Tera Gillen: Sustainable Growth, Revenue Retention & the Human Side of Sales

Unknown Host: Hello everybody, and welcome to today's episode of the Revenue Insights podcast. We're excited to welcome Terra Gillen, Vice President of Global Operations and Atlantic Growth Solutions. Uh, Tara has spent her career helping companies realize the potential of their people. From leading multimillion dollar global sales organizations at skillsoft and Docebo to now helping clients scale sustainably. At Atlantic uh Growth Solutions, she's built a reputation for aligning people, process and technology into cohesive growth systems. At, uh, Atlantic Growth Solutions, Terra led both operations and client partnerships, helping teams avoid burnout, adopt smarter tech and achieve consistent, predictable growth. She's also deeply passionate about the human side of sales leadership, building confidence, capability, and culture that lasts. So, without further ado, welcome to the podcast, Terra.

Terra Gillen: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Unknown Host: So let's get started. Maybe you can dive straight in and share your journey that got you to where you are now and really what inspired you to move into this world of growth consulting.

Terra Gillen: Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, I started my sales career at Skillsoft and I started as a, actually as a books 24 by 7 rep. So it was a singular product within the suite of products, products that skillsoft sold and really kind of honed my skills for outbound cold calling and, and prospecting and moved into a more comprehensive sales role. So selling all of the solutions that skillsoft had to offer before moving into account management and account management is really, I think, where I found my stride as it relates to sales and creating relationships and really kind of focusing on the client experience. And for the past probably 17 years or so, that's really been my, sort of my passion and where I've spent the majority of my career. So it's really identifying what is it that is creating friction within the, within the customer experience and then how do we solve for that. And so what I have, what I have found is that the voice of the customer is probably the most important tool that any organization has. You know, there's lots of great tech. There's, you know, there's AI, there's lots of really helpful things that can increase your productivity. But nothing replaces having a conversation with your client, understanding how they're using your product and understanding what are some of the ways that you can continue to enhance the user experience, which will of course increase adoption and reduce the likelihood of turnover or churn.

Unknown Host: Oh, that's, that's fascinating. We just released our H1 update to the benchmark report and we did a deep dive into icp and what's Fascinating is how often you ask an organization about DP and you get a completely different answer from the sellers or the customer success team or even the marketing function. Uh, and so I think you're spotted on there. If we, you know, if, if we're questioning who our ICP is, let's get out there and reach and speak to our customers because uh, they'll tell us what we do well and, and we'll be able to work out much easier, uh, who we should be targeting as we move forward.

Terra Gillen: Yeah, absolutely.

Unknown Host: Uh, I know that Atlantic Growth Solutions, it really focuses on helping companies grow sustainably and you talk a lot about not exhausting your people as part of that sustainability of growth. But what does sustainable growth really look like in practice?

Terra Gillen: Yeah, good question. So when we think about sustainable growth, what we first need to identify within the organization is what are the proper processes and systems that you have in place in order to actually keep that engine going. And what I mean by that is if you don't have a really good sales process and you don't necessarily have the right tech in place, kind of really focusing specifically on some sort of CRM, then it makes it really difficult to understand sort of what the day to day sales motion of all of your reps look like. And when you think about growth holistically, identifying where your white space is within your organization can really help to identify what sustainable growth can actually look like. You can put sort of a target out there, but if you don't necessarily have the clientele and the opportunity within your existing clientele or your new business growth projections, then it becomes really difficult to achieve that particular revenue target because you don't necessarily have all of the right pieces in play first. So when you first take a look at thinking about sustainable growth and kind of long term, it's understanding what your existing customer base looks like, where's the opportunity to grow within those existing customers, and then also thinking about what it is that you're doing really well from a new business perspective to be able to then replicate that in the future.

Unknown Host: Yeah, I hear you. Really interesting data from the latest report. We saw that 52% of new revenue last year didn't come from new logos for B2B software businesses, it came from expansion into existing accounts. So uh, you know, ignore your existing customers at your peril. There's this huge opportunity and if you're not uh, uh, generating a material amount of your existing, of your growth revenue from existing customers, you're leaving money on the table. So I definitely buy into that Uh, I think on the new business side of things, really it's about understanding what those top performers are doing consistently. Well, we all see this graphic. I mean, we go into, I think we've gone into over 300 businesses now and looked at their graphs and their data, and we always find there's these kind of assuming you've got product market fit, you've got these kind of overachievers that are blowing the forecast or the targets and the quota out the water. And that's usually kind of 10, 15, 20% of the sellers. And then you've got kind of 50% of the sellers that are slightly underperforming where they need to be, but they're kind of maintaining their numbers. And then you've got the balance that are really underperforming. And I think one of the things we've suffered with over the last year or two is holding onto people for far too long and not giving the sellers the tools they need to be able to raise their game, uh, and join those top performers.

Terra Gillen: Yeah, I would agree. And it's difficult to ask more of an employee when you haven't given them the right tools to be successful. And so it's not just about tech. There also needs to be a learning strategy in place. So when, you know, when you onboard new people, what does that, what does that onboarding look like? How long does it take from onboarding for a rep to be, you know, hitting quota? How long does it take for somebody to be successful in that role? Because that could be the key to unlocking how much time it takes to realize revenue from a particular person. And also just how you can continue to foster the areas of opportunity within that particular person as well as really kind of hone in on nurturing the things that they're really good at. And so I think it's really a multi prong approach of tools, but also a really good learning program in place for your new hires, for your high potentials. And how do you bring those Cs to Bs sort of speak?

Unknown Host: Yeah, no, I buy into that. I think, um, uh, we see a lot of times that the sellers don't necessarily understand what the playbook is to be successful. Um, and the good news is it's all in the data. The challenge is that some of that data might not be in that system of record. So knowing, for example, how multi threaded you need to be at each stage of the sales cycle to maximize your chance of winning, or which Personas are giving us a better return if we engage with them earlier rather than later. Um, all of these things influence outcomes. But if you show the sellers look, your Win rate's only 12%, but your top performers in your team are at uh, 40%. But look at what they're doing differently. Look how multi threaded they are, look how much time they spend on qualification. And the more we can show the sellers what good looks like and make it easy for them to follow best practice, the, uh, more chance they have of being successful.

Terra Gillen: Absolutely.

Unknown Host: So, uh, you've led organizations through massive change from scaling global teams to redefining customer engagement. So what are these common threads you've seen behind successful transformation projects?

Terra Gillen: So it's making sure that you have several internal champions within the organization. So that is not a one person effort by any stretch of the imagination. And I think the first step in getting people on board with change is, is explaining that why. Right. So that's a very common theory, but not necessarily always put into practice in the best way. So the first step is just making sure that you understand what needs to be changed and why and you know what the ultimate outcome will look like if you put these particular changes in motion. And, and the really important part of the why isn't necessarily the big picture why, because oftentimes as individual contributors, the big picture piece gets a little bit lost. So what you need to make sure that you do is explain it at the individual contributor level and understanding for them this is how your day is going to improve. This is how you can focus more time on this particular activity instead of something that maybe is a bit arduous and very time consuming. So once you've explained how this particular change will impact them positively and impact the clients positively and the overall experience in the organization, you're much more likely to start to get that buy in. And the other pieces besides the buy in is making sure that you have a well executed plan. So taking the time to map out with all of the departments, you know what those steps look like to ensure that everybody is singing from the same song page. So if the marketing team doesn't know what the sales team is doing or the operations team doesn't ask, understand the impact that a particular change is going to have on your sales, then your plan is going to fail. And so the two big pieces are communication and a well executed plan and making sure that multiple layers of people within the organization have the ability to contribute to the plan. Because if it's done at a very high level and you don't have insight from the people who actually need to execute it, then your plan will fail.

Unknown Host: That's fascinating. So, uh, measure twice, cut once, do your planning at a time, get everyone on board before you start that project and it'll serve you just like running any process. The effort and energy and preparation we put in up front actually serves us through the journey. So don't jump in with two feet, uh, straight, uh, off. Get that planning right and get everyone bought into the plan is what I'm hearing.

Terra Gillen: Exactly.

Unknown Host: Very good. Okay, well, let's move on to revenue retention. Uh, you've got, you, you've got this history of managing revenue retention north of $300 million. So when it comes to renewals and customer success, what do great retention strategies have in common?

Terra Gillen: Uh, I mean, outside of consistency, it's being very mindful of the level of engagement of the customer. So your customer might be using your product. Usage is not necessarily always an indication of long term partnership. It can just be a matter of it was put in place and they're going to continue to use it until they find a better solution. Uh, and so you want to see what the overall engagement of the customer is. And what I mean by that is are they willing to be a reference? Are they doing customer testimonials for you? Do they speak at events? Are they open to having conversations with other businesses on your behalf? That gives you a really good idea as to what the level of customer engagement and long term value of this solution that you're providing is.

Unknown Host: Yeah, I buy that. Absolutely. I think we also need to recognize that relationships still drive revenue even in an AI world. And one of the really interesting data points we saw from the report last year was that if the last two QBRs you've done with your customer have been with the C suite, you're seven times more likely to open up a cross sell upsell opportunity with a 45% win rate. But if your engagement in the last two QBRs before the renewal are below the C level, you are four times more likely to churn the customer. So really matters who we're engaging with. And if you are doing QBRs with your customers, for goodness sake, make sure that they're strategic. You know, it needs to be a lot more than, you know, making sure the buttons work and booking some more training. Give them some content that they can use in their ball mixing. Help them understand you're the expert at your thing. Help them understand how that's helping them run faster. And then, and the acid test is if the C suite turn up at the next qbr, you know you're doing a good job.

Terra Gillen: I'm so glad that you mentioned QBRs because I think that they're such an important vehicle within the customer success sort of org, if you will. One of the things that is always a really good test is does your client cancel your qbr? Do they, do they ask to reschedule? Do they not show up? How engaged are they during that meeting? That should be a really good litmus test for you as to how engaged they actually are are with you. And you're, you're absolutely right. It's the whole idea of providing value and making sure that the value is being seen by the right people within the organization. You can have a champion, you know, within the organization that uses the product on a day to day basis, but they don't necessarily have the authority to renew, to open up new doors for you, et cetera. Uh, and so always trying to have the highest level possible within the QBR is, is incredibly important. And showing up to the QBR you mentioned, you know, just making sure that it's very strategic. I think that's a really important part to emphasize because showing up to just tell them, you know, what data they probably already have, have run doesn't provide a lot of value. So it's making sure that the QBRs are impactful for their business and understanding their business. And the QBR should be an opportunity to provide recommendations on how they can be using the tool more impactfully or more efficiently than they are right now, as well as other use cases within the organization. So when you start to, as you mentioned earlier, the multi thread, the idea of being able to spread your solution to other parts of the organization, the QBR is a great place to do that. And if you do your homework and you know your client well and you understand their business challenges, then having the QBR is an incredibly productive conversation and a, uh, really sort of organic way to talk about growth within the business.

Unknown Host: I absolutely buy that. And it's amazing how often we get so caught up in our thing and how what we do works. And actually we really need to focus on that customer journey and making sure that we're delivering value to them and giving them insights that they can use to run faster at doing their job is absolutely key. So we talked a little bit earlier about aligning the different teams in the business. Uh, but it can be a real challenge. You know, marketing, sales and customer success have all got their own agendas and they're all trying to do their own thing. But from a customer's perspective, they don't really care about these disparate, uh, kind of go to market departments. They just want one jrd. So, um, how do you approach revenue alignment between those disabled teams when every team's different and the pressures with different pressures and priorities?

Terra Gillen: So I think the first thing is everybody understanding that every single role within an organization is a customer success role. I think that's the biggest piece. There may be a defined group of people within your organization that is their primary focus and that is sort of what they're measured on. But when you think about holistically all of the different areas that a, uh, client would touch, you know, they're talking to your legal team during contract negotiations. They are having conversations of course, with your sales team upfront about what the project is going to look like and painting the sort of the journey for them to be a part of your, you know, your client base. But then there's also the other, like there's tech support. Do they have a positive experience when they are engaging with your tech support team? And so I think the first piece is really just highlighting and continuously reiterating the fact that every person within the org is a part of client success.

Unknown Host: I love um, that I've just written that down. We're all in success. I like that a lot.

Terra Gillen: That's right.

Unknown Host: That's a great line. So thank you for that. Okay, well, so I hear where you're coming from on that. And yes, in theory we're all servicing the customer. What role do you see revops now taking as we move forward? Because, uh, from what I'm seeing, revops, uh, is becoming more and more a strategic function within the business. But are we giving RevOps the right resources they need? Are we really bringing the right senior people in? And um, do you see any big capability gaps in the modern sales and Rev Ops teams at the moment?

Terra Gillen: I don't know if I necessarily see any gaps, but I would say that holistically making sure that the Rev operations team has all of the data that they need in order to make decisions. And I think that that is probably the biggest area of focus is what does the data tell us and how is the data driving the business forward. So if anything it's, it's perhaps just making sure that we have all of the right points in order to, to make decisions about the business.

Unknown Host: Yeah, I think the Rev Ops leaders I see that are winning are the ones that the, the CROs or VPs of sales are leaning into, or even the CEO is leaning into for that data. You Know if you're in RevOps and you're being asked for specific data points, think about what the, what the C levels are looking for and what are they trying to achieve with that data. And if you can, if you can delight them by not just deliver the data they've asked for but giving them another 20% on top, help them understand some extra data points maybe they didn't even think about asking for but it'll help them to build up their business case and suddenly that, that revolves function goes from being very tactical to very strategic. When you start to partner with the C levels and giving them that data and insights and all of a sudden you become the custodian of all of this knowledge and they'll lean into you even more and give you the resources you need to run a whole lot faster.

Terra Gillen: That's right. And it also just uh, kind of going back again to the why it's the context behind that particular data. So it's one thing to have all of those points of data but it's being able to tell the story about what, what that data is actually, what that data actually means and the particular impact to the organization itself.

Unknown Host: Yeah, exactly. It's all about that interpretation and helping your sea levels to interpret that data is going to, is going to make you the most valuable member of their team. So looking ahead to 2026, what trends or shifts do you think are going to most affect how B2B companies grow and structure their revenue to ease?

Terra Gillen: So I think it's making m sure that your team is as efficient as possible. So it's moving a lot of the roadblocks out of their way. So if that is incorporating AI to allow for mundane tasks and administrative things to be done more efficiently and allowing your sellers to really be focus on those revenue generating activities, I think that's really important. Also just having a look at what your, what your brand is saying about you within the, within the market. So it's how do you want to be seen, what kind of customers do you want to attract and then what sort of experience are you providing those customers when you are able to successfully close that deal with them I think are probably the biggest things to be mindful of in 2020. And then I think from a uh, from an individual contributor perspective it's, it's providing that value to, to your prospect to, to make them a client. And so what that means is a little bit different depending on each individual sort of industry that you might be working in. But it's being able to set yourself Apart and cut through the noise because all of your prospects all day long are being inundated with, you know, cold calls and linkedins and emails and, you know, being able to, to be really creative and to do your research and to understand the business and how that particular person's day looks and being able to connect the dots between a problem they have and a solution that you offer is really sort of the key to kind of breaking through some of that, some of that noise.

Unknown Host: Yeah, I hear that. I think, um, efficiency really is the watchword as we go into 2026. You know, a few years ago we spent lot of time talking about what we could do to raise the B players up to A player standard. These days, if you're fully ramped and you're still a B player, you probably haven't got a job long term. And really there's a much more focus on how can we get the A players busier, what can we do to make them more productive and uh, drive the right outcomes? And I think part of that, as you rightly picked up on, is really all around ICP definition. Um, we tend to see businesses have kind of this one and done approach to icp and the reality is it's an evolving beast. It's a living, breathing document. And understanding not just the type of businesses that you should be selling to or the sector or the industry or the geography that you're in, but where are they on their journey? Do you sell better to businesses that just change their leadership team or where they've got an established, uh, leadership function in place? Does it matter what their tech stack is? Does it matter if they're going through a fundraise or just had a fundraise? What are the other signals that are actually helping to define what a really good customer looks like? And, and again also looking at the different approaches, we don't have to win every piece of the deal out of the box. Sometimes the land and expand model really works, but you need to have the function to be able to deliver on it, right? And you know, allowing a seller to build a relationship with the buyer and then as soon as the deal's signed, they move on something else doesn't, doesn't lead to more land and expand opportunities. So sometimes we need to allow the sellers to continue to have that relationship moving forward. But each motion is different and the more focus you can put, I see on ICP at the moment and really getting under the skin of, of what a good customer looks like and continue to evolve that document, you know, continue to look into ICP and continue to learn. Every time we go through that process with a customer, it will help you to define that and focus in on those deals that are really going to not just give you get a signature on a piece of paper, but are actually going to have a lifetime value that outsizes the average deals that you're working on.

Terra Gillen: Absolutely agree.

Unknown Host: Very good. Okay, well, one of the final questions. The time's gone so quickly already, but, uh, one of the questions I'd like to ask is, is there a particular book or idea or framework that you've recently change how you think about leadership?

Terra Gillen: I would say that one of the ones I continuously go back to is extreme ownership. So it's the idea of everybody operating with complete ownership of all projects that they're, that they're a part of. And so it was something that we had, we had done as a, as a. Across the organization at skillsoft. And it's a book that I kind of keep going back to. Once you have everybody adopting the idea that everything is their responsibility and everything is their problem to solve, and it's always about taking full accountability, then you really start to see an organization that isn't finger pointing. And that's not my job. And you know, we should. That person shouldn't have done this or this person should have done that. And everybody is really kind of working as a collective. So I would say that that's probably the most frequently visited leadership book that I have had the opportunity to read. And I've seen on a, on a broad scale how implementing that philosophy within an organization really has a positive impact on your ability to work as a team and to go to market more effectively.

Unknown Host: No, I love that. Okay, so my two takeaways from our session today. Um, uh, extreme ownership. I love the idea and principle behind that and I'm going to buy the book after our session. And I love this idea that, this concept that we're all in custom customer success. So that's. Those are my, my takeaways and really, really enjoyed our conversation, Tara. So for our audience, if they want to engage with you directly, if they want to reach out, how do they do that?

Terra Gillen: Sure. So, I mean, certainly you can connect with me on LinkedIn where you can take a look at Atlantic Growth Solutions website, which is www.atlanticgrosssolutions.com and you have the ability to engage with myself and the rest of the operations team there, or you can hit me up on LinkedIn.

Unknown Host: Very good. And if they mention the podcast, I'm sure you'll accept the invite.

Terra Gillen: Absolutely.

Unknown Host: Fantastic. Tara, thank you so much for joining us today. I really enjoyed the session. I can't believe how fast it went. But thank you all for your input and thank you for your time and. And your input today. Really enjoyed the session and, yeah, looking forward to paths crossing again soon.

Terra Gillen: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to be here.