims & fancies and adhocism will not get you the desired result you aspire to achieve. You need to have a plan for your day even before starting the day. Every time you block your calendar make sure you block it for a single activity and you define what output you want to achieve out of this activity. Have a time block for at least Prospecting, Identifying new accounts, and Follow-ups on a daily basis, the rest you can block based on your roles and KRAs. Remember: "You cannot control time but you can surely control how you want to spend the time"

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Eight things I learned in Austin last week with the Exit Five team: 1. Tecovas are cowboy boots. TEC OVAS is how you say it. Classic Yankee move. 2. Terry Black's is great. 3. Terry Black's is even better when you're having it hanging with the Exit Five team. 4. We have built something special. Truly a global community. We've done two events now and people have flown in from various parts of the world to attend. But you could feel the energy. Parts of what we felt in Vermont for Drive we felt down in Texas for this meetup. 5. Marketing can never be green 🟩 When the company is red 🟥 Translation: the goal of marketing is to drive revenue for the company. If the company is not hitting the company goals.. how can marketing be hitting the marketing goals? Something is off. 6. There's a great crew of B2B CMOs there and I got to interview three of them on our panel, and credit to Zayo Group CMO Kim Storin for that dose of reality from number 5. 7. You have to get outside of the building. Meet customers. Meet sponsors. Meet members. Meet your peers from the work world. I love social media. I love working in Slack. But we were meant to be around other people and work together, look each other in the eye, share a laugh, a story, etc. We are wired for that. Events are great community enablers. 8. Sponsors who want to break the mold and try new things are the best ones. For this event our sponsor (Customerio) gave away a paddle board, $400 cowboy boots, AirPods, and we tossed in a crisp $100 bill. This made the event super fun (prizes after networking) and we gave away stuff people actually want vs. more swag. And people loved the sponsor for that reason. Good marketing.

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Your C-Suite / Exec demo needs to be different. Here’s the framework to kick them off: • Agenda • What We’ve Learned Recap • Tee up your champion • Exec-level discovery Execs appreciate preparedness and brevity. They have had the same horrible experience with sales people. Your goal is to earn credibility, trust, and respect as quickly as possible. Ensure your agenda is very concise. The best way to lose an exec is by rambling through a long agenda or a long-winded audio recap of everything to date. I recommend 2 slides: 1. Agenda 2. What We’ve Learned Step #1 - show agenda slide and give a 5 second pause. “This is what we had planned for today. What’s the #1 thing you want to get out of today’s call?” Step #2 - Flip to the What We Learned Slide and recap in 30-45 seconds. Update this slide from all of your conversations to date. Include in some direct quotes from your POCs on challenges they’ve faced or how your solution can help. Confidently lean into the cost of inaction and the risk of failure of key initiatives. Eliminate any fluff and make it metric / business oriented. Any other tips for exec-level demos? P.S. Launching a NEW discovery playbook next Tuesday! 50+ pages, no fluff, discovery from 1st call through end of cycle 😎

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In a new episode of Coffee with Sales Engineers, Seismic's Brian Cotter, SVP Sales Engineering, discusses the market shifts he's seeing within the software industry. Brian also chats about adapting sales methodologies, leveraging pre-sales data, and enhancing the roles of Sales Engineers and Account Executives for better market efficiency. Catch the full episode on Apple Podcasts at the link below:

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One of my favorite leader development exercises is “Start, Stop, Continue.” I meet with the AEs, without their leader present, and we discuss what they want their manager to start, stop, and continue doing. I’ve run dozens of these. Here are the most impactful “stops” and “continues” I hear: Stop: 1) Holding “check-the-box” meetings AEs can’t stand pointless or extended meetings. If there isn’t a meaningful agenda for a recurring meeting (like team meetings) cut it short or cut it out. 2) Accountability to worthless metrics AEs tolerate metrics that matter. AEs hate reporting on and being held accountable to metrics that don’t impact their success. 3) Sugarcoating the suck AEs know when company changes aren’t in their favor. Managers lose trust and credibility when they sugarcoat those changes and try to make them seem like a good thing. Sometimes changes are necessary but unfavorable. Call it what it is and rally the team around reality instead of fluff. Continue: 1) Caring personally I love it when AEs tell me they know their manager cares about them as a person. A lot of leadership mistakes are forgiven when they trust your intent. 2) Developing/coaching Reps are hungry for improvement and love to work with leaders that help them get better. 3) Fostering peer learning environment Great managers know they don’t have to teach everything. Instead, they create an environment where everyone shares best practices in meetings, slack channels, and one-off mentorship conversations. I’ve been lucky to work with great leaders throughout my entire career. I hope the feedback shared by their teams is as helpful for you as it’s been for me!

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One of my favorite leader development exercises is “Start, Stop, Continue.” I meet with the AEs, without their leader present, and we discuss what they want their manager to start, stop, and continue doing. I’ve run dozens of these. Here are the most impactful “stops” and “continues” I hear: Stop: 1) Holding “check-the-box” meetings AEs can’t stand pointless or extended meetings. If there isn’t a meaningful agenda for a recurring meeting (like team meetings) cut it short or cut it out. 2) Accountability to worthless metrics AEs tolerate metrics that matter. AEs hate reporting on and being held accountable to metrics that don’t impact their success. 3) Sugarcoating the suck AEs know when company changes aren’t in their favor. Managers lose trust and credibility when they sugarcoat those changes and try to make them seem like a good thing. Sometimes changes are necessary but unfavorable. Call it what it is and rally the team around reality instead of fluff. Continue: 1) Caring personally I love it when AEs tell me they know their manager cares about them as a person. A lot of leadership mistakes are forgiven when they trust your intent. 2) Developing/coaching Reps are hungry for improvement and love to work with leaders that help them get better. 3) Fostering peer learning environment Great managers know they don’t have to teach everything. Instead, they create an environment where everyone shares best practices in meetings, slack channels, and one-off mentorship conversations. I’ve been lucky to work with great leaders throughout my entire career. I hope the feedback shared by their teams is as helpful for you as it’s been for me! If you’d like to get all of my leadership insights in one place, I’ve compiled everything I’ve learned as a front-line leader, second-line leader, and global sales leader into my Leadership Frameworks 2.0. Join hundreds accelerating their leadership career here: https://lnkd.in/gWB_Jh8B

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My Enterprise sales team added a third “C” to MEDDPICC... And it's helping us improve deal qualification and win rates So what’s the third “C”? Change As in Change Management I’m convinced that if my team isn’t fully engaged in the third “C”, then the deal isn’t really qualified…and I’m assuming that we’re losing the competitive battle. So for my Enterprise Sales team MEDDPICC is now MEDDPICC(C) Tracking “change” is that important. And here’s why you should care: Effective change management is what makes your software’s value proposition predictable. And that’s all Executives care about - Predictability. This is why the third “C” is so important to deal qualification. Because the type of projects you want to sell Executives, Can (and should) have big political implications for their careers And they need to be sure they’re placing a bet with the right partner Knowing that the outcome will be predictable So, how do you do that? Advise them on your change management methodology (and successes) Tell them, prescriptively, not only how your software will solve their largest business pain… …but more importantly, how your change management processes will make ROI and time to value predictable. Because when all key stakeholders buy into the new process…and are cool with the change… Then, and only then, can your software’s benefits be realized. Are you talking enough about this with your AEs? And, AEs are you bringing experienced change management experts to your calls to advise & guide on the change process? If not, then I guarantee you that your enterprise win rates could be better The stakes in SaaS are higher than ever. And the difference between winning and losing is razor thin. My Enterprise Sales teams aren’t in a deal until we’re talking change management up and down the prospect’s org Add this third “C” to MEDDPICC(C) and see how it changes the buy-in on your deals, your proposals… And your win rate Drop a comment on how you’re discussing change management with your AEs…and using it to win deals

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People don’t realize what “closing skills” are in sales, and they’re not “is persuasive.” Reps with closing skills CONSISTENTLY know, can choreograph and advise on how the deal gets signed and returned. And their forecast accuracy reflects those skills.

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Every sales leader I know has a goal to "be more data driven." Those same sales leaders work constantly in ungoverned, stale spreadsheets and manual edits. Why do they do this? 1. Salesforce is never 100% up to date or accurate 2. Leaders have their own context to add 3. Aggregate views for forecasting require more tempering than a deal by deal roll up Sigma saves our sales leadership team tens of hours per week in forecasting alone. See how my boss Mike Gerardi had a hand in building our process here:

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SaaS leaders tell me the same thing: "We need more leads, but good ones." That's where WMAmerica comes in. We don't do fluff. We do results. When I joined, my mission was simple: help SaaS companies grow fast. Not just any leads, but the right ones. Take one client: They had product-market fit but zero lead flow. In 3 months, we: 1. Boosted qualified leads by 60% 2. Closed 5 new major clients 3. Got them scaling like never before Another founder? Sick of bad leads. We stepped up and: 1. Booked 30+ meetings with perfect prospects in a quarter 2. Grew their revenue by 40% Lead gen is tough, but with the right partner, it's a game-changer. Ready to see results? Let's talk.

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Your 1:1 meeting with your Manager is YOUR meeting, so take control and set the agenda. As a leader I love when my direct reports come prepared for our 1:1 meetings - Great CSMs understand that this time is their time, with their leadership team, to discuss what's important to them. Step 1, make sure you have a recurring 1:1 with your leader on the calendar. I am still shocked to hear from CSMs (or any employee) that they don't have regular recurring meetings scheduled. It doesn't have to be 60 minutes every week but find a cadence and duration that work well for the both of you. Leaders will likely have a few things that they want to discuss, so perhaps split the time; give each person an opportunity to discuss what's most important to them. But as a CSM, don't expect your manager to drive this meeting, it's for you, not them. Here's an easy way to manage these 1:1's - Grab a Google Doc (or Word Doc) and create a meeting template for each week - Include the date and then have this agenda framework: 1) Personal Updates - How are you doing this week? 2) Feedback - Solicit feedback from your manager 3) Highs / Lows - What went really well this week and what didn't 4) Business Performance - How are you tracking towards your KPIs or OKRs 5) Customers - Which customers need to be discussed this week; who's doing well or who's struggling; Great time to escalate 6) Career Pathing - Perhaps not a topic for each week but add this every so often to make sure you are both on the same page Fill in each agenda topic with a few bullets to discuss - this does not need to be lengthy, you are going to have a discussion so there is no need to write everything out. Under that put both your names - each of you can add things that don't fit into the areas above but need time to discuss. Easy peasy. This is valuable time for the both of you so use it wisely.

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🤯 “Ramping up SDRs, AEs and CS people  takes us no less than 6 months.” 💣 🙈 This is what I heard on a recent demo from  a CRO of a rapidly scaling tech business. 📈 Time to efficiency is a struggle Heads of Sales Enablement and Customer Success are going through across their commercially-driven teams… 📖 At the moment, they expect internal  sales and CS decks, call recordings,  business pitches, etc. should do the job. 🙄 But it doesn’t! 🗓️ They're wasting too much time for people to start performing, closing deals, effectively onboarding customers, reducing churn & upselling… ❌ Sometimes, they still don’t perform... And then guess what? Off leaders go through to recruiting mode again starting from ground 0. 🎯 Hence the need for action-based learning.  Not just passively reading through PDFs  and listening to call recordings. 👨‍💻 Below are some use cases we see our customers here at UJJI AI ✨ leveraging our tech for: 🔸 Business-specific lead gen and outbound 🔸 Pitching quick and easy over the phone 🔸 Delivering demos and answering queries 🔸 Effectively onboarding new customers 🔸 Efficiently implementing product features 🔸 Practising great customer support 🔸 Guiding customers to upselling 🚀 Ultimately, growing tech businesses comes down to predictable new business development, high customer retention and low churn. 💬 So, DM me if you want to see examples  of AI-powered. easy to build and consume knowledge equipping experiences. 👇 Anything to add to this, Sales and CS leaders? Gautam Rishi Rohan Dickinson George Heron Russell Mitchell Callum Hartley Jon Teale James Dixon Seán Colfer Caroline L. Guy Rubin Jake Carter David Muscat Arun Raveendran Steve Eveleigh Ayo Kukoyi,

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In 2024 sales leaders are being asked to hit bigger targets with tighter budgets. On a macro level this can feel daunting, but if you boil it down team by team, rep by rep– the answer clearly sits in the efficiency and productivity of your rep’s day. And in order to drive that daily efficiency and productivity, you need to deeply understand the foundational systems + processes that actually allow your team to spend the bulk of their day talking to customers and prospects. If I’m a frontline manager or Dir of sales right now, I am revisiting this checklist quarterly to drive that efficiency and productivity within my teams: 1.) Revisit your deal cycle workflows and ensure your reps understand the ins and outs of the tooling and sales process. ↳They need to know how to navigate the sales methodology you use ↳They need a deep understanding of your CRM and entry and exit criteria for deal stages ↳They need to have clarity around forecasting expectations and how to keep their pipeline clean ^ All the logistics of getting the job done. 2.) Skills assessment/reinforcement and training around how to make sales conversations meaningful. ↳Revisit messaging and positioning ↳Regular objection handling practice ↳Understanding each persona, their problems and buyer signals that indicate it’s time to reach out to that specific prospect ↳Value, benefits, ROI, differentiation matters Fewer tools means less complexity. See where you can cut standalone tools and consolidate to more comprehensive and all-in-one tools (like Apollo) to give your reps a more centralized operating system and reduce the time spent navigating their tech stack. Simplicity will help your reps win. 💪🏼 The market and selling environment is changing rapidly. Your teams are growing and shifting constantly. These things should be top of mind and regularly revisited at the team and rep level to ensure they are as equipped and empowered to do what they do best (sell!) at all times. How often are you running enablement sessions with your team? Do you focus on process or skills more? #salesexcellence

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Enterprise sales reps, hear me out -- you've got to stop thinking that "Proficient with Microsoft Word" is a differentiated selling skill. What I mean: Ten years ago, you could build a really unique account plan by doing google+social sleuthing because it was (a) relatively hard work that (b) not everyone would do even if they could. Today, I'm still seeing Enterprise sellers stand out from the pack by doing hard work that their peers won't — specifically, by going hard after primary sources instead of using the web. In other words, they're not settling for "Proficient with Microsoft Word." 3 approaches I've heard in the last month of discussing this with leaders of enterprise sales teams: 1. Sales rep using their 1st+2nd degree network to contact and interview literally anyone with recent work experience at the target company. Doesn't matter if they have to start below the line in the wrong department — they turn one referral into another and eventually have account insights that no competitor does. For penetrating a huge org this is invaluable. 2. Having the sales rep and SDR pair up on calling into the Sales organization of the target company, and just nicely ask for insights "sales rep to sales rep". The advantages of calling the sales org, despite not being your actual persona, are that (a) they pick up the phone more than other depts and (b) as sales reps they know how to be helpful if they want to be. I didn't personally expect this to work that well and was surprised how well it did when we tried it. 3. Hiring former employees of the target company as consultants for building account plans and/or designing RFP responses. This is harder work than sending out AirPods, champagne bottles, or gift cards in exchange for meeting — but you get a willing coach, maybe even a former executive, helping you sell. That's huge. (Obviously I'm biased toward using Emissary.io to simplify this.) There are no shortcuts in sales but there is always "doing what others won't." Would love to hear other under-utilized, hard-to-do tactics!

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