Leanne Eckelberg Arsenault

Colorado founders -- the next Thunderview CEO Dinners event (Oct 3rd) is focused on getting your first sales as CEO and then growing your sales team. As Natty Zola said at our last dinner, revenue is the best form of funding, and it's up to the CEO to make those initial sales. If you're struggling to get leads and close deals, you're in luck. Our featured speaker is Scott Schnaars, who has sold and build sales teams everywhere from early stage startups like Badgeville and ReSci (Retention Science), mid-stage companies like Firstup (formerly Dynamic Signal) and Cloudinary, and massive companies like Yahoo and Webex. This is a highly tactical conversation, and you'll leave with actionable steps to find and close leads the following day. Additionally, for founders who are moving beyond CEO-led sales, Scott will discuss best practices for hiring and managing your earliest salespeople. If this is your first Thunderview CEO Dinner, please reserve a seat at https://lnkd.in/et5zZShA If you've been to previous dinners, head straight to the tickets page (check your email or DM me) and grab your ticket as this is going to be another sellout crowd. Thunderview CEO Dinner October 3rd, 6p - 9p Mercury Cafe in Denver 🤘 Even if you aren't coming / can't come to the dinner, please please please like and reshare this post if you are in Denver. I'm fighting the "you've shared this link before" LinkedIn distribution penalty. 🤘

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Ryan Westwood has been involved in 100 companies as an operator, investor, board member and advisor. He grew his last company to over $650m in revenue. His current company has quickly become THE RevOps platform. He’s played a big role in putting the Utah tech scene on the map. Ryan dropped so much knowledge in an hour. It’s impossible to summarize it all… but I promise it’s worth the listen. Ryan Westwood, Chairman and CEO at Fullcast, The Go-to-Market Cloud, is my guest for this week’s episode of Not Another CEO Podcast. I was introduced to Ryan by Nick Cromydas. On our first 30 minute call I ended up taking two pages of notes. Ryan’s obviously had amazing success over the course of his career. But what I appreciate the most is how thoughtful and deliberate he is about how to build a business and the ability he has to boil his strategies and tactics down into easy to understand nuggets. My highlights from this episode are: Taking 6 months to get into CEO shape - After selling his last company, Simplus, Ryan spent time investing, serving on boards and advising companies. Basically everything but operating a company. When he and his co-founders bought FullCast and he took over as CEO he had to get back in CEO shape. Everything from the hours he had to work, the number of decisions he had  to make on a daily basis, the dynamics with his family, his own health, really everything. Good reminder… the CEO job is hard. Talking to 60 RevOps leaders in two quarters - To understand his ICP and ideal buyer persona, Ryan met with 60 RevOps leaders in his first two quarters as CEO of FullCast. He learned so much about the persona he was building for, the way they think, what they’re responsible for, the challenges they face. By the end of those two quarters he felt like he was one of them. It’s such a simple thing, talk to your customers, but I don’t think founders/CEOs do this enough, both in the number of customers and the frequency. The power of the dream team - Ryan’s three co-founders are people he’s worked with before… for over a decade. He talked about how he’s been keeping a spreadsheet of every person he’s interacted with over the course of his career that he wanted to work with again and when it came time to recruit his founding team he knew exactly who he was going to approach and he was able to assemble the dream team. There is so much more: the power in a cap table, running a board meeting, product roadmap prioritization, defining an ICP, missing hip hop when he moved from Philly to Provo, why we’re seeing so many success stories coming out of Utah and more. Here are the links to the full episode: YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ey3AKu5w Spotify: https://lnkd.in/emKyjsBF Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eyXUJHvn If you enjoy the episode, please like and subscribe on your favorite platforms and share with your networks.

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🎙️ Episode 5 of The Vertical SaaS Podcast is out today and we're switching it up! Joining us this week is Eli Bozeman, Assistant VP of Product at SageSure - easily one of the coolest guys in Insurtech 😎 And it's an exciting moment for the podcast to welcome our new Co-Host Ben Brown to the show 🙌🏻. With Ben on board, expect fresh perspectives that bridge the gap between product and engineering leadership, offering actionable insights and takeaways into building scalable solutions. This episode dives deep into the evolution of Insurtech 1.0 to 2.0. We get fantastic insights from two leaders who share their hard-earned lessons on growth, innovation, and building high-performing product & engineering teams. We cover: 💡Tackling growth challenges in the insurance industry. 💡The critical role of accuracy and collaboration in tech and product teams. 💡AI’s transformative impact on insurance processes. 💡 The delicate balance of innovation, speed, and culture in scaling teams. Ben’s expertise as a cross-functional tech leader and Eli’s journey in product leadership make this conversation for those in my network, on the tech leadership side of things, one you don't want to miss. Whether you’re in Insurtech, or another vertical within SaaS, this episode is packed with actionable insights. Here's a clip below of Eli talking about how the insurance industry in some way is ahead of the curve with AI solving real-world problems! Check it out and catch the full episode in the comments below 👇 Also - a big shout out to 1 Mill Street for the brilliant space and podcast studio as always. The vSaaS Podcasts base camp 🏠 .

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As we move deeper into 2024, tracking the right metrics is critical for scaling a SaaS business. This insightful guide outlines the top metrics to watch and includes valuable benchmarks to keep you on track. Whether you’re focused on ARR, CAC, or CLTV, understanding where your company stands is key to driving sustainable growth. Check out the article for a comprehensive look into the latest SaaS trends and metrics! #SaaS #BusinessGrowth #Metrics

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With Nava, Karbon went from a 6% benefits renewal increase to a 9% DECREASE, while improving their benefits offering. Check out the case study here: https://lnkd.in/gRpaj3s8 Another example of #fixhealthcare in practice :)

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Every conversation I've had lately with SMB owners and CEOs has a common theme - frustration and concern over lackluster sales results. Whether it's stalled pipelines, missed revenue targets, or underperforming sales teams, the disappointment is real. And with Q4 officially beginning tomorrow, the pressure to turn things around is mounting! With only 94 days left in the year, it's critical to turn things around and maximize revenue. Over the next 4 days, I will share simple steps you can take to meet your revenue goals. Here are the first 4 simple steps you can take 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 to drive Q4 revenue: 1. 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦: Make sure your team is laser-focused on closing. Prioritize high-value opportunities and remove distractions. Every minute counts in Q4. 2. 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲: Ramp up the number of touchpoints—calls, emails, or meetings—your sales team is making. Q4 is a time to go all-in on sales activity. More conversations create more opportunities, and with limited time left, every engagement counts. 3. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐐4 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐳 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦: Motivate your sales team by implementing a sales blitz with incentives, such as bonuses or recognition for those who close the most deals or bring in the highest revenue before year-end. This boosts morale and gives your team extra motivation to push hard in the final stretch. 4. 𝐑𝐞-𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬: Don't overlook those prospects that went cold earlier in the year. Sometimes, a simple follow-up at the right time can reignite interest, especially if their priorities have shifted as year-end approaches. Consider offering limited-time discounts or value-added incentives to create urgency. There's still time to hit your numbers, but only if you act with urgency. Let's finish the year strong. #B2BSales #Q4 #AcceleratetoWin #SalesSuccess #CEO

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How did ZoomInfo Copilot help Account Manager Dave Howell close a $195,000 deal? 🤔 From surfacing insights about customer sentiment and product interest to identifying a C-level decision-maker who helped seal the deal, Copilot empowered Dave with everything he needed to win his client's business. Watch the full story below. ⬇️ #ZoomInfoCopilot

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Are you spending enough time with your customers? Kyle Clements of Quipli shared this insight on the podcast: "If you spend enough time with customers, their pain points will bubble up. You want to build a product with a painkiller, not a vitamin." At Quipli, Kyle focused relentlessly on understanding customer needs—even when they couldn't articulate them. That obsession led to their success. 🎧 Hear more about Kyle’s journey and how you can apply his lessons to your SaaS business: https://lnkd.in/gi7DwZCR Are you a SaaS founder? What’s the biggest challenge you've overcome in the last 6 months? Comment below or, better yet, come share your story on SaaS Founder Stories 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gwBw-zqm #CustomerInsights #SaaSLeadership #StartupGrowth #ProductDevelopment #CustomerFirst

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When I chat with sales leaders about their team using ChatAE to standardize their desired call prep & post-call processes, I hear one of two VERY DIFFERENT things: 1. "Oh this would be great for our SMB/Commercial team who are doing tons of calls each day and the reps are more junior OR 2. "Our Enterprise team would eat this up, they're doing tons of manual research into their top accounts and anything that can helpn with that is super valuable" Is this a good thing or does it mean we aren't clear enough about who ChatAE is for? I think it's a good thing The reality is different segments of sales teams have differetn reasons for standardizing call prep and post-call processes For an SMB/Commercial team doing tons of calls each day, with mostly junior reps, being able to standardize best practices and do things like call research, discovery call prep, follow-ups and next steps planning the RIGHT WAY is hugely valuable For an Enterprise team, each account is GOLD. Any edge, and I mean ANY EDGE, you can gather from pre-call account or prospect Research is hugely valuable: either for breaking into the account or being 10x smarter in your first sales interaction I think we'll continue to see both SMB and Enterprise sales teams adopt AI tools that help with call prep/research and other admin post-call tasks. They'll just have different reasons

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I can't believe it was almost 6 years ago when I started doing the podcast circuit talking about how RevOps was needed because there would be a fundamental change in the way SaaS works and the economy. Here's what I got right in these early conversations, this one with Dan Martell. 🧾 Current metrics that SaaS companies measure themselves on aren't true signals of the business's health. Looking at 3VC and effective use of capital was and now is the future. 🧾 Using industry benchmarks for your tech segment is more critical than using VC numbers for only high growth as you'll need both a day-to-day strategy in case you aren't a high-growth unicorn (which you are not) or def. in case you are (which again, you are not) 🧾 The future of outbound is personalized at scale, meaning real personalization is at the root of your outreach strategy. The key is the right to offer a message tied to the contact lifecycle. We just implemented a version of this at TrustLayer in 2024. 🧾 How RevOps, more than any other function, boosts efficient revenue gains, sometimes 36%. I saw this in clients when I was the CEO of Go Nimbly. Made this happen as CRO of TrustLayer - as we grow with well-run revops costs stay more fixed and produce more dollars out of each employee. For those of you who don't get it. This is the "check" emoji 🧾. The link to the original podcast is below.

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Plenty of GTM math is getting more and more complicated, but one metric has always served me well by keeping it dead simple. Shoot for 3X pipeline coverage, 4X if you want to err on the conservative side. That's it. Anything under that means you're likely leaving too much good pipeline on the shelf. Anything over that implies either a qualification problem or a conversion problem. And that is NOT a sales problem, because you all own that together as part of a unified go-to-market team. The problem(s) could be any of a number of things - lead quality, imprecise buying journey mapping, sales process management, buying committee multi-threading, etc. I imagine even this simple math will stir up some debate for you internally. Better to have that conversation now in pre-fiscal year planning than mid-year when it's harder to course-correct.

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SaaS Leaders this one is for you: --> Struggling with lead quality? 🎯 --> It's like fishing in a sea of sardines when you need a whale. 🐋 --> I specialize in getting you the right fish—er, leads—on a call. Let's chat if you're tired of chasing sardines. 🐟✨ DM me directly or if we are not connected comment below.

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Hey everyone! I recently met PIA THOMPSON ⚖️, and she knows how fractional legal services should be done! Please connect with her to talk about your business' legal needs. #FractionalWorks

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Discovery Don’t #8 Don’t Communicate Discovery Info Throughout the Team As a prospect, imagine investing several hours in discovery discussions with a vendor, only to have the vendor IGNORE the information you provided. Instead, they show you features or entire modules you TOLD them you aren’t interested in. They show you a list of hundreds of reports, but you only specified needing a handful. How would you feel? (I’d move on to another vendor who actually listens!) Despite how incredibly insulting this is to the prospect, I see this happen far too frequently! Why does this happen? Several possible reasons: -      Discovery information was not communicated within the selling team and the person or people delivering the demo resorted to their best guess or “standard overview” demo. -      The person (or people) presenting the demo was told by management to include certain capabilities in every demo. These are often identified as “our key differentiators…” -      Discovery information is HABITUALLY  ignored in demos. Hard to believe, but it happens! In complex sales involving multiple players from both the prospect and vendor, it is even more important to communicate effectively. Great Demo! Situation Slides are a terrific currency for passing discovery information from person to person and team to team. Hospital Analogy: Regardless of the diagnosis, everyone in this hospital is treated for appendicitis! Solution? Execute crisp and complete information handoffs between team members. Review and discuss discovery notes prior to any demo to reach agreement on what to show and what not to show! Bonus: Communicate that same information to your implementation/professional services folks and your customer success team! This is #8 from The Dirty Dozen of Discovery Don’ts – you can find all twelve here! https://lnkd.in/evUnp8YV You can find the full set of DO’s and DON’Ts in Doing Discovery: https://lnkd.in/g28PXx55

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Not all "signals" are actually signals ☝ Signal based selling is a hotttt button item right now 🔥 A lot of sales dev and marketing teams are investing money in tools right now to help with that but haven't laid the ground work to be successful. A few things to remember if you're thinking about investing resources in leveling up your signal approach. - Not every "signal" is actually a sign that a company could be in the market for your product or service. For example if you have an outbound team targeting large enterprise orgs a "hiring" signal doesn't mean squat...these sized companies are literally ALWAYS backfilling. So that doesn't mean that "oh look they're hiring more SDRs, which means they're growing, which means they need my product" WRONG...you need to peel another layer back to see if its growth - Signals without action are just noise... if you're investing money into surfacing signals you need to have a cohesive plan on how to action these signals. Lower tier signals maybe get a marketing nurture verses a high tier signals that should be put in a highly personalized sequence by a human... I know Sara Angell 💎 and Grace Feeney feels strongly about this one 👆 - Have a process in place to collect as much feedback as possible on the quality of leads being generated or the types of conversations that are happening off of the signal. This will help you understand whether you need to double down or lower the value of a certain signal.

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Last Quarter: "Customer loves us. ❤️ Definitely renewing." Renewal: "Churning? WTF Happened? The Silent Deal Killer If the champion that helped buy the software leaves mid contract, your deal is at risk. The End User isn't the champion by default. The mix up happens when AEs sell with the Champaion and CSMs often work with the End Users. Keeping Champions engaged through QBRs and most importantly, tracking when they leave the company, will help you improve deals. There are SaaS options to track customer/user job movements that you can implement. But you can always do it through discovery and good CS work. Know who the deal champion is, know if they leave and flag for Champion (re) Discovery when they do.

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One thing I’ve noticed about small businesses: missed calls = missed revenue. I’ve been digging into how small businesses handle customer inquiries, and it’s surprising how many leads slip through the cracks simply because of outdated appointment systems. Think about it: a roofing company misses three calls on a busy day. That’s not just a few missed conversations—it’s thousands of dollars in potential revenue, gone. The solution? Streamlined systems that make it easy for customers to connect, schedule, and follow up without relying on someone always being available to pick up the phone. This isn’t just a tech problem—it’s an opportunity. In a world where customer experience matters more than ever, the businesses that solve this will win.

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