GTM org of 2028: smaller, sharper, more expensive per head

1 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,560 SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, welcome back to Demandy Coded. 2 00:00:35,719 --> 00:00:38,840 Dan here with you today, joined by Josh, of course. 3 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,920 And in this episode, we're going to be talking about the GTM org 4 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:48,039 of the future and why it's going to be smaller, sharper, leaner, 5 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,879 probably more expensive per head, but also different to what 6 00:00:51,879 --> 00:00:53,000 we're experiencing today. 7 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,200 And you know, there have been um there's been a lot of 8 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:01,079 conversations about businesses and layoffs and the future of 9 00:01:01,079 --> 00:01:04,200 structures inside of businesses and what happens to people. 10 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:08,759 And Josh, I know you've got some really interesting takes on 11 00:01:09,079 --> 00:01:13,079 where you see the future of like the GTM organization going. 12 00:01:13,159 --> 00:01:14,840 I've got some interesting takes as well. 13 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:18,599 And yeah, we're going to dive in today on what where we see this 14 00:01:18,599 --> 00:01:23,079 going and like what we truly believe is the future for this 15 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,200 GTM setup and org structure. 16 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:27,560 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah. 17 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,560 This is um, I mean, this is an incredibly important topic. 18 00:01:31,719 --> 00:01:34,680 Uh, you know, we talk a lot about tech and process and 19 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:35,000 whatnot. 20 00:01:35,079 --> 00:01:36,599 And we'll talk about some of that today too. 21 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:41,239 But but the getting the people right is always the most 22 00:01:41,239 --> 00:01:41,719 important thing. 23 00:01:41,879 --> 00:01:43,879 Like always, always the most important thing. 24 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,519 And so uh I this is one I've been really looking forward to. 25 00:01:48,599 --> 00:01:51,319 Uh, and we'll talk about some new roles, three specifically 26 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,959 new roles that um we think are coming into and we're emerging 27 00:01:55,959 --> 00:01:57,719 into the the modern go to market. 28 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,560 And and then we'll talk about what changes within each of the 29 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,840 you know the sort of current traditional roles that have been 30 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,199 uh in our organizations for the last 20 years or so. 31 00:02:10,439 --> 00:02:11,079 SPEAKER_01: Yeah. 32 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:21,639 Just a quick one before we get into the episode, because I've 33 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,439 got an offer that I'm sure all of you will be interested in. 34 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,280 AEO is something that every B2B marketing team is trying to 35 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,319 figure out right now, and most just don't know where to start. 36 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,000 But at Blend, we're offering a full AEO analysis of your 37 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,439 brand's AI visibility, and we'll walk you through exactly what we 38 00:02:38,519 --> 00:02:40,040 found and what to do about it. 39 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,719 From full prompt analysis against your competitors to a 40 00:02:43,719 --> 00:02:46,919 citation analysis where we'll look at different content types 41 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,039 and how you're being cited for those and mentioned in those, 42 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,240 and what you can actually do to be mentioned and cited much more 43 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,199 for your brand, and what content you should create going forwards 44 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,439 and how you comprise that strategy really. 45 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:02,039 We will drop a note in the uh description of this episode in 46 00:03:02,039 --> 00:03:04,360 the show notes, and you can go over there, request your free 47 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,080 AEO audit, and we will deliver that to you. 48 00:03:10,199 --> 00:03:13,560 There's always new roles and new structures that happen, right, 49 00:03:13,719 --> 00:03:17,479 in every era of B2B go to market, I suppose. 50 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,840 You know, you've got like the CRM era teaching companies to 51 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,960 manage pipeline and customer relationships effectively. 52 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,120 You've got the Martech era that taught them how to actually 53 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,159 generate pipeline and like see it all in one place. 54 00:03:31,319 --> 00:03:34,199 You've got the SaaS playbook on top of that, how to scale it, 55 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,199 and and now we're in this new era. 56 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:37,240 SPEAKER_03: Yep. 57 00:03:37,479 --> 00:03:38,919 Yeah, I I think you're right. 58 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,240 I mean, you know, when you said Martec, the first thing I 59 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,120 thought of was mass app proliferation. 60 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,919 Like there's just so many. 61 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,199 Uh and step, you know, you all of a sudden enterprises would 62 00:03:50,199 --> 00:03:52,439 have stacks of 30 different apps. 63 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,879 Uh and and that's a lot of that still exists today. 64 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,560 But uh, you know, I I think there's a couple of things that 65 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:01,879 are um happening, right? 66 00:04:02,039 --> 00:04:07,240 We're fundamentally um we're we're moving very, very rapidly 67 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,319 from an effort-based model in go to market, you know, where you 68 00:04:11,319 --> 00:04:14,840 know, historically to be able to scale go to market to create you 69 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,720 know, to create more leads, to do more content, to manage more 70 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,360 campaigns, you were adding more people to much more of a 71 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,680 system-based model where you have agents and orchestrated 72 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:33,960 data and governed AI that are running continuously, and then 73 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:39,960 you have people who are coming in and out of that um to deliver 74 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:41,480 outcomes or drive outcomes. 75 00:04:41,639 --> 00:04:43,879 And so it's um it, yeah. 76 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,960 I mean, it's it really does require a reset, not just a 77 00:04:48,199 --> 00:04:51,959 building onto, but a really a reset in how we think about the 78 00:04:51,959 --> 00:04:54,839 overall architecture of what our go-to-market looks like. 79 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,279 Um, it's not a faster version of what came before. 80 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,800 It's it, I think we've used the term operating model before. 81 00:05:01,879 --> 00:05:04,360 I I think it's a different operating model, a different 82 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:06,279 operating system for go-to-market. 83 00:05:06,759 --> 00:05:09,240 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think there's there's three things 84 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,399 that are really causing this pull right now for businesses to 85 00:05:13,399 --> 00:05:13,720 consider. 86 00:05:14,199 --> 00:05:18,680 One is what's actually happening inside of organizations when it 87 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:25,240 comes to the impact and actually the the amazing progress that 88 00:05:25,319 --> 00:05:30,360 like agents and AI and the production of that and the 89 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:30,839 quality. 90 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,079 Well, we were just chatting before we hopped on, right? 91 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:38,040 I've been using um Vid some more to try out their their video 92 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,959 creation software, and I was like, I haven't tried this in a 93 00:05:41,959 --> 00:05:44,360 while, and it just gets better and better every time. 94 00:05:44,519 --> 00:05:49,160 So quickly, yeah, you've you've got the the inside of the 95 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,639 organization, but we've also got to consider what's happening 96 00:05:51,639 --> 00:05:55,959 outside of the organization, the impact that buyer behavior and 97 00:05:55,959 --> 00:06:00,120 buyer preferences and the the way that they're buying, 98 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,879 researching, um, the way that they actually want to talk to 99 00:06:03,879 --> 00:06:07,399 vendors and like discover information about them is 100 00:06:07,399 --> 00:06:08,199 totally changing. 101 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:14,439 And that just calls for GTM orgs to shift with the times. 102 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:15,160 SPEAKER_03: Right. 103 00:06:15,319 --> 00:06:16,199 No, I I agree. 104 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,680 I think in one of our last podcasts, you said uh 89%, if I 105 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:26,279 remember right, of of B2B buyers now use generative AI uh as a 106 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,279 primary source for their research and for how they and 107 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:36,680 and in that research, something like 60% of of those searches 108 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:38,279 end without a click, right? 109 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,399 They they don't actually come to the site, they get what they 110 00:06:41,399 --> 00:06:45,160 need, service right in the browser or in the LLM window or 111 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:45,560 whatever. 112 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:53,879 And and so um that fundamentally changes our how we think about 113 00:06:53,879 --> 00:06:57,800 engaging end users and what is what becomes critical if we want 114 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,199 to scale the outcomes of our business. 115 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,199 Uh but the other thing that I think is true, if we you know 116 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:10,360 that's that's more primary new logo um focus, right? 117 00:07:10,519 --> 00:07:11,319 That's important. 118 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:19,079 But I think what else is true is that fairly recently the 119 00:07:19,079 --> 00:07:24,360 platforms, the the enterprise grade or or you know, small and 120 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,560 medium enterprise grade platforms have really matured, 121 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:33,560 and Hubspot being among them where historically, if you said 122 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:39,560 CRM, it was little more than a you know a sales pipeline, 123 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:40,439 effectively. 124 00:07:40,759 --> 00:07:41,079 Yeah. 125 00:07:41,399 --> 00:07:45,639 And and now what we see with HubSpot in particular, but and 126 00:07:45,639 --> 00:07:52,279 and there's other platforms too, but um we can now see and 127 00:07:52,279 --> 00:07:57,560 capture the entire experience of a customer from first touch, 128 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:03,399 intense signals, uh, opportunities, pipeline, close, 129 00:08:03,639 --> 00:08:05,959 you know, um closed deals. 130 00:08:07,399 --> 00:08:13,800 But now also implementation, customer success, engage how the 131 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,319 customer is engaging with us, picking up on signals that would 132 00:08:17,319 --> 00:08:20,839 suggest that there's risk or opportunity to grow. 133 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,759 So we have the truly the entire customer lifecycle inside a 134 00:08:24,759 --> 00:08:30,360 single place with uh real accuracy and automation that's 135 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:30,759 enabled. 136 00:08:30,839 --> 00:08:33,480 And and you know, we'll maybe talk a little bit more about 137 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,399 that in this uh podcast. 138 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:41,879 But the um, but I think that's that's also an enabler to this 139 00:08:41,879 --> 00:08:46,600 new org structure, if you will, or or evolution of the org 140 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:49,319 structure because of those capabilities. 141 00:08:49,639 --> 00:08:51,079 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 142 00:08:51,319 --> 00:08:54,440 So if we roll back the years, and I'll I'll put this on you, 143 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,519 Josh, because uh like if we look at our hairlines, I think you've 144 00:08:58,519 --> 00:09:02,680 been you've been in many more GTM orgs than me, right? 145 00:09:02,759 --> 00:09:06,120 And have seen the structure play out again and again and again. 146 00:09:06,279 --> 00:09:09,480 SPEAKER_02: Um there's nicer ways to say that, but yeah, it's 147 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:09,879 probably true. 148 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:11,240 SPEAKER_01: Uh you said worse. 149 00:09:11,399 --> 00:09:16,919 Um and yeah, I think if we if we think about the the GTM orgs of 150 00:09:16,919 --> 00:09:20,600 the of the past, what did that look like compared to where 151 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:21,879 we're going now? 152 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,240 SPEAKER_03: Gosh, uh, where do you want to start? 153 00:09:25,399 --> 00:09:28,679 Do you want to start in um marketing? 154 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:29,639 SPEAKER_02: Yeah. 155 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:30,679 SPEAKER_03: Okay. 156 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,159 Uh so let's see. 157 00:09:35,399 --> 00:09:41,240 Um when we think about marketing and historically, like what we 158 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,600 had, what we've had are content people. 159 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:50,039 Um, content people, the content marketer was taking, you know, 160 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:55,399 probably 60 to 70 percent of their time just on first draft 161 00:09:55,399 --> 00:09:59,720 creation and going through a very thoughtful, very 162 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,519 painstaking process to create new content. 163 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:14,200 Um that we're seeing overnight practically shift um to where 164 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:18,679 that that person it the governance layer of AI is still 165 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:20,440 critically, critically important, right? 166 00:10:20,519 --> 00:10:25,159 Like we don't want AI to we don't want to suggest that you 167 00:10:25,159 --> 00:10:31,720 can create content um you know at light speed with Claude uh 168 00:10:32,039 --> 00:10:36,600 just having access to you know the internet and going nuts. 169 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:43,240 Um the the ability to constrain Claude and to govern the 170 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,120 information that goes into that that content creation process is 171 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,039 absolutely a hundred percent critical. 172 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:55,639 Uh but if you build an environment like that, then yes, 173 00:10:55,799 --> 00:11:01,480 uh that content marketer is is spending more time curating 174 00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:05,720 those that in that environment, that educational environment for 175 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,360 Claude, than they are creating new content. 176 00:11:08,519 --> 00:11:11,399 New content's getting produced really, really fast. 177 00:11:11,799 --> 00:11:15,879 Um and uh assuming it's governed, it's being it's it's 178 00:11:15,879 --> 00:11:17,399 on point, like it's really good. 179 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:21,559 Is it is it a hundred percent as good as what was created before? 180 00:11:21,799 --> 00:11:23,000 It might not be. 181 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:28,519 But if you give me as a as an entrepreneur or business owner, 182 00:11:28,759 --> 00:11:34,200 if you give me the choice of sending out four campaigns in a 183 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,120 week or spending four months creating one campaign, and 184 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,600 that's those are you know maybe extremes, but if you if you put 185 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:47,879 that in front of me and the four campaigns in a week are 90% as 186 00:11:47,879 --> 00:11:51,960 good, I'm running because time matters, right? 187 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,919 I don't I don't have the time anymore to be waiting for for 188 00:11:56,919 --> 00:11:59,480 that, and so yeah, yeah, go ahead. 189 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:00,679 SPEAKER_01: You know what, Josh? 190 00:12:00,759 --> 00:12:08,200 Uh I think most content written now via AI is better than if I 191 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:10,679 was to brief a writer five years ago. 192 00:12:10,919 --> 00:12:16,360 Like, hands down, because when we think about the the change in 193 00:12:16,519 --> 00:12:20,679 the process of that, if I was to brief a writer five years ago, 194 00:12:20,919 --> 00:12:25,000 they might be brand new, like to the business or to an agency 195 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:25,879 that we've just hired. 196 00:12:26,039 --> 00:12:29,639 They have no context about our business, who we sell to, who we 197 00:12:29,639 --> 00:12:31,879 are, our convictions, anything like that. 198 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:36,200 But now I can plug all of that into AI if that's a clawed 199 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:39,559 project, if we attach blend core onto that, whatever it may be, I 200 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:43,399 can upload that knowledge and have that immediately give me a 201 00:12:43,399 --> 00:12:47,799 more accurate, better quality output than before. 202 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,039 So yeah, I agree with the change in that role. 203 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:57,000 I think what content people have and writers have is expertise 204 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,360 about how to actually write something that gets engagement, 205 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,840 like the cadence of wording, the the rhythm that comes from 206 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:06,039 creative writing. 207 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,960 That isn't pre-programmed into like Claude or Chat GPT. 208 00:13:10,039 --> 00:13:12,759 That's expertise that is built up over time. 209 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,080 It's that it's the expertise that is what's needed, it's not 210 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,799 the actual output that you need that person creating. 211 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:23,000 SPEAKER_03: Correct. 212 00:13:23,159 --> 00:13:28,039 Yeah, production ceases to be at the human layer, but the the 213 00:13:28,039 --> 00:13:35,320 human's expertise and wisdom uh and uh best practices needs to 214 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:36,200 get woven in. 215 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:36,840 You're right. 216 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,919 Um and and you know, good news is there's ways to do that. 217 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:48,840 Um so uh but beyond that, like I think about um like demand gen 218 00:13:49,879 --> 00:13:53,879 um and the people who are in the marketing team creating 219 00:13:53,879 --> 00:13:59,480 campaigns, executing campaigns, um you know, I think the those 220 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:12,039 roles um become um much um fewer, um but but but broader. 221 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:17,159 So they're they're building not just individual campaigns 222 00:14:17,159 --> 00:14:19,559 anymore, they're building in they're building agents that 223 00:14:19,559 --> 00:14:25,000 know how to create create and or execute on multiple campaigns 224 00:14:25,159 --> 00:14:29,320 24-7 that you know that are intelligent campaigns, super 225 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:30,200 intelligent, right? 226 00:14:30,279 --> 00:14:35,240 Like really, you know, lots of if the user does this, do this 227 00:14:35,399 --> 00:14:39,960 and so on, and and uh and getting signals from lots of 228 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,360 different places to be able to make decisions. 229 00:14:42,519 --> 00:14:50,200 Um that that that marketing ops demand gen type resource needs 230 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:55,159 to be someone who can think you know at a broader level and then 231 00:14:55,159 --> 00:14:58,200 work within the agent tools to be able to do that. 232 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:03,080 Um and so, like I say, I think you you need fewer of them, but 233 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,840 they become more senior, which is a theme that we'll talk about 234 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,240 um as we go through this. 235 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:16,679 Um and then I think there's a a new role um that goes along with 236 00:15:16,679 --> 00:15:17,960 what you were just saying. 237 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:22,519 Um let's call it a a brand knowledge steward. 238 00:15:23,159 --> 00:15:30,919 Um there's somebody in the business that is the focal point 239 00:15:31,559 --> 00:15:36,679 for um knowing at a really detailed level what that 240 00:15:36,679 --> 00:15:40,519 business stands for, what their convictions are, what their 241 00:15:40,519 --> 00:15:44,759 values are, what their competitive positioning is, um 242 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:50,519 what their products and services do, all of the the detail that 243 00:15:50,519 --> 00:16:00,919 makes them them, that person's job is to uh tirelessly curate 244 00:16:01,879 --> 00:16:06,039 their repository where they store that, that where they have 245 00:16:06,039 --> 00:16:09,000 act where AI models have access to it. 246 00:16:09,159 --> 00:16:12,840 Um and and that function in a smaller business, it it's a 247 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:13,480 part-time role. 248 00:16:13,639 --> 00:16:17,000 In a larger business, I think it's a full-time role where they 249 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,879 are continuously improving the quality of the AI output by 250 00:16:21,879 --> 00:16:26,600 improving the quality of the um digital identity. 251 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,120 And uh, and it it's we've used the term digital twin before. 252 00:16:30,279 --> 00:16:34,440 I think that's the reality, is there's this digital twin of the 253 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:39,480 commercial side of the enterprise or the business that 254 00:16:39,639 --> 00:16:42,519 um that that person is responsible for putting 255 00:16:42,519 --> 00:16:43,080 together. 256 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,919 And it's it's what candidly, it's what we're doing for some 257 00:16:46,919 --> 00:16:47,960 of our clients now. 258 00:16:48,039 --> 00:16:52,120 Um, because these roles don't exist in in many organizations, 259 00:16:52,279 --> 00:16:56,679 but in by 20 by 2028, we think, yeah, these will be commonplace. 260 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,879 Um, but we're we're serving that, and then we're putting the 261 00:17:00,039 --> 00:17:05,320 all of that into Blend Core um to serve as that repository that 262 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:09,720 then allows their people to use Claude and other LLMs to be able 263 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:14,920 to create um content in mass and and different types of assets 264 00:17:15,159 --> 00:17:20,039 all within the guardrails of how that business wants to uh wants 265 00:17:20,039 --> 00:17:21,000 to portray itself. 266 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:24,440 But that I think I think the brand knowledge steward, 267 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,720 something we could say guardian, whatever, you know, like brand 268 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:28,200 guardian. 269 00:17:28,279 --> 00:17:29,079 I like that one. 270 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:33,559 Uh could be, you know, is is something is a function and 271 00:17:33,559 --> 00:17:36,039 maybe a full-time role, depending on the size of the 272 00:17:36,039 --> 00:17:36,360 business. 273 00:17:36,679 --> 00:17:37,000 SPEAKER_01: Yeah. 274 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,359 And as when we when we think about brand in this instance, 275 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,160 we're not talking about just a visual brand, right? 276 00:17:43,319 --> 00:17:47,480 Like brand brand guardian is is a thing that um is quite common 277 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:48,200 in marketing. 278 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:52,200 Like somebody in the function would own the brand and be the 279 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,960 steward of um like the brand guidelines, I suppose. 280 00:17:56,039 --> 00:18:00,039 But what we're talking about here is like a holistic business 281 00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:03,720 repository of information, basically like a product manager 282 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:06,279 for your own company's identity. 283 00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:09,240 And they they govern that, they compile it. 284 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,119 And I I know for a fact people will be listening to this 285 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,119 thinking, like, that's such BS, guys. 286 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,680 Like, you know, that that's not gonna happen. 287 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,960 But you when you start using AI, as particularly like clawed 288 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,279 projects, we've got hundreds now, and you really, really 289 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:30,359 start to come up against issues with um consistency. 290 00:18:30,599 --> 00:18:34,279 And even at a team level, even at a small team level, 291 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,039 inconsistency is creeping in. 292 00:18:36,279 --> 00:18:39,400 And as more and more organizations catch up and just 293 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:44,440 use AI more and more and more, they will like bump into this 294 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:44,759 issue. 295 00:18:44,839 --> 00:18:46,279 It is absolutely inevitable. 296 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:51,480 That's why like we are we feel so strongly about this and this 297 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:57,319 role existing, because I think to overcome the like just 298 00:18:57,319 --> 00:19:01,720 bombardment of AI and AI production happening, you have 299 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,960 to have some sort of central governance around it. 300 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:06,119 I think, yeah, this role will be important. 301 00:19:06,599 --> 00:19:08,519 SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, let me put it a different way. 302 00:19:08,599 --> 00:19:10,759 Like, there's a real ROI to that role. 303 00:19:11,079 --> 00:19:16,680 If um if my uh let's talk about proposals. 304 00:19:17,079 --> 00:19:20,759 Okay, so we all think, okay, great, I can record a call and I 305 00:19:20,759 --> 00:19:25,000 can generate a proposal like that, and it'll be ready for my 306 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,200 AE to send out and it'll be custom to the customer in the 307 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:28,759 conversation. 308 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:29,880 Great, super. 309 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:35,799 Um if I don't do a good job with AI governance, that proposal 310 00:19:35,799 --> 00:19:39,480 will either go out, including things that aren't true, and we 311 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:44,680 know that for sure because I've done it, um, or um it it will be 312 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,720 caught by the AE and then the AE will spend hours. 313 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,720 You know, the whole idea is that the AE doesn't have to spend 314 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:52,519 hours anymore, right? 315 00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:55,000 They're not writing these proposals from scratch or 316 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:56,839 filling out a template or whatever. 317 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,160 Um they're they're having 95% of the work done for them. 318 00:20:01,319 --> 00:20:05,480 And so they should be able to take that 95%, finish it up in 319 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,480 45 minutes, and send it out. 320 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:13,000 The if that's not true, it breaks down the entire 321 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,440 investment that we just made in that proposal creation 322 00:20:16,599 --> 00:20:18,440 capability with AI, right? 323 00:20:18,599 --> 00:20:20,839 Like it's it proves it to be false. 324 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:27,240 Um, so I can prove a real ROI to the investments we're making in 325 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,960 AI based on creating a governance layer that is 326 00:20:32,279 --> 00:20:38,039 effective at enforcing my digital identity um and and 327 00:20:38,279 --> 00:20:41,720 making sure that you know that we're not inventing things. 328 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:46,599 Um I mean the risk of the uh the risk of the AE send not catching 329 00:20:46,599 --> 00:20:49,720 it and sending it out with something that is patently not 330 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,680 what we do is scary, even right. 331 00:20:55,079 --> 00:20:57,720 Um, so um, yeah. 332 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,039 Should we talk about the sales work? 333 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,359 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I think this is where you've spent a lot 334 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:03,240 of your career, right? 335 00:21:03,319 --> 00:21:07,799 And you've seen the roles within this evolve over time. 336 00:21:08,039 --> 00:21:11,720 I think the SDR role is something a lot of people are 337 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,119 talking about right now, like the B BDR, SDR, whatever you 338 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:14,759 want to call it. 339 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:20,200 Um because of the prospecting tools coming, the the volume 340 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:27,319 play becoming easier, this role is yeah, really uh one to 341 00:21:27,319 --> 00:21:27,960 discuss. 342 00:21:28,519 --> 00:21:29,480 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 343 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:34,519 You know, it um again this it goes from effort-based to 344 00:21:34,519 --> 00:21:35,559 system-based, right? 345 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:42,359 So instead for the BDR, the future BDR, um, is somebody, and 346 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:46,359 you're right, we it could be SDR, it could be like that that 347 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,400 first person in the you know who's responsible for top of 348 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:54,680 funnel, um, getting top of funnel to you know, handoff 349 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,160 point or even to mid-funnel to handoff point. 350 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:03,880 Um, they're no longer doing the first action. 351 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,440 The agents are doing the first actions. 352 00:22:06,599 --> 00:22:10,279 We're then we're bringing in intent data that allows the 353 00:22:10,279 --> 00:22:12,359 agents to perform more effectively. 354 00:22:12,599 --> 00:22:18,680 And so the outcomes of those are actual hand raisers or are 355 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:20,759 actual engagement. 356 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,240 Um, you know, uh, they meet a certain level of engagement that 357 00:22:25,319 --> 00:22:28,680 that says, yeah, these are these are worth now talking to 358 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:29,079 directly. 359 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,799 And it's a warm talking to because they've already been 360 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:32,759 that user's already been. 361 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,400 Engaged with us in some manner, right? 362 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,640 Whether it's a LinkedIn engagement, you know, uh agent 363 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:45,400 or it's a which you know is an evolving space, uh, or it's you 364 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,279 know, it's it's email, it's another channel, whatever, 365 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,720 whatever that agent was doing, or however, or multiple uh 366 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:55,880 channels that that agent was using, uh, once we get it to a 367 00:22:55,880 --> 00:23:01,240 certain point, and that's where that that's where that uh you 368 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:06,599 know architect uh comes in to to design, okay, this is the point 369 00:23:06,599 --> 00:23:09,240 where we would want a human connection, like a really truly 370 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:09,880 human connection. 371 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,400 That that BDR then is responsible for taking those and 372 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,640 moving them forward uh and pushing, you know, either 373 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:18,920 disqualifying or pushing. 374 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,960 So they spend, they have to know more about the business, they 375 00:23:22,039 --> 00:23:24,119 have to know more about the products, they have to know more 376 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:27,319 about the customer uh than they ever did before. 377 00:23:27,559 --> 00:23:32,039 Um, so they're become more senior, just in like it's your 378 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,640 the people who will qualify that aren't the qualify for that 379 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:41,559 role, aren't the um really hungry but fresh out, no, you 380 00:23:41,559 --> 00:23:50,039 know, no experience uh people because the their uh the the 381 00:23:50,039 --> 00:23:53,000 convert like what you're measuring isn't activity 382 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,799 anymore, you're measuring conversion, you're measuring 383 00:23:55,799 --> 00:24:00,200 output pipeline created, uh, and in some cases closed sale, 384 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:00,599 right? 385 00:24:00,759 --> 00:24:03,960 Like which is another topic we'll talk about in a second. 386 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:12,200 Um, so I I think for the SDRs and that that org, at the very 387 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:17,960 least, you have fewer, they're managing based on uh warm 388 00:24:18,519 --> 00:24:23,960 engagement, and your agents are now are doing all of the truly 389 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,720 front-end work that you used to have them dialing for dollars. 390 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:29,240 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah. 391 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,880 I mean, so like I can see that I can see two approaches here 392 00:24:34,039 --> 00:24:40,599 really where the BDR, like as we call them now, BDRs don't exist. 393 00:24:40,839 --> 00:24:41,960 I can I can see that. 394 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,279 I can see that actually happening because I think the 395 00:24:44,279 --> 00:24:49,319 role changes so drastically potentially into running agents 396 00:24:49,319 --> 00:24:50,279 to do this stuff. 397 00:24:50,519 --> 00:24:53,480 Because when we think about like even HubSpot's prospecting 398 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,599 agent, which I've been using recently, and genuinely 399 00:24:56,599 --> 00:24:58,119 impressed with the output. 400 00:24:58,279 --> 00:25:33,900 Um, it it is better than a brand new BDR who knows nothing about 401 00:25:33,900 --> 00:25:36,940 our business who joined like five years ago and didn't have 402 00:25:36,940 --> 00:25:38,299 access to all this context. 403 00:25:38,460 --> 00:25:46,460 And I think the role shifts so much towards like this agentic 404 00:25:46,779 --> 00:25:49,500 operator who can run this stuff. 405 00:25:49,740 --> 00:25:54,859 And whether it's a human or whether it's an agent that gets 406 00:25:54,859 --> 00:25:57,579 that first touch and that handoff process, I don't think 407 00:25:57,579 --> 00:26:02,380 it matters, but I think the the role that controls it changes. 408 00:26:03,019 --> 00:26:03,500 SPEAKER_03: Yeah. 409 00:26:03,740 --> 00:26:04,140 Yeah. 410 00:26:04,460 --> 00:26:08,220 And then, you know, how far they take it, right? 411 00:26:08,299 --> 00:26:10,220 So you said they could it could go away. 412 00:26:10,299 --> 00:26:14,140 What you're really saying is are are the are the people who catch 413 00:26:14,140 --> 00:26:17,740 the stuff coming, the opportunities coming out of the 414 00:26:17,740 --> 00:26:21,259 agent, are they gonna take it to goal or not? 415 00:26:21,420 --> 00:26:23,500 Are they gonna finish the sale or not? 416 00:26:23,740 --> 00:26:27,019 Um, and I think that really depends on what you're selling. 417 00:26:27,259 --> 00:26:27,500 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. 418 00:26:27,660 --> 00:26:32,220 SPEAKER_03: Um, I think the if you're selling more 419 00:26:32,220 --> 00:26:38,380 transactional, shorter sales cycle, fewer people in the 420 00:26:38,380 --> 00:26:43,900 buying process um products, where there's and there's lots 421 00:26:43,900 --> 00:26:47,740 of people who sell stuff just like that, then yeah, you 422 00:26:47,740 --> 00:26:49,019 probably have one role. 423 00:26:49,180 --> 00:26:52,700 You have a sales role, and they they work directly with what 424 00:26:52,700 --> 00:26:55,740 comes out of the agent and they work through it to close the 425 00:26:55,740 --> 00:26:56,460 business. 426 00:26:57,099 --> 00:27:04,940 Where you have large ticket, complex um maybe enterprise 427 00:27:04,940 --> 00:27:11,900 sales processes that take a long time and have multiple um uh you 428 00:27:11,900 --> 00:27:17,180 know committee members on the buying process and um and it and 429 00:27:17,420 --> 00:27:21,980 you know fairly technical uh in terms of complexity. 430 00:27:22,140 --> 00:27:27,019 That's where I think you still have uh a BDR who's operating 431 00:27:27,019 --> 00:27:28,779 still on volume to some extent, right? 432 00:27:28,859 --> 00:27:32,220 They they're taking everything that comes out of the eight the 433 00:27:32,220 --> 00:27:36,380 agenic work, and they still have to get it to a certain place, a 434 00:27:36,380 --> 00:27:40,380 qualified place, to hand it to the AE or engage the AE. 435 00:27:40,539 --> 00:27:46,460 But I think there's still a a like the the men and women who 436 00:27:46,460 --> 00:27:51,339 have made their careers running enterprise sales processes, that 437 00:27:51,339 --> 00:27:55,980 is a complex and difficult process to manage. 438 00:27:56,220 --> 00:27:59,819 And the ones who are who do it really well, you don't want them 439 00:27:59,819 --> 00:28:04,859 spending their time on mid mid-funnel stuff. 440 00:28:05,019 --> 00:28:12,059 You want them really focused on um on the quarterbacking the the 441 00:28:12,539 --> 00:28:14,940 very complex high tech high ticket sale. 442 00:28:15,099 --> 00:28:17,180 But it again, it just depends what you're selling. 443 00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:23,819 If I if I don't if I if I can execute my sales playbook with a 444 00:28:23,819 --> 00:28:27,740 single resource, candidly that's better for the customer, um, and 445 00:28:27,740 --> 00:28:29,660 it's probably better for my business. 446 00:28:30,619 --> 00:28:35,180 SPEAKER_01: Thinking about comp plans here, because well, I 447 00:28:35,180 --> 00:28:38,539 don't you'd have seen different structures over the years, but 448 00:28:38,779 --> 00:28:43,980 BDRs typically would have been comped on some sort of volume 449 00:28:44,299 --> 00:28:46,299 output or you know, connection. 450 00:28:46,619 --> 00:28:49,660 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, usually meetings, meetings that you know 451 00:28:49,740 --> 00:28:52,619 it's not usually just rant raw call volume. 452 00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:56,619 Um, like it's still a little bit of outcome-based, but it's it's 453 00:28:56,619 --> 00:28:59,500 very much a numbers sort of game. 454 00:28:59,740 --> 00:29:03,900 Um, yeah, I think it's you know, the the comp for that type of 455 00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:04,220 role. 456 00:29:04,380 --> 00:29:06,460 Let's say there are still two roles. 457 00:29:06,779 --> 00:29:11,339 It's still, you know, the comp plans for those uh BDRs who are 458 00:29:11,339 --> 00:29:16,140 catching the eugenic work and developing it, it's it becomes 459 00:29:16,140 --> 00:29:19,099 how much of what you handled closed. 460 00:29:19,339 --> 00:29:19,579 Yeah. 461 00:29:19,740 --> 00:29:21,500 How much were you able to convert into pipeline? 462 00:29:21,579 --> 00:29:23,819 How much were you able it was able to be closed? 463 00:29:24,380 --> 00:29:29,259 Yeah, you're not actually doing the closing, but um you're 464 00:29:29,259 --> 00:29:33,420 responsible for setting up the organization with deals that 465 00:29:33,420 --> 00:29:36,059 meet what the kinds of deals that we're gonna have a high 466 00:29:36,059 --> 00:29:37,019 close rate for. 467 00:29:37,259 --> 00:29:39,900 And so that's that's really your job. 468 00:29:40,059 --> 00:29:42,539 And then you hand it off to the person who's gonna actually 469 00:29:42,539 --> 00:29:46,380 close it in the event that those two are compressed, right? 470 00:29:46,619 --> 00:29:49,019 Simple sales cycle, what what have you. 471 00:29:49,339 --> 00:29:52,539 Now you you you don't have anybody that you're paying to 472 00:29:52,539 --> 00:29:55,099 set meetings, you're just paying people you're paying the 473 00:29:55,099 --> 00:29:57,579 salesperson for on quota, right? 474 00:29:57,819 --> 00:30:02,539 And you've now completely eliminated that top line, that 475 00:30:02,539 --> 00:30:04,380 sing that handoff point. 476 00:30:05,099 --> 00:30:06,539 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, good point. 477 00:30:06,779 --> 00:30:10,940 Okay, so after it let's say there's a there's a two-layer 478 00:30:11,099 --> 00:30:12,940 motion, or even if there's a one, right? 479 00:30:13,019 --> 00:30:15,339 We're still gonna have an account executive, sales 480 00:30:15,339 --> 00:30:19,500 executive in in some form, whatever that takes. 481 00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:21,980 Where do you see the change in that role happening? 482 00:30:22,220 --> 00:30:24,940 Because that's not gonna stay the same either, right? 483 00:30:25,660 --> 00:30:31,019 SPEAKER_03: No, I mean um brutally honest, as a sales 484 00:30:31,019 --> 00:30:35,420 leader, I need fewer of them and I need them to handle more 485 00:30:35,420 --> 00:30:37,660 accounts and their quotas go up. 486 00:30:38,059 --> 00:30:42,859 Um, and I say that because I can now automate, I can record all 487 00:30:42,859 --> 00:30:46,380 their calls and all their touch points, I can do all of the 488 00:30:46,380 --> 00:30:52,619 analysis, um, I can catch um deal risk way sooner. 489 00:30:52,859 --> 00:30:57,019 Um, and so and I'm automating a lot of the things that they used 490 00:30:57,019 --> 00:30:57,500 to have to do. 491 00:30:57,579 --> 00:30:59,579 They don't even need to update HubSpot anymore. 492 00:30:59,660 --> 00:30:59,980 Yeah, right. 493 00:31:00,140 --> 00:31:05,980 They can automate almost all of that by um and so um the 494 00:31:05,980 --> 00:31:10,940 administrative work of being that AE goes away almost 495 00:31:10,940 --> 00:31:17,420 completely, and the creation work of that AE gets largely AI 496 00:31:17,500 --> 00:31:22,779 enabled, and so they should be able to handle more deals, work 497 00:31:22,779 --> 00:31:28,460 with more customers, and they're like instead of I think maybe 498 00:31:28,779 --> 00:31:35,980 historically pre-AI, if a rep spent 50% of their week talking 499 00:31:35,980 --> 00:31:38,619 to customers, that would have been awesome. 500 00:31:39,019 --> 00:31:42,380 That would have been a great a great achievement. 501 00:31:42,700 --> 00:31:50,460 Now 70% of their time should be able, should be freed to be able 502 00:31:50,460 --> 00:31:51,339 to do that. 503 00:31:51,500 --> 00:31:54,220 Um, and and you know, that's what they're good at, that's 504 00:31:54,220 --> 00:31:58,460 what they should be best at, is being able to build 505 00:31:58,460 --> 00:31:59,180 relationships. 506 00:31:59,339 --> 00:32:01,980 I still think people buy from people, right? 507 00:32:02,059 --> 00:32:04,619 And people buy from people they like and they want to work with 508 00:32:04,700 --> 00:32:07,660 and they want to have confidence in, and so it frees them up to 509 00:32:07,660 --> 00:32:12,220 be more relational, um, and to which is kind of 510 00:32:12,220 --> 00:32:16,700 counterintuitive to this whole AI thing, right? 511 00:32:16,779 --> 00:32:19,259 Where we're saying, oh, well, the buyer doesn't want to talk 512 00:32:19,259 --> 00:32:21,819 to us until much longer on, and so on. 513 00:32:22,059 --> 00:32:26,859 But in the end, there's still a human-to-human buying process, 514 00:32:26,940 --> 00:32:29,339 and I don't think that goes away in 2028. 515 00:32:29,500 --> 00:32:35,980 Um, I don't think uh it's scary to even think about what's you 516 00:32:35,980 --> 00:32:37,579 know, 2030 and beyond. 517 00:32:37,819 --> 00:33:47,990 But the the idea that um people aren't going to be in the 518 00:33:47,990 --> 00:33:54,389 decision-making process for what companies buy in B2B seems too 519 00:33:54,389 --> 00:33:57,349 futuristic and frankly too too risky. 520 00:33:57,509 --> 00:34:02,549 SPEAKER_01: Um I I even think like authenticity actually will 521 00:34:02,710 --> 00:34:05,910 just become more important in the entire go-to-market, even 522 00:34:05,910 --> 00:34:08,150 though it seems counterintuitive, like you say, 523 00:34:08,230 --> 00:34:11,190 because all we're talking about here is using AI to like 524 00:34:11,190 --> 00:34:12,470 automate all this stuff. 525 00:34:12,630 --> 00:34:16,550 But I think in doing that, you're automating the the boring 526 00:34:16,550 --> 00:34:19,750 things that nobody ever wanted to do anyway, which frees up 527 00:34:19,829 --> 00:34:25,349 like in marketing and in um how we actually engage with buyers 528 00:34:25,349 --> 00:34:26,389 and distribute content. 529 00:34:26,550 --> 00:34:30,150 A lot of that frees up time to create authentic content that 530 00:34:30,150 --> 00:34:31,670 people truly connect with. 531 00:34:31,750 --> 00:34:35,510 And that I think that goes all the way from discovery of your 532 00:34:35,510 --> 00:34:37,269 brand all the way through to close. 533 00:34:37,430 --> 00:34:43,030 Like yeah, I I truly believe that authenticity is never been 534 00:34:43,110 --> 00:34:47,190 more important and will never be more important in you know, five 535 00:34:47,190 --> 00:34:48,230 years to come. 536 00:34:48,710 --> 00:34:51,030 SPEAKER_03: I think I think it even changes the role of the of 537 00:34:51,030 --> 00:34:52,150 the head of sales. 538 00:34:52,470 --> 00:34:55,510 Like historically, the head of sales would have spent a lot of 539 00:34:55,510 --> 00:34:59,990 time inspecting, doing pipeline calls, inquiry, you know, 540 00:35:00,150 --> 00:35:02,309 reviewing deals and so on. 541 00:35:03,030 --> 00:35:08,230 Because of the automations we can create and the um, you know, 542 00:35:08,470 --> 00:35:13,349 the yeah, I mean the automations, the the uh AI 543 00:35:13,349 --> 00:35:18,870 analysis we can do in real time, really, that role stops being 544 00:35:18,870 --> 00:35:21,349 inspection and starts being intervention. 545 00:35:21,590 --> 00:35:26,550 That they can they can very like you put the VPS sales, let's 546 00:35:26,550 --> 00:35:29,670 say, on their front foot a hundred percent of the time. 547 00:35:29,910 --> 00:35:31,430 They are active. 548 00:35:31,590 --> 00:35:34,389 The AI is telling them you have deal risk here, you've got 549 00:35:34,389 --> 00:35:37,910 opportunities here, you've got things, you know, that uh an 550 00:35:37,910 --> 00:35:42,389 executive relationship that you should be inserting yourself 551 00:35:42,389 --> 00:35:43,030 into here. 552 00:35:43,510 --> 00:35:47,110 Um, these are your most, your three most important deals for 553 00:35:47,110 --> 00:35:47,830 these reasons. 554 00:35:48,070 --> 00:35:49,349 You've got to go get those done. 555 00:35:49,430 --> 00:35:53,990 And you know, right, like all of the my day as a head of sales 556 00:35:54,230 --> 00:35:59,030 shifts from oh, I wonder what Bobby's doing right now, to oh, 557 00:35:59,110 --> 00:36:02,470 I've you know, I'm I've got this call, I've got this person to 558 00:36:02,470 --> 00:36:06,150 engage, I've got the and and it's all I'm helping deal, I'm 559 00:36:06,150 --> 00:36:10,870 helping move deals forward uh or avoiding deals cratering, you 560 00:36:10,870 --> 00:36:11,030 know. 561 00:36:11,110 --> 00:36:11,349 Yeah. 562 00:36:11,510 --> 00:36:17,750 Uh and so so yeah, I think um I think that role changes as well. 563 00:36:17,830 --> 00:36:23,990 And and you know, that that favors the entrepreneurial 564 00:36:23,990 --> 00:36:24,630 mindset. 565 00:36:24,950 --> 00:36:29,510 Uh and you'll see some VPs of sales who are more who have 566 00:36:29,510 --> 00:36:35,590 historically been more pure play managers, um, I think they'll 567 00:36:35,590 --> 00:36:36,310 tend to go away. 568 00:36:36,390 --> 00:36:39,190 I think they'll struggle uh because they won't have, you 569 00:36:39,190 --> 00:36:44,870 know, they the if you don't have a bias for action in that role, 570 00:36:45,110 --> 00:36:48,150 I think you'll be, you know, you won't be able to keep up with 571 00:36:48,150 --> 00:36:51,110 the pace that the business expects you to go. 572 00:36:51,510 --> 00:36:51,830 SPEAKER_01: Yeah. 573 00:36:51,990 --> 00:36:52,230 Yeah. 574 00:36:52,310 --> 00:36:56,470 I you know, I think everyone should start playing around with 575 00:36:56,470 --> 00:37:00,630 connecting like their CRM to something like Claude and using 576 00:37:00,630 --> 00:37:05,190 Claude co-work to trigger actions every morning to, you 577 00:37:05,190 --> 00:37:06,950 know, run a certain report. 578 00:37:07,030 --> 00:37:10,950 Like I've got a couple of Claude Cowork projects that run every 579 00:37:10,950 --> 00:37:12,790 morning and basically dictate my day. 580 00:37:12,870 --> 00:37:16,390 And I yeah, it it can truly change roles. 581 00:37:16,470 --> 00:37:20,070 And I think, yeah, the head of sales one is one, but throughout 582 00:37:20,070 --> 00:37:21,269 the entire org, right? 583 00:37:21,350 --> 00:37:29,510 How how you then gather data and find information changes because 584 00:37:29,510 --> 00:37:32,390 you can have it sent right to you, which is awesome. 585 00:37:32,630 --> 00:37:37,750 But I think there's a layer in like architecture, uh 586 00:37:37,910 --> 00:37:40,950 architecting the system as well. 587 00:37:41,269 --> 00:37:45,269 And that's a role in itself, I think. 588 00:37:45,590 --> 00:37:45,990 SPEAKER_03: Totally. 589 00:37:46,150 --> 00:37:50,390 I think growth architect is is going to be a role that um 590 00:37:50,710 --> 00:37:56,470 emerges that has purview across marketing, sales, customer 591 00:37:56,470 --> 00:37:59,110 success, like the entire revenue lifecycle. 592 00:37:59,350 --> 00:38:06,150 Um uh and they are they are really business strategists who 593 00:38:06,470 --> 00:38:13,510 understand the how how the tech works and can can orchestrate or 594 00:38:13,510 --> 00:38:15,510 can um design orchestrations. 595 00:38:15,590 --> 00:38:18,150 They may have people who are hands-on keyboard creating the 596 00:38:18,150 --> 00:38:22,150 orchestrations behind them, but they're the ones who are like I 597 00:38:22,150 --> 00:38:26,070 think on a whiteboard saying this is how this, you know, our 598 00:38:26,070 --> 00:38:29,990 revenue lifecycle is going to work from now on, and finding 599 00:38:29,990 --> 00:38:34,230 the ways to make it go faster and faster and faster, and and 600 00:38:34,230 --> 00:38:39,190 removing friction from each, not just each silo, but each uh 601 00:38:39,510 --> 00:38:43,110 seam, uh, the handoff points between this the historical 602 00:38:43,110 --> 00:38:45,510 silos, uh, which we can talk about too. 603 00:38:45,590 --> 00:38:49,590 So I but I think the um that role, growth architect, will 604 00:38:49,590 --> 00:38:53,990 become something that uh you'll start to see soon, like really 605 00:38:53,990 --> 00:38:57,910 soon, uh as people start to really appreciate what what 606 00:38:57,910 --> 00:38:59,350 should be being done. 607 00:38:59,510 --> 00:39:03,830 Um, particularly if you're in like a PE owned business and 608 00:39:03,830 --> 00:39:07,910 you've got you know, you've only got so much go-to-market 609 00:39:08,070 --> 00:39:11,269 resource, and you've got to be as efficient as you can and 610 00:39:11,269 --> 00:39:13,430 predictable predictable as you can. 611 00:39:13,670 --> 00:39:19,430 Um I think that that role, maybe more than any other, is is going 612 00:39:19,430 --> 00:39:24,230 to be one that is becomes of strategic value for for the 613 00:39:24,230 --> 00:39:24,710 business. 614 00:39:25,030 --> 00:39:26,950 Here's a here's a question for you. 615 00:39:27,590 --> 00:39:30,790 SPEAKER_01: Because because growth architect isn't a role 616 00:39:30,790 --> 00:39:33,190 right now, nobody has it on their CV. 617 00:39:33,350 --> 00:39:36,870 Nobody nobody is a gr growth architect, really. 618 00:39:36,950 --> 00:39:40,070 So who are the growth architects now? 619 00:39:41,350 --> 00:39:42,870 SPEAKER_03: That's a really hard question. 620 00:39:43,110 --> 00:39:44,470 Um thank you. 621 00:39:56,550 --> 00:40:00,150 Some businesses you have sales in like smaller businesses, 622 00:40:00,230 --> 00:40:00,790 maybe. 623 00:40:01,030 --> 00:40:06,790 You don't have anybody who's who's specifically thinking um 624 00:40:07,430 --> 00:40:11,190 like a um an enterprise architect. 625 00:40:11,350 --> 00:40:14,150 So bigger companies have things people called enterprise 626 00:40:14,150 --> 00:40:15,030 architects. 627 00:40:15,190 --> 00:40:18,870 That's the exact same or very similar role, but they look 628 00:40:18,870 --> 00:40:23,269 across the entire enterprise and they're uh like they're huge, um 629 00:40:24,470 --> 00:40:27,110 huge purview and complexity. 630 00:40:27,430 --> 00:40:33,750 Um this is very so this becomes more a flavor of that that is um 631 00:40:33,750 --> 00:40:38,710 very deep in go to market, where an enterprise architect probably 632 00:40:38,710 --> 00:40:43,350 doesn't know the most about how to um how to get the best 633 00:40:43,350 --> 00:40:48,710 response rates from in an agenic outreach uh process. 634 00:40:49,350 --> 00:40:55,750 Uh the um the the growth architect would, um but it's 635 00:40:55,750 --> 00:40:57,269 that same sort of skill set. 636 00:40:57,350 --> 00:41:01,190 Um it might come out of sales engineers. 637 00:41:01,510 --> 00:41:05,110 Um that's a that's a function that's been in businesses for a 638 00:41:05,110 --> 00:41:05,670 long, long time. 639 00:41:05,830 --> 00:41:11,670 And they tend to be people who are subject matter deep um and 640 00:41:13,350 --> 00:41:15,269 and commercially oriented. 641 00:41:15,430 --> 00:41:18,230 Um, so it it could come out of that, but they but you know, 642 00:41:18,310 --> 00:41:21,190 like you it wouldn't just be a flip the switch, like there's a 643 00:41:21,190 --> 00:41:23,510 lot of education training. 644 00:41:23,670 --> 00:41:29,830 Um, I think there will be some CROs uh that you know are more 645 00:41:30,150 --> 00:41:33,830 system and process CROs that are like, oh, that's actually an 646 00:41:33,830 --> 00:41:36,550 interesting job at a at a maybe a bigger company. 647 00:41:36,630 --> 00:41:40,390 So if maybe I did I did the CRO joke job, like I think it's a 648 00:41:40,390 --> 00:41:45,110 really like enterprise or not enterprise executive type role, 649 00:41:45,269 --> 00:41:50,550 um, but not again, not manager executive, more strategic 650 00:41:50,550 --> 00:41:51,269 executive. 651 00:41:51,430 --> 00:41:55,269 Um, and then I think there will be a lot of consultants who do 652 00:41:55,430 --> 00:42:02,790 who have been in the you know, the the KPMGs and other like um 653 00:42:03,030 --> 00:42:07,750 consultancies that have looked at how to build um your 654 00:42:08,310 --> 00:42:11,830 enterprise architecture, and you'll see them start to create 655 00:42:11,830 --> 00:42:14,150 these roles that they service people with. 656 00:42:14,310 --> 00:42:17,830 You'll see companies like us say we be we can do this for you. 657 00:42:17,990 --> 00:42:22,710 Um, but I think the um I think consultants will be a big part 658 00:42:22,790 --> 00:42:25,590 because it's a very much a consultative function. 659 00:42:26,070 --> 00:42:27,110 That'd be my guess. 660 00:42:27,269 --> 00:42:27,510 Yeah. 661 00:42:28,150 --> 00:42:30,550 Off the cuff since you didn't prep me for that question. 662 00:42:30,870 --> 00:42:32,950 SPEAKER_01: I like to just slide them in occasionally. 663 00:42:33,110 --> 00:42:33,670 That was good. 664 00:42:33,750 --> 00:42:34,550 No, I I agree. 665 00:42:34,630 --> 00:42:35,990 I think I think it's interesting. 666 00:42:36,390 --> 00:42:38,310 SPEAKER_03: So there's one group we haven't talked about yet, 667 00:42:38,470 --> 00:42:39,430 customer success. 668 00:42:39,590 --> 00:42:39,990 Yeah. 669 00:42:40,230 --> 00:42:45,510 Um I think it's important that we, you know, we we always talk 670 00:42:45,510 --> 00:42:46,470 about marketing and sales. 671 00:42:46,550 --> 00:42:49,269 We uh have to always talk about customer success too, because 672 00:42:49,430 --> 00:42:55,190 the in most bit most B2B businesses, the majority of the 673 00:42:55,190 --> 00:42:58,550 uh short-term opportunity growth opportunity sits in the existing 674 00:42:58,550 --> 00:42:59,269 base, right? 675 00:42:59,430 --> 00:43:01,990 And so if we don't talk about customer success, we're missing 676 00:43:01,990 --> 00:43:05,910 out on a big portion of where our opportunity lies. 677 00:43:06,150 --> 00:43:11,190 Um, you know, so if you think about a CSM uh who's in a in a 678 00:43:11,190 --> 00:43:16,630 business historically, um oftentimes they're in roles 679 00:43:16,630 --> 00:43:22,230 where they're firefighting, they're reactive, they're uh 680 00:43:22,390 --> 00:43:25,910 they're getting pinged from lots of sides, and they're the people 681 00:43:25,910 --> 00:43:28,390 that have to go into the business and figure out how to 682 00:43:28,390 --> 00:43:30,230 solve the customers' problems. 683 00:43:30,470 --> 00:43:35,510 Um they're they're supposed to be driving growth, but you know, 684 00:43:35,830 --> 00:43:40,710 building uh monthly business reviews or quarterly business 685 00:43:40,710 --> 00:43:45,910 reviews takes six to eight or hours of maybe a couple of days 686 00:43:45,910 --> 00:43:47,030 to prepare for. 687 00:43:47,430 --> 00:43:54,230 Um uh so as a result, because of all of that, they can only 688 00:43:54,230 --> 00:43:58,870 manage you know 20 to 40 accounts typically. 689 00:43:59,110 --> 00:44:05,190 Um uh much more than that, and it becomes like your surface 690 00:44:05,190 --> 00:44:05,510 level. 691 00:44:05,590 --> 00:44:10,150 Um I mean there's exceptions, but if if you're delivering a 692 00:44:10,390 --> 00:44:15,190 fairly complex solution or you're serving an enterprise, I 693 00:44:15,190 --> 00:44:18,630 think yeah, 20 to 40 is probably about right for those 694 00:44:18,630 --> 00:44:20,550 organizations or for those people. 695 00:44:20,790 --> 00:44:28,790 Um now, after this shift, I think those people go to uh 696 00:44:29,750 --> 00:44:33,510 easily 50 to 100 accounts apiece. 697 00:44:33,830 --> 00:44:37,910 Q, you know, the QBR prep drops to under an hour. 698 00:44:38,230 --> 00:44:44,150 Um the the reactive is replaced with the proactive where where 699 00:44:44,150 --> 00:44:49,670 our systems uh are identifying where there's risk and and 700 00:44:49,670 --> 00:44:55,110 proactively say pushing that individual into here's how I go 701 00:44:55,110 --> 00:44:57,990 and and solve for this, right? 702 00:44:58,230 --> 00:45:05,750 Um and um and and in doing so we create better customer 703 00:45:05,750 --> 00:45:09,510 relationships, happier customers, but we're also 704 00:45:09,510 --> 00:45:13,350 spending more of our time on our front foot uh with those CSMs 705 00:45:13,350 --> 00:45:17,030 who are who are being where with systems that are helping them 706 00:45:17,030 --> 00:45:18,790 recognize where there's opportunity. 707 00:45:19,030 --> 00:45:22,870 One of the fundamental problems with problems, tendencies with 708 00:45:22,870 --> 00:45:27,190 CSM organizations is they're either staffed with people who 709 00:45:27,190 --> 00:45:31,430 are fully sales mode and they really don't care anything about 710 00:45:31,430 --> 00:45:32,710 customer success. 711 00:45:32,870 --> 00:45:38,550 Um uh, and that generally doesn't help you build long-term 712 00:45:38,550 --> 00:45:39,750 happy customers. 713 00:45:39,910 --> 00:45:43,350 It makes people feel like you're just constantly selling to them. 714 00:45:43,590 --> 00:45:48,150 Um, or they're staffed with people who are very customer, 715 00:45:48,230 --> 00:45:51,910 like customer relationship, customer satisfaction uh 716 00:45:52,150 --> 00:45:52,950 focused. 717 00:45:53,830 --> 00:45:56,470 And as a result, they're they tend to be people pleasers, they 718 00:45:56,550 --> 00:45:59,430 tend to not hear when the customer says, when the customer 719 00:45:59,430 --> 00:46:01,430 says something that might be a little bit critical, they stop, 720 00:46:01,510 --> 00:46:03,590 they don't think, oh, that's an opportunity. 721 00:46:03,750 --> 00:46:06,870 That's an opportunity for me to grow that that account. 722 00:46:07,269 --> 00:46:16,390 Um and And so being able to um leverage AI tooling in and help 723 00:46:16,390 --> 00:46:20,230 those people do a better job on either side of that, um, I think 724 00:46:20,390 --> 00:46:24,070 will will make them go faster, but also improve customer 725 00:46:24,070 --> 00:46:24,710 relationships. 726 00:46:24,790 --> 00:46:27,670 And if you improve the customer relationship, then those more of 727 00:46:27,670 --> 00:46:29,350 those customers will grow faster. 728 00:46:29,590 --> 00:46:35,110 And so I I think you have fewer, but they do more and they out 729 00:46:35,190 --> 00:46:38,790 and they ultimately lead to faster growth if you build it 730 00:46:38,790 --> 00:46:38,950 right. 731 00:46:39,269 --> 00:46:39,750 SPEAKER_01: Yeah. 732 00:46:39,910 --> 00:46:40,230 Yeah. 733 00:46:40,390 --> 00:46:44,070 Since since working with you, I've thought much more about 734 00:46:44,070 --> 00:46:46,550 customer success and in particular the relationship 735 00:46:46,550 --> 00:46:48,390 between marketing and customer success. 736 00:46:48,550 --> 00:46:52,630 And I think there's a missing piece that often gets left out, 737 00:46:52,790 --> 00:46:57,830 which is RevOps in like the structural organization of these 738 00:46:57,830 --> 00:46:58,310 things. 739 00:46:58,550 --> 00:47:01,110 Because when we think about RevOps, we often think about 740 00:47:01,269 --> 00:47:04,630 well, it's probably sales first, true, like truthfully. 741 00:47:04,710 --> 00:47:07,269 And then you might have like marketing ops that gets rolled 742 00:47:07,269 --> 00:47:12,390 up into RevOps, but like you're most of your revenue is probably 743 00:47:12,390 --> 00:47:14,230 from your existing customer base, anyway. 744 00:47:14,790 --> 00:47:17,510 So why is RevOps not in that conversation? 745 00:47:17,670 --> 00:47:22,470 And like I I think it it now will be with a more centralized 746 00:47:22,470 --> 00:47:22,790 function. 747 00:47:22,870 --> 00:47:29,030 Like we spoke about um agent operations lead at like earlier 748 00:47:29,030 --> 00:47:33,190 in the conversation, and that's the opportunity, I think, to 749 00:47:33,510 --> 00:47:38,550 roll this all together and you know, truly start thinking about 750 00:47:38,550 --> 00:47:42,230 RevOps as as this centralized function that can impact 751 00:47:42,230 --> 00:47:45,910 customer success just as well as it impacts sales and tie 752 00:47:46,150 --> 00:47:49,510 absolutely everything together in the growth cycle. 753 00:47:49,830 --> 00:47:54,390 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think those people um like in this new org 754 00:47:54,390 --> 00:47:58,150 structure, um, I think those people, you know, you kind of 755 00:47:58,150 --> 00:48:01,750 like you, it's like RevOps met DevOps and they had a baby. 756 00:48:02,550 --> 00:48:09,670 And and they're they're very um um technically savvy, but they 757 00:48:09,670 --> 00:48:12,950 understand how you know that they're there to build 758 00:48:12,950 --> 00:48:18,390 connective tissue um so that there aren't siloed handoffs, 759 00:48:18,470 --> 00:48:23,990 um, but they it is a cons it is a continuous, always visible, 760 00:48:24,230 --> 00:48:29,430 always um thinking system that is, you know, regardless of 761 00:48:29,430 --> 00:48:33,510 where the customer is and at what stage, uh, from prospect to 762 00:48:33,670 --> 00:48:37,190 you know the our longest standing tenured client. 763 00:48:37,430 --> 00:48:42,310 Uh and and if we do that well, those people uh I think report 764 00:48:42,310 --> 00:48:43,590 to the growth architect. 765 00:48:44,230 --> 00:48:49,750 So so if you think about the CRO or the CEO, depending on the 766 00:48:49,750 --> 00:48:55,990 size of the organization, growth architect is designing how this 767 00:48:55,990 --> 00:48:56,950 all works. 768 00:48:57,269 --> 00:49:01,269 Um, they then have the um what do we call them? 769 00:49:01,430 --> 00:49:03,830 The genetic or um agent operation. 770 00:49:05,670 --> 00:49:06,070 Yeah. 771 00:49:06,230 --> 00:49:11,030 Um those those roles will then sit under that per that growth 772 00:49:11,030 --> 00:49:13,990 architect implementing the the systems. 773 00:49:14,150 --> 00:49:14,390 Yeah. 774 00:49:14,630 --> 00:49:19,510 And then and then you probably have some level of um training 775 00:49:20,310 --> 00:49:25,750 um and enablement function that at larger organizations that 776 00:49:25,910 --> 00:49:31,030 that is necessary to that go and we and work through every part 777 00:49:31,030 --> 00:49:33,910 of marketing, sales, customer success to make sure that 778 00:49:33,910 --> 00:49:37,190 they're getting the most out of the systems that are being 779 00:49:37,190 --> 00:49:37,670 built. 780 00:49:37,910 --> 00:49:38,230 Yeah. 781 00:49:38,550 --> 00:49:41,750 In small in smaller orgs, that's just getting everybody together 782 00:49:41,750 --> 00:49:44,470 and and saying this is how we're gonna do it now. 783 00:49:44,710 --> 00:49:49,269 SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, but yeah, I think so. 784 00:49:49,750 --> 00:49:50,070 Okay. 785 00:49:50,790 --> 00:49:54,550 So when we think like we've gone through roles there and and 786 00:49:54,550 --> 00:49:59,190 different um organizations within the business, but what's 787 00:49:59,190 --> 00:50:02,630 the actual business value of all of this stuff? 788 00:50:02,790 --> 00:50:05,030 Because you know, people listening to this might be 789 00:50:05,030 --> 00:50:09,190 thinking that's actually scary, and you know, my job might be at 790 00:50:09,190 --> 00:50:09,750 risk. 791 00:50:10,070 --> 00:50:16,710 But if you're able to pivot and move into, you know, this new 792 00:50:17,030 --> 00:50:21,269 go-to-market space that we'll we're predicting in 2028, like 793 00:50:21,350 --> 00:50:25,110 what's the actual business opportunity there of 794 00:50:25,110 --> 00:50:27,110 restructuring in this way? 795 00:50:28,230 --> 00:50:32,950 SPEAKER_03: Well, I I think very simply, um building a building 796 00:50:32,950 --> 00:50:40,070 the new go-to-market well uh is will be for the next four or 797 00:50:40,070 --> 00:50:43,670 five years, will be a competitive differentiator. 798 00:50:43,990 --> 00:50:48,310 The faster that you go, the more effective you do it, the better 799 00:50:48,310 --> 00:50:53,430 you will outperform your competition in most B2B spaces. 800 00:50:53,670 --> 00:51:01,269 Um and so uh and then in four or five years, the companies that 801 00:51:01,269 --> 00:51:03,830 didn't do it died, to be very honest. 802 00:51:03,990 --> 00:51:08,070 Uh and the companies and and so everybody gets to be back at a 803 00:51:08,150 --> 00:51:11,190 at a level playing field, and then we wait for the next giant 804 00:51:11,670 --> 00:51:12,070 right, yeah. 805 00:51:12,710 --> 00:51:13,190 Right. 806 00:51:13,430 --> 00:51:18,870 Um, but you know, I yes, jobs are gonna change. 807 00:51:19,030 --> 00:51:22,790 Um the people that I worry the most for, if I'm if I'm really 808 00:51:22,790 --> 00:51:27,110 honest as a dad, I worry about the people coming out of school 809 00:51:27,110 --> 00:51:30,070 now, yeah, or becoming out of school in the next three years. 810 00:51:30,230 --> 00:51:37,110 Um I I tell my son uh all the time, if he's not on his own 811 00:51:37,430 --> 00:51:42,230 really investing his own time into how AI works and and you 812 00:51:42,230 --> 00:51:46,870 know, in how to use AI and enable AI in different um 813 00:51:47,110 --> 00:51:50,870 capacities, he's good like I don't care who you hire. 814 00:51:50,950 --> 00:51:52,870 You're gonna we're gonna hide, you know, we're gonna hire a 815 00:51:52,870 --> 00:51:56,150 copywriter, but that copywriter needs to know how to get the 816 00:51:56,150 --> 00:52:02,310 most out of their expertise, but getting the most out of an 817 00:52:02,310 --> 00:52:05,269 AI-based production process. 818 00:52:05,750 --> 00:52:12,630 Uh and it uh if you're so I think that mind shift is start 819 00:52:12,870 --> 00:52:14,070 is definitely starting. 820 00:52:14,230 --> 00:52:16,870 But the people who are just coming out of school and don't 821 00:52:16,870 --> 00:52:20,070 have the benefit of 10 years of experience doing something and 822 00:52:20,070 --> 00:52:22,470 have a depth of expertise, what is it? 823 00:52:22,630 --> 00:52:23,670 How do they catch up? 824 00:52:23,830 --> 00:52:26,950 How do they get to and I don't have a great answer for that, 825 00:52:27,269 --> 00:52:33,590 other than like companies like ours, um I see us being somebody 826 00:52:33,590 --> 00:52:41,430 who can bring in um like well okay, so pick on Joe. 827 00:52:41,590 --> 00:52:44,630 Uh so Joe, my son, works for us. 828 00:52:44,710 --> 00:52:51,750 Uh he's a he's in he's in uh college uh and he's been over 829 00:52:51,750 --> 00:52:56,310 the last three years working for another agency and now for us, 830 00:52:56,470 --> 00:52:59,030 uh, he's been building his skill set. 831 00:52:59,510 --> 00:53:06,630 Um but as a part-time college kid, intern type role, um when 832 00:53:06,630 --> 00:53:11,670 he gets to graduation next year, he'll be way ahead of the like 833 00:53:11,750 --> 00:53:15,510 from a practical standpoint of the the kids, whether he comes 834 00:53:15,510 --> 00:53:18,390 to work for us when he graduates or whether he goes and does 835 00:53:18,390 --> 00:53:19,269 something else. 836 00:53:19,430 --> 00:53:25,590 Um, I think the I think that model of hiring kids in school, 837 00:53:26,070 --> 00:53:29,830 um, I say kids, I know I'm an old man, I shouldn't say kids, 838 00:53:29,990 --> 00:53:35,269 um, young professionals who are um who are still in school, I 839 00:53:35,269 --> 00:53:41,590 think that's internship programs and co-ops, I think become 840 00:53:41,910 --> 00:53:43,190 really, really important. 841 00:53:43,670 --> 00:53:49,670 Um and if I were a dad sending a kid to school who wanted to go 842 00:53:49,670 --> 00:53:54,070 into the business world, I I would not let them go to a 843 00:53:54,070 --> 00:53:57,110 school that didn't have a program like that and really 844 00:53:57,110 --> 00:53:57,990 focus on it, right? 845 00:53:58,070 --> 00:53:59,590 So I think that'll be a part of it. 846 00:53:59,830 --> 00:54:03,830 Um uh this was not what we planned for either, Dan. 847 00:54:03,910 --> 00:54:08,070 But um, I think you're like care about like I care as a as a just 848 00:54:08,070 --> 00:54:12,070 as a human being, I care about people and education as well, 849 00:54:12,230 --> 00:54:14,710 like shifts with all this stuff, right? 850 00:54:14,870 --> 00:54:19,110 SPEAKER_01: So, like as business requirements change and the 851 00:54:19,110 --> 00:54:21,830 personnel inside those businesses change, what is 852 00:54:21,830 --> 00:54:24,710 taught at an education level shifts with that. 853 00:54:24,870 --> 00:54:27,350 It actually takes time for that to catch up. 854 00:54:27,670 --> 00:54:33,830 So it's really, really important to be able to like be hungry and 855 00:54:33,830 --> 00:54:40,470 like go and learn this stuff and just yeah, figure it out, try it 856 00:54:40,470 --> 00:54:44,390 out, make mistakes, get frustrated, and um, but just 857 00:54:44,390 --> 00:54:47,830 have a foundational understanding of like how it all 858 00:54:47,830 --> 00:54:49,430 works for sure. 859 00:54:49,830 --> 00:54:51,670 SPEAKER_03: Yep, yep, no, I agree. 860 00:54:51,830 --> 00:54:53,030 Um, yeah. 861 00:54:53,350 --> 00:54:57,830 Um, otherwise, I I think actually it it creates greater 862 00:54:57,830 --> 00:55:03,990 opportunity for career growth and um and frankly earnings 863 00:55:03,990 --> 00:55:08,630 growth, because like in the end, an organization that does this 864 00:55:08,630 --> 00:55:15,830 well should have fewer people delivering more revenue faster, 865 00:55:16,150 --> 00:55:16,390 right? 866 00:55:16,550 --> 00:55:18,310 Sales cycle should compress. 867 00:55:19,670 --> 00:55:23,190 And you're and you're you know, probably you're getting like 868 00:55:23,269 --> 00:55:27,750 from an NRR standpoint, you're probably getting five to fifteen 869 00:55:28,310 --> 00:55:31,830 points of improvement um just in the revenue you're getting from 870 00:55:31,830 --> 00:55:32,870 your existing base. 871 00:55:33,350 --> 00:55:38,390 Um and and that that drives greater profitability. 872 00:55:38,550 --> 00:55:41,030 Greater profitability should mean that we can invest more in 873 00:55:41,030 --> 00:55:41,590 our people. 874 00:55:41,670 --> 00:55:44,950 Um, and every like everybody wins. 875 00:55:45,110 --> 00:55:48,470 Um yeah, that's how that's how I envision it anyway. 876 00:55:48,790 --> 00:55:53,830 SPEAKER_01: I think job satisfaction also increases as 877 00:55:54,550 --> 00:56:00,070 all of the things we don't like to do, we can offload to an 878 00:56:00,070 --> 00:56:00,630 agent. 879 00:56:00,870 --> 00:56:06,630 Uh like I I have way more fun now, like because I can do more 880 00:56:06,630 --> 00:56:08,470 things that I actually want to do. 881 00:56:08,710 --> 00:56:12,310 I don't have to do as much admin, as much like I don't 882 00:56:12,310 --> 00:56:13,990 particularly like writing at all. 883 00:56:14,230 --> 00:56:15,910 I don't really have to do that anymore. 884 00:56:15,990 --> 00:56:20,870 SPEAKER_03: Um, so so I think that's for entrepreneurial team 885 00:56:20,870 --> 00:56:23,590 members like yourself, I think that's true. 886 00:56:23,750 --> 00:56:30,390 Um, for people who have gotten um very comfortable, like 887 00:56:30,550 --> 00:56:33,190 there's just different different people are wired differently, 888 00:56:33,269 --> 00:56:33,430 right? 889 00:56:33,510 --> 00:56:33,670 Yeah. 890 00:56:33,830 --> 00:56:40,070 So if I've built my career and my what I like to do on doing 891 00:56:40,070 --> 00:56:46,630 this thing, I do feel for those people because those like that 892 00:56:47,269 --> 00:56:50,150 mindset, you're probably wired with that mindset. 893 00:56:50,230 --> 00:56:53,430 It's not a it's not a oh, I'm just gonna go be more 894 00:56:53,430 --> 00:56:53,990 entrepreneurial. 895 00:56:54,070 --> 00:56:59,190 Like that's I think they're on um and so like the struggle's 896 00:56:59,190 --> 00:56:59,990 real for those folks. 897 00:57:00,070 --> 00:57:04,550 And I think we do need to help them with training, with um 898 00:57:05,190 --> 00:57:08,150 patient enabling, you know, time. 899 00:57:08,630 --> 00:57:11,590 Um, as long as they have the right attitude that says, yeah, 900 00:57:11,750 --> 00:57:15,750 this world is gonna change on me or is has changed on me, I need 901 00:57:15,750 --> 00:57:17,190 to change my box. 902 00:57:17,350 --> 00:57:21,830 Um I then we need to recognize that okay, that there's gonna be 903 00:57:21,830 --> 00:57:25,110 some reskilling and and things that need to be done. 904 00:57:25,269 --> 00:57:30,230 And that's that's incumbent upon us as as responsible employers 905 00:57:30,310 --> 00:57:30,630 too. 906 00:57:30,790 --> 00:57:35,430 But but I for yes, for guys like you, candidly for guys like me, 907 00:57:35,590 --> 00:57:38,950 like this is kidding the kidding the candy store. 908 00:57:39,030 --> 00:57:39,990 I guess so much fun. 909 00:57:40,230 --> 00:57:41,510 SPEAKER_01: It is for sure. 910 00:57:41,990 --> 00:57:42,550 All right. 911 00:57:42,710 --> 00:57:46,150 Um, well, that was a bit of a detour for this episode, but an 912 00:57:46,150 --> 00:57:46,870 enjoyable one. 913 00:57:47,430 --> 00:57:52,630 Um do you wanna do you wanna do you wanna leave any like final 914 00:57:52,710 --> 00:57:56,310 thoughts, wrap us up in terms of what we've covered today? 915 00:57:56,710 --> 00:58:01,430 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, I I think very simply, um the future 916 00:58:01,430 --> 00:58:03,190 of go to market is here. 917 00:58:03,510 --> 00:58:05,910 Um roles are changing. 918 00:58:06,070 --> 00:58:13,510 Um, the the organization of the future is um moving uh into 919 00:58:13,670 --> 00:58:17,190 fewer people, more senior people, um, with some different 920 00:58:17,190 --> 00:58:19,750 roles that are haven't existed before. 921 00:58:19,910 --> 00:58:24,630 But um, you know, the growth architect, the uh agenic uh 922 00:58:25,269 --> 00:58:26,550 operations lead. 923 00:58:26,630 --> 00:58:28,230 Uh I I struggle with that one. 924 00:58:28,310 --> 00:58:30,470 I get we're gonna have to come up with a new name for that. 925 00:58:30,710 --> 00:58:35,030 Um uh those are roles that that really are gonna be necessary 926 00:58:35,030 --> 00:58:38,070 and gonna have a per a view like a have a very high level of 927 00:58:38,070 --> 00:58:39,990 visibility in the organization. 928 00:58:40,470 --> 00:58:46,230 Um the um the importance of having a system of record that 929 00:58:46,230 --> 00:58:51,110 really does show for the entire growth lifecycle, the entire 930 00:58:51,110 --> 00:58:55,910 revenue lifecycle, um, every touch point um and maintains a 931 00:58:55,910 --> 00:58:59,030 history so that whether you're in marketing and you're looking 932 00:58:59,030 --> 00:59:01,110 at an account or you're in sales and looking at an account or 933 00:59:01,110 --> 00:59:04,230 you're in customer success, you you see that entire, right? 934 00:59:04,310 --> 00:59:07,510 The I think of the customer success person that is told, 935 00:59:07,670 --> 00:59:11,110 well, sales told me, well, we can solve that now, right? 936 00:59:11,190 --> 00:59:14,630 Like if we capture everything sales told them, which we should 937 00:59:14,630 --> 00:59:20,150 be able to do, uh, then we can go back and we can identify in 938 00:59:20,150 --> 00:59:24,630 the in what was previously unstructured data, now we can 939 00:59:24,630 --> 00:59:26,870 identify, oh yeah, we actually did make that commitment. 940 00:59:27,030 --> 00:59:29,030 Or no, we this isn't what we said. 941 00:59:29,110 --> 00:59:31,750 That's you know, and we can solve for those sorts of things, 942 00:59:31,830 --> 00:59:35,190 um, and try to iron out those confusion points. 943 00:59:35,350 --> 00:59:37,830 Anyway, um, you said quick things. 944 00:59:37,990 --> 00:59:44,870 Uh and uh and sorry, passion gets away, gets in my way. 945 00:59:45,110 --> 00:59:48,630 Um uh where was I? 946 00:59:49,990 --> 00:59:54,870 Uh okay, so the last thing then, because I know you're looking at 947 00:59:54,870 --> 00:59:56,150 me like wrap this up. 948 00:59:56,390 --> 01:00:01,110 Uh we I'm actually I'm good to go still, but like, you know, 949 01:00:01,190 --> 01:00:06,790 we've said the the critical thing to all of this, yes, have 950 01:00:06,790 --> 01:00:09,350 a system of record, but if you're going to implement AI in 951 01:00:09,350 --> 01:00:11,910 your go-to-market, it has to be governed. 952 01:00:12,150 --> 01:00:13,269 It has to be governed. 953 01:00:13,350 --> 01:00:14,950 I don't care if you buy Blend Core. 954 01:00:15,030 --> 01:00:19,910 I mean, I I do personally, but if you don't have a governed 955 01:00:19,910 --> 01:00:25,030 environment and a and a role that um, whether it's an 956 01:00:25,030 --> 01:00:29,510 outsourced role or an insourced role, a role that is on the on 957 01:00:29,510 --> 01:00:34,310 the you know, in the tower, protecting and making sure that 958 01:00:34,310 --> 01:00:39,670 your your digital twin, your digital identity stays you, all 959 01:00:39,670 --> 01:00:40,950 of this falls apart. 960 01:00:41,269 --> 01:00:42,230 All of it does. 961 01:00:42,310 --> 01:00:45,830 Um, because you start, you in that you inject risk. 962 01:00:46,070 --> 01:00:49,350 And as soon as I inject risk, I slow everything down. 963 01:00:49,510 --> 01:00:51,350 I can't do what I wanted to do. 964 01:00:51,510 --> 01:00:58,710 And so the key to unlocking ROI in AI enabled go-to-market is 965 01:00:59,350 --> 01:01:02,070 making sure that you have governed AI. 966 01:01:02,310 --> 01:01:05,190 And um, and so I leave you with that. 967 01:01:05,510 --> 01:01:06,230 SPEAKER_01: Amazing. 968 01:01:06,390 --> 01:01:07,910 Perfect, nice one, Josh. 969 01:01:07,990 --> 01:01:09,030 Let's wrap it up there. 970 01:01:09,269 --> 01:01:11,030 Um, yeah, fun episode. 971 01:01:11,190 --> 01:01:13,750 Hopefully, you enjoyed this one as much as we did. 972 01:01:13,830 --> 01:01:16,230 Um, and yeah, we will catch you next time.