The 5 Stages of Revenue Transformation – Stage 1: Escaping the Panic Response

Nov 11, 2025

In a world where rising targets spark panic in revenue leaders, many rush to implement new tactics without addressing foundational issues. The discussion highlights how asking the wrong questions leads to more chaos. Personal anecdotes illustrate the pitfalls of relying on flawed data models. Transformational change demands stepping outside comfort zones and pursuing strategic confidence rather than frantic scrambling. Carolyn challenges listeners to rethink their approach and focus on the essential data that drives true revenue results.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Doing More Adds Noise Not Answers

Revenue leaders default to doing more tactics and experiments when pipeline slips, which usually increases noise rather than solving the problem.
Carolyn Dilks argues this reactive approach is the wrong question and hides deeper structural issues in revenue data models.

INSIGHT

Predictable Path From Reactive To Strategic

Top GTM leaders follow a predictable path from reactive to strategic and often must do less to do what matters.
Carolyn Dilks frames this as five stages of revenue transformation, starting with escaping the panic response.

INSIGHT

Dashboards Hide True Contribution

Dashboards focused on MQLs and last-touch metrics can't show true contribution to pipeline and revenue.
This lack of visibility forces leaders to guess and default to experiments instead of confident investment choices.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

When pipeline starts slipping and targets go up, most revenue leaders do the same thing: they panic. They launch new experiments, adopt the latest AI tools, and try to do more, faster, harder. But what if that's exactly what's keeping you stuck?

This episode is part of a 5-part series exploring the journey B2B revenue leaders take from reactive chaos to understanding and measuring their full revenue factory, and transforming their careers in the process.

Each stage represents a critical transformation moment that separates leaders who consistently hit their targets and drive real results from those who scramble every quarter wondering why nothing's working.

This episode explores Stage 1: The Panic Response, and it represents the first stage in revenue transformation. You’re likely in Stage 1 if you’re asking questions like, "What experiments should I try next?", "What are other companies doing that I should copy?", or "What AI tool is going to save my pipeline?".

What We Cover in This Episode:

Why the question "What experiments should I try next?" is fundamentally wrong
How to recognize if you're trapped in The Panic Response
The uncomfortable truth about why transformation only happens outside your comfort zone
What it actually takes to move from reactive scrambling to strategic confidence
Why adding more tactics to a broken foundation only creates more noise in an already chaotic system
The real reason you can't measure the impact of your investments, and what that means for your ability to drive growth
What fundamental questions you're NOT asking because you don't have the data model to answer them
The moment of decision that separates leaders who transform from leaders who stay stuck
How to stop copying what other companies are doing and start building what actually works for YOUR revenue factory
If you've ever felt like you're working harder than ever but can't prove you're moving the needle, this episode is for you.

—

This episode is powered by Passetto. If you're tired of staring at dashboards that don't tell you what you need to know, you're not alone. Most revenue leaders are flying blind because of the Pipeline Black Box™, a critical data gap that keeps you from understanding what's actually driving results. Passetto transforms how you run your revenue engine, so you can finally see what's working, fix what's not, and scale with precision.

Tired of guessing what's generating pipeline and what's draining your resources? Book a free strategy call: https://www.passetto.com/book-a-call