Gain a Performance Force Multiplier | Saleslove On Tour Keynote 2024

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

David Obrand: Welcome, everybody. Today, as you saw from the agenda, we have an action-packed day. Let’s jump right into it.

It’s been a challenging couple of years for all of us on revenue teams and in go-to-market organizations. It’s a stark contrast from the years prior. Today, we find ourselves in a new economic environment—one that we didn’t have to navigate from around 2015 to 2021.

With rising interest rates, global conflicts, and the pandemic, the landscape we operate on every day has fundamentally changed. As a result, everything feels a lot tighter. When we talk to customers and prospects worldwide, we hear a consistent theme: it’s harder to close deals, harder to find repeatability and consistency, and we’re unsure how to reach the other side.

While we’re all facing economic headwinds, another fundamental shift is occurring—our buyers. They are more digitally empowered than ever before, creating dynamics that are challenging for older systems to handle but advantageous for newer ones. Digitally empowered buyers are more independent in their research. Analysts report that buyers complete 80% of their due diligence before even engaging with sellers. That means many prospects are researching our products, our companies, and even us—without our knowledge. We need to discover these prospects before our competition does.

Moreover, cold calls are no longer the best way to engage. Yet, statistics show that buyers, after conducting their research, often purchase from the first company they engage with meaningfully. This places immense pressure on us to understand what’s happening in the market. We’ll delve into this today, and it’s a key reason behind our acquisition of Drift earlier this year.

We’re dealing with significant economic challenges—rising interest rates, tighter budgets, and disrupted supply chains. According to McKinsey and Bain, manufacturing is staying siloed and spending less. In the communications space, companies are not integrating wireless and broadband units like they used to before interest rates increased. But how do we turn these challenges into advantages?

The tougher economy and more demanding buyers create what we call the “great growth squeeze,” making it difficult to achieve predictable revenue growth. In a low-interest environment, we were rewarded with predictability. But without it, many of us now feel the pain of inconsistency. So, how do we align our assets to overcome this growth squeeze?

We’re seeing some stark statistics: 89% of executives believe we’re in a period of extended volatility and uncertainty. Over 50% of companies have lowered their revenue growth expectations, and 55% of buyers say that buying cycles are lengthening. Less than half of B2B sales leaders believe their reps possess the skills needed to succeed in today’s market.

In this environment, our CRO often speaks about “durable revenue.” What does that mean? We’ll explore that today, but fundamentally, it’s about moving beyond point solutions. We need to rethink our go-to-market strategy holistically—how we engage with prospects and customers. Most of us have invested heavily over the past five years, especially during COVID, to keep our teams and customers connected. But now, many of us are burdened with tech stacks built for a different era—one of low interest rates and fast customer acquisition, not maximizing lifetime value.

Today, the market is more competitive and consultative. Buyers are cautious with their spending. Securing a deal now requires four to five times the effort compared to before. Customer acquisition costs are high, with payback periods stretching beyond four years, a timeframe that used to be 18 months to two years. One of our biggest opportunities as revenue leaders is to maximize our sellers’ time with prospects and customers, equipping them with the tools to excel in these interactions.

So, how do we make this shift? With limited resources, we have to adapt quickly. But despite these headwinds, there are also promising tailwinds. Having spent my career in various revenue roles, I’ve seen similar shifts before. Between 2001 and 2008, we emerged from a downturn with new tools like SaaS and the iPhone, which transformed the market. I believe we’re at a similar inflection point now. Companies that leverage these tailwinds can emerge from this downturn at a faster pace than their competitors. Many of the greatest companies were born out of the 2008 crisis, following a pattern of success during tough times.

However, some companies make critical mistakes in downturns—hibernating or oscillating between strategies. Winning companies focus on first principles: what must be true for their business to thrive? They invest in those areas—in tools, processes, and people.

Now, let’s hear from three customers on their journey. Please welcome Vinny, LB, and Andres.

David Obrand: We have a tight schedule, but this session is really important, so let's start with introductions. Vinny, would you go first?

Vinny Policino: Sure thing. Pleasure to meet everybody. My name is Vinny Policino. I’m the co-founder and Vice President of Revenue Technology and Services with a company called scaleMatters.

LB Wiesenberg: Hi, everyone. I’m LB Wiesenberg, the Senior Director of Sales Operations and Enablement at OUTFRONT Media, an out-of-home advertising publisher.

Andres Quijano: My name is Andres Quijano, and I work for Envirosuite as a Sales Manager for the Americas. We manage emissions around aviation and anything related to the environment.

David Obrand: Wonderful. Thank you all for joining us today. Let’s dive in. Vinny, when you think about the changes in the economy and shifting buyer behaviors, how are you adapting your go-to-market approach?

Vinny Policino: We’ve been focusing more on a “land and expand” approach—getting new customers in with simpler solutions and then upselling or cross-selling them. We’re also looking to form more partnerships where we can be synergetic with other organizations.

David Obrand: Interesting. LB, how about you?

LB Wiesenberg: One of our biggest challenges right now is replacing a key vertical. After the actors' and writers' strikes, the entertainment business didn’t return to advertising with us in the same way. OUTFRONT is everywhere—Times Square, subway ads in New York, billboards along highways, and bus ads. But the bus advertising in LA, a significant part of our business, never bounced back. So, we’re adapting by being more iterative—seeing what works in other markets and replicating it in LA to recover that business.

David Obrand: Interesting. And Andres, what’s your perspective?

Andres Quijano: For us, it’s all about the people—how do we scale quickly? As a rapidly growing company, it’s a challenge to onboard people and ensure they adopt common practices. We’ve focused on creating repeatable processes to help with that.

David Obrand: Andres, you mentioned at dinner last night how you’re using Salesloft for enablement and education. Can you share more?

LB Wiesenberg: We use Salesloft in a few ways. We created our own cadence to onboard new AEs, so they experience Salesloft as a customer before their training day. This helped our team understand the platform better. We also use it to guide new AEs, showing them what good prospecting and customer nurturing look like.

David Obrand: So, you’re helping them build good habits from the start?

LB Wiesenberg: Exactly. It’s about showing them best practices and getting the right messaging out from day one.

David Obrand: And I heard there’s an incentive structure tied to this?

LB Wiesenberg: Yes, next year, our President’s Club competition will include KPIs beyond just quota attainment. One KPI will be having contacts for all accounts inside Salesloft. It’s about being efficient, not just hitting quota.

David Obrand: Andres, how is Salesloft helping you overcome your challenges?

Andres Quijano: A big part has been conversation intelligence. It helps us identify what high-performing reps are doing differently. It allows our team to learn from those successful calls, speeding up onboarding and improving overall performance.

David Obrand: Vinny, how are you leveraging data with Salesloft and AI?

Vinny Policino: We focus on data hygiene—ensuring that what goes into our system is clean, so our analysts can provide accurate insights. We want to identify the best-performing processes and fix any issues quickly, whether it’s with people or automation.

David Obrand: And LB, how does data play a role in your strategy?

LB Wiesenberg: Salesloft helps us identify what’s working across our 38 markets. For example, a strategy that works in Columbus might not be known to our Miami team. With Salesloft, we can share these successes internally. We’re also using AI to identify white space and build lead lists more efficiently.

David Obrand: Andres, how are you using AI and workflow to drive outcomes?

Andres Quijano: It’s all about keeping our salespeople focused. We use rhythm tools to ensure reps follow through with their tasks—like sending agendas and following up based on conversation intelligence. This has led to more consistent engagement and better results.

David Obrand: Fantastic. And last question—any best practices you’ve found, even if it took some trial and error?

Vinny Policino: We try to walk in our sales reps’ shoes and remove administrative tasks. For example, if a rep updates a call disposition, we automatically update Salesforce and their cadence. It saves time and reduces tool-switching.

LB Wiesenberg: We’ve been very intentional with our enablement efforts. We even use conversation intelligence for cross-office learning, letting reps listen to successful calls from other markets.

Andres Quijano: Early on, we created cadences that reps didn’t adopt. So, we went back to basics—tracking calls, emails, and activity. Eventually, reps saw the value in using cadences themselves, leading to better adoption.

David Obrand: Thank you all for joining us today and sharing your insights. Let’s dive into the product demo now. A huge round of applause, everyone!