Built to Grow
4 Practices Every B2B Company Can Learn from the SaaS Sales Model Over the last five years, CRM and marketing automation firm HubSpot has been growing revenue at a compound average growth rate of 37%. For sure, companies like HubSpot that are growing exponentially have amazing products and winning business models. But they also have…
Read More3 Biggest Sales Leadership Mistakes CEO’s Make
Many founders and CEO’s of high growth businesses ask me, “Do we have the right sales leader for this stage of our business?” It is an important question, since getting it wrong stunts growth and usually results in a costly executive replacement. Recently, we convened a panel of four high performing business leaders — from…
Read MoreBecoming a CRO in 4 not-so-easy Steps
Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of salespeople and sales managers, some of whom aspire to be a SVP of Sales and Marketing or Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at some point in their career. I’ve also had the privilege to work with and coach high-performing heads of sales and CROs. I have observed that…
Read More3 Signs Your Customers Don’t Get It
Value Drift could be killing your sales. Here are the warning signs. Whether you are responsible for your company’s overall growth strategy, or are a salesperson with a quota, it’s crazy-making when customers don’t “get” the value of your amazing offering. If you are confident that your B2B product or service creates significant business value…
Read MoreScaling the “front office” of your growth business is your greatest challenge. Here’s why.
Congratulations. You and your team have created a powerful solution using sophisticated technology or a clever platform that solves an important business problem. Even better, you designed your business model around a product that can scale. Unlike a professional service business or a capital-intensive manufacturing business, you’re able to provide your product to vastly more…
Read More 3 Plays from the Private Equity Playbook —
and what they teach us all about Value Creation
Private equity (PE) firms have become expert at creating shareholder value because their fundamental business is to buy companies, improve their value, and then sell them for a solid return. As an industry, they have had a lot of practice at it. Currently, there are about 7500 U.S. companies owned by private equity, and over…
Read More“Growth” is Not a Strategy
“Our strategy is to achieve double-digit revenue growth year-over-year.” Whenever I see something like that on a corporate strategy or mission statement, I want to say, “For your sake, I hope not! What you have there is a desired outcome. Growth is not a strategy.” Don’t get me wrong; growth is important – very important. …
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