Drift

It's annual planning time, so we decided to throw it back to one of our earliest episodes all about the annual planning process at Salesforce.com. On this episode, we go back in time – to 2012, to be exact – when special guest Bala Balabaskaran first joined Salesforce as Vice President of Go to Market Technology and Operations. At the time, Salesforce was a $2 billion dollar startup going through hypergrowth. Sean and Bala talk about Salesforce's operating model and what it was like to be in charge of the go to market planning process at a large company with a startup mentality. Want to know Bala's step by step approach for building out the annual planning process at Salesforce? Listen to the full episode. Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on Twitter @Seany_Biz @HYPERGROWTH_pod

#throwback Inside Salesforce’s Annual Planning Process with Bala Balabaskaran (aka The Guy Who Built It)

To all the marketing and sales operations pros out there deep in the trenches, we know your work isn’t always glamorous. And maybe it seems like no one cares about your Salesforce hack or that Marketo program you built from scratch at 2 in the morning. But we're here to change all that. Because without you, there would be no hypergrowth companies. This podcast is just for you. Every other Friday, you'll hear from Sean Lane, aka SAL, Director of Field Operations at Drift, and leading operations pros. We'll go under the hood of companies like Salesforce, Amazon, and Okta to find out what it truly takes to scale through hypergrowth.

Operations with Sean Lane

Ever heard of a "boomerang" employee? Someone who left, and then later comes back to rejoin the company? We’ve had a few awesome boomerang stories during my time at Drift, but we just recently announced arguably our most significant one yet.This week's guest is Dave Gerhardt (or DG), who just returned to Drift as our Chief Brand Officer. Dave helped build Drift into one of the most well-known brands in our industry, and then spent the last 2 years as CMO of Privy, which was recently acquired, That’s a pretty good boomerang story. In our conversation, we talk about how his views have evolved on Marketing Ops, how he thinks about measuring the unmeasurable in brand marketing, and which Marketing Metrics book is currently sitting on DG’s bookshelf.﻿Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️&nbsp;review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean and Dave on Twitter @Seany_Biz @davegerhardt @DriftPodcasts

Why Drift's Dave Gerhardt Changed His Mind about Marketing Ops

A lot has been written about the different types of team models and reporting structures in Operations. And, of course, it’s important to be thoughtful about how you design your team and set each individual on the team up for success. But not everyone always has a choice about the team they are joining or where they sit in an org chart. I’ve come to believe that the mindset you instill in your team and 3 other consistent truths matter far more than who you report to. In this episode, we explore those 3 consistent truths and the different models out there for Operations teams. ﻿Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️&nbsp;review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on Twitter @Seany_Biz @DriftPodcasts

3 Consistent Truths for Operations Teams and Your Reporting Structure

At hypergrowth companies, a pretty common sign that your company is growing up is when it comes time to purchase and implement a tool to help you Configure, Price, and Quote your deals (or CPQ). CPQ tools, though, have a pretty negative reputation amongst both Sales teams and Ops teams alike. So we set out to talk to someone to learn why, and to put together a blueprint for how to approach these tools in a smarter, more successful way. That someone is Eyal Orgil, the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at DealHub, a top-rated CPQ platform. In our conversation, we talk about why CPQ gets a bad reputation, how to implement and use CPQ tools the right way, and how Eyal and his team approach selling and servicing such a complex product. ﻿Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️&nbsp;review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on Twitter @Seany_Biz @DriftPodcasts

At hypergrowth companies, a pretty common sign that your company is growing up is when it comes time to purchase and implement a tool to help you Configure, Price, and Quote your deals (or CPQ).

CPQ tools, though, have a pretty negative reputation amongst both Sales teams and Ops teams alike. So we set out to talk to someone to learn why, and to put together a blueprint for how to approach these tools in a smarter, more successful way.




The Truth About CPQ Tools with DealHub CRO Eyal Orgil

It’s rare that a guest prompts us to completely rethink how we approach the work we do and our roles in our companies. That’s exactly what happened, though, with this week’s guest, Todd Abbott. Todd is the CEO of InsightSquared, the forecasting and analytics platform. Todd has dramatically changed the way he thinks about sales, sales funnels, and what he calls the "science of sales". And on this episode, he shares that evolution with all of us. In our conversation, Todd and I talk about what made him change his views, the power of system-captured engagement, and his mission to get reps out of the data entry business. ﻿Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️&nbsp;review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on Twitter @Seany_Biz @DriftPodcasts

Get Reps Out of the Data Entry Business with InsightSquared CEO Todd Abbott

As operators, we spend so much time thinking about the Day-In-The-Life of the sales reps at our companies. There are so many different things competing for time and mental headspace in a rep’s day in the life. Apps, tools, managers, Salesforce, prospects Our guest on this episode, Michelle Pietsch, is an expert in helping to cut out the noise and getting reps back to what they want to do most: sell. Michelle is the Vice President of Revenue at Dooly, a tool that helps reps to update Salesforce, take sales notes, and easily manage all their deals.&nbsp; In our conversation, we talk about building sales teams without much instrumentation, how to get on the reps’ level before pushing out processes, and competing for that precious reps’ workspace. ﻿Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️&nbsp; review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on Twitter @Seany_Biz @DriftPodcasts

Solving for the Reps' Day In the Life with Dooly's Michelle Pietsch

When you buy a new tool, your organization has placed a considerable investment in buying that tool, not to mention the investment made in Operations folks like us to implement and run these tools. So why is it that so many tools go unadopted? Or, just as commonly, why do so many end up only being used for a fraction of what they’re capable of?&nbsp; In this episode, I’m going to outline 4 steps to launching a new tool at your organization that people will actually use. ﻿Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️&nbsp; review and share the pod with your friends! You can connect with Sean on Twitter @Seany_Biz @DriftPodcasts

RECENT EPISODES

SEASON 1

ABOUT THE SHOW

Operations with Sean Lane

Sean Lane

RECENT EPISODES

SEASON 1

#throwback Inside Salesforce’s Annual Planning Process with Bala Balabaskaran (aka The Guy Who Built It)

Why Drift's Dave Gerhardt Changed His Mind about Marketing Ops

3 Consistent Truths for Operations Teams and Your Reporting Structure

The Truth About CPQ Tools with DealHub CRO Eyal Orgil

Get Reps Out of the Data Entry Business with InsightSquared CEO Todd Abbott

Solving for the Reps' Day In the Life with Dooly's Michelle Pietsch

4 Steps to Launching a New Tool That People Actually Use

ABOUT THE SHOW

Operations with Sean Lane

Sean Lane