AMA: Databricks Senior Director Sales Execution, Justin Trana on Revenue Strategy Execution

August 29 @ 10:00AM PT

How do I decide which tactical piece to implement first in our strategy for revenue engine?

I have developed our first company strategy for our revenue engine and I have buy-in at the exec level.

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

Whatever makes the sales team more effective! The more you can focus on the tooling and infrastructure that keeps the sales team effective and focused on selling, not admin, the better. Your customer in building a revenue engine is the sales org and if they are losing patience while you build structure around back-office tooling you will lose their support for the future phases of work.

1,378 Views

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What is the best format to create a data dictionary for the company to align everyone on terms so we speak the same language?

I was thinking of creating this as a word doc and sharing.

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

The best data dictionaries live in a system of record connected to the data source itself. Tools like Unity Catalog on Databricks or Alation surface the dictionary and governance on the same platform as the end query. This makes is more efficient for users as well as more transparent to keep updated. That being said, I have found it useful to start with a simple, collaborative tool like Google Sheets to get things started. Use this as your structure for a few months until the necessary informati ...Read More

1,790 Views

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How do I ensure that the revenue dashboard is accurate and updated in a timely manner?

I am working on our first revenue dashboard and I want it to be as accurate as possible. I am building it in Salesforce and using the opportunity stages as percentage indicators towards closed won. This is a new process and I am finding that the sales team is not updating the stages in a timely manner which is impacting the dashboard.

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

The data on this type of dashboard is truly only as good as the input from the sales reps. The most effective way to get this data moving, with accuracy is to hold accountability via the sales leadership team. Opportunity stage progression measurement (aka "deal cycle time") should be a part of a quarterly forecasting motion. To hold sales reps accountable, leaders should work with their team to identify stuck deals that have the potential to make it into the quarter (or any time period) for clo ...Read More

1,792 Views

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What are the long-term metrics that you prioritize reviewing in running your organization?

I believe organizations that I have been a part of spend too much time prioritizing short-term metrics (pipeline, forecast, YoY growth, etc.), and I notice this is especially true when creating deep partnerships with Sales leadership. What do you look at to determine the future health of your organization (ex: new logo wins, # of partner wins and contribution, growth in pull-through services)? How do you balance focus on short and long-term health?

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

New logo lands and partner activity are great measures of long term success. I would also but renewal rates, average deal size, and length of contract terms (e.g. 1 vs 2 vs 5 year deals) as very strong indicators of the long term health of an organization that can easily be measured in the short term.

1,447 Views

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I am in the first phase of the execution of my strategy and we hired a new sales leader who wants to make big changes to our tech stack and rev strategy. What’s the best way to handle this situation?

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

Start with listening. The number 1 advocate and driver of a revenue strategy is the sales leadership team. Take the time to listen to this new sales leader and understand their underlying objectives while trying to keep the conversation agnostic of technology. Understand how they want to orient the team and where they want reps to focus. In my experience in this scenario, the most critical thing to do is NOT come with an agenda to pitch your plan with this new sales leader first. The majority of ...Read More

1,681 Views

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How do I get my marketing leader on board if automation is key to my strategy?

My marketing leader was on board with my strategy and helped me craft it but now that I have started creating process flows in the MAP they are saying they want to own any process changes and decide when they will be implemented.

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

Simple as it seems, I think what really matter is that you present what's in it for them first and foremost. The marketing team will have a very specific POV for what really matters to them, generally some form of attribution of up funnel activities to sales outcomes that helps them to measure ROI. Automation, especially lead routing, is a huge benefit to the Marketing team. Around the ownership factor, I find it best to create clear lines around pieces of the data or tooling architecture that e ...Read More

1,438 Views

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The first phase of my revenue plan involves overhauling the handling of all inbound leads. This will take at least 2 months to implement. What’s the best place to start with this to minimize the pain that the sales and marketing teams will feel?

I was thinking about starting with the lead source fields and routing automation.

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

The hardest thing to do in this type of transition is to force the sales and marketing teams to pivot twice. What I would recommend focusing your energy on is how you can make the current process as stable as possible until you are ready to "flip the switch" on the overhauled version. Even if the current way of doing things is less than ideal, it is what the teams are familiar with and (hopefully) functions to some extent. Forcing a temporary change will likely slow down the lead gen and qualifi ...Read More

2,311 Views

1 request
What are some ways I can leverage partnerships and community sponsorships without a huge budget?

I made a short list of communities and micro influencers that I planned to explore but I just got word that the budget has been drastically cut.

Justin Trana

Databricks Senior Director Sales Operations • 2y

While it generally takes more time, look for ways to find joint go to market opportunities or ways you can partner through a third party to build a relationship. For example, co-sponsorship of an event or partnering as keynote speakers to build mutual brand awareness. If there is something in it for the partner they may be willing to foot the bill for early efforts while your work to demonstrate the value and build up a budget for future collaboration.

2,380 Views

1 request

AMA: Databricks Senior Director Sales Execution, Justin Trana on Revenue Strategy Execution

View AMA Answers

How do I decide which tactical piece to implement first in our strategy for revenue engine?

What is the best format to create a data dictionary for the company to align everyone on terms so we speak the same language?

How do I ensure that the revenue dashboard is accurate and updated in a timely manner?

What are the long-term metrics that you prioritize reviewing in running your organization?

I am in the first phase of the execution of my strategy and we hired a new sales leader who wants to make big changes to our tech stack and rev strategy. What’s the best way to handle this situation?

How do I get my marketing leader on board if automation is key to my strategy?

The first phase of my revenue plan involves overhauling the handling of all inbound leads. This will take at least 2 months to implement. What’s the best place to start with this to minimize the pain that the sales and marketing teams will feel?

What are some ways I can leverage partnerships and community sponsorships without a huge budget?