Alex Olley

The most common untapped potential we see in CS & AM Teams @ B2B Software companies Mid-Market+... is how to maximise the value of long-tail customers / unmanaged tiers. With a bit of extra love these customers can frequently add several NRR% points to a company's growth - because they are: 🎯 resilient due to diverse range of vertical, geo's and business models 🎯 rarely using the full range of available products 🎯 not maximising the value of the ones they already use 🎯 likely to never have had a business discussion with an AM or CS Rep 🎯 the MOST likely to be churning due to entirely preventable reasons 🎯 the MOST likely to have been poorly onboarded and activated But there are a combination of factors that actually make it tricky for Mid Market and Enterprise Companies to cater for these lower segments (efficiently): 🔺 It's tricky to deliver dynamic, cross-system insight on each account 🔺 the CS & AM Team rarely have the capacity to address every one 🔺 or the account isn't spending enough to warrant attention (ouch!) 🔺 It can be hard to predict the impact LT initiatives will realise 🔺 responsibility lies across both product and the CS/AM team When I was at Nexmo (now Vonage) in the early days, accounts like Airbnb and (Line) LY Corporation were in these cohorts and graduated to spend millions of dollars EACH month on our APIs. 😱 And today, we talk to other market leaders (Public, Series C+ Orgs) and not one we've spoken to is truly nailing this... In the age of efficient growth, it's vital companies rectify this and get closer to these customers. With Median NRR in Public Saas at 108% the potential is meaningful. ❗ While Saas category saturation means its highly likely that one of your competitors is currently cherry-picking your high-potential long-tail customers and is actively helping them move off your product...

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How do you get AEs to prospect more? Turns out, a simple driver might be...streaks? We added a small, almost accidental feature in AccountAim - a daily activity map, inspired by GitHub’s contribution tracker. It’s become a huge driver of AE prospecting output. 🔥 Reps don’t want to break their streaks 🏆 Visible competition motivates the whole team 📈 Activity leads to impact - reps can easily sense the correlation between activity and opps created when presented visually Combine this with prescriptive targeting, and many of our customers have more than 2x’d AE prospecting activity. It’s no wonder gamification has taken off in all of the consumer apps, it’s actually a game-changer. Credit to Brett, our CTO, for this one!

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🥳 ICP Top Trumps 🥳 Encouraging ICP adoption in the business? Maybe try some custom made Top Trumps?! Fantastic offsite with the brilliant NC Squared team yesterday - where we played some very competitive rounds of Top Trumps to drill their ICP, in alignment with their OKR of "being customer obsessed"! Their product releases have always been animal themed so I followed suit with some loosely animal themed companies 🦒🐢🦀 We then choose some key ICP categories, scored the different options, and after a little Canva design work and ChatGBT inspiration, I had 5 packs of 26 A5 Top Trumps ready to go! Feedback was great (luckily!) and the competitive fun really helped to consolidate the theory learnt that morning! Give it a go! 💥 (And if you're looking for an impressive Lead Distribution tool on Salesforce - check out NC Squared 's Distribution Engine 🤩) #ICP #offsite #persona #marketing

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See the impact on your plan of shifting markets & buyer behaviour, instantly 🤯 Last week I shared a bit of a personal update and mentioned that I'd start revealing some of the functionality within the Clevenue platform - here's one of them. You can use Clevenue to model changes to everything that goes into your plan, comparing it against the plan, or other scenarios & strategies. We call these spaces sandboxes, and in sandboxes you can model: ✅ Changes to deal metrics ✅ Changes to conversion rates ✅ Changes to outbound performace ✅ Changes to marketing performance ✅ Different hiring Strategies ✅ Cuts, changes, rejigs to territories ✅ Too much more to list here This video barely scratches the surface of what it does, super excited to be sharing more over the coming weeks/months 🎉

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A CS Leader we spoke to recently did an amazing job in summarising the critical foundations an #AccountManager or #CustomerSuccessManger needs to grow their accounts and portfolio... Let's start with the goal in mind - what puts you in position to grow an existing B2B Software account? 🟢 Relationship with the right stakeholders 🟢 Clarity on their goals and pain points 🟢 Realised value / tangible ROI 🟢 Positive user experience 🟢 Shared understanding of future value / roadmap alignment ... etc. For an #AM or #CSM to get there can be challenging in practice - there is an art and timing to it that comes with experience. And the pressure of a SaaS business usually adds extra complexity and distortion - so great account owners stick to the basics and get it done through a mix of great timing and well laid foundations: 1. #Relationship 2. Sh*t is not on Fire 🔥 3. #CustomerEducation 4. #Optimization Going into detail on these would be another post, but two quick points - if the account is on fire, do not pass go. And optimization is about optimizing for value - the key to growth. 🔑 The key ingredients... work + timing. 🔴 Bad Example: An Account Manger pivots their attention to a somewhat neglected account with potential, currently on fiiiiire 🔥. After performing internal heroics the #AM, under significant pressure to meet target, pitches the current stakeholder a new product similar companies are buying. After some brief informal discussion in the client org, the idea is 'put on the back burner'. Now, not only is the AM struggling to target, but they have more internal inertia to overcome next time and it will be harder to gain further understanding. 🟢 Great Example: After their account saving heroics an #AM assesses where they are at, now they are out of the woods. Identifying usage and educational gaps, establishing a relationship of trust with multiple people, optimising and building a case for value. Not only working to the clients timetable, but looking for levers to create urgency and establish shorter timelines that align with the client and value. Striking at the right time, with a much clearer understanding of the client's needs and a watertight business case. 💡 Experienced #CSMs and #AMs always take a step back to assess where they are with an account according to these foundations. The great ones can become as important to a client as the product and sustain growth even when there are issues. & Happy Thanksgiving to all 🙏

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Pump.co have partnered with SaaS Certain to offer free 6 month access to SaaS Certain when you sign up and onboard with Pump before the end of Q4. SaaS Certain is a brand new cost saving software that instantly identifies unused SaaS licences and save you from needless overspend. Their early access customers have identified hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted spend, and are already realising their savings! To find out more, and sign up, go to https://lnkd.in/dCxSF-2E Already a Pump customer? You can find out about joining the SaaS Certain early access for 50% off annual subscriptions by registering your interest at https://lnkd.in/dMe-dYRB

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Asking the important questions for a Friday afternoon: “How much Tequila do we have in stock?” 🍹🍸 This is a demo of a WhatsApp agent that not only retrieves pricing and product information from a database, but allows the user to INPUT new data into the system on the fly! Simple tools like this can make a seismic difference to operational efficiency for hospitality and event operators alike. 🤖📱 #ai #whatsappassistants #whatsapp #events #hospitality #stockmanagement

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I compared my financials from the first half of 2023 to 2024. A few things I'm really proud of: • Increased digital product sales 236% • Increased sponsorship 100% • Increased overall revenue 44% • Increased net operating income 53% Diversifying my revenue away from Memberships (without reducing membership revenue) has been a huge goal for 12+ months – so it was great to see that bear fruit! A few steps I took... 1️⃣ Brought sponsorships in-house Instead of working through ad brokers and giving up 20-40% per deal, I now manage all sponsorship ops. It's more work, but now I keep all the revenue. 2️⃣ Changed sponsorship deals I used to be very platform-specific (one team managed the newsletter, another managed the podcast), and now I'm able to combine all three platforms (newsletter, podcast, YouTube) into one package. It means that each package is typically larger and the campaigns more effective. And now instead of trying to fill every bit of inventory per platform, I focus on finding great partners I want to not only promote but ENDORSE. Fewer partners, bigger deals, less stress. 3️⃣ Used open inventory for my own products I'm my own biggest "sponsor" in terms of advertising inventory. I've created and iterated on ads for CreatorHQ (digital product) and The Lab (membership) and now see sales of both via the podcast and newsletter each week. 4️⃣ Launched a new digital product In April, I launched CreatorHQ – the system I built in Notion to manage Creator Science (and then productized). Since April, it's earned more than $88,000. I've never had a product that could serve virtually anyone in my audience, so this has been huge. 5️⃣ Growth in Build A Beloved Membership My Build A Beloved Membership course has had a 29% sales increase from 2023 → 2024. This course continues to drive massive results for students, and word is getting out. 6️⃣ Implemented RightMessage I've built several systems geared towards encouraging website visitors and email subscribers to complete a short survey. At the end of the survey, I make a specific offer to that visitor. Try out the flow yourself: https://lnkd.in/erF8kfYy 7️⃣ Maintained a great membership experience To ensure membership revenue continues to grow, it's been all about continuing to make The Lab a differentiated space for full-time creators. One major change has been introducing an application to ensure that members meet some minimum criteria for being a fit. The average member earns $29,977/mo with their business! 8️⃣ Eliminated Service revenue I've recently eliminated "Services" other than speaking fees. I used to enable booking time 1:1 with me, but I decided I'd rather forego that revenue and redirect that time to VIP members of The Lab. – By the way, most of our expenses are people: • Salaries + benefits for my wife and me • Small team of freelancers (ongoing) • Small number of freelancers (special projects) Outside of that, basically just software.

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RevOps leaders, this is the playbook you’ve been waiting for. In a world flooded with content that often lacks substance, the RevOps Docs for Startups by LeanScale are a breath of fresh air. This guide isn’t just another rundown of the basics—it’s an in-depth, yet easily approachable, guide to the rapidly evolving RevOps landscape, crafted from real insights gathered across 50+ hyper-growth companies. Huge shoutout to my longtime buddy Joe Zaghloul and the team at LeanScale for putting in the thought and care to make something truly impactful. The format alone—structured like API docs, complete with a changelog—makes it incredibly usable and memorable. #RevOps leaders and #GTM teams will find it packed with playbooks that feel almost built-in to the process. If you’re scaling a B2B SaaS, you’ll want to bookmark this one. It’s hands-on, actionable, and unlike anything else out there. https://lnkd.in/ekrUJAW5

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Learn about driving value selling across the sales team

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Let's cut to the chase: your GTM strategy is only as good as the KPIs driving it. Breaking down silos in SaaS isn't optional—it's essential for dominating the market. But here's the kicker: most teams are stuck measuring the wrong metrics. Want to know which KPIs actually fuel cross-functional power and supercharge your GTM results? I've got a list proven in the trenches of high-growth SaaS companies. Heads up: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV) are just scratching the surface. Want to elevate your GTM game? Drop "SILOS BE GONE" in the comments, and I'll reveal the top 5 KPIs I’m leveraging right now to push my team to the next level. #SaaS #GTMStrategy #RevOps #BusinessGrowth

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There are some interesting insights in the Staircase AI "state of churn" report - I've done a quick first pass and pulled out some bits that you might find interesting, have a look at the post on CS-X.io. I'll be posting more insights over the next week so you don't have to 😉 The bottom line here is that you need to focus on identifying, tracking and delivering on customer outcomes and do it in a visible and meaningful way to the customer. #customersuccess #outcomes #retention #saas

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We'll be answering the three BIG Value Selling questions on our webinar this week 👀 On Thursday we will be sharing the first ever Value Selling benchmarks based on research we did with Tom Pisello & April Morley from Genius Drive. Over 100 B2B tech companies participated - sharing answers to some of the biggest questions in Value Selling. You can register here: https://lnkd.in/esQaxEJj It's worth signing up even if you can't attend live as we'll be sharing the research with all those that register. Can't wait to share the results! #valueselling #customervaluemanagement #businessvalueengineering

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It's ironic that this great piece surfaced in my inbox today by Christoph Janz. https://lnkd.in/dHP6KNQ7 Firstly, he highlights one of the best vertical SAAS companies built right here in Canada - I remember when Alex Norman first highlighted them in our TechTo community. You can build anywhere. Secondly, building in vertical SAAS is more nuanced. You can build revenues YOY but when you're going for structural change in an industry there it's more like figuring out a Rubix cube. Yes, you can release features that drive revenue but they may not contribute to building out a MOAT. Lastly, I fully agree that TAM is often misunderstood. Your product roadmap eventually expands horizontally within that vertical space, and I see this in the product I am building in VARAi.

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#EventSales go so much beyond just booking rooms and processing payments! It’s actually all about managing client communication, coordinating logistics, and building lasting relationships. However, far to many systems only focus on the transactional side, forcing teams to use disconnected tools for everything else. So - meet Clock's new Sales & Event Management System. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/d5nfg2M6 #SalesAndEvent #MICE #ConfereenceSystem #BanquetingSystem #CRM #SalesEvent #ClockPMS

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A first meeting, discovery call or whatever you want to call it can make or break a deal. I've analysed more discovery calls than I can count. I've checked the data and it all comes back to this. Having a repeatable framework that encourages good 2-way dialogue. 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁... Something that the AI functionality isn't picking up from our favourite tools is the importance of addressing your Prospect's core belief systems. It's about psychology. Want to increase your chances of converting your meeting into qualified pipeline? Well...if I was you I'd check out the guide using the link in the comments! #symbioticsale #enablement #salesleadership #GoToMarketStrategy #buyersworld ……………………………………. First time seeing my posts? I help B2B tech companies remove blindspots that are slowing down their growth in less than 10 weeks. For 50% less than you’ll normally invest and without requiring hours of your time - DM me to learn more.

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The latest SERIES B round sizes for SaaS and tech companies. If you'd like the full report that will be sent on Wednesday, join my newsletter below with 68K of your SaaS colleagues. I spent a couple of hours updating my latest fundraising report. Report includes: - Pre-seed to Series F round sizes - 25% quartile, median, 75% quartile round sizes - Employee counts from Pre-seed to Series F - 25% quartile, median, 75% quartile employee counts - Trends back to 2021 See you soon! #SaaS #CFO #fundraising #SeriesB

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Our coaches here at MySalesCoach are some of the best in the game and can't get better. Wrong. Well certainly the second part of that statement is. What makes us drink our own champagne? It's the hunger to want to deliver exceptional experiences for the teams we work with and get even better results. It's the growth mentality that we expect from our customers (so why shouldn't we demand it from ourselves?) An example of this are the regular 'Coach Enablement' sessions we deliver, conducted by our Head of Coaching John Richardson. Our coaches turn up and learn how to be better coaches. They watch recordings of their coaches in action. Discuss and share ideas for improvement, best practices, and opportunities for growth. I watched one of our new coaches Jennifer Hicks absolutely nail a role-play in her first ever Coach Enablement session (talk about putting yourself out there!) How many external sales development partners invest time actually working on their craft to become better at what they do? My hunch is not many.

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This is WILD! 🏋‍♀️ 7 day numbers from one of Order Editing's recent launches: 🏌‍♂️ 352 tickets solved 🥂 $4329 earned in upsell revenue 🍾 🍾 🍾 $1760 in cost saving So for each order edit this merchant makes $15.71 in upsell revenue The app has returned 15x the monthly license fee in 1 week DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR! #shopify #ecommerce #customerexperience

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