Metrics that Measure Up

Craig Walker, Founder and CEO of Dialpad has trained their artificial intelligence foundational model using over 6 Billion minutes of customer conversations. If you are interested in how AI is currently and will positively impact the value, efficiency, and effectiveness of customer communications for Sales, Customer Service, and beyond this is a must-listen episode of the Metrics that Measure Up Podcast.During this episode, we cover a wide-ranging set of topics on how AI (Artificial Intelligence) and specifically generative AI will transform the productivity and business impact of customer communications including:The importance of large amounts of data in training AI modelsThe future of Customer Service in an AI-empowered environmentThe potential to materially increase the productivity of a sales process with AIWhat is the difference between "customer intelligence" and "conversational intelligence"? First, customer intelligence is built into the foundation of a company's communications infrastructure - think phone system platform. Because of this, in real time a customer intelligence platform can guide customer service and/or sales reps in real-time to increase the efficacy of every customer interaction. Moreover, any external communication can now be enhanced across every function and every conversation.Artificial Intelligence is not new, but generative AI is new with the catalyst of OpenAI and ChatGPT in November 2022. Dialpad has been capturing customer conversations to score performance measurements like customer satisfaction and analyze if the customer was satisfied - all before the emergence of generative AI. Once generative emerged, Dialpad unleased their 15 Data Science PhDs to build their own large language model to better understand every customer conversation and in real-time offer up the appropriate response or next step action!Now, think about the opportunities uncovered by taking every minute of your company's customer and prospect communications, and customize the large language model specific to your company, your company terms, product names and every other unique "variable" specific to your business?!If you are responsible for customer-facing functions and are interested in better understanding how AI can dramatically increase the efficacy of every customer and/or prospect communication, this conversation with Craig Walker, founder and CEO of Dialpad is full of unique insights, ideas, and recommendations that have been formed from over 6 Billion minutes of customer communications.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ecosystem-Led Growth is an evolution of Partner-Led Growth and is the vision of Bob Moore, Founder and CEO of Crossbeam and the author of Ecosystem-Led Growth.Bob started his tech career as an investor at Insight Partners, and then founded RJ Metrics which was acquired by Magento in 2016, now part of Adobe, and then Bob co-founded Stitch Data which was ultimately acquired by Talend and is now part of Click.Crossbeam was founded to unlock the modern platform's architecture and data layer enabling companies to collaborate by making it much easier to share data across multiple partner companies. The catalyst to Bob founding Crossbeam was a $2.6B mistake! That mistake was one Bob made at RJ Metrics where they found and then fell out of product-market fit as evidenced by lower growth. When they analyzed the factor leading to the reduced growth, they identified the emergence of the API economy and how buyers wanted to be able to buy point solutions that were easy to integrate with other point solutions - which was the inspiration to build a product that fully leverages the modern data stack and open API ecosystem.What is Ecosystem-Led Growth? It is the ability to leverage a network of partners who can easily share insights with partners who sell complimentary products to the same target buyers. Simple questions like do we have customers or prospects in common, or do you have an active sales cycle going on that we could partner on to build a joint solution for the customer?What is the difference between building an "app ecosystem" such as the Salesforce App Exchange and a "partner ecosystem"? It starts with a foundation built upon an open system architecture that enables the sharing of data to collaborate on common target customers, and those companies in the ecosystem are willing to share specific data with partners to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.Why are most B2B SaaS companies still using a traditional direct sales model versus focusing more on partner ecosystems as a primary lead source? The answer starts with the negative reputation of how partnership models were implemented, managed, and operated historically. Partnerships were viewed as encroaching on sales rep opportunities and having a partner damage the reputation of their partners by not adequately communicating the value, feature, and function of their partner's solution.Modern Ecosystem-Led growth does not rely upon an army of partnership reps, it leverages the data that already exists in each partnership infrastructure, such as their CRM system. Now, based upon corporate policy, rules, and intercompany workflows, an existing partner can share the relevant data with their partner(s) which will enable that sales rep to have access to data that will make approaching a new potential customer armed with relevant data regarding the tech stack and preferences of a potential customer.If you are looking for new ways to increase revenue growth efficiency, decrease customer acquisition costs, and identify "best fit" potential customers by participating in an ecosystem with partners who share those goals and understand the concept of "give to get" this episode is chalked full of ideas, insights and applicable steps to leverage the emerging growth strategy of Ecosystem-Led Growth!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Petruzzi, best-selling author of Selling the Cloud has just released his newest book "Data and Diagnosis-Driven Selling" in collaboration with co-authors Bob Scarperi, Paul Melchiorre, and your host of the Metrics that Measure Up Podcast!In this episode, we discuss the primary concepts of the book, and the unique approach to including multiple titans in the B2B technology industry as contributors to the bookThe "Data and Diagnosis-Driven Selling" book covers each stage of the Sales process and how following the process dramatically increases sales productivity and revenue growth efficiency. The process steps and associated chapters discussed include:Ideal Customer Profile - which accounts will buyBuyer Personas - which decision-makers can buyBusiness Diagnosis - uncovering the valueFunctional Diagnosis - understanding the winsSolution Design - validating the valueData-Driven Funnel Analytics - the end-to-end viewHow to Measure a Data and Diagnosis-Driven Selling ProcessThe Predictive and Generative AI power moveIf you are a B2B sales professional, sales team leader, or a senior executive looking for ideas to generate more efficient revenue growth - this conversation and the "Data and Diagnosis-Driven Selling" process and book provide great insights, success stories, and applicable steps to take.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hayden Stafford is the President and Chief Revenue Officer of Seismic, a leading Sales Enablement Platform. He recently dropped by the Metrics that Measure Up Podcast studio to discuss the state of B2B Sales.We covered a wide-ranging list of topics and insights including:The State of B2B SalesAccelerating Growth in an “efficient capital” environmentGrowth is more than metrics…but metrics matter tooSales Process vs Customer Journey - how do they co-existFirst, Hayden shared how he has seen B2B Sales evolve over the past 12-18 months. Though the fundamentals of B2B Sales success have not changed, they have become more important. With reduced win rates, longer sales cycles, and more people in the buying process it requires B2B Sales organizations to become more effective and efficient. How to make B2B Sales professionals more effective - a recent McKinsey survey said better preparing sales professionals with better enablement and enhanced sales intelligence.Many buyers are looking to "consolidate" their SaaS investments, including RevTech into fewer vendors. A key to helping B2B SaaS salespeople be more efficient, one corporate strategy is to expand the product portfolio to become a "platform" versus a "point solution".Common measurements to justify Revenue Technology investments include:Go-to-Market EfficiencyBuyer ExperienceOperational OptimizationTime to Market / Agility to Market ChangesIf you are directly responsible for a B2B Sales team or have a B2B Sales team that is primarily responsible for your customer acquisition and/or expansion performance, this conversation is full of great ideas and insights!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaking to Jacco van der Kooij, Founder and CEO, Winning by Design is like drinking a shot of espresso first thing in the morning.During this episode of the Metrics that Measure Up podcast, our host Ray Rike covers a wide array of topics that essentially asks the question - "Has SaaS lost Go-to-Market Fit?" and if so "What to do about it". Topics covered include:Data that highlights the need to change Go-to-Market tactics in SaaSThe concept and reality of the need to "Cut to Grow"The importance of Unit EconomicsGo-to-Market Fit - What is it?ScaleUp Fit - when is the right timeGTM Efficiency Metrics that Matter more in 2024 and beyondIf you are responsible for the Go-to-Market functions in a B2B SaaS company, or as the CEO and CFO depend on the GTM functions to delivery efficient revenue growth, this conversation is a great listen!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Customer Subscription financing is an innovative way to increase cash reserves in a non equity dilutive manner and not incurring the high interest rates associated with revenue credit facilities. Alex Sandkuhl, Founder and CEO of Keystone Growth provides several examples of company use cases and the benefits of the customer subscription financing model.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kelly Hopping recently assumed the role of Chief Marketing Officer at Demandbase discusses a wide variety of topics that are critical to the modern B2B SaaS CMO in this wide-ranging, fast-moving discussion:Marketing Focus on Pipeline GenerationAccount Based + Intent data = Efficient GrowthTop CMO Metrics in 2024Thriving in a corporate career while staying true to yourselfEvery single dollar matters in the new reality for B2B SaaS companies, how does this impact B2B Marketing? Focus is the number one strategy in 2024 and beyond, which means ensuring you have a very targeted Ideal Customer Profile, which demands focus on the highest intent potential customers. Using intent data is one tactic to be deployed to increase the ROI on marketing investments. Specifically, less than 5% of the total ICP is in market for your product at any given point in time, so being able to read and act upon the most predictive intent data signals is a core competency for the modern B2B marketing organization.Next, we discussed how to best prioritize even inbound, hand raisers who come to a company's website. Understanding how the inbound lead has interacted with other digital assets, and confirming they are a good fit into the target ICP based upon firmographic and even technographic data. Another key capability for the most efficient revenue growth is ensuring that the right leads get into the right hands as quickly as possible.Kelly highlighted that having the "right people" in place is a precursor to having the right processes and technology in place. Another key requirement is to ensure Marketing and Sales are aligned and eliminate finger-pointing by having the same, shared KPIs focused on revenue and pipeline growth.What are the Metrics that Matter to the Chief Marketing Officer cares about in 2024 and beyond? Kelly highlighted that revenue is the top shared goal for executive team members. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and the CAC Ratio + CAC Payback Period is an important metric to measure the efficiency of acquiring new customers. Beyond acquiring customers, Kelly highlighted that retaining customers is also important to ensure the investment in acquiring customers is best measured over the customer's lifetime and the associated Customer Lifetime Value.In today's more cautious capital reality, customers are focusing on not adding more vendors, thus the role of customer satisfaction is a role that Marketing is more focused on today and tomorrow to acquire, retain, and then EXPAND existing customer relationships. Kelly even highlighted that Net Revenue Retention is another important metric to both drive efficient revenue growth, but also to help identify and confirm the best ICP.How to measure the ROI on brand investment? One, is to see how organic "brand searches" are trending on Google + is inbound, click-through rates increasing. Then looking at down stream metrics like conversion rates, win rates and sales cycle time should be trending positively with an increased investment in brand - however it is important to note that some brand investments will be maximized over a longer term, but can be evaluated near term on some of the aforementioned leading indicator metrics.If you are interested in learning best practices on how a Chief Marketing Officer uses metrics to optimize the return on marketing investment in customer acquisition and customer expansion, this conversation with Kelly Hopping, Chief Marketing Officer at Demandbase is a great listen!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Philip Watson, the CFO at Paddle and formerly the head of FP&A at ZoomInfo discusses how the role of FP&A evolved at ZoomInfo from the early days up to and after their IPO.In addition, we cover a wide array of topics with Philip including:The evolution of FP&A at ZoomInfoHow the role of FP&A changes at different stages of growthFP&A as a foundation to the path of CFOIf you are interested in a financial executives view of a B2B technology company's evolution to IPO, and the role that a world class FP&A function plays in each stage of growth, this conversation with Philip Watson is chalked full of interesting insights and ideas!!!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Manny Medina, the founder and CEO of Outreach discusses the state of B2B Sales, the future of sales execution software and how AI will impact both.Manny shares the Outreach vision is to unlock the full potential of B2B Sales professionals and to unlock the selling potential of every seller.During this episode, we discuss the following topics:State of B2B Sales and productivity heading into 2024The increased need for adding value in each buyer interactionThe metrics to measure sales productivity increaseThe potential impact of AI on B2B SalesManny highlighted that it is very tough out there for sales reps, and the need to be laser focused on the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) which will lead to increased sales efficiency. Investing a sales professional's time on the target customer segments with the highest potential to become a customer is key to efficient revenue growth. Marketing is having a much harder time on cutting through the noise, and as such Sales needs to be much more focused in which leads and opportunities they pursue.Cold calling or emailing will fail if not of high value to the target prospect. For any considered purchase, the number of people in the buying process has increased, as such the number of people a sales rep must reach out to has materially increased, and the sales rep with a strong and high value point of value will stand out! As an example, Outreach focuses on the sales outreach process during customer on-boarding to increase the chances for increased sales outreach productivity for their customers.What are the Return on Investment metrics to use when investing in a piece of sales technology? Manny answered by looking at the entire sales process and the need to identify the specific steps in the sales process that is not working. Often, when companies assessment the problem in the sales process, it is critical to be very specific in the "problem" and start by focusing there, and determining the metric(s) that best measure the current state of that specific step.Manny expanded this topic by highlighting that we are asking sales managers to do even more work due to the increased number of sales technologies used, highlight the need to listen to "recorded calls" due to the pervasive use of conversational intelligence. This is an example of an area that needs to be evaluated so sales managers can spend more time coaching.Where is AI going to have the largest impact on sales productivity? Manny predicts there is no future without every sales professional having a AI assistant. The "AI assistant" will help the sales professional optimize how and where they invest their time, essentially reducing the amount of wasted effort spent on low value activities and opportunities.Another key area to benefit from AI will be predicting customer churn and then providing insights into how best to mitigate churn on an account by account basis. This led to the use of AI to increase forecast accuracy - which Manny started by highlighting that predictive forecasting is very hard due to the fast moving dynamics in the market. Using historical information to forecast can provided false positives due to changing market dynamics today. A better approach to use AI to analyze each opportunity today, and by using opportunity variables coupled with AI using large language models will increase forecasting accuracy.If you have a B2B sales organization and you are looking for opportunities to increase their sales productivity, this conversation with Manny Medina, Founder and CEO of Outreach is a great listen!!!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You Mon Tsang is the founder and CEO of ChurnZero. During this episode, You Mon and our host, Ray Rike discuss the following topics:How the role of Customer Success has evolved over the past 12 - 24 monthsHow the measurements used to determine CS ROI have evolvedThe top three metrics that You Mon recommends for Customer Success teamsThe catalyst for founding ChurnZero began when he was a Marketing leader and had a large selection of technologies to automate, manage, and measure marketing performance. When You Mon assumed responsibility for Customer Success, he quickly realized that there was not a large number of options to automate, manage, and measure Customer Success.One of the major changes in Customer Success is the evolution of focusing primarily on Net Revenue Retention (NRR), which is a top two company-level metric. During the SaaS recession of 2022-2023, You Mon was an increased focus on Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) which measures a company's ability to retain a customer on an ARR basis, independent of including expansion ARR. Retaining customers today is the key to a strong foundation for growth in the future.What leading indicators are most predictive of GRR? You Mon highlighted NPS, Customer Health Score, and product utilization as good leading indicators...however, the "health" of the customer is an important external variable that is harder to know but is still highly impactful to Gross Revenue Retention.  How does a CS organization's ability to determine "customer-verified outcomes" impact customer retention? You mentioned that verifying customer outcomes is very hard to measure. It is an admirable goal, and when your product natively impacts direct outcomes it is much easier.Is Customer Success a cost center or a profit center? Often this is associated with where Customer Success expenses are recorded...Cost of Goods Sold or Operating Expense? You Mon highlighted that the majority of his customers place CS expenses in Operating Expenses and thus should be measured by expense vs revenue retained and expanded.If you are a CEO, CFO, or CRO responsible for maximizing the return on investment for Customer Success, this is a great episode. If you are a Customer Success professional, You Mon shares some unique ideas and a vision for the future of Customer Success which will be a great addition to how you currently view Customer Success.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.