PRODUCTEA with Leah, Growth & Senior Leadership

90: Harini Gokul - How to keep things "simple" at scale

Jan 12, 2025

Harini Gokul, CCO at Entrust with extensive experience at Microsoft and AWS, dives into the evolving landscape of sales and customer success. She discusses the shift from outdated sequential sales models to modern strategies that focus on securing and growing customers. Gokul highlights the necessity for C-level executives to prioritize cross-functional collaboration and effective communication. Simplifying metrics is crucial for decision-making, as traditional customer metrics can fall short. Transforming organizations means challenging the status quo and embracing change.

57:41

Episode guests

Harini Gokul

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Shift from traditional sales models to a customer-centric approach that focuses on ongoing engagement and satisfaction over initial sales.

Establishing cross-functional collaboration is essential for breaking down silos and providing cohesive customer experiences across departmental interactions.

Utilize specific, actionable metrics like time to value instead of traditional metrics like NPS to drive meaningful insights and improvements.

Deep dives

Outdated Sales Models

Traditional sales models from the 90s prioritize a sequential approach, viewing the sales process as linear, which is no longer effective in today's subscription-based economy. Instead of relying on large sales forces solely for initial sales, businesses must shift to understanding ongoing customer needs and how they engage with products over time. In this context, consumers today are likely to adopt a subscription model, purchasing services on a monthly basis, which requires companies to adapt their organizational structures to support continuous engagement and value delivery. This necessitates a focus on customer success initiatives that prioritize adoption and satisfaction, rather than merely focusing on the initial sale.

Intro

2min

Balancing Identity: Work and Home

5min

Transforming Customer Engagement in SaaS

9min

Navigating Metrics for Customer Success

2min

Navigating Customer Segmentation and Executive Roles

9min

Navigating Complexity in Communication and Metrics

25min

Transforming Microsoft: Lessons in Customer Focus

5min

The evolution of sales models, the critical role of customer success in driving revenue, and the responsibilities of C-level executives in fostering cross-functional collaboration with Harini Gokul, CCO @ Entrust, from a first principle perspective.

The challenges of implementing product-led sales strategies and the importance of simplifying metrics for effective decision-making. Why traditional customer metrics don’t work that well anymore and why it’s all about two things in business, no matter the scale:

Securing and growing customers.

Takeaways

C-level roles require a focus on company-wide outcomes, not just departmental interests.
Cross-functional problems often feel dangerous with little upside.
Sales teams often lack the skills to interpret data effectively.
Transforming organizations requires a willingness to challenge the status quo.

Sound Bites

"Revenue happens everywhere."
"What does good look like?"

Chapters

00:00 Rethinking Sales Models for Modern Business

12:04 The Role of Customer Success in Revenue Generation

24:06 Understanding C-Level Responsibilities and Cross-Functional Collaboration

28:19 Bridging Data Silos in Organizations

32:34 The Challenge of Product-Led Sales

36:47 Simplifying Metrics for Better Decision Making

39:11 Rethinking NPS and Customer Success Metrics

42:56 Time to Value: A Key Metric for Success

46:48 External Benchmarks and Customer Perspectives

49:40 Transforming Organizations for Modern Business

55:50 Closing Thoughts and Future Connections

Send us a text

Leah on Linkedin / Twitter / Youtube

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more