GTM Partners’ Post

CEOs/GTM leaders - what are we doing? We are intelligent, grinders and taking on massive problems within organizations that you can't learn in school. Getting your MBA won't teach you. Your undergrad won't teach you. There are a few great places to get this learning Pavilion Winning by Design GTM Partners but most in their late teens and early 20s are unaware of these. Yet regardless, even if we don't have this learning the fact that we spend time pointing fingers at each other and debating the validity of what the other does (e.g. Leads are terrible, Not closing deals, Product not delivering) is absurd. It has to stop. How do you stop it? 1️⃣ RevOps needs to drive alignment between all the GTM teams so everyone is on the same page with the right data, right process and right tools. 2️⃣ RevOps should have insights to answer "why" results are behind and the GTM leaders should have that same info. 3️⃣ GTM leaders should be curious about the why and want to understand how to improve and optimize every stage of the buyer journey. 4️⃣ RevOps should have established mechanisms (e.g. WBRs, Deep dives, etc.) to go through the data, insights and next best actions with the GTM teams. 5️⃣ RevOps should have the rules of the game documented, aligned, communicated and tracked for how a buyer moves through each part of their journey. There are more.. but these are the basics. Let's do better videos like these are true.

Me: I’ll add it to my to-do list. 📋 My to-do list: ⬇️ This image - and its caption - instantly grabbed my attention 👀 In business, the to-do list is never done. What separates great leaders and high performing teams is an ability to focus 🔎 - to prioritize what truly matters and let the rest go. This mindset is especially pivotal for GTM teams scaling for growth 📈 💥 Scaling doesn’t mean doing everything, it means doing the right things, and doing them well 💥 Here’s how GTM teams can harness the power of focus to scale effectively: 1️⃣ Master your ideal customer profile (ICP): scaling starts with knowing who your ideal customer is - and when to say no. By focusing your efforts on the right customer segments, you can shorten sales cycles and improve win rates, and drive higher retention and customer lifetime value. 2️⃣ Prioritize quality over quantity: It’s tempting to cast a wide net, but not all conversions are made equal. A focused approach to lead generation results in better conversions, stronger relationships, and longer-term customer loyalty. 3️⃣ Use data to guide every decision: scaling requires aligning teams around the right data points to identify trends, optimize performance, and uncover opportunities. When teams are aligned around the metrics that matter, decision-making becomes clearer and resources can be deployed more strategically. As leaders, we need to remind ourselves and our teams that scaling isn’t tackling the entire universe, it’s doubling down on the few things that truly move the needle. 🪡 Photo credit: joshuavermillion Post-it note heaven / office supplies run amok series Ai rendered with midjourney 6.1 #leadership #growth #scaleup #teams #wednesdaywisdom

🌟 Farley Fireside Chat Recap: Sales and Marketing from a Microsoft Perspective 🌟 This week, I had the privilege of learning from three exceptional leaders at Microsoft: 🔹 Jacquelyn Crowhurst - Chief Architect 🔹 Cathy Clement - Director of Engagement and Communications 🔹 Tony Surma - Chief Technology Officer Here are the 5 essential takeaways that left me inspired: 1️⃣ Find What Truly Matters List everything important to you and systematically eliminate 40% at a time. Stop when only 3-4 words remain—your focus is now clear. 2️⃣ Own Your NOs to Protect Your YES Saying "no" isn’t rejection — it’s prioritization. From a sales perspective, this means avoiding over-committing and staying focused on the bigger goal. 3️⃣ Know When to Pull the Switch It is essential to recognize when a product or strategy isn’t working and move on to what truly delivers value. 4️⃣ Position First, Scale Later Marketing sets the tone with product positioning. Sales then takes charge of scaling it to ensure adoption and impact. 5️⃣ The Sequence of Success First, identify yourself . Then, identify the value you wish to deliver. Finally, identify the customer —because clarity in your purpose drives everything else. Special thanks to Prof. Eduardo Acuna and the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern University for organizing such an insightful seminar and bringing together these exceptional leaders from Microsoft to share their valuable perspectives. Which of these lessons do you resonate with most? #SalesAndMarketing #MicrosoftInsights #Microsoft #LeadershipLessons #TechLeadership #Innovation

Enablement practitioners of yesteryear were order-takers. 🤝 Enablement practitioners of today are change agents. Practitioners ten years ago served a singular audience. 💰Practitioners today serve multiple revenue functions. Enablement leaders operated in a "put the fire out" mode in the past. ❌ Today's enablement leaders actively prevent the fire from happening in the first place. Yesterday's enablement teams made decisions after their campaign ended....and they had to work with their IT teams to get data out of their enablement tech stack (if they had one!) 💻 Today's enablement teams make decisions in real time with data and analytics....right at their fingertips. This isn't to say that what we did ten years ago was wrong (I will wholeheartedly admit that I did those things in my past too!!); rather, this demonstrates the incredible innovation in our space in that time. The result of this evolution is a more frictionless buying experience. Elevated learning environments for sellers. More bridges built among cross-functional teams. More predictability in business outcomes. I can't wait to see what we will accomplish next. #generationenablement

It’s remarkable to see how much has changed in the Enablement space over the years, but what Meganne Brezina, CCMP™ highlights so well here is the criticality of Enablement in today’s revenue landscape.

In today's dynamic business landscape, driving revenue predictability is a crucial challenge. Inspired by my experiences leading teams at Freshworks, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft, I developed my mental model of "Innovate at the Edge, and Scale in the Core." Want to learn more? Check out my article on Gong's The Edge: Practical advice, data-driven insights, and trending topics for revenue leaders, by revenue leaders. https://lnkd.in/gCuGEMCS #Innovation #RevenueGrowth #BusinessStrategy #Leadership

What happens when you bring 40 of the best GTM leaders together to discuss their top of mind and how they are navigating the current landscape? 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 MAGIC 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 That’s what I experienced this past week – THANK YOU to every one who made it out and the great discussions and insights. I found it energizing to learn from and share with fellow operators. 🙏 🙏 🙏 Key takeaways: 📈 Many companies are contemplating to move to some form of usage / consumption models. Figuring out the monetization model is just the beginning. There are LOT of down stream considerations for GTM leaders like org designs, rules of engagement, target setting, forecasting, and incentives which need to be solved as well. 🤖 AI efficiencies are real. Can we make it effective. I love the idea of starting small with automating the most time-consuming tasks to give our teams super powers from BDRs, to front line managers, and even CROs. 🔗 Alignment across GTM-R&D-Finance towards key customer care-abouts is still a persistent challenge. Cracking the code on voice of the customer and aligning these teams through a common language (customer segmentation) is the holy grail for planning. 🎯 Customer retention and Net Revenue Retention (NRR) are now among the top three concerns for revenue leaders, highlighting the shift from pure growth to sustainable, profitable expansion. Organizations should focus on acquiring the right customers, providing the right onboarding support, and delivering & communicating continuous value to customers to prevent churn. Finally it was great to preview the collective 40 years of SK expertise on helping companies grow profitably encapsulated in our new book ***Scaling Innovations – how smart companies architect profitable growth*** I am excited to bring this community of modern GTM leaders together and look forward to many more of these discussions. DM me if you want to keep updated on latest! 🚀 🚀 🚀 Feeling excited and grateful 🙏 🙏 🙏 Scott Sands Adam Echter Edward Hartman Jeffrey Tjiok Maneesh Joshi 🔌 Andy Mowat Madhavan Ramanujam Keri Harnedy Simon-Kucher Sara Yamase Michelle Verwest Joel Samuel Deepak Sharma Rhian Davies

GTM the old way vs GTM now. Entering a new market is hard, that’s why I love to create a blueprint. It is your map. The old way - separate entities chasing revenue   GTM departments like marketing and sales are creating pieces of it in isolation.   - Marketing defines a story as part of the brand with the intention to feed demand - Sales defines the revenue goals which is mostly on them to realize their target - Product creates an ICP founded on demo/firmographics on where we have been successful - Marketing collects customer insights and creates the persona’s mostly to fuel content - Sales define a sales process, marketing the buyers journey and the buyer their buying process The modern way - growth through togetherness   We all build this together as one GTM team - incl. the CEO / Founder.   - One authentic story with shared believe, values and a story behind the brand to guide the company strategy - Growth objectives and success are tightly integrated from revenue to people development - DNA-ICP build in different shapes tailored to GTM motions where we (want to) grow e.g. SME+, Enterprise - Buying group and Ideal Persona Profile based on internal, market, customer insights to fuel value prop and messaging - Selling & Buying process connected, incl. per stage what buying and GTM teams do Why? It is more important to stand out in today’s market as one GTM team, it requires cross-functional skills and individualizing yourself from the competition.   Selling is a team sport, create that blueprint and build that foundation. A blueprint is a piece of the entire GTM puzzle but it is one that sets you on the path of growing together to become better. Grateful to be a CMO community leader for a group of 1000+ members and host of the “GTM masters sessions” where 300+ GTM leaders joined earlier this year. #togetherness #GTMblueprint #leadership

CMOs seem to be on the chopping block, with high-profile exits happening in some major companies so far this year. There's lots of talk lately of merging marketing and tech skills; some argue a "different approach" is needed. But let's be honest, sometimes marketing gets scapegoated. Regardless of the reason, sidelining the CMO is a bad decision. CMOs are the glue. Their experience in brand marketing, performance marketing, customer research, messaging, and creativity brings a unique skill set to the table. The rest of the executive team often lacks this perspective. Removing this expertise from leadership has a long-term negative impact. Growth stalls, and momentum sputters. Instead of pushing the CMO out, consider whether roadblocks hinder their effectiveness. Give them the resources, the time, and the support they need to make the company succeed. Instead, empower your CMO to drive innovation and strategy at the highest levels; don't you agree? #Marketing #CMO #CSuite

Please join me in this super exciting GTM debate this Friday, September 20th @9am PT on Hard Skill Exchange, led by Connie Kwan, CEO of 4Storyteller. Is DATA-driven leadership more effective than STORY-led leadership in driving team performance? This debate will be Real, Raw, and Unfiltered ❣ Watch live for free: https://lnkd.in/dkqzVCYj Debate Agenda: • Segment I: Defining Team Performance • Segment II: Stories vs. Data—Impact on Culture and Performance • Segment III: When to Lead with Stories vs. Data Meet Our Judge: Connie Kwan With 20 years of product leadership at companies like Microsoft, Atlassian, and SunPower, Connie is a seasoned expert in AI, enterprise software, and the power of storytelling. She’s taught professionals at Google, Oracle, and more how to 10x their impact through storytelling, and her insights have been featured at top industry events. Debaters: • Oren Michels, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Cloudery • Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, WSJ Best-Selling CX Author, AI & CX Speaker • Ryan B., CSO, Fullcast, The Go-to-Market Cloud • Karolyn Zeng, Founder & CEO, 5th Universe, Inc. • Dave Sifry, Founder & CEO, Warmstart.ai • Carolyn Moore, Advisory Council Member, Harvard Business Review Don’t miss this powerful clash of ideas ❣ ❣ #CXOgames #GTM #Growth #Marketing #Sales