Justin Trana

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

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

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

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

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