Kyle Coleman

Copy.ai

Chief Marketing Officer

Modigie, Inc.

Strategic Advisor

Lavender

Revenue Collective

Member, Revenue Collective

Clari

Leading marketing, growth, and revenue excellence.

SVP, Marketing

Leading the Growth team at Clari, consisting of:

- Product Marketing
- Customer Marketing
- Growth Marketing
- Growth Operations
- Revenue Development
- Revenue Enablement
- Value Engineering

Group VP, Growth & Enablement

Clari's Growth Department was created in November of 2019, comprising the following teams: 

- Demand Generation
- Field Marketing
- Revenue Development
- Revenue Enablement
- Growth Marketing Operations
- Value Engineering

This unique combination of teams allows for two main visions of the department, one quantitative and one qualitative: 

1. Own the full pipeline number that supports Clari’s new logo and expansion revenue targets. Deliver the specialized programs & optimized processes that create, accelerate, & close revenue. 

2. Create world-class buyer and customer experience that is completely consistent across the entire sales cycle -- attract, land, expand, retain.

ABOUT CLARI: 

Clari’s Revenue Operations Platform improves efficiency, predictability, and growth across the entire revenue process. Clari gives revenue teams total visibility into their business, to drive process rigor, spot risk and opportunity in the pipeline, increase forecast accuracy, and drive overall efficiency. Thousands of sales, marketing, and customer success teams at leading companies, including Okta, Adobe, Workday, Zoom, and Finastra, use Clari’s execution insights to make their revenue process more connected, efficient, and predictable. Visit us at clari.com and follow us @clari on LinkedIn.

VP, Revenue Growth & Enablement

2019 - Revenue Development (aka, Sales Development)
- Inherited a team of 5 SDRs. All promoted to new roles within 6 months. 
- Overhauled hiring & onboarding process, exiting 2019 with team of 12.
- Restructured incentive plans to align with Marketing & Sales goals.
- Defined, documented, implemented new outbound prospecting & qualification process.
- Consistently generated sufficient pipeline for 4x coverage across sales segments, supporting quarterly & yearly ARR targets. 

2019 - Revenue Enablement
- Evaluated, implemented, & optimized Enablement tech stack to support a distributed salesforce (Outreach, Gong, Highspot, Lessonly).
- Modernized approach to Enablement, focusing on short videos & self-guided work in favor of long, expensive live sessions.
- Set foundation for Clari's "Revenue Academy," a marquee program to enable SDRs, AEs, SEs with best practices at every point of the lead & opportunity funnel.

Director, Sales Development & Enablement

Looker

Defining, implementing, & optimizing efficient and effective sales dev & biz ops processes at Looker.

2019 – Optimize systems & processes for full alignment between Marketing, SDR, and Sales. 
• Lead in-depth training & enablement sessions to drive quality at the top of the funnel. 
• Created & implemented qualitative feedback loop to best inform go-to-market strategies & effectively assess ROÍ on various Marketing & SDR initiatives. 

2018 – Build a global team; Develop higher level strategies & analysis. 
• Implemented new Marketing to Sales hand-off process (see 2017). Created full funnel analysis to up-level predictability, forecast-ability, and accountability of all Sales & Marketing stakeholders.
• Exited 2018 with team of 50.

Sr. Director, Sales Development & Optimization

2017 – Maturation & incentive alignment; Business Ops focus. 
• Proposed new Marketing to Sales hand-off process to fully align Marketing, SDR, and Sales incentives. Socialized proposed changes with all C-Suite stakeholders through 6 weeks of discussions, analysis, and presentations. 
• Developed close working relationships with Finance, Sales Ops, MarkOps, and Biz Ops to bolster end-to-end understanding of sales cycle, planning, and cross-functional processes. 
• Exited 2017 with team of 36.

2016 – Specialization at home, expansion abroad; Manage managers. 
• Made business case for and introduced specialized roles for Inbound SDRs, Outbound SDRs, and Enterprise SDRs. Segmentation led to lift in all KPIs: Meetings created, lead to meeting conversion rates (Inbound & Outbound), down-funnel conversion rates, etc. 
• Hired first 3 SDRs in Dublin, IE, and implemented effective processes from the US. 
• Hired first 3 SDR Managers, on-boarded and trained them to effectively manage individual contributors. 
• Exited 2016 with team of 24. 

2015 – Growth: scale, hire, train.
• Implemented hiring process, and was responsible for each stage: from resume screening to extending offers. This process has remained largely unchanged, and over 65 people have been hired using it
• Created all analysis to gauge top of the funnel process efficacy, run messaging A/B tests, measure quota attainment, and report to C-Suite & Board
• Documented everything, from GTM tactics to objection handling to analytical best practices
• Promoted from Manager to Director. Exited 2015 with team of 15.

Director of Sales Development

2014 – Create processes and develop systems.
• Built entire Outbound process from the ground up: targeting, tools, messaging. Outbound-generated Meetings became 55% of New Business Meetings through 2015
• Built Inbound playbook to maximally process, qualify, and hand off leads to Sales team
• Developed expertise in Salesforce.com, Marketo, Looker, and countless sales methodology tools
• Promoted from individual contributor to Team Lead to Manager. Exited 2014 with team of 8. 

2013 – Scrappy startup, wear all the hats.
• Second Sales & Marketing hire at Looker, same month as Seed funding (March 2013)
• Ran trade shows, processed inbound leads, dabbled in outbound prospecting, managed looker.com, created & tested messaging
• Helped develop initial go-to-market strategies, identified ideal customer profiles (companies & personas) and tested outreach strategies 
• Exited 2013 with team of 2.

Sales Development Team Manager

gyro

Day-to-day execution of assigned client projects, liaising between clients and all agency departments. Coordinate and manage agency resources and ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget while meeting client and agency objectives. Position details include:

Knowledgeable of clients' business, competitive challenges, and how key strategic issues impact client/agency objectives. 

Develop project, creative and media briefs based on client/agency input and present briefs to creative team and other agency departes involved in the project's development. 

Coordinate development of estimates, billing and vendor invoices within approved budget as well as anticipate and identify opportunities to optimize the client's program.

Provide effective and timely communications to agency staff, clients and outside suppliers, and track the production status and schedules for all assigned projects.

Evaluate copy, layout/artwork, media plans and production materials against approved briefs and make recommendations as appropriate prior to concepts being presented to clients.

Account Executive

CMO @ Copy.ai

Sales & Marketing leader with a passion for people development, identifying & solving problems, creating & optimizing processes, and unifying departments across the revenue org. 

I'm an avid runner, reader, podcast listener, and a proud corgi owner.

Leading marketing, growth, and revenue excellence. 

Introducing my new course: Born Yesterday.

👶 After being alive for 9 days, I have all the expert secrets on how to navigate this game we call life.

Steal my playbook. 24% off today only!!!

———

😉 Happy April Fool's day.

But in all seriousness... Careful who you take advice from on this platform.

There’s plenty of goodness out there. There’s plenty more not-so-goodness. It’s on you to do the research, vet the instructor, and spend your money wisely.

———

Also, say hello to my newborn son – August. He’s the absolute best.

I just made my first hire at Copy.ai, and it’s for a role that’s never existed before…

💰 Head of Pipeline Strategy

It’s a combination of demand gen, ABM, operations, SDR, and sales programs. One subject matter expert well versed in all things pipeline creation and conversion. A systems thinker with the curiosity and drive to put AI to work. Entirely focused on generating as much qualified, high-velocity pipeline as possible. 

The more I’ve learned about what a GTM AI Platform makes possible, the more I’ve returned to first principles in my thinking about company building.

It’s not about what’s worked in the past and running the same playbook. 

🐡 That’s a surefire recipe for GTM Bloat.

It’s about thinking differently, fully leveraging AI, optimizing for buyers, and staying as lean as possible. 

🦈 That’s what’ll unlock true GTM Velocity.

#gtmai #gtm

CMO @ Copy.ai || Helping companies eliminate GTM Bloat 🐡

What are the responsibilities of the Head of Pipeline Strategy?

What is the potential impact of AI on GTM Velocity?

It’d be pretty easy to feel worthless as an SDR right now.

Here are 3 reasons why you shouldn’t.

1. Pipeline is still the lifeblood of your company. And SDRs are still the pipeline gatekeepers (for most B2B companies). If you’re bringing in high quality pipeline, you’re adding tremendous value to your org.

2. Your work is still incredibly valuable. There’s no better way to get messaging in front of the right people at the right accounts at the right time than through an outbound motion. For most companies, this is the role the SDR plays. If you’re creating high quality brand impressions, you’re adding tremendous value to your org.

3. Your skill set is still durable. What you’re learning now – sales acumen, business acumen, written & verbal communication, etc – will serve you well for the rest of your career. If you’re continually sharpening these skills, you’re adding tremendous value to your org.

It’s natural to be anxious about the future of the role in the age of AI. And yes, there's a lot of negativity out there about the SDR function right now. Hopefully, you can turn that anxiety into action. 

Think about your strengths and how to leverage those strengths to keep adding value to a company. 

I’ve seen too many SDRs make the move to sales, marketing, CS, solutions, engineering, leadership, etc. to not believe in people’s growth potential.

You got this.

#sdr #career

A sales rep qualified me out! 

😎 She did some nice discovery, showed relevant parts of her product, asked more questions, and correctly determined there wasn’t a fit.

She pointed me in the direction of a better-fit solution, and we went our separate ways.

No bloated pipeline numbers. No wasted time following up with me. No fake promises about what’s “on the roadmap” to solve my needs.

🎯 She can narrow her focus on the deals that actually have a shot and run tight cycles with them.

And when my needs do evolve, you better believe I’ll be giving her a call.

Sellers – this is the way. More is not always more. 3x coverage with real deals is a hell of a lot better than 20x coverage with fake deals.

And if you need some help determining what’s real and what’s not, you should check out Copy.ai’s AI driven deal scoring Workflows. 

🐡 They’re insanely good, and will help you and your whole team kill GTM Bloat.

#sales #revenue #gtmai

I'd love to never see this in my inbox ever again:

😔 “I’m really sorry to bother you”
🤒 “I feel horrible troubling you”
😬 “Don’t hate me for emailing you”

I get at a few of these emails every week. And it always bums me out.

———

Sellers, please take this advice:

Don’t feel bad for doing your job. You don’t need to apologize for attempting to pique my interest in your solution. What you do need to do is research me and my company.

Understand what’s most top of mind for me and what problems I’m facing. Then show me how your solution can solve those problems.

If you’re intentional with your outreach, if you show me you understand my universe, and if you can resonate with things that are top of mind, then you have nothing to apologize for.

You're critical to driving revenue for you company. Don't lose sight of that fact.

✊

#sales #sdr #revenue

Here's how I'd email me.

😎 Hyper-relevance, show my research, name drop a few colleagues, a dash of personalization & personality.

What do you think? Lavender gives me a 96.

PS. Want a hand writing emails like this? We've got a Copy.ai Workflow that's been trained to write like me.

#gtmai #sdr #sales

I’m in the middle of a mindset shift – from “outbound sales” to “outbound marketing.”

🏆 Outbound is still one of the best ways to get the right message to the right people at the right accounts.

But it’s not a direct sales channel. Win rates from pure outbound are low single digits at most companies – the buyers just aren’t ready enough to buy. That’s not the kind of high-velocity pipeline that creates sustainable, efficient growth. 

👀 Instead, I think it’s better suited as a marketing channel. A brand impression, an opportunity to educate, a way to prime the pump. Building awareness and, hopefully, increasing buyer readiness.

And as such, the way we execute needs to adapt. Outbound needs to be 100% integrated with broader marketing campaigns, with ABM efforts, with content strategies. It needs to scale with software, not with headcount.

I’ve been running a version of this playbook with SDR teams for the last few years. Time to rewrite the playbook with the Copy.ai marketing team, using our GTM AI Platform.

Should be fun.

#gtmai #gtm #outbound

I’ll take “door to door seller” over “Ivy League grad” for my new tech sellers. 

Both can be valuable, and neither guarantees success. 

I’ve just had more luck with people with worn shoe leather over the years.

Be wary of vendor promises to “fully automate outbound.”

From what I’ve seen, these tools recreate the current approach to outbound in an automated way so you can do it “at scale.”

But the current way isn’t working! Doing more of something that’s not working is not a solution. Zero times anything is still zero.

I hate to burst y’all’s bubble, but getting true top of funnel velocity requires much more thought, strategy, and alignment between departments.

It requires deep research on personas, accounts, and buyers. It requires sharp messaging and value props that actually matter to people. It requires a strong perspective on how your company can help those people and companies achieve their goals. It requires sellers who can have meaningful conversations and guide customers.

Your AI strategy should support that process. Helping you operationalize a cross-departmental strategy that’s actually useful for buyers.

And your AI solution should be a purpose-built GTM AI Platform that facilitates that strategy. Unifying people, teams, and departments.

There is no silver bullet. There is no easy button. As always, it takes real work to get real results.

#gtmai #sdr #sales

I’m worried that companies laid off a bunch of people, thinking that alone will solve their problems.

🙅 Spoiler alert: it won’t. 

If all you’re doing is running the same playbooks with fewer people, you can’t expect any sort of transformation. You can only expect more of the same.

And you can’t cross your fingers hoping that the macro environment will solve your problems, either. Buying behavior has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years. Every budget and every tech purchase is under the microscope.

🐡 Eliminating GTM Bloat takes a much fuller strategy than managing costs. One that requires some “first principles” thinking about how you run your go-to-market, and how you implement an AI strategy to get meaningfully different results.

You need to deeply examine your tools, processes, channels, priorities, data, personnel, decision-making, and means of analysis. 

You need to assess your category, positioning, and value props to make sure you’re a painkiller and not just a vitamin.

You need to ensure your people are getting the skills and training they need to deliver a world-class buyer experience.

🦈 This is how you can fully eliminate GTM Bloat and run with velocity.

This is a ton of work. But it’s essential work. Having a purpose-built GTM AI Platform goes a long way to help, but leadership needs to be on the same page about reinvention and true transformation.

#gtmai #gtm

This is the most important skill to develop in the age of AI.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 People.

Understanding how people think, interact, make decisions, build relationships.

These are a few of my favorites on the topic. What would you add?

I couldn’t believe it when I saw this. A company had separate roles for: 

- Account research SDRs
- Lead research SDRs
- Email only SDRs
- Call only SDRs
- SDRs to get coffee for other SDRs

Alright, that last one is a joke. But the other 4 were real. 

The company was so obsessed with “efficiency” that it couldn’t see the forest through the trees. This kind of “assembly line” org design may make Henry Ford proud, but it’s a disaster in two main ways:

1. The cost to the business. It’s incredibly expensive to have this many hyper-specialized resources. This was peak ZIRP era, so companies were a bit looser with the purse strings. But still.

2. The skill gap for employees. The people in these roles were so narrowly focused that they couldn’t possibly get the training they needed to be effective – sales acumen, business acumen, executive presence.

🐡 This is an extreme example of GTM Bloat. But it’s an extension of a pattern that’s crept into many organizations – expensive over-specialization.

People thrive when challenged. When given the opportunity to think, strategize, and make a broad impact. 

I’m hopeful that with the right GTM AI platform, companies will be able to eliminate the rote, mundane tasks, and empower their employees to make a broader impact. Increase the breadth of the roles they hire for and give people the skills and training they need to succeed.

🦈 This is the path to GTM Velocity – speed + effectiveness. I’m excited for it.

#gtmai #gtmbloat

The best sellers never “graduate” from making cold calls.

They’re never "too senior" to do the hard things. To put in the work.

They love their work because it’s hard. Because it allows them to control their own destiny.

And because they enjoy it, they manufacture their own success. It becomes a virtuous, repeatable cycle.

In the age of AI, there's no option than to lean into the hard work. This is what'll continue to differentiate you against the sea of people looking for the easy button.

The beauty of it? Anyone can do it. Right mindset, right focus, right dedication.

Go get ‘em.

#revenue #sales #sdr

I used to think that my success was measured by the size of my team.

The more people in my chain of command, the more impressive my resume will be. Right?

Wrong.

🐡 That mindset is a recipe for GTM Bloat. And that mindset is killing go-to-market teams.

Performance is all about getting results. But it’s not just about the results of your team in a vacuum. Those results have to be achieved in a way that’s aligned with the broader business. 

It’s about effectiveness and efficiency. It’s about finding ways to scale results disproportionately to increasing spend. 

🦈 This is what a GTM AI Platform makes possible. True GTM Velocity. 

So now, I’m bragging about how lean my team is and the results we’re getting by leveraging AI. 

A much better thing to take pride in. And a much better way to do business. 

#gtmai #gtmbloat

My favorite “intent signal” has nothing to do with what a person is doing.

👀 It has everything to do with who a company is hiring.

Job descriptions are a treasure trove of information. With the right lens, you can infer the strategic priorities of the company – where they’re placing bets for growth and where they may be struggling.

Then, you can architect outreach up and down the hierarchy to respond to this strategic priority.

🗝 It’s not (just) about what your company does… it’s about how your solution can help them realize their growth bets or mitigate their challenges.

And… this is super easy to scale via pattern matching. Run this play enough times and patterns will emerge. Then, you can isolate the 3-5 “strategic initiatives” that your solution is very well versed in solving and which open job reqs indicate those initiatives.

This way, you’re not overwhelmed with bloated plays and processes, and can run with real velocity.

🐡 Death to GTM Bloat!! 

———

This, of course, is easier said than done. And, of course, it’s something AI can really help with.

👉 Copy.ai has some killer account research workflows that scour open job reqs, infer strategic initiatives, and connect your company’s value prop. 

If you want to check ‘em out, let me know. Free to try! 

#gtm #gtmai #sales

Most companies sweat over every single pixel on their website.

And then there's Berkshire Hathaway. 

Gotta love the GEICO banner at the bottom. Amazing.

These two words led to some of the best conversations I ever had with prospects:

🎤 “Say more.”

This works in cold calls, discovery, demos, etc. You’ve gotta ask good questions to start (avoid questions that start with the word “Do” and focus more on “What” and “How”).

🌽 Then, actually listen to them.

I’d find the key part of their response I wanted to drill in on, repeat back a few words of it in question form and then add… “say more.” Sometimes I’d add “please.”

“Short on targets? Say more.”
“Too many tools? Say more, please.”
“Hiring new reps? Say more.”

Be genuinely interested and don’t be bossy. Soft, curious tone. 

It worked for me! Hope it works for you.

#sales #sdr

Nothing turns a prospect off more than a seller’s lack of familiarity with their product.

It’s okay (and wise) to say “I don’t know” when you get questions that are outside your expertise.

But I’ve seen way too many sellers defer to their SE on simple product stuff.

And worse, I’ve seen way too many sellers have no real answer to the deeper questions here – “How will the product help the customer?” and “What is its promise?”

Chris Orlob’s newsletter this morning was about creating value for the customer (vs. just communicating it). Being able to answer these types of questions for different personas is how you create value. If you can’t, you’re going to get left behind.

This page, by the way, is from “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School.” Highly recommend it. 

#sales #revenue #gtm

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