Is your company making a BIG mistake? Join our expert panel featuring Clayton Ramnarine, co-founder and CEO at Una Software, and Rosalyn Santa Elena, Founder and CROO at The RevOps Collective as they share the top 5 mistakes companies make in driving GTM performance. Hear how to navigate the shifting SaaS landscape, move beyond traditional sales funnels, implement the bow tie model for a holistic customer journey, and run truly effective meetings.
Clayton begins by highlighting significant changes in the SaaS industry. Previously, companies focused on rapid customer acquisition to drive growth and achieve high valuations. This approach often emphasized short-term gains over long-term sustainability.
However, with rising costs and increased scrutiny on profitability, there's a pressing need to shift towards efficiency and sustainable growth models. Companies have to do more with less and be data-driven in the process. This mandates a more complex and sophisticated way of thinking that views growth alongside cost and customer happiness.
“There was the golden era of SaaS where acquisition equals growth and high valuations. But when companies started to look under the hood, they were clearly not driving the healthiest unit economics.” - Clayton Ramnarine
Jump to the clip to hear Clayton talk about why “growth at all costs” didn’t work.
Rosalyn critiques the traditional sales funnel model as outdated, especially for SaaS businesses where the customer journey continues well beyond the initial sale. She emphasizes the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach that fosters long-term relationships. Viewing the initial purchase as just the beginning of the customer journey shifts the focus to delivering ongoing value and ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Clayton introduces the bow tie model as a method to track and measure the entire customer lifecycle. This model extends beyond acquisition to include onboarding, retention, and expansion stages. The bow tie model promotes an integrated view of the customer journey and drives towards a long-term relationship focus rather than transactional interactions.
“We're pouring leads into the top of the funnel. We're converting them and we're winning them. Then we're losing them on the back end.” - Rosalyn Santa Elena
Jump to the clip to learn why customer data is gold.
Having data is not enough; it's crucial to translate insights into actionable steps. She encourages RevOps professionals to focus on the "next best action" by identifying what the data indicates and determining practical ways to apply this information. This approach promotes continuous improvement and ensures that data-driven insights lead to tangible results.
“I see a lot of companies and teams get stuck on the data side. They just want to wait until their data is perfect before they report. Data will get better over time, but you have to start measuring today.” - Rosalyn Santa Elena
Jump to the clip for Clayton’s thoughts on why good intentions aren’t enough without a plan to handle new problems as they arise.
Restructure go-to-market meetings to make them more effective. Clayton advocates for sharing data and reports before meetings, allowing participants to come prepared and focus on discussing key issues and solutions. This approach minimizes time spent on setting context and maximizes productive discussion. It also fosters accountability by ensuring that participants are informed and ready to contribute.
“I think that you should be able to access key sales, marketing, and CS data in a system. Then, when everyone shows up to a meeting, they’re coming informed and the meeting is far more effective and focused.” - Clayton Ramnarine
Jump to the clip for Rosalyn’s guidance on how to structure your meetings.
Both Clayton and Rosalyn discuss the importance of using historical data and testing hypotheses to build realistic forecasts. You can have a thesis that drives actions. You’ll need to monitor it, understand the risks, and see it through. If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, why not?
They stress the need for standardizing definitions of forecast stages and roles across teams to ensure consistency and accuracy. By aligning on what each forecast category means and who is responsible for each part, teams can improve collaboration and make better-informed decisions.
“Continuous revenue improvement means constantly surfacing data around your customer journey that can be used to inform decision-making and actions.” - Clayton Ramnarine
Jump to the clip for a discussion on how one sales org can have four different pipelines and four different forecasts.
As the webinar concludes, Matthew urges RevOps professionals to take immediate steps toward addressing their go-to-market challenges. He emphasizes the importance of starting today, even if it's with small actions, to foster a culture of continuous progress rather than waiting for perfect conditions.
“Don't say, how can I get something done this quarter, this year, this month? Ask, how can I do something today?” - Matthew Volm
Jump to the clip to learn about Matt Volm’s bias for action.
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