Scott White

Speed to lead might sound simple, but the architecture behind it is anything but. ZoomInfo's demo routing is powered by Zoominfo Enrich, which we used to create a system of models and workflows for SDRs to connect prospects with closers (AEs). As always, our goal is to optimize outcomes while maintaining equitability for reps. Let's break it down: ⚖️ Balancing Model: Designed within Salesforce, this system prioritizes demo allocation by evaluating the number of eligible events over their event quota over a rolling period to ensure a fair distribution of leads among AE cohorts. 📏 5 Tier Prospect Scoring Model: Dynamically assesses and assigns prospects to a tier based on channel, segment, win rate model, and title department rating collected and enriched at the time a prospect fills out a form via ZI form complete.. 🏆 Win Rate Model: Leveraging ZI enriched data points, this model refines demo allocation by categorizing prospects and accounts into win rate cohorts based on thousands of ZoomInfo’s industry-specific and title data points, such as # of sales employees and recent funding activity all help pinpoint the best meeting. ✅ AE Tiering Eligibility: Based on segment and ACV quota, AEs are eligible from anywhere from 1 to 4 tiers of demos. The demo router matches eligible AEs to a prospect tier to determine whether or not an AE is best suited for this particular meeting. 🗓️ Availability Integration: Through direct integration with Google Free/Busy API, we prioritize speed to lead by matching AE availability with the time the SDR coordinated with the prospect. This way we can book more same-day and next day meetings. The magic is that an SDR simply has to hit a button to initiate this process and schedule a meeting, making the handoff and tracking practically seamless We're continuously refining our model to adapt to nuances like PTO, market changes, and shifting demands to keep our leads flowing as quickly and smoothly as possible. See what Steven Bryerton, our SVP of New Sales has to say about Speed to Lead 👉 https://lnkd.in/gSQ5JyrD 

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I've run #CS teams with a $10m ARR base. With $50m. With $300m+. Here are 3 difference and 3 similarities to be prepared for as you scale throughout your career in post-sales: 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 1️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬" We often measure things in % or per unit numbers, i.e. "NRR target is 110 %", "5 logins/customer". But when the scale of the renewal base increases substantially, each %-point NRR is massive in real numbers. 1 %+ NRR on $20m is $0.2m, which is very different than +1 % NRR on $300m, which is $3m. Even if you have more people etc, planning for adding an extra +3m ARR is different than +0.2m ARR. 2️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬. As things scale, your ability to impact results changes, and most importantly, the 𝐰𝐚𝐲 you impact results changes. You can no longer "control" things on the ground, or "jump in" on customer cases at a high rate. Instead you need to go from 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, and you need to impact results through your managers and people. 3️⃣ 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬. As you grow, you have to move from "figuring it out" to methodologies. From the "art of CS" to the "science of CS". Inevitably, as your CS org. and customer base grows, you will need to ensure that the systems put in place will ensure a baseline level of standards and results. 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 1️⃣ 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. The different parts that make up the whole - regardless if you have a $10m ARR or $100m ARR renewal base - is at the end of the day always customers. Customers that you need to create value for. Value that is proven out when they renew or grow with you. Don't forget that. 2️⃣ 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. Ok, if you are in a rare company where the product is truly self-serve/PLG, awesome and no CS is ever needed...then this doesn't apply to you. But for most CS orgs, the importance of people is always there. Don't forget to build your team around the right people and structure them to best serve your customers and goals. On all levels, that can make or break your success. 3️⃣ 𝐍𝐑𝐑 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐒 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜. Even though we like to overcomplicate things sometimes, or pretend that context doesn't matter, the truth is that Net Revenue Retention (NRR), is the best unifying metric in CS. And yes, of course, good NRR that is based on terrible GRR and massive expansion is not a good thing. But outside of these examples of "of course's", NRR is still king at all sizes. What are some other differences and similarities you have seen as part of different-sized CS orgs? Share! 𝘗.𝘚. 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘚 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘙𝘙, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘔 𝘮𝘦! *** 🛎️ If you enjoy my content, follow me for more ♻️ Repost to share with your network #customersuccess #saas #revsetter

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"Most Talked about RevTech" prizes go to: CPQ Competitors Nue.io and DealHub.io Clay has come up in every roundtable/meeting I've been in Lead routing competition coming in hot with Chili Piper Apollo.io coming in cheap against ZoomInfo Rattle 🦖 (for workflows) and Recapped 🎯 (for deal rooms) Inflection.io and Iterable (and how marketing automation needs disruption) And Gong coming in hot taking with consolidation Who is coming up for you? #tech #revops

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CS teams NEED to start "managing up" with execs and the board by talking about REVENUE. Yes, you can keep talking about sentiment and feelings, but start with the $. Don't lead with churn- Bottom-line-focused execs don't like that headline, so you need to tell the story better. An informal poll had CS teams owning over 50% of the revenue of many SaaS companies. Lead with this and have it be your first talking point. From there you will be able to get more things done with other departments, as your requests will be revenue-focused Need to get a Customer Success Platform as you scale? Point to revenue and the potential to lose revenue without efficiencies Need to hire more to prevent burnout? Point to Revenue potential with renewals and upsells Talk in the language your execs and board want to hear.

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The Q1 Vendr SaaS Trends Report dropped today with great insights for both buyers and sellers. 3 key takeaways: 1. ACV is increasing, and so are sales cycles. 2. Buyers are less likely to renew if they are surprised by a price increase. 3. Buyers are getting multiple bids before they buy. Check it out for free here - https://lnkd.in/g9GNWwPB

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Great conversation with Joey Brodsky! Definitely one of the sharpest guys I know. I love his passion, drive and unique perspectives. I have followed his podcast for a long time and was super happy to be able to be a guest. I will share more insights from our time together but wanted to post a quick thank you to Joey and share the episode. #NextGenSales

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What's the pulse for Tech Sales Hiring? I think we're well past the bottom of the market. 49% of respondents are getting at least 3 approaches per month right now. Gong's CEO, Amit Bendov noted on SaaStr this week: "Businesses overspent and overbought in 2021 Over-cut and underspent the following year and rationalised. Companies are now out of the shock and back to moderate growth". IMO Hiring activity reflects that for now and will trend upwards from here.

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A poorly executed #customersuccess strategy will kill your #NRR for years to come. I've seen it first-hand too many times over the years. Here is how you deliver a well-executed CS strategy to drive great NRR and ultimately, business growth: 🛣️ 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 & 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 The first step in any customer success strategy is understanding the full & dynamic revenue & customer journey. This means not just knowing what your customers do, but why they do it. How and why did they buy your services? How do they move through their journey with you (rarely ina straight line!)? By understanding their motivations, you can better anticipate their needs and deliver solutions that truly add value. And don't forget, the old-school customer journey is not the standard anymore, you need to use the full, dynamic revenue & customer journey to get the full picture. This stretches from pre-sale to post-sale and allows for the customer to move in and out of journey phases/stages dynamically. 📈 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 Customer success is not a reactive function. It's about being proactive, anticipating customer needs, and addressing them before they become issues. You have to ensure that your strategy is aligned around, and fosters, a proactive CS culture and process that allows your team to execute effectively. This not only improves customer satisfaction, but also reduces churn, and creates more expansion opportunities. Both key factors in improving NRR. 📊 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 In the #SaaS & #CS world, we have access to a wealth of data. By leveraging this data, we can make informed decisions that drive customer success. This could be anything from identifying usage patterns to predict churn, to understanding which features drive the most value for customers and beyond. And it needs to go beyond telemetry, usage etc. Also capture, track and understand customer goals and other qualitative data points. One problem is that this data is often siloed or hard to access, so make sure you have systems (like RevSetter) that can bridge that gap and allows CSMs to effectively action the data & insights. 🤝 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫-𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 Customer success should not be the responsibility of a single department. It should be ingrained in the company culture. When everyone in the organization understands the value of customer success, it becomes a strategic priority that drives business growth. This is why the dynamic revenue & customer journey, the engagement focus, and the proactive mindset are so important. When those are present - and a strategic & customer-centric approach is adopted by the CEO & leadership - the sky is the limit. Leverage these four building blocks and your CS strategy and execution will thank you for it ✅ *** 🛎️ If you enjoy my content, follow me for more ♻️ Repost to share with your network

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“𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀.” - Tim Strickland, Former CRO at ZoomInfo, now Advisory Partner at Summit Partners. This clip exemplifies to me what “Strategic RevOps” really means to me. In our last episode of 🎙𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿🎙we talked to Tim and his former VP of RevOps, Scott Sutton, about the relationship between the CRO and RevOps. Interestingly, RevOps didn’t report to the CRO - They both reported to the President Reporting aside, Tim had a third-party organization that "𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲." To do this, they built a team covering: - Capacity Planning - Compensation Planning - Quota Planning - Territory Planning - Sales Process - Systems Architecture - And, of course, Analytics This to me is a perfect example of why reactive systems admin is not enough to help CROs hit their revenue goals. (And this is why we’ve built our RevOps team in a similar way.) RevOps was there to build the Revenue Factory - To industrialized best practices - To create (almost) an assembly line of sales - And to operationalize their overall Go To Market In other words, finding ways to generate more revenue beyond just adding more headcount. Scott is now the CEO at Later, a $70M B2B SaaS company, and we also dove into how to scale this down for companies much smaller than ZoomInfo. Check out the full episode for more: 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆: https://spoti.fi/3VvpKax 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲: https://apple.co/4aRQoiq ✌️

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At the #StripeSessions conference this week they pointed out a huge shift that will change #CustomerSuccess dynamics forever. 82% of SaaS companies, in a survey conducted late last year, said they plan to or already do charge by usage. What does that mean as we shift from subscription revenue to transactional revenue? ✔ Sales will sell the right to do business, but CSMs will be responsible for generating the revenue. After all, if customers sign up but don't use it, the deal is worth $0. Comp plans should reflect this for both teams. ✔CS performance and business contribution are most commonly measured by NRR or GRR- Recurring Revenue. Different KPIs are needed for goal setting and performance management when some or all of the revenue is transactional. ✔Tooling needs to improve in many cases to help CSMs not just understand how customers are using what they bought but to give insights into the rate of consumption relative to the potential. ✔ The more they use, the more they pay. So the ROI has to be clearer because customers are fundamentally disincentivized from using your product unless they understand the value throughout the term, not just at renewal time. ✔ This shared risk model is better for customers but far less sticky for solution providers. Forecasting can be challenging and CSMs will need better training in order to roll up accurate info for their leaders to manage financials. What else will this change? 👇 

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Congrats to ZoomInfo on their launch of Copilot – a new solution for B2B sellers powered by AI & G2 data. 🎉🎉🎉 I enjoyed chatting with Calen Holbrooks during today’s launch event, discussing the challenges B2B sellers face and how solutions like Copilot are helping to change the game. Here are some of the points we covered: ⚡It's time for B2B selling to catch up to B2C – providing the type of personalization we see with Instagram ads. ⚡Sales teams are often relying on the ineffective spray & pray approach -- wasting time, money & frustrating those being targeted with irrelevant outreach. ⚡With only 5% of a B2B business’ ICP actively in market at a given time, a more tailored, targeted approach is required. ⚡AI-powered solutions like Copilot can help – with accurate data from G2 & ZoomInfo, so sellers can reach the right in-market prospect with the right message at the right time. ⚡This is just one example of how AI will shape the future of go-to-market. Another is connecting software buyers and sellers more seamlessly, pairing up the perfect match. At G2, we are doing this with our #AI assistant Monty. Congrats to our partners Henry Schuck, Bryan Law, & team, and thanks for having me today! If you missed it, you can catch the event on-demand & learn more about Copilot from Henry at the links below. 👇

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More Rigor for Sales Teams per Amit Bendov and Marc Benioff   How do Gong and Salesforce respond to the “headwinds” and “budget scrutiny” mentioned in many B2B SaaS earnings calls earlier this month? More rigor, more discipline, focused enablement, and a refined GTM strategy are a major part of their approach. Gong’s CEO, Amit Bendov, last week on the SaaStr podcast episode 741, and Salesforce’s CEO, Marc Benioff, on the May 29, earnings call, stated similar approaches for how they plan to navigate current “headwinds” and “budget scrutiny” expressed by many B2B SaaS companies recently. Here are the approaches that Gong has put in place:  - Weekly KPIs, weekly results, and monitoring key activities   - Tracking every deal with MEDDIC  - Greater accountability for the sales team and sales management Amit also shared that at first some of his sales teams “didn’t love it” but now that they are hitting their numbers and seeing the results, they are warming to the additional structure and discipline. Salesforce’s CEO, Marc Benioff, interrupted his COO on the earnings call to reinforce the current narrative inside Salesforce to deliver “strong financial metrics” and a “high level of customer success” organized around the following three guiding principles: 1) Start every quarter with much higher pipelines, 3x vs 2x coverage (deeper inspection) 2) Need a much higher level of enablement (for gen AI models, data frameworks, etc.) 3) Level of stability (versus disruption of shifting strategy to meet fiscal demands) Marc sums up the Salesforce approach with this quote, “So, there is a level of balance that has to be achieved in regards to stability and disruption. And those three attributes, having 3x pipelines, having much higher levels of enablement, and having much higher levels of stability, that is the key to managing in this (more challenging) environment and this part of the (B2B SaaS) industry right now. Both CEOs talk about enhanced rigor, discipline, and a more structured approach to the sales process being a more effective path to navigate this current environment. From my perspective, this is a good example of two highly successful companies continuing to examine their internal GTM processes and experiment with adjusted approaches to achieve success. To what degree have you documented and effectively enabled your sales process for this more challenging environment? Will enhanced rigor, discipline, and a more structured sales approach help your sales reps ramp faster and/or close more deals? What are your thoughts?

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AI-native companies need to embrace new pricing paradigms (price based on work done, on outcome vs hours, etc). Inevitably, new pricing models are accompanied by new workflows, new ways of invoicing, and new challenges around billing. This makes Sequence's modern billing platform particularly relevant: Sequence helps finance and commercial teams automate manual billing and stop revenue leakage. Sequence has just launched their CPQ Product for B2B software businesses with hybrid pricing, designed specifically for AI, B2B SaaS and Fintech startups. This release empowers B2B teams to create flexible pricing proposals or contracts, including teams selling custom deals with usage tiers, minimum commitments, or ramped pricing, Sequence CPQ works for any pricing model or deal term. As a customer says: "Sequence is like a notion page supercharged with pricing tools." Excited for Sequence to build the critical infrastructure needed to enable new, flexible paradigms that are critical for the AI revolution.

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I was recently asked, can a SAAS org get to $10M in Revenue with just 5 sales reps (on $10K ARR). The answer is yes. The better question is how will we get enough pipeline to furnish the demos required per rep per day to hit that Rev target. That is the question, and the riddle that ails most orgs. My suggestion? •Back into your pipeline numbers needed for $10M •Back into your baseline pipe generation today •Identify your pipeline gap •Assign gap % ownership via department: Sales, Marketing, partners, referrals, etc... •Then get insanely creative to generate enough leads to make those demos happen! Some levers to consider: Increase ARR, Increase Conversions, Buyer ready lead pools, Freemium, Pricing structure, SDR's (inside/outsource), Demo offerings, VAR's, ICP/PMF, co-selling Partnerships, etc... There are a million things go consider. But it really comes down to identifying the gaps, assigning department ownership, and giving those leaders autonomy to get creative, and to provide potential solutions to make it happen! This is a great exercise for all orgs to do, as it also will flush out a lot of opportunity gaps in your current pipeline gen efforts. Which means you will find plenty of areas for improvement as you flush out your pipeline economics. If you are in this growth quandary; ping me, as Ive done it the right way and the wrong way, and am happy to share my experience there. Enjoy!

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There is often considerable overlap between Revenue Operations (RevOps) leadership and the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) roles due to the interconnected nature of strategy and execution in driving revenue growth. This signifies a move toward a transformation in Revenue executives where decision-makers combine strategic foresight with operational expertise that drives sustainable revenue growth. The opportunity for senior RevOps professionals to take on these executive roles is more relevant than ever. Here is my advice on considering this move: https://lnkd.in/eEp263QR

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The results are in, and they are mind blowing. ZoomInfo Copilot delivers on what other Sales AI tools have promised for years but failed to realize. Harnessing AI to unite and analyze thousands of data points, 20,000 early ZoomInfo Copilot users across 500 different companies reported saving significant time on manual prospecting tasks and uncovering more opportunities to win business. Copilot predicted half of their existing pipeline. Seriously. Tomorrow, every seller becomes your best seller. Stay tuned! #ZoomInfoCopilot

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If you had $923,000,000 to spend on sales and marketing in one quarter - How would you allocate it? That's what ServiceNow spent in Q1 of this year. Around 35% of revenue. The median across the 34 companies we track was 45% of revenue. Some highlights below: Hubspot: $300,282,000 (49% of revenue) ZoomInfo: $99,400,000 (32% of revenue) Snowflake: $400,822,000 (48% of revenue) Monday: $128,141,000 (59% of revenue) Interestingly, Asana, Monday and Smartsheet are all in the top 10 in terms of spend as a % of revenue. None of them want to give an inch here as they're all chasing the same basket of spend. Atlasssian and Veeva Systems spend less than anyone else. They also rank at the top of the Magic Number metric, showing evidence that each additional $1 on S&M spend is less effective than the last.

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Enterprise deals move faster when you have a strong champion. If you don't have a champion, you don't really have a deal. So much of B2B selling requires a great relationship with your champion. So how do you build a strong champion? Some things to keep in mind when you are working with your champion 1. this is a commercial relationship You can be friendly, but you are not friends. The context of your relationship is business. You are going to ask them for money. 2. Bring them to the "city on the hill" Educate them on their problems. Help them understand that they are not alone. Their problems are common problems. Then illustrate what life looks like when those problems are addressed. I call this the "city on the hill". This will inspire them to get in the car with you so you can take them to the city on the hill. 3. Set expectations for your evaluation process Show the champion the exact steps that they can take to evaluate your product. If they don't have a process, they will be grateful that you gave them a way to get their company to buy your product. If the do have a process, they will share it with you. This is important because... 4. Your champion doesn't buy things for their company very often, so help them! It's your job to get on the same side of the table as your champion and help them navigate their company's buying process. If you are looking for help building your sales playbook, you can steal mine: https://lnkd.in/gsAHGBSH

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