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20Sales: Five Lessons Scaling Snowflake to $1BN ARR, Why Customer Success is BS and Should Be Removed, Why All Sales Reps Should Do Eight Calls Per Week & Why You Should Hire a Head of Sales Sooner Than You Think with Chris Degnan, CRO @ Snowflake

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Nov 10, 2023

Chris Degnan, Chief Revenue Officer at Snowflake, shares his journey from early days in sales to leading a billion-dollar revenue engine. He emphasizes the necessity of making eight customer calls per week and discusses tactics for effective sales prospecting. Chris believes in the critical collaboration between sales and product teams and suggests that sales reps should be judicious in their customer interactions. He provocatively claims that the customer success role may be outdated, advocating instead for urgency and accountability in sales culture.

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ADVICE

Sales Playbook Fundamentals

Go on eight sales calls per week and deeply understand your product.
This combines effective client interaction with product knowledge for sales success.

ADVICE

Time Management in Sales

Plan your time effectively to balance sales calls, follow-ups, and prospecting activities.
Aim for 2-3 new business meetings weekly alongside your eight sales calls.

ANECDOTE

Early Snowflake Sales Strategy

Initially, Chris Degnan focused on gathering customer feedback rather than direct selling at Snowflake.
He iteratively refined Snowflake's ideal customer profile through direct customer interaction and feedback from founders.

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Chris Degnan serves as Snowflake’s Chief Revenue Officer and has been with the company since 2013. Starting as employee #13 and Sales employee #1, Chris built a go-to-market strategy from the ground up, driving sustained high growth and global reach. Under his sales leadership, Snowflake has grown its annual product revenue from $0 to over $1 billion. Prior to Snowflake, Chris served in Sales leadership roles at EMC and Aveksa, and worked in enterprise sales at Informatica and Covalent Technologies (acquired by VMware).

In Today's Episode with Chris Degnen We Discuss:

1. From SDR To World Leading CRO:

How did Chris first make his way into the world of sales?
What does he know now that he wishes he had known when he started in sales?
What are the single biggest mistakes young sales people make today scaling their careers?

2. The Secret to Hitting Quota in Sales:

Why does Chris believe all reps need to do 8 customer calls per week?
How do the best sales reps approach sales prospecting today?
Is cold outbound dead? How does Chris advise his teams on cold calls and emails?
What are the best reasons reps should say no to customers?
Should reps be discounting today? What is an acceptable level?

3. Sales and Product: The Most Important Relationship:

Why does Chris believe sales and product is the most important relationship?
What can leaders do to ensure sales and product communicate effectively?
How does Chris use sales calls today both with his sales team and with product?
What are the single biggest reasons comms between sales and product breaks?

4. Mastering Sales Leadership:

How does Chris approach sales forecasting? What works? What does not work?
Does Chris celebrate when quota is hit? How do you find the balance between pushing further and harder but also celebrating the wins?
How do the best sales leaders train and develop their talent? What do the worst do?

5. Customer Success is BS: Professional Services for the Win:

Why does Chris believe that customer succeed is BS and you should get rid of it?
Why are professional services so much better?
How should the org be structured then when removing CS and adding professional services?
Who is then responsible for upsell?