Welcome to Season 3 of 10/10 GTM: The Podcast for Revenue Leaders!
Our guest for Episode 33 is Jeff Rosset, CEO at Sales Assembly. Jeff brings more than two decades of leadership experience to the conversation.
In this episode, Ross and Jeff discuss the critical role of data-driven decision making, the importance of building a system that works, and why continuous learning and skill development is crucial.
Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below.
Make decisions based on data
Most organizations have platforms like HubSpot or Salesforce to monitor key metrics such as marketing attribution, sales cycles, average ACV, and win rates. But the uncomfortable reality is that tracking data is the easy part; interpreting it and understanding how to use it is the hard part. As a result, a lot of companies fall into the trap of tracking data and then reverting back to whatever they feel most comfortable with. This generally happens for one of two reasons:
- They don’t want to accept what the data is telling them
- They don’t know how to properly utilize the information
Understanding how to use data and being self-aware enough to understand what data you should actually be utilizing will transform how you make decisions, and ultimately, how much revenue your organization generates.
“Every decision a revenue leader makes today is so much more impactful than it used to be. You won’t always have the opportunity to try again in six months,” says Jeff. “If you allocate a budget and go all in on a certain idea, and it doesn’t work, that might be the last bet your company will allow you to make.”
Build a system that works
To succeed in today’s market, you need to know what makes your organization unique. This means you understand what channels to use, your ideal customer profile (ICP), and you’re marketing the right product to the right people.
“Revenue teams have gone through a lot over the past few years,” says Jeff. “Budget allocations are smaller, and team sizes are too. Focus is critical right now because you have to learn to do more with less.”
This all boils down to building a system that works for your organization and team. For example, if cold outbound efforts have low success rates and budget cuts reduce your BDR team from 10 to three, your AEs will need to generate most of their own pipeline. Knowing that cold outbound is largely ineffective, what alternatives can the AEs pursue?
Maybe this means your organization starts attending conferences, hosting dinners in different cities and inviting your ICPs to come meet your team in person, or perhaps you sponsor webinars, partner with organizations on podcast episodes, or publish more thought leadership pieces on social media. Ultimately, the key is to understand what makes your company unique so you can create a system that works for you regardless of the economic climate.
To sum it up: whatever works for your business, do more of that.
Make continuous learning a habit
As budget constraints continue, companies need to be innovative in how they grow top line revenue without expanding their workforce. This means they need to focus on getting more out of each person, and making them more efficient and effective. To increase revenue and minimize churn without new tools or hires, the focus should be on refining current team capabilities, which means continuous improvement is key.
“The organizations that focus on upskilling their people are the ones building a culture in the framework that’s going to allow them to steadily grow year after year,” says Jeff. “This is ‘responsible growth’ because it’s not reliant on raising money, adding headcount, or adopting new tools.”
And learning and development isn’t just applicable to junior employees. It’s relevant to everyone at your organization. This includes BDRs and CSMs to your AEs, marketing team, second line managers, VPs, and even C-level executives.
Rapid fire: Jeff’s fast sales insights
In a rapid-fire Q&A session, Jeff shares his insights with us on a wide range of topics:
What’s the main reason most teams miss their ARR goals? Focus.
What’s your favorite resource for revenue leaders? In-person events.
SMB, Mid-market, or enterprise? SMB and mid-market.
Best way to unplug from the demands of leadership? I’m a big whiskey drinker, so I enjoy having a cocktail from time to time. I also love to get out of the house and have dinner with my buddies or go to a Cubs game.
About Jeff
Jeff is a serial entrepreneur who is driven by accomplishment, innovation, and productivity. Sales Assembly is his forth company, and it’s dedicated to helping GTM organizations scale quickly and effectively.
