Mark Roberge Roberge says a truly AI-native sales team triples selling time, from 25% to 75% of the week.
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Mark Roberge Roberge said on The Science of ScalingThe same test says an AI-native team should double the rep-to-manager ratio from about 7:1 to 14:1, with reps averaging $500K a quarter instead of $250K.ListenSales team, hiring & comp
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Mark Roberge's test for a truly AI-native sales team is that selling time triples, the rep-to-manager ratio doubles, and output per rep doubles. Listen
Selling time, the share of the week a rep spends in front of buyers or customers, goes from 25% to 75% once admin, CRM work, prep and pipeline reviews are removed. The rep-to-manager ratio goes from about 7:1 to 14:1. Reps who have averaged $250K a quarter would average $500K a quarter.
“Number one, selling time goes from 25% to 75%.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales team, hiring & comp Link to this
Today's AI is a better sales coach than a human manager, which is why manager span of control can double. Listen
Coaching is one of the most time-consuming parts of a sales manager's job. He argues AI can review 70 calls rather than two, and can learn from past coaching sessions which kind of coaching each rep responds to best.
“But today's AI is a better coach than humans. They can look across 70 calls, not just two.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales team, hiring & comp Link to this
Mark Roberge is encouraging companies to drop the SDR, AM and CS roles in favour of one role, without cutting the people in them. Listen
He traces sales specialization to Aaron Ross and Predictable Revenue at Salesforce, and says many companies over-specialized last decade because it was in vogue rather than right for their context. He argues that handoffs are inefficient for both customer and organization, and that AI lets one person handle all the roles. Consolidating the roles does not mean getting rid of the people.
“So I've been talking and inspiring a lot of companies to get rid of the concept of an sdr, an AM and a cs. It doesn't mean you're getting rid of those people. It just means we're going to a single role.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales team, hiring & comp Link to this
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Brad Scott said on Revenue BuildersEnterprise software companies will employ more salespeople in five years, not fewer. Glean already has more SDRs, and he expects flatter organizations where AEs manage teams of agents.ListenSales team, hiring & comp
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Brad predicts enterprise software companies will employ more salespeople in five years, with flatter organizations and AEs managing teams of agents. Listen
He says Glean and most of his peers have more SDRs now, not fewer, and that as AI gets cheaper more work gets done, which he links to Jevons paradox. He says the common thought pattern at Glean's Work AI Institute is that organizations will be flatter, with AEs managing agents that do the legwork and drudgery.
“I actually think it's going to be more. I think it's going to be more people.”
Listen to the episode Episode Sales team, hiring & comp Link to this
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Anastasios Angelopoulos said on GritArena reached $100M in revenue in eight months while growing from roughly 15-20 people to 75-80, because AI means headcount no longer has to scale linearly with revenue.ListenMetrics & finance
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Arena reached $100M in revenue in eight months, growing from roughly 15-20 people to 75-80. Listen
Angelopoulos said the company got to $100M in eight months, and that headcount went from about 15-20 eight months earlier to about 75-80 now. The host's introduction puts it at $100M annualized revenue this June at a $1.7B valuation. He added that revenue goals keep being set and beaten.
“How quickly did you get to that 100 million? Eight months. How big is the company now? People wise about 75, 80. And how big was it eight months ago? Eight months ago it was probably like 15 to 20.”
Listen to the episode Episode Metrics & finance Link to this
AI lets a company support very high revenue without scaling headcount linearly, and Arena has avoided doing so entirely. Listen
He frames the scaling question as putting the right people in the right place to make great products and attracting top talent to a small team. G&A fills in as needed. Lawyers, for example, scale with the number of contracts, not with raw revenue. He describes the product as running on its own, so his hiring addresses product scaling (infrastructure, abuse reduction, enterprise) rather than revenue scaling.
“AI has made it easier to run a very high revenue company with fewer people resources. So we don't need to scale people linearly with revenue. Fortunately, we've avoided doing that entirely.”
Listen to the episode Episode Hiring & team building Link to this
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Bob London said on [Un]ChurnedSwap 'would you renew?' for asking customers to rate, from 1 to 10, how they'd react to competitor outreach. CS leaders call it their best churn predictor, and answers average close to seven.ListenRetention & customer success
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Ask customers to rate from 1 to 10 how they'd react to outreach from a competitor; London says multiple CS leaders call it their best predictor of churn risk. Listen
London's renewal-stage alternative: 'If you got a call or outreach from one of our competitors tomorrow, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you react?' A 1 means ignoring or deleting it; a 10 means making a point of getting back to them for any reason. The customer only has to give a number, and you don't name a specific competitor. London says he came up with the question by accident and that numerous CS leaders have told him it is the best risk predictor they have. He also says the answers have more to do with candor than with competition.
“Let's just say you got a call or an outreach from one of our competitors tomorrow, on A scale of 1 to 10, how would you react? A 1 is you would ignore it, delete the message.”
Listen to the episode Episode Retention & customer success Link to this
The average answer to the competitor-outreach question is close to seven, and London says it usually doesn't signal intent to switch. Listen
London says that across roughly 3,000 discovery conversations and his teaching, customers answer close to seven on average, which scares most teams. His recommended response to a seven or eight is to thank the customer for their candor and ask what's behind the number. The typical answer, as he summarizes it, is that customers are not shopping around; as one person using one solution for one use case, they see competitors as a source of insight on other capabilities and best practices.
“It's close to a seven, but most teams are scared by that.”
Listen to the episode Episode Retention & customer success Link to this
Asking 'if your renewal were tomorrow, would you renew?' puts the customer on the spot and gets you little. Listen
Schachter offered the renewal-tomorrow question as what most people, and LinkedIn, would suggest. London rejects it. In his view it puts the customer on the spot and amounts to asking them to tell you what you want to hear or to confront you with the truth.
“I know that people use that question. You're putting the customer on the spot. You're saying, tell me something I want to hear.”
Listen to the episode Episode Retention & customer success Link to this
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Matt Allison said on ToplineAt TrendKite, $2K-$5K ARR accounts churned heavily while $30K-plus accounts had best-in-class retention, which is why Handraise is selling to enterprise from day one.ListenRetention & customer success
2 sources
At TrendKite, the smallest accounts churned heavily while the $30K+ tier retained best in class. Listen
Matt said TrendKite tiered its accounts from tier one to tier five by revenue band. Its tier five accounts, which were around $2K to $5K ARR deals, had very high churn, while its tier one accounts at $30K plus had best-in-class retention. This experience is why Handraise is trying to sell to enterprise accounts from day one.
“our Tier 5 accounts, which were our call them like our 2 to 5000 ARR deals had a very, very high rate of churn. And then our tier one, which were 30k plus, we had best in class retention around those.”
Listen to the episode Episode Retention & customer success Link to this
Handraise is selling to enterprise from day one, aiming to command $30K+ checks from large companies. Listen
Matt said the core problem is building a product well positioned for enterprise accounts, selling to them from the start, and building something valuable enough to command a $30K-plus check. He contrasted this with TrendKite, which sold many small deals and ended up with customers whose businesses and demands differed from enterprise companies. He described it as a deliberate choice to skip the SMB trap.
“how do we sell to those enterprise accounts day one and build something that's valuable enough where, you know, we can demand a, or command like a, you know, 30k plus check from those types of companies?”
Listen to the episode Episode Strategy & market Link to this
From 6 episodes that week, checked against their transcripts.
Most discussed this week: Strategy & marketRetention & customer successAI