SaaSy Talk Unfiltered | SaaSy Talk S01.27: Mastering the art of scaling of sales and customer success

SaaSy Talk S01.27: Mastering the art of scaling of sales and customer success

November 30, 2023 / 30:26/S1:E27

About The Guest(s): Marina Golemis is the Senior Vice President of North American Sales at ShipBob, a technology-enabled fulfilment platform that supports over 7,000 e-commerce companies. Her leadership has contributed to the company's incredible growth, as she has been involved in every part of the Customer Acquisition process, as well as Customer Success, Implementation and Sales Engineering. She is recognized for her insights into how leaders can trust themselves and their perspectives, which is integral to the role of a sales leader.

Marina lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and two daughters. When not nerding out on sales podcasts, Marina can be found at her local yoga studio.

Summary: Marina shares her journey into the tech industry, starting with a job in logistics after college. She then worked for a fashion startup before joining ShipBob. Marina discusses her role overseeing both sales and customer success and how it has improved alignment between the two teams. She also talks about the challenges of scaling a team and the importance of setting up processes and hiring the right people. Marina emphasises the value of honesty and transparency in customer success and shares her approach to forecasting and revenue retention. She also highlights the importance of consistency in leadership and the lessons she has learned from her mentors.

Key Takeaways:

Marina's early career in sales taught her the importance of grit and the value of working in a field you are passionate about.
Success managers can benefit from learning sales skills to proactively identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.
Revenue retention and growth should be a key metric for success teams, and quotas should be set based on attainable goals.
Scaling a team requires setting up processes and hiring the right people, as well as maintaining consistency in leadership.
Forecasting can be challenging, but understanding the factors that can impact revenue and maintaining open communication with customers can help improve accuracy.

Quotes:

"We don't want to be the company doing layoffs every year where people aren't bought in because they're always scared that tomorrow's their last day." - Marina
"Consistency and leadership is so important. I know what to expect from my boss, and that consistency helps me come prepared and anticipate his questions." - Marina

Chapters:

00:06 Marina's Journey into Tech

01:33 Joining ShipBob and Company Growth

01:57 Balancing Sales and Customer Success

05:08 Upselling and Cross Selling Strategies

07:46 The Hiring Process and Team Scaling

10:15 The Importance of Culture Fit in Hiring

13:22 Maintaining Team Size and Increasing Productivity

15:47 Forecasting Methodology in Sales

16:09 The Art of Revenue Forecasting

16:21 Challenges in Forecasting and Overcoming Them

17:31 Impact of Macroeconomic Downturn on Business