Clari

My team of category designers, content and product marketers is responsible for Clari's corporate & product narratives.

Our goal is to lead our market by creating awareness around our category that leads to an always-on “inbound factory”, while helping drive our product GTM strategy and making the Clari Revenue Platform a must-buy for our customers.

While keeping a smile on.

VP, Brand, Content and Product Marketing

Product Marketing Alliance

- Top Influencer (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- Best Team of the Year Award 2021
- Teacher at PMA's Leaders Fellowship program
- Keynote speaker

Product Marketing Alliance Mentor & Teacher

Gong

The work of my product and customer marketing team here is centered around four core pillars:
1. We LAUNCH products, product SKUs, events, fun new programs, and content
2. We TELL stories that wow our audience
3. We make our market CATEGORY a must-have
4. We turn our customers into RAVING FANS

Vice President, Product and Customer Marketing at Gong

Sharebird

Sharebird helps you get quick tips and insights from leaders in your field. Follow my answers at https://sharebird.com/profile/julien-sauvage

Sharebird Product Marketing Mentor

Product Marketing Community

Product Marketing Community Speaker

Talend

As Vice President of Product Marketing at Talend, I bring my passion and experience in technology marketing and go-to-market strategy to drive integrated marketing programs that accelerate Talend’s growth while establishing our market leadership. My team drives product positioning, solution selling and sales enablement, resulting in rapid growth in awareness, pipe and ARR.

Vice President, Product Marketing

Salesforce

Ran Product Marketing for Einstein, Salesforce’s AI product. My team of product marketers is responsible for developing and executing the product go-to-market strategy. We build and deliver compelling product decks, demos and content, as well as pricing & packaging, sales enablement, and Trailblazer marketing programs.

•  Launched Einstein at Dreamforce ’16, the biggest launch in Salesforce history.
•  Led enablement for Einstein, including a certification program for 200 SEs.
•  Started the Champions program, where the end users tell the Einstein story.
•  Presented at many Salesforce keynotes, third-party events & EBCs.
•  Delivered 4 Dreamforces and other Salesforce events (1000’s of leads each).
•  Influenced $100M+ ARR and boosted adoption (2x MAO, 5x product usage).

Senior Director, Product Marketing, Einstein

Led technical product marketing for Wave, Salesforce’s Analytics product.
• Drove industry analyst initiatives; leadership positions in the Gartner Analytics MQ. • Delivered an arsenal of product demos, adopted by 1,000+ AEs and SEs.
• Launched Analytics for Sales, Analytics for Service, Analytics for Communities.
• Generated pipe (5x) and ARR, via integrated campaigns and targeted programs.

Director, Product Marketing, Analytics

My responsibilities include core messaging/ positioning, develop picture-perfect content and create killer demo scenarios.

KXEN

I am responsible for all aspects of outbound marketing content needed to support marketing efforts and sales cycles in the company.

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Worked on proof of concepts, pilots and go-live deployments at 50+ customers across a spectrum of industries, including communications, finance, retail and e-Business

Technical Director, Social Network Analysis

Specialized in Predictive Analytics and Social Network Analysis 

International experience:
- in many industries: Telco, e-Commerce, Automotive, Bank, Retail, etc.
- and many Horizontals: CRM, Fraud, R&D (Reliability, Performance), etc.

Presales engineer

Altran

Head of the ALTRAN Statistics and Optimization Offer.
This Offer aimed at helping our clients to :
- save time,
- analyze data,
- model phenomena / processes,
- optimize outputs / costs,
through innovative, statistical techniques that we developed and/or specialized into.

Senior Consultant

Brand, Content and Product Marketing at Clari. Ex Salesforce, Gong, Talend

I'm the VP of Marketing at Clari, leading a dynamic team of category designers, content creators, and product marketers. With over 15 years in marketing, my focus is on revenue and AI technologies. I've worked with industry leaders like Salesforce, Gong, and Talend.

My goal is simple yet ambitious – create awareness around our category, generate a steady inbound flow, and drive our product Go-To-Market strategy. I want the Clari Revenue Platform to be a must-have for our customers. Beyond that, I'm involved in mentoring and teaching at the Product Marketing Alliance, where I've been recognized as a top influencer and keynote speaker.

I'm all about crafting stories that resonate, launching impactful products and events, and turning customers into massive fans. And hey, I've got a soft spot for 🥖 too.

I changed my profile pic to the one I took at Clari’s Charge in San Francisco last year.

Excited for our upcoming event in May.

Let’s go.

Let’s Charge⚡️

Julien Sauvage 🥖

Earlier this week, I said something like “active listening always pays off.”

Today, I’m tempted to say: “Posting about active listening pays off, too.”

Reg Hill, CSM saw my posts and sent me this gift, on behalf of Duarte, Inc. , with a foreword by Nancy Duarte.

Strongly recommend the Duarte trainings on #storytelling.

Will report back on some findings from the book!

Thanks, Reg 💙

I’m an imposter.

You’re an imposter, too.

The truth is, we all are.

Because the job we were hired for doesn’t initially quite match who we are. It never does.

But what’s cool is this:
With time, the job can adapt to you.

And guess what? You change, too.

The initial gap decreases over time.

And then your so-called imposter syndrome fades away…

… right?

So next time you’re feeling that way, be gentle with yourself. And remember:

At first, everyone’s an imposter.

It feels good to be back to this side of the planet.

Having grown up inland in France, I never thought I'd say this, but:

I've missed the ocean  🌊 

Happy Friday ☀ 


- -  Top reasons why product marketing prepares you to be a good CMO?  - -

This past week, someone asked me that question, at Tamara Grominsky's (great) PMM Camp.

My answer: 

Because PMM is:  CROSS-FUNCTIONAL,  STRATEGIC  &  BROAD.

👉 CROSS-FUNCTIONAL: Product Marketing is the most cross-functional of all the marketing functions (Growth, Brand, MOPS, Digital, Field, etc.)

👉 STRATEGIC: Product Marketing is the closest to the company strategy.

👉 BROAD: Product Marketing hits a broader set of KPIs - from awareness to win rates and product utilization.

He was a man of few words.

One of my first work mentors.

Flashback to 2009, in Paris. After a few years in data science and consulting, I was feeling like a change. So, I was talking to one of my friend’s at a “tropical café” near Chatelet. Some merengue and salsa playing in the background.

He said: “You should try the software industry.”
I said: “Why not,” skeptical.

Started interviewing at a few software vendors, including SAS and IBM (SPSS). Don’t judge.

Then I stumbled upon that small French Data Mining company, called KXEN. Ha, that name. Same, don’t judge.

He was the HM. Role was Solution Engineer. He asked me the most profound and smart questions. In less than 10 words each.

I was nervous, probably talked too much, got rambly, and didn't get to the point. The whole time, he was listening, with a mysterious Mona Lisa-type of smile/non-smile. It left a big impression on me.

I got the job, still don't know how and why. Am grateful for that team to take a chance on me.

It was my first direct exposure to true #activelistening in the workplace.

A few years later, I joined Salesforce, and in 2016, became a people manager.

Now I was on the “other side” of the interview table.

And, while interviewing the very first candidate, I suddenly remembered that guy.

And I did what he did, back in 2009. Listened as actively as I could, trying to gather all signals, absorb everything, with no a priori, no judgment, no agenda.

Until this day, I still am trying to be a good listener.

I often fail, because it’s hard.

But no matter where you are in your career, no matter what side of the interview table you’re sitting at, it always pays off.

I strongly disagree with this common belief about soft and hard skills 👇

The belief is that early in your career, hard skills are paramount, while soft skills become increasingly important, especially in management roles.

● Hard skills: getting the job done, knowing what to do, and doing it fast.

○ Soft skills: understanding what’s the job to be done, knowing how to do it, and doing it together.

In my opinion, regardless of career stage, maintaining a balance of hard and soft skills is essential:

○ Earlier in your career, you also need soft skills to build these relationships that will be so crucial for you to understand *and* get the job done.

● Later in your career, it's crucial to continue mastering your function, delve deep into your expertise, and thoroughly analyze the business. Hard skills. Additionally, coaching your team on them becomes increasingly important.

They go together like  ☯︎ 

AI is the biggest opportunity – and risk – of our generation. 

You’re either developing your AI strategy now, or you’re signing up to get left behind. 

That’s why we at Clari are hosting Charge: The Revenue Summit. The most important event for leaders who want to capture more revenue and stay ahead of the competition. 

Join and learn how to transform your business with AI-powered revenue cadences, plus strategies, tactics, and technology to create, convert, and close more revenue 💪

This is your opportunity to be at the intersection of the most important business process in the world (revenue) and the most transformational technological shift (AI). 

Join us virtually or in-person at select cities here: https://lnkd.in/gHUPzp24 

Let's CHARGE!! ⚡

It's official.

I've been spending too much time hiring candidates lately.

"location TBH" 🙄 

❝ Generative AI Is Mostly About the Top of the Funnel ❞. Wrong.

❝ Smaller Companies Will Adopt AI First ❞. Unsure.

There’s so many myths when it comes to "AI for Revenue." 

Trying to bust a few ones in this SalesTech Star article.

Link in the comments. Check it out. 

#AI #RevTech #RunRevenue

Pricing & Packaging: the #1 guiding principle

➤ Always put your buyer’s hat on.

Selling = buying.

For P&P, always remember these 3 dimensions:
1) Reach
2) Dependencies
3) Simplicity

1) REACH
If the product that you're launching is reaching a new line of business or a new persona, then that probably means a new SKU or even a new BU or product line.

- -

2) DEPENDENCY

You also have to think about product dependency. If the new product or module you’re launching has a strong dependency on an existing product (AKA the new product only works if you bought the previous one), then you might have to consider an add-on approach - or an Edition approach.

- - 

3) SIMPLICITY
The big rule is always to aim for simplicity, both for the buyer and the seller. I am a big fan of a “Good/Better/Best” packaging approach - aka Editions. Add-ons should be used sparingly because you always want to avoid SKU proliferation, and I'll tell you, add-ons can be the best way to get there. You end up with a lot of SKUs and a very long price list, which everyone hates.

I always prefer to include new features in the correct edition to justify my product prices. The rough rule is if less than a third of customers would value that feature in an edition, then don't include it and charge as an add-on.

Tuesday Tunes: What Music Can Teach Marketers

Today, I want to discuss an album called "Bitches Brew."

When Miles Davis released it in 1970, he was already 43 years old—not exactly a rookie anymore. He had started his career in the early 1950s, touching upon and even initiating various jazz genres: Bebop, Cool Jazz (though not my jam, his debut album was called "The Birth of the Cool," pretty… cool), Hard Bop, Modal Jazz, and Avant-Garde.

By the 1970s, artists like James Brown and Jimi Hendrix were making waves. Miles was likely influenced by their music, leading him to explore a different sound this time around—plugging in his instruments.

It might seem easy now, but over 50 years ago, I doubt it was. He was going against conventions.

It must've taken serious courage to create a fully electric, plugged album when jazz had always been associated with being "acoustic" ❗ 

So, he gathered an incredible ensemble of young musicians: Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin, and others—many of whom would become legendary figures in their own right.

The recording took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City in August 1969.

Miles provided minimal direction to the musicians, often giving them just a few musical sketches, allowing them considerable freedom to improvise and explore—a process marked by total experimentation and spontaneity.

They truly let it “brew.”

The result was a groundbreaking album that challenged traditional notions of jazz structure and form.

"Bitches Brew" pioneered the fusion of jazz with elements of rock, funk, and electronic music, marking the beginning of an entirely new genre: Jazz fusion. One of my favorite genres, btw 😍  

It paved the way for the use of electric instruments in jazz music and influenced countless musicians across various genres.

The story of "Bitches Brew" is not just about the music itself but also about the creative process behind it and Miles' spirit of innovation.

What does that teach us?
👉 Disrupting the status quo is what people remember.
👉 Adaptability and innovation, in music and elsewhere, are key.
👉 Collaborative work, even in a free-form way, can create a masterpiece.
👉 Our creativity shouldn’t be stifled by the fear of detractors.
👉 Bringing together a diverse group with unique skills and perspectives always benefits us.

What do you think? 

🎙

Do Not Disturb = On.

Happy Sunday.

HAPPY EASTER!

Don’t look any further.

Drop your suitcase.

The coffee.

コーヒー

You’ve arrived.


(Photo I took in Paris last week, and captions I just made up now 😂)

Happy Sunday morning ☕️

They say: "Different is better than better." 

Wrong.

Different is better... Full stop.

What could actually be "better".. if it's
*not* different?

Different is the best. Different is the only way.

Your strategy and your content are either bad, or different.

Sometimes, I start a sentence…

… or a LinkedIn post,

I have no idea where it’s going to go, 

and it goes to somewhere actually interesting.

- -

Often, I know exactly what I want to say, or…

… have a very clear idea,

So, I start my sentence or my post,

And it goes nowhere.

Someone said:

“Mistakes are proof you’re trying. Correcting mistakes is proof you’re growing.”

Best way to learn is to learn from your mistakes.

But it’s tempting to shy away from them. Deny them.

I am like that, too - everyone is.

So, I blocked some time in my calendar. Once a month. That meeting is only for myself.

It’s called “Monthly Mistakes Meeting”.

It’s a good moment of self reflection, where I list some of the mistakes I made this past month.

Examples of recent mistakes:
⚠️ Not identifying my exec sponsor early
⚠️ Not communicating broadly enough
⚠️ Having cross-functional meetings with too many people
⚠️ Taking enablement for internal comms

It’s a good forcing function… Give it a shot!

How to sabotage Roles & Responsibilities:

It has never been easier to sabotage Roles & Responsibilities.

Nevertheless, if you still struggle with it, keep a few things in mind:

❌ Define your KPIs in a vacuum
“It’s easier for me to stay focused that way.”

❌ Try to own everything
“I will impress my boss by overcommitting.”

❌ Believe that Contributing means Owning 
“If I work on something, tha​​t means I own it.”

❌ Hide your out-of-focus areas
“ I want people to think I’m working really hard.”

See? Easy.

—

You, too, can do this!

( or not )

❌

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