Champify

🏖 Getting hit with OOOs? It's the perfect time to put together an account plan. Join us as we ask Shea Brucker, RVP of Sales at Contentsquare, how he helps his team break into enterprise accounts. During this conversation we'll walk through: 👉 How to manage your team's pipegen 👉 How to build a successful account plan 👉 How to develop a unique POV 👉 How to find the warmest path into an account P.S. We'll be sharing out Shea's account planning template in this session

Booking a meeting is relatively easy. Booking meetings that have a high probability of turning into revenue consistently is not as easy. But there is an art and a science to it! I had a great time talking with Champify CEO Todd Busler recently about my learnings over the years from Namely & Orum. You’ll find some of them - along with insights from ~10 other sales leaders - in Champify’s Guide to ‘Building an Outbound Culture’ (link in comments) 🔥 #outbound #sales #pipelinegeneration

Champify is experimenting with an automated outbound email campaign that has an 80% open rate and 0% unsub rate, but a 0% response rate… Is it working? Here’s how we think about it: People spend <9 seconds reading an email. As a startup, awareness + education is can be more valuable than a response. Without education + awareness, no one will discover your business, no matter what the timing is. With automated outbound, we are trying to provide education in short digestible chunks. Our emails are full of company context focusing on “Why you, why now” and only have 2-3 touches. What we are starting to see is inbound leads that never responded to outbound pushes. So in a way… This is our cheapest ad campaign ever.

Building a PG culture is not complicated but it’s hard. Earlier this year, Todd Busler let me know he wanted to codify the steps sales leaders need to take to foster an outbound culture in their orgs. I was happy to share lessons learned from my time at LinkedIn, Medallia, Oracle, and now Miro. You’ll find some of them - along with insights from ~10 other sales leaders - in Champify’s Guide to ‘Building an Outbound Culture’ (link in comments). If outbound is top of mind for you right now, it’s well worth checking out. Thanks for having me Todd Busler. #sales #salesleadership #pipelinegeneration #salesenablement

Building an effective outbound team is less about specific tooling and more about culture, commitment, and alignment 🤝 I had an incredible time talking with Champify CEO Todd Busler about my learnings over the years 🧠 Building an effective outbound prospecting culture is no easy feat 💪 If you want to see my advice and tips from 10 other VP-Sales and CROs, check out what the team at Champify has put together (link in comments.) Useful learnings for any size organization focusing on outbound. #sales #salesleadership

Building an effective outbound prospecting culture is no easy feat. If you want to see my advice and tips from 10 other VP-Sales and CROs, check out what the team at Champify has put together here. Really useful learnings for any size organization thinking about outbound. Thank you Todd Busler for the opportunity to share this knowledge with others. https://lnkd.in/gcaS6EUY

Over the last 2 months, I’ve sat down with 11 CROs, VPs of Sales, and Enablement leaders who have generated over $670M in ARR to ask them one important question, “How do you build a successful Outbound Culture in SaaS?” Here’s what they told me: 1. The number one reason companies fail to build an outbound motion is a lack of commitment 2. You have to set a north star metric and clear expectations 3. Without an operating cadence, you are throwing activities at the wall and the chance of success is low 4. You need the right scaffolding on the operations – tooling, rules of engagement, and a focus on working the best accounts 5. Enablement is a key pillar in every successful OB org – most companies don’t take this seriously enough 6. People are key – having the right rep experience and hiring profile are critical Of course this is just the summary… I spent 12 hours interviewing the sales leaders at companies like Justin Geller VP-Sales at Gong, Carrie Bosworth SVP-Sales at Checkr, Inc., Doug May SVP-GTM productivity at Harness, Maya Connet VP-Inside Sales at Clari and more begging them for their exact learnings and playbooks to share. Then we spent 50+ hours combining, editing, and organizing this information into actionable guides, example playbooks, and detailed enablement plans that you can start using TODAY. We had over 500 people comment and ask for the output. You can get it all for free below. Have a peek below and DM me with any feedback / things you want us to cover in future pieces!

Here are the 7 BIGGEST LIES told about sales on Linkedin: 1. Cold calling is dead. I am SO TIRED of hearing this. Our top SDR booked 83 meetings with Director+ at mid-market and enterprise accounts the last 4 months. Mainly via cold calls. Depending on your buyer/persona, there is a massive window open for cold calling effectively. Picking up the phone works. 2. This [insert magical tech/tool] will fix your GTM issues. Improvements in GTM and sales effectiveness are a series of small improvements over a LONG period of time. Once in a while you get an unlock, but it’s rarely driven by buying one expensive new piece of software. 3. Cold email is dead. Yes, blindly blasting contacts you bought on ZoomInfo with generic messaging doesn’t work. That has gotten dramatically less effective than it was even 5 years ago. However, strategic messaging to top prospects where you have unique insights still works. It just requires 10x more focus and effort to get it right. 4. Nearbound/relationship selling is the only way to sell now. Yes, outbound is harder today. Inboxes are overflowing. But that doesn't mean your first dozen customers, advisors and investor connections can be the only channel. It is one of many in a company’s arsenal but to think it’s the ONLY way is a dangerous bet. 5. Without Outreach/Gong/Apollo/Etc, you can't be successful Just because other companies use a popular product for XYZ solution, doesn’t mean it’s right for every company. The biggest unlocks for Champify have been changes to our sales process, who we target, and positioning. None of these required fancy technology or having all the solution that’s been deemed “table stakes”. 6. A killer VP-Sales hire will fix your sales issues I see SO MANY companies think a new hire will automatically fix GTM issues. The best can help tilt the slope, but fundamental problems with PMF, competition, and willingness to pay are not solely sales problems. Thinking the new VP-Sales (or any key hire) can fix all of these is not realistic. 7. Everyone *else* has it all figured out Reading people’s posts can makes you feel like some companies don’t face real issues. It's a very tough market. Every single company is going through challenges and it always looks easier from the outside. Never forget that. I love Linkedin, but it is a world of absolutes. In reality, there is more nuance than what you see in your feed. Be careful out there. Especially if you're a young seller. Remember: Your goal isn't to do what everyone else does. It's to figure what works for YOU

The best GTM leaders I know have brought in $1B's in revenue. They’ve hired 100's of the top salespeople and built rock-solid systems to consistently hit their goals. Here's the #1 most important skill they all have in common: They deeply understand SaaS metrics and financial statements. Have you ever read a technical SaaS article or something written from a VC firm and said, “this is too complicated, I will skip this one! ” Many of best GTM leaders had that same reaction early in their career. To be the best, you have to fight through those uncomfortable moments, get comfortable with the learning curve, spend time educating yourself, and challenge yourself to think deeply about these topics. I’ve found Dave Kellogg’s writing to be extremely useful here. I read every single article he puts out. If you're an up and coming VPs, CROs, CMOs, this write up is a great place to start: https://lnkd.in/e6S_Pxjz Here are key points (but I recommend reading the full thing): - Target pipeline coverage is NOT just the inverse of Win Rate - There is a distinction between win rate and close rate over time - It’s important to snapshot your pipeline at given periods through the quarter – he points to the importance of Week 3 conversion rate - There are implications of increasing pipeline – both from an ownership perspective and a cost perspective TAKEAWAY: With classes Pavilion offers, smart veterans like David Kellogg and Jason M. Lemkin graciously sharing their learnings, and more VC blogs than ever, there is no excuse not to be educated on these topics. It’s very easy to say “that’s too complicated for my role” But to be the best, SaaS and financial literacy is a must have For the up and comers – get to studying!

Two weeks ago I interviewed the SVP of Sales at Checkr ($200M+ ARR) about AE pipe gen culture. We agreed on most topics, but she said something that goes against 99% of what I am hearing from her peers: “I hate cold calls… Maybe it’s because I personally don’t respond well to them, but I am not a fan of true cold calls.” She went on to explain that making dials is an important activity in ALL of the sales orgs she's been a part of (or ran), but she thinks they shouldn’t be the tip of the spear. “The people you are calling should have engaged with you in some format – whether it's seeing your name or your company's name, even if it’s just in the subject line of an email.” For her, a calling culture is critically important, however it’s just one part of the arsenal along with structured PG plans, dedicated time, orchestrated plays between sales and marketing, celebrating wins, sharing learnings, and consistent performance management. TAKEAWAY: Most orgs I speak with are trying to improve their prospecting culture, specifically for AEs. It’s hard to change this overnight. There are no silver bullets or a new piece of tech that will magically fix this. I’ve interviewed 9 VP-Sales/CROs at some of the best sales orgs in SaaS and will be publishing my learnings soon. If you want early access to the recordings and playbooks, like this post and comment PIPE below and we'll add you to the list.