Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 64 is Jen Igartua, CEO at Go Nimbly. She spends her days helping high-growth companies craft frictionless, human-centered buying experiences, bringing over a decade of expertise to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jen discuss how marketers can set reps up for success, why streamlining definitions matter, and the importance of foundational data.
Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below.
Priming sales for peak customer moments
While sales and marketing teams are part of the same organization, their priorities often differ, which can lead to misalignment when aiming for unified goals. And that’s why Jen’s first tip for driving execution excellence is to get the teams aligned by having marketers do the right research in advance, and prime the sales team for peak customer moments. This process creates a better prospect experience and it also enhances the likelihood of converting leads into customers.
Jen points out that while there are many opportunities to deliver a perfect 10 customer experience, these chances are often overlooked, especially during the critical phase of lead handoff. "When the handoff isn’t executed properly, it undermines the sales reps’ efforts," Jen explains.
For example, there’s a big difference between sending a webinar lead’s score and source to a sales rep versus providing them with a more holistic lead overview. “Reps aren’t excited when they aren’t equipped with the right information because they're missing the context that would indicate why this prospect is ready to engage, or which sales approach would be most effective,' Jen explains. “Fortunately, we have the tools to easily access this information. By integrating data from multiple sources — like scraping their LinkedIn, analyzing their business through earnings reports, and understanding their market position — we can provide a warm handoff that equips reps with the necessary context. This not only resonates more with the prospect but also enhances the likelihood of successful engagement.”
Jen’s big takeaway? Marketers play a crucial role in sales success. By automating research and providing clear explanations for prioritizing leads, they equip sales reps with the right information. This positions reps for success and leads to higher conversion rates and increased revenue.
Streamlining definitions
“The villain of revenue options is silos,” says Jen. “And there are a lot of different kinds — technical, integration, and data silos. One of the simplest ways to align your business is to streamline definitions so everyone is working from the same set of data and information.”
This is important because your go-to-market (GTM) teams rely on consistent definitions and data to make informed decisions. Discrepancies across teams can lead to confusion and misalignment.
If the process seems overwhelming, Jen suggests starting with the top 10 data points that are most important to your business. "Make these super crisp and normalized across your organization," she advises. "Start with the simplest demographic data about your accounts, such as the number of employees, industry, location, or other key metrics. Then, integrate a standard field from a tool like ZoomInfo. This will create a unified field for industry data used by customer success, marketing automation, product development, and sales, so everyone is on the same page.”
By getting the core data points organized across the board and using the same definitions, the impact on lead routing, scoring, handoff, personalization, and reporting becomes aligned. This way every team operates with efficiency and accuracy, enhancing the overall effectiveness of your GTM strategy.
Getting foundational data correct
For early-stage companies, two foundational data points are critical: the opportunity infrastructure and the lead-to-meeting process.
Jen stresses the importance of these elements. "These data points are a pain to clean up later. It's crucial to have a system that tracks your sales cycle and revenue in a reportable and consistent manner," she advises.
Start by ensuring your start and end dates are accurate and clearly defined. Organize your opportunities into categories such as new business, renewals, and upsells in Salesforce.
The second part of this is mastering the lead-to-meeting process. It involves managing incoming leads and making sure they’re properly tagged, scored, and handed off in a way that’s easy. Otherwise, you’re likely to lose a lot of money. When these foundational data points are streamlined, operational efficiency skyrockets, and your business can scale in a more organized, streamlined manner.
About Jen
Jen is the CEO of Go Nimbly, where she collaborates with high-growth companies to craft frictionless, human-centered buying experiences. At night, she unleashes her creative side, designing engaging games with her friends at Pillbox Games.
